tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12374064832623065572024-02-06T21:03:47.016-07:00Aunt Rowena sez:I am averaging about 2-3 books a week, 99% of them Romance novels and maybe half are audio books.
These are my thoughts about the books I read and some of the movies I see. Sorta like reviews, but mainly meant to be a place to keep track of what I've read and how I felt about it. Sometimes I have major spoilers. Beware.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.comBlogger457125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-39573441319192729112011-03-20T16:14:00.001-07:002011-03-20T16:15:09.194-07:00moved...On a whim, I moved this entire blog <a href="http://auntrowena.wordpress.com/">over to my Wordpress account</a>. Not sure why - maybe just to see if I could, and I could and I did.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-60430012156170143462011-03-17T22:13:00.002-07:002011-03-17T22:21:44.554-07:00China Rose by Marsha Canham ***Sigh. A burst bubble. This is the lowest rating I have given a Marsha Canham book!<br /><br />Oh, there was some swashbuckling, and talk of ships. But it was mostly a rather odd tale of 3 brothers. China Rose is the heroine, pledged by her late father to marry the eldest brother, Ranulf Cross. She arrives 2 weeks before the wedding, a country miss not at all sure why she is betrothed to this gentleman. He and his 2 younger brothers don't seem to get along at all - the middle one, Justin, is usually at sea; Eugene, the youngest, just seems to sort of fade into the background. The brothers have a terrible family secret: their father went down with a ship bound for France, seemingly a traitor, and the family fortune was lost.<br /><br />Well, nothing was as it seemed, and really, the oldest and youngest brothers were really quite madmen and unpleasant in the extreme. Silly China Rose runs off with Justin, but that seemed out of the blue to me. There were even hints that maybe Justin wasn't actually related to Ranulf and Eugene, but that thread was never followed.<br /><br />I just never got into it - I found all three brothers pretty unlikeable and China herself paled in comparison to Canham's other heroines. blah. But I didn't dislike it, so 3 stars it is.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-87996753825345368192011-03-14T21:28:00.004-07:002011-03-14T21:41:30.456-07:00Bound by the Heart by Marsha Canham ****I really liked this book, but when I compare it to her books I've given 5 stars, it doesn't quite make it to that. It's hard to be even slightly objective when giving stars to books - I sorta go with my gut. I really liked it, maybe even loved it but... hesitate to give it the same 5 stars as others she wrote!<br /><br />In this swash-buckling, bodice-ripping American privateer meets British heroine who takes his breath and heart away tale, the privateer is Morgan Wade. Well, that's not his real name - he stopped using his father's name (Granville? I think). He rescues Summer and Michael Cambridge, both children of the current governor of Bridgetown in the Caribbean when their ship sinks during a wild storm (think: hurricane). Summer will do anything to save Michael, but she's haughty and stands up to Captain Wade, assuming he will ransom them. Wade actually plans to return them, but must stop at his piratey hideaway to fix the ship.<br /><br />Summer is engaged to a British Naval officer who has a severe case of bloodlust for Wade. Ah, this was the first time Canham has shut the door on a love scene - right before Wade sends the Cambridge children back, he takes Summer into his arms and disappears into her bed chamber. Then we are back in Bridgetown, where Summer and Winfield get married. However... Winfield KNOWS what really happened.<br /><br />Now for the ROMANCE READER ALERT: she has a Secret Baby who turns out to be Wade's; Winfield KNOWS again; Wade secrets the secret baby away to lure Summer back to him because, dammit, he's a Besotted Pirate; Summer goes, intending to take the baby back and go back to Winfield; but she doesn't. And Adultery Occurs.<br /><br />Then there's a major pirate chase-about, lots of pirate and British Navy deaths, Michael stows away to join Summer; Wade finally gets to face off against the awful, wife-beating Winfield and almost dies but is saved by his half-brother and best friend, and the rest of them lived happily ever after. 4 stars. PS it's possible Winfield became clam fodder.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-67065422079219379652011-03-13T17:28:00.002-07:002011-03-13T17:34:53.094-07:00Penelope and Prince Charming by Jennifer Ashley **I really enjoyed Jennifer Ashley's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie</span> and so downloaded to my Kindle app another Ashley book, either for cheap or for free. It's so unlike <span style="font-style: italic;">Madness</span> that I had to consult Fantastic Fiction to be sure it was the same author and not just similar names.<br /><br />OK, I get the whole "fairy tale" part, what with Prince Charming and all. There's even a fictional country where Prince Charming is Prince. And there's a prophecy that he will find the Nvengarian Princess in some small village in England, wearing the Nvengarian ring and lo and behold, there's Penelope's mother with the ring. Of course, she's too old for Charming (whatever his name is -lots of odd Nvengarian names) so she passes the ring on to practical Penelope. And of course, Penelope resists his charms because she's sooo so practical except when she is not resisting and they are boinking like bunnies ALMOST because if they do it before the Nvengarian rituals, they might break the prophecy.<br /><br />I did read the whole story but sheesh, it was pretty silly and nothing like the prose and emotions in <span style="font-style: italic;">Madness</span>. 2 stars.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-8794437677775842212011-03-13T14:40:00.003-07:002011-03-13T14:54:37.711-07:00The Wind and The Sea by Marsha Canham *****I do love me some swashbucklin' Marsha Canham pirate romance! And this one is classic - non-stop wind in the hair, pirate-heroine as fierce as the gentleman hero, salt crusted secondary characters, lots of violence and courage and spies and tussling between the sheets - arrrrr!<br /><br />Courtney passes as young boy Curt until Adrian, the British lieutenant hero, rips her bodice, er, man's shirt to reveal - whoops! - creamy flesh. Courtney's father and his partner are thought caught and hung on the Barbary Coast, but Courtney feels they are still alive and she must avenge the wrongs done to them by these British pigs, well, at least except for when she's tussling between the sheets with her avowed enemy and captor, Tall Blonde and Handsome Adrian of Virginia.<br /><br />There's so much spying and intrigue - an alleged spy amongst the pirates who sold them out the to British, an alleged spy amongst the Brits who is selling them out to the pirates, the Arabs, the French and anyone else who will pay a little coin for government secrets. There's some misdirection - was the second lieutenant the spy, or just bragging? And the code word <span style="font-style: italic;">Seawolf</span> - could Courtney's father have been the traitor?<br /><br />Wow - Canham really evokes Errol Flynn movies she imagines with her prose, surrounding you with the howling wind and salty sea air and lust and death and intrigue and... It's definitely bodice-ripping, 5 star entertainment!aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-87904603309040650432011-03-06T21:22:00.002-07:002011-03-06T21:30:26.806-07:00Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt ****This is book 2 in the Maiden Lane series - Hoyt seems to thrive on series. I liked it - really - but having come off of reading 3 Julie James contemporary romances in a row this weekend, it wasn't nearly as much fun.<br /><br />In this one, Lady Hero Batten (Hero?) is the heroine who is promised to Lord Mandeville. She meets his notorious brother Griffin at their engagement ball, where Griffin is banging some other woman. And go figure, she ends up with Griffin. Well, it's a sort of complicated tale, with the Maiden Lane Home for unfortunate orphans in the background, and there's gin distillers and informants and Hero's brother trying to arrest all the distillers, and Griffin IS a distiller.<br /><br />The one thing that sorta irritated me about the story was how easy Hero was - I mean, considering she was raised as the sister of a Duke, you'd a thought she could resist a man at least once, but no, she was boinking like a bunny every time she got near Griffin, including at a ball. But there you have it, it's how Hoyt saw the story. I also thought it wrapped up rather neatly, really too neatly, all things considered, but I still enjoyed it and decided to go with 4 stars rather than 3. I dunno, I use my gut to decide these things.<br /><br />I'm stuck now - no more books to read, and still 1 1/2 hours left in the boring audiobook I've sworn to complete... I can't believe I got books from PBS and Amazon and read them all.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-56120526740316805702011-03-05T20:44:00.002-07:002011-03-05T20:57:30.999-07:00A Lot Like Love by Julie James *****Help! Either I have no life or I read/skim too fast - two Julie James books in one day! Truth is, both - I don't have a life and I loved these books so much, I couldn't read fast enough!!<br /><br />This one is related to Something About You by characters, making it Book #2 in a series of sorts - the hero and heroine from the first book playing minor character roles. Plus, YAY! there is an excerpt from Book #3 and the hero is Kyle! Oh wait, plot:<br /><br />No lawyers! ::Shock:: Hero is FBI undercover agent Nick McCall, masquerading as Nick Stanton, aka Tall, Dark and Smoldering date of heiress and wine store owner Jordan Rhodes. It's slightly complicated: Jordan's twin brother Kyle shut down Twitter with a DoS attack and is now in prison as a result; FBI needs to get into a classy party that Jordan is invited to, so they offer to reduce Kyle's sentence if she lets an FBI agent accompany her. And it's related to the plot of Book #1 with original bad guy Roberto Martino, now behind bars.<br /><br />The H/H don't know each other before she is brought into the FBI, so they don't have a We Hate Each Other history, but they manage to annoy each other a little anyway. She's the daughter of a man who made it big in the computer industry - as in, Billionaire - while he's from a slightly lower class Brooklyn background, so there is the element of Not Exactly Made for Each Other.<br /><br />And Ms. James is ramping up the heat in her books big time. Big. Time. Jordan and Nick start out with sexual innuendos early on, and the chemistry is thick and there is no pussy-footing around. She paints a really terrific character portrait - both characters are smart, sassy and well developed by her prose. It's funny to me that I can sorta see them and experience what they are feeling from their thoughts, but I don't actually have faces for them. But I like them both very much!<br /><br />She's also ramping up the suspense/thriller plot - not that the reader doesn't know who the bad guys are, they do - but still, having the bad guys get badder does also ramp up the adrenaline while reading. I like it! No, I love it! 5 starsaunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-28315375362580078032011-03-05T14:03:00.004-07:002011-03-05T14:18:09.271-07:00Something About You by Julie James *****Something about Julie James' books... They're like mini-oreos, I just keep popping them in my mouth and enjoying! When I started this one, I thought maybe I should space them out. After all, how many lawyer-heroines could I read about in a row? A lot, apparently!<br /><br />This one has a lawyer heroine (Assistant US Attorney) and an FBI hero - and once again, they are mortal enemies. Rightly so - since she put the kibosh on a case he had spent 2 years undercover on, and then he called her rude names on national tv. Now they're flung back together after she hears a murder in the hotel room next door.<br /><br />This one had a more serious, thriller-ish spin to it since she is a witness to a crime. Even so, James' trademark humor (yeah, 3 books in) was there - keeping me pinned to the futon, turning pages to get it all in, laughing and on the edge of my seat, as much as one can be on a futon. Even with lawyer-heroines and we-hate-each-other similarities in the plotlines, the stories are all different - not even related by characters.<br /><br />Can't wait til they come out in audio - and I really can't wait for the dreadful Balogh/Flosnik audiobook I'm trying to finish to be over. It's been almost 2 weeks of misery because I can't bring myself to spend large chunks of time listening to Flosnik's iceberg narration and Balogh's interminable introspective questions... waaaah.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-10700039114275018382011-03-05T09:12:00.004-07:002011-03-05T09:23:45.238-07:00Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James *****What a fun read this was! I decided not to wait to see if it came out in audio, like the first book "Just the Sexiest Man Alive", and got the next 3 books from Amazon. (long wait lists on PBS!)<br /><br />This plot pits 2 lawyers, associates in their firm, against each other. Payton and J.D. joined the firm at the same time (I had no idea this was called a Class or Year, like school, in law firms - how odd). Now they are told that only 1 of them will be made partner because of cutbacks.<br /><br />From the first day they met, they established a rivalry when something Payton said to J.D. was interpreted as an insult, and they've spent 8 years hating one another and playing tricks and otherwise trying to trip up the other. Payton was raised by a single hippie vegan mom, and Payton herself is vegetarian and liberal; J.D. comes from Old Money, Republican and traditional in every way. Of course, the chemistry between them is so electric it's funny that everyone but them is aware of it. Payton is set up with blind date Chase, the Perfect Man, so like her that she always feels comfortable with him - but not chemistry.<br /><br />James puts them in the most hysterical spots - I found myself laughing out loud several times. And she builds the tension slowly, so slowly, that it takes almost to the end of the book before you even get a glimmer of hope they'll resolve their differences. I kept wondering how they would pull the relationship together in light of the threat that one of them would have to leave the firm, and I loved the resolution! OK, maybe those "realists" will say it would never happen that way in real life - let them eat cake and stop reading romantic comedy! 5 starsaunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-50243029493859098452011-03-02T20:57:00.002-07:002011-03-02T21:06:17.367-07:00Fair Play by Deirdre Martin ****This is the 2nd book in the NY Blades series, and I'm enjoying it pretty much. She doesn't use the humor of Rachel Gibson (another hockey-romance-series author), just the light chick-lit-ish style of contemporary romance. In this one, Janna's best friend Theresa is the heroine. Theresa is Italian-American-Brooklyn-born-and-raised, and feels she has escaped to Manhattan and left that lifestyle behind. Her parents want her to marry a nice Italian-American-Brooklyn boy and live down the block; she wants to restrict her Brooklyn time to her monthly Sunday lunch visit.<br /><br />Michael Dante was also featured in the first book, as one of the Blades. He and Theresa met at a bar where she also met one of the other team members who subsequently assaulted Theresa and almost raped her. It caused some tension in book 1, since Theresa and Janna were roommates. In book 2 it continues to cause tension and trauma for Theresa, who hasn't dated since that incident. Michael has had a crush on her since the first meeting, and tries to wear her down and agree to go out with him. He even knows her parents - yeah, he's Italian-American-Brooklyn and lives down the block. But she can't get past the shadow of the near-rape when she gets close to him, so she pushes him away.<br /><br />It was an entertaining read, not too overly emotional or anything, despite the seriousness of her state of mind. There's also a side story of a big company trying to buy out Janna and Theresa's small business that had a fairly predictable ending. I'm enjoying the series so far, nothing great, but good writing and enjoyable stories.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-80363808303703695912011-02-27T19:49:00.003-07:002011-02-27T20:00:49.051-07:00Body Check by Deirdre Martin ****Martin is a new-to-me author whose work has been favorably compared to some of my favorites, usually Susan Andersen and Rachel Gibson. This series is the mythical NY Blades hockey team, and their captain Ty Gallagher is the first hero in book #1, Body Check.<br /><br />Janna MacNeil is his worthy opponent/heroine - a hot shot, persistent terrier of a PR person, hired to help make the Blades team seem a little more respectable in the eyes of the media.<br /><br />I liked Martin's style pretty well, although there were a couple of eye-roll moments for me (which I just overlooked) in the way the characters thought and reacted. Of course, at first Ty wants to just ignore her, but she gives him her "I'm going to be the pebble in your shoe, the annoying song you just can't get out of your head" speech, and she proceeds to do that all through the book. They bicker bicker bicker then...<br /><br />I find myself looking at page numbers when the first intimate scene comes up - I figure around 100 pages into the book is reasonable for them to meet and develop a relationship. I think this one was right on target at page 97. There were a couple of plotlines that I had seen before - her family played a big part in the story, including a younger brother who idolizes the hockey captain, and sisters she always felt outshined her. All in all, a solid 4 star book by the end.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-72107830388151822702011-02-27T19:40:00.003-07:002011-02-27T19:49:56.430-07:00Mercy by Julie Garwood, ****The second book in the Buchanan-Renard series, this one features Justice Dept attorney Theo Buchanan and brilliant backwater surgeon Michelle Renard. Another of those backwater-bayou Louisiana towns is the setting.<br /><br />Buchanan is in New Orleans giving a speech when his appendix ruptures, and speech-attendee Dr Renard rushes him to the hospital and saves his life. When her father asks him to come to Bowen, Louisiana to go fishing, he is intrigued with Michelle enough to take him up on it.<br /><br />That's merely the setup for the romance behind the thriller. As it turns out, Michelle was supposed to have received some very damning evidence against 4 white-collar thieves in a special delivery envelope, but dropped the envelope unopened in the hospital to attend to an emergency. The thieves hired Monk, a hitman, to get the envelope and take her out before she could turn the evidence over to the police. They didn't count on a Justice dept employee and his FBI friend Noah Clayborne to be in Bowen with Michelle and her father as well.<br /><br />I found it to be a fairly exciting and entertaining read - I knew who (most of) the characters were, so there wasn't really a mystery. And Theo was pretty much one of my favorite types of characters, the besotted hero. 4 stars.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-86417676011392156342011-02-27T10:51:00.004-07:002011-02-27T12:07:27.151-07:00Speaking of Audiobooks 2011 Challenge<a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/AudiobookChallenge.html">Here is the page with the categories.</a><br /><br />As of Feb. 27, I have completed 6.<br /><br /><br /><ul><li><strong>Pick an audiobook that received a DIK grade at AAR in print format. </strong><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Summer At Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs, read by Julia Gibson</span><br /></li></ul> <ul><li><strong>Tempt yourself to find a series that grabs hold and won’t let go by listening to the first in a series</strong>.<br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">I started The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig, read by Kate Reading, and it's wonderful! I'm already on book 4.</span><br /></li></ul> <ul><li><strong>Listen to another listener’s romance favorite. </strong>You can find many of our listeners’ favorites in our <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=3848">Favorites</a> and <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=5025#more-5025">Romance Audio Bests by Author</a> columns.</li></ul> <ul><li><strong>Listen to a book recommended in a previous Speaking of Audiobooks column </strong><strong>(and following discussion</strong>). All columns and following discussions include a significant number of recommendations but two columns stand out – <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=3848">Favorites</a> and <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=5025#more-5025">Romance Audio Bests by Author</a></li></ul> <ul><li><strong>Listen to a new-to-you author.<br /></strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Thigh High by Christina Dodd, read by Natalie Ross</span><br /></li></ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <ul><li><strong>Listen to a romance sub-genre you usually avoid. </strong>Do you find yourself listening to the same type of book? Challenge your tired old preferences and discover a whole new world.</li></ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <ul><li><strong>Listen to a romance book released in 2011. </strong>Watch our monthly new release columns for suggestions.</li></ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <ul><li><strong>Listen to an abridged audiobook. </strong>Abridged doesn’t have to mean cut up with favorite passages missing.</li></ul> <ul><li><strong>Listen to an audiobook that has been languishing in your to-be-listened (TBL) pile. </strong>Whether your TBL pile consists on CDs on your shelf, downloads on your MP3 player, or a book you have on your library list – just do it.</li></ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <ul><li><strong>Relisten to a favorite book. </strong>Relistening to favorites is not only an affordable audio option, it is also a great way to while away the time.</li></ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <ul><li><strong>Give a less-than-favorite narrator a second chance. </strong><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">I've been giving Anne Flosnik chance after chance on the Balogh series - her romance readings are just not doing it for me. Grrrr.</span><br /></li></ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <ul><li><strong>Share in your listening – listen to a book someone else chooses for you. </strong>Ask for suggestions in any <em>Speaking of Audiobooks</em> column or check the thread we have going over at our Romance Audiobook message board at AAR.</li></ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <ul><li><strong>Borrow a book from a friend or your library.<br /></strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas, read by Tanya Eby</span><br /></li></ul> <ul><li><strong>Listen to a new-to-you narrator.<br /></strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Amanda Ronconi, reading Trouble In High Heels by Christina Dodd</span><br /></li></ul>aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-20672669962780865682011-02-21T18:30:00.001-07:002011-02-21T18:31:57.502-07:00The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig *****<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25802.The_Deception_of_the_Emerald_Ring" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Deception of the Emerald Ring (Pink Carnation, #3)" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275795217m/25802.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25802.The_Deception_of_the_Emerald_Ring">The Deception of the Emerald Ring</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14469.Lauren_Willig">Lauren Willig</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/149732729">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />I am soooo loving this series! It's a romp - it's a chick lit wrapper around a historical romance - it's brilliantly performed by Kate Reading - and it's a nice long series!<br /><br />In this one, we have Jeff, who was Richard's (the Purple Gentian) colleague in France when Richard met his heroine, Amy. When Jeff returned to England, he fell head over heels smitten for his love, Mary Alsworthy. In fact, he began to write (dreadful) poetry non-stop in the second book in the series.<br /><br />In this, book 3, he and Mary plan to elope. Ok, Mary says "We elope or else". He receives an important missive right when he needs to pick her up, so he sends his coachman to get her. Mary's younger sister, Lettie - the logical one, the one who keeps the family from debtor's prison - finds out and tries to stop them to keep them from further ruining the Alsworthy family's reputation.<br /><br />Only, in a manner that works best in romantic comedy, the driver sees Lettie coming to give Jeff a piece of her mind, thinks it's Mary, and throws her in the carriage which is soon met by Jeff, who pulls her into a heart-stopping kiss. Unfortunately, Mary had figured out that she needed to be compromised to be sure he didn't back out, so she apparently arranged for witnesses - and that compromised Lettie instead!<br /><br />Meanwhile, Eloise, in current time, goes on a blind date where she sees Colin for the first time since they parted at his country estate...<br /><br />If I didn't have so much fun with this book, with the whole series, I might quibble about the plotline of Lettie and Jeff falling in love so quickly, with Jeff forgetting Mary right away, and Lettie admitting that she had a crush on Jeff and maybe she was in the wrong of it to have gone out to stop the elopement. That part didn't exactly work for me. It just was a minor disappointment.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-15285540302074001362011-02-19T18:34:00.003-07:002011-02-19T18:53:46.999-07:00Wild Man Creek by Robyn Carr ****<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1285438702l/8850167.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 157px; height: 250px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1285438702l/8850167.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Wow, this is getting to be a very long series! This is number 12 in the Virgin River series, and I've read all but 1 so far. (OK, I dnfed one too.) I liked this one above average - 4 stars - but none of them have quite matched the first one, <span style="font-style: italic;">Virgin River</span>, for me.<br /><br />In this one we have 2 sort of newcomers to Virgin River - Colin Riordan, whose brothers Luke, Sean and Aiden have lived in Virgin River and are now married to the women they met here. (Jack says it's something in the water.) Colin is recently recovered from his helicopter crash, his addiction to pain meds and a short stint in jail for illegal drugs.<br /><br />Heroine Jillian Matlock returns to Virgin River where she spent a vacation week a year ago. She's come to lick her wounds from a bad experience at work: she had an affair with a co-worker who then sued the company for her sexual harrassment of him. She's always been driven, ambitious, corporate, and she finds it hard to slow down and smell the roses - but she soon realizes she can slow down enough to GROW the roses. She is able to transfer her work ethic to gardening, and takes it on like a Corporate CEO, tilling, planting, weeding an organic garden as part of a business plan to sell produce to 5 star restaurants.<br /><br />As with all of the books, there are always other characters - wrapping up the previous book's couple with a wedding or a child or something, bringing in Jack and Mel and Preacher, and introducing another back story. In this case, the secondary couple isn't another love match, but the result of one: a young fellow claiming to be Jack's love child from 25 years before.<br /><br />And without even reading the blurb for book #13, I picked up on it right away: Jill's sister Kelly is going to fall for the newest resident with a surly teenaged daughter.<br /><br />The books are pretty dang predictable, beyond the obvious HEA for the Main Couple, but she writes so well that I just sit there and pretend I'm another of the gossipy Virgin River residents, listening to someone talk about what's going on in Virgin River today. Gotta go, I'm meeting the gang for poker at Jack's Bar tonight...aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-75533386254675235422011-02-19T18:19:00.005-07:002011-02-19T18:33:35.528-07:00A Rake's Guide To Seduction by Caroline Linden ****<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1213075402l/2516134.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 362px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1213075402l/2516134.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This is the third in the series about the Reece family, and the heroine is Celia Reece, half sister to twins David and Marcus of the previous books. Celia is having her Season in London to find a husband.<br /><br />Hero Anthony Hamilton is a childhood friend of the Reece brothers, and has now made a reputation for himself as a complete rake. Partly it's true, and partly it's a myth based on Anthony's having business dealings with several women - widowed and married - that are mistaken as amorous trysts. He has to do this because his father has cut him off. However, when he meets Celia again as a young woman, he decides he wants to woo her - too late, though, because she has already become betrothed.<br /><br />Blah, blah, Celia is unhappy with her husband, 3 years go by, the husband catches pneumonia and dies, and she spends one more year in mourning. So - 4 years later...<br /><br />She comes back into society, and Anthony is still there, having now made his own fortune and wanting to woo her. But her brothers and her mother are dead-set against it, him being a rake and all.<br /><br />OK, OK, my review makes it sound as if I didn't like it - actually, I've read another book and now can't recall my thoughts on this one except I recall liking it pretty well (like just shy of 4 stars?). I really need to write these right after I read it!!aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-8763342912090933862011-02-18T19:00:00.001-07:002011-02-18T19:06:36.970-07:00Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs ****<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62258.Summer_At_Willow_Lake" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Summer At Willow Lake (Lakeshore Chronicles, #1)" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1295844195m/62258.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62258.Summer_At_Willow_Lake">Summer At Willow Lake</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21155.Susan_Wiggs">Susan Wiggs</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/148892797">4 of 5 stars</a><p><br />This is the first in the Lakeshore Chronicles, which I started on book 5 or so (Marrying Daisy Bellamy). I liked that one enough to start at the beginning.<br /></p><p>Wiggs writes in the style of Robyn Carr and Barbara Delinsky - romance that borders on women's fiction in that, while there is a Main Couple, there are so many family members and friends that the story is woven around a community more than a couple. Small town citizens and extended families come together around a central theme, and the Heroine and Hero are a part of that larger picture. The different stories in the series continue to build on the community created, just as Carr does in Virgin River, and Delinsky did with Lake News.<br /></p><p>The narrator was Julia Gibson - a narrator that had the bad luck of following Anna Fields/Kate Fleming in Susan Elizabeth Phillips' books. She's not bad - she manages to read the narrative well enough, and do passable male characters. She has a pleasant voice - she's just not an audiobook superstar like Fields, or Davina Porter, or Barbara Rosenblat. That hasn't kept her from having an impressive list of works, however.<br /><br /></p><p>Oh, I liked her voice ok, and the story was entertaining. I imagine I'll eventually read the whole series too - 4 stars.</p>aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-17794236466427415732011-02-13T19:30:00.001-07:002011-02-13T19:44:13.797-07:00Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas ****<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7713297-christmas-eve-in-friday-harbor" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Christmas Eve in Friday Harbor" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1287208975m/7713297.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7713297-christmas-eve-in-friday-harbor">Christmas Eve in Friday Harbor</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/27847.Lisa_Kleypas">Lisa Kleypas</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/148046965">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />I am fully convinced that I only like Lisa Kleypas' voice in contemporaries. I have tried 7 or 8 or so of her historicals, both in print and audio, and found them to be pretty run-of-the-mill, but I liked the Travis series and I liked this little cupcake of a book too.<br /><br />The narrator is Tanya Eby, who has an impressive number of books on Audible even though I can't say for sure I've heard her before. She's good - she manages to give each character a distinctive voice and personality, and she reads the narrative parts well too. That sorta reads as a kind of "and she's nice too" - I guess what I mean is, while she's no Davina Porter or Barbara Rosenblat, whose talents rival the wonderful authors they read, she's a very capable and easy to listen to narrator.<br /><br />The story is short - around a 4 hour listen, about half of what I expect a regular book to be - which is why I say "cupcake". It's a plot I've read before: heroine runs a toy shop, hero is a single parent. Still, between Kleypas and Eby, I admit I teared up more than once during the story. Not only is there a cute little kid, but there's an ugly dog too! (Jennifer Crusie, your plot was stolen!!) If you're in the mood for short and sweet, get this one and Bob's yer uncle!aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-28836779141485935362011-02-12T19:33:00.000-07:002011-02-12T12:54:08.325-07:00The Trouble With Valentine's Day by Rachel Gibson *****I know I've done more re-reads of this books since 2008, but for my own Valentine to myself, I stayed in bed and read this book today. Pure indulgence and lots of fun!<br /><br />My original review from June 19, 2008:<br /><br />I am so relieved to say I loved this book! This is my second Rachel Gibson book, the first being the AAR Top 100 <span style="font-style: italic;">See Jane Score</span>. I liked <span style="font-style: italic;">See Jane Score</span> ok, but not that much and definitely not "Top 100". I felt like it was a Susan Andersen-wannabe without the sass and smarts. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Trouble With Valentine's Day</span> has sass and smarts to burn - and it's damn funny too!<br /><br />Heroine Kate has just left her job and her life in Las Vegas to move in temporarily with her grandfather Stanley in Gospel, Idaho. Her grandmother died 2 years ago, and Stanley has been depressed. He's running the small town grocery he and Melba ran for decades, and it seemed a good opportunity for Kate to help out. Well, she's helping herself out too - after a string of bad relationships and a really bad experience on the job, she's feeling a little rudderless. She had to stop for the night at a ski resort on the way because of the weather. It's Valentine's Day, she's alone at the bar feeling a little blue and a little in her cups when a good looking guy sits next to her and orders a beer.<br /><br />What the heck. She's always fantasized about picking up a hunky guy in a bar - what could it hurt? She'll never see him again anyway. She makes her move.<br /><br />Rob is on a ski trip with buddies, and left the slopes early because of his knee. Rob's a former Seattle Chinooks hockey player who had an accident - but not on the ice. He was married, has a 2 year old daughter, and, well, he sorta played around too. On an out of town trip, he picked up a rink bunny who turned out to be psycho - and she hunted him down and shot him. He almost died and it ruined his knee, his hockey career and his marriage. To recuperate from his illness and get out of Seattle, he moves to Gospel, Idaho, where his mother lives. She's a nurse and helps him with his physical therapy. And while he's there, he vows never to pick up strange women for sex again.<br /><br />He goes into the bar at the resort, sits next to a good looking woman and orders a beer. And wouldn't you know it, she propositions him. WTF? He tells her flat out he doesn't sleep with women he meets in bars and leaves as quickly as possible.<br /><br />Well, Kate is mortified - crushed - horrified - embarrassed. But, she figures she'll never see him again anyway - that is, until she's working in Stanley's store one day, and he calls her over to meet the guy who runs the sporting goods store across the street - Rob.<br /><br />Rob plays it cool and pretends they haven't met - and she is confused but relieved. OK, maybe it was dark in the bar or he was drunker than even she was.<br /><br />Gentlemen, start your engines because now we have the makings of 2 people trying to avoid the inevitable: the chemistry of love! Kate is outspoken and liberal in a small town where it takes decades to be considered a native, and gets tongues wagging with her talk and her attempts to change the little grocery. She's also wary of the feelings she has - she knows she's always drawn to the Bad Boy/Mr Wrong type, and resists as much as humanly possible.<br /><br />Rob is also attracted to her, but has the additional complications of his ex-wife, always hinting at reconciliation, and his daughter. As well as that issue of not sleeping with women who might turn out to be psychos. In fact, he hasn't dated any woman that anyone in town knows of, which starts some speculation about his sexual preferences, which turns into a rumor that he's gay - inadvertently started by Kate!<br /><br />It's funny and touching too - I really felt Kate's insecurities and as well as her need to stand on her own two feet. Rob feeds her insecurities too, with his conflicting messages - he makes it clear she turns him on and then he makes it doubly clear he has no intention of acting on it. While I understood his point of view, I <span style="font-style: italic;">felt</span> Kate's reaction to his messages. I hurt with her.<br /><br />Eventually, with many ups and downs, they manage to come to a truce of sorts, which mainly means now they can act on their desires. But Rob is no closer to forging a true relationship with Kate - he's pretending they have a Friends With Benefits type thing going on. Once that topic is brought up, in front of the ex-wife who makes a surprise visit, Kate is out the door, broken hearted and ready to flee. This is the part where I felt the most like I was being dragged over rocks, along with Kate's heart. There's a secondary romance in the book - Rob's mother and Kate's grandfather - which forces them together again, and forces Rob's hand as well. Come on Rob, it's time to put up or shut up!!<br /><br />I found Gibson's writing in this book wonderful and touching and funny and true. 5 stars.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-13514060823664718822011-02-12T16:53:00.004-07:002011-02-12T17:08:30.975-07:00The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig *****<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/397844.The_Masque_of_the_Black_Tulip" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Masque of the Black Tulip (Pink Carnation, #2)" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255828899m/397844.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/397844.The_Masque_of_the_Black_Tulip">The Masque of the Black Tulip</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14469.Lauren_Willig">Lauren Willig</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/146671796">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />Once again, I'm totally enthralled with the work of Willig read by Kate Reading, this one being book 2 in the Pink Carnation series. It appears that each of the books has a historical-romance-within-the-story that is neatly tied up by the end, while the wrapper, the contemporary story of Eloise, is left open and unresolved.<br /><br />In this one, the Purple Gentian - now unmasked - is happily married, while his best friend Miles and his younger sister Henrietta are showing a tendre for each other. Miles is tasked by the War Office with doing some espionage to help find a French spy in England, and Henrietta has been sent a note from Jane to do the same. As they each try to figure out the identity, they end up thrown together - and compromised - and are quickly married off.<br /><br />In this book, it's as if Willig discovered alliteration, which uses to great effect - over and over - throughout the book. Once again, I laughed and groaned at silly but clever references, well-done puns and hysterical situations. And once again, at the end is a note about historical accuracies and inaccuracies which I think well cover all those crazy nay-sayers on Audible (which are really mostly on book 1).aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-30544433134951440802011-02-12T12:39:00.003-07:002011-02-12T12:48:39.177-07:00The Lady Most Likely... by three authors ****This was a joint effort by three authors - Connie Brockway, Julia Quinn and Eloisa James. Since I like all three authors, I was prepared to like it - and I did. It is a piece of Regencey fluff, with the story of three couples brought together by one man's search for the mother of his "heir and spare".<br /><br />Hugh Dunne, Earl of something-or-other, has had a close call with death and decides it's time to settle down and get married. His married sister puts together a list of eligible ladies, inviting him and the ladies and some others to a house party so that he can choose, woo and propose, and get on with his love of horses.<br /><br />Of course, with Julia Quinn involved, you know it will be funny, so there are several comic turns as two of the ladies get snatched up by Hugh's best friends. Each of the three men find love not in unexpected places, but right under their very noses - two of them with women they have known all their lives.<br /><br />It made for an entertaining read, although it was hard to keep track of who was whom when I was just reading a few pages every night before falling asleep! Still, I'm giving it 4 stars for fun.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-91322697613239167252011-02-07T21:11:00.002-07:002011-02-07T21:22:43.708-07:00The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig *****<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84351.The_Secret_History_of_the_Pink_Carnation" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Pink Carnation, #1)" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255828889m/84351.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84351.The_Secret_History_of_the_Pink_Carnation">The Secret History of the Pink Carnation</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14469.Lauren_Willig">Lauren Willig</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/145989619">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />What a lark! I haven't laughed this much with an audiobook since - well, ever! The writing is witty, the narration is incredible and anyone who quibbles about [clears throat, and using stentorian tones, says] "historical inaccuracies" - well, devil take them! It's fiction! and it's funny as hell!<br /><br />It's a story-within-a-story, so there's a wrapper of contemporary, wherein an American scholar, Eloise, is researching her dissertation about British spies during the Napoleonic era. As she reads the documents about the spies, the story slips into 1803, where Amy Balcourt is trying to become a member of the League of the Purple Gentian, the, ahem, fictional successor to The Scarlet Pimpernel.<br /><br />Narrator Kate Reading is a marvel - she manages to slip from American Emily into the Regency British and French and back with supreme ease. Her inspired acting - complete with various sounds - made this wonderful story a treat!aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-64690691296286518752011-02-03T18:48:00.003-07:002011-02-03T18:56:49.867-07:00The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley *****I really loved this book - the "madness" is what we call Asperger's Syndrome today, a condition which is similar to autism, without the difficulty with language and intellectual development.<br /><br />Unfortunately for me, I waited too long to write my thoughts about it - so I'll just leave it with 5 stars.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-26146695733369410612011-01-30T17:22:00.000-07:002011-02-12T17:29:44.386-07:00The Touch of Fire by Linda Howard ***This is an older Linda Howard, now out on Audiobook, narrated by Natalie Ross. I liked Natalie Ross as narrator, but the story itself never really rose above "just ok". It's a western, where the heroine, Annie, is a doctor in a small Western mining town - the only place that would have a woman doctor in post-Civil War America. Rafe McCae is on the lam, being hunted by several bounty hunters, when he's injured. He goes to Doc Parker, and he ends up kidnapping her and taking her hostage - sorta. She doesn't really go willingly, and he is sorta mean to her, but it turns out he's really a lawyer from New York City ("git a rope") who is being pursued to cover a governmental scandal. It was ok - not great, not bad.aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237406483262306557.post-5748739561793229112011-01-29T19:48:00.004-07:002011-01-29T20:15:14.270-07:00Money, Honey by Susan Sey ****Finally finished this - it may have been the only print book in January (actually it was the fourth, but who's counting?)! I have been knitting so much and listening to audiobooks well into the night, so that by the time I go to bed I'm too tired to read more than a few pages, and that makes it hard to keep up with the story.<br /><br />This is a contemporary Good Girl Cop/Bad Boy Thief romantic suspense - the heroine is FBI Special Agent Liz Brynn, a by-the-book woman who met up with Patrick O'Connor years back when he turned himself in to save his sister. Patrick came from a long line of thieves - all in the family - and to keep from going to jail, spent some time working for the FBI as an informant to Liz. He's back - several years later - and it's not clear to Liz or the FBI whether it's really to help his sister with a counterfeiting problem or to hook up with an old crime buddy and pull another heist. The FBI reels him in to help on the counterfeiting scheme, hoping to catch him with the other bad guy as well.<br /><br />The old sparks between Liz and Patrick are back - and Patrick pushes Liz hard to give in. Except when she does, he's suspicious. Is she using him or does she really want him?<br /><br />There's a slight taste of Eve Dallas and Roarke here (In Death): Liz is the polyester-suit wearing hardass, and Patrick the rich and debonair former thief. Sey's writing is almost old-time-film-noir, with Liz as the private eye and Patrick the femme fatale. Everything seems fast paced, and exaggerated - "fury buzzed in her ears like a swarm of killer bees" "Self-disgust dripped cold and slippery into her gut", and Patrick calls her "Liz. Darling." every time he speaks to her. I could imagine it being narrated by a Humphrey Bogart style voice.<br /><br />I liked it pretty well, 4 stars, and I think I'd have liked it even better if I got to read it in 3 or 4 sittings instead of 20 pages a night for 2 weeks!aunt rowenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057699340414065959noreply@blogger.com0