OK, as the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series winds down, well... it's running out of steam. Whether that's just my opinion reading them so close together, or it's a fact the author just can't keep this series interesting, I'm not sure.
Remember Bobby and Wes? Wes and Bobby? The "twin" SEALs, only 1 is short and wiry (Wes), and the other is huge and muscular (Bobby)? Mutt and Jeff. Ren and Stimpy.
Basically, Bobby Taylor has had the hots for his best buddy's little sister Colleen since he met her when she was about 18. OK, he first met her younger, but it was when she was of legal age that he really got it bad for her. But he's several years older, and she's his best buddy's little sister! Off limits! (why? I dunno, I never had a brother so I never experienced this.)
And - guess what - she's always had the hots for him too! She's a left wing liberal do-gooder in law school, and she's hooked up with a group going to Turgeria (yeah, Brockmann has this thing about making up countries filled with dangerous terrorists) to help orphans. Since Wes is going "wheels up" on a mission, and Bobby is recuperating from gunshot wounds and can't go, Wes insists on Bobby's going to stop Colleen.
Let's see if you, the reader, can just write this story for Ms Brockmann and save her the trouble. (Too late, it's already published...) But you can save yourself some time - Bobby goes to Colleen, Colleen's too stubborn/stupid to back out of going to a dangerous country where terrorists are teeming and shooting everything that seems to be American. Plus she's pushy and since Wes isn't around, she throws herself at Bobby constantly. Friend that he is, he manages to avoid her passes for several pages then gives in, and then... yada yada yada, boink, boink, boink, Wes comes back and fists fly, they all go to Turgeria together, something something something, wedding bells.
3 stars for average, Serial Readers Challenge...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
A Woman Without Lies by Elizabeth Lowell ****
I got this on audio book from the library - and it's missing the LAST 18 MINUTES!! HOW DOES IT END???
Whew. As it turns out, I'm having some kind of issue transferring my audio book CDs into iTunes and it just dropped the last track of 18 minutes. I got out the disk and listened to it on the computer.
This is another of Lowell's typical style - her jackass hero who developed a hatred for women when he was 18 and had some disastrous encounter with a cheating woman. In his suspicious, closed little mind, all women lie to get what they want. "Hawk" meets "Angel" (follow all the flying and wing metaphors throughout the book) through a mutual friend, Darry. Hawk assumes (that's "make an ass out of u and me") Angel and Darry are lovers, and he's put off when there's chemistry between himself and Angel that she freely shows him. See! he thinks, even though she's Darry's lover, she's coming on to me!! The whore! The slut! I'll show her - I'll boink her mad and leave her high and dry, like the good friend to Darry I am.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why do I keep reading her? Is it for the groveling she puts those jackasses through at the end?? I dunno, cuz I still rated this one 4 stars, in spite of the extreme jackassism of Hawk.
Angelina AKA Angie AKA Angel is an artist working with glass. Her troubled past included a tragic car accident in which her parents and her fiancé were killed, and from which she received multiple bad medical issues that took months to recover from. Darry was the fiancé's brother, and he stayed by Angel's side and helped her through her emotional and physical recovery. Therefore, she feels she owes him whatever he needs when he suffers a broken leg and needs assistance. However, the assistance he asks her to give him is in showing his property to Hawk, a potential buyer. Selling the property will give Darry the money he needs to complete medical school.
Since Angel never bothers to communicate the details of her relationship to Darry, Hawk continues to assume the worst - not that Hawk ever asks her, either. Why bother? He assumes she's a cheating, lying bitch who should be brought down, and treats her that way. But Angel soon realizes that what Hawk needs is love, an unconditional love that he has never experienced.
Why do I put up with these storylines? Because somehow, Lowell manages to make it work for me - even though I hate the hero and his treatment of the heroine, her writing evokes the feelings in me that I look for in a good story. She manages to make me feel what the characters are feeling (even as I'm rolling my eyes at some of her phrasing). Oh yeah, and because I love audio books and I got this one as a free dowloand from the library (which I had to burn to a disc and transfer to iTunes to put on my iPod, and lost the last 18 minutes). 4 stars.
Whew. As it turns out, I'm having some kind of issue transferring my audio book CDs into iTunes and it just dropped the last track of 18 minutes. I got out the disk and listened to it on the computer.
This is another of Lowell's typical style - her jackass hero who developed a hatred for women when he was 18 and had some disastrous encounter with a cheating woman. In his suspicious, closed little mind, all women lie to get what they want. "Hawk" meets "Angel" (follow all the flying and wing metaphors throughout the book) through a mutual friend, Darry. Hawk assumes (that's "make an ass out of u and me") Angel and Darry are lovers, and he's put off when there's chemistry between himself and Angel that she freely shows him. See! he thinks, even though she's Darry's lover, she's coming on to me!! The whore! The slut! I'll show her - I'll boink her mad and leave her high and dry, like the good friend to Darry I am.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why do I keep reading her? Is it for the groveling she puts those jackasses through at the end?? I dunno, cuz I still rated this one 4 stars, in spite of the extreme jackassism of Hawk.
Angelina AKA Angie AKA Angel is an artist working with glass. Her troubled past included a tragic car accident in which her parents and her fiancé were killed, and from which she received multiple bad medical issues that took months to recover from. Darry was the fiancé's brother, and he stayed by Angel's side and helped her through her emotional and physical recovery. Therefore, she feels she owes him whatever he needs when he suffers a broken leg and needs assistance. However, the assistance he asks her to give him is in showing his property to Hawk, a potential buyer. Selling the property will give Darry the money he needs to complete medical school.
Since Angel never bothers to communicate the details of her relationship to Darry, Hawk continues to assume the worst - not that Hawk ever asks her, either. Why bother? He assumes she's a cheating, lying bitch who should be brought down, and treats her that way. But Angel soon realizes that what Hawk needs is love, an unconditional love that he has never experienced.
Why do I put up with these storylines? Because somehow, Lowell manages to make it work for me - even though I hate the hero and his treatment of the heroine, her writing evokes the feelings in me that I look for in a good story. She manages to make me feel what the characters are feeling (even as I'm rolling my eyes at some of her phrasing). Oh yeah, and because I love audio books and I got this one as a free dowloand from the library (which I had to burn to a disc and transfer to iTunes to put on my iPod, and lost the last 18 minutes). 4 stars.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Get Lucky by Suzanne Brockmann *****
Finally! Lucky's story! LOL - I say that like I've been chomping at the bit to get to it. Brockmann herself referred to books 7-9 in her Tall, Dark and Dangerous series as all being "Lucky's story" and this is book 9, where he finally finds his match. This is a hard book to find, and I ended up getting it from the library. Maybe it's because of the awful cover? Lucky is supposed to be the most handsome, attractive, good-looking SEAL in Team Ten's Alpha Squad, so how in the world did the art department at the publisher get away with a drawing of the Pillsbury Dough Boy?? The cover model is a porky-faced pudgy fellow, not a movie-star-handsome guy!!
It's another fun story in the series (thank goodness, because that last heroine... arg!) although our heroine, journalist Sydney, does almost get to that TSTL level. Syd has a brush with danger when she literally runs into a big fellow who apparently just beat up and raped her neighbor! When she helps her neighbor get the police, she learns there is a pattern here - a serial rapist that hasn't been reported - and she's a reporter! But there's a couple of caveats - the perp may be a Navy SEAL and the police are concerned that if there is any publicity, he'll use his covert training to go underground. So she gets an exclusive to write the story - as soon as he's caught.
This means she insinuates herself into the task force as her trump card - and has to work closely with a few SEALs, a couple of FInCom agents and the police. Enter Lucky - who has to miss a SEAL expedition anyway because his younger sister's getting married in a week. Since he's available, he's drafted to serve on the task force as well.
The old standby plot conceit: Lucky and Syd must pretend to be in love to lure the rapist to go after Syd while she "lives" with Lucky. It seems there is another pattern to his attacks: all are women who have a relationship with someone in the Navy during a particular period of time, making most of the Alpha Squad's women targets. Of course, they haven't exactly gotten off on the right foot - she assumes he's a vacuous one-night-stander; he assumes she's a meddling bitch. Or something like that. As well, she in no way fits his usual date: she's slender/flat chested and dresses in oversized mannish clothing that hides her petite cute body, instead of the lush bimbos who show it all he is usually seen with.
Still, it's a fun read in spite of the well-worn plot - both thinking the other isn't really attracted, and so each keeps his/her feelings in check as much as possible. There's a tiny bit of misdirection - several potential perps - it is a short book, so not too much detail outside of the relationship between Lucky and Sid. It fits my Serial Readers Challenge and the A To Z Challenge. I gave it 5 stars because that's what the others rated - loved reading it, but it's not really a keeper.
It's another fun story in the series (thank goodness, because that last heroine... arg!) although our heroine, journalist Sydney, does almost get to that TSTL level. Syd has a brush with danger when she literally runs into a big fellow who apparently just beat up and raped her neighbor! When she helps her neighbor get the police, she learns there is a pattern here - a serial rapist that hasn't been reported - and she's a reporter! But there's a couple of caveats - the perp may be a Navy SEAL and the police are concerned that if there is any publicity, he'll use his covert training to go underground. So she gets an exclusive to write the story - as soon as he's caught.
This means she insinuates herself into the task force as her trump card - and has to work closely with a few SEALs, a couple of FInCom agents and the police. Enter Lucky - who has to miss a SEAL expedition anyway because his younger sister's getting married in a week. Since he's available, he's drafted to serve on the task force as well.
The old standby plot conceit: Lucky and Syd must pretend to be in love to lure the rapist to go after Syd while she "lives" with Lucky. It seems there is another pattern to his attacks: all are women who have a relationship with someone in the Navy during a particular period of time, making most of the Alpha Squad's women targets. Of course, they haven't exactly gotten off on the right foot - she assumes he's a vacuous one-night-stander; he assumes she's a meddling bitch. Or something like that. As well, she in no way fits his usual date: she's slender/flat chested and dresses in oversized mannish clothing that hides her petite cute body, instead of the lush bimbos who show it all he is usually seen with.
Still, it's a fun read in spite of the well-worn plot - both thinking the other isn't really attracted, and so each keeps his/her feelings in check as much as possible. There's a tiny bit of misdirection - several potential perps - it is a short book, so not too much detail outside of the relationship between Lucky and Sid. It fits my Serial Readers Challenge and the A To Z Challenge. I gave it 5 stars because that's what the others rated - loved reading it, but it's not really a keeper.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy ***
I read this for the Spring 2009 Challenge as a book reviewed in the Winter Challenge. There was an awful lot of buzz about this book as being a model for contemporary, non-paranormal romance, the likes of which readers haven't been able to find in books recently published.
Which is why I feel like Oscar the Grouch for rating it only 3 stars - aka Average. OK, I liked it. I liked the characters, I liked the storyline. It's probably considered "romantica" or romantic erotica - to me, partly that means to expect the characters in bed before page 100. And the sex is steaming too.
The characters are Tammy, the young widow of a race car driver, raising their 2 sons on her own, and Elec, a rookie race car driver, who is 6 years younger than Tammy. He's almost 26 and she's 32, and that is one of 2 major sticking points for Tammy who feels like she's robbing the cradle. The other is she doesn't want to be involved with any race car driver again for fear of losing him like she did her first husband.
Tammy bumps into Elec, literally, at a fund raiser peopled with race car folks, and the attraction is instant - the chemistry is there - and it's been a while for her. She has a couple too many glasses of wine, and with her inhibitions lowered, they end up doing the deed in a fellow driver's motorhome and spending the entire night. She's more than a little embarrassed when the friend shows up and catches them late the next morning - and spends a few days blushing and avoiding Elec.
Elec wants more of what he got that night - and eventually more of everything. He insinuates himself (credibly and sweetly, really) into her and her children's lives, and pretty soon everyone except her in-laws are aware there's something going on there. The 2 conflict points are a blonde bimbo stalker and the potential for danger in a race - which, when it happens, causes our brave heroine to run screaming in the other direction so she can get a lecture from her father-in-law. OK, there's also a plot that Elec's family and the in-laws are bitter enemies, but that is never really explained in detail and doesn't really cause much conflict.
All that aside - the writing style just did not appeal to me. The writing style, in my humble opinion, should be like lighting in a theatrical production. It should brilliantly illuminate the story without your ever being aware that it's there. When grammar errors and injudicious use of adjectives jolt me out of the story, it's like the a gel burning out on stage, making one spot glaringly white while the rest is in shades of amber and blue. I'm not sure if McCarthy herself does not know the difference between the use of "you and I" and "you and me", or if she is using that as a character defect (at least 3 times). But Tammy is a college professor, and if college professors don't know how to use those phrases correctly, we are in trouble. Then again, the style may have been reflecting some younger generation use of language to create a particular ambiance that I didn't get. Or maybe McCarthy just needs a better editor, which is what I think.
So - good story, hot sex, imperfect style. 3 stars. She's a new author for me, it might even be a series, so it meets a lot of criteria for me to read - so maybe I am Oscar The Grouch?
Which is why I feel like Oscar the Grouch for rating it only 3 stars - aka Average. OK, I liked it. I liked the characters, I liked the storyline. It's probably considered "romantica" or romantic erotica - to me, partly that means to expect the characters in bed before page 100. And the sex is steaming too.
The characters are Tammy, the young widow of a race car driver, raising their 2 sons on her own, and Elec, a rookie race car driver, who is 6 years younger than Tammy. He's almost 26 and she's 32, and that is one of 2 major sticking points for Tammy who feels like she's robbing the cradle. The other is she doesn't want to be involved with any race car driver again for fear of losing him like she did her first husband.
Tammy bumps into Elec, literally, at a fund raiser peopled with race car folks, and the attraction is instant - the chemistry is there - and it's been a while for her. She has a couple too many glasses of wine, and with her inhibitions lowered, they end up doing the deed in a fellow driver's motorhome and spending the entire night. She's more than a little embarrassed when the friend shows up and catches them late the next morning - and spends a few days blushing and avoiding Elec.
Elec wants more of what he got that night - and eventually more of everything. He insinuates himself (credibly and sweetly, really) into her and her children's lives, and pretty soon everyone except her in-laws are aware there's something going on there. The 2 conflict points are a blonde bimbo stalker and the potential for danger in a race - which, when it happens, causes our brave heroine to run screaming in the other direction so she can get a lecture from her father-in-law. OK, there's also a plot that Elec's family and the in-laws are bitter enemies, but that is never really explained in detail and doesn't really cause much conflict.
All that aside - the writing style just did not appeal to me. The writing style, in my humble opinion, should be like lighting in a theatrical production. It should brilliantly illuminate the story without your ever being aware that it's there. When grammar errors and injudicious use of adjectives jolt me out of the story, it's like the a gel burning out on stage, making one spot glaringly white while the rest is in shades of amber and blue. I'm not sure if McCarthy herself does not know the difference between the use of "you and I" and "you and me", or if she is using that as a character defect (at least 3 times). But Tammy is a college professor, and if college professors don't know how to use those phrases correctly, we are in trouble. Then again, the style may have been reflecting some younger generation use of language to create a particular ambiance that I didn't get. Or maybe McCarthy just needs a better editor, which is what I think.
So - good story, hot sex, imperfect style. 3 stars. She's a new author for me, it might even be a series, so it meets a lot of criteria for me to read - so maybe I am Oscar The Grouch?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Identity Unknown by Suzanne Brockmann **
First of all, I wrote almost the entire review, and then inadvertently closed the window before saving. Shit.
Second of all, I don't feel the book was worth rewriting the review. I'll just say this: after 7 books where Brockmann had me believing the characters were acting in accordance with their background experience and training, she finally slipped in a Waaay Too Stoopid To Live heroine. Here's what I wrote in a post on PBS forum:
So I'm reading along, enjoying the story. Oh No Mr. Bill - the bad guy is around the corner and he's got a gun!!! What does TSTL heroine do when SEAL hero says to get outta there? SHE STORMS THE VILLAIN WHO IS HOLDING THE UZI. And does she have any training in weapons, firearms, survival, rescue? No. She's a cowgirl and she can ride a horse.
Bang! Sigh. Bangbangbang. The first bang is the book on the wall. The last 3 are my head on the desk. But does that end it? NO. I pick the book up, and the villain makes them get in the truck and they drive far far away. All 3 get out, and while SEAL and villain fight, hero yells: Hey Heroine, get in the truck and get outta here! (note: they already called the sheriff, so if she would just LISTEN to the SEAL she could get him and direct Sheriff with gun to them) What does the TSTL heroine do? SHE GOES INTO THE WATER TO HELP THE SEAL.
Yes, you read that right. He's a SEAL and she thinks she can save him while he's fighting a UZI-toting villain IN THE WATER. This is the same heroine who, earlier in the book, was not able to save a small child clinging to a branch in the water.
I did finish the book. The hero has amnesia for most of the book and doesn't know he's a Navy SEAL. He goes to the address in his pocket, a dude ranch in New Mexico where he meets TSTL heroine Becca, Dude Ranch Manager, who tries to save him over and over, like he needs it. Meanwhile, the Team Ten Alpha group guys are looking for Mitch, the Gray Group member/SEAL who has gone missing with the load of plutonium he was using to lure the bad guys. Did Mitch become a turncoat and betray his country?? (no, silly, he has amnesia) All this while Mitch wonders, Am I a convicted felon/murderer/assassin?? (no, silly, you have amnesia but you're a hero Navy SEAL undercover) There's no mystery for us because, duh, we're being told both sides. The only mystery is, what was Brockmann thinking when she had this stoopid heroine try to save a Navy SEAL?
The plot just didn't work for me, and those TSTL moments had me so riled up I wanted to scream. But I still only "didn't like it" (2 stars) as opposed to 1 star/hated it/DNF. Grrrr.
Second of all, I don't feel the book was worth rewriting the review. I'll just say this: after 7 books where Brockmann had me believing the characters were acting in accordance with their background experience and training, she finally slipped in a Waaay Too Stoopid To Live heroine. Here's what I wrote in a post on PBS forum:
So I'm reading along, enjoying the story. Oh No Mr. Bill - the bad guy is around the corner and he's got a gun!!! What does TSTL heroine do when SEAL hero says to get outta there? SHE STORMS THE VILLAIN WHO IS HOLDING THE UZI. And does she have any training in weapons, firearms, survival, rescue? No. She's a cowgirl and she can ride a horse.
Bang! Sigh. Bangbangbang. The first bang is the book on the wall. The last 3 are my head on the desk. But does that end it? NO. I pick the book up, and the villain makes them get in the truck and they drive far far away. All 3 get out, and while SEAL and villain fight, hero yells: Hey Heroine, get in the truck and get outta here! (note: they already called the sheriff, so if she would just LISTEN to the SEAL she could get him and direct Sheriff with gun to them) What does the TSTL heroine do? SHE GOES INTO THE WATER TO HELP THE SEAL.
Yes, you read that right. He's a SEAL and she thinks she can save him while he's fighting a UZI-toting villain IN THE WATER. This is the same heroine who, earlier in the book, was not able to save a small child clinging to a branch in the water.
I did finish the book. The hero has amnesia for most of the book and doesn't know he's a Navy SEAL. He goes to the address in his pocket, a dude ranch in New Mexico where he meets TSTL heroine Becca, Dude Ranch Manager, who tries to save him over and over, like he needs it. Meanwhile, the Team Ten Alpha group guys are looking for Mitch, the Gray Group member/SEAL who has gone missing with the load of plutonium he was using to lure the bad guys. Did Mitch become a turncoat and betray his country?? (no, silly, he has amnesia) All this while Mitch wonders, Am I a convicted felon/murderer/assassin?? (no, silly, you have amnesia but you're a hero Navy SEAL undercover) There's no mystery for us because, duh, we're being told both sides. The only mystery is, what was Brockmann thinking when she had this stoopid heroine try to save a Navy SEAL?
The plot just didn't work for me, and those TSTL moments had me so riled up I wanted to scream. But I still only "didn't like it" (2 stars) as opposed to 1 star/hated it/DNF. Grrrr.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Duke by Gaelen Foley *****
I read this book because it's on the AAR Top 100 of 2007 and I have a quest to read them all. To be perfectly honest, about 1/3 of the way in, I was thinking this was a 3-star/average read. Frankly, the writing style wasn't particularly stellar, the way I like 5 star reads to be. If another character crossed his arms over his chest, I was gonna scream. I was envisioning all these people with their hands on their opposite shoulders - how else does one cross one's arms over one's chest??
And also, there was the idea that a gentlewoman who had been raped once could become a worldly courtesan in just a few weeks - and still not have had sex any other time than the brutal rape - and yet she was highly sought after, with no experience whatsoever. She must have been quite an actress, is all I can say. It just stretched my personal credibility somewhat.
Of course, the author finished the story with such a bang, that by the time she was done, I had already decided to go up to 4 stars and then maybe even 4.5. Since I don't use 1/2 star ratings here, I just went ahead and gave it 5 stars and can totally understand that some feel it's a true keeper. (I did not put it in my keeper shelf, however.)
To be honest, although the story blurbs indicate it is a story about a duke and a courtesan, it's very important to realize that Belinda Hamilton didn't start out a courtesan, and indeed did not want to be a courtesan. She felt that was her very last resort - at a suggestion of a lowly prostitute, who told her she was beautiful enough to be one. She was penniless, having been abandoned by her boyfriend, and her father had been thrown in jail by another titled gentleman (Dolph) who was obssessed with having her, and so sought to ruin her so he could.
The Paragon Duke of Hawkscliffe was for all intents and purposes a saint. He had raised his younger siblings, of whom only 1 was fully related, the other 3 were by-blows from his mother's affairs. He had one true love who died young, married to another, that he only loved from afar. He was a Tory by birth but felt personally responsible for righting injustices that were really only espoused by the rival party, the Whigs. Nary a scandal was associated with Hawk... until...
His lady love's widower, the elderly Earl of Coldfell, led Hawk to believe the young woman was murdered - and by his nephew, Dolph. Yes, the same Dolph who is also besotted with Belinda, enough to ruin her so she would be in his clutches. He's an evil, evil man!! Allegedly anyway.
As revenge, Hawk presents Bel with a proposition: he will be her protector for 2 months for some enormous sum; she will go along with the ruse to help him get a confession from Dolph; Hawk will not require her services in bed. WTF?? Well, as it turns out, it's the perfect arrangement for Bel since she is all but a virgin, and scared of men to boot. And he's such a paragon - how could he press her for sex?
As time goes by, they do grow a serious attraction one for the other, and Bel - harlot that she is - does step up the intimacies without actually getting a home run for a while, if you catch my drift. Hawk is totally, deeply falling in love with her BUT he is still conflicted, and part of him still sees her as a money-grubbing social-climbing high-priced whore. And face it: he's a duke and cannot marry someone of her station, either as the poor gentlewoman or the high-priced courtesan.
Eventually he realizes he must marry elsewhere, and he must break it to Bel. At this point, she's regained her self-esteem and sense of worth. Plus she did make one rule when she became a courtesan - she would not have a married man as her protector. Keep in mind, she's only had sex with 2 men - the rapist, and Hawk by this point, so she's still pretty inexperienced except for her lessons in Hawk's bed.
This is when it really started to tug on my heartstrings in a big way. He was so fully besotted but still had his honor and could not imagine marrying Bel or not marrying at all either. She stuck to her principles, though, and when she learned he was to marry, she left him. (this was after confronting Dolph about the alleged murder of Coldfell's wife)
There were a couple more plot twists which I had figured out pretty early on, and then not only a HEA but a major grand gesture that was really quite heartwarming. Yes, Lord Hawk groveled like the worm he was.
As it turns out, this is the first book in a long series - which I started to suspect as we met various of Hawk's siblings and they were introduced as if we might learn their story later. Plus it fits the Spring 2009 Challenge as a book from the AAR Top 100. 5 stars.
And also, there was the idea that a gentlewoman who had been raped once could become a worldly courtesan in just a few weeks - and still not have had sex any other time than the brutal rape - and yet she was highly sought after, with no experience whatsoever. She must have been quite an actress, is all I can say. It just stretched my personal credibility somewhat.
Of course, the author finished the story with such a bang, that by the time she was done, I had already decided to go up to 4 stars and then maybe even 4.5. Since I don't use 1/2 star ratings here, I just went ahead and gave it 5 stars and can totally understand that some feel it's a true keeper. (I did not put it in my keeper shelf, however.)
To be honest, although the story blurbs indicate it is a story about a duke and a courtesan, it's very important to realize that Belinda Hamilton didn't start out a courtesan, and indeed did not want to be a courtesan. She felt that was her very last resort - at a suggestion of a lowly prostitute, who told her she was beautiful enough to be one. She was penniless, having been abandoned by her boyfriend, and her father had been thrown in jail by another titled gentleman (Dolph) who was obssessed with having her, and so sought to ruin her so he could.
The Paragon Duke of Hawkscliffe was for all intents and purposes a saint. He had raised his younger siblings, of whom only 1 was fully related, the other 3 were by-blows from his mother's affairs. He had one true love who died young, married to another, that he only loved from afar. He was a Tory by birth but felt personally responsible for righting injustices that were really only espoused by the rival party, the Whigs. Nary a scandal was associated with Hawk... until...
His lady love's widower, the elderly Earl of Coldfell, led Hawk to believe the young woman was murdered - and by his nephew, Dolph. Yes, the same Dolph who is also besotted with Belinda, enough to ruin her so she would be in his clutches. He's an evil, evil man!! Allegedly anyway.
As revenge, Hawk presents Bel with a proposition: he will be her protector for 2 months for some enormous sum; she will go along with the ruse to help him get a confession from Dolph; Hawk will not require her services in bed. WTF?? Well, as it turns out, it's the perfect arrangement for Bel since she is all but a virgin, and scared of men to boot. And he's such a paragon - how could he press her for sex?
As time goes by, they do grow a serious attraction one for the other, and Bel - harlot that she is - does step up the intimacies without actually getting a home run for a while, if you catch my drift. Hawk is totally, deeply falling in love with her BUT he is still conflicted, and part of him still sees her as a money-grubbing social-climbing high-priced whore. And face it: he's a duke and cannot marry someone of her station, either as the poor gentlewoman or the high-priced courtesan.
Eventually he realizes he must marry elsewhere, and he must break it to Bel. At this point, she's regained her self-esteem and sense of worth. Plus she did make one rule when she became a courtesan - she would not have a married man as her protector. Keep in mind, she's only had sex with 2 men - the rapist, and Hawk by this point, so she's still pretty inexperienced except for her lessons in Hawk's bed.
This is when it really started to tug on my heartstrings in a big way. He was so fully besotted but still had his honor and could not imagine marrying Bel or not marrying at all either. She stuck to her principles, though, and when she learned he was to marry, she left him. (this was after confronting Dolph about the alleged murder of Coldfell's wife)
There were a couple more plot twists which I had figured out pretty early on, and then not only a HEA but a major grand gesture that was really quite heartwarming. Yes, Lord Hawk groveled like the worm he was.
As it turns out, this is the first book in a long series - which I started to suspect as we met various of Hawk's siblings and they were introduced as if we might learn their story later. Plus it fits the Spring 2009 Challenge as a book from the AAR Top 100. 5 stars.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Across A Moonlit Sea by Marsha Canham *****
OMG! OMG! I'm squeeing like a little fangrrl with pleasure from reading this wonderful, fabuloso book!! I love it so much!!
OK - deep breath. First, like all of MC's books, it's chock full of adventure, spelled out in such a way that you feel the deck of the ship rocking under your feet and the spray of the sea in your face. It will make you want to grab your pirate costume and run out the door to board the ship for their next seafaring adventure, shouting ARRRRRRR the entire way.
Whew! The heroine is Beau - aka Isabeau, the daughter of Jonas Spence, who has kept her by his side as he sails the seas in search of treasure and booty on his ship, the Egret. Beau has become a daring helmsman as well as good with knives and pistols by her 20th year.
The hero is Simon Dante, a French count who prefers to spend his time at sea, stealing Caribbean treasure from right under the Spaniards' very noses. But on his last trip, he's betrayed by one of his comrades who steals away with the supplies and the booty, leaving him to the mercy of 6 enemy ships. He manages to limp the ship and some of the crew away - and is rescued by Jonas Spence and the Egret.
Of course, at first he is so filled with hate and rage that he cannot be civil to his rescuers, and is even less civil to the slip of a girl - a girl of all things! - that is piloting the ship. She is insolent, outspoken and insulting to him. And he does have a past life that makes him wary of women in general, with a wife who had 2 children by other men while they were married and he was at sea.
But a run-in with another Spanish galleon changes his mind about Beau and her talents as a helmsman, and with his appreciation of her skill, his appreciation of her as a woman also grows. Eventually the 2 succumb to their attraction, and have to deal with the aftermath.
When the Egret runs into a British armada led by Sir Francis Drake, Dante is confronted by the coward who left him. Dante and his sworn rival must join forces with Drake to fight the Spanish, and Dante sends Beau and the Egret back to Britain to wait for him.
But when does she ever take orders from him? (Answer: rarely!)
This was such an incredible romp! Beau is a wonderful heroine, full of spit and vinegar, able to hold her own against the men around her. She also wasn't a blushing virgin - she'd had more than one affair. And Simon - ahhh! he's a droolworthy hero. There's also a secondary romance with Simon's sidekick Pitt and their Spanish hostage, a young duchess. I'm definitely putting this in my top 10 favorites!! It's a title with the word Moon in it, for the Spring 09 challenge, and it's the first in a series for the Serial Readers Challenge.
OK - deep breath. First, like all of MC's books, it's chock full of adventure, spelled out in such a way that you feel the deck of the ship rocking under your feet and the spray of the sea in your face. It will make you want to grab your pirate costume and run out the door to board the ship for their next seafaring adventure, shouting ARRRRRRR the entire way.
Whew! The heroine is Beau - aka Isabeau, the daughter of Jonas Spence, who has kept her by his side as he sails the seas in search of treasure and booty on his ship, the Egret. Beau has become a daring helmsman as well as good with knives and pistols by her 20th year.
The hero is Simon Dante, a French count who prefers to spend his time at sea, stealing Caribbean treasure from right under the Spaniards' very noses. But on his last trip, he's betrayed by one of his comrades who steals away with the supplies and the booty, leaving him to the mercy of 6 enemy ships. He manages to limp the ship and some of the crew away - and is rescued by Jonas Spence and the Egret.
Of course, at first he is so filled with hate and rage that he cannot be civil to his rescuers, and is even less civil to the slip of a girl - a girl of all things! - that is piloting the ship. She is insolent, outspoken and insulting to him. And he does have a past life that makes him wary of women in general, with a wife who had 2 children by other men while they were married and he was at sea.
But a run-in with another Spanish galleon changes his mind about Beau and her talents as a helmsman, and with his appreciation of her skill, his appreciation of her as a woman also grows. Eventually the 2 succumb to their attraction, and have to deal with the aftermath.
When the Egret runs into a British armada led by Sir Francis Drake, Dante is confronted by the coward who left him. Dante and his sworn rival must join forces with Drake to fight the Spanish, and Dante sends Beau and the Egret back to Britain to wait for him.
But when does she ever take orders from him? (Answer: rarely!)
This was such an incredible romp! Beau is a wonderful heroine, full of spit and vinegar, able to hold her own against the men around her. She also wasn't a blushing virgin - she'd had more than one affair. And Simon - ahhh! he's a droolworthy hero. There's also a secondary romance with Simon's sidekick Pitt and their Spanish hostage, a young duchess. I'm definitely putting this in my top 10 favorites!! It's a title with the word Moon in it, for the Spring 09 challenge, and it's the first in a series for the Serial Readers Challenge.
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