More Recent Reads

I am so woefully behind on these :-(

Face the Fire by Nora Roberts

Why this one: I listened to it in the car while driving to and from my recent visit to sister/RWA

Steam Level: Warm

Genre: Contemporary with a bit of Paranormal thrown in

Outline: Mia Devlin knows what it’s like to love with your whole heart—and then watch your love walk away. Years ago, she and Sam Logan shared an incredible bond built on passion, legend, and fate. But then one day he fled Three Sisters Island, leaving her lost in memories of the magic they shared—and determined to live on her own…

As the new owner of the island’s only hotel, Sam has returned to Three Sisters with hopes of winning back Mia’s affections. He is puzzled when she greets him with icy indifference—for the chemistry between them is still sizzling and true. Angry, hurt, and deeply confused, Mia refuses to admit that a desire for Sam still burns in her heart. But she’ll need his help—and his powers—to face her greatest, most terrifying challenge. And as the deadline for breaking a centuries-old curse draws near, they must take the first step toward destiny—and come together to turn back the dark…

My Thoughts: This audio book did not work for me on so many levels.  I didn’t like the heroine, I didn’t like the hero.  I didn’t care for the supporting characters.  I thought parts of it were downright stupid and it emphasizes all the reasons I do not read Ms. Roberts trilogies any longer.

That’s it in a nutshell though I suppose I should give a bit more detail, otherwise it will sound like one of those ‘crap’ reviews that can be found on Amazon.

I have to start out by saying I’ve loved Nora Roberts for a long time.  I still love her as JD Robb and I still enjoy her single title books though I don’t read that many due to price.  I did very recently purchase Whiskey Beach and Honest Illusions as ebooks when they were for a good prices.  But I gave up her trilogies a long time ago as the characters seen all interchangeable after having read a number in my earlier romance reading days.  I’m going to come down on the author and it hurts to do so as I have a tremendous amount of respect for her talent but in the trilogies she has 3 basic types, mostly heroines but I have read a series where the heroes fell into this pattern too.

There is what I call, “earth mother (father)” type.  All she (he) really wants is to be a good wife (dad) and possible mother (father).  She’s (he’s)tried to womanly (beta manly) things like cooking, cleaning, raising plants, that kind of thing.  She’s often been abused by a previous boyfriend/husband the hero for this type ‘rescues’ her.

The second type of heroine (hero) is the ‘tough’ type.  She(he) has a tough exterior hiding a heart of gold of course.  She often holds a traditionally more masculine type job, cop, firefighter, works on a boat, that kind of thing.  Eve Dallas for example is this type.

The third type is what I think of as ‘high maintenance’.  Usually this heroine (hero) is very stylish, sure of herself and her place in the world.  High maintenance probably isn’t a fair label, but she is the most confident of the three and has a successful career.

In Face the Fire, Mia is the third type and my least favourite.  I can’t really relate to this type of heroine and in all the trilogies this is my least favourite type.  I didn’t care for Mia; she comes across to me as rather cold even though her ‘element’ is fire.  Yes, she had her heart crushed by Sam when she was very young.  And her parents did pretty much abandon her.  And to keep the hurt at bay she gained a very strong mask, but I still didn’t like her.  And Sam was an awful hero.  He selfishly left her when they were young, breaking her and didn’t even give much of a reason for it.  He doesn’t have anything to do with her for ten years and though he realizes he may have a bit of work ahead of him in getting her back, he figures it’s pretty much a done deal.  Ass hat.

The woo woo part of it didn’t work for me at all either.  Both Sam and Mia are witches though I always thought a male witch was called a warlock.  They are often sending out spells and maybe because I listened instead of reading where I could just skip them they were, well, stupid.  Every time either one went off into spell working land I rolled my eyes, even though I was driving in a car.

I have very little experience with audio books but the reader’s voice didn’t impress me at all.  When she was speaking in the characters voices it was almost like nails on a chalkboard for me.  I winced and hunched my shoulders.

The plot was simplistic – some Evil Force on Sisters Island wants to drive Mia out and take over the island.  This is the third book and The Force tried with Nell, the ‘earth mother, abused wife’ heroine in the first book and failed and then again with Ripley, the ‘tough’ heroine in the second book and now finally with Mia in this one. 

But after finally forgiving Sam and embracing love, Mia triumphs over evil along with the help of her two ‘sisters’ and Sam.  At the risk of being a negative Nellie – gag me.  I don’t give this low of grades often but with so many things working against it for me this gets a very low grade.

Will I listen to it again: Not a chance

Grade: 1 out of 5

 

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Love in the Afternoon by Alison Packard

Why this one: the whole series was on for a Very Good Price as a Kindle Daily Deal

Genre: Contemporary

Steam Level: Pretty darn good.  Not boiling but hot enough for me

Outline: Kayla Maxwell is eager to shed her slasher-flick bimbo image—and she plans to do just that in her new role on daytime’s most popular soap. With a chance to showcase her dramatic range, Kayla will be able to wash away the lingering betrayal and public humiliation left by her controlling, philandering ex-boyfriend.

Sean Barrett, the son of an influential, award-winning actor, is the hottest soap star in the country. Paired on-screen with the talented and beautiful Kayla Maxwell, Sean is determined to keep her at arm’s length, burned before by fame-seeking actresses who had no qualms about using him to get to his famous father.

But when Kayla receives threatening letters, her past as a scream queen seems to be coming back to haunt her. Succumbing to an attraction neither one of them can deny, Sean and Kayla must face down her stalker and their own personal demons before trusting what they both feel—a love that lasts long after the cameras stop rolling.

 My Thoughts: Sometimes, without realizing it I do something really brilliant.  When I saw that this series of books was on for 99 cents each, I took a gamble and bought them all.  I hadn’t read this author before and didn’t hear any buzz on her.  But at 99 cents even if I hated them, it was still less expensive for all of them then it would be for a regular paperback and much to my delight, I really enjoyed it.  Both Kayla and Sean are good, interesting, down to earth people even though they both work in the entertainment industry and are both “beautiful” people.  They meet since they are on the same soap opera.  They hadn’t really got to know each other as Kayla hadn’t been on long and her character never had any scenes with Sean’s character.  But that changed when the writers of the soap decided to make them a couple and Kayla and Sean decided that besides the physical attraction they really respected each other and thought the other was great at their craft.

There isn’t anything earth shattering or deep about this book.  There was a slight mystery as to who was sending letters to Kayla that were freaking her out but even the letters weren’t threatening.  But I liked the story very much.  I liked Kayla and Sean and I liked Kayla’s sister and Sean’s friend who are the stars of the second book of the series.

Would I read it again: very possible

Grade: 4 out of 5

 

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The Winning Season by Alison Packard

Why this one: It was a good price and I really liked the first book in the series

Steam Level: very nice and warm

Genre: Contemporary

·       Outline: Kelly Maxwell has finally landed her dream job as publicist for the San Francisco Blaze. But the team’s newest member, handsome bad boy catcher Matt Scanlon, is refusing every interview. She’s got to get him to open up before the season ends, or she may not be back next year. And after everything she overcame to achieve her dream, Kelly’s not about to let that happen.

Matt Scanlon just wants to be left alone to rebuild his life and his career. After a year of masking the pain of a recent loss with hard partying and fast women, he finally hit rock bottom and was traded to a team he’s loathed his entire life—a team with little to no chance at the post-season.

Butting heads is getting Kelly and Matt nowhere but annoyed, and with the team’s schedule on the road, they can’t avoid close quarters—or their surprising attraction to one another. As the season winds down, Matt finds his growing feelings for Kelly have brought his numbed emotions back to life. But when betrayal shatters their fragile trust, winning it all seems more impossible than ever.

My Thoughts: I quite enjoyed the first book and since I’m a baseball fan – though not as fanatic about them as Wendy, who turns the DetroitTiger players into Harlequin Heroes – in a hilarious series of posts – I was still excited to read this one.  Both Matt and Kelly appeared in the first book.  Kelly is the sister of Kayla from the last book.  Where Kayla is feminine and beautiful, Kelly has always struggled with her self-image.  As one who is the same, I found her very relatable.  She’s quite athletic and she has a job working for a pro baseball team in PR.  So she’s very likeable has her issues.

Matt on the other hand has issues that we don’t know about and isn’t very likeable in either the last book or the first part of  this book.  But over the course of the story he is redeemed.  He realizes what a jerk he is has been, especially in regards to Kelly with whom he had a run in with in the first book, Love in the Afternoon.

He has some sad issues of his own which he was trying to deal with in a rather self-destructive way.  The more the book went on, the more I enjoyed it and I enjoyed it right from the beginning.  And once again I was glad I bought the entire series.

Would I read it again:  I just might!

Grade: 4 out of 5

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Drive Me Wild by Julie Ortolon

Why This One: I read it when it was first published in 2000 – wow – so many years ago – and when I saw it was on for a good price on Amazon, I picked up the ebook.

 

Steam Level: warm

Genre: Contemporary friends to lovers

Synopsis: Owner of the face that launched a thousand newscasts, drop-dead-gorgeous TV anchor Brent Michaels returns to his Texas hometown for a good cause: playing the bachelor in a dating game fund-raiser. He couldn’t refuse the request of his old friend Laura Beth Morgan. But Laura’s no longer the shy wallflower that he remembers. When he gets a good look at the girl he loved and lost, Brent realizes he can’t refuse her anything.

Laura yearns to break free, just as Brent did. He has come so far from the boy who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, the childhood friend who kissed her once and ran away. But even as he warns her that he’s incapable of love, Brent isn’t running now. After all these years, Laura has blossomed into a beautiful woman—and an irresistible challenge for a man who’s used to getting everything he desires.

My Thoughts: It’s been a long time since I first read this book and I liked it better back in 2000 than I did in 2015.  There wasn’t anything wrong with it exactly, but it’s not a book I’m going to ponder over.  The main characters Brent and Laura are nice but not memorable.  Brent grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and couldn’t wait to get out of the small town where everyone but Laura looked down on him.  But now he’s made a name for himself as a very successful, handsome news anchor.  Because he’s a success, his hometown wants him to come back for a dating game style fund raiser.  He’s all ‘hell no’ as he has no fond memories of the town, but his dearest friend from his young days, Laura asks him as a favour and he can’t refuse her.  He does have a condition though and that’s if she is one of the contestants.

Laura has always had ‘feelings’ for Brent but their lives couldn’t be more different.  She’s almost tied to her home town even if it is somewhat reluctantly and Brent can’t stay.  But feelings flair between them on his brief visit home and he convinces her to take a gamble and travel with him to his home.  She does, moves in with a friend and they begin to make a life together when Brent’s insecurities get in the way and things fall apart between them.

This is a good beach read, two nice people falling in love and overcoming their issues.  And while I did like it better the first time around, I did like it this time too.

Would I read it again: Odds are no.  While I enjoyed rereading it again, I have so many new books and so many older book reread I’ve enjoyed more

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

 

'til later

 

 

The Books I've Been Reading

I can’t think of anything too insightful to say so I’m falling back to my old stand-by – recent reads. – And there are a lot of ‘em.

Crazy Hot – Tara Janzen
I’ve been waiting for the next Glenna McReynolds book since I read the last page of River of Eden published in January 2002. For a while it seemed like she disappeared like so many other favourite authors. Then I heard she was writing under a new name – Tara Janzen and would have a series of books coming out very close together. Yippee! I thought. But then the publishing date got pushed back and back, covers changed etc until finally, finally the first one was published in October 2005. It was late getting to the shelves here and in the meantime, I saw a few people had read it and didn’t give it glowing reviews. Nuts! I thought, but decided to go ahead and read it anyway when it showed up. And boy am I glad I did! This one really worked for me. It was the exact book I needed at exactly the time I needed it. I thought it literary Calgon. It took me away. Way over the top, it made me think of the movie Fast and the Furious – except I never saw very much of the movie – just some of the fast car scenes. Hot cars, hot hero, hot (very good, very hot) sex, an innocent but very likeable heroine, an intriguing secondary story, it was the whole package. I’m not going to do much of a review because they are easy to find and lots of people know about this one.
Grade: 5 out of 5

Crazy Cool – Tara Janzen
Since the first one worked so well I couldn’t get this one fast enough. Again it really worked for me for all the same reasons. Christian was a trouble maker teen who still managed to save Katya Decker from a group of over enthusiastic rich boys’ years ago after a richy rich dance. They had a memorable few weeks until he is sent to prison for murdering one of the boys he saved Katya from – even though he was innocent. Years later he is assigned to her as a bodyguard at an art function. Things get hairy when there is an explosion and Christian is forced to flee with Katya in tow. Neither has ever forgotten the other and the chemistry is hot and stays hot. This was another Calgon book and it seems a long way until the third book is release in January. The secondary story started in the first book is continued in the second book. The only complaint I have about this one – and it’s minor – is a bit to much jumping around. I would have preferred a bit less on Katya’s assistant and a bit less on the model/ETM from the first book – since it really isn’t about them – but as I said this is minor. I can see others wanting even more of these too.
Grade 41/2 out of 5

Too Perfect – Julie Ortolon:
Oh dear. What can I say about this one except Too Perfect – not. I loved and raved about the first two in this series, but sadly *sigh* I really disliked this one. First off the heroine was a twit. I hate twits. And if that wasn’t enough, she was an overweight heroine who obsessed ad nauseum (see very recent blog for my thoughts on THAT kind of a storyline). The plot was convoluted. While working as a nanny on a cruise (why she couldn’t have just taken a cruise as a vacation I don’t know. It’s not as if she ever really went anywhere) gets fired and then stranded on a tropical island. Her fear has always been of getting lost while traveling. Guess she faced her greatest fear. She gets in touch with the ship and (the twit) has her clothes sent home. So there she is, no clothes, no money and she decides to stay for 4 more weeks. She lands herself a job as a cook (shades of another book I ranted about to friends – bad flashback time). The hero, who’s not really who he says he is, hires her. He’s posing as a French – something or other I don’t know what, who works for a recluse, who is again – the hero. But he’s not a recluse, he’s really a very wealthy playboy type who does something in Hollywood, but he’s hiding out. Confused yet? Um – so was I. Anyway the heroine who thinks orgasms are an urban legend (the twit) is very drawn to the recluse part of our hero. She never meets him – he is just a voice in another room. Suddenly, she’s all set to shag our mystery hero in his recluse role, yet she’s not drawn at all to our hero in his very hunky Frenchman’s disguise (the twit). I could go on, but I’m only depressing myself since the first two books were excellent. Needless to say, our heroine (the twit) gets over her weight complex, our hero ‘outs’ himself from his various disguises. She’s mad, he’s sorry, she gets over it and all is right with the world.
Ms Ortolon is a good writer and just because this one bombed for me big time, I will certainly continue to read her. I just wish this one had lived up to the first two.
Grade: 2 out of 5

To the Edge – Cindy Gerard
Since I had such tremendous success with the Tara Janzen books, I decided to continue my RS read-a-thon with this book, one of the ones I don’t know why I bought. Cindy Gerard is a new-to-me author so I wasn’t sure what I was in for. While I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the Tara Janzen books, I liked it well enough to buy her current release. Nolan Garrett is a burnt out ex-soldier/special forces who has been drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Nolan is asked by special request to take on an assignment as a bodyguard for Jillian Kincaid, a news anchor. Jillian is less that thrilled when she realizes, after Nolan gave her quite a scare, to have a bodyguard. As the daughter of a multi-millionaire, she’s grown up surrounded by bodyguards and doesn’t want Nolan around – nuh uh, no way, even if she is receiving threatening e-mails and voice mails. Plus, he runs hot and cold on the way he treats her. Eventually though, she begins to appreciate him for his bodyguard skills – and other skills too. For his part Nolan is very attracted to Jillian but feels because of his rather tortured past he is not worthy of her. Add that to the fact he doesn’t think a rich girl like her would give him the time of day. But as they work together to try and find out who wants Gillian dead, they overcome the barriers. As I said, I enjoyed this one although the ending seemed rather rushed. I can’t quite put my finger on what is missing towards the end of the book, but something is. Nevertheless, it’s still a pretty decent read.
Grade: 31/2 out of 5

At this point I’m not going to do something I always do. I’m going to let this stand as it is and not do any proof reading. Between lengthy hospital visits, working 10 hour days to make up missed work time I’m beat. Any grammatical and spelling errors shall have to remain.
And of course there is a new episode of Lost on tonight after two weeks of repeats so I can’t miss that. Wonder who it will be??????

Recent Reads - Part 1

'tis been a while since I've written about the books I've read recently so I have a number to go through. I've just had a wee bit of a minivacation - on which I did a lot of reading so here goes.

Just Perfect by Julie Ortolon
A while ago I raved about the first book in this series, Almost Perfect. Well, I'm most pleased to say I'm raving about this next book too. As a reminder, this is a series about 3 friends who each make a commitment to do something they have always been afraid to do. This is Christine's story and she, while an excellent skier, has been terrified of getting up the mountain on the ski lift. Her challenge is to get past her fear of the ski-lift and beat her brother in a downhill race. Since she hasn't skied in over 7 years, she hires a ski instructor to help her. Instead of a regular ski instructor, she gets Alec Hunter.
This is absolutely charming story. Christine is an overacheiving trauma surgeon in an emergency ward who comes from a real dysfunctional family. All her life she has been trying to please her rigid and disapproving father, so far without success. I can't say too much about Alec without giving away spoilers - other than to say he's a delighful hero and he's much more than what Christine first believes him to be. This also is an older woman/younger man story - one of my favourite types. However in this version, Christine has what I consider a healthy, and much preferred outlook on their age difference:

"How old are you"?
He sighed. "It's the face, isn't it? Do you know I still get
carded, which the guys think is flippin' hilarious."
"You don't look that young. I mean, you aren't are you?"
"I'm twenty-nine."
She sagged in relief. "That's only four years' difference. I
can live with that." Which left no reason why she couldn't spend every
minute of the next two weeks with Alec. Grinning, she crooked a
finger at him. "Come here."
His eyes lit with understanding. Ripping off his seat belt, he leaned
over, moving in for a kiss. Before his lips met her, though, he pulled
back. "Wait a sec. You're only twenty-five? How'd you get to
be a doctor so young?"
She laughed. "No. Four years the other way. I'm thirty
three.' She traced his jaw with her fingertip. "But you win major
points for thinking the opposite."
"An older woman." He smiled slowly. "Cool."

What starts out to be a vacation flirtation, of course, develops into something much deeper.
Many times the second book in a series can be weaker. I'm happy to say this one isn't. Another point in it's favour is both Christine and Alec are completely different characters from Maggie and Joe in the first book. And the third one is out in November. Cool.
Grade 41/2 out of 5


Practice to Deceive by Patricia Veryan
This is the first book in her Golden Chronicle series. I've probably said enough about the author, but I haven't really said much about her books and why I find them so special. Talking about them recently made me want to reread them again. If you follow the link, the reviewer does a good job in explaining this book. I just have to add that Ms. Veryan has a way of writing that really draws you into the stories she is writing about. While reading Penelope and Quentin's adventures, it was like I was right along beside them, feeling the adventure with them. She does a wonderful job in describing events and it's always an emotional read. I'm looking forward over the next little while to a reread of all the books in this wonderful series. This books was published in 1985 and it's just as exciting now as it was 20 years ago.
Grade 5 out of 5


It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
To me, Dreaming of You is a classic and THE perfect historical romance. I’ve been reading everything she has written since then hopping for a repeat. Although none have quite come up the standard of DOY, some have come pretty close and some not nearly as much. This is one that has come close. This is a series (boy we are in series mode aren’t we) of four friends that have named themselves The Wallflowers due to their lack of popularity in the ton. This is the second installment and is the story of older sister Lillian, a young woman from America who has come to England to land herself a titled hero. I really enjoyed the character of Lillian. She is open and honest and says what she thinks and does what she wants – sometimes a little to much for those around her. Marcus, Lord Westcliff is one of those who finds her much to bold and lacking in the social graces. They had already met in Secrets of a Summer Night and rubbed each other the wrong way then. This continues as the Bowman family is invited to a month long house party at the estate of Marcus. Even though he completely disapproves of her, Marcus is still very attracted to her much to his dismay. And this attraction and feeling of dismay is reciprocated by Lillian. Their bickering is fun to read and I quite enjoyed both characters. Before I started reading it, I wasn’t sure I would warm up to Marcus. He has made appearances in a few books by Ms. Kleypas now and I wasn’t impressed. But this one is fun watching a stuffy, arrogant lord get such a comeuppance and act so far out of character. I liked the first book and I liked this one even better. Now it seems such a long wait for the next book in the series The Devil in Winter. There has been some discussion on the character of Sebastian – but I for one can hardly wait. I understand these were originally supposed to be released much closer together, but Avon decided against this. I really wish they had stuck to the original plan. I want to read the next one - NOW!
Grade 41/2 out of 5

Part 2 coming shortly

'til later