Sunday, January 07, 2007

First read of 2007


Sizzling by Susan Mallery


This is the third book in this series about the Buchanan family. I loved the first one Delicious, and was kind of disappointed in the second Irresistable, so was waiting with bated breath on this one. Reid Buchanan was the youngest brother, a former major league pitcher who left the game when he blew out his shoulder. He’s a player in more ways than one. He is to put it simply, a male slut who will sleep with anyone female who asks. I was hoping after seeing him in the first two books that he would get his comeuppance in this one.

IS IT A HIT OR A MISS?

For me this one is a hit – mostly. Lori, the heroine in this one starts out great. She’s a nurse who is staying with his grandmother while Granny Bitch (and anyone who’s read the first two know what I mean) is recovering from a broken hip and a mild heart attack. While Lori has developed a major case of the hots for Reid, she still is less than impressed with him. He decides to stay at Granny’s house while he hides away from reporters after a nasty article comes out calling into question his abilities in the sack. So far so good! But then her crush gets in her way once Reid starts to notice her.
Reid is a player! A major player. A lot of the time he doesn’t even remember who he slept with and readers who don’t like this kind of character beware. I was hoping that Lori would hold out longer than she did; that she would make him work harder for her. I mean it worked for Warren Beaty and Annette Benning. That’s how she landed him – a major Hollywood player – by holding out on him. I would have liked to see Lori do that instead of capitulating so easily. And I didn’t quite buy the major personality change in grandma. She was a MAJOR witch in the first two and now she’s almost this nice sweet little old lady once Lori gives her a few home truths.
And Reid. I think Ms. Mallery did a most excellent job of turning him from a charming, good looking, good for nothing hedonistic playboy into a caring compassionate guy. It didn’t take overnight and Lori had to do a few figurative “smack him upside the head” speeches for him to begin to “get it.” But male slut though he was in the previous books, I did have a bit of a soft spot for him.
This book also has a bit of a shocker near the end that you don’t normally see. For spoilers sake I won't say anymore except I appreciated the risk the author took. I also like the brief glances we saw of Dani, the youngest Buchanan sister who will be having her own story soon.
So – while I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the first, I liked it much better than the second. Not a bad way, not a bad way at all to start out 2007.
Grade: 4 out of 5

And by the way - she has the most imaginative web site.

And in other news - I really like my theory of not looking for something! I was in the kitchen the other day and looked down and low and behold - there was Pirates of the Caribbean II - just sitting there looking at me. And I'd lost my sunglasses again. But did I look for them? Not really. Last night I was looking for something - and there they were!!!

And we watched Robing Hood Prince of Thieves last night.
I was ripped off!!!!!
Extended version my a$. There were two measly scenes that I don't remember from before. And not even love scenes or anything! The second disc had (supposedly) the behind the scenes stuff. Boring interviews, the actors biographies that you had to READ! Who wants to do that when you are watching a movie? And I paid extra for that?

'til later

9 comments:

Dev said...

I got Delicous from the libary about a month ago ~ it collected dust so I ended up having to take it back. I still want to read this series ~ I just haven't been able to read anything.

This one sounds good, too. I'm hoping to get my reading mojo back soon so I can actually enjoy getting my hands on some of these books.

C2 said...

See, this is why I leave real reviews to others - you do such a good job! :o)

Didn't she do a good job showing Reid as a player without making him seem totally skanky? LOL

And I sooo agree about Granny's transformation not ringing quite true. I mean, seriously, like no one had ever told her she was a total bitch before so that lightbulb had never gone off in her brain??? Uhhh...I don't think so.

sybil said...

I bought this... cuz I am mallery's bitch but never read the her full length books.

AND you said they were good. First two chapters have flown by and are fun. So not what I am suppose to be reading right this mine.

off to email for spoilers

Kristie (J) said...

Devonna: I hope you get you reading mojo back too. It's a terrible thing to lose isn't it :(

C2: She did do an excellent job of making him adorable despite being a dog. And the biggest problem I had with this one was the personality transplant she did on granny. Too much, too soon.

Sybil: And I am always right! LOL. Now you'll have to go back and read the first two.

CindyS said...

Glad your first read was good - 4/5 is a really good grade!

I'm always feeling ripped off by the promises on the DVDs today - I bought The Osbournes DVD with 10 extra hours of ____. Basically I didn't see anything that was 10 hours and since then I don't really pay much attention to supposed extras.

You know I was watching the Poisiden (the original) on some channel and it had the coolest thing - a scrolling thing at the bottom with trivia about the movie and the actors. It was quite fun to re-watch and classic and get some insights into the behind the scenes stuff too - I think, IIRC, that the woman who played a championship swimmer actually had been a championship swimmer. I think.

cindyS

ReneeW said...

I'm so glad you liked Sizzling cuz I was looking forward to it. I loved the first one and the second not very much, same as you. Too bad about the Robin Hood movie. I have never found those extended versions to be worth the money.

Kristie (J) said...

Renee: I guess I was expecting the same kind of extra scenes that they had in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now THOSE are worth the extra money! And I'll be looking forward to seeing what you think of Sizzling 'cause I know you felt the same way as the I did about the first two.

Cindy: LOL I couldn't even watch the Osbornes when it was on TV. It was hard to understand what Ozzie was saying most of the time. And I remember The Posiedon. That was quite the movie for it's time wasn't it?

Tara Marie said...

I didn't realize this was already out. I'll have to run over to B&N and pick it up.

nath said...

Oh, I've been wanting to read this series because I've saw a review of the first book. Glad you like this one because it's in my TBR pile :D