Donovan trilogy, by Nora Roberts

The Donovan trilogy, by Nora Roberts was published by Silhouette in the early 90s. It tells the stories of three cousins, modern-day witches and wizards. It was a nice series, but definitely not up to her newest ones.

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The first, Captivated, about Morgana, who has a gift for.... I guess I'd say, conjuring and the more spectacular side of magic, was the one I liked best of all. My grade: a B.

His interest in her was purely professional . . . Or so he told himself. Nash Kirkland had sought out the alluring Morgana Dovovan to help him research his latest screenplay, though the hardheaded skeptic didn't believe for a minute she was what she professed to be. But, as Morgana revealed herself to him, Nash found himself falling under her bewitching spell. Nash had never trusted his feelings and always kept them in check. So how could he be sure the irresistible passion he felt for Morgana was real and not just some conjurer's trick?

There's not much external plot in this story, just Nash and Morgana falling in love and dealing with their issues, but it was still quite engaging.

I very much enjoyed both Nash and Morgana. I loved Morgana's self-assurance and in-your-face sexiness, and the way she never hid exactly who she was. And Nash was an endearing hero, with his enthusiasm and his very, very open mind. He was a bit of a cross between Gray, from Born in Ice, with his difficult childhood and the way it affected him in adulthood, and his horror writing, and Mac, from Heaven and Earth, with his geekiness and his fascination with the occult.

There were some very nice moments here, like the moment Nash finally manages to convince himself that Morgana has very real powers, and the final confrontation between them, back in Donovan castle. This one's an excellent start to the series.

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Entranced told the story of Sebastian, who has a gift for seeing. I remember liking this one more than I did this time. My grade: a B-.

He was certainly a fraud, and she wasn't about to let him exploit her friend's vulnerability. But fiercely protective Mary Ellen Sutherland was desperate to find a missing baby and had run out of leads. So, reluctantly, the dubious private investigator agreed to enlist Sebastian Donovan's help. Soon she had to admit -- grudgingly -- that this beguiling mystery man had some pretty remarkable gifts, including his extraordinary ability to penetrate her tough façade and awaken her heart.

Strangely enough, while this one had much more external plot than Captivated, I found it parts of it duller. The first half especially, strangely enough: the one which should have been the more interesting, while they're following Sebastian's visions after the missing baby. I had a hard time being too interested.

Luckily, the second part was more interesting, but it's weird, because this one was something that's much more common. It was simply our two protagonists going under cover, trying to get the baby-stealing ring to focus on them so they could catch them in the act. This part was fun, and I really liked the romance there. Sebastian and Mel were interesting together, with her rough-and-ready personality and his old-world charm. In fact, I'd probably grade this section a B+. Unfortunately, the first one really was a loss.

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Charmed is about Anastasia, the third cousin, who has a gift for healing. It's not really a very good end to the series. I'd give it a C+.

When a new neighbor, Boone Sawyer, moves next door to her with his young motherless daughter, Anastsia proves not only to be a good neighbor but wins the hearts of both Boone and his daughter. As time goes on Boone is drawn more and more into Anastasia's spell and begins to fall in love with her. Ana, though, worries how she will ever tell him the truth about herself and her family.

My main problem with this one was that I just didn't warm up to Boone. I thought he was an ass, a judgemental, narrow-minded ass. I wasn't too crazy about him throughout most of the book, but the kicker was the ending, once he found out about Ana's powers. Oooh, I wanted to kick him! Considering the way he found out, he should have been on his knees, kissing Ana's feet, not looking at her as if he was afraid of what she could do to him and his daughter. But instead of thanking her, he accused and hurt her. Bastard.

The rest of the book.... ehh. All that innocence and purity and cute little kids bored me, though I did like the Hallowe'en scene, with the Donovans out in force and Morgana giving birth upstairs. That was fun. Too bad the rest of the book wasn't.

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There was a spin-off of this series released years later, Enchanted, which I remember liking. I can't recall exactly how these books are related (there's no mention here of the Liam Donovan who's the hero of Enchanted), but I'm going to find out!

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To Die For, by Linda Howard

To Die For is a bit of a departure from the type of stories Linda Howard's been doing lately. Humorous, first-person, with a very different heroine, it was also published directly as a softcover.

Blair Mallory lives the good life. She’s pretty, confident, and the owner of a thriving up-scale fitness center. But in the shadow of success, a troubled member of the club develops a strange fixation on Blair, imitating her style and dress. Matters take a darker turn when the look-alike is shot dead–and Blair witnesses the horror.

As the media speculates on the tawdry details of the homicide and pushes Blair into the harsh spotlight, she locks horns with police lieutenant Wyatt Bloodsworth. He wants to lead an investigation without interference, while Blair is determined to probe the dead woman’s life on her own. But when someone begins to menace Blair with mounting threats, Wyatt takes notice: Was this murder indeed a lethal case of mistaken identity–and was Blair the intended victim?

I mostly enjoyed reading it, and there were certain appealing things about the romance, but I wasn't crazy about it. My grade would be a B-.

I've heard much about readers want to slap Blair, but I was fine with her. She was smart, sensible and fun, even if she was a little too much of a Southern belle, girly-girl for me to completely like. The one I wanted to slap was Wyatt. God, that man was high-handed and patronizing! I just hated the whole "you've ran rough-shod over men all your life, you need a guy who can dominate you" attitude he had with Blair.

As for the romance, on one hand, I couldn't help but get some nice jolts from Wyatt's absolute and complete focus on Blair. There's just something about it that instinctively appeals to me. But really, I couldn't wholeheartedly like the romance, and I think it was because I just don't identify with the whole man-woman dynamics here.

Blair and her mom's view seems to be that there are girl things (stereotypical things, like how one can never have enough shoes, and stuff like that) and there are guy things, and guys will never understand the importance of all those vital girl things, so they're going to have to be manipulated and emotionally blackmailed into it. A woman's married life will be spent manipulating her man into "letting" her do what she wants.

I know this is the view of many women, but I just find it horrific. My ideal relationship is a more equal partnership, not something like what I see Blair and Wyatt's relationship as being in the future, which is a continual power-struggle, an eternal fight to manipulate the other into doing what they want. Blair basically admits that at one point, and while she takes the view that "at least we'll never get bored", it just sounds exhausting to me. Plus, well, really, even if I didn't particularly like Wyatt, I almost felt sorry for him, after seeing the type of things Blair had in her list of "girl things".

The external plot, about someone trying to kill Blair was pretty good, though I thought the resolution was a little disappointing. I found the complete mystery of why anyone would even want to kill Blair quite engaging, but when the solution was revealed, I didn't think it was particularly believable.

Anyway, for all my criticism, as it often happens to me with Linda Howard books, I enjoyed the book more than my rational reaction to it would indicate.

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The Lady Chosen, by Stephanie Laurens

The Lady Chosen (excerpt, etc) is the first book in Stephanie Laurens' Bastion Club series.

There is more than a touch of the wild adventurer in each of them, and they are loyal to the bone. Seven of London's most eligible bachelors band together to form The Bastion Club, an elite society of gentlemen dedicated to determining their own futures when it comes to that most important step of all - marriage.

Tristan Wemyss, Earl of Trentham, never expected he'd need to wed within a year or forfeit his inheritance. But he is not one to bow to the matchmaking mamas of the ton. No, he will marry a lady of his own choosing. And the lady he choses is the enchanting neighbor living with her family next door. Miss Leonora Carling has beauty, spirit and passion; unfortunately, matrimony is the last thing on her mind.

To Leonora, Tristan's kisses are oh-so-tempting, but once bitten, forever shy, she has determinedly turned her back on marriage. But Tristan is a seasoned campaigner who will not accept defeat. And when a mysterious man attempts to scare Leonora and her family from their home, Tristan realizes he's been given the perfect excuse to offer his services--as protector, seducer, and ultimately, husband.

I have a strong suspicion that I should stop reading Stephanie Laurens' books right here. This was a C-.

There's nothing really wrong with the characters or the plot of the book. I liked both Leonora and Tristan, I confess I like heroes in pursuit (even if Laurens has written this plot a thousand times before), and the external plot, about who was trying to break into Leonora's house and what he was looking for was interesting and suitably mysterious. And I really enjoyed the ambience of the neighbourhood in which both Leonora's house and the Bastion Club were situated.

So, why a C-? Well, it's just that Laurens managed to make this quite a bit boring. First problem was the style. Is it just me or has she changed, from the first few Cynster books? I'd read a few pages and find my mind wandering. Even in love scenes! I'm not one of those readers who routinely skip love scenes -nothing further from the truth- and Laurens is usually great at them (think Scandal's Bride ... yum!). And yet, in this one, I just HAD to skim, or I'd have been bored out of my skull.

And no, it wasn't just my mood. I read two other novels while I read this one (when my mind wandered off too much, I'd put it down and read something else for a while) and I had absolutely no problem getting engrossed in them. So I strongly suspect the author just doesn't sound like she used to.

Oh, and another negative was the whole rationale behind the Bastion Club. Oh, come on! The whole "refuge from the attacks of marriage-minded women" was just stupid.

Also -and this is a spoiler, so stop reading right here if you plan to read the book- I was very uncomfortable with the way they end up dealing with the formula for blood clotting that was what those foreign interests were looking for. They keep it out of other people's hands to basically keep it to themselves. It's probably very naive of me, but I really do think this was certainly something which should have been freely circulated, to help everyone who got wounded, not just the British. By doing this, they are just as bad as those foreigners who wanted to steal it.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be reading the next in the series, A Gentleman's Honor. What with my problems with this one and the fact that it got an F at AAR, it doesn't sound like it'll be worth the trouble.

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The Charmer, by Madeline Hunter

The Charmer (excerpt), by Madeline Hunter is book # 3 in the author's latest series, of which I've now read all but the 4th book, The Sinner (I couldn't resist the temptation and read the fifth book, The Romantic, as soon as I got it).

Their first meeting is not promising. Sent by the king to bring the Sophia Raughley home, Adrian Burchard finds her in another man's arms, at an orgy that includes the young artists who form her entourage. He soon discovers, however, that this errant daughter of the nobility hides secrets and wounds beneath her mask of frivolity, and possesses a vulnerable sensuality that draws him like no other woman has.

Sophia resents this man who high-handedly interferes with her life--a life in which she hides from the past. Worse, he seems to offer an intimacy that she dare not accept--until the night when he skillfully seduces her, peeling away the defenses to her heart as artfully as he does the layers of her clothing. As Sophia falls under the spell of his erotic charms, and Adrian finds himself unable to resist her passionate response, they embark on a dangerous affair. An affair that will either destroy them both, or prove the one thing that can save them when mysteries from the past reach out to entangle the present.

It's interesting, my reaction to the first three books in this series was very similar. As in The Seducer and The Saint, I was initially turned off by the hero's high-handed, overbearing attitude, but soon warmed up to the story, when he started falling for the heroine and her power over him became clear. And, as in those books, my grade for it is a B+.

I started liking Sophia once she decided to stop running away from her problems. Yes, it was terribly unfair that she was forced to move to England and take on these responsabilities she didn't want, but well, that was just a consequence of how her title worked. It's ok that she railed against fate for a while, but after a time, it became a bit tedious that she kept trying to escape, leaving everything unsolved.

Still, not long after I began to become irritated, Sophia saw reason and took her fate in her own hands. And, not only that, she did a wonderful job with it, doing something that really appealed to my modern, liberal sensibilities ;-)

The romance was really good, too. Adrian was a nice character, once Sophia developed a little background and stood up to him.

One of the best things about the book is that Hunter very definitely does not write wall-paper historicals, and the setting comes alive and plays an important role in the action. I was especially intrigued by the politics, and in fact was reminded a bit of Tracy Grant's Rightfully His, which I loved. Sophie being a duchess in her own right was fascinating enough, and I loved the political behind-the-scenes intrigues and the exploration of the issues like reapportionment and what exactly a pocket borough means.

The Sinner is arriving next June (keeping my fingers crossed, here!), and I'm looking forward to it.

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The Last Hellion, by Loretta Chase

The Last Hellion, by Loretta Chase is part of a series of related books that include The Lion's Daughter, Captives of the Night, my favourite romance of all time: Lord of Scoundrels and a short story, The Mad Earl's Bride, included in the Three Weddings and a Kiss anthology.

In 1820s England, 28-year-old Lydia Grenville is a few inches under six feet tall and mind-numbingly beautiful. Clever as well as gorgeous, she is the author of a London newspaper's most popular adventure serial and has also penned scathing articles about the prostitution trade in the city. Her less-than-ladylike occupation, checkered past, and questionable lineage make it highly unlikely that she will ever marry a member of the Regency ton. However, in keeping with a long legacy of hell-raising ancestors, Vere Mallory, the notorious Duke of Ainswood, has a reputation for flaunting society's dictates. Besides, one look at Lydia and he loses his heart, although at the time, it doesn't occur to him that love is what he feels. He terms it lust and sets out to bed the beautiful Lydia.

What follows is an endearing, hilarious contest of wills between a woman determined to hold her heart and body safe, and a man just as determined to conquer her. In a final, winner-takes-all contest, Lydia and Vere come to terms, but neither is sure just who won and just who lost the wager. Is it possible they may both come out winners? Meanwhile, Lydia's very public crusade against the worst offenders in the city's illegal prostitution business has earned her dangerous enemies. Just when it seems that Vere and Lydia may resolve their personal contest of wills, the dark forces at work in the seamier side of London threaten not only Lydia, but also Vere's beloved nieces.

I know many readers, even those who loved LoS, aren't that fond of The Last Hellion, so I didn't have particularly high expectations when I started it. This meant it was a lovely surprise, how much I liked the book! A B+.

What I adored about it was how Vere was completely crazy and obsessed about Lydia, right from the beginning. Even when he believes he doesn't like her, he still can't stay away from her. Also, once he realizes how much he does like her, it's the whole woman that attracts her... her beauty, sure, but he's just as fascinated by her mind and her competence and her idealism and determination to see justice done.

And really, that's exactly what made Lydia a wonderful heroine, too. I always enjoy it when a heroine who chooses to do dangerous things doesn't behave as a TSTL twit and actually knows what she's doing. And even better, Vere knows that she knows what she's doing and when bad things happen near the end of the book, he recognizes that Lydia can make a valuable contribution and doesn't go all overprotectively, patronizingly macho.

The tone of The Last Hellion was interesting, because while it shows a darker than usual look at the horrible things that went on in the London underworld, the lovely, fun romance gives a much needed lighter touch. This can be iffy, and I can remember quite a few books which do this in which the romance and the external plot elements simply didn't go together well. It works wonderfully here, thought.

There's a lovely, sweet secondary romance here, too, between Bertie Trent (brother of Jessica Trent, from LoS and Lydia's protegée. Bertie's a character I'd become fond of... not too bright, but oh so nice and periodically showing flashes of staggering insight, so this was very nice to read.

There really aren't many negatives in this book. The only thing I can think of is that it could have used a little more fleshing out in the part in which Vere realizes that he's, in fact, in love with his wife. But that's minor. All in all, it was a truly enjoyable book.

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I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

From the back of my 1998 edition of I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith:

"This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met. Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain captures the castle in her insightful, witty journal entries."-- Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling

"I Capture the Castle is finally back in print. It should be welcomed with a bouquet of roses and a brass band. Ever since I was handed a tattered copy years ago with the recommendation 'You'll love it,' it has been one of my favorite novels. Cassandra Mortmain is one hell of a narrator, offering sharp wit, piercing insight and touching lyricism. She is a heroine we readers wish we could be, a young woman it is impossible not to adore." -- Susan Isaacs

Glowing recommendations from JK Rowling AND Susan Isaacs, raving about the novel's narrator? These are two authors who, IMHO, create the absolute best characters, so how could I resist?

This wonderful novel tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her extraordinary family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle.

Cassandra's eccentric father is a writer whose first book took the literary world by storm but he has since failed to write a single word and now spends most of his time reading detective novels from the village library.

Cassandra's elder sister, Rose - exquisitely beautiful, vain and bored - despairs of her family's circumstances and determines to marry their affluent American landlord Simon, regardless of the fact she does not love him. She is in turn helped and hindered in this by their bohemian step-mother Topaz, an artist's model and nudist who likes to commune with nature.

Finally there is Stephen, dazzlingly handsome and hopelessly in love with Cassandra. Amidst this maelstrom Cassandra strives to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries, which candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has captured the heart of the reader in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments.

Unlike many romance readers, I do like first-person narratives, and this was a wonderful one. A B+.

A book written in first-person has to have an interesting narrator, and I Capture the Castle definitely did. Cassandra was just lovely, and I adored her voice. She was a wonderful observer, and I liked that even when she was oblivious about something, odds are, we readers could arrive at our own conclusions through her writing. The ending, for instance, is pretty much left open in Cassandra's mind... she has no idea of what will happen to her, but there are some very nice clues there!

And the pictures that came through her writing were delightful. I saw her family so clearly! I think I especially enjoyed Topaz ;-)

This was very much a coming-of-age story, and I though Cassandra had underwent some very satisfying growing-up throughout the story. They all did, actually, the Mortmains, which left me smiling at the end of the book :-)

The book was published in 1948 and set over a decade earlier (IIRC), and one of the things I liked most was the picture of life in that time. We see mostly the countryside, but also quite a bit of London, and it's all fascinating. The only problem here is something that always comes up when I read stories set between the world wars... realizing that in a few years time, odds were, the men would have gone off to war. That makes the whole idea of a HEA a bit problematic.

Still, it's fiction, and if I choose to believe everyone will be all right, who's to contradict me?

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The Shadow and the Star, by Laura Kinsale

I've had The Shadow and the Star, by Laura Kinsale in my TBR for some time, but I dug it out immediately when I read Jorie's post about it at her blog. Careful if you haven't read it, there are some spoilers there (I couldn't figure how to link to the post itself with the spoilers hidden), though I have to say, I did read those spoilers and I think knowing what I knew might have even enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

Ah, before I forget, TSATS is a spinoff of Kinsale's first novel, The Hidden Heart. I had both, but I was so anxious to read TSATS that I skipped THH, and while I was intrigued enough that I'm planning on reading the latter soon, TSATS stands alone perfectly well.

He is a man of dark secrets -- wealthy, strong, majestically handsome -- the master of the ancient arts of a distant land. Scarred by a cruel childhood, he has sworn only to love chastely ... yet he burns with the heat of unfulfilled desire.

She is innocent and nearly destitute, yet she possesses a beauty as incandescent as a heavenly orb. And she is drawn to this powerful stranger by a need she cannot deny.

Never has such passion so consumed a man and a woman. But by giving his heart freely, the Shadow risks everything he believes in. And to follow her enigmatic warrior means the Star must enter his world of intrigue, vengeance, and desire -- and surrender to the most dangerous love there ever could be.

The Shadow and the Star is difficult to grade. I thought it was brilliant, but one of the aspects that made the book so good, that both Samuel and Leda were wholly of their time, definitely NOT 21st century transplants, was also responsible for making me feel a bit frustrated. So this, together with an ending which took the focus from Leda and Samuel, where it had been squarely fixed throughout the book, and concentrated on a not particularly interesting action subplot, make the grade slip from an A to an A-.

I can't imagine writing my review any better than Jorie did, so I'll just say "what she said". The handling of Samuel's past and the effects it's had on him as an adult, Leda's characterization, the development of Samuel and Leda's relationship, both in and out of bed, it was all amazing.

I do differ in a certain something, and that's one of my only two negatives: the ambiguous effect that Leda, especially, had on me. On one hand, I appreciated the fact that she was so much a product of her time and her upbringing by a group of old ladies who Kinsale describes thus:

"Proper, generous, proud; sure of what was right and what was wrong, they gave me a foundation, a place to stand in life. Perhaps they were as shocked by a crooked hem as by a crooked banker, but there was always a pie or a boiled custard going out the door for an ill neighbor. They represent a feminine community and a standard that has quietly sustained civilization for centuries, unnoticed and unreported in newspapers and history books. "

Problem is, people like this drive me crazy. I don't find them admirable, I find them dangerous. Their preocupation with appearances and what's proper can result in the neglect of what really matters (Leda being put in danger of pretty much starving because the old ladies couldn't find the proper book that would help them write the proper character), or in their being actually cruel to people for whom appearances don't matter and what counts is the reality. For instance, when Leda would worry so much about not behaving in a way that could result in her being thought "fast", I couldn't help but think of the fact that the flip side of this worrying would be an excessive ease in labeling other people fast.

So, when Leda would act so perfectly in character, exactly like she was raised to act, one part of me would adore Kinsale's characterization, while the other would scream in frustration. What an incredible book! ;-)

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The MacKades, by Nora Roberts

The MacKades was a series Nora Roberts wrote for Silhouette in the mid-90s, about four brothers living in the fictional town of Antietam, in Maryland. I hadn't reread it in some time, and this time I did it as I've started to do with all my Noras, and I read the entire series all in a row.

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The first book is The Return of Rafe MacKade, about "the baddest of the bad MacKades", as the author herself calls him. Rafe had left Antietam years before, leaving behind a town convinced that he'd end up behind bars before long. Since he was a kid, he has been fascinated with the old Barlow place, a run-down old house reputed to be haunted since the Civil War, and he promised before he left that he'd own the place.

The book starts as he returns home, a successful businessman who runs a construction company and the new owner of the Barlow house, which he intends to restore and set up as an inn. As soon as he comes back he meets newcomer Regan Bishop, who owns the new antique store in town and who he hires to help him furnish his inn.

This was a pleasant, comfortable read, but nothing earth-shattering, really. Both Rafe and Regan are very likeable characters, but there just isn't that much conflict to keep things interesting. A B-

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The Pride of Jared MacKade comes next, and it was much more exciting. Jared is the eldest of the MacKades, and the more serious and bookish one. He's a lawyer and of the four, he's the one who's built a more refined, sophisticated life, complete with a boring, refined ex-wife and a boring, refined law office.

As always in romance novels, conservative Jared gets paired with a very definitely not conservative heroine, illustrator Savannah Morningstar, who happens to be a single mom and former stripper, street artist and myriad other things.

I really, really liked Savannah. She was a much more interesting character than Regan, much livelier and more colourful. I loved that she made no apologies for her past, and simply refused to play the victim, the poor little woman, seduced, impregnated and abandoned when she was 16. Jared I felt was a bit of a jerk in the end, but at least his difficulties in accepting Savannah's past were interesting. And really, I don't think it was so much a sexist, double-standard thing, as much as frustration at not being able to go back in time and make things easier for Savannah. The scenes in which he tortures himself when he hears just how difficult some things in her life were pretty powerful. A B+.

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The book about the third brother, The Heart of Devin MacKade used to be my favourite in the series, but I liked it a bit less this time.

Devin has been in love with Cassie Connor (now Dolin) pretty much forever. He had a thing for her even when they were in high school, but he dragged his feet a little too much and the disgusting Joe Dolin beat him to it and married her as soon as she got out from high-school... and proceeded to make the following 10 years or so of her life a living hell. Devin, who became sheriff of Antietam, was perfectly aware of the fact that Cassie has been suffering Joe's physical and mental abuse, but he couldn't do much more than make Cassie aware of her options, which in turn, made Devin's life pretty hellish as well.

This book starts a couple of years after Cassie finally decides to leave her husband (an event which happens in book # 1). Ever since this happened, Devin has been biding his time, waiting for the moment to be right for him to make his move. When Cassie gives him a chaste little kiss, Devin finally explodes and let's it all out, and their romance gets moving.

Devin is a lovely, wonderful hero, and I just adore stories about guys who have been madly in love with the heroine for years and years. So why didn't I love, love, love this story? The answer is Cassie. Unlike many readers, it's the heroine who makes or breaks a romance for me, and I just wasn't all that crazy about Cassie. The problem was basically that I couldn't really understand her, and I feel like a bitch for saying this. I know intellectually that she's probably a perfectly accurate character, but I simply couldn't get her emotionally.

Why didn't she leave Joe much earlier? Everyone in town knows he's been beating her up, so it can't be shame at confessing what has been happening, what she has been "letting" him do. And she has the explicit support of pretty much everyone except her zealot mother, so it can't be that she has no other options. Also, there's no evidence of Cassie ever being convinced that Joe loves her in spite of what he does to her... she seems to have accepted from the beginning that she's nothing more than a punching bag for him. As for her kids, I know she isn't aware of the fact that Joe has been physically abusing their son, but how can anyone really believe that the kids are better off with both parents, in an environment where they obviously know their mother is getting beat up every week, than there would be only with a single, caring parent? Of course I'm oversimplifying, and I know that the psychological issues that can make an abused woman stay with her abuser are much more complicated than this, but for all the theoretical knowledge I can have, I just can't completely understand Cassie, and this lowers a bit my enjoyment of the book.

Still, I did like this quite a bit. The love story between Devin and Cassie is lovely and sweet, and I loved the way Devin wins over Connor, Cassie's son. A B.

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The last book of the series is The Fall of Shane MacKade, about the younger brother and ladies' man extraordinaire. Nora is spot-on when she differentiates between a womanizer (who would be a user, basically) and someone like Shane, who simply adores and is fascinated by women, every single kind of woman.

Shane's fall begins immediately after he meets Rebecca, Regan's brilliant, brainy former roommate in college. Rebecca is quite simply, a nerd, and it's always fun to see a suave, experienced hero become fascinated by someone like Rebecca. Some of the scenes were pretty much telegraphed from the beginning... I mean, I knew right from page 1 that this would end with Rebecca saying some variety of "Well, bye-bye, so long, it's been fun" and Shane freaking out because this time it's he who wants more, but this didn't make this scene any less effective, and it alone raised the grade from a B to a B+.

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This series has a nice paranormal thread going through it, about the ghosts from an episode of the battle of Antietam haunting both Rafe and Regan's inn, the MacKade farm and the woods around it. It's an interesting element, and doesn't overwhelm the stories, it simply adds an extra interest to them.

As always in Nora's series, one of my favourite things was the way the family interacted. I was totally convinced that these four men obviously love and support each other, even if I did feel that they were a bit too fond of pounding on each other ;-) And I loved the way their wives were successively integrated to the group, quickly becoming part of the whole family.

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In Bed With the Boss, by Susan Napier

Susan Napier is pretty much the only Harlequin Presents author I read regularly. Her books use the HP staples, sure, and her titles are often horrendous, but still, she manages her stories feel fresh. My latest read by her was In Bed With the Boss.

Kalera and Duncan Royal have the perfect working relationship. Polite, professional-except for an accidental, intensely passionate one-night stand that should have never have happened! Both have tried to put it behind them-or so Kalera thought. But Duncan is haunted by their one reckless night together, and he's furious when Kalera announces her engagement to another man. Whatever it takes, Duncan intends to entice Kalera back into his bed, and his life-permanently!

I want to make it very clear that my grade of C+ is not really for In Bed With the Boss, but for a slim book in Spanish called Campaña de Seducción, which I couldn't resist picking up when I took my grandma to change her "novelas rosas" at the UBS the other day. Campaña de Seducción (a title that actually fits the story better) is supposed to be a translation of In Bed With the Boss, but I strongly suspect it's more of an adaptation of it... or rather, a butchering.

First there's the fact that while Harlequin Presents usually come in at about 190 pages, this one is only three quarters that length; that's enough to make one suspicious. And, by now, I kind of know Napier's writing, and there are a couple of things I refuse to believe she wouldn't have developed a little bit more, like Kalera's past, living in a commune with her parents, for instance. It's made clear that she hated it, but even after Duncan meets her parents, she never talks about it with him. I'm not 100% sure, of course, and if you've read the book and there isn't any exploration of this subject, you're welcome to correct it, but I'm willing to bet something was cut there.

Oh, and also, there's practically no action here from Duncan's point of view. Given that there has been some hero POV in all three books by Napier that I've read, it would have been suspicious if there had been *nothing* from Duncan. It's even more suspicious in this case because there's actually one paragraph from his POV lost in the middle of one scene. One, and then nothing else in the rest of the book, as if the translator forgot to remove that one, as he or she did the others. And this are just a couple of examples, there were too many instances of too-abrupt transitions and lack of development.

Anyway, it pisses me off, because I liked the bare bones of the story, Duncan is a great character, with his flamboyant ways and mercurial temper, and I enjoyed reading about his way of doing business. And I just loved the ruthless way in which he fought to get Kalera, it reminded me a bit of Another Time, my favourite Napier. Kalera was also nice, even if she was a little obtuse about her fiancé, Stephen. I appreciated that she had had a wonderful first marriage, and that Napier didn't trash her first husband to make her hero look better. In fact, both Duncan and Kalera still love Harry by the end of the book.

This is definitely one book I'll be getting in English too, if only to find out what exactly was cut!

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I've updated my links

Well, I've finally updated my links, especially those to romance-centric blogs. I tried to keep the list manageable and to keep to sites that are updated regularly (a couple haven't posted since mid-February, but I'll hold on to them for a while longer).

One of the things I did was to change the names a bit from what I had. What I did in most cases was list them under the name of the blog owner (the name she uses when she posts) and when you roll your mouse over the link, you see the name of the blog. Otherwise, the names were sometimes too long and took two or three lines, or they were too generic and I couldn't remember who exactly they were until I went looking.

So, let me know if you're not there and you want me to list you, too, or if you're there but would like me to list you differently.

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Scent of a Woman, by Jo Leigh

Like Kristin Hardy, Jo Leigh is one of the very few authors whose Blaze titles I always buy. The latest I read was Scent of a Woman.

When Susan Carrington sees David Levinson in a boutique, she impulsively propositions himjust a little sex, on a weekly basis. Afraid shell regret it later, she decides to meet David at the pre-arranged time and place, thinking at least shell be with a man who wants her for her and not for her money. What starts out as pure physical attraction soon blossoms into something more. But can their true identities foul up any type of potential romance?

Scent of a Woman is among the hottest Blazes that I've read so far, probably even crossing the line into Romantica territory. But hey, I like good romantica, and since this is very good, no problem! My grade: a B+.

The book is basically about two grown-ups exploring their sexual fantasies by creating an environment and a situation in which they feel safe enough to check their inhibitions at the door. No gimmicks, no stupid, contrived sexual neuroses, just two mature people who start realizing that in addition to finding each other sexually attractive, they have begun to fall for the real people who shine through in these sexual encounters.

Both David and Susan are likeable and they are scorching together. Leigh has a way with love scenes, and manages to infuse them with emotion, using them not (only) to titillate but to tell us more about her characters.

I also enjoyed that as always, Leigh's characters actually do feel like real young people, with attitudes and lifestyles that ring true (even if both David and Susan did have much more money than a regular person their age would). Plus, I liked their having strong, supportive groups of friends. Love it when romance incorporates certain elements of chick lit!

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About a Boy, by Nick Hornby

From Chick Lit to Lad Lit: About a Boy was my first book by Nick Hornby. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I had only a vague idea of what it was about.

Will is thirty-six but acts like a teenager. Single, child-free and still feeling cool, he reads the right magazines, goes to the right clubs and knows which trainers to wear. He's also discovered a great way to score with women at single parents' groups, full of available (and grateful) mothers, all waiting for Mr. Nice Guy.

That's where he meets Marcus, the oldest twelve-year-old in the world. Marcus is a bit strange: he listens to Joni Mitchell and Mozart, he looks after his Mum and he's neve even owned a pair of trainers. Perhaps if Will can teach Marcus how to be a kid, Marcus can help Will grow up and they can both start to act their age.

Well, my first read in the genre was impressive. The story felt fresh and original, and I enjoyed it. So maybe the reason why I couldn't predict what direction the story would take was simply because I'm a novice here, but still, I had a wonderful time reading this, and that's what counts. My grade: a B+.

I loved the way Hornby wrote Will and Marcus' relationship, which is the whole meat of the book. There's no sentimentalistic, immediate father-son bonding, their relationship is much more complicated than that. But it does develop quite a bit and I found it fascinating and even more touching than I expected. Both these characters are wonderfully drawn and, for all their flaws, very endearing.

I think I have a couple of other Hornbys in my pile (including one with a lot of football in it, if I remember correctly). I'll definitely have to dig them up!

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The Plumed Bonnet, by Mary Balogh

The Plumed Bonnet, by Mary Balogh, is the 4th book in a series that includes Dark Angel, Lord Carew's Bride and one of my favourite Baloghs: The Famous Heroine.

When the Duke of Bridgwater picks up Stephanie Gray in his carriage one day, she is wearing a fuchsia colored cloak and a bright pink, garishly adorned bonnet. He draws his own conclusions about her and listens to her story about being on her way to claim an inheritance with a great deal of amusement. By the time he realizes that she is telling the truth, it is too late--he has compromised her virtue and must marry her.

Like The Famous Heroine, this one's a misunderstanding-based story, one of my least favourite devices, and yet it works. My grade would be a B+.

There's actually two different misunderstandings here, and while they are quite different, both worked just fine, each in its own way.

The initial misunderstanding is a bit like the one in The Famous Heroine in that it's all funny and light-hearted. Alistair takes one look at Stephanie's clothing, especially that plumed bonnet, and assumes she's a courtesan. He spends the entire trip not believing a word of her story, in the mistaken understanding that she's aware of this and simply spinning her story to keep him amused, a bit like Scherezade.

Alistair's thoughts, as he tries to predict what contrivances Stephanie will add to her story (governess getting an unexpected inheritance, needing to get married to get it, and so on) and guesses correctly most of the time, are very funny. I also liked that, even believing whole-heartedly that she's not what she says, Alistair is always perfectly polite and kind to Stephanie. I've read too many books in which the hypocritical hero takes the heroine's perceived lack of virtue as an excuse to treat her like crap, so this is always a plus.

Once this misunderstanding is cleared up and these two are forced to marry, a new misunderstanding creeps up, and this one changes the tone of the book completely, something that, surprisingly, I wasn't bothered by. While up until that time the book hadn't been particularly intense, Balogh piles on the angst in the second half, as Stephanie and Alistair each misunderstand what the other wants from them.

Alistair wants a wife he can love and be loved by, and he's powerfully drawn to Stephanie. She, meanwhile, believes he simply wants a proper duchess and that she's indebted to him for marrying her, saving her from being compromised, so she tamps down her joie-de-vivre, exactly what Alistair loves about her. So, while she doggedly becomes the perfect duchess, becoming miserable in the process, Alistair comes to believe she basically can't stand him.

It probably sounds frustrating and a bit contrived when I describe it, but believe me, it felt perfectly realistic, that each would think what they do. And it's not one of those situations in which it feels stupid that they won't sit down and clear up the misunderstanding. On the contrary, it would have felt very fake if these two had simply had a heart-to-heart about their innermost feelings, not true to character at all! As it was, it was just wonderful to read, and I loved the scene in which they realize the other's real feelings. It wasn't an easy "I love you - oh, and I love you!" scene, and I greatly enjoyed the resolution.

I haven't liked all of Balogh's Signet Regencies, but I know many people believe that they were her best. I don't know, I've liked a few of her single titles quite well, but I've got to admit some stories, like this one, fit perfectly in the lenght of a Trad and would have felt too stretched out in a single title.

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Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown

Angels and Demons is a prequel to Dan Brown's blockbuster The Da Vinci Code.

An ancient secret brotherhood.
A devastating new weapon of destruction.
An unthinkable target.

World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization -- the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth...the long-forgotten Illuminati lair

Most of those of my friends who've read both books have actually told me they liked Angels and Demons better than The Da Vinci Code, but I liked it a bit less myself. Still, I'd give it a good grade, a B.

What I liked best was the treasure hunt aspect, following Langdon around Rome as he deduced, step by step, the Path of Illumination. And thanks to the Internet, I was even able to see what each place looked like. I didn't think to use the author's own site for this and ended up googling, but if you've already read the book, here are pictures of all the locations, courtesy of Dan Brown.

I was also very interested by the stuff about the Vatican and the way a new Pope gets elected, especially since the speculation has already started these days. And anyway, even without this, a papal conclave is fascinating, anyway.

Even with this, I wasn't all that crazy about the book right until near the end. I don't want to give anything away, but I'll just say that I liked what was actually going on much better than what it seemed was going on.

The pacing was another of the things I didn't like very much. I'm just not fond of break-neck speed, race-against-time books. I know this is very personal, and most people won't agree (in fact, this was the reason my mum liked A&D better than TDVC), but I prefer not to get that stressed out. I'm just weird that way ;-)

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Can You Keep a Secret?, by Sophie Kinsella

I have my own copy of Can You Keep a Secret? (excerpt), by Sophie Kinsella on its way here, thanks to the wonderful Màili, but when a friend mentioned she had a copy, I was weak and borrowed it. You see, it was just before I voted at the All About Romance poll for best reads of 2004 and I'd read almost nothing in the Chick Lit / Women's Fiction category.

Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:

Secrets from her mother:
- I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.
- Sammy the goldfish in my parents’ kitchen is not the same goldfish that Mum gave me to look after when she and Dad were in Egypt.

Secrets from her boyfriend:
- I weigh one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. Not one eighteen, like Connor thinks.
- I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.

From her colleagues:
- When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day.)
- It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.

Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world:
- My G-string is hurting me.
- I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.

Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.

But come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn’t possibly get worse—Until they do.

I immensely enjoyed this one. My grade for it was a B+. Actually, I was a bit surprised, because I've heard a lot about the Shopaholic series, and that one sounds exactly like the type of chick-lit I don't like at all.

At first, I was ready to be irritated by Emma. The first couple of scenes seemed to show the type of humour I hate, the type which relies on the heroine behaving like a nitwit. Emma seemed to make no effort in her job and to be inept. But then she started to grow on me. She's just a normal young woman, one who loves her parents and yet is tremendously irritated by some of the things they do; one who has a job she isn't the best ever at and which doesn't particularly fulfill her, but hey! she knows there are worse jobs out there and hers isn't that bad! She gets along fine with some people and despises others, and isn't above being a little bitchy to them. And last, but not least, she has a strong honourable core and tries her best to be responsible, as evidenced by the fact that she's absolutely serious about paying her father back the money she owes him and actually cuts back on shopping for clothes and ends up buying stuff at charity shops.

The plot is a lot of fun. Kinsella took full advantage of all the possibilities afforded by having Jack knowing every single little secret of Emma's, and the result was hilarious, and sometimes even surprisingly poignant. A book as laugh-out-loud funny as this one risks lacking a bit of emotion (The Royal Treatment, anyone?), but Can You Keep a Secret? actually almost made me cry a few times. I simply loved, loved, loved the scene in which Jack stands up to her family for her, really sticking it to her annoying cousin! And the scene of Jack's betrayal.... wow! Powerful stuff!

If there's anything that kept this from being an A read it was the fact that I felt Jack was a little underwritten. I didn't know him as well as I wanted to, and this made the romance not as satisfying as it could have been.

Still, that's a small problem. On the whole, this was an amazing book!

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While She Was Sleeping, by Suzanne Forster

I hadn't read Suzanne Forster in years (and I don't remember enjoying her books that much, to tell the truth), but While She Was Sleeping sounded interesting, even if the reviews were lackluster.

He knows when you're alone...
He abducts women from their beds at midnight, gagging and terrorizing them and then dumping them, drugged but alive, days later. None of the victims have been able to identify him, and the Seattle police have no leads-until now...

And after the lights are out...
There's been a new abduction, but with a terrifying twist--the latest victim, a cop working on the case, has been found dead. But the police may now have the break they need-a witness...

He comes for you...
The sole witness is a homeless woman with a shaky memory. Forensic sketch artist Jennifer Nash has been called in by the SPD. However, her unconventional techniques have made her unpopular with cops­--one cop in particular. Russ Sadler was the victim's ex-partner. He's now the chief investigator --and the last person Jennifer wants to work with. Their affair left them both burned, but they can't let their emotions interfere. The killer is a lot closer than anyone realizes, and now he has his eye on Jennifer...

Well, I should have listened to the reviews and stayed away from this one, my grade for it is a D.

Russ didn't make a good impression at the beginning. He looked like the worst kind of cop, the kind which will actively sabotage someone (Jennifer, in this case) who has a real chance to break the case simply because he wants to "win" himself. I just couldn't believe the way he hid the witness from her and contaminated the witness' memories, all the while knowing that Jennifer's methods, however polemic, were so often successful.

Still, in the beginning, the book at least looked interesting, even with Russ behaving like a baboon. Soon, however, it started to drag and drag and drag. Nothing would happen for pages, they kept either running around in circles or doing nothing that would help catch the murderer. Even Jennifer's sketching thing, which was interesting, was ruined by her stupid, stupid behaviour when it came to the way she evaluated her results. So the "police procedural" part was basically a bust.

And the characters! I didn't perceive even a smidgen of chemistry between these two former lovers. Their interactions felt wooden, and my personal un-favourite part of the book was the way their previous break-up was explained. Lots of meaningless psychobabble from Jennifer about her father and trust and having lied to her mother, and this apparently made sense to Russ, as a good reason to leave someone practically at the altar? No way!

Things picked up a bit at the end, but only because the Forster made Jennifer behave like a brain-dead twit and recklessly endanger her life just because. I ended up skimming the completely unbelievable ending.

What a waste of time! This one's going straight to my trade list!

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AAR 2004 annual reader poll

The results of AAR's 9th annual reader poll were published today, and I had great fun looking at the results and reading the accompanying analysis column. Since I voted this year (as I have for the past few years since I started keeping a reader journal), here's my comparison between my ballot and the results:

- Best romance: Yay! I voted for Jennifer Crusie's Bet Me, and it was the winner! I loved Bet Me and gave it an A. It was by far my favourite read this year.

- Favourite Funny: That was definitely Bet Me for me, too. This is the type of smart, witty humour, complete with wonderful banter, that I adore. I also liked the book which got an honourable mention, MaryJanice Davidson's Undead and Unwed and thought it was really funny, though I might have burnt out a bit on MJD after reading too many of her books in a row.

- Most Hanky read: Yet another category in which I picked the winner, When He Was Wicked, by Julia Quinn. I'm so proud of myself, but I've no idea why, since this is in no way an achievement of mine. I guess it's nice to have one's taste validated ;-) Anyway, I liked this "new" direction of JQ's. The first part of the book, especially, was heart-wrenching.

- Most Luscious Love Story: Ah, here is the first I sort of don't agree with. I did read the winner, Adele Ashworth's Duke of Sin, but while I did like it and thought it was an improvement on her latest couple of books, I wasn't crazy about it. As for its "lusciousness"... hmmm, ok, it was a sexy book, but I've read a few others which were much more so. My pick was actually a short story, Night Owl, by Emma Holly, published in the Hot Blooded anthology. That one was burn-your-fingers hot! My close runner-up in this category was the book that won the honorable mention at the poll, Shadowheart, by Laura Kinsale. Those love scenes really did work for me, which means I'm probably "adventurous", as LLB says in her column ;-)

- Best Cabin / Road romance: I left this category blank in my ballot, because after thinking and thinking, I hadn't read any books I'd enjoyed that fit the bill. That's actually weird, since it's a theme I enjoy. I have already procured a copy of the winner, My Seduction, by Brockway, so I'll be getting to it as soon as it gets here.

- Best New Author: I confess I haven't read many new authors this year. I voted for Robin D. Owens, one of the only 2 or 3 new authors I've read from 2004. As in the last category, I've got the winner, Marianne Stillings' first book, on its way.

- Best Buried Treasure: I haven't read the winner here either, Under a Lucky Star, by Diane Farr, though it's in my Wish List. My vote went to Fair Play, by Deirdre Martin, which I guess could count as a buried treasure, even though it did get a bit of buzz.

- Guiltiest Pleasure: I didn't read Night Play, but Sherrilyn Kenyon. I did read the first in that series and liked it, but I never did continue. I might, even if I find Kenyon / MacGregor's heroes way too tortured, crossing the line into over-the-top. My vote here went to Heart Duel, by my favourite new author, Robin D. Owens.

- Author Most Glommed: Mine was an author I really got into late in the year, Susan Napier. I've started collecting her extensive backlist.

- Best Medieval: I voted for the winner in this one: Shadowheart, by Laura Kinsale. I didn't read many 2004 medievals, and this one was so good it was head and shoulders above anything in the field.

- Best European Historical: I meant to read the one which won, Slightly Dangerous, by Mary Balogh before voting, but I was advised to read at least the previous couple of books in the series before, and I never did get around to it, though I have them all in my TBR. I voted for Liz Carlyle's A Deal With the Devil, which barely edged out my favourite most-hanky read, When He Was Wicked, by Julia Quinn.

- Best Traditional Regency: The winner in this category, Nonnie St. George's Courting Trouble was actually the only 2004 Trad I read, so technically, it was my best of the year. I didn't like it at all, though, so I left this category blank.

- Best American Historical / Frontier: Yet another category I left blank. I'm just not into these genres very much, and I didn't read any book here.

- Best Contemp: Oh, yes, definitely Bet Me. I know some people try to vote for different books in the "best romance" category and in the genre it belongs to, to spread their votes around, but I figure if a contemp was my favourite book of the year, I should vote for it as best romance and best contemp.

- Best Series novel: My vote went to Darkness Calls, by Caridad Piñeiro, a wonderful, gritty, vampire book. The Winner, AKA Goddess, by Evelyn Vaughn, is yet another book that is on its way here. The winner of the honourable mention isn't one I'm too interested in, since I believe Catherine Mann writes military romance, right? And I didn't much like the book of hers that I've read.

- Best Romantic Suspense: I voted for Northern Lights, by Nora Robers. Wonderful book! I haven't read Howard's Kiss Me While I Sleep yet (you guessed it, it's currently on its way here), but I did read the winner of the honourable mention, Brockmann's Flashpoint and I liked it.

- Best Alternate Reality: I liked Divided in Death, by JD Robb a bit better than I liked the book which won here, Undead and Unwed, by MaryJanice Davidson.

- Best Chick Lit / Women's Fiction: Like LLB, I didn't consider Bet Me chick lit, but I do understand why people voted for it here, since it did contain my favourite elements from chick lit. My choice was Can You Keep a Secret?, by Sophie Kinsella, which I read just in time to vote. I meant to wait for my copy to get here (thanks Máili for sending it!), but my 2004 chick lit reading had been so sparce that I couldn't resist it when a friend mentioned she had a copy.

- Best short story: I didn't read the winner here, my vote went to the story which won my vote for most luscious love story: Night Owl, by Emma Holly, from the Hot Blooded anthology.

- Most Tortured Hero: For some reason, I never even thought of Allegretto when time came to make my choice in this category, but he does deserve the title. I voted for Robert Carroway, from Suzanne Enoch's England's Perfect Hero, a book which started out well but basically went down a cliff in the second half. Still, Robert was pretty tortured, even in the most literal sense of the word.

- Strongest Heroine: As I said, I haven't yet read the book which won here, and the winner of the honourable mention is also on its way here, after it came out in paperback. I voted for Meg Galloway, from Northern Lights, by Nora Roberts, a really kick-ass heroine!

- Best Hero: I loved Cal and Nate, and I haven't yet met the others, but I can't think they can beat my choice, Julian Hampton, from Madeline Hunter's The Romantic, truly one of the most wonderful, amazing and yes, romantic heroes I've ever read.

- Best Heroine: My favourite was also my strongest heroine, Meg Galloway, from Northern Lights, though I liked Min, the winner, too.

- Best Couple: I picked the winners here, Min and Cal, from Crusie's Bet Me. They were truly wonderful together!

- Best Villain: I never know whether to vote for the most scary, disgusting, horrible villain, or for my favourite. I chose the latter option this year, and voted for the one from The Legend of Banzai Maguire, by Susan Grant. I hadn't read Brockmann's Flashpoint at the time of voting, but if I had, I would have been tempted to vote for the truly terrifying Padma Bashir. That guy really did make my skin crawl.

- Most Annoying Lead: Oh, the winner, Aline Marsden, from Kleypas' Again the Magic really was annoying, but I thought Declan MacDonald, from The Sexiest Dead Man Alive, by Jane Blackwood was even worse. I hate whiny little boys. Of the dishonourable mentions, I actually liked Theresa Falconetti, from Deirdre Martin's Fair Play!

- Author You Gave Up On: I left this category blank, as I don't think I really gave up on anyone this year.

- Author Others Love That You Don't: Oh, I'm one of the people who love the "winners" here, Nora Roberts and Suzanne Brockmann! My choice was Christine Feehan, after (if I remember correctly) several years of voting for Julie Garwood.

- Most Disappointing Read: I haven't read the winner and don't plan to, from everything I've heard about it. My vote went for Married to the Viscount, by Sabrina Jeffries. I chose it because I had previously enjoyed everything I'd read by Jeffries, so I was really expecting something much better.

- Worst Read: Oh, dear, I'm planning to read The Real Deal! Let's hope I like it better than most people! My vote here went to The Spare, by Carolyn Jewel. I've often left this category blank in the past, because my worst books of the year were just "not that good", not truly awful, but I truly disliked The Spare.

- Purple-est Prose: Definitely Christine Feehan's short story in the Hot Blooded anthology. I don't read Nicole Jordan, and this doesn't tempt me to do so, either!

My thanks to LLB and everyone who helped with this at AAR, I look forward to this every year!

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The Boyfriend School, by Sarah Bird

The Boyfriend School, by Sarah Bird is probably the book that has spent the longest time on my Wish List. I recently found an old file on my computer containing one of my earliest versions of it, from back in 1998, when I first started buying books online, and The Boyfriend School was already there, the only one of the books on it that I hadn't been able to get since.

Gretchen Griner is an underpaid, underappreciated photographer for the Austin (that’s Texas) Grackle, part-time lover of Peter Overton Treadwell III (known as “Trout”), and major consumer of Cup O’ Soup. That is, until she meets Lizzie Potts—otherwise known as Viveca Lamoureaux, romance writer extraordinaire. Lizzie has a plan for Gretchen’s life—and it includes Lizzie’s brother Gus. But Gretchen has her own plan, and it does not feature a “wispy goon” named Gus. Of course, fate also has a plan for Gretchen, and it doesn’t care what Gretchen wants. So Lizzie will give Gretchen Gus, Gus will give Gretchen the man of her dreams, and among this oddball cast of marvelous misfits, someone just may discover the secret to true romance.

I loved this book, my grade would be a B+.

I was surprised to find that The Boyfriend School actually fits in perfectly well within the Chick Lit genre, for all that it was written back in 1989, before this genre was... formalized, I guess would be the word. The focus on the story is Gretchen's life, even if there's quite a bit of romance, too.

I loved the romance novel angle. I worried a little bit at the beginning, when Gretchen had just arrived at the romance novel convention (the Luvboree), that it was going to be all clichés and romance-novel bashing, but I soon realized it was going to be nothing like that. Bird obviously reads and loves romance novels, and it shows, especially in the way she does criticize certain things about them... not the things snobby non-readers keep harping on, but the type of things that drive me, for instance, crazy.

I don't really know how accurate the publishing scene is for 15 years ago, but it sounds basically good, if a little exagerated. My main impression was that the settings sounded so much fun! Much more variety than there is nowadays. I don't know if it was that free, but I do know that this is an area that has become much more conservative lately.

The characters were a delight. I especially adored Lizzie and Juanita, Gretchen's romance writer friends. And Trout, Gretchen's fascinatingly repulsive on-and-off lover! Everyone was a bit exagerated, not enough to make them cartoons, but just enough to make them fun.

The romance was good, too. I don't want to give anything away, but there was a certain plot twist that surprised the hell out of me, enough that I needed to go back quite a few pages and reread them from this different optic. I'll say this, though: I really loved the hero!

If this book had a negative, it would be that I ended up with the feeling that Gretchen was a bit shallow and hung up on appearances. The good thing is, Bird is perfectly aware of this and so is Gretchen, so the HEA ending was more believable than it would have been otherwise, especially because it was a bit of an open-ish ending, less definite than what usually happens in romance novels.

I adored reading this book. Everything was enjoyable, from the characters, to the dialogue, from the setting to the author's writing style.

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Prince of Darkness, by Barbara Michaels

I can't remember the last time I reread Prince of Darkness, by Barbara Michaels. In fact, I could barely remember what Prince of Darkness was about!

A mysterious visitor from England has come to the exclusive and captivating town of Middleburg, Maryland. And when this handsome stranger becomes a bit too involved with the beautiful Tiphaine Blake, the local villagers fear the revelation of dark secrets. Secrets of the living and the dead -which can only be resolved by the great Prince himself...

Prince of Darkness started out intriguing and mysterious, but I thought it lost a bit of its charm near the end. My grade would be a B-.

The first two-thirds of the book are narrated from the point of view of the mysterious Peter. In this part, Michaels manages to keep Peter's motivations and intentions a mystery, without making me feel she was being obnoxiously enigmatic (the blurb didn't help at all in explaining this). We saw Peter's actions and some stray clues as to what he intended and why, but it wasn't until the last third that everything got explained.

And when we finally know who he is, and the point of view changes to Kate, the story loses some interest. It's not that the explanations don't make sense, it's just that for all the over-the-top drama, I didn't think it was all that interesting or frightening.

Still, an interesting book, the first part more than makes up for the weaker ending.

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Tell Me Lies, by Jennifer Crusie

Tell Me Lies was my first Jennifer Crusie, and it started me collecting her entire backlist (or, at least, the ones not prohibitively expensive!). Other books have become my favourites by this author (Welcome To Temptation, Bet Me, Anyone But You... ), but Tell Me Lies has a special place in my shelves for getting me started with this wonderful author.

Maddie Martindale has been the nice girl of her small town of Frog Point where gossip is major entertainment. Comfortably, if not happily, married to bigshot Brent, who is running for mayor, and mother to a sweet girl, Maddie seems to have a perfect life. But after she finds crotchless panties in her husband's car, Maddie's pristine reputation unravels. An imminent divorce, her husband's murder, and the precipitate return of Maddie's sexy high school flame, C.L. Sturgis, lead to her quick fall. C.L., the rebel bad boy who never dropped his torch for Maddie, has straightened out handsomely and plays a seductively vital role. The town is agog with talk of Maddie, the adulteress and murderess.

The back of the book has a comment from a reviewer comparing Crusie to Susan Isaacs, and in this book, I really do see the similarities. It was a B+ for me.

I really enjoyed reading Maddie's metamorphosis from a woman determined to live the life her whole town seems to want her to live to a woman who decides to take control of her own life and do what she wants with it. At first, Maddie frustrated me with her insistence on keeping up appearances, not creating gossip, looking like the perfect wife. She was a doormat for everyone, from her cheating husband to her dominating mother, and the contrast between her pleasant, compliant facade and what actually goes on inside her head, her snarky thoughts and needs to rebel, was heartbreaking.

So I cheered when that facade started cracking and she realized that she'd go crazy if she kept on with that type of life. It wasn't an instantaneous process, and she really tortured C.L. with her back and forth, but the woman who emerged in the end was wonderful!

C.L. was an interesting character, a knight-in-shining-armour accountant, who had remained half in love with Maddie since high school, but this was Maddie's story, so he was a bit less prominent in the story. What there was of the romance was lovely, though :-)

I liked the plot, too, and most of the secondary characters. You couldn't pay me enough to live in Frog Point, but I did think it suited Maddie and C.L., so I didn't finish the book wanting to scream at the hero and heroine to get the hell out of that horrible place, as I've often done with other books set in gossipy small towns.

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