Courting Catherine, by Nora Roberts (The Calhouns #1)

Uh-oh, I feel a Nora Roberts series reread blitz coming on! Seriously, since I had that talk with my friend I've been wanting to reread so many Nora series! I've already started the Night Tales and now I've also started the Calhoun Women series. The first book is Courting Catherine

STRICTLY BUSINESS

All hard-driving executive Trenton St. James III had on his mind was business-making the final arrangements to buy a run-down old mansion on the coast of Maine. He wasn't expecting any complications. And he definitely wasn't expecting anything like Catherine "C. C." Calhoun.

This feisty, independent-minded young woman bristled at the very thought of her family's most highly prized possession ending up as part of some faceless hotel chain. And she seemed to bristle at the very sight of Trenton St. James, too. But all that was going to have to change, because Trent not only wanted her home, he wanted her, too. And he wasn't a man who took no for an answer.    

Ho-hum. I really liked this one as the setup for the series, but the romance itself didn't work all that well. A B.

It's a bit funny how you can define the pairings in the entire series with a couple of words. Here it's the tomboy (automechanic, combative, always stained with grease) matched with the suave businessman. Next are the efficient businesswoman/laid back architect - free spirit / professor and mommy / cop.

Our tomboy, Catherine (or CC, as she likes to be called) wasn't a character I liked much. She came across as very judgemental and obnoxious at first. I really didn't get her indignation at Trent's offer to buy her house to turn it into a hotel. I mean, ok, if you don't want to sell say no. Where exactly is the offense? I just don't get her attitude, and it's one common to many romance heroines. Nora herself has quite a few.

Ok, CC gets a bit nicer as the book progresses, but then wham! "I love you", she says. "huh?" And the huh wasn't only Trent speaking, it was my reaction as well. I mean, they had been bickering since they'd met. One somewhat peaceful evening, an admision of the fact they desire each other and she's telling him "I'm in love with you"? It completely threw me out of the story.

As did the fact that she was a virgin. Not that I think there's anything wrong with someone being a virgin, but give me a good reason for it!

Ah, well.... The story was saved by the fact that Trent is a pretty decent guy, and by the overarching storyline. The whole thing about the hidden emeralds, and the project to turn The Towers into a hotel, and the relationship betweent the sisters and their aunt (and between the rest of the family and Trent), all that was excellent. I have to admit, if I didn't have the entire quartet (plus the extra afterthought book) ready to read, I'd be mad that I don't get so many threads tied up, but as it is, it's a nice way to join together the series.

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Nightwalker, by Jayne Ann Krentz (as Stephanie James)

I actually read Nightwalker, by Jayne Ann Krentz (writing as Stephanie James) some time ago, but after so many JAK books, it's hard to find anything original to say about a new one. I still enjoy them very much, though ;-)

DEAD OF NIGHT

Cassie was alone in the old mansion when the lights went out. Then three knocks on the heavy r front door resounded through the house. Lashed by rain, Justin Drake stood at her doorstep. A sudden bolt of lightning illuminated the dark form of the man who had come to exact the revenge he had promised--her seduction.

But soon strange events began to occur, and Cassie wondered if she had tumbled into a nightmare. Was Justin the protector he now claimed to be. . . or was she fatally drawn to the instrument of her own destruction?

I don't know, this one seemed to me a bit more original than other of hers. It did have a couple of elements she's already used, but that was it. A B+

I especially liked the heroine. Cassie's rich because she's made her money herself (a self-made heroine at last!!), and doesn't feel guilty about it. Neither does she feel the need to keep on making more and more money. No, she has enough, now it's time to enjoy life. Can I mention how much I like her attitude?

She's a bit too hung up on her sister's life for my taste, but at least when she decides to blackmail the hero into not marrying her sister (don't ask!), she thinks it through, finds his weak points and attacks. And she doesn't allow herself to be intimidated into backing off. But then she lets Justin manipulate her into not throwing him out of the house she's rented, and seeing how this contrasts with her first attitude, I'm a bit baffled.

Justin was all right, too. He tried his best to be a bastard, with his plans for revenge and his macho attitude, but Cassie soon has him behaving like a teddy bear of a guy. Nice ;-)

Oh, and these two definitely had chemistry!

I enjoyed the whole Dracula gothic thingie this book had going on. Big, decrepit mansion on top of a cliff. Apparitions popping up all over the place. A hero who might be responsible for them. Very good!

The suspense subplot itself (or rather, its solution, what actually was going on) was interesting, though pretty obvious. Luckily, as in all the books JAK wrote in those years, the actual suspense is pretty slight, and I thought what there was of it added to the story.

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Devil's Bride, by Stephanie Laurens (Cynsters #1)

The first time I read Stephanie Laurens' Devil's Bride I hated it. I really did. I didn't really give up on Laurens after it, and I read Scandal's Bride and A Secret Love after it. The former was not good either, but I did love the latter (unlike everyone else, apparently), so I always thought maybe at one point I'd read something else by Laurens.

Two years later, there have been too many other books I wanted to try, so I didn't buy anything else by her. However, it turns out a friend of mine has the first 6 Cynster books, so I decided to try again and start by rereading Devil's Bride.

To Have...
When Devil, the most infamous member of the Cynster family, is caught in a compromising position with plucky governess Honoria Wetherby, he astonishes the entire tom by offering his hand in marriage. No one dreamed this scandalous rake would ever take a bride. And as society mamas swooned at the loss of England's most eligible bachelor, Devil's infamous Cynster cousins began to place wagers on the wedding date.

...And To Hold

But Honoria wasn't about to bend society's demands and marry a man "just" because they'd been found together virtually unchaperoned. No, she craved adventure, and while solving the murder of a young Cynster cousin fit the bill for a while, she decided that once the crime was solved she'd go off to see the world. But the scalding heat of her unsated desire for Devil soon had Honoria craving a very different sort of excitement. Could her passion for Devil cause her to embrace the enchanting peril of a lifelong adventure of the heart?

I was very surprised by the fact that I really like it this time around. A B+.

My main objection the first time I read it was that I hated how Devil simply decreed that Honoria was to marry him and refused to respect her opinions and wishes. I've always enjoyed books with a pursuing hero, but this was too much. I thought Devil was too arrogant, too autocratic, too ready to discount Honoria's wishes, too sure of himself, even.

This time, my reaction was different. Yes, at first I found Devil horrible. I was mentally begging Honoria to run from him as fast as she could. However, then things started changing.

First of all, Devil stopped being so irritating at one point. However obnoxious and mulish he was in the beginning about Honoria having to marry him no matter what she wanted, in the end he didn't want to have her come to him pressured, but needed for her to make up her mind freely and to choose to marry him because she wanted to. I liked him much better for it. And the scenes where Honoria tries to tell him she accepts his suit but he refuses to hear her because she can't think straight (guess exactly what they were doing!!), are a hoot ;-)

Also, and what was the most responsible for my enjoyment of the book, was that Honoria was more than a match for Devil. She simply didn't allow herself to be bullied. Devil's dictates were not what made her choose to marry him. Oh, no! She made absolutely sure that it was what she wanted, and only then made her decision.

I liked her thought processes. She was perfectly aware of the fact that she couldn't allow Devil to dominate her, but she didn't run from the challenge. And she realizes that to reject him just because he's trying to pressure her into something, even though it's something she actually wants now, would be to cut off her nose to spite her face. A very sensible attitude, and I really respected her.

The main weakness of the book was the suspense subplot. It did set up the situation, and for long stretches was very unobtrusive, but I must say it was pretty nonsensical, and didn't really add all that much to things.

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Night Shadow, by Nora Roberts (Night Tales #2)

After reading Nora Roberts's Night Tales #1, I did something I almost never do and read #2, Night Shadow immediately afterwards.

IN A CITY RULED BY FEAR...

.....a solitary figure shrouded in black walked the night, determined to awaken a terrified metropolis from the nightmare of crime. There was nothing -- no bullets, and certainly not legal technicalities -- that could deter the man they called Nemesis from his mission.

Deborah O'Roarke, an idealistic young prosecutor waging her own war against crime, owed Nemesis her very life. She shared his passion for justice, yet she could not accept his lawless methods. Still, though she fought her unwelcome desire for this disturbing stranger, she was unable to deny her longing to share the shadows that were his home....

Lots of fun! An A-.

Well, I must say I'm surprised that a romance novel with a hero who puts on a superhero costume and roams the streets fighting the forces of evil and crime worked so well ;-) It's especially surprising because the tone of the book wasn't at all campy, but serious.

Night Shadow felt very much like one of those superheroes comics. It's set in a city, Urbana, which is very, very Gotham (though the atmosphere was distinctly like the one of the city in that first Batman movie...). The hero, who is a millionaire in his regular life (yes, well, this is Nora Roberts, you know), has a "superpower" (being able to become invisible) and moonlights as a superhero. And the heroine. of course, is the serious sort, who keeps running into our hero in both his guises and is attracted to "both" men.

Gage's superpower is pretty well explained, as plausible as these things can be. However, I had to turn down my critical faculties a little: I could understand that he became invisible, but what happens to his clothes?? Ah, well, I just had to ignore this and enjoy the rest of the show :-)

The romance worked very well, too. This was very much an action-driven romance, but I enjoyed it, even though I usually much prefer character-driven stories. Maybe it was just that the action was so fascinating. Anyway, Roberts does a nice balancing act here, and Gage discloses his identity to Deborah just in time. Any more and it would have become irritating.

I very much liked the fact that the book dealt with the issue of vigilantism. It didn't have an obvious agenda, simply explored pros and cons, and I appreciated the fact that it was touched upon.

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Night Shift, by Nora Roberts (Night Tales #1)

I was recently talking to a friend who loves series (as in related books) and I was telling her about Nora Roberts. Not too surprisingly, after talking about books I've loved, I felt the need to reread them.

I started with the Night Tales series, a group of five related books with the common thread of having characters who are night people. The first one is Night Shift.

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT

The calls came like clockwork -- a cold, hate-filled voice telling late-night radio announcer Cilla O'Roarke that she was going to die. The never-ending threats had finally made her a believer. She was desperate -- desperate enough to accept police protection.

Cilla preferred to keep her distance from the police, and she had her reasons. But there was something about Boyd Fletcher that made him difficult to ignore. He was strong, laconic, infuriating and clearly determined to watch over her every second of the day -- and night.

And the trouble was, the more Cilla saw of her unwanted bodyguard, the more she wanted him to share the night she loved....

Most of it was just ok, but it had enough special moments to make it a B.

The whole first part of the book was pretty lackluster. It felt like it had very little originality, like every other (and there are quite a few) book about a woman who has the need for police (or bodyguard) protection against a stalker and falls in love with the man assigned to protect her. It was very unoriginal, down to the heroine who very feistily (I hate that word!) denies that she needs the hero's help, and I had trouble keeping my attention on the book. My mind just kept wondering. Oh, and I was irritated by all the music references. I suppose they were pretty mainstream, and most Americans would recognize them, but not being American myself, I didn't get 90% of them and it got very tedious.

But the book gradually became better, probably starting when Cilla ditched her stupid "I don't need a bodyguard" attitude, and there were certain moments, like the first love scene which were wonderful. By the time I got to the final crisis I was having lots of fun.

Of course, there were a few problems in that final half of the book. For instance, it was not really credible that when she was asked about guys in her past she'd rejected, Cilla didn't remember the guy who'd stalked her and even given her a wedding ring. I really can't buy that she wouldn't remember it, it was too recent! But still, the balance was very positive, positive enough to balance the weak first part and get the grade to B-range.

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Greygallows, by Barbara Michaels

Another week, another Barbara Michaels. This time: Greygallows.

Not knowing the past of her charming and handsome suitor, Lucy Cartwright accepts his marriage proposal. Innocently following Baron Clare to his estate, Lucy has no idea that he is leading her into a world of betrayal and danger. Suddenly she realizes the man of her fondest dreams has become the source of her worst nightmares, and she must devise a way out

*Sigh* It's hard to grade this one. I suppose it was a good book, if I had to evaluate it objectively, but the thing is the whole injustice of the laws at the time and helplessness of the heroine made me too angry and depressed to enjoy it. I'll have to give it a C+.

I mean, it was so frustrating! Lucy was so obviously making a huge mistake. She realized the consequences, that once she was married there was pretty much nothing she could do to get out of it if it became intolerable. She wasn't too sure of what she was doing. And yet, she didn't have the spine to take a stand.

Maybe the thing was she was too young. And that was something else I disliked. I suppose it's accurate, but a 17-year-old heroine is just too young for me to relate to, at least as a supposedly "adult" character.

To make things worse, there was very little of the humour I like so much in most of this author's books here. It had the oppressive atmosphere I enjoy in gothics, but without that extra something else, it wasn't thrilling, just awfully depressing.

So far I've had mixed results with Michaels' historicals. Black Rainbow and Greygallows, I didn't like, while The Master of Blacktower, Sons of the Wolf and Wings of the Falcon were good. I'll have to see what I think of The Wizard's Daughter, the only one I haven't reread lately...

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Secret Admirer, by Susan Napier

Last Friday I read Secret Admirer, by Susan Napier, an old Harlequin Presents title.

Running into a potential business partner late at night in a broken elevator - when one was wearing a glamorous fur with nothing on underneath - was awkward, but Grace Blair was cool enough to handle a hot situation.

Her poised, controlled demeanor belied the insecurity she felt taking over her late husband's business empire, but Scott Gregory was able with one caressing glance to strip away all her pretenses. Especially since the handsome New Zealander had made it clear from their first inauspicious meeting that in business, knowledge was power - and that he knew exactly what he wanted.

Despite some early doubts, this was ultimately a B.

I usually decide purchases based on reviews, but occasionally I read some intriguing tidbit in a message board post or mailing list message and buy the book. This is what happened with Secret Admirer, and by the time it got here I hadn't the foggiest idea of why I'd bought it. First of all, it was a Harlequin Presents, which I've always thought of as the old-fashioned ones, with the cruel alpha males and spineless heroines. Definitely not my cup of tea. And when I started it, it seemed to be just that.

The hero, Scott, behaves very much like the sterotypical alpha of old times, when I started reading romance. He acuses Grace of having a "protector", he's condescending and patronizing and manipulative. And Grace is just as problematic. At one point, she thinks she behaved "like a shameless hussy of the streets". A heroine who actually says the words "shameless hussy" and not as a joke has to be a bit too old-fashioned for me ;-) And I got really irritated by the way she lets herself be manipulated by Scott so easily. I just can't believe someone would actually fall for the old "What, afraid of kissing me? No? Then prove it!" trick!

Furthermore, I really didn't get why she got so upset about the elevator episode. So she gets stuck in an elevator naked under a fur coat, and at one point the guy she's stuck with very presumptuously opens her coat and sees she's naked. That's it. Embarrasing? Yes, sure. But blackmail material? Nah. Anyway, good for her for calling his bluff about it.

Still, Grace not as stupid as some heroines I've read. Naive, yes. Easily manipulated by Scott, that too. But she did have some strength and common sense. She was smart enough to admit she was ignorant in business matters and to formulate a strategy to remedy that and to cover her ignorance meanwhile.

But then, after grumbling my way through the first part of the book, I came to the first love scene and the subsequent revelation. It was an "A-ha!" moment. So that's why I decided to buy this book! The minute I read the revelation I had to go back and read the whole love scene again, from the new perspective. Really wonderful!

And after that, we have a new, kinder Scott, who actually shows some vulnerabilities. That part alone was worth the price of admission. He does have a bit of an "all women are bitches except you" attitude, which I really didn't appreciate, but he's ok, as alpha heros go.

It was an interesting book, quite original, and though it wasn't quite a keeper, I'm glad I read it.

Oh, as a last comment, I'll mention that the book was set in NZ, but this wasn't really an issue. Unfortunately, it simply didn't have a strong sense of place, nothing to differentiate it from the run-of-the-mill US urban setting.

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Born in Shame, by Nora Roberts

I've been meaning to read Born in Shame, by Nora Roberts, ever since I reread the first two novels in the trilogy earlier this year.

This third and final novel in Roberts's Irish trilogy is the story of Shannon Bodine. Shannon's life is rocked by an emotional earthquake when she learns the identity of her real father. Obeying her late mother's last wish, American Shannon travels to County Clare, Ireland, to meet the sisters she never knew she had.

Warmed and comforted by the bond that grows between her and her sisters, her heart is lured by the charm of the Irish countryside and tempted by the attraction of horseman Murphy Muldoon. Murphy takes one look at Shannon and knows that she is the woman he's waited for all his life. But Shannon is a practical woman. Will she open her heart and mind to the timeless, magical bond that connects them? Or will she reject fate's plan and leave Murphy to return to her life in America?

It was wonderful, an A-.

I adored Murphy. I loved the way he took one look at Shannon and he was a gonner. That was it for him. That first scene, where Shannon thinks he's a bit slow because all he can do is stare at her was beautiful!

Shannon could have been a tedious character, because of the way she refused to accept what was happening, but I really did understand her doubts about giving it all up for love, and I though more of her for thinking things through carefully and not letting herself be pressured by Murphy. I felt the solution they arrived at was the best way to go.

Ok, yes, I'm not usually too fond of the "fated lovers" angle. I like to see people fall in love and understand why they do, and to have the protagonists fall for each other only because it was pre-ordained in some prophecy seems to me like cheating. For some reason, it worked here. Probably because I got the feeling that these two would have fallen in love anyway, even if there hadn't been that supernatural thing.

And speaking of the touch of the supernatural, I thought it was just right for the story. Roberts has been known to go a bit overboard with it, but not here.

Almost as good as the love story was the development of the relationship between the three sisters. Discussing Born in Shame with a friend, she mentioned that she loved how the characters from the other books weren't just there for show, they were part of the story. Both Brie and Maggie are the same people they were in their own books, and so are their husbands. They behave in a way that feels natural, given the people we know they are from their own books. Having them here creates a lovely sense of community.

And BTW, like my friend, I must say I like Brianna much better as a secondary character than I did as the heroine ;-)

Taken as a whole, this trilogy is probably the best I've ever read.

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Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters

As I said I might after reading the last book, I've started a reread of the whole Amelia Peabody series, by Elizabeth Peters. Book number one is Crocodile on the Sandbank.

Elizabeth Peters's unforgettable heroine Amelia Peabody makes her first appearance in this clever mystery. Amelia receives a rather large inheritance and decides to use it for travel. On her way through Rome to Egypt, she meets Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young woman abandoned by her lover and left with no means of support. Amelia promptly takes Evelyn under her wing, insisting that the young lady accompany her to Egypt, where Amelia plans to indulge her passion for Egyptology. When Evelyn becomes the target of an aborted kidnapping and the focus of a series of suspicious accidents and mysterious visitations, Amelia becomes convinced of a plot to harm her young friend. Like any self-respecting sleuth, Amelia sets out to discover who is behind it all.

I loved it, it may sound clichéd, but it was visiting with old friends. An A+.

Ahhh, this is were it all started. I really loved seeing the first indications of those character traits so developed in the following books. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the characters were already pretty formed here. They develop in the rest of the series, and grow, but they are still the same people they are in this first book.

What can I say about Amelia and Emerson that I haven't said a thousand times before? What is here that isn't in the rest of the books is them falling in love, and it was wonderful. One intense look into each other's eyes was more erotic than a full-blown sex scene in other books ;-)

The plot was ok, but a bit too obvious. I probably remember it from when I first read this, but really, if one accepts that nothing supernatural was going on, there's only one solution, and one very easy to guess.

On to book number two, now!

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Almost a Princess, by Elizabeth Thornton

Almost a Princess is my first Elizabeth Thornton book. I've had Whisper His Name (which seems to be a kind of prequel to this one) in my TBR for ages.

What possible connection can there be between Jane Mayberry, a beautiful, independent and articulate bluestocking and a notorious killer who has eluded British Intelligence for years?

Case Devere, the Earl of Castleton, is attached to Special Branch and is determined to find out. But Jane is embroiled in her own troubles and the last thing she needs right now is this steely-eyed, arrogant aristocrat looking over her shoulder. When she quietly disappears, Case's worst suspicions are aroused. He goes after her.

I don't know. I liked some elements, but the book as a whole didn't completely work for me. A B.

The main problem was that the book felt a little disjointed. The main conflict seems to be catching La Roca, the killer who wants to murder Case, but there's something else from Jane's past which takes over most of the middle part of the book.

And here's the thing: I loved the way they dealt with this problem from Jane's past (trying very hard not to spoil things here!). There was no stupid bowing to convention, which was very refreshing. I just wish the main conflict had been this one, and not La Roca, which means I was more than a little irritated when wham! this problem disappears and we're back to catching the murderer.Damn!

Eh, well... at least, the romance works very well, because the protagonists are lovely. Case is on the surface the very clichéd "Regency spy hero", but the author goes deeper than most in the characterization, exploring what his past experiences did to him. As for Jane, she's a really nice and intelligent heroine, who refuses to martyr herself to society's conventions (see above) and doesn't hesitate to protect herself. I liked their relationship, which seemed to be based on genuine affection and love.

However, their very reasonableness and refusal to act like stereotypical romance characters made Jane and Case's relationship be resolved much too soon, leaving the suspense subplot to carry the rest of the book, so the last part wasn't really much fun.

And that epilogue! I know I complained about a too-abrupt ending in The Master of Blacktower, but this is ridiculous! 20 pages visiting with characters from other books who I don't know and who had nothing to do with the story and tying up the stories of secondary characters who appeared for 2 pages and who I care nothing about. Extremely tedious.

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Not So Innocent, by Laura Lee Guhrke

I really liked the first Laura Lee Guhrke I read, Breathless. Not So Innocent (Pandora's Box and excerpt), sounded completely different: Victorian instead of turn-of-the-century US, has a psychic heroine... Still, it did sound interesting.

Sophie Haversham would give anything not to have the gift of foresight. After all, her "talent" has already cost her one fiancé. And reporting a crime that hasn't happened yet is no easy task, especially to a tough, street-wise Scotland Yard detective. Inspector Mick Dunbar doesn't believe in visions, and he's convinced Sophie is actually shielding a would-be murderer. Only when Sophie's life is in danger does Mick realize he has fallen in love with this beautiful, courageous woman who can see into his very mind and heart, but will the knowledge come too late to save her?

Not quite as good as the first 50 pages promised, but still pretty nice: B.

The first thing that comes to mind is that Sophie's psychic powers were very underused. I really would have liked to see more of her powers in action, so to speak, but this part of the book is limited to a couple of little "mindreading" episodes and one vision. I guess the author succeeded in making this interesting, so much so that she has me begging for more! ;-)

Both Sophie and Mick were likeable people, and I found them especially interesting because they weren't the usual rake/bluestocking so many romance novels feature. I liked Mick. He was very charming, in an unpolished way, and one of the things I like best about him is that he doesn't have that "I'm just a policeman, she's too good for me" trauma. He is wonderfully self-assured. The only problem I had with him was that he persisted in not trusting Sophie for a little too long.

Sophie was ok, but more typical innocent, self-martyring, occasionally foolish romance heroine. The first scene, when she goes to the police and tells Mick about her vision, I wanted to shake her. Come on, you know anyone would be doubtful when you tell them about how you saw a murder in your dreams, at least tell them in a way that they won't think you're stupid as well as crazy! She's not that bad in the rest of the book, except for the fact that she seems to be unable to stand up to her mother. Arghh!!

Mick and Sophie had a lot of chemistry, but the actual love scenes felt a bit weird, even if they were very nicely written. There was the dreaded "I want to have sex once to treasure the memory forever", plus no thoughts for the consequences on either's part.

The mystery was interesting and intriguing, but the solution came from nowhere. There was absolutely no way we could have guessed, because we didn't have the necessary info. I mean, I guessed the murderer must be someone who was connected to this certain case in Mick's past, but I simply couldn't know who it was. Well, at least the solution made sense!

The author really makes the Victorian England setting come alive, and it was really good, both the more working-class parts of London and the upper-class ones.

Oh, and a little comment: Loved that small mention of football... though I don't think a London-born and raised guy at those times would hate Manchester United, not to mention be a Glasgow fan! "Global" football is a much more recent phenomenon, or at least, that's my impression. Still, good for the author for including a mention of my beloved game.

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Dreams Part I and Part II, by Jayne Ann Krentz

With the Dreams Part I and Part II duet, Jayne Ann Krentz does something I hadn't seen before in a Harlequin book, or rather, books!

These are not the usual book and sequel. Neither are complete in themselves, but they aren't really a whole book either, because the main issues change. Part I focuses on the courting, while Part II focuses on making a marriage work and dealing with pregnancy. Meanwhile, the Chained Lady legend and the suspense subplot cover both books.

Dreams Part I: History was repeating itself

Diana Prentice needed a break from the power gars corporate world. She picked the charming mountain town; Fulbrook Corners as her sanctuary, not knowing that mysterious forces had lured her to the scene of an age-old struggle. Was it the local legend of the Chained Lady and warrior that was so unsettling to her... or the disconcerting presence of native Colby Savagar?

Soon the sheer fierceness of his passion overwhelmed and left her in turmoil. For she knew somehow there had been another place, another time when he had taken by force what she now gave willingly ....

Dreams Part II: They were bound by fate

Pregnant! Diana Prentice knew she should be ecstatic - bearing Colby Savagar's child - but she wasn't. The idea of motherhood frightened her. Almost as much as the recurring dreams that told her she needed Colby...dreams that beckoned her back to Fulbrook Corners and its timeless legend.

Colby himself was haunted by visions of impending danger. He, too, was inexorably drawn back to his hometown. Somehow they both knew the key to their happiness lay in Chained Lady Cave, and that only when they conquered the dark forces of the past together would there be hope for their future .. .

My global grade would be a B-.

The first part I thought was much, much better than the second, basically because the very nice guy Colby seemed to change into a sexist prick in the second one. I'd grade the first book B+ and the second one C.

I really liked the way Diana and Colby's relationship developed in the first part. They had chemistry and they seemed to genuinely like each other. This part was enriched by the Colby - Specter the cat feud (hilarious!) and by the appearance of Colby's son Brandon, who was very well done and introduced a fascinating conflict.

Then the second part had to go and become a stupid story about a woman in a relationship with a guy who resisted their being equal partners, and about a pregnancy. I was bored, and I started disliking Colby.

I also did not like the actual Chained Lady legend. It left a bad taste in my mouth that the guy in the legend (a rapist creep) was portrayed not all that negatively.

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The Master of Blacktower, by Barbara Michaels

I'm sure I'd read The Master of Blacktower, by Barbara Michaels once, when I bought it, but for the life of me I couldn't remember anything about it. I didn't even have a vague impression of whether I'd liked it or not...

WHAT IS THE SECRET THAT HAUNTS THE MASTER OF BLACKTOWER?

His hands were encased in black silk gloves, a lurid scar twisting the roughly hewn features of his face. His dark eyes blazed, and his mocking laughter echoed to the highest tower of the ancient Scottish estate. Damaris Gordon knew she could never work for such a cruel and bitter man-but after her father's death, she had no choice. Her fate was in the hands of Gavin Hamilton--a man tortured by disfigurement, disillusion ... and dark secrets of the past. Was he responsible for his wife's death? Or the injury that crippled his young daughter? Curiosity lured Damaris to the top of the tower in search of the truth. But love sent her over the edge ...

This one's a real gothic. Not a parody of a gothic, or a modern gothic, or any other variation, but an almost textbook example of one, and I relished it. I mean, textbook if you don't think that a gothic heroine has to be weak and TSTL, because Damaris certainly wasn't. My grade: an A-.

The strength of The Master of Blacktower is in its protagonists and its atmosphere. As I said, Damaris was a strong, intelligent heroine, with an excellent intuition about people. Gavin was a perfect gothic hero, wounded and tortured, with failings, but ultimately a good person. These two were lovely together, they definitely had a lot of chemistry.

As for the atmosphere, wow! It was what it should be in any good gothic. The isolated house in Scotland, the strange servants, Gavin's invalid daughter, the mysterious neighbours, the suspicious story of Gavin's wife... it all helped establish a very distinctive atmosphere.

The only thing I wasn't too crazy about was the ending. Oh, the final scene was actually excellent, but the ending itself was much too abrupt. I'm not asking for a looong, syrupy epilogue, but a couple of pages (even paragraphs!) more would have improved this a lot.

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Five Kids, One Christmas, by Terese Ramin

I've just finished Five Kids, One Christmas, by Terese Ramin. It's not a book I'd nomally choose to read, but I asked a friend to lend me a book at random that wasn't bad and she brought me this one. She said it had problems, but also a lot of original elements I might enjoy.

FIVE KIDS...

Last she knew, widowed mom Helen Brannigan had one daughter and no man in her life. Now there were seven Christmas stockings to hang, five extra settings for the table--and one man-size dinner to make. Suddenly she was sharing her home--and joint custody of five kids--with a sexy widowed dad who was no more than a stranger ....

ONE WEDDING...

In a marriage of convenience, she'd said "I do" to that sexy stranger. Five happy little faces had held their breaths as she'd kissed the groom. And now Helen was holding her breath--for her brand-new husband to love her ....

My friend was right. I saw the exact problems she meant, but I did like reading some things about it. My grade: a C.

The main problem was that the book was much too crowded. It had too many issues to give each of them the space they deserved to be fully developed. Helen's military career, Nat's blindness, the custody battles, the kids themselves and their problems accepting all the changes in their lives AND the love story. All this in a 250-page book.

Ramin made a good effort, for the first 150 pages, more or less, but in the last 100 pages I thought she lost control of the plot threads by adding a kidnapping and the visit of a weird relative, too, which further crowded the book. I wouldn't have minded the crowd so much if the romance hadn't been shortchanged, but it all but disappeared in that last part, and the book became a chore to read. Until then, she'd succeeded in showing excellent chemistry between Nat and Helen, but she blew it.

It was an interesting book at times, yes, but ultimately not a success for me. Of course, I might have been influenced by the fact that being dropped into a ready-made family with 5 kids is my idea of hell ;-)

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The Grey Beginning, by Barbara Michaels

I've just finished The Grey Beginning, by Barbara Michaels

Hoping that a trip to her late husband's childhood home will help her come to terms with his recent death, Kathy Malone travels to the rolling hills of Tuscany. But there, instead of solace, Kathy finds a lonely boy named Pietro, uncanny hints about her late husband, and the stately Contessa Morandini, whose chilly reception warms only when she mistakenly assumes Kathy is pregnant with the next heir of the Morandini line.

Despite--or perhaps because of--the Contessa's efforts to keep Kathy and Pietro apart, Kathy befriends the young boy. Their games lead her through the villa's maze of dark hallways, where she begins to discover hints of a startling truth. As the pieces of a sinister and murderous plan fall into place, Kathy realizes she has stumbled onto a dangerous obsession...one that was meant to stay hidden forever.

Enjoyable, a B.

Very modern gothic. The atmosphere was perfect: the isolated villa near Firenze, the hostile servants, the tragic little kid. But this is Barbara Michaels, so all thisoppressiveness was tempered with touches of humour, like Pietro's preocupation with American football. It worked perfectly.

I loved that it took me a long time to be sure of what exactly was happening, though I had some ideas almost from the first. The important thing was that Kathy was perfectly justified in not realizing what was going on; too often the heroine in a gothic comes across as stupid for not noticing things. Not her.

The what exactly was going on was a bit jarring and not completely believable, so this wasn't perfect. Other than that, an excellent example of the genre.

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I'm a Stranger Here Myself, by Bill Bryson

I'm apparently on a romance mini-break. The next book I read was I'm a Stranger Here Myself, by one of my favourite authors, Bill Bryson.

After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself is a compilation of 70 newspaper columns the author wrote between 1996 and 1998, shortly after moving back from the UK to the US. Each essay is about 4 pages long, so when I started it my intention was to make it last, to read a couple of essays every now and then.

I finished it in 2 days. I was completely unable to stop reading. I'd finish an essay and think "I'll stop here", but then I'd glance at the first paragraph of the following column and get hooked... "Ok, one more..." This guy is a genius.

This book was laugh out loud funny. Really. I'm not talking about reading something and smiling and thinking "this is really funny". I'm talking about actually laughing until I felt tears running down my cheeks. My family thought I was crazy.

Grade: A-. The only reason this didn't get a perfect grade was a little repetitiveness with a certain joke, which was funny the first time but less so the fourth time. Still, it was only a couple of columns too many, so it never got to be more than a mild irritant.

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True Betrayals, by Nora Roberts

This weekend I reread a Nora Roberts book of which I had practically no recollections: True Betrayals.

Kelsey Byden always believed that her mother was dead. But now, after all this time, she has discovered the truth: Naomi Chadwick is still alive—after spending years in prison for the murder of her lover. Now, at Naomi's Virginia horse farm, Kelsey is trying to sort out a lifetime of deception—and her feelings about her mother. The bonds of love can be fragile…as Kelsey learned from her recently ended marriage.

But as the two women rebuild their relationship—and Kelsey finds herself swept into an unsettling new romance—she must decide once and for all who she can trust, and who threatens to betray her…

It was a B-.

This one read more like women's fiction than romance. Actually, in the first half, the romance part of the book is very, very slight. The book concentrates on Kelsey getting used to the work at the farm and coming to grips with her mother's presence. Gabe is just a presence, someone who wants Kelsey and who's wanted right back by her. It's only in the second half that their romance comes to life, and even then the love scenes are strangely undetailed and cut short, as if Nora had been trying to go more mainstream. I liked these two as a couple, but I never did get completely invested in their relationsip.

The setting, in the world of horse racing (is this the right expression?) was interesting, but unfortunately I didn't really enjoy the suspense subplot which was a large part of the book, and intimately related to the setting. Really, every time we saw Cunningham and Rich Slater I just wished they'd go away, and there was a lot about them.

Also, the ending wasn't at all satisfying. I hate it when a book ends and I feel justice hasn't been served. I guess I'm not much of a "forgive and forget" kind of person. That person, who was ultimately responsible for the deaths of people and for someone spending 10 years in jail, shouldn't have got away scot-free. And Naomi didn't have the right to decide that person shouldn't have been punished. Ok, if you want, forgive the person for what was done to you, but didn't the dead men deserve justice?

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Night Fire, by Catherine Coulter

I finally finished Night Fire, by Catherine Coulter, which I'd abandoned last month. Here is the post I wrote at the time.

My final grade for it was a D.

Some parts were nice, even sweet, but what bothered me the most was the contrast between a hero who was apparently a nice person, etc, and the guy who'd think that since Arielle wasn't responding to her courting, he was perfectly justified in kidnapping her and tricking her into marriage, and that that was "for her own good", because he was going to make her love him.

That is, what bothered me the most was not exactly what he did, but the fact that he saw nothing wrong in doing it. I'd be able to deal with a hero who knows he's being a bastard in kidnapping the heroine and not respecting her desires, but he's not able to help himself (and he has to grovel, of course ;-). I'm able to deal with this if the author shows that this behaviour is wrong. Not only about kidnapping, I can deal with whatever behaviour (see Gaffney's To Have and To Hold, for instance), but if, and only if, the author doesn't seem to be saying, "Oh, men know best. She, being a woman, didn't know what was good for her". Here it's not like that. Coulter seems to see nothing wrong in Burke's reasoning, and that's what turned me off.

I'm not even going to go into the idiotic suspense subplot and the boring, inane heroine. The hero alone is enough for a D grade.

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The Golden One, by Elizabeth Peters

I've been waiting since February to read The Golden One, by Elizabeth Peters, book number 14 in the Amelia Peabody series.

A richly woven tale of romance, treachery, intrigue, and murder in a breathtaking realm of ancient wonders and crumbling splendor.

A new year, 1917, is dawning, and the Great War that ravages the world shows no sign of abating. In these perilous times, archaeologist Amelia Peabody and her extended family must confront shocking dangers. But it is son Ramses who faces the most dire threat, answering a call that will carry him to the fabled seaport of Gaza on a mission as personal as it is perilous--where death will be the certain consequence of exposure. While far away, Ramses's beautiful wife, Nefret, guards a secret of her own ...

I enjoyed it, though the pacing and structure were a bit problematic. A B+.

My main problem with Lord of the Silent is that halfway through, the book undergoes a personality change. We were having a nice mystery, with hidden tombs and grave robbers and all the elements that made me love this series, when wham! the book turns into a spy story. Shit, I thought we'd left that behing after He Shall Thunder in the Sky, but apparently not. Don't get me wrong, I loved Thunder, but the abrupt change didn't feel right. It's as if Peters didn't know if she wanted the mystery or the spy story, so she decided to have both, one after the other.

And then, the final almost 100 pages were completely bereft of suspense. The spy plot is over, the villain in the tomb-robbing mystery is dead, and the Emersons just go about their business in their excavation (with very amusing distractions). I must guiltily confess that I actually loved reading this. The danger had finished, so all I had left to read was the resolution of the "archeological" part of the book, find the secret tomb, etc., simply because what has me coming back to this series again and again are the characters and their interactions, not their adventures in themselves. After all the excitement of the first parts, the slow pace was relaxing, even though I recognize it as a flaw in the book's pacing.

Still, I was expecting some kind of twist in the end, which is what Peters has me used to. I don't know, that so and so is actually Sethos in disguise, or that other character is in cahoots with the villain... something of the sort. Maybe the fact that there wasn't a twist constitutes a twist in itself, I don't know.

The paperback of the next book, Children of the Storm won't be coming out until next April, so I probably won't be able to get it until a few months later. I'm considering starting a reread of the whole series...

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Question from FridayFive this week.

1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?

Football (the kind called soccer in the US). That's practically all I use my TV for, that and the news. My favourite league is the English Premier League (no games this weekend, boo-hoo!), and I follow that obsessively. Also, of course, the Uruguayan league, though watching it after watching some games from the EPL makes me depressed... it looks like we play a different game!! I also like the Italian league, and the Spanish, and the Argentinian, everything. And then there are the regional competitions, like the Libertadores, the Copa Sudamericana, the Champions League... And the best is the World Cup. I spent a month waking up at 3.00 AM every day last year, because I refused to miss even one game.

The best is actually going to the games. The Centenario, where my team plays (also known as the stadium where the first World Cup final was played), is about 10 minutes from my house, so I go practically every weekend.

I do like some other sports. I like watching tennis and golf, and sometimes basketball.

2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?

My football team is Nacional, one of the two big teams in Uruguay. It's a family tradition, from my mom's side of the family. My grandfather was club president once, and my grandma used to go to the stadium for every single game. The other day it was pouring and freezing cold, and Nacional was playing an away game at a stadium that's reputed to be pretty dangerous, so I stayed home and watched it on TV. My mom's comment: "You're not going to the Nacional game? Your grandma would have gone!". Grandma died when I was 3, I wish I'd been able to go to games with her.

My favourite athletes are all football players. The guy who was my absolute favourite disappointed me earlier this year with a very unprofessional attitude; I'd even named my cat O'Neill after him. I tried to change his name and called him something else, but I gave up the effort when the poor thing started looking confused.

Now I'd say I have 2 favourite footballers. One is Sebastian Abreu, who played for Nacional for free earlier this year just because he's a big fan of the team (he got us the Championship, too) and the other is a Camerounese guy who plays for Nacional, Angbwa Benoit. He's one of those guys who always makes a huge effort, plus, I saw an interview a couple of weeks ago where he talked very passionately about books, which is a very easy way to charm me!

3. Are there any sports you hate?

Ok, I don't know if you'd call them sports, but I really detest hunting and bullfighting.

And I wouldn't say I hate it, but I'm not too fond of boxing either.

4. Have you ever been to a sports event?

Oops, already answered above. Yes, the Centenario stadium is practically my home away from home.

5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?

At school we had gymnastics and track and the "official" team sports were field hockey for girls and rugby for boys. I didn't like hockey very much. For starters, I sucked at it and I once had an accident where one of the other girls hit my eyebrow instead of the ball and I had such a deep cut that my bone showed, so I was always a bit frightened when on the field.

These days I don't really play any sports. I walk, and go to the gym, but that's it. I haven't played football since I broke my ankle at a practise session a couple of years ago.

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