All About Romance Reviews

All About Romance has been the premiere review site for romance novels since 1996. I reviewed print and digital books for All About Romance for several years from 2004 through to 2011.

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A Bite to Remember

Lynsay Sands
2006, Vampire Romance
Avon, $6.99, 384 pages, Amazon ASIN 006077407X
Part of a series

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Warm

A brief look into the unpleasant aspects of being a vampire:

• You’re dead. No matter how you sing and dance, being a vampire means having to die, then rising again in a not-alive form. Now we can argue about the semantics of being ‘undead’, but the fact is, you still pretty much count as a corpse.
• You have to drink blood to survive. Harvested with your teeth.
• You can’t go out in daylight. Ever.
• Italian food is a big no-no. In fact, eating anything solid is a bad idea.
• In order to live forever with your true love, you have to turn them into the same ‘monster’ that you are, causing endless soul-searching and inner turmoil while you battle between your desire to be with her and your desire for her to be free.

A brief look into the ways that Lynsay Sands works her way around these unpleasant factors in A Bite to Remember, and creates a sort of Vampire-Lite: All the vampire, half the ick factor:

• Vampirism is a mere genetic mutation, an evolutionary miracle. You’re not dead! You’re just different!
• Except for a few genetic misfits, vampires can drink bagged blood from accredited blood banks. No human donors required.
• With an ocean in your backyard for night-swimming and heavy curtains for the library, who needs sunlight?
• Food is not only desirable, but, in some cases, necessary to maintain muscle mass. Thai stirfrys, muffins, and coffee are all A-Ok.
• Because you’re actually a Darwinian jump in the evolutionary ladder, you’re not killing your life mate, you’re actually making her better.

The story begins when Jackie arrives on Vincent’s doorstep. He has an escalating saboteur problem in his theatre company. She is a private investigator used to handling delicate cases for the Argeneau family. Vincent is not all that impressed that Jackie is a) a mortal, and b) a girl. Jackie has had bad experiences with vampires in the past, and is not impressed that Vincent is a) immortal, and b) incredibly attractive.

Jackie’s job is to find the saboteur before violence leads to murder. She and her partner Tiny set themselves up in Vincent’s house and proceed to turn his well-ordered life upside down. Things get even more hectic when some of Vincent’s relatives come to stay. As Jackie and Vincent work closely together, they begin to realize that perhaps their preconceptions about each other were unfounded. Without revealing spoilers, Vincent makes a decision which shows his inner character, and also potentially ruins his and Jackie’s happiness forever.

There are other rules to Sands’ vampires. First, vampires are able to enter minds to both gain information and control. This invasion can be restrained by reciting nursery rhymes in your head. Jackie carries on full conversations with ‘itsy bitsy spider’ in the back of her mind. Practice makes perfect for this art form, though, as every time I tried, I ended up asking my questions to the tune of ‘Mary had a little lamb’.

Vampires can’t read the minds of their life mates. It’s one sign used for life mate recognition. Vampires also can’t seem to read minds when it suits the plot device, as Vincent meets his saboteur, as does his family, but all fail to recognize that fact.

Sands’ vampires can also see themselves in mirrors, be awake between dawn and dusk, and bear children, all part of her theory that vampires are a genetic step up from humans, not the walking undead.

I’m giving this novel a C+. There are strengths to it. It’s light, funny, and warm. Jackie is likable and kind; readers will like the scenes where she attempts to feed Vincent. The secondary characters are two-dimensional, but have their place. But the toning down of the vampire falls a bit flat. The premise of the paranormal novel is in the torment, and Sands takes too away too much of the ‘monster’ from her characters. There are funny aspects to being a vampire, and they can be exploited. However, the darker sides can’t be glossed over. It makes the novel and its characters airy, but without substance. I had to recheck the hero and heroine’s name 2 days after finishing it. Jean Claude and Asher, however, stayed with me though I haven’t touched LKH in over a year.

There are also plot problems. Readers have to take a couple of leaps of faith, though nothing too dramatic. Hops more than jumps, but the holes are there.

Reading A Bite to Remember is a bit like chewing bubblegum. It’s a whole lot of fun while you’re chewing your way through it, but it’s not something you’re going to keep on your bed post for any length of time. If you’re looking for something light and funny, and normally get squicked out by the necrophiliac implications of more traditional vampire romances, this is the book for you. If, however, you like your paranormals dark and tormented, you’ll probably find you need far more than A Bite.

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A Gentleman Seduced

Sharon Page
2004, Erotic Romance (Regency England)
Ellora’s Cave, $5.20, Amazon ASIN 1419900064

Grade: B
Sensuality: Burning

In Sharon Page’s Regency-set A Gentleman Seduced, Diana is about to marry Stephen, a gentleman to be sure, but a seemingly passionless one. He’s never even tried to kiss Diana on the mouth. So before settling into dull, staid respectability, Diana wants one sensual adventure.

Luckily for her (and the story), Diana’s secret half-sister Ivory owns a brothel. Convincing Ivory to allow Diana to masquerade as her for one evening takes some doing, until Diana threatens to find a more accommodating, and no doubt less discreet, madam. In order to protect her willful younger sister, and keep an eye on her, Ivory agrees. For one evening, Diana may masquerade as Ivory and learn what there is to be learned about passion. Then she will return to Stephen, marry, and live her remaining life in propriety, with no one the wiser.

Plans go astray however, when, during a very adult game of Blind Man’s Bluff, who should appear but Diana’s fiancé, naked and out for a last adventure of his own. Diana is unable to contain her surprise and flees the brothel, ending up in the carriage of Lucien, Viscount Pembroke. Lucien is the one patron who noticed that “Ivory” is not herself. However, he never suspects the prim and innocent Miss Tiverston. Upon hearing her reasons for being there, and being a gentleman, he quickly offers his services to aid in her erotic adventure. There are only two rules: they have only three days and two nights, and Diana must retain her virginity. But after sharing so much, Lucien finds that giving her up to Stephen is harder than it should be.

Though the plot line may seem somewhat questionable, this book has two very solid strengths. First are the qualifications put on Diana and Lucien’s time together. By not allowing the couple to consummate their relationship traditionally, Sharon Page must find a way to fill those three days. Fortunately, Ms Page has a very active imagination. Diana’s adventure is made more erotic, and much more poignant, because they both are denied the final act.

The second strength is Lucien’s reaction to Diana. The jaded hero finding ultimate sexual pleasure with an innocent is rather a well-used scenario in romance, especially Regency-set historicals. However, it can be a compelling fantasy when used correctly. As a reader, my head says “Oh please. He’s got years of sexual escapades behind him”, but my heart says “It’s different this time! He’s in Love!”. Lucien’s discovery that sex is better when a connection is made, and his obvious pleasure with Diana is, ultimately, utterly endearing.

As I mentioned, there are various plot elements that might not hold up to close scrutiny, but the emphasis is very much on Diana’s sexual and Lucien’s emotional awakenings. This is not a story to be read for its historical accuracy, but it also offers more than simply sex.

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The Red Heart of Jade

Marjorie M. Liu
August 2006, Urban Fantasy Romance
LoveSpell, $6.99, 369 pages, Amazon ASIN 050552631X
Part of a series

Grade: B
Sensuality: Warm

If you’re looking for an easy read, a book you can speed through on cruise-control, something you can put down or pick up at will, you should probably skip Marjorie M. Liu’s The Red Heart of Jade. If, however, you’re looking for an engagement, something to really sink your teeth into, then this is the paranormal for you.

Red Heart is Liu’s third novel in her series about an investigative agency (Dirk & Steele) peopled by paranormals. The characters in Liu are more X-men than Bram Stoker, and work behind the scenes fighting evil and fear.

There’s something solid and strong about the world Liu has created, an authenticity. First, her world is our world, and it’s a world that I find very easy to buy into. It may be innate laziness on my part; after all, a world that exists is much easier to conjure than one that is speculative. However, I think it has more to do with the creative space Liu has given herself. We already know all the rules. Her explanations are limited only to the secret world, which allows much more space for intricate plots and detailed characters. The result? A much deeper, richer paranormal.

Red Heart is the story of Dean, a clairvoyant. He is sent to Taipei to investigate some unusual and unusually gruesome murders. However, while he is conducting his search, someone is searching for him, someone who knows his secret, his friends, and his past. It’s hard to tell if it’s coincidence or design when Dean runs into Miri, the unforgettable girl from his adolescence, but either way it’s obvious that the two of them are involved in something much more primal, something much bigger than a re-building of their relationship.

Liu assumes a lot about her readers. You are thrown in the middle of the action, and there is no relief, no pause. You’re expected to keep up. This strategy makes for a very exciting, very compelling read, but I felt a little swept along. At the end of the book, I remember clearly the relationship between Dean and Miri, but little about the plot line. In fact, I would struggle to tell you the exact nature of the denouement. Now, this may just be me. I’ve already admitted to my innate laziness. But I did find that the book’s lightning quick pace meant a more shallow understanding of the basic premise – especially as said premise involves an ancient evil, an even older curse, and reincarnation.

The intra-personal aspects of the story, on the other hand, are unforgettable. There is, of course, the beautiful reawakening of the feelings Miri and Dean have for each other. But there is also the relationship between Dean and his friends, Dean and his employer, and both Dean and Miri and their memories. The latter is especially surprising in its poignancy, and does more for character revelation than paragraphs of description ever could. Seeing the two protagonists through each other’s eyes, as well as their own, the reader is provided with an almost immediate past, present, and future, which adds a pleasing three-dimensionality.

Throughout the course of the novel, Miri is a reflection of the reader. She, too, is forced to hit the ground running, and absorb and accept the strange around her at an almost dizzying pace. Miri’s relationship with Dean is an unusual one. She undergoes a conversion throughout the story, and without giving spoilers I can only say that it felt forced because it seemed to tie things up in too neat a bow for me.

I know I focused a lot on the problems in this novel, yet they are minor and, for the most part, personal. But Liu’s writing is smooth and easy, her descriptions evocative. The romance and plot are dark, but there is undeniable humor and humanity. The relationships are among the most convincing I’ve ever read. You’ll never regret picking up a Liu.

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Twelve Sharp

Janet Evanovich
2006, Mystery
St. Martin’s Press, $26.95, 320 pages, Amazon ASIN 0312349483
Part of a series

Grade: C-
Sensuality: Warm

Twelve Sharp, Janet Evanovich’s twelfth Stephanie Plum novel, is light, funny, and peopled with memorable, lovable characters. Readers new to the bounty-hunting world of Plum, Morelli, and the delectable Ranger will be amused and charmed by this novel. Readers like me, however, the loyal readers of Evanovich, the ones who have been with her since One for the Money, are going to be, at best, disappointed.

The storyline is similar to other Evanovich novels. Stephanie and her crew of eccentrics chase down criminals to convince them to reschedule their court dates. Hijinks ensue. There is the mandatory misunderstood con — in this case, Melvin, a man who gets caught trying to self-satisfy in a movie theatre. There is Lula, Stephanie’s ex-ho sometimes partner, who makes a great showing (both literally and figuratively) as she moonlights as a cabaret singer. Sally Sweet, Grandma Mazur, and Joyce Barnhardt all take a turn as well. The Rolling Stones references are particularly well done.

And then there’s Morelli.

And then there’s Ranger.

Evanovich fans are split right down the middle as to which suitor Stephanie should choose. Ranger was a presence more than a character in the early books of the series, but more recently he has started to play a much larger part, both in the novel plot lines and in Stephanie’s life. This entry is no different, as the main crime takes the form of identity theft. A man claiming to be Ranger kidnaps Ranger’s daughter, Julie, then sets about making his life as much like Ranger’s as possible – which includes acquiring Stephanie as prime love interest.

Twelve Sharp is enjoyable. Much more so, in my opinion, than the previous two titles in the series. The adventures feel quirky and new, the characters are colorful, and the sexual tension between Stephanie and her two love interests is razor sharp. I giggled at many scenes, laughed out loud at some, and closed the book smiling. But in the end, it failed to deliver – it was like deja vu all over again.

There are two recurring plot lines in this series. The first is Stephanie’s misfit as a bounty hunter. Her best captures are when the skip is drunk, asleep, or dead. She leaves her gun in a cookie jar in her kitchen. She’s scared of mostly everyone who comes across her desk. And, ultimately, she just doesn’t like being a bounty hunter. Over the course of the series, she has struggled with her career dilemma, occasionally taking other jobs, exploring other avenues. But she returns relentlessly to bounty hunting.

The second plot line is the love triangle between Stephanie, Morelli, and Ranger. The “who will she choose?” question has been asked and re-asked for seven books now. Fans will remember the cliff hanger at the end of High Five as the real starting point. Both men are scorchingly hot, both have much on offer. However, from a happily ever after, house and kids and white picket fence point of view, it’s clear who is the right choice. It’s been clear for awhile. But Stephanie continues to waffle.

It is these plot lines for which readers keep returning, these plot lines that generate repeat interest. And it is these plot lines that never change. The characters experience major social, emotional, and physical events, yet never grow, never alter, never learn from their ordeals. Stephanie is the same person in book twelve as she was in book one. This lack of development is not only frustrating, it smacks strongly of exploitation. I feel swindled paying hardcover price for a book I’ve already read four times over.

To conclude, I’m going to paraphrase mercilessly from Elie Wiesel. The opposite of love is not hate. It’s indifference. At first I loved this series. Then I hated feeling jerked around. With Twelve Sharp I’ve rounded the corner into indifference. Here’s hoping indifference – and the indifferent sales this continual reiteration will provoke – convince Evanovich to put away her abacus and try something new.

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The Rogue Report

Barbara Dawson Smith
2006, European Historical Romance (Regency England)
St. Martin’s Press

Grade: B
Sensuality: Warm

The Rogue Report is a newsletter, delivered twice a month to unmarried women of the ton. Within its pages are detailed exposés of various eligible gentlemen: their gaming debts, their mistresses, their drunken exploits, their scandalous secrets. Young women do well to follow its news carefully; to ignore it is to risk a life of poverty, betrayal, and misery.

The report is published anonymously, but after careful searching, Jack, Earl of Rutledge, thinks he may have traced the authorship to Lady Julia Corwyn, once the toast of London, now disgraced, unwed, and running a charity school for the children of servants. If he is correct, and it is Lady Julia’s poisonous pen that put an end to his advantageous engagement, then revenge will be swift and ruthless.

But Julia hides more than just the name of the father of her son, and the more Jack discovers, the more he realizes that life can hold more than cards and fine brandy. For her part, the more Julia sees Jack, the more she realizes that shutting herself off from life is not a solution.

There’s rather a nice emphasis on writing in this novel. The chapters all lead with an excerpt of The Rogue Report, and several major plot developments are revealed and take place through letters. This ploy lends a gentleness to the story, but also a certain authenticity. When a character reads a letter, the reader is privy to both characters thoughts almost simultaneously, which allows for a nice building of emotion without the falseness that dialogue can often display. I know I’ve said often enough, “No one speaks like that!”, but often people do write like that. Further, the stress on reading and writing cements a chief theme of the importance of education, which brings the subplot of the novel smartly full circle.

There are certain discrepancies from the beginning that will baffle readers, not least of which why Lady Julia remains an heiress after being cast out of her family, and one major secret that doubles as a key pet peeve brought up by readers again and again. The reason offered to solve these problems is a bit flimsy, but provides an excellent opportunity for growth for both the hero and heroine, and can be overlooked. Further, a secondary character pivotal to this plot device is so touching, and her story so heartbreaking, as to be central to the emotional depth of the novel.

But what is most attractive about The Rogue Report is its hero, Jack. While a reformed rake is probably the most clichéd character in historical romance, it is very seldom that we actually see the reformation. We are far more used to hearing the rake announce in the final paragraphs “I am reformed!”, and having to take the confession on faith. With Jack, however, we are present from his rakish early days, through the realization that his life is empty, to his final reconciliation with who he is and who he wants to be. We are privy to the setbacks and the heartaches, to the dichotomy between his self-doubt and the flattery his title automatically earns. There’s also a nice subplot about the horrors of addiction, and the errors in judging that which we do not understand.

Dawson Smith has written a warm novel, with implications that go far deeper than the romance plot. She explores the darker side of the lives of leisure led by the rich and powerful, the addictions, the boredom, the lack of direction. And while there are plot holes in the romance, they serve as demonstrations of issues beyond those of the heart.

The Rogue Report is particularly well-crafted, and carefully developed. Intelligently sexy, it will certainly ignite your mind. With deeper themes than a normal historical novel, it is sure to stay with you long after you close the back cover.

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Photo Opportunity

Jessica Dee
2006, Contemporary Romance
Triskelion

Grade: B
Sensuality: Hot

Three things about me that readers should know:

• I live in Australia
• I work in a Children’s Hospital
• I absolutely adore Best Friend Romances

Three major plot points about Photo Opportunity:

• It’s set in Sydney
• The hero decides to change his life after spending time in a children’s cancer ward by:
• Seducing his best friend and making her fall in love with him.

So, as you can probably tell, this hot little e-book by Jessica Dee hit all the right buttons.

Daniel is a talented photographer who has been in love with Amy since he first met her at the age of fourteen. However, with a wisdom beyond his years, he recognized that teenagers don’t make life-long commitments – they barely make month long commitments. So he committed to being the next best thing – her best friend. He’s always known that he was destined to be with Amy, so has never taken any other relationship seriously. He’s been biding his time until Amy realizes what he’s always known – they were meant to be.

Amy, conversely, is a counselor at a fertility clinic, and has absolutely no intention of falling for her best friend. In Amy’s life, lovers leave. Best friends, however, are honor-bound to stick around. She’d rather ignore the pull of desire every time she sees Daniel than run the risk of not having him in her life. Besides, Daniel is a complete commitment-phobic; he’s never had a girlfriend for longer than a month. He loves and leaves, just like every man, and she refuses to be the next in a long line of conquests. Even if he is really, really, scorchingly hot.

Daniel’s ploy is simple. He’s going to make Amy see him differently. He gets his sister, his family, his friends, anyone he can to help, then sets the whole plan in motion. The plot is somewhat predictable from here. The planned seduction is a well-used story, after all. It’s the emotions and the characters that make the difference, and Lee handles these with care. Amy’s fear of rejection and gun-shy manner contradicts Daniel’s assurance easily, and the resulting conflict is both real and genuine. There is a “big misunderstanding”, but it’s neither drawn out, nor unbelievable, and the characters don’t run away from it – a refreshing change from other stories.

The seduction is also hot. The sexual tension begins with the first sentence, and doesn’t let up through the whole story. Because Daniel is determined not to sleep with Amy until she admits she loves him too, Dee must keep the tension high without succumbing to the final act. As a result, the teasing and the tantalizing just gets deeper and deeper until the pages practically sizzle.

Dee doesn’t rely on sex, though, to keep the story going. The secondary characters and plot lines are also satisfying. The use of a children’s cancer ward is guaranteed to pull on heartstrings, but Dee doesn’t take advantage. Children in romance novels can be overwritten and slip into diabetes-inducing sweetness, but there is no such downslide here. Each character is there for a reason, and they play their part with veracity.

Photo Opportunity is a solid story, with a sexy seduction and a sweet story. Those of us who have a thing for best friend stories will love it; those who don’t will develop one before they reach the last page.

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Texas Bad Boys

Rosemary Laurey, Karen Kelley and Dianne Castell
2006, Contemporary Romance
Brava

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Hot

The “Bad Boys” in the title of this new anthology in the long-running Brava Bad Boys series is actually a bit of a misnomer. Texas is true enough – all three stories take place in the little town of Silver Gulch. But the heroes of the story, the so-called “Bad Boys,” are, in fact, all examples of fine, upstanding citizens.

However, that’s no reason to avoid the book. The publisher may be trying to capitalize on the bad boy appeal – who hasn’t wanted the James Dean look-alike sitting on his motorcycle? – but there’s lots to be said for nice boys as well.

The plots are intertwined. The three heroines share the same father, from all accounts the ultimate deadbeat. The girls were never introduced to their paternal relatives, and only know their wealthy grandfather through their father and they were told that he wanted nothing to do with them. As each girl grew up with her respective mother in somewhat reduced circumstances, none of them have particularly warm fuzzy feelings towards Grandpa Maddock. So, when they learn that he has died and left them each a sizeable inheritance, they are taken aback. The rules are simple. Each girl gets a piece of property around Silver Gulch and a large sum of money. But they can’t sell the property or get their hands on the money unless they live in Silver Gulch for three consecutive years, starting now. A second complication arises soon after, when it becomes apparent that three men are also intrinsically tied to the three properties and are feeling a little put out.

The stories get fairly predictable from here – but not in a bad way. The close proximity romance is, after all, one of the most popular. These three authors have fun heroines and hot heroes; the stories are enjoyable. There is a not-so-surprising twist, but, to fall into a rather bad cliché, the anthology’s heart is in the right place.

Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Hot

In Rosemary Laurey’s In Bad With Someone, Juliet inherits the Ragged Rooster, the local bar. However, the Rooster was long ago promised to Rod, the man who made it profitable. When he finds out that he’s now working for a red-headed English art enthusiast, sparks begin to fly. Laurey has the task of introducing the town and the premise, which cuts into her story a little bit. However, the main reason I’m knocking the grade down a little bit on this story is a number of strange elements that don’t get even a marginal explanation. The first is the Juliet’s last name – ffrench – and the second is her martial arts history. They’re both quirky and interesting character points, but are left unexplained. It’s a short story, so obviously some things have to be taken on faith, but these two were just a little too unconventional to pass over.

Grade: B-

Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Hot

Karen Kelley’s Run of Bad Luck sees photographer Nina inherit a ranch that everyone expected to go to real, live cowboy Lance. Now he needs the money to buy his own spread – but will he sacrifice his dignity and pride to get it? Of the stories, Kelley’s is the most enjoyable, not for any artistic reason, but because she has the most space. The other two stories have to introduce and conclude. This means less room to tell the individual story of their couple. Nina and Lance, however, get all the space, and they use it well. It helps, too, that as Texas Bad Boys go, a cowboy wins hands down over a bar owner and a policeman.

Grade: B+

Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Hot

Finally, Lillie gets the old hotel, but decides to turn it into Silver Gulch’s first healing day spa in Come to a Bad End by Dianne Castell. The women of Silver Gulch love it, but the men are passionately opposed. It’s up to recently disgraced police officer John to keep the peace. Castell has the task of tying everything up, revealing the big secret, and showing the Happy Ever After. Her couple is cute; John’s grandstanding to the boys but inability to deny Lillie is endearing, and Lillie’s determination to follow her dream is strong. But in order to enjoy the overly-sugared HEA the anthology chooses, the reader has to take a flying leap into suspension of disbelief territory, which detracts from Castell’s overall story. I don’t think this is really Castell’s fault, but a bad choice in the planning of the anthology.

Grade: B-

Texas Bad Boys is a Brava anthology; if you’re new to the Bad Boys series, expect a little more heat than you may have been used to in the past (though long-time readers of the series may actually find this one on the milder side). The characters in the story get down and dirty very quickly. This haste is the anthology’s downfall. It is perfectly conceivable for a couple to jump into bed together on a first date — especially if sparks fly as fast and as furious as they do between these three couples. However, it is less believable for said couple to fall into deep and committed love. One character cries “I can’t believe I fell helplessly in love after three days!” Frankly, I can’t believe it either, and I think this anthology would have been stronger if the authors had not rushed the traditional HEA ending. As a reader, I can fill in the future myself. Yes the wedding dresses would have come, but maybe a year or two in the future. After all, according to the will, the characters are there for three years at least. Why the rush?

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Flirting with Pride and Prejudice

Jennifer Crusie (editor)
2005, Non Fiction
Benbella Books

Grade: B
Sensuality: N/A

Contributors include Jo Beverley, Michelle Cunnah, Karen Joy Fowler, Alesia Holliday, Mercedes Lackey, Teresa Medeiros, Joyce Millman, Shanna Swendson, and Jill Winters.

Jennifer Crusie spends her editorial prologue in Flirting with Pride and Prejudice talking about how she didn’t have the time edit the collection. What with deadlines, her “real” life, and other obligations, she simply didn’t need the extra project. But she couldn’t turn it down.

I felt the same way. I have enough ARCs to satisfy a small nation, two “real” jobs, and a strong desire for some semblance of a social life. But when I saw Flirting, I couldn’t help it. I rushed right on home and ordered my review copy, knowing that I would be putting all my other projects at risk and causing some serious stress for myself in the process. Didn’t matter. I had to do it.

It’s funny, but if we’d been flirting with any other book, I probably could have resisted. But there is something about Pride and Prejudice that goes beyond Colin Firth in a wet shirt. The essayists in the collection agree, and attempt to pinpoint the exact nature of its almost universal appeal.

This is an interesting collection, simply because of the variety of styles and levels of seriousness. Some of the essays in the collection are strict, if somewhat short, academic explorations of various aspects of Jane Austen’s best-loved novel. Others are so wispy as to run the risk of taking off with every gust of air. Most, however, fall somewhere in between. And, as can be expected, some are incredibly strong, some are exasperatingly weak, and most fall somewhere in the middle. Intriguingly, and probably against expectation, it is not necessarily the light-hearted pieces that fail to deliver. In fact, I would argue that light-hearted, “fluffy” writing is harder to write, and succeed at, then academic argument. Academese, after all, can be learned. Making a point with humor? Can’t be taught.

There are 24 essays, split into seven categories, so I’m only going to touch on a couple. Among the academic-minded essays is an excellent exploration of the contemporary concerns of Austen (and her characters), namely the Napoleonic Wars. The author, Lawrence Watt-Evans, draws excellent parallels between Austen’s time and our own – the perils of war, the rise of the military, and an uncertain future – but notes that none of these concerns make it into the novels. There’s an increased military presence, sure, but no real mention of the conflict. Using Austen’s characters as a staring off point, Watt-Evans writes an in-depth examination of how communication methods have changed in the past 200 years – and how they have changed us.

The fictional offerings include Georgiana Darcy’s story, Pride and Prejudice: The Reality TV show, and, in my opinion, one of the best explorations of Charlotte Lucas’s character that I’ve seen. Most readers look down a little on Charlotte, believing that she should have held out for something better, someone like Mr. Darcy. Melissa Senate, however, sees Charlotte not as contra-romance, but as a pragmatist who understands that life is what you make of it. This story also displays some of Elizabeth Bennet’s less desirable traits, sacrilege among the other writers.

There is a strong emphasis on the films, and a lot of work done with the 2005 Bollywood production, Bride and Prejudice. As the most current adaptation at the time of publication, this emphasis is to be expected, however I think the emphasis on film itself was overdone in this collection. There’s a lot to be said for Colin Firth, but the Bridget Jones-style worship was a bit overdone, in my opinion. The collection would have done well to focus more on Mr. Darcy, and less on the actors portraying him.

In short, Flirting with Pride and Prejudice is a stampeding herd of wildebeest. It’s stretched too far and goes on too long. It’s good, it’s strong, but if it had just culled the weak and sick, it could have been invincible.

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Chosen Target

Melanie Atkins
2006, Romantic Suspense
Triskelion

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Warm

Chosen Target is the first book I’ve read set in New Orleans post-Katrina. While the southern city has long been a popular setting for romance, especially paranormals, there seems to be some politically correct hesitation in recreating its fictional counterpoint. Author Melanie Atkins, however, dives right in, and uses the post-traumatic stress the city is suffering from to make a tight, taught thriller.

In this case, Atkins uses the havoc after the hurricane to her advantage. While both local and federal authorities are preoccupied fighting the devastation, they are unable to keep track of other potential problems. As a result, some questionable characters enter the city and set up a terrorist cell under the radar. Their plan? A bombing during the biggest event on the New Orleans calendar – Mardi Gras. It’s a terrifying, all too plausible plot. After all, the police in New Orleans can’t be everywhere, and helping the real problems of residents must take priority over the possibility of a terrorist threat. Second, what better example of Western extravagance than the celebrations of Mardi Gras, the very definition of excess.

The story starts on Jadan’s 31st birthday. She returned to the sity to rebuild her life and used insurance money to snatch up some prime real estate near the university to open a coffee shop. Jadan’s Java is doing well…Jadan’s social life, not so much. She’s at a bar celebrating by herself, and just as she plans to leave, she’s approached by a handsome stranger, Kent, who offers her wild anonymous sex.

Jadan is not a wild, anonymous sex kind of girl. That said, the alcohol she’s had, combined with the depressing fact that she’s always been a good girl, sprinkled with the unbelievable sexual potency of said stranger, leads Jadan to break her own personal rules. She follows Kent to his truck and proceeds to have the best sex of her life. Jadan is torn from her post-orgasm euphoria, however, when her handsome stranger dies in her arms.

Three weeks later, Jadan has not recovered from the humiliation of having to explain repeatedly to the police about her one-night stand. She throws herself into her work and tries to forget the whole mortifying experience. Then she finds a PDA in the men’s restroom and is nearly killed by its owner for reading the information contained within. The experience goes from harrowing to downright horrific when Kent walks through her front door.

Cole was in Iraq when he learned of his brother’s death. He was unable to return in time for the funeral, but now that he’s home, he resumes his position as a commander in the NOPD, determined to get to the bottom of Kent’s death. His first step? Finding the woman who was with him when he died and find out exactly what she had to do with it. They soon find that Kent’s death and Jadan’s near murder are not isolated events.

One minor detail: Kent and Cole are identical twins. I know, I know. Only in Romancelandia, right? But, trust me, it works. Atkins is quite clever in this regard. Cole and Jadan both have major issues that they need to work through. By making Cole not only related to, but the mirror image of Kent, these issues are brought to the forefront. Jadan must confront her own fear of relationships. Cole has to deal with the fact that he’s not only hopelessly attracted to his brother’s potential murderer, but also a woman under his protection. They both have to face their own mortality. This part of the plot packs an emotional punch. The secondary characters, friends on both sides and a humanized villain, in this novel are also well done, adding dimension to the plot.

Two elements detracted from the story. First, Atkins suffers from one of the pitfalls of romantic suspense – plot hogging. Creating a thriller requires meticulous plotting. When the action revolves something as intricate as setting up a terrorist attack, there’s the very real danger that the suspense plot will overtake the relationship building expected in romance. There are some places where the story is overshadowed by the details.

Secondly, there are some elements of xenophobia in Atkins’ writings. She consistently uses the words “foreigner” to describe the bad guys, which, at least for me, felt awfully close to racial profiling. While I don’t want to get into a long discussion about what an “American” is, I did feel uncomfortable with the constant distancing of people of different backgrounds, the “us” versus “them” dichotomy based on appearance.

One final element that Atkins uses that really works is a kind of meta-knowledge from her characters. Forced proximity novels are common, but, as everyone who ever watched Speed knows, relationships based on intense experiences never work out. It seems that both characters paid attention. While Cole and Jadan are aware of their growing attraction and burgeoning relationship, they each separately acknowledge that their bond may have more to do with the circumstances than any actual emotional attachment. They struggle with their own feelings through the actions of the book, and, after the denouement, take the time to explore whether their love is viable. This investigation made their final coming together that much more satisfying, as the reader knows that, unlike the disaster that was Speed II, Jadan and Cole have a real chance.

Final impressions: Chosen Target is a good, solid effort from Melanie Atkins, and will bring pleasure to romantic suspense readers.

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Her Officer and Gentleman

Karen Hawkins
2006, European Historical Romance (Regency England)
Avon, Part of a series

Grade: B
Sensuality: Warm

Her Officer and Gentleman is the second book in Karen Hawkins’ duet about the aging Earl of Rochester who, after a lifetime of servitude to his title and position in society, reaches his deathbed without a legitimate heir. Having failed at his most important duty, the Earl makes a bold and unexpected move. He bribes a priest and a witness and fakes a marriage to an earlier mistress, thus legitimizing the twin sons born from that union. The tonsuspects, of course, but can say nothing definitive. Thus Tristan and Christian are thrust into the world of society.

Unfortunately, the earl has had no contact with his new heirs since the time they were children. Much time has passed, and his sons have not had the benefit of what the Earl considers a proper upbringing. So, Rochester makes one last dying request to his butler – civilize his boys and make them worthy of their new positions.

Tristan’s story is recounted in Her Master and Commander, wherein he married a woman with a scandalous past, thereby discounting him from receiving his portion of his father’s money. Therefore, both men’s financial fate rests in the hand of the younger twin, Christian, Viscount Westerville, who must be civilized enough for both of them.

As Gentleman James, Christian stole both the jewels and the hearts of the women of the ton. With his faithful sidekick Willie, he terrorized the roads out of London. He craves the excitement and freedom of his mask and rapier, which eases his thirst for revenge and allows him to keep painful memories at bay for one more night. But his metamorphosis from highwayman to perfect gentleman suddenly allows him access to circles he never aspired to, to members of society who hold the key to his mother’s unfortunate demise. Living for vengeance, Christian plays the consummate viscount by night and throws himself into his search for information by day. His hunt leads again and again to the Duke of Massingale, an infirm old recluse who rarely leaves Massingale house and never accepts visitors. How to search his house? How to find definitive proof of his guilt? Why, seduce his on-the-shelf granddaughter, of course.

Elizabeth is 25 years old, much too old to be having her first season. But that is exactly what she’s doing, at her grandfather’s insistence. She is in Town to dance and flirt and enjoy all the luxuries of London for one year before returning to her beloved home and peace. She has no desire to be married, but her face and fortune draw the attention of bachelor after bachelor. Her ploys to discourage them work, for the most part, except on one – the notorious Viscount Westerville.

This is where Hawkins takes a left turn from normal Regency historicals. It seems Elizabeth has read some novels herself, and knows that rakish Viscounts don’t fall in love willy-nilly with sharp-tongued spinsters, no matter how brown their eyes or big their fortunes. He’s up to something. However, Westerville is charming and exciting and has the happy habit of keeping the other suitors at bay. So Elizabeth allows him increasing liberties. That is until she discovers he’s more interested in her beloved grandfather than herself.

Elizabeth is the antithesis of the TSTL heroine. She sees through Westerville’s plot, and plans a little of her own. She forces Westerville to acknowledge her as an equal from the beginning. Instead of paying lip service to how much admiration Christian holds for Elizabeth, Hawkins creates a heroine worthy of that esteem. When combined with their attraction, this mutual respect creates a wonderfully believable relationship. Even the predictably conventional, irritatingly over-the-top climax that forces reciprocated vows of love is forgivable in the face of such a fulfilling partnership.

And through the entirety of both novels is the old Earl of Rochester’s butler, Reeves (because all butlers have to shout out to Wodehouse), charged with refining the twins to acceptable standards. Reeves acts as a Greek chorus to the story, commenting on the action, offering advice (mostly unwanted) to Christian, and cementing the lessons to be learned. He is in turns humorous, poignant, and cheeky, but ever correct. His wisdom ranges from waist coats to weddings, and he is never wrong. Though his deathbed promise is fulfilled, here’s hoping he makes a cameo in other Hawkins novels.

Final thoughts: It rained all weekend here, while I read Her Officer and Gentleman, and this book was a perfect companion. Hawkins takes on tired clichés and breathes new life into them, creating a warm, cozy read, perfect for a quiet afternoon.

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Smuggler’s Bride

Darlene Marshall
2006, American Historical Romance (1840s Florida)
Amber Quill Press, Part of a series

Grade: B
Sensuality: Warm

Apart from being incredibly annoyed back when I first read Reading the Romance, Janice Radway’s iconic look at romance novels and their readers, I was quite struck by the sheer number of readers who stated that they read romance because of the things they learned. Now, this is not one of the reasons I read romance, though it is certainly a side benefit, and one of the best things about Darlene Marshall’s Smuggler’s Bride. Story and history lessons are almost seamlessly joined – almost. There are a couple of occasions when Marshall slips in to lecturer mode, but I know so little about this era of American history that I never minded.

Smuggler’s Bride is set in territorial Florida, amidst a joint crisis in the shipping and financial worlds. Ships are being hijacked by smugglers, forced to pay tariffs while cheaper goods are being made available illegally. The newly autonomous American economy is also under threat; with no country-wide currency, the country is ripe for counterfeit bills both from enterprising nationals and those foreign threats happy to undermine the newfound independence.

Lady Julia Delarue, headstrong and intelligent, decides to take matters into her own hands when her family’s shipping business is threatened. However, while working undercover at her uncle’s alehouse, she is kidnapped and left at the mercy of Rand Washburn, a smuggler and recluse who is not precisely what he seems.

Through various exciting circumstances, the two end up married to each other. And while they are both seduced by their isolation, situation, and mutual attraction, the secrets they hide, the real life they’ve escaped comes rushing back and threatens the new lives they’ve made, which actually ties in rather nicely with the broader themes of American independence, with the post-revolutionary afterglow fading and the understanding that survival is going to take work.

Smuggler’s Bride is obviously a sequel, though there’s no need to read the first novel about Julia’s parents in order to enjoy this one. There’s one particularly nice scene where Julia’s mother yearns for her old adventures, and tries to fit back into her pirate trousers, much to her husband’s amusement.

The story is full of gentle humour and affection much like the above scene, with a number of secondary characters that play their part well. And while the concept of dual identities is overdone, particularly during the last scenes, it doesn’t really take away from the overall strength of the novel. To slip into some context-appropriate jargon, Smuggler’s Bride is a darned good yarn.

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Master of Swords

Angela Knight
October 2006, Fantasy Romance
Berkley, Part of a series

Grade: B+
Sensuality: Hot

Wow.

I have to admit to a fair few prejudices before starting this book. I’m an Arthur girl. I read The Once and Future King and Le Morte D’Artur. Sword in the Stone is my favourite Disney movie. I know all the words to the soundtrack of Camelot. I even sat through the dismal First Knight – what on earth were they thinking? So I was of two minds about a romance series based on mythical Avalon. On the one hand, Yay! More fodder for the Arthur addiction. On the other, though, lay the suspicion and disbelief that anyone could take the myths and morph them into something that would stay true to the historical originals, but still capture the imagination of contemporary audiences.

Wow.

With her Mageverse, Knight has laid to rest all my fears. Now don’t get me wrong, there is some definite creative licensing going on. Arthur’s not dead, for one. And he’s back with Guinevere, though apparently he’s only just forgiven Lancelot, some thousand years later. But it’s these little touches that really make Knight’s story come alive. Arthur’s not dead, because he now exists in the Mageverse, a parallel world to our own universe. The fact that it took him so long to forgive – indeed the character trait of holding a grudge – makes him more human and more likable than if he had been a perfect mythological representation. This placing of Arthur and his knights in another universe easily sidesteps all the potential problems with using “real” people for the story.

There are other changes. The Knights of the Round Table, the Magi, are immortal, turned vampire/were hybrids by drinking from Merlin’s Grail. The women, the Majae, are witches, able to take the magic of the Mageverse and channel it to cast diverse spells that cover the spectrum from freshening breath to healing a mortal wound. A symbiotic relationship exists between the two. The men have to drink blood and the women need to donate blood in order to survive. And blood sharing is inextricably linked with sex. In fact, more power can be gained by orgasm.

Wow.

The inhabitants of the Mageverse are not hereditary. Descendants have a latent magic to them, but it needs to be “turned on.” Potential candidates are nominated, and are judged by committee. If deemed acceptable, they are visited by the court seducer, who triggers their magic. If not, they live their lives as mortals.

Which leads to the plot of Master of Swords. One Knight’s son was denied access to the Mageverse, and, in retaliation, he joins their most powerful enemy. However, being one of the minions isn’t good enough, so he eventually takes over, using their deaths to fuel his dark magic.

Lark is only newly joined. Though the granddaughter of a man known more as a myth, she remains uncertain of her abilities. During the crisis that has recently struck the Mageverse, she is mentored with Gawain, the realm’s most potent seducer of Majae. Sparks fly, but Lark’s lack of self-confidence threatens to tear both their fledgling relationship and the Mageverse’s efforts apart.

Wow.

Sensing a theme here? Well, I was wowed. Knight didn’t destroy the Arthurian tradition; she reinvented it, and in doing so created likable characters. And the book was hot. Really hot. Like, I was reading it on a bus and blushing hot. One scene in particular had me releasing all the air in my lungs in one rush. However, the charm of the novel is that Knight didn’t rely on graphic detail to create heat – just a really intense, emotional, great use of words and images, rather than relying on standard erotica-hot.

Wow.

The only reason I’m not giving this book DIK status (because it came really, really close) is that the intensity in the plot details and the sexual relationship between the characters just didn’t hit the same depth with the emotional bond. It was there, but it didn’t wrap me up and enthral me completely. I liked the main characters, I loved the secondary characters, I believed the relationship, but I wasn’t transported. But, in the end, that’s my personal reaction. Read the book, because I have the feeling that everyone who does is going to have the same reaction:

Wow.

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Love, Lust and Pixie Dust

LuAnn McLane
2006, Contemporary Romance
Signet, $14.00, 320 pages, Amazon ASIN 0451219503

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Warm

Luanne McLane advertises her collection of short stories as “A little bit country and a little bit out of this world,” so I was drawn to it immediately. I’m a country girl from way back, and, heck, who doesn’t like a little magic?

The stories involve two different groups: the first is the gifted Barone family, with siblings Mary Jane, Sophia, and Lucio. The second centers around a little honky tonk bar named Logan’s, with newly signed country singer Brody Baker, bar owner Logan, and his little sister with a big voice, Savannah. Each of the stories is named after a classic country tune, as well, which is a cute little touch.

Contemporary Romance
Crazy
MJ had a dream, a dream that sent her from her home in Brooklyn to Nashville, Tennessee to set up her own business, Psychic Love Connections. MJ has a gift: she can read soul mates. But her special gift has also kept her from finding her special man, because no one believes her, and she’s unwilling to be with a man who thinks her a phony. But when Brody Baker stumbles into her house and passes out on her kitchen floor, she thinks that maybe, just maybe she might have found the one. Grade: B

Contemporary Romance
Honky Tonk Angel
MJ’s experience with Brody led her to invite her sister Sophia up to stay while Sophia’s cable TV show is on summer hiatus. Sophia has extra incentive to accept; a man she put in jail was recently paroled, and Sophia has been having some pretty scary dreams about him. As a medium, she’s learned to take her visions pretty seriously. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to get Logan, the hunky bar owner/landlord next door to do the same. And while they burn up in bed together, Sophia can’t accept a man who can’t accept all of her. Grade: B

Contemporary Romance
Walkin’ After Midnight
Savannah has two dreams: she wants to be a country music singer and she wants to escape out from under her older brothers’ over-protective thumb. Lucio doesn’t share his sisters’ special gifts, but he somehow always manages to arrive at their doorstep when they need him most. Unfortunately, he shows up just in time to freak out his sister’s new boyfriend and said boyfriend’s little sister and ends up at the wrong side of a broom for his troubles. And while MJ might have described Savannah as sweet and shy, Lucio is struck by a sexy side that no one else seems to see. And suddenly, Lucio is interested in way more than his traditional short-term flings. Grade: B-

There are a number of strong elements in this collection. The premise is inventive and entertaining. Making MJ able to read soul mates is a very shrewd move as well, as it sidesteps the awkward necessity of the characters having to fall for each other hard and fast. The couples know their soul mates; they just have to work out the kinks before falling into bliss. I also really enjoyed the use of country music hits thrown in now and again, like a soundtrack to the stories.

However, there are a number of weak elements as well, and they unfortunately really detract from the overall collection. The first is McLane’s use of phonetic dialogue for her Brooklyn characters. The Nashville characters were described as drawling, but the Brooklyn characters say things like “ya” instead of “you” every time. I think McLane was going for some gentle humour here, but it was belaboured with too many “cawfees,” “whatevvas,” and “fugedaboudits,” and became very grating, very quickly.

The second major problem I had was some clumsiness in the writing, especially in the love scenes. While it is mainly very minor purplish clichés, a very strong example appears in the last story, slipping into the heavy-handedness associated with “telling, not showing.” At one point, Luc “knew he connected with her on a both a physical and spiritual level.” Connecting is important, but this kind of contextualizing sentence really feels forced and amateurish – as if McLane was having a hard time believing in her story herself and felt the need to push the conclusion on her readers. Which is a shame, because I was believing in the story up to that point. In novels, but in romance especially, it’s so important for an author to not tell their readers what they should be thinking, but let the character and relationship development do it for them.

My final problem lies mostly in the marketing, and was no doubt out of McLane’s hands. I know “erotica” is a buzzword right now, and publishing houses are vaulting onto the bandwagon, but the use of the “erotic” for stories that are only, in my opinion, warm, is misleading and detrimental to the book. There’s nothing wrong with McLane’s sex scenes. They’re warm and often quite tender, but they do not deserve the label “erotic.”

If this were a novel, I would have rated it a C because the problems were over-arching and really took away from the stories; however, because each story rated quite high separately, the anthology gets a B- rating. Separately, they’re fun little reads, but all together, all at once, the flaws become over-pronounced.

I did enjoy the imaginative premise of Love, Lust and Pixie Dust, and wouldn’t let the problems in this anthology, problems that in my opinion will disappear the more McLane writes, keep me from trying her again.

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Anaz-voorhi

Vijaya Schartz
2006, Science Fiction Romance
Triskelion Publishing, Part of a series

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Subtle

Anaz-voohri is an interesting, enjoyable, engrossing novel, but I seriously question if I’d call it a romance.

We meet main character Zack as a teenager on the day he witnesses the alien abduction of his little sister. From that night on, he is relentless in his pursuit of the truth, defying the CIA, the FBI, and the American government while he’s at it. Eventually, he begins to cause too many problems and is given a choice – either he works with the powers that be as a consultant or he faces elimination. The story would have been pretty short if he chose the latter, so luckily he goes off to boot camp.

At Camp Hell, he meets Tia, his drill sergeant. She’s tougher than anyone he’s ever met, but motivates him to try harder, dig deeper, achieve more. When he eventually finishes his month at camp, he is promoted immediately to just below her, and the two become friends.

The aliens that abducted Zack’s sister and 11 other girls are not ET, ALF, Mork & Mindy type friendly. They’re nasty and bent on destroying humanity, and through the course of the story, commit some pretty nasty deeds. Zack and Tia are part of a team trying to, in all actuality, save the world.

Now, I’m sure you can see the romance here, but it is very definitely a subplot. The alien invasion/human counterattack is always at the forefront, even during the romance scenes. It’s not that the romance is lacking; in fact, it’s quite sweet and the characters are very natural. It just never takes precedence. This is not a criticism, just an observation that, although the novel is very good, if you’re looking for a romance, it probably wouldn’t deliver.

There are some downfalls: the beginning is quite clunky and, at first, I didn’t think I’d get through it. However, once Zack grows up and the action starts, the writing cleans up quite dramatically. I also found the alien character overdramatic in some places, and I didn’t quite understand what the author was attempting to do with the religion/science dichotomy she kept setting up. However, the book is the start of a series from Triskelion, with different authors writing each section, so it may be explained in the future.

Anaz-voohri stands alone quite well. It’s not very long, at 174 pages, but is quite dense. A lot of action is packed in, and the pace very rarely slows. There is some good character development, and I quite liked the subtle dig at witch-hunts in America, not unlike the criticism implicit in Bryan Singer’s X-Men trilogy. The author, Schartz, makes her point, but doesn’t preach.

As an SF novel, Anaz-voohri is excellent, but as a romance, it’s a SF novel.

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Tequila Makes Her Clothes Come Off

Cara North
2006, Contemporary Romance
Mardi Gras Publishing

Grade: D-
Sensuality: Hot

Mardi Gras publishing is not a major player in the e-book market, which isn’t surprising if a book like Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off is any indication of the quality of their product. Even disregarding the myriad of spelling and grammar errors, turning a blind eye to the glaring consistency problems, and ignoring the fact that the promising title has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the story, Tequila reads like a first draft of an inexperienced writer.

The story starts out well, though, the cover is fun and flirty, and the title has lots of potential. Even the simple premise bodes well: two strangers meet in Vegas, both needing to get married for different reasons. They meet, manipulate each other to the altar, and consummate the deed. Then real life begins.

Jack must marry to get his inheritance, and he needs his inheritance to save his ranch. In order to be considered valid, the marriage must last for at least three months. Bethany needs to escape her overbearing, super-rich family, and a marriage that was set up more as a merger than a love affair. She needs a new name, a new location, and a chance to live her own life. So even a ranch in rural Montana seems like paradise.

Oh, Bethany is a virgin when Jack takes her to bed. But, no worries, she has multiple orgasms anyways. And Jack, womanizer extraordinaire, finds that he’s never felt this way before. Ah, the awesome sexual power of the untouched.

The two go off to the ranch, meet a host of secondary characters, and spend the three months falling in love with each other, while discovering buried treasure and the joy of role-playing in the bedroom. There is, however, always the question as to how real the marriage really is.

The first problem is this book’s length – at 200 pages, it’s a monster for an e-book. I understand that it is also available in print (at 348 pages), but even so, the length is daunting. Especially as a good 60-65 pages could have been cut without damaging the story. In fact, it would have helped it along immensely. The story also suffers from the odd dichotomy of dragging where completely unnecessary, yet skipping over the relevant and interesting parts. For example, the book ends just as the secondary characters are finally getting useful and interesting. If this is supposed to be the first of a trilogy – and I have my suspicions – the final climax is a clumsy attempt at a cliff hanger, destined to leave those who actually made it through the 200 pages unsatisfied, if not downright angry.

I mentioned above the careless editing job. Jack’s ex is named Christina in Vegas, Candace in Montana. There are a couple of malapropisms that made me snort. The spelling mistakes are both plentiful and appalling, and the grammar errors atrocious. I was sent an Advance Reader’s Copy, so it’s possible they were all caught before final publication, but I’ve read a lot of ARCs, and I’ve never had one that needed to be cleaned so thoroughly.

The relationship between Jack and Bethany is also problematic. They deal with each other quite naturally, except in the bedroom. I came away with the distinct impression that the novel was “sexed up” in order to be considered erotic, and it felt unnatural and forced.

Finally, the plot action, including the Big Misunderstanding, is clumsy and over-hyped. Twice in the pages leading up to the climax, Bethany thinks “Nothing can ever tear us apart. She might as well have been wearing blinking lights and a neon sign proclaiming: Big Misunderstanding Dead Ahead! The misunderstanding? Not big. Problematic, yes, and quite useful for forcing Jack’s hand, but did not warrant the hysteria that ensued.

There are some gems in the story. The scene where Bethany tells her friends off is great. Jack’s little sister and her cop husband are good too. But they are few and far between.

There is no doubt in my mind that this could have been a competent – even cute – story had anyone along the publishing line stepped back for even a minute to consider the story as a whole, or to look at it as a reader. I can’t understand why the book was allowed to be published in this condition. It is detrimental to the writer and the publishing company, but, most disappointing, it is unfair to the story. It is there, buried under the wordy paragraphs, the too-long manuscript, the stilted character interactions and the shoddy editing. I just doubt that, unlike the buried treasure in the story, anyone will ever be able to dig Tequila out.

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One Night in Paradise

Anne Leigh Keaton
2006, Contemporary Romance
Cobblestone Press

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Hot

One Night in Paradise uses a convention that really bugs me – namely that the unattractive woman wearing a sweatshirt, baggy jeans, and glasses, when dressed appropriately and given contact lenses, is revealed as the true knockout she is. A friend of mine calls this Frizzy Hair Syndrome. Once the woman’s hair is straightened – kaboom! – she’s beautiful!

What bothers me doubly about this syndrome is the way the woman relates to her transformation and her new clothes. Some of them (Anne Hathaway, for example, in The Devil Wears Prada) learn to love them, revel in their newfound power. Others (Anne Hathaway, yet again, this time in The Princess Diaries) are uncomfortable and unsure and feel like they’ve lost themselves in the process. In both cases, I always feel like the clothes become and overcome the character. Carol, heroine of One Night in Paradise, falls into the latter category. She doesn’t like her black dress, and finds her contacts uncomfortable, but she puts up with them in order to seduce Detective Liam Taggert, and have her one night of passion.

Carol is a school librarian, with all the fashion sense the job stereotypically entails. What’s nice about Liam, however, is that he never notices her – not because of her clothes or her glasses or her job – but because every time he’s at the school, he’s focused solely on his son. He has never had to meet Carol in a professional capacity, so she’s below his radar. Carol, however, has definitely noticed Liam. Thus her plan is born. Simple, really: dress like a siren, pick him up at the bar, have her wicked way with him, and leave with memories to last her the rest of her life. Plans go haywire, though, when Liam decides that one night with Carol is not going to be enough.

This story is novella length, making it a nice, quick read. I really liked the characters and the strength of the emotional pull between them. I especially liked Carol, the shy woman who wants her dream man, her dream night, and sets about obtaining it. Her complete shock and sudden panic when her plan actually starts to work is charming and had me smiling at my monitor. I was also really pulled in to her insecurity and conviction that Liam would not be interested in her when he found out who she really was.

Liam is also nicely drawn, very sexy, but a devoted father. His persistence and patience are alluring. All in all, the characters are the best part of this story, well drawn and easy to empathize with.

I did find Carol’s behavior at the end a little over-the-top. Once her secret is out, her humiliation is understandable, but for someone who is as patient and even and calm as Carol both is, and is described as being, her reaction seems forced. The lack of resolution with Liam’s son was also frustrating.

The one problem I did have is one that seems to be cropping up in a lot of the e-books I’m reading lately – mainly the writing to a market. There were a couple of times in the course of the story when I thought the sex scenes were gratuitous and out of character for Liam and Carol. I understand the call is huge for erotic stories right now, but pushing a story beyond its natural boundaries can have detrimental consequences. I especially found this in the ending of One Night in Paradise when the story ended quite nicely and naturally, but kept going in order to include another sex scene.

Overall, I found One Night in Paradise gentle and easy, deftly written. Although I did struggle with the ending, it remained a very nice way to end my day.

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Raleigh in Rio

Cassidy Kent
2006, Contemporary Romance
Phaze

Grade: C-
Sensuality: Warm

Though I’m a big e-book fan, I feel like I should start a checklist for those I’m reading these days. In the case of Raleigh in Rio, my list would look something like this:

• Poor editing: Check
• Simple grammatical errors: Check
• Spelling mistakes: Check
• Cliché-ridden: Check

Which is a shame really, because this story – of a woman recently separated from a cheating crook of a husband, then taken to Rio by her best friends for a fantastic sensual holiday – would be quite strong if not marred by simple mechanical errors and some amateur writing problems that could have easily been cleaned up.

For example – and a little plot detail – Cristo, our hero and intrepid PI, is tracking Raleigh to see if she has any connection to her husband’s embezzlement scheme. During the three months that he’s tailed her, he developed feelings for her, but at the same time he worries that he’s become too attached, that he can’t do his job. He agonizes about letting down his father-figure and boss, James, but finally he decides that he needs her, he has to have her, but only for the one night. We learn this in the space of about a page (one of only 27) in a series of long, descriptive paragraphs of Cristo’s thoughts. The information is nice, but mostly unnecessary, and, when presented this way, unfortunately becomes boring. I understand that in shorter stories, there’s just some times when an author must tell and not show, but big block paragraphs of angst and back story ruined any momentum that the story displayed thus far.

There are also times that the words read as if the author is writing what she thinks a romance novel should sound like, as opposed to a true description of how her characters think and feel. Similes and metaphors are often over the top, the sort of prose that is often ridiculed by those outside the genre.

Luckily, the characters are solid, and the story does manage to come through in the end. I would have liked to have seen more of the friends, but in this shorter length, I understand the size ramifications. About half way in, the story really hits its stride and the momentum pulses along in a good rhythm. Though Cristo’s thoughts keep popping up and overpowering, they become fewer and further between as the plot takes over. It’s also nice to see some character growth in a short story.

Short stories are notoriously hard to pace, but Kent has done well. Many authors are afraid to leave their characters alone for a couple of weeks, as if readers need stalker-like information of every movement and every day. Not so here, where we leap into the middle of the trip to Rio, past Cristo and Leigh’s first encounter, over his betrayal, and beyond. These leaps, as well as moving the story forward, have the added benefit of allowing a certain authenticity to the characters’ feelings. While love at first sight has its supporters, it’s nicer for the story to draw along some, to show some depth to both the characters and their interactions.

In the end, though, Raleigh in Rio is disappointingly overpowered by mechanical errors that become impossible to ignore.

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Owning Rachael

Madison Layle
2006, Erotic Romance
Cobblestons Press

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Burning

Ménage books are becoming increasingly popular in e-book land, and thus increasingly prominent. In my (admittedly far from complete) experience, M/M/F groupings are becoming the new “it” couple in the sub-genre. However, the stories do come with their own special brand of problems.

First, the group dynamics have to be handled very carefully, else the book just becomes a traditional coupling with an extra pair of hands for added fun. Second, and this is also a consideration for most erotic romances, when the sex is novel, as M/M/F sex still tends to be, authors run the risk of allowing the sexual connection to overshadow the emotional one. Owning Rachel, a novel by Madison Layle, escapes the first problem, but not the second.

Rachel is a successful prosecutor who is having increasingly erotic dreams of submission and bondage, and the dreams have begun to affect her waking life, leading her to make an appointment to see Dr. Jonathon Sinclair. He does everything he can, but eventually reaches the limits of what he is professionally able to do. Personally, however, is another story. He tells Rachel that in order to get over the dreams, she must listen to what her subconscious is telling her. He hands her a cell phone number, tells her to call it, when she’s sure she’s ready, and walks her to the door.

A month later she makes the call, is kidnapped, and starts a sexual journey to fulfilment with her two kidnappers.

The plot moves nicely along, showing how each barrier Rachel has thrown up is broken down. She works through her various mental blocks, learning more and more about herself, and falling harder and harder for her two teachers: men she never sees but knows by voice as Master and Sire.

Layle handles this part quite well. I admit to having had some squeamishness associated with some BDSM books in the past, especially when the story trips just that much too close to “forced seduction” for my personal taste. However, in Owning Rachel Rachel is never coerced into anything, and there was never any discomfort on my part as a reader. In fact, Layle almost went overboard with her “trust is key” mantra.

Readers will be able to guess it easily, so I’ll reveal that Sire is Jon Sinclair. Master is his brother Jack. Together, they’re known as the Masters of Sin. Jon falls for Rachel while still her doctor, and decides to introduce her into the lifestyle with his brother. However, it’s Jack who plays the more prominent role in her introduction, so the three-way connection is forged quite realistically. I have to admit though that the familial connection hit a squick factor with me, and although the brothers were always focused on Rachel, I was never really comfortable with the three-way sex scenes.

While the triumvirate works in the sense that everyone was an equal partner, unfortunately, the emotional connection never materializes. The three eventually share declarations, but I never felt the love. Attraction, sure. Sexual connection, definitely. Emotional bonds? Beyond the fact that the brothers introduce Rachel to her sexual destiny, and she is grateful, I don’t know. Rachel is built up as someone who goes after what she wants, who is always pushing, always wanting more. I wonder if she will be content to stay with the men who introduced her to the lifestyle without trying out others, especially as she grows more comfortable in her sexual identity.

Owning Rachel is an excellent choice to introduce readers into BDSM novels, but regular erotic/romantica readers are unlikely to be seduced.

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Branded

Emma Peterson
2006, Contemporary Romance
Cobblestone Press

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Hot

Branded, a novella by Emma Peterson, is a reunion story about cowboy and ranch owner Ty Parsons, and Jenny, a woman who spent the last five years in California, first at veterinarian school, then running her own practice.

In high school, the two were inseparable. Though he told himself she was annoying, Ty nevertheless found himself spending time with her. Then, as they grew older, suddenly annoyance grew into arousal, and he began to see her as something much more. Five years before the story starts, at Ty’s father’s funeral, Jenny’s attempt to comfort him turned in something more. Ty stopped short, however, of taking Jenny’s virginity, not wanting to take advantage of her. Jenny viewed his actions as rejection, and raced off to California.

At the beginning of the story, Jenny has returned home to take care of her grandmother after her grandfather dies, and fills in unexpectedly for the vet while she’s there. She is, naturally, sent to Ty’s ranch to take care of a mare in foal. Both of them are still nursing anger and hurt from that long ago night. Jenny avoids hers; Ty uses his to goad and push her. Things are brought to a head when Jenny’s grandmother dies unexpectedly, and they have to make decisions.

Branded is a nice quick read, but I do suggest skipping the prologue. The entire back story is covered in those seven pages, which is quite disproportionate, considering the novella is only just over 50 pages long. Peterson would have created a more cohesive story by cutting it completely and allowing the events to unfold naturally for the reader. As it is, momentum is lost slogging through a great deal of back story that has little relevance to the central relationship. For example, Ty doesn’t believe he’s good for women because his father wasn’t. This fact is highlighted quite heavily in the prologue, but dealt with in a sentence in the actual story.

Some readers might find the ending heavy-handed, a bit of deus ex machina to force a climax (no pun intended!), but it’s a well used romance trope, so I barely noticed.

What I did like about the story is that both Jenny and Ty mention that they have Native American heritage, but it’s neither a plot point nor a major element in the story. There is a nice universality about Peterson’s writing here. A lot of controversy has swirled around race in romance novels lately. Peterson simply focuses on two people falling in love – an experience that everyone can relate to, regardless of their skin color.

My original grade for this novella was a B-, but with a clumsy beginning and somewhat heavy-handed ending, it drops down to a C+.

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Secrets: Dark Passions (Volume 18)

Rae Monet, Larissa Ione, Linda Gayle and Cynthia Eden
December 2006, Erotic Romance
Red Sage

Grade: B+
Sensuality: Hot

Looking over the last couple of months, I’ve reviewed quite a few short story anthologies and novellas. To be honest, I was feeling a bit burned out by the genre, wondering if powerful love stories could be told with low word counts. But this collection is strong, erotic, emotional, and satisfying. Quite simply, this Secrets volume has restored my faith in romance short stories.

Futuristic Romance
Sensuality: Hot

Lone Wolf Three is part of Rae Monet’s Solarian Wolf Warrior series. Before this story, I had never read any of the others, but found it completely unnecessary to my enjoyment. From what I understand from the story and a brief trip over to her website, Monet’s series deals in futuristic ecological romance; wolves and the destruction of their habitat is of primary concern for her. In this story, the lives of the characters are intertwined with those of their wolves. The heroine, Lakota, is a Wolf Warrior, a soldier with a wolf companion as an aide. She is also a mediator and is sent to Elnar to help mediate a compromise between commercial interests and ecological ones, as the leader, and hero, Taban, fights to protect the planet’s wolf population.

In a nice little twist from the norm, Lakota is emotionally distant and disciplined. She needs to be shown how to loosen up, how to relax, how to have fun. Taban, on the other hand, is closely tied to nature and his feelings, a little too closely in some cases. It is his anger, which caused him to walk out of negotiations and bury himself in the woods, that made a mediator necessary at all.

Monet doesn’t rush the story – actually this is a theme through most of the stories. The authors manage to slow the stories down, take time to really build up the emotional connection. It’s also what makes the stories worthwhile. Lakota and Taban spend quite a bit of time together isolated in the woods; Monet isn’t afraid to skip ahead in parts, moving through the days quickly. So when the climax of the suspense subplot occurs, it is not only expected, but natural that they decide to fight together.

And the dance scene is very sexy!

Grade: A-

Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Hot

This story was my favorite in the anthology. In a slight trend (it didn’t continue through the rest of the stories), Larissa Ione’s contemporary Flesh to Fantasy is about a woman addicted to virtual reality, and utterly terrified of the real thing. Kelsa is a videogame tester, and completely stunted socially. The gorgeous Tristan lives next door and is more than curious about his reclusive neighbor. They meet by accident and he makes it his goal to draw her out of her shell – and straight into his arms.

This story has some fantastic emotional development; the characters both have their issues, and Ione doesn’t rush through the resolution. The way that Kelsa eventually opens up to Tristan emotionally feels very natural for her, and it packs one heck of an emotional punch.

I especially liked the way Ione integrated both characters’ slight work obsessions into the story, with Tristan visiting Kelsa’s virtual world through a fantasy role-playing game, and Kelsa’s visit to Tristan’s very real world as a paramedic.

Grade: A

Futuristic Romance
Sensuality: Hot

Earth has been destroyed and humanity scattered in Heart Full of Stars, a futuristic romance from Linda Gayle. War wiped out three-quarters of the population, sending the rest of them out into space. Some found jobs and homes and each other. Most, however, desperate to get off the dying planet in any way they could, signed contracts with mercenary aliens who forced them into servitude in return for their lives.

Fanta is a very successful singer – she’s sold more albums than Elvis and The Beatles put together – and she is on her way back to Earth, now that the planet’s ecosystems have been restored for recolonization. She’s also in a big hurry. The terms of her contract may have been fulfilled, but her owner doesn’t want something so lucrative to slip from his hands. On Earth, she’ll be safe. Unfortunately, she crashes on Mars and meets Decker, a fellow human with emotional wounds deeper than the Pacific. He saves her accidentally, they have sex, he doesn’t want to leave, she wants to get home. Complications ensue.

I’m not normally a fan of futuristic stories, but I liked the premise of this one, the idea of recolonizing, people returning home. There’s a sort of nostalgic undertone throughout that adds poignancy to the denouement. The different types of aliens are fun as well. And, though Fanta occasionally comes across as a bit flaky, it’s part of her façade. She has hidden strengths and depths that come out slowly through the story and are a lot of fun to follow. And Decker is a quintessential wounded hero. Together, they’re dynamite.

Grade: B+

Shapeshifter Romance
Sensuality: Hot

There are three things I didn’t like about Cynthia Eden’s The Wolf’s Mate, so I’ll get them out of the way right now. First, the wolf smells his mate and knows her immediately, thus justifying the overbearing/condescending/overprotective actions that follow. It’s okay, because she’s his mate. That drives me crazy.

Second, she’s frigid until she meets him. However, I’m adding a caveat. The guy she was with before the novella begins never took the time to turn her on, and he was a little scary, so there are lots of good reasons why she wouldn’t be able to respond sexually. That being said, Michael, our hero-wolf, is pretty scary too. This particular trope is explained relatively well, but it did make me roll my eyes when I first came across it.

Finally, he’s French. And he refers to her as “ma petite”. Maybe the author hasn’t read Laurell K Hamilton, but lots of others have, and it’s a little too close for comfort.

That’s a heck load of stereotypes and well-visited concepts to get over. But, in the end, I liked this story. This is the second in a series, but stands alone just fine on its own. In fact, if the author hadn’t tried to tie the two stories together, I would never have known. The world building is sufficient enough to make this story independent.

It is the heroine who really saves the story. Kat (get it? Kat and Wolf? Cat and Dog? Yeah, me too) actually shows a lot of backbone, which is refreshing in an overbearing, “you are my mate” storyline. She needs to be kidnapped to go along with Michael to his secret wolf lair where she fights with him. Sure, she freaks out a little when he turns into a wolf in front of her, but for the most part, she’s got her life planned out, can solve her own problems, and, barring a rape attempt, can handle pretty much everything on her own. She’s also fiercely protective and independent, which, again, is refreshing. She pulls the story out of cliché and into “B” territory.

Grade: B-

I finished this anthology with a feeling that has been mostly missing in my romance reading this year – deep pleasure and full satisfaction. Though I reviewed this Secrets volume electronically, I’ll be looking for the print version come December. I’ve already saved the spot on my keeper shelves.

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The Twilight Deception

Elisabeth Drake
2006, Urban Fantasy
Cobblestone Press, Part of a series

Grade: D
Sensuality: Hot

The Twilight Deception by Elisabeth Drake owes a lot to early Laurell K Hamilton; her influence is felt strongly through the whole story.

Arielle is the resident witch at the FBI, working in the newly created preternatural section. Their job is to keep paranormal activity on the down-low, so as to avoid panicking humanity which, as is historically evident, causes more trouble than the original problem. However, when she receives word of a number of suspected vampire-related killings, things start to go downhill. Still, Arielle is tough. She can take care of herself – or so she thinks. Fortunately, plot-wise, her self-confidence is overly optimistic, and Arielle ends up being rescued by a friendly vampire sent to police his race and track down the murderer.

Despite the fact that her pride is hurt, Arielle accepts Jackson’s help, then finds herself more and more attracted to him as their hunt progresses. Their attraction has inherent problems, however. First, their target grows stronger with every passing moment, and it’s unlikely either of them will survive an encounter. Second, Jackson belongs to another world, one in which Arielle wouldn’t survive. Can she ask him to stay in hers?

Arielle is a mélange of the major urban fantasy heroines we’ve seen in the last couple of years, with a dash of Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan, some pieces from Keri Arthur’s Full Moon Rising, definite inspiration from Kelley Armstrong, more than a splash of Karen Chance, and great big chunks of Anita Blake. Like these novels, The Twilight Deception is told in the first person, with lots of sass and snark. Unfortunately, though at times amusing, the snark is wielded with too heavy a hand, and overshadows the other emotions in Arielle’s landscape. Arielle herself is a bit of a conundrum. She mentions her not-inconsequential sexual experience repeatedly, but has remained in self-imposed celibacy for some time. The frequency with which this dichotomy is raised suggests that it plays an important role in Arielle’s personality and make-up, but it is never explained or elaborated on. Arielle, therefore, remains unformed in my mind, a snark without a cause, strong and cruel without reason. The reasoning behind her bitterness and solitude would have been a welcome addition.

This novella would also have benefited from added length. While key words in relationships may be “Always leave them wanting more,” in terms of plots and details, sometimes it’s best to be a little more specific. There was plenty of fodder here for a full length novel: Jackson’s background, for example, and his world. An explanation of the title, which didn’t really seem to fit the story. More on the FBI unit Arielle works for. Heck, more about Arielle. Even the ending felt rushed and unexplained, deus ex machina at work. I don’t know if Drake is planning on writing a sequel, or even expanding on this novella, but some information as to how the resolution came about would be appreciated.

Drake has captured the early attitude and strength of the Anita stories, but she’s missed the depth and personality insights.

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The Invisible Rose

A.J. Cove
2006, Fantasy Romance
Cobblestone Press

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Warm

I actually had to look up the genre for this novella because it has a kind of Medieval feel to it, though the characters pop out occasionally with a non-period appropriate “Great!” As a Fantasy, however, all expressions are valid. The genre label also takes into account the defining plot detail of The Invisible Rose.

Gabriella and Doshi are princesses of marriageable age of Glamdire. Gabriella, the eldest, is showy and charismatic and beautiful. She’s known as the Wild Rose because of her promiscuous tendencies. Doshi, well Doshi doesn’t have a nickname because no one ever notices she’s there. That is, unless she’s spilling tea on a potential mate or tripping over her gown. She despairs of ever finding a love like her parents had. Then a wish and a magic gift give her the opportunity. The only problem? She falls for her sister’s intended.

The overlooked heroine is a powerful trope in literature, especially romance. Who hasn’t felt marginalized? Doshi is sweet and kind and as beautiful, if more understated, than her sister. It is her lack of confidence that keeps her on the sidelines. Only with her gift, a kind of disguise, is she able to actively explore the bolder part of her nature.

I quite liked Tarin, the sisters’ suitor. As a character, he’s well-fleshed out, and quite realistic. Though he’s already halfway in love with Doshi, he is not immune to Gabriella’s charms and enjoys being in her company, though he sees through her glittering exterior soon enough. For me, one of the more annoying themes in the wallflower storyline is the hero’s sudden blindness to everyone around him. Though the notion is quite sweet, it’s also patently idealistic. An author has to have a deft touch in order to make it work for me. Cove sidesteps this problem neatly by allowing Tarin to be deceived by Gabriella’s charisma and discover the shallowness of her nature on his own.

Cove does a nice job exploring an old convention, but doesn’t really expand or push boundaries. I would have liked to see some more delving into the relationship between Gabriella and Doshi, particularly at the end, when circumstances suggest that a confrontation is inevitable. As it is, the story has a nice romantic ending, but the subplot feels … well, overlooked.

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Raindrops Keep Falling on my Dead

Mia Romano
2006, Paranormal Romance
Cobblestone Press

Grade: D
Sensuality: Hot

And then there are stories that make you go “what the h_ll?”

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Dead started out alright. Cute title, cute cover, cute premise. Cindy’s Uncle Buck is more than he appears. For one thing, he’s died three times in the last ten years. But he’s never quite ready to give up on life and his quest to see his stubborn niece happily settled down. It helps that he’s a shifter and thus in possession of some interesting properties.

Each time he dies, Buck leaves a will in which he stipulates a task Cindy must complete. He also reincarnates with the ability to shift into another animal. This time, he’s chosen a chimpanzee. Sure a were-chimp is a bit unorthodox, but he’s able to be legally kept as a pet and can keep an eye on Cindy as he puts her through her most dangerous quest yet.

With me so far? Good. There’s also Tanner, a cowboy and friend of Buck’s with whom Cindy shares a tempestuous past. For reasons never fully explained, Cindy thinks he’s a complete jerk, but must deal with him anyway as Buck’s will stipulates that the two be together to complete their task.

This is the point where things get a little haywire. The story has been okay up to this point. There have been some rough spots sure, but all forgivable. The first person narrative is light, the characters likable. Cindy’s resentment of Tanner has built up some suspense and introduced him as the hero. But the plot? Well the plot goes shooting off into left field, with the reader left behind, entirely bewildered.

The novella is only about fifty pages long. But Romano introduces novel-length plot elements. Suddenly there’s a full scale battle for Earth, complete with good and bad shapeshifters, vampires, and other paranormal characters. Cindy develops, unexplained, the ability to mind read. There’s a whole section with a brooch that is never explained.

In fact, most of the plot is never explained. Romano keeps promising explanations: more than once Cindy is told that all will become clear. It never is. Not for her, not for me. Cindy is more forgiving about this problem. She just accepts. I’m annoyed. To this point, I still have no idea what the main suspense plot was even about, let alone how the resolution – tied up in a rodeo – was, well, resolved. Couple this with a sudden about face in Cindy’s feelings for Tanner and you’ve got a recipe for utter confusion, not a satisfying romance short.

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Chasing Stanley

Deirdre Martin
February 2007, Contemporary Romance
Berkley, Part of a series

Grade: B
Sensuality: Warm

I picked up Deidre Martin’s first hockey-related book simply because it was hockey-related. There’s not a whole lot of recourse for Canadian ex-pats in the land of eternal sunshine (Australia). So combining two of my great loves – hockey and romance novels – together in one cutely-covered package seemed the perfect solution. However, even my obsessive, sometimes desperate need for a hockey fix wouldn’t have kept me picking them up if the stories didn’t deliver. Lucky for me, Martin hasn’t let me down yet.

Chasing Stanley is the fifth in Martin’s loosely related series surrounding the fictional New York Blades hockey team – fictional (she snarks) because the Rangers haven’t been anywhere near the Cup since the series started. Jason, one of a pair of hockey playing twins from a small, backwater town has just been signed to his dream team under his dream captain (Ty Gallagher from Martin’s Body Check). It’s his first experience in the big city, so he wants to make the most of everything available to him, really take advantage of being young, single, and playing for the greatest team in hockey.

Delilah, on the other hand, has lived in New York her entire life, but probably would have been happier with Jason’s backwater childhood. Painfully shy, she circumvents the necessity of dealing with people by running her own dog training/walking/boarding business, surrounding herself with four-legs instead of two. Jason owns a lovable if somewhat uncontrollable Newfoundland named Stanley. The rest, as they say, is history.

Chasing Stanley is, in a lot of ways, a quiet story. There is very little angst, no torment, no deep anguish. All the blood and violence happen on the ice. To keep a reader’s interest, therefore, Martin has to create her plot with the relationship between her main characters. Fortunately, Martin has a great talent for character development.

Jason and Delilah are both very young in their own way at the beginning of the story. Each has issues and problems that they need to overcome before they can grow up – and enter a grown-up relationship. Jason is insecure in his skin at the beginning of the story, letting too much get to him, focusing on how others tell him he should be instead of on what he really wants. He’s impulsive and spontaneous, and has very little respect for others around him. Delilah, as I mentioned, is incredibly shy and utterly unwilling to try new things. She holds on to her routines with both hands and white knuckles. She’s inflexible and rigid.

While these character flaws are necessary for the story, they did detract somewhat from my ability to like them. Delilah is easy to sympathize with, but I spent a good deal of time wanting to hit Jason over the head with his own hockey stick. I also found the way each character overcomes their flaw a bit unbalanced. What saves the story, and makes the characters real and not just annoying, is the fact that they care for each other deeply, though neither is willing to compromise for the sake of their relationship.

Luckily, there’s Stanley, who forces them to continue to meet. In romance novels pets, like kids, can work really well – or backfire spectacularly. Stanley, while playing a role, is very much relegated to the role of a pet, not as a character, and therefore does not undermine the reality of Martin’s narrative. He’s cute, he definitely has his role to play, but he doesn’t take over or become saccharine in his portrayal.

I read this novel in galley form, and even that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. There were some very funny parts (centering, mainly, around Jason’s teeth), some very exciting parts, some very sexy parts, and lots and lots of very sweet parts. And it definitely helped me get over the fact that I’m going to miss the upcoming playoff season … almost. (Go Senators Go!)

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The Sex on the Beach Book Club

Jennifer Apodaca
2007, Contemporary Romance
Brava

Grade: D
Sensuality: Hot

This book took me a week to read. I took it everywhere I could think of to help along the process, but nothing worked. Finally, I forced myself to take it as my public transportation book. I have a daily two hour commute, and as a general rule my bus reading time is sacred “what I want to read” time. Only in the direst of cases do I take a “have to read” book along with me. The Sex on the Beach Book Club, unfortunately, qualified.

First, the plot: Holly is a PI who is hired to find proof of a straying wife. She infiltrates a book club, run by sexy bookshop owner Wes. At first Holly believes Wes may have a starring role in said wife’s infidelities, but it soon becomes clear that it is Cullen, another book club member, who is doing the cuckolding. Before she can relate this information to her client, however, Cullen turns up dead in Wes’s bookshop, and the subsequent investigation leads to some deep, hidden secrets, a name change, a disturbing web site, and a new beginning.

I’ve tried to pinpoint exactly what it is about this novel that made my skin crawl and my fingers itch. In fact, that first day on the bus, instead of reading the book, I made a list of the nitpicky little things that bother me:

• The heroine’s name is Holly Hillbay. Throughout the book, the hero calls her “Hillbaby“. He’s trying to be cute, I get that. But is it really necessary to italicize the “baby” part every single time?
• The hero, Wes, also calls her “baby” as a term of endearment. This may be just a personal thing, but I find “baby” to be the most pejorative term of endearment for a heroine. Especially if said heroine is meant to be a kick-ass PI. With a touchy thing about babies.
• The secondary characters came out of a catalogue. This is particularly disturbing because Apodaca, in one of the sub-themes, attempts to make a point about hidden depths and looking beyond the surface.
• The main villain’s motivations seemed, to me, to be both far-fetched and unrealistic. Unfortunately, in a romantic suspense, a strong villain with compelling reasons is a necessity, and this villain didn’t make the grade.

Unfortunately, it’s not just the little details that steer this story wrong. There are two major problems that weaken The Sex on the Beach Book Club. First, the characters’ descriptions do not match their actions. We are beaten over the head from the first page that Holly is a tough, kick-ass PI, with a hidden heart of gold. The reason why we are beaten over the head is because Holly is, in fact, not tough with a hidden heart of gold. Holly is more like a bitchy marshmallow. And, for reasons disclosed in the course of the story, Wes is not fond of police officers. But, with not even a whispered token protest, he involves himself deeply with an entire family of cops. This kind of internal incoherency puts the whole narrative on a tilt from the beginning, and the story never really gains its composure.

The second problem is in the tendency to over-explain. From the beginning, the main characters’ thoughts are shadowed by an explanation as to why that character thought that at exactly that time. As a reader, I felt condescended to, as if I wouldn’t be able to figure out why Holly was angry or why Wes was smirking. This over-explaining also undermines the suspense plot. Much of what is given away in the beginning chapters could have been held back until much later to enhance the suspense and keep the reader guessing. I never try to guess the ending of a mystery – I think it’s churlish to rob the author of the opportunity to surprise me – but I knew who the villain was from the middle of the book.

These problems are really a shame, because in the last 20 pages, Apodaca really hits her stride and writes some of the most touching scenes I’ve read in a while. Her characters settle into themselves and become warm and tender and likeable, and I found myself really caring about the resolution. But slogging through 300 bad pages to get to 20 good ones … it just doesn’t add up to an enjoyable reading experience.

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The Devil in Cowboy Boots

Sylvie Kaye
2007, Contemporary Romance
Triskelion Publishing

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Hot

Mercy (yep, that’s actually her name) leads a dull, dull life in small town Pennsylvania, so when she takes a holiday to San Antonio to visit her best friend, she has only one agenda: to spice up her lackluster existence. While hanging out at her uncle’s bar on her first night in town, she meets a tall, dark, long, lean cowboy who practically screams seduction. So Mercy, who’s never done anything forward in her life, takes it as a sign from above that this is the night and this is the man to finally show her what good sex is.

Their first encounter is memorable…though not for the reasons Mercy had hoped. Luckily, she makes a deal that leads to more encounters. And more. And more.

This is a classic opposites attract story. Mercy is small town – not innocent, but naïve. She’s peace and love and goodness. Her hero? Oh, let me tell you about her hero. I mentioned the tall, dark, long, lean, but there’s a cowboy hat, some boots, smoldering eyes, big hands, patience, loyalty, a past dark tragedy, and a wrong as of yet unavenged. Oh, and his name? Sinner.

Shivers down the spine stuff, let me tell you.

The relationship between Mercy and Sinner is fantastic. From the first pick-up line (and the very sexy response), it’s hot, it’s well-paced, it’s believable, it’s funny.

The secondary characters and their subplots, though, dragged the story down. Mercy’s best friend Cindy suffers the most, in my opinion. I think Kaye wrote her with genuine affection, but she comes across as ridiculous much of the time, which is unfair given her actions in the story. She had the potential of being a very relatable character, but her portrayal was too over-the-top for true connection. Cindy’s colleagues come across as cardboard, though their subplot is, if somewhat unnecessary, at least creditable. The character who bothered me most, however, is Mercy’s uncle Parker. No spoilers, but the plot surrounding this character and his actions were a weak link in an otherwise intriguing plot.

The story was also about twenty pages too long – and at just 169 pages, twenty is a sizeable chunk. Kaye did a good job of avoiding saggy middle syndrome, but there were definitely areas that could have been culled to keep the action sharper and the plot lines crisper. Perhaps a novella or anthology contribution would have been more appropriate for this story.

Though there were problems aplenty, the Devil in Cowboy Boots and his angel of Mercy may make this a story worth checking out.

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Warlord

Elizabeth Vaughan
March 2007, Fantasy Romance
Tor, Part of a series

Grade: A
Sensuality: Warm

Warning: Warlord is the third book in a trilogy, and it must be read as such. If you haven’t read the first two books, you could probably follow the story well enough, but the emotional impact, climax, and conclusion will be seriously lacking. Luckily, Warprize and Warsworn are both fantastic reads, so if you haven’t picked up Elizabeth Vaughan before, you will be getting three great books in one fell swoop.

The trilogy follows the story of Xylara, a princess of the kingdom of Xy, and Keir of the Cat, a Firelander. Not to delve too deeply into back story, Keir and his warriors conquer Xy and take Lara as a warprize. The two then must journey to the Heart of the Plains in order to cement Lara’s position within the tribe as both warprize and Keir’s mate. Warsworn ends with the Heart in sight, and Warlord picks up at the next moment.

By the beginning of this third novel, Keir and Lara are very much in love, but will be parted as Lara prepares for her tasks as warprize by the Elder council. According to tribal law, Lara must submit to judgment to determine her worthiness. Further, she may be courted by, and choose from, any of the warlords who wish to attempt for her affections. Though she loves Keir, she must submit to the council’s will and rules. In the meantime, Keir continues his struggle to bring change to his people, with some very powerful – and dangerous – opposition.

Though a fantasy novel, readers will find a lot familiar in Warlord. The Firelander people have much in common with certain Native American tribes, especially their mysticism, lifestyle, and knowledge and understanding of the seasons and their environment. There’s also a smattering of eastern history, culture, and philosophy, though it’s not as obvious. Finally, the concerns and emotions that Lara faces as she struggles with a new people far from her home are about as universal as they get. Watch also for Vaughan’s gentle handling of some touchy subject matter.

I was completely swept away. From the very first page, the author’s lush world-building – using elements of the familiar but twisting and changing them to create the Kingdom of Xy and the Heart of the Plain – catapults the reader in to an emotional and enthralling story. The plots are strong, the writing deft, the love story luxuriant and tender, the explanations of the cultures and customs skilfully integrated

But what I love best, what really sends me into (rather embarrassing) raptures every time I recommend this series, are the characters. Lara and Keir, as main characters are, in turn, touching, sweet, sexy, stubborn, bold, giving, persistent, poignant, and tender. But the characters that really stand out are the fleshed out secondaries who defy cardboard to take on full personalities of their own, each playing their own important part in the story. Main characters have a strict role to play; though each is different, they have certain rules they must follow. Secondary characters, however, are free to be as diverse as the author’s imagination, and Vaughan makes full use of hers. Her secondary characters live and breathe, laugh and cry, and add enormous depth and feeling to her story. I was bereft when I turned the last page, knowing that I’d not get to meet with them again.

In this, the third and concluding novel of the trilogy, the main story threads are tied together, without compromising the future of the characters. As readers, we are invited to mourn the loss of old friends and celebrate new life, step up to great challenges and enjoy quiet times in the arms of a lover, learn and adapt to new cultures and teach about our own. The stories of Keir, Lara, the Xy, and the Firelanders will stay with readers for a long time, and my copies of the novels are sure to become dog-eared, worn, and frayed from being read and re-read again and again.

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A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest

Marianne Mancusi
2007, Time Travel Romance
LoveSpell

Grade: C
Sensuality: Subtle

What to do with a book that makes you laugh at the top of the page and want to hurl it into the nearest wall at the bottom? Such is A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest.

Chrissie, said Hoboken Hipster, finds herself a photographic assignment in a Medieval re-enactment faire. Somewhere along the way her colleague goes missing, she meets a strange gypsy who sets her a quest, and she ends up traveling back in time to 11^th century England. There, the first person she meets is Robin of Locksley.

The story is told in first person present tense – something that took a bit of getting used to – but actually works to heighten the comedic effect. Chrissie’s inner monologue, complete with very current pop culture references, is very funny. Her first thought, for example, is that she’s on a reality TV show, and she spends the first half hour looking for the cameras.

Mancusi also pulls out the “girl in boy’s clothing” card in order to allow Chrissie to infiltrate Robin’s forest home. This is never a plot device that works for me, but I was able to let it go. Chrissie pretends to be a eunuch, which accounts for her high voice, and because we are never privy to Robin’s thoughts, we also avoid the whole angsty “am I gay?” debate. Robin does kiss Chrissie as a boy, and the way he handles it is well done.

The book really lost me though, the first time Robin Hood said “Wow.” That was followed swiftly up with a comment about Little John’s “butt.” Now I realise that a certain creativity is required with historical language – after all, what Robin and his merry men spoke, we’d never recognize as English, let alone understand. So some updating is required. But present-day slang? I had my linguistically-minded friend look up these two most obvious slips. Though in use longer than I had suspected, neither are appropriate in Sherwood Forest.

Finally, there are two major characterization flaws that dropped this book to a C- for me. When Chrissie meets Robin, he and his merry men are hiding out in the forest. The whole “rob the rich to feed the poor” gig? Chrissie’s idea. Robin only really seems to get into it once the notoriety comes in. Yet Chrissie repeats on more than one occasion that she’s fallen in love with Robin because he’s handsome and he has a heart of gold. Well … apparently Chrissie gave Robin his golden heart, which makes her feelings seem really quite shallow.

The second problem lies in the use of historical characters. Maid Marion plays a role in A Hoboken Hipster…, but obviously does not end up with Robin. However, no explanation is given as to why she is still quoted in all the tales and story books as Robin Hood’s true love. This sort of loose end drives me crazy.

This book had me laughing out loud in public transportation with tears running down my face. Unfortunately, I wanted to throw it out the window in the next instant. As much as I want to recommend this one simply for the joie de vivre, I just can’t.

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Tempting Evil

Keri Arthur
March 2007, Urban Fantasy
Dell, Part of a series

Grade: B
Sensuality: Hot

Despite marketing efforts (the cover for the second book in this series touts the author as “the new star of paranormal romance”), I wouldn’t classify Tempting Evil as a paranormal romance. I would place it firmly in the Urban Fantasy section of your local library. That’s not to say there isn’t romance in it, but most of Riley’s relationships in the novel are casual, to relieve tension, or to gain information. I have no issues with this aspect of the novel, but those with expectations of traditional romance novel heroines may find it off-putting. Consider yourselves warned.

Riley Jenson is kick-ass. It’s a label that has been bandied about an incredible amount over the last couple of years, but Keri Arthur redefines it, without jeopardizing Riley’s emotional vulnerability, her humanity (such as it is, being half-vampire/half werewolf), or her personality. No super-strong robot, Riley is flesh and blood and thought and emotion and very sympathetic.

The men in the novel aren’t half bad either. There’s a vampire, a werewolf, even a werehorse, and each has his own powerful potential. While Riley’s inner wolf yearns for her perfect mate, she’s not limiting her options in the meantime.

Riley has finally accepted that being a Guardian is her destiny (Guardians police other non-humans and administer justice if need be), even though she fought against it for quite some time. Her first mission is to infiltrate a compound and try and discover – and destroy – the secret laboratory being used to create tragic monstrosities. She enters as a wrestler, a part of the evenings’ entertainment, but soon discovers that this is no WWE. The crowd wants blood, and they’ll have it one way or the other. With ever increasing security, and creatures sprung from nightmares, Riley begins to worry about surviving her first mission, let alone succeeding.

To say that Keri Arthur reminds me of the early Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake series is really to undermine Arthur, though there are similarities in what makes both these series great. The heroine is genuinely tough and strong, but still vulnerable enough to make her interesting. The men are, if somewhat cookie cutter, full of potential and growing more and more three-dimensional as the series progresses. The secondary characters and creatures are rich and diverse. The plots are involved, the action dramatic. Arthur is not derivative of early Hamilton – far from it – but the intensity of her writing and the complexity of her heroine and her stories is reminiscent.

What I liked best was the constant references to Melbourne and Australian culture. It’s unusual to find a paranormal or urban fantasy set outside of the United States or Britain. It is even more unusual for that setting to actually feel outside of the US. But Arthur drops in Australian slang, geography, even magazine titles. And, yes, I’m Australian, but at the same time, it lent a vibrancy and diversity in a genre that’s tiptoeing on the precipice of saturation.

Tempting Evil is the third Riley Jenson novel with one more to follow, each being released in close succession. I’ve only read Full Moon Rising, which is the first. I could follow this story relatively easily, but, at the same time, I wonder what I’ve missed. There’s a lot of plot in this novel, and the action is practically non-stop from the opening page. Even though I concentrated, I do feel that some elements may have gone sailing over my head. Whether this is due to the fact that I haven’t read the second novel or just the sheer density of the plot is unclear to me … and will be until I get my hands on Kissing Sin.

However, I have no hesitations recommending Keri Arthur and Riley Jenson to all you paranormal lovers out there, but Tempting Evil does come with a proviso: it’s great, but read the others first.

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The Nymph King

Gena Showalter
2007, Fantasy Romance
HQN

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Hot

I enjoyed the novel setting, interesting characters, and fresh twist on urban fantasy in Gena Showalter’s The Nymph King, but found the feelings a bit shallow for this underwater tale.

Valerian is King of the Nymphs, and lives in a castle in Atlantis, the underwater kingdom. A leader committed to bettering the life of his race, he has only recently acquired the castle from its previous dragon owners, and the threat that they will take it back is still very possible. As a result, his men are kept ready for the brink of war, and he has chosen to leave the female nymphs behind, out of danger.

Problem is, nymphs need to have sex in order to keep up their strength. They need it like other races need food. Valerian, as King, has a trio of humans who accidentally stumbled through the portal between our world and Atlantis to keep him primed, but his men are literally starving for sex, growing weaker by the day. The nymph females have gone missing, and every day that passes is one more likely that the dragons will simply be able to walk into the castle to take it back.

Valerian decides to go through the portal to the human world and kidnap some women from above the sea to aid his men. Though, really, kidnapping is too strong a word. Nymphs radiate sexual energy to the nth degree – any woman who sees them is immediately drawn in, unable to resist their allure. However, once a nymph meets his mate, he knows her immediately and will never want another.

Oh, groan! This is a little plot device that originally was very sexy – after all, what can possibly be more captivating than a very handsome, very sexy man who only wants one woman for the rest of his life? But what with the vampires and the werewolves and every other paranormal creature out there, it’s also one that has lost its potency to overuse.

To continue with the plot summary: Valerian goes to the surface and meets Shaye, a woman who comes from possibly the most dysfunctional family on Earth and thus distrusts men and love and has shut herself away from both.

Oh, double groan! Yet another plot device that we’ve seen again and again from historicals right through to contemporaries.

While the story is predictable, the setting is unique, and watching Valerian and Shaye spar is quite entertaining. Shaye does fight Valerian’s allure, but only lasts a couple of days. Showalter does an excellent job of creating sexual tension and delaying gratification in a very creditable way, even with a nymph-omaniac <g> hero.

I always find this a hard plot line to swallow, especially with the reluctant woman. He says she’s his mate; she puts up a token protest, then decides to trust him. Yeah, okay, but really, the only thing she has to trust in is the great sex. Words are all very well and good, but with someone who’s been burned, actions speak louder. I would have found The Nymph King more creditable if it had taken place over longer than three or four days.

That being said, Showalter has a gentle, accomplished touch, but this story recycles too many stereotypes to truly shine. I look forward to seeing something truly original from this author.

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The Leopard Prince

Elizabeth Hoyt
April 2007, European Historical Romance (1760s [Georgian] England)
Warner, Part of a series

Grade: A-
Sensuality: Hot

Last year Elizabeth Hoyt made a splash with her debut novel The Raven Prince. It earned DIK status here at AAR and gained more than one honor on our 11th Annual Reader Poll. The Leopard Prince is her second offering, loosely tied to The Raven Prince, but in no way a sequel. Sophomore books are tricky, especially when the first makes a big impression. Lots of tricky little traps, lots of hidden pitfalls, lots and lots of big expectations, and a long, long way to fall.

Elizabeth Hoyt soars.

To get those pesky details out of the way: this is a servant/aristocrat story. The heroine, Georgina, is wealthy, a landowner in her own right, and a lady. The hero, Harry, is a land steward hired to run her estate. I know, I know, unlikely, improbable, almost downright impossible for an HEA in circumstances like these. And while the circumstances are addressed in the book, probably for those history sticklers out there, it’s not going to be enough. Me, on the other hand, I’m going to shout from the mountain tops: “Who the heck cares?!?!”

Lady George Maitland inherited estates and a sizable fortune from a forward thinking aunt. As such, she’s never had the need for a husband, nor has she ever really had to play by society’s rules. But lusting after her land steward, Harry Pye, is too far across the line, even for her. Problem is, he’s kind of irresistible. And Lady George has never played by the rules.

Harry’s got his own problems. He’s had his share of run-ins with the aristocracy and never been particularly impressed with any of them. And he’s most certainly not going to be the lapdog play thing of an independent Lady with no concept of the consequences. But she’s not taking no for an answer, and damned if he’s strong enough to deny her.

Everything that made The Raven Prince so explosive is present in The Leopard Prince. The hero is strong and sexy, the sex is hot and very sensual, and mythology is intertwined skilfully, both as metaphor and plot device. But where Raven is dark and angst-ridden, Leopard is infused with humour. The character interactions between bold, uninhibited George and reticent, cool Harry are fantastic. This is not to suggest that the forbidden love angle is not dealt with seriously – it is – but the way the characters react to each other is witty and sexy.

This includes secondary characters. The bulk of Leopard takes place outside of London, so there are farmers and families and servants. George has a big, over-protective family, and there are villagers and a couple of extra noblemen thrown in to really keep things interesting.

As I mentioned above, the historically-minded may have some trouble with the plot line. There may also be those who struggle with the relationship catalyst. But at the end of the day, the story is strong and sexy and sensual and captivating. With historical romances, sometimes there has to be a decision made between history and romance. Elizabeth Hoyt chose romance, and I, for one, applaud the decision. Heck, forget applaud. I’m jumping up and down with pom-poms.

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The Marcelli Princess

Susan Mallery
2007, Contemporary Romance
Pocket, Part of a series

Grade: C-
Sensuality: Warm

To purposely misquote: “Romance novels should beware of kids and pets.” Invariably, they send the cheese factor through the roof. Unfortunately Susan Mallery had already put herself behind the eight-ball, plot-wise, and the prominence of the character of Danny kept her there for most of her latest Marcelli novel The Marcelli Princess.

First, this is a secret baby story. The baby doesn’t stay secret for long – about three pages I’d say, but there you have it. Second, the secret baby’s secret father? European royalty. Apparently Susan Mallery likes to challenge herself. Unfortunately, especially for fans of her previous charming Marcelli stories, she never really rises above this cliché-ridden plot.

Mia ran wild in her youth. So her job as international spy seemed par for the course. She was excited, ready for her big adventure. Fortunately, she fell right in with the bad guys. Unfortunately, she fell hard for the baddest of the lot. Watching him die as she escaped was the hardest thing she’d ever done, and she might have succumbed to the grief indefinitely if their unborn child hadn’t given her new reason to live.

Rafael never imagined that portraying his cousin to help catch a band of art thieves determined to destroy his country’s heritage would lead to falling in love. Especially not with a completely unsuitable American tourist. But fall he did. Unfortunately, faking your own death has a way of complicating relationships.

There are two major problems with the story. The first lies in Rafael’s character. At the beginning of the story, he is warm and playful and charming. This is Rafael at his most natural. But he morphs into Rafael the Imperious and it never quite feels right. Sure Rafael can be arrogant and demanding – he’s a prince after all – but if this is real Rafael, then Rafael is an ass and there’s no way Mia would ever have fallen for him. The only reason I bought the resolution was because I never believed all of Rafael’s bogus “I’m a prince, I have responsibilities” crap. In my head, Real Rafael was just wearing an ill-fitting Fake Rafael suit, which pretty much destroyed the source of conflict, but at least made him likable.

The second problem is, as I mentioned, the high cheese factor in the novel. Certainly having a four year old around helped that. He’d do something cute, his parents would bond on the wonder they’d created. He’d do something bad, his parents would bond over behavioural issues. He ran away, his parents bond. Puts me in the mood for some Kraft Mac ‘n’ Cheese. Unfortunately, the cheese doesn’t stop there but continues with another secondary character, but I won’t go too far into subplot here.

I’ve really enjoyed Mallery’s novels in the past and I’m confused as to why she thought Mia wasn’t compelling enough as a character to drive her own story. She’s an ex-spy, single mom going to law school, with a huge family. The Marcelli clan remains as bold and beautiful as ever. There were lovely moments in this novel, just never in relation to the hero and heroine.

Maybe it was the Marcelli wine that inspired Mallery to use a vintage Harlequin plot, but the complications and the feeling that she was never really in control of her characters left a bad taste in my mouth.

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The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series

Ann Brashares
2007, Young Adult
Delacorte, Part of a series

Grade: A+
Sensuality: n/a

Sitting down to write a DIK series review for Ann Brashares’s compelling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants quartet has been harder than expected. DIK status has never been questioned, but to put into words the sheer depth of the emotional content, characters, and stories is nearly impossible without descending into that embarrassing land of “gush.” A truth universally acknowledged: bad reviews are easier to write than good. Desert Island Keeper reviews are hardest of all.

When Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants first came out, I wasn’t going to read it. The title hit me as stupid, as did the premise: four friends joined together by a pair of jeans? Even the back blurb wasn’t promising, coming across as saccharine and uninspired.

Thank God for my best friend, much more open-minded than me, who picked it up. She then sent me a copy in the mail with the inscription “This is how I feel about you.” Of the two of us, I’m the mushy one likely to descend into maudlin declarations of BFF. So if Jen was affected, who was I to argue?

Thank God for my best friend. I devoured the first book in one night, then danced with joy at the news of the two sequels already in book stores. When the fourth – and final – story came out in January of this year, I was there to get my copy, though I put off reading it for a couple of weeks, just so I could hold onto that “It’s not over yet!” feeling a little longer. Now that I’ve finished, I have that strange mixture of joy and sadness, having read something wonderful, but knowing that I’ll never get to read it for the first time again. I’m also intensely jealous of, but excited for, others who have not yet been introduced to Brashares and get to discover her for themselves.

The four novels follow the summers of four girls who have been friends since before they were born. Carmen is a vivacious Puerto Rican with a bit of a temper. Bridget is a star athlete, and “single-minded to the point of recklessness.” Lena, an artist, is as shy as she is beautiful, and Tibby is ironic, brilliant and an amateur filmmaker. Book 1, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants details the girls during the first summer they’ve ever spent apart. In a last minute shopping trip, they discover a pair of jeans that miraculously fits them all perfectly, even though they are all different sizes and shapes. They decide to form the Sisterhood and share the jeans between them, because surely wearing magic jeans will make magic things happen.

The second book follows a similar passage. The girls separate again, taking last summer’s lessons and the jeans with them again. The third book is a bit different as it takes place in the summer before they go off to their respective and different colleges, and the fourth book different again as the four have been separated for a year and need to learn how to come back together.

There are four things that really make these books among the best I’ve read. The first is the characters. Brashares is not afraid to have her characters make mistakes, unpopular decisions, and really dumb moves. Equally, her characters are capable of selfless gestures, acts of love, and broad sentimentality. They laugh, cry, fight, make up, shout, dance, go it alone, ask for help, fall apart, and put themselves back together again. In short, everything that you and I and everyone else does. And they do it with an intensity and realism that will take your breath away.

Second, Brashares doesn’t buy into sentimentality like too many YA authors can. Her characters don’t necessarily learn from their mistakes, things are not tied up into neat bows, there are no easy moral sound bytes. Growing up rarely means instant wisdom, and Bee, Lena, Carmen and Tibby struggle through the gap between who they are and who they want to be, between the lives they lead and the lives they think they should be leading, between reality and all their many dreams. There aren’t convenient solutions to these problems, and Brashares refuses to create instant happy endings.

The third aspect that really superglues these books to my DIK shelf is the emotional depth of the stories. Every single one of these books has made me cry, but every single one has also made me laugh out loud. The central friendship, so warm on its own, is backed up by secondary relationships between families, other friends, and lovers. While the plots may seem quiet, the emotional journey of the four main characters is vast and diverse, intriguing and gripping.

And finally, Sisterhood celebrates true friendship in all its glory and ugliness. Friends play such a deep and important role in our daily lives, but rarely is it captured as vividly and realistically as it is in these four novels. Friendship is not always songs and laughter; true friendship goes through ups and downs, heartache and joy, just as any relationship. Brashares captures this truth in all its intricacies with her four novels.

There are any number of other reasons to read this series beyond the four I’ve outlined, but read them. Read them. I’ll be sitting over here, alternately jealous of and excited for you, and thank God once more for my best friend – for more than just introducing me to Ann Brashares.

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Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind

Karen Kelly
April 2007, Science Fiction Romance
Brava

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Hot

Mala lives a life of perfection on her planet of Nerak. Everyone is healthy, wealthy, and perfectly balanced. Technology provides quick fixes for everything – hormonal imbalances, illness, hunger, even sexual desire. Nerak is perfectly peaceful, having phased men out completely and thus the main instigators of war. Perfection, however, gets boring, and Mala has a secret ambition – space travel. Sure it’s been banned for years, but Mala figures she knows all she needs to keep safe and secret on Earth. After all, she has all of her grandmother’s old diaries and holograms from her space travel days. These artifacts have only fuelled Mala’s desire to experience life as it used to be. So she packs up her ancient vehicle and takes off for Earth.

Here lies my only major problem with the novel. The only thing Mala thinks about is Earth. All her grandmother’s diaries and holograms are from Earth. Mala doesn’t need to learn English because the Nerakian language is close enough for understanding. But this close relationship is never explained. Why are Nerak and Earth so closely tied? What is it about Earth that attracts Mala so much? When it comes to pseudo-science fiction novels like this, there needs to be justification for the Earth-bound. After all, the Galaxy is immense beyond human comprehension. Why is one little planet going to attract so much attention? Kelley doesn’t even gloss over these details – she ignores them and expects the reader to follow. But for me, this is an oversight that left a gaping hole in the story.

Speaking of story…Mala’s documentaries are in actuality old porn movies, the hero of which is the local sheriff. Wanting ardently to feel what the women in the movies feel, Mala escapes Nerak. Luckily for her, she crash lands in Washboard, Texas, and is found by none other than Mason, the sheriff.

The rest of the story is made up of Mala’s exploration of Earth and her comical misunderstandings, Mason’s subsequent conversion from skeptic to believer, and a cute little subplot taking a dig at tabloid reporting.

I must admit to having a hit and miss relationship with Brava that’s been more miss than hit. I still think this story relied too much on cheap laughs than real emotion to carry the story, but it was light and easy to read with no real miss-steps. Readers looking for a little intellectual confectionary may like this, but I needed a bit more of a full meal.

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The School for Husbands

Wendy Holden
2007, Chick Lit
Plume

Grade: B
Sensuality: Kisses

Back when Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus was published, my parents picked up a copy from the library and set about integrating its wisdom into our daily lives. Of course, with three daughters, Mars was somewhat outnumbered. While most of the book has faded from memory, some parts have stuck. Like the fact that, in conversation, women listen to commiserate while men listen to solve. Men say “yes” to agree, while women say “yes” to show they are listening. Though now a cliché, there may be some conventional wisdom in Mars.

Holden’s The School for Husbands (not to be confused with Moliere’s play of the same name) ignores it completely. Instead, Dr. Martha’s school has classes in “Leaving component parts in place-inappropriate positions in flush-waste facilities” (leaving the toilet seat up) and “Male relationship provider socio-musico-physical inarticulacy syndrome” (men’s seeming inability to dance).

Husbands are taught that the countless little problems, the numerous thoughtless actions and occasions where they take their wives for granted are often the deal-breakers beyond the one night stand. If a wife has felt abandoned in the relationship already, the physical abandonment can be a mere technicality.

Mark never cheated on Sophie. However he has put his work above hers, his work above their family, his work above their relationship, even his work above his son, Arthur. What’s worse, however, is that he can’t understand why Sophie is angry when she has the less demanding job and gets to spend time with their child.

Sophie has just returned to work after giving birth and she’s finding the transition harder than expected. It doesn’t help that, on top of a full time job, she also seems to have taken full charge of everything Arthur and all of the domestic duties while Mark gallivants around the country at book launches. Not coming home one night is the very last straw.

When Mark realizes the Sophie may divorce him, he signs up for Dr. Martha’s school. Will he be in time to change his errant ways before Sophie’s ex-boyfriend and millionaire weasels his way back into her life, with help from her mother?

Though not as laugh-out-loud funny as some of Holden’s other novels, The School For Husbands nevertheless has a lot of heart. I have to admit to not necessarily agreeing with Holden’s reasoning, but she puts forward a good argument. My only complaint lies in the ending. I can’t expand without spoiling, but I felt it a bit of a cop-out and a belittlement of Mark’s growth as a character. But the novel is peopled with unforgettable characters, and written with warmth. Truly a book that makes the grade.

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When Seducing a Spy

Sari Robins
2007, European Historical Romance (Regency England)
Avon

Grade: C
Sensuality: Hot

This is the first Sari Robins book I’ve read. She’s one of those authors that I always look at in the bookstores, thanks in no small part to her wonderful covers. This one is no different, with the appropriately red-haired heroine, wearing a very mischievous expression, disrobing the hero, displaying his lovely broad back. Unfortunately, the story did not live up to this potentially wonderful start.

Tess and Heath were childhood friends, his father her art teacher. But scandal entered their lives, and Tess and Heath were separated. Because they moved in different social circles, it was unlikely the two would ever meet again. However, meet they do, and in unpleasant circumstances. Tess married for passion, and her husband promptly drove her inheritance into the ground and died, leaving her penniless and widowed. Salvation came in the form of a mysterious old spy who recruits Tess, sets her up as a bookseller, and pays her for the information to which her title makes her privy. Her reputation, however – as a woman who “killed” her husband and then sets up in trade – is pretty much shot.

Heath has dragged himself up by his bootstraps, and is now and up-and-coming lawyer in the service of the crown, who has the potential of marrying into the ton, thereby raising himself even higher. He is driven to succeed, desperate for respectability, and willing to do anything to get it.

The two meet unexpectedly in the hallway of an orphanage, get off to a bad start, and part ways. Then it gets worse; Tess is being accused of theft, and Heath is asked to investigate by the family into which he wants to marry. And, naturally, the two are incredibly attracted to each other and can barely keep their hands off one another.

Normally I’m a big fan of childhood-friends-reunited and best friend romances. But this one felt rushed and unfinished. I have the impression of quicksand – if I’d skimmed across the top of the novel, I probably would have enjoyed it, but because I sat down to read it, the many sinkholes appeared.

The plot felt unplanned and bloated – there were a lot of secondary characters, and a lot of twists and turns that in the end weren’t really necessary and detracted from the main plot. Tess had already been accused of one crime, adding a second was over the top, and added unnecessary weight to the plot line.

The extra baggage also drew away from the character development. Tess married once for passion, and it nearly destroyed her. Yet, in the end, she repeats old mistakes. The proof that Heath offers up as evidence that what he feels is more than lust is, in my opinion, weak. For a woman who’s been burned as badly as Tess has, the HEA didn’t ring true.

There are problems on Heath’s side as well. He has tried desperately from childhood to gain respectability, and it’s in his grasp. But he’s too easily seduced away from all his plans by great sex. Heath’s character is set up throughout the book as someone who thinks things through and really considers before he acts. So the leap from “I want to be respectable” to “I don’t care anymore!” – especially when it risks his career – was uncomfortable to me.

There are other plot devices that moved the story forward that felt forced, but I don’t want this review to turn into a litany of problems. Sari Robins’s undemanding writing style makes it easy to skip over many problematic parts. And her sex scenes were hot. At one point, Heath and Tess are alone in the woods, making use of an obliging tree, and sensible me (ouch!) was completely silenced by romantic me (look how much they love each other!). But in the end, the plot holes and discrepancies allowed sensible me out to have the last word: I remain unseduced.

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The Dream Hunter

Sherrilyn Kenyon
2007, Fantasy Romance
St. Martin’s, Part of a series

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Hot

I have to admit, it’s been a couple of years since I bought or read a Dark Hunter novel. I devoured probably the first six in quick succession, and Fantasy Lover remains one of my favorite re-reads. I certainly appreciate how revolutionary the series was at the time, but I must admit I am a bit fatigued of the world, the Hunters, the inevitable holding of the symbol by the woman even though it causes her excruciating pain…

So when I heard Kenyon had a new book out about a new type of hero, I was intrigued. Coupled with the fact that the book was coming out in paperback, and not in prohibitively-expensive hardcover, I thought I might jump back on the Sherrilyn Kenyon bandwagon. My fault, I suppose, that I missed the little sentence on the cover that said “From the world of the Dark Hunters.”

The book started out well, set in present-day Greece where heroine Megeara (Geary) is searching for proof that mystical Atlantis existed. The search for Atlantis has been her family’s obsession – and their downfall – for as long as Geary remembers. Her quest is slightly different, though. She wants to find Atlantis to restore her family’s reputation, and she’s come closer than any before her. If only she could get the permits to dig.

Arikos is a Skoti, a dream god, one who doesn’t feel except by proxy. In search of elusive emotions, he jumps from dream to dream, seeking out the most vivid from which to siphon. Megeara’s dreams are among the most brilliant he has ever seen, so he returns again and again. But Skoti law forbids obsessive visitations, especially when the Skoti begins to harm the dreamer. Unwilling to give Geary up, Arikos bargains with Hades to experience humanity in all its glory for two weeks. In return, he will bring the soul of Geary to Hades as payment.

When Geary first pulls Arik from the ocean where he is drowning, she is shocked – how can the man in her dreams be real and on her boat? And then there’s his strange way of speaking, his unfamiliarity with everyday things, and his very strange family.

Everything that made Sherrilyn Kenyon a star with her Dark Hunters is found in this novel. Her writing style is solid and polished; her story unfolds with real emotional depth and studied pacing. The use of mythological characters – Persephone was my favorite – is both playful and appropriate.

And then she brought in Acheron.

I recognize that the Dark Hunter world made her famous and that Kenyon has her own special romance with the mysterious leader of the Dark Hunters. But the book moved on spectacularly before she pulled in the Dark Hunters. In my mind, it was unnecessary, very forced, and a blatant attempt to draw more readers by cashing in on the successful series. Further, there was a bit in the end that obviously leads to a future novel in the series. It confused the plot, added elements not previously introduced in the novel, and basically destroyed The Dream-Hunter’s continuity. And, as a result, instead of being successfully drawn back into Sherrilyn Kenyon’s world, I ended up irritated and annoyed. I felt manipulated, and tricked into something that I didn’t want to do.

This is such a great shame, because this is a book worth reading, different from the other paranormals out there, an amusing and heartfelt story. If only she’d given it the chance to stand alone.

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If You Desire

Kresley Cole
2007, European Historical Romance (1850s [Victorian] England and Scotland)
Pocket, Part of a series

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Hot

One of the major topics surrounding romance lately – and one of the challenges facing the historical genre – has been the heat factor. When dealing with strict societal rules, how does one sex up a story?

Kresley Cole chose to do so by making the heroine of If You Desire a hellion, part of an infamous group of cousins known for their wild ways. Thus far her father and her family’s influence has handled the scandal so that none are truly ruined. This is the hurdle in the story, and if you can get past the fact that Jane is incredibly sexually aware for her time, you’ll enjoy this novel about childhood sweethearts reuniting.

Hugh is a Scottish assassin who has worked for Jane’s father for more than a decade. Being an assassin is an ugly job, one seemingly without honor, so it remains a secret from all who know him, especially Jane, with whom he has been in love for those ten long years. Little did Hugh know, Jane has been in love with him for the same time. Her cousins refer to him as “Tears and Years” as she’s wasted plenty of both over him.

Forced to marry in order to thwart a madman’s revenge, the two find themselves in close proximity. Jane soon decides that she wants to remain married, but convincing her stubborn Scot is harder than she ever anticipated.

Hugh’s reason for not wanting to stay married is stupid. Stoo. Pid. Thankfully, the heroine also recognizes it as stoo-pid. She tells him so. Frequently. But as with all matters taken on faith, it becomes an impossible argument. This part of the book uses a well-used romance plot line, but Hugh and Jane’s sweet love story nonetheless involved me emotionally by the end.

But there is still the matter of the stoo-pid reason and Jane’s sexual proclivity. Others may find these, and some of the other minor irritants in the story, a stronger deterrent. Me, now, I’m a complete sucker for best friend turning into something more stories. Make it a historical with a rough Scot hero, and I’m so there, baby, enough so that I can recommend If You Desire. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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Undead and Uneasy

MaryJanice Davidson
June 2007, Vampire Romance
Berkley, Part of a series

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Warm

Betsy and Sinclair get married at the end of this book. I don’t think that counts as a spoiler as the last five books in this series have been building up to this point. And, if you’re like me, you probably wanted to know that before starting MaryJanice Davidson’s sixth book in her Betsy Taylor, Vampire Queen series. Because we’ve all read series that keep pushing the inevitable back just one more book to really milk the readers. Not so here. Ends in a wedding. Scout’s honor.

But it’s how this book starts that really surprised me. Even before the prologue, there’s a letter from MJD to the readers. In it she thanks us for reading her novels (you’re welcome!) but then justifies and apologizes for her choices for the plotline of this book. Which, as a reader, I thought was a little weird. I mean, we’ve all had authors do things or kill off characters that we didn’t want to die. It’s just part of the experience of reading. We as readers have the choice of either buying into that author or not. I’ve never seen an author try and justify her choices before I’d even read the book. So from the beginning, I was a little hesitant going in.

The letter also claimed that the book was “going to be big!”, that everything in the Undead universe had been leading to this moment, that everything was going to change. This was also somewhat strange. It felt as if power had shifted from the author/creator to the reader, as if MJD were apologizing to me for her writing decisions. The whole thing smacked of low self-confidence in her own story, and frankly, it was a bit off-putting.

The story basically follows Betsy as she gets ready for the wedding. Actually, it only follows Betsy because all the other characters disappear early in the novel and don’t come back until the end (don’t worry, it’s all explained). Along the way, some of her deepest wishes come true, but she learns that sometimes it pays to be careful what you wish for.

Now, as I said above, as a reader we all have a choice. I buy into MJD’s Betsy series. Sure Betsy can drive me up the wall so badly that I want to stake her myself with her latest designer heels. But that’s part of who she is. It’s seeing the good behind the ditz that makes these books worthwhile, and also where the books’ strength has lain for the last five. Not unlike Reese Witherspoon’s character in Legally Blonde, we see that Betsy is shallow but not dumb, self-centered but not self-serving. The secondary characters are fun, each adding to the mania that is the novel. As far as light reading goes, when I’m desperate for something sunny, Davidson delivers.

Undead and Uneasy does not break the mold. It follows the same successful formula that has made MJD almost synonymous with humorous writing. Did everything, as advertised, change? No. The novel ended the same way all the other novels end: with Betsy discovering hidden strengths. Has everything been leading to this moment? Well, in some respects, yes, because, as I mentioned above, the main pair do get married. Was it big? Again, not any bigger than any of the others. What it did do was tie a great many loose ends together. Is it the last book? Well there are some strings still dangling. They could be let go, I suppose, but I’m conjecturing that we may, in fact, be in for a switch of main characters. I have absolutely no proof, but that’s my educated guess. Was it different from all the others? No.

But, it was funny, it was amusing, it made a very turbulent plane flight whiz by, and if the author seemed to be struggling a little with her plotline and dragged in characters from her other series, it made for a really funny bloodhound joke. At the end of the day, as a reader, the decision is yours. If you’ve liked Betsy in the past, you’ll like Uneasy. If she’s not your pint of blood (ha!), you’ll find nothing new here.

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Sins of a Duke

Suzanne Enoch
June 2007, European Historical Romance (Regency England)
Avon, Part of a series

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Hot

I read the first twenty pages of Suzanne Enoch’s Sins of a Duke, sighed, and settled in for a fantastic read. After all, the heroine – before being properly introduced – had just slapped the hero across the face in front of a ballroom full of people.

Enoch’s new romance is loosely connected to the other three Sin books in the Griffin family series. This book features the patriarch, Sebastian, and an unconventional princess, Josefina. The hero and heroine careen wildly towards each other from page one, like magnets, unable to resist. Their inevitable crash draws nearer at a breakneck speed, faster and faster, building in intensity until, finally, inevitably, it happens. And it was…

Well, kind of disappointing really. With the sexual chemistry these two characters exude, I expected fireworks. Instead I got technical tepidity.

Now don’t get me wrong. This is still one of the most intriguing historicals I’ve read in a long time. The plot line is new, interesting, definitely different. I had no idea how the intrigue was going to play out early on, and it kept me on the edge of my seat until the very clever and not at all contrived ending. The secondary characters were well-used, not over-played, nor overly sentimental or foolish, as secondary characters are wont to be. Instead they all played their rules beautifully, adding to and enriching the narrative.

Sebastian’s life has always revolved around his duty to his family and his family name. His siblings have accused him more than once of having no human emotion. So when he’s assigned as liaison to the royal family of the new Costa Habuela, he’s astonished at his intense reaction to the princess Josefina. The family is in London raising funds for their South American paradise. Unfortunately for Sebastian, the more he begins to feel for Josefina, the more holes her story seems to develop. And scandal is the last thing the Griffin family wants.

Probably, my problem with the character’s relationship stems from my own high expectations. I’ve always been a fan of Suzanne Enoch’s historicals, defended her hotly when others described her as a “Julia Quinn wannabe.” And her contemporary series has only heightened my admiration. So when her characters don’t seem to quite hit it as perfectly as I’ve come to expect, I’m more disappointed than is probably strictly rational. The book deserves its “Hot” sensuality ranking, given with the description and the frequency of sex scenes, but I was disappointed in the main relationship as a whole. Separately, Sebastian and Josefina are more fiery than they ever are together.

I’d recommend Suzanne Enoch to anyone, and Sins of a Duke is no exception. The family Griffin is as captivating and refreshingly unannoying as ever. Unfortunately the relationship between Sebastian and Josefina doesn’t sparkle as brightly, burn quite as hot, as I could have hoped.

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Gideon

Jacquelyn Frank
2007, Fantasy Romance
Zebra, Part of a series

Grade: C-
Sensuality: Hot

At the Romance Writers of Australia conference last year, someone made a statement about books that hit me as truly profound. Authors, she said, are either storytellers or writers. Whichever one they fall into, they have to work really hard to develop the other skill, because truly great novels are a perfect meld of both.

Jacquelyn Frank’s Gideon is the second book in her Nightwalkers series – it is a storytelling book. I’ve been over paranormals for a good six months, tired of the endless rehashing of vampire and werewolf lore. I used to really like paranormals, but publishers throwing trash up on the bookshelves for my paranormal dollar have made me very leery. But the Nightwalkers world? It’s good. It’s very, very good. It’s different, it’s involved, it’s imaginative. It’s solid in a way most paranormals I’ve read over the last little while haven’t been.

Our main characters are Gideon and Legna, both of whom are demons. Gideon is the Ancient, the oldest demon in existence, and a medic of almost unlimited power. Legna is the sister to the King, a mind demon with the ability to read and control other people’s emotions. Her power makes her a very useful diplomat for her brother. The main action of the story, however, revolves around the hero and heroine of the previous novel – Jacob and Isabella. Bella is now pregnant with the first demon/druid child in centuries, and someone is unhappy about it. So unhappy, in fact, that they’re willing to commit murder to rid the world of both the baby and the vessel carrying it. Our main couple come together to protect Bella, and Gideon and Legna’s relationship builds against this backdrop of a looming battle.

Unfortunately, there are problems in the structuring of the novel that overshadow the otherwise interesting world and plot. First, the book opens with 73 pages of info-dump. Contrived conversations and unnatural deep point of view makes the beginning chapters unengaging. It’s obvious Frank has really thought through her world, but this information would have been better spread throughout the novel.

Second, the speech and dialogue comes across as stilted. Demons don’t use contractions. I think the author tried to show their timelessness, but it created an instant barrier between the characters and the reader. I had a hard time believing that demons are a close, intimate, warm society because they speak so formally to each other. Dialogue was similarly stiff, making the resolution between the two main characters seem incomplete.

The heroine threw up personal problems for me. Legna, from what I could tell, has no faults. She is beauty inside and out, coddled and adored by everyone around her. Which kinda made me want to hate her. Gideon feels like he doesn’t deserve her, even though he’s ancient and wise, and, frankly, I’m surprised he ever gets up the courage to touch her. Not that Gideon is touchable. He’s so old that he figures he knows everything and can do whatever he wants. Also, he has some angst issues that keep him from having friends, or really, anyone close to him at all. He’s the demon equivalent of House. Except that I find House sexy. So I sorta dug that.

Other characters are better developed. We see a lot of Jacob and Isabella, and they are two very relatable characters. I especially liked the lycanthrope Queen, who will become the heroine in the next book, Elijah.

Finally, the catalyst for the leap forward in the relationship was incredibly manufactured. The overreaction moved the plot forward, it’s true, but it was so out of character that I flipped back a few pages to see if I’d missed a possession or something.

As I said, Frank is a storyteller. The plot is the book’s backbone, and it is fascinating, with lots of history and back story, and a very intriguing future being set up, tying together the many cultures in the Nightwalker society. The author has worked, and worked hard, to create a living, breathing society, and for the most part, she’s succeeded. But it’s a hard slog getting through to the gems. The story itself suffers under the way it was told. If, as a reader, you’re willing to do the work necessary, the last half of the book – when the plot takes over – is worth it. If, however, you’re not willing to make it through 200 pages for the last 150, leave Gideon on the shelf.

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Lord of the Nile

Constance O’Banyon
2007, Historical Romance (Ancient Egypt)
Leisure

Grade: B
Sensuality: Subtle

Lately, a lot of readers, myself included, have lamented the lack of variety in historical romance. Luckily, we have writers like Constance O’Banyon to shake things up. Lord of the Nile, set in ancient Egypt against the turmoil that made Cleopatra queen, is a smooth, solid, old-fashioned story, well told and with a unique setting and characters.

Lord Ramtet is a general in Caesar’s army, finally returning home to Egypt from the Roman battlefields. But his home holds no peace – not yet. Not while there are two warring factions, a brother and sister fighting each other for the throne. Though King Ptolemy has sent his sister Cleopatra into exile, she is far from beaten. She also has the ear – among other body parts – of Caesar, and therefore all the resources of Rome. One of Ramtet’s duties is to see Cleopatra at the very least on par with her brother as dual ruler of Egypt.

Lady Danaë has lived her whole life in the country home of her father, the Royal Tamer of Beasts. He taught her everything there is to know about raising and training big cats, hawks, horses…every animal the kingdom has to offer. Their life is simple and blessed, and she never dreams that it is built on lies. When her father takes to his deathbed, however, he tells her the secrets he’s been holding since before she was born. Her life immediately changes quite dramatically, and she begins her journey to Alexandria and her former tutor’s care.

Ramtet and Danaë meet under unlikely circumstances, ones that are dangerous to both. Ramtet is attempting to keep his loyalty to Caesar under wraps, and Danaë must keep her own counsel about her family history. Circumstances throw them together, however, and when Danaë finds herself labeled as a traitor, Ramtet realizes that, though he barely knows her, he cannot let her die.

What follows is a true old-fashioned historical romance. Readers who enjoy Shieks and kidnapping, you’re in for a treat, because the fantastically new setting makes these familiar plot lines seem fresh. The characters are both likable. Ramtet’s struggle to navigate the political intrigues and protect Danaë is commendable, even if his methods leave a little to be desired. Lady Danaë is amiable, if a bit naïve, and though she is free with her opinions, it is explained early in the story.

My only complaint lies in the reasoning behind two otherwise rational characters being completely unwilling to communicate with each other. Ramtet is somewhat understandable, being a general and used to people obeying without question. But his life would be much easier if he would have just told Danaë what was going on. Ditto for Lady Danaë. She had the opportunity to save her life, but, in the only TSTL moment in the book, refused to talk even when Ramtet explains the gravity of the situation. Of course, he calls her on her dumb behavior, as does a secondary character, which helped me as a reader, but she remains immune, causing more trouble than she’s worth.

Communication issues aside – and, really, what couple doesn’t struggle from time to time? – Lord of the Nile is a great choice for those looking for an old-fashioned love story in a brand new setting.

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The Sleeping Beauty Proposal

Sarah Strohmeyer
2007, Chick Lit
Dutton Adult

Grade: B
Sensuality: Warm

The Sleeping Beauty Proposal struck a chord with me, though (in reality) the heroine and I have very little in common. I think other single women might agree with me (though married women might vehemently disagree) but from the outside, getting married looks like a really good deal. For one thing, you never get invitations addressed to Kate and guest. Your guest? Pretty much assured. You always have something to do on Saturday nights. Even if you spend it on the couch watching DVDs, if you’re in a couple that’s okay. For singles, though, it comes across as a bit pathetic. Then there are the gifts. And the parties. And the dress! All your friends and family gathered in one place for one reason – to celebrate you. Like I said, from my corner? Looks good.

From Genie’s corner, getting married also looks very good. Especially when her boyfriend of four years, English-accented writer Hugh, proposes to someone else on live television. But Hugh’s out of town for the rest of the summer. And her best friend Patty is here. With lots of alcohol and what seems like, after the consumption of said alcohol, a very good idea. Genie decides to fake her engagement. After all, everyone assumes it’s true. And why should she, as a single woman, not get the attention, gifts, and privileges that, say, her younger sister gets because she managed to find a life partner?

Faking it, though, gets harder and harder as plans start to progress. Chaos results. Hilarity ensues. And then there’s her brother’s hunky co-worker Nick.

This is a very warm story, and I really liked Genie. The story is written from her perspective, which helps given the book’s somewhat questionable plot line. Handled badly, it could easily have come out as TSTL, but being provided with Genie’s thought process helped to ground the plot and make it reasonable to me as a reader. The supporting characters are fun too, especially her best friend Patty and her immediate family. A secondary love story builds nicely through the book as well.

My only concern is the speed at which Genie jumps from one relationship to another. Especially as the plot centers on her becoming a strong person in of itself. I think Strohmeyer pushed it just a little to guarantee a traditional ending to the detriment of all of Genie’s character growth through the story.

But, for a bit of fun, and a bit of a nose-thumb at all those who consider a woman more deserving when she comes with an “other half,” The Sleeping Beauty Proposal is a great read.

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Pearl Jinx

Sandra Hill
July 2007, Contemporary Romance
Warner, Part of a series

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Warm

In the interest of full disclosure, let me get something out of the way. Unless you had a similarly unorthodox childhood, I don’t think many others will pick up something that affected my overall impression of Sandra Hill’s Pearl Jinx. The Amish play a large part in this novel; their customs, religion, and beliefs all influence the main characters and the happily ever after. I grew up in an area heavily populated by an Amish community, and one of our closest family friends were an Amish family. This is an anomaly. As Hill points out, the Amish are not a community open to outsiders. We were very lucky to be accepted into their lives, and to have them accept the invitation into ours. The insight I have, therefore, differs from that of the author of this novel, and played a part in how well I enjoyed it.

Caleb left his Amish community as a young man, suffering under the shunning that comes with leaving the religion. He used his anger and pain to fuel his ambition, joining first the Navy SEALS, then Jinx Inc, helping people find lost treasures across throughout the world. He’s survived since his shunning by always keeping his distance. This assignment, though, close to his home town and his family, makes it hard to keep emotions at bay.

Claire is an historical anthropologist determined to preserve the rich Native American history in her particular corner of the world. A company determined to dive for cave pearls in an historically significant cave, however, starts to cause problems. And not just professionally. When Tante Lulu gets in on the action, all rules fly out the window. Introduce a giant snake named Sparky and nothing will ever be the same.

Sandra Hill is funny. And she writes funny characters. Fans of her previous books will like the subplots employing some previous main couples, and those not familiar with them will still be able to enjoy the obvious emotional connections. The book does get over-crowded – and it’s obvious everyone gets a story eventually – but Hill is careful not to put too many people in each scene, which meant that I was able to keep most people straight, even if I didn’t always remember who they were the next time we met.

There’s a great deal of plot that revolves around Caleb and his relationship with his Amish family, which as I explained above, I don’t think is fair for me to go into. However, this is where I really felt the emotional core of the story lay. While I never really felt the connection between Claire and Caleb, the love – and the pain that comes from love – really comes through with Caleb and his brother, sister, and parents.

The only hesitation I have in recommending this book lies in Caleb’s portrayal. His character is meant to be wry and sarcastic, and a lot of his character is actually cemented in the asides he makes as he deals with situations. This ploy occasionally felt heavy-handed, though, with Caleb being more snarky than witty – this didn’t earn him any sympathy or laughs from me. Hill does a good job of showing the pain Caleb carries inside of him, but making him a sarcastic son of a so-and-so didn’t endear him, at least not to this reader.

If you read this book, you’ll laugh. There’s a lot of witty dialogue and fun slap-stick, and the situational humor is very well done. At the end, however, I feel that the novel reached for the laugh at the expense of the emotion. The only real depth here is in the cave-diving.

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Fairyville

Emma Holly
September 2007, Fantasy Romance
Berkley

Grade: A-
Sensuality: Burning

Emma Holly is just a pleasure to read. Sexy, erotic, hot, steamy, it’s true, but also smooth, considered, well-crafted, and oh-so-easy to read. Holly is one of those writers whose writing never gets in the way of the story.

Fairyville, Arizona isn’t like other towns. Fairyvillers are always just a little different, have something just a little special about them. Zoe Clare is not only the town’s most popular medium, she also has unusual friends: fairies. Her unique gifts help her professionally – and the fairies are great with her curly hair – but they haven’t benefited her personal life. Though she tries, she just can’t seem to get past her obsession with her manager, Magnus Monroe.

Magnus, however, seems oblivious to both Zoe’s charms and her feelings, spending each full moon with a different woman but never looking her way. So when her first love, sexy private investigator Alex, blows back into town with his equally sexy partner Bryan on a case, Zoe is primed and ready to renew relations. And maybe explore some new ones.

Alex’s return, however, brings with it unexpected consequences for Zoe, Zoe’s relationship with Magnus, Alex and Bryan’s case, and even Fairyville itself.

Fairyville is a quality story, with great characters, deftly used paranormal effects that never overshadow the humanity of the story, and a strong, hot, sensual plot. Zoe and Magnus are great, but it was the secondary love story between Bryan and Alex that really touched my heart. I’m a big fan of best friend and unrequited love stories, and Holly really hits the right notes here. Further, the erotica elements are well-explained, well-written, and never seem gratuitous or for mere titillation.

My only teeny, tiny, insignificant, minor little disappointment lies in the off-camera resolution of a problem. It makes absolute sense to have the resolution off-camera, but I would have liked to see just a little bit more of that world.

I was sorry to put this book down, and I can’t wait until it hits the review boards, so I can gush about my favorite parts without falling into spoilers. Luckily, a bonus e-book epilogue is available online right now. I’m off to get my fix.

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Sex and the Psychic Witch

Annette Blair
2007, Witch Romance
Berkley, Part of a series

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Hot

Annette Blair’s new series introduces the Cartwright sisters, triplets, witches, and all round sassy heroines destined to bring a lot of trouble to anything they touch.

Sex and the Psychic Witch is Harmony’s story. She is the buyer for her sisters’ vintage curio shop, but has unique talents. She can read objects and learn of their former owners, and occasionally read minds. When she discovers a Celtic ring in an old gown, she is struck by her psychic mandate – a quest that she must follow to its completion. This mandate leads her to a castle on the coast of Massachusetts…and King Paxton.

King Paxton’s castle has been in the family for generations. And generations of Paxtons have attempted to get rid of it. All have failed, but King is determined to get the money-pit off his hands as soon as possible; the only things in his way are an angry ghost, a disgruntled renovation crew, and an interfering vintage clothes buyer who won’t go away.

The second that Harmony walks into the castle, everyone notices. Not just because our heroine is incredibly good-looking – she is – but because she makes the ghost stop screaming. So even though she embodies everything that King doesn’t want in his life right now – or ever – he hires her on as a consultant just to keep the darn thing quiet and let him get on with getting rid of the castle. Of course, matters aren’t helped by the fact that he can’t seem to get her out of his mind, and finds himself chasing her around the castle instead of working.

The overall story is light-hearted, with some funny parts, and a very realistic heroine who, apart from her perfect size-10 body, speaks and acts like a modern twenty-something. The story of Paxton castle adds some depth and poignancy, and the witchcraft is presented in a very topical manner.

This story is a prime example of why reviews are one person’s opinion. I can pinpoint certain parts of the story that didn’t work for me: triplets (enough said), the info-dump via contrived conversation in the first couple of pages, the use of “Not!” to denote sassiness, a precocious child so far advanced for his years that Mensa should be on the phone at any minute, the rhyming chants, etc.

But none of these things were bad. Blair shows a real touch for using familiar romance plotlines and elements without becoming derivative. The info-dump was contrived, but really, how else to let us know the back history? Harmony’s sassiness was, apart from that one little quibble, well-established and true to life. The child? Well the child was a bit much, but then again, some people love children in romance. Even the rhyming chants weren’t overly abused.

Everything could work within the context of the story. Unfortunately, Sex and the Psychic Witch just didn’t work for me.

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Caressed by Ice

Nalini Singh
2007, Alternate Reality Romance
Berkley, Part of a series

Grade: B+
Sensuality: Hot

What is it about emotionally distant men that make my inner heroine stand up and take notice? Inner masochism? Love of a challenge? Bone-deep belief in the power of love? Whatever it is, it was on high alert through Nalini Singh’s third installment in her Changeling/Psy/Human world – Caressed by Ice.

Ice follows the story of Judd Lauren, one of the Lauren family who dropped out of the Psy net and joined the Changeling community in the back story before Slave to Sensation (the first in Singh’s series) and Brenna, the wolf Changeling who was kidnapped and tortured at the hands of Enrique – a Psy with sociopathic tendencies.

Both Judd and Brenna are examples of broken characters, and neither believes they can truly be mended. Judd believes whole-heartedly in the Silence protocol, the programming that leaves the Psy emotionless, existing only in a world of logic and reason, and he has pretty compelling reasons to do so. And Brenna has been altered permanently by her experiences at the hands of her kidnapper; the color of her eyes only the most visible change.

We often see characters of this nature in romance novels, but it’s unusual to see both the hero and heroine in the same book. Normally one is strong and whole and heals the other. Singh turns this convention on its head, and makes the very valid point that we all have places where we’re broken and places where we are strong. Brenna and Judd take their roles in turn, each playing the teacher and student, healer and patient. And it makes for a much stronger story.

The non-romance plot line builds on Singh’s previous two novels, with elements from previous plotlines taken up again and expanded upon. We learn how Brenna was kidnapped, and more about the Psy net and the Council. I think readers new to the series would be able to follow the story easily enough, but they’d be cheating themselves out of two fantastic reads in Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat.

Singh’s interlinked novels have been referred to as the Psy/Changeling series, and to this point it’s true. Each of the hero/heroine pairings has had one Psy and one Changeling. While she shakes things up a little this time with the Psy being a male and already out of the Psy net, the general “problem” with the relationship remains the same. I’ve read and devoured all three Singh novels, but the non-emotional nature of the Psy paired with the incredibly affectionate nature of the Changeling is becoming standard. The humans are often referred to in passing … perhaps it’s time to see something featuring them?

At the end of the day, though, Caressed by Ice is a compelling read with wonderfully developed characters and the strong world-building that has made Singh a star. Readers will revel in this latest installment with two of the most riveting secondary characters from the previous novels. I certainly did.

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Silver Master

Jayne Castle
2007, Futuristic Romance
Jove, Part of a series

Grade: B+
Sensuality: Warm

I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately. Since starting a new job that requires me to drive instead of taking public transit, I’ve lost a solid two hours a day of prime reading time. Now I’m lucky if I squeeze in 15 minutes before bed. It’s also been a really long time since I’ve been caught up enough in a book to think about it during the day and go to bed early at night to catch a few extra pages. So it makes sense that the author I cut my romance reading teeth on would be the one to provide a novel that took me back to that warm fuzzy feeling and remind me why I love romance in the first place.

To clarify: I’ve never read Jayne Castle before, but I sure as heck have read my share of Amanda Quicks. And your share. Her share too. And probably hers. And I was so pleased to find the things that I love about Amanda Quick, especially her earlier novels, present in Silver Master as well. Things like a strong hero who’s alpha, but also respects the woman he’s with. Things like quirky secondary characters and a sense of humor. Things like good old fashioned sexual tension. Things like a plot that should feel worn out and tired but instead wraps itself around you so you can settle in and enjoy.

Silver Master is the fourth in Castle’s Ghost Hunter series, but, as I mentioned above, the first I’ve read. I had no issues following the story, and Castle makes sure to explain the important aspects of the planet Harmony and how the Ghost Hunter world works. I did feel a little lost in some aspects, but the main plot was perfectly understandable.

Celinda is a professional matchmaker in a world where her services are vital to a happy marriage. Unfortunately, she lives in fear that a scandal from her past will jeopardize her present and future. She’s started a new life in Cadence, but her reputation is everything to her professionally and she really wants to fly under the radar.

When Davis Oakes, a private investigator working for a Guild, marches into her office, he brings all of Celinda’s fears simmering to the forefront. He’s searching for an alien artifact of untold power, something Celinda picked up as a curiosity. Together they begin to try and solve the mystery behind the artifact and its power, but soon find themselves embroiled in something infinitely more dangerous. Others want that artifact. And they’re not playing nice to get it.

A romantic suspense set in space, this novel is worth reading just to discover dust bunnies. Most of all, it broke my reading drought, and I can’t believe I waited so long to discover the paranormal side of my first true favorite romance author. I had the rare pleasure of speaking with Jayne Ann Krentz once, and I told her that she was my favorite comfort read. She then, to my mortification, told me she hated that phrase. I still use it, though, because nothing else defines as well the pleasure that can come with familiarity. It’s not boring. It doesn’t breed contempt. It’s comfortable and welcoming and warm and, dammit, I like it. Oh well, at least now I have a backlist to glom!

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The Queen’s Lady

Shannon Drake
November 2007, Renaissance Romance (1560s Scotland)
HQN

Grade: C
Sensuality: Subtle

Shannon Drake’s The Queen’s Lady begins in 1561, a tumultuous time for Scotland, as Mary, Queen of Scots, makes her way back to her homeland for the first time in decades, following the death of her husband, the King of France.

She is accompanied by the fictional Lady Gwyneth Macleod, who functions as the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, confidante, and advisor on all things Scottish. Unlike the Queen’s other ladies – the not so fictional Marys – Gwyneth only joined the Queen in the last year, and therefore has a much more recent knowledge of the Queen’s country of birth and the political and social realities therein.

Upon arriving in Scotland, Mary is met by more than a few of the lairds, ready to escort the Queen to her home. Though there are some hesitations, they seem loyal and ready to serve her. The most loyal is Rowan Graham, Laird of Lochraven, a relation of the Queen’s, descended from an illegitimate but recognized branch of the family.

Rowan and Gwyneth clash from the very beginning, both headstrong, neither willing to see the other’s point of view. However, as romance readers, I bet you can see where this is going, yes? Rowan is impressed by Gwyneth’s loyalty and fierceness. Gwyneth is attracted to Rowan’s strength and determination. A trip to Rowan’s home cements their feelings for each other. They, naturally, fight it for awhile – not least because the Queen has definitely not sanctioned the union – but eventually succumb.

Problems arise, though, when the Queen herself falls in love. Set against the political backdrop of a time of turmoil, it seems unlikely that both of them will survive, let alone live happily ever after.

This should have been a great read, full of intrigue, mystery, violence, and love. It’s one of my favorite periods in history, and Scotland is a perfect setting for a dark and dangerous love affair. Unfortunately, The Queen’s Lady just never managed to lift off the page. The research and the time is convincingly rendered – if, of course, fictionalized somewhat – but somehow even the use of great characters like Mary and Queen Elizabeth failed to give this story the boost it really needed.

The main characters themselves were equally flat. I never got the sense that I actually knew any of them. Gwyneth is perfect, her loyalty unwavering; she never crosses over into irritating, but neither does she ever seem human. We don’t get deep enough in Rowan to get a feel for him, and Mary, unfortunately, feels very much “told” and not “shown.”

Sadly, this is one of those books that never realized its potential. The time period was interesting enough to keep reading, but it won’t be a story that stays with me.

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Holidays are Hell

Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu and Vicki Pettersson
November 2007, Urban Fantasy
Harper

Grade: B
Sensuality: Varies

I started reading this anthology right after reading Laurie’s fantastic ATBF column on urban fantasy. It even got me out of lurkerdom on the AAR boards to comment. I spent a good deal of time contemplating why I like urban fantasy so much, because it’s one of the few genres in which I have auto-buy authors. I’m not going to go into my thought-train (which, rather disturbingly, seemed to draw heavily on my fourth year literature and psychoanalysis class) but I will tell you what I liked about the stories in Holidays are Hell and what didn’t work.

One of the biggest problems with anthologies like this one – featuring authors in the middle of popular series – is the assumption by both authors and publisher that readers are already familiar with their worlds. This can lead to two problems. The first is a story that doesn’t stand alone and only serves to further plots already in motion in the series. The second is sloppy world building with too much explanation and too little story, or half explanations that leave the reader more confused than entertained. Luckily only one of these stories fall into these traps. The other three are solid examples of the short story genre.

Urban Fantasy
Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel by Kim Harrison
(Kisses)
Two things have defined Rachel’s life so far. The first is her debilitating illness that, though in remission, still leaves her weak. The second is her burning desire to follow her dad’s footsteps into the IS, the paranormal policing organization. But the first directly affects the latter, and no one in her family believes she’s strong enough. To prove them wrong, she performs a very advanced spell, trying to raise the ghost of her father, the one person she knows would support her in this endeavor. The results are a surprise for everyone.

Harrison is a clever, clever writer. By introducing a character from the past in the form of the ghost, she is able to explain the important points of her world without the awkward info dump. Further, she doesn’t overload the reader, but only brings out the parts that are relevant to the story. Fans of her Rachel Morgan series will pick up some of the back story, but a familiarity with the story is by no means necessary to enjoy this surprisingly sweet story (for an anthology with hell in the title!). This is a lovely ghost story, though not a traditional romance. Nonetheless, it remains an emotional and very satisfying story. Grade: A-

Science Fiction Romance
Run Run Rudolph by Lynsay Sands
(Subtle)
I was introduced to Lynsay Sands in the Bite anthology, which features the prequel to this story, featuring a machine that can transform people’s molecular structure, allowing them to assume the shape of anything they want. Jill, sister to Kyle, our previous hero, is babysitting her new niece when she is accidentally zapped, forcing her into the same predicament as her brother. But she’s not going to let it stop her from playing Mrs. Claus to Nick’s Santa. Not when she’s fantasized about this guy next door for months. Not when she pulled strings and favors to get this part in the annual Santa Claus parade just to spend more time with him. Unfortunately, it turns out the accident isn’t really accident, and someone is very interested in Jill’s new abilities.

This story didn’t really have the trademark humor I’ve come to enjoy from Sands, and I would have liked more emphasis on the relationship and less on the suspense plot, but it remains a solid example of why this author’s short stories work. Grade: B

Alternate Reality Romance
Six by Marjorie M. Liu
(Warm)
Six is part of China’s first all female elite terrorism fighting squad. Trained as a weapon since childhood, she knows nothing but her own strength and honor. She’s not afraid, not of anything. Until Joseph shows up and introduces her to things she’d never even imagined, both evil and good, and shakes up her well-ordered life. Though she’s never trusted anyone outside of her squad before, Six finds herself drawn to Joseph. Against the backdrop of Chinese New Year celebrations, the two fight for their lives, and each other.

I’ve really enjoyed Liu’s Dirk and Steele series, but one of the things that I’ve struggled with is the pace. They are so fast, and things happen so quickly that I often feel breathless and left behind. It’s exhilarating, but can compromise the depth of emotion and my attachment to the characters. However, in Six, though the action is still very much there, the pace is steadier and I felt I had time to get to know the characters and trust in their relationship. The only drawback for me is the same one I have for all Liu’s stories: the depth felt a little sacrificed for plot. However, with a bittersweet ending, this is among my favorites of Liu’s works. Grade: B+

Urban Fantasy
The Harvest by Vicki Pettersson
(Subtle)
Unfortunately, this last story in the anthology was the weakest. Zoe has sacrificed everything for her children and grandchildren. She gave up immortality, her supernatural abilities, and her role in life to protect them and keep them alive to fulfill their own destinies. So she’s not going to give up now, even if it means going to her most beloved enemy Warren to ask for help. Of course, given their history, and Zoe’s perceived betrayal, Warren might not be so inclined to help Zoe recover her kidnapped granddaughter from the Shadows. And now that she’s mortal, he’s going to be even less inclined to let her help with the rescue.

Pettersson is the only author I had not read previously, which will, of course, color my reading of her story. Objectively, however, the other stories were self-contained while Pettersson fell into the trap of half-explanations and contrived info dump. I have the impression that the characters in this short story play significant roles in her novels, and fans of her series may find this story much more satisfying than I did. Regrettably, I spent a good deal of the story confused about the world, and only picked up the gist about half way through – too late to truly enjoy the story. Once I did, however, I was intrigued by the villain of the piece, a fascinating character, and the most interesting of the story. Though the ending is uplifting, it is not traditionally romance. Grade: C+

Overall this was a quality anthology that covered a whole spectrum of end of year celebrations from many different points of view, making it an interesting and exciting read in preparation for whichever holiday you celebrate.

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Heart of Stone

C.E. Murphy
2007, Alternate Reality Fiction
Luna, Part of a series

Grade: B+
Sensuality: Kisses

I broke a lot of my own rules when I picked up this book for review. For one thing, I never buy books in trade paper. Here in Australia, they can cost about $30 a piece, so if an author starts out in trade paper, I just wait until the book comes out in mass market paperback before giving it a try. Also, I was bound and determined that the very last thing I pick up to read for a very long time was a new series. Especially a new paranormal series. I have a handful that I’m still invested in, but lately, I’ve been a little tired of the genre and the way too many of them are written – no clear story, no definite ending, the compromise on the first story as a push to pick up the next. Heart of Stone is about to make me break every single one of those rules.

Margrit is a lawyer, a very good one. She has the potential to rise far above her current position, but her overdeveloped sense of responsibility keeps her in her job at Legal Aid, fighting mostly lost causes and impossible to win cases. She also has an irrational attraction to danger, which she indulges by solitary late night runs in New York City’s Central Park. One night, she meets a tall, pale man who stops her simply to say hello. Later that night, when a woman is murdered, and witnesses describe a tall man – with hair so light it could be white, and pale, smooth skin – Margrit realizes that she brushed close to death.

But is her pale man the same as the murderer? Alban keeps approaching her, denying his involvement, claiming his innocence, begging her to help him find the real murderer. And Margrit finds herself unable to stop getting involved. Once she does, though, she finds that everything she knew as truth yesterday is based on fallacy, and her New York must differ from everyone else’s for the rest of her life. Alban is a gargoyle, one of the five Old Races that still exist within the city limits. Margrit will have to deal with each one if she’s to solve the murders and save Alban from discovery and certain death.

Oh boy, did I like this book. It’s not a traditional romance, though there are certain romantic elements, and anticipation of a more solid HEA in the upcoming books. Does this mean that this book falls into the “first book in a series” trap, though?

Oh, heck no. Even if I never read another Murphy novel – not a likelihood – this book will stand alone as a quality novel that builds slowly, but surely, picking up pieces and swelling towards the end with breathtaking surety. Each of the characters are introduced and play their role, never falling into cardboard territory, each well-thought out and developed, but never padded. I closed the last pages with a sigh of satisfaction, knowing I had just finished a complete novel, but that I also have the chance of revisiting well-liked characters again, if I liked.

I only had one small quibble with this novel, and that lay with the characterization of Margrit. She’s a lawyer from a very affluent African-American family. This doesn’t come up during probably the first half of the book, apart from a mention that Margrit has café au lait colored skin. Murphy uses it later on as a neat little twist on the whole “what is human?” debate when Margrit is talking to Alban. However, her boss uses it as a reason to put her on a case – subjecting her to tokenism. This scene and the ones related to it seemed out of place, as if the author was trying to make a point using her characters, one that was not necessary to the plot.

But it remains a small quibble, just one bumpy scene in writing that flowed smoothly, in a story that I can recommend without hesitation.

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Secrets: Primal Heat (Volume 21)

Cynthia Wolf, Larissa Ione, Kate St. James and Mia Verano
December 2007, Erotic Romance
Red Sage

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Varies

For me, the Secrets anthologies have always delivered in the realm of romantic short stories. Even though volume 21 failed to shine as brightly as previous collections, it’s a bit like the chocolate metaphor: even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

Shapeshifter Romance
Sensuality: Hot

In Caged Wolf by Cynthia Eden, Madison knows that capturing a werewolf is dangerous. But she’s been trained, she’s been prepared, and she’s covered all her bases. Except the fact that Alerac is her mate. And he’s not entirely unwilling to be caught.

Eden’s story still touches on some of my hotpoints: the whole “you’re my mate, we’re destined” thing gets a bit tired. But somehow she always manages to pull her story out of cliché and into enjoyable for me. This is another good effort, and those familiar with her previous works will recognize some of the secondary characters. Grade: B

Romantic Suspense
Sensuality: Hot

I love this woman. Seriously. In the last Secrets volume I reviewed, Larissa Ione earned a DIK rating from me. This time in Wet Dreams, Ione explores a more action-packed plotline: heroine Marina Summers has a crash course in dangerous living when Brent Logan crashes onto her boat, bleeding from a gunshot wound and pursued by some very dangerous characters. A suspense-filled night follows as Marina and Brent attempt to survive, and deal with their growing attraction.

This story doesn’t quite hit the high notes that Ione’s previous story did – the action plot takes away somewhat from the romance plot line – but it’s still the best story in this collection, with a solid suspense plot, likable characters, and a very realistic, satisfying ending. Grade: B+

Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Burning

Lexi is just one of those characters you have to like. She’s cute, funny, and very practical. Covering her aunt’s store, Grin and Bare It, while she’s away on vacation, Lexi spends her time gaining invaluable information in lubricants and other sexual aides at the same time, chasing immature young men out of the store, and waiting for her favourite customer Gage to show up. She simultaneously loves and dreads his visits. She’s crazy attracted to him, but is nonetheless intimidated by the sheer amount of massage oil he seems to go through. Finally, unwilling to deal with it anymore, she decides to use him for one crazy weekend of sex before locking herself away for two years and devoting herself to study. However, Gage has other plans.

Good Vibrations is a cute little story, though the sex scenes depend just a little too much on props, and the final resolution just a little rushed. Grade: C+

Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Burning

My main problem with Virgin of the Amazon stems from the overall premise: for me it didn’t work. Those readers able to accept it will probably grade this story a little higher. Anna Winter gets lost on a tour of the Amazon River and ends up wandering into a tribal camp, complete with its own God in the form of a Brit named Coop.

Here’s the premise with which I have a problem: Coop decides that Anna is an ice queen and needs to be warmed up via sexual humiliations. Within the space of 30 seconds. The humiliations are many and varied, but don’t take into account the trust that a good D/s story requires to deliver a solid happy-ever-after. Further, Coop is revealed to be a bit of a sleaze, really. To sum up, I just didn’t like it. Grade: D+

Unfortunately, this Secrets volume was marred for me by the last story, but it is still worth a look for those who love romantic short stories.

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Bloodfever

Karen Marie Moning
2007, Urban Fantasy
Delacorte Press, Part of a series

Grade: B
Sensuality: Kisses

Karen Marie Moning is best known for her romances blending historical, paranormal, time travel, and fantasy elements. Some authors are successful with such hybrids while others aren’t. I think Moning falls into the former category, at least with Bloodfever.

Bloodfever is the second novel in Moning’s new series, after Darkfever, so there’s a fair amount of world building going on. Though I recognized it as a ploy to catch up the uninformed reader, it was actually handled quite well, and never overt or annoying.

Mac Lane is in Ireland on the trail of her sister’s murderer. Though she grew up a good girl, a modern Southern Belle, she has undergone some major growth in the last little while, discovering not only a whole world of Fae, but that she has special powers and the ability to sense the Sinsar Dubh, an ancient book containing the blackest magic imaginable. She must find it to balance the power between the worlds of Fae and humanity.

This story is told in the first person, which I recognize as an overused tool to drag readers into the story immediately. Doesn’t matter, I still fall for it. It helps that Mac’s voice is very compelling, and that, though she’s learning fast, she’s nowhere near as competent as she’d like to be. Mac screws up. She makes mistakes. She feels insecure and vulnerable and out of her depth. And though I’ve never gone chasing after the unseelie, those are nonetheless feelings I can relate to.

This is definitely an urban fantasy, with very little in the way of romance, though there are two men in Mac’s life that might eventually fit the bill of romantic lead. The first is a fairy with the Seelie court, a prince, V’lane. The second is Jericho Barrens, Mac’s landlord and boss. Both want to use her for their own needs, however, and Mac is just not feeling all that trusting right now.

As I was reading this novel, I was completely swept up in the story, and, as I said, the first person narrative was incredibly compelling. However, once I finished it and put it down, the story started to fade almost immediately. Even as I sit here, three days after finishing the book, I remember that I really enjoyed it, but had to use the dust jacket and a quick skim for the plot summary. I would certainly pick up the first, or the next in this series, but I might wait until paperback.

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A Week from Sunday

Dorothy Garlock
2007, American Historical Romance (1930s Louisiana)
Grand Central Publishing

Grade: C-
Sensuality: Subtle

I requested this Dorothy Garlock because, though I knew she’d been around for ages, I’d never read a book by her before. When I told my mom during a phone call that I was reading Dorothy Garlock, she said “Oh, I used to really like her.” Those two facts should have alerted me to the fact that Garlock might be somewhat old fashioned, but I was still surprised when I started the story. Though I admit freely that this novel isn’t one that would appeal to me on my own reading time, there are problems that go deeper than a mere reading mismatch, which ultimately lead to the grade I chose.

A Week from Sunday is set in Louisiana in the mid-1930s. The heroine, Adrianna, is the only daughter of a wealthy banker. Since he contracted polio, her father has relied more and more heavily on his rather odious lawyer, Richard Pope. After his death, Adrianna is distressed to discover that her father left everything to Pope. Pope appears in front of Adrianna on the day of the funeral and informs her that they will be wed a week from Sunday.

Adrianna is appalled and, though she has no skills apart from her ability to play the piano, no way to make money, and no real plan, she takes her father’s car and flees Shreveport with the vague idea of reaching her aunt in Mississippi. Outside the small town of Lee’s Point, however, rain causes her to lose control of her car and slide into oncoming traffic in the shape of Quinn Baxter.

Quinn is holding on by a thread, and he loses a whole load of liquor destined for his bar, the Whipsaw, when a woman crashes her car into his on a night in which she had no right being out. The accident also causes a serious hand injury in Quinn’s piano player.

See where this is going?

A couple of pages later, Adrianna is paying off her debt by agreeing to play piano in Quinn’s bar during sing-along nights, and she’s moving into his house to look after his injured brother Jesse.

I just couldn’t get into this story. Adrianna was near perfect – well-mannered, quiet, beautiful. Everyone loves her the first time they meet her; she inspires protective instincts in everyone around her. Quinn is bad tempered and gruff. He scares Adrianna and insists, inexplicably, on calling her Annie. The villains of the piece are cardboard cut outs, with flimsy motives. There is no depth to any of the players, which makes it hard to care about the HEA.

Finally, there’s one scene at the end where Adrianna is meant to be showing her gumption, which startled and appalled me. I can’t really go any further without spoilers, but I had to make mention of it. Though I was shocked, it was also the only time that Adrianna showed any interesting characteristics, so I’m torn as to whether to put it in the positive or negative category.

I can’t recommend A Week from Sunday as one guaranteed to hold interest, though I know Garlock is a perennial favorite for many. Sorry, Mom!

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Slow Burn

Brenda Jackson
2007, Contemporary Romance
St. Martin’s

Grade: D
Sensuality: Subtle

Slow Burn marks Brenda Jackson’s 50^th novel, which is an incredible achievement, and a tribute to how many people love her novels. Unfortunately, it appears that I’m not one of them.

Skye Barclay is an accountant (not an attorney, as is stated on the back blurb) from an old-moneyed family in Maine. She has a good job, a trust fund, and a fiancé, Wayne, she’s not sure she loves. One fateful day she overhears her aunt and her parents talking about her adoption, and everything changes. She goes on a hunt for her biological mother only to discover that she passed away ten years before, but left behind a son – Skye’s brother. Skye manages to track him down in Texas. Vincent had been adopted into the Madaris family.

Skye makes the decision to fly to Texas to meet Vincent, against both her parents’ and Wayne’s wishes. In fact, Wayne issues an ultimatum: If Skye goes ahead with her plans, the wedding is off. Skye flies to Texas where she is easily accepted into Vincent’s life and the Madaris clan – especially by Slade Madaris, Vincent’s uncle.

There’s a brief suspense subplot, but it’s not really worth going into. The bulk of the story involves Skye developing a relationship with her brother and trying to avoid a relationship with Slade because she’s afraid of what his family will think.

The basis of the story had a lot going for it, but trying for internal conflict to keep the plot moving just didn’t work in this case. Both Skye and Slade were such nice, easy-going people, that there was just no reason why they couldn’t be together. I felt like hitting Skye over the head through most of the middle of the book because, for a 26-year-old woman, she was being really, really dumb.

In addition to the problem Jackson created by trying to force unnecessary internal conflict on the reader, there are several other reasons I found Slow Burn difficult to get through: the unnatural dialogue, the clunky exposition, the head-hopping, the unnecessary and poorly explained suspense plot, the fact that every single other character that Jackson has ever written about had to make a cameo to show how blissfully happy they were…

I finished this book as quickly as I could because there was no way I wanted to take it with me on my holiday. It still took me four days to get through. I know Jackson has her fans, and they might really enjoy getting a peek at previous favorite characters, but forget the burn. This book was just slow for me.

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Heart of Fire

Kat Martin
2008, European Historical Romance (1840s [Victorian] England)
MIRA, Part of a series

Grade: C+
Sensuality: Warm

It’s always hard to write a review like this one: there were definitely aspects that I enjoyed in Heart of Fire, but, sadly, in the end, they weren’t enough to lift this book into “enjoyable.” Instead, it fell short – certainly in no way bad, but never reaching the height of good either.

Coralee is a viscount’s daughter, one of the most fashionable young women in London, vivacious, pretty, and perfectly placed to write the society column in Heart to Heart, a ladies’ gazette. But when her sister dies in the Avon River clutching her infant son, Coralee’s world shifts. She refuses to accept the official verdict of suicide, and instead takes it upon herself to investigate. Someone seduced her sister and got her pregnant out of wedlock. Chances are that someone also murdered her.

Coralee’s investigation leads her to the country, and the estate of Gray, the Earl of Tremaine, notorious for his affairs, his knowledge of the art of love, and a widower whose first wife drowned – in the Avon River. Coralee enters the house in the guise of a poor relation, Letty, and quickly starts her investigation. However, the more she looks into the life of the Earl, the more she starts to fall for him, and the more her investigation turns to proving his innocence instead of his guilt.

This is the second novel in Martin’s Heart series and it fell into the trap of a lot of linked books – mainly too much emphasis on the previous book, with the expectation that readers would already be familiar with the world. This didn’t come out in lack of detail – things were adequately explained – but instead in the revisitation of previous relationships and plots. Readers of the previous Heart of Honor no doubt will enjoy a taste of the bliss of that story’s main couple, but as a reader unfamiliar with the previous book, it was just a random man and woman showing up every now and again to look at each other with deep affection and refer obliquely to their courtship.

I liked the Earl of Tremaine. He was raw and honest and legitimately grumpy, and Martin did a very good job with characterization here. Coralee, however, was the main narrator of the story and failed to engage my affections. We are told that she is vivacious and bright and bubbly, but are instead treated to her acting very foolishly, making rash decisions, and basically getting herself into trouble with no real thought of consequences for herself and others. While much can be explained away as a by-product of her grief, as a basis for the whole plot it required a too large a degree of suspension of disbelief. Finally, there was a certain heavy-handedness to the novel. For example, we, along with the earl, learn that Coralee is kind-hearted as she saves an injured dog from certain death by donating strips of her petticoat. We also know exactly who the hero and heroine of the next novel are thanks to frequent references to how they can’t stand each other.

There is a lot to like about this novel. Besides the earl there’s a nice social commentary as well with baby farms that is handled skillfully, without descending into melodramatics. The revelation of who Coralee really is works as an example of Coralee having to accept responsibility for her actions.

Unfortunately, however, the good is always tempered by the not-so-good, leaving Heart of Fire an only average read.

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Queen of Dragons

Shana Abe
2007, Fantasy Romance (1780s [Georgian] England)
Bantam, Part of a series

Grade: B+
Sensuality: Warm

Favorite books are funny things. Much like relationships, they are never perfect – they just have to be perfect for you.

Shana Abé works for me. I recognize the problems in her books, but, for the most part, I just don’t mind. Take Queen of Dragons, for instance, the third and latest book in her Drakon series, set in Georgian England, about a people that have the ability to change to smoke and to dragons. It’s not a story that stands on its own. Readers will need to be familiar with her previous two books, especially The Dream Thief, for the conflict and drama to have any meaning. And, though the romance plot is tied up, there are still several loose ends at the end of the book that definitely lead further into the series. Things get shaken up in this book, and I doubt we’ll see the resolution for a couple of books yet.

Some might also have problem accepting the heroine, whose strength gives her an aura of coldness. But not me. For me, the lyrical nature of the author’s prose, the grace of her myth and legends, and the world she has created are so enthralling, that I find myself swept up in the story as surely as her dragons sweep to the sky. Not perfect – perfect for me.

Rue and Christoff have left Darkfirth in search of their youngest daughter, Lia, and her new husband Zane, leaving their eldest son Kimber in charge. The drakon of Darkfirth have recently discovered the existence of other drakon, something previously thought impossible, and something that causes no small amount of concern. In typical Empirical English fashion, the English drakon decide to invade. Only problem is, they don’t know where exactly to find this new settlement. And they lose the three men they send to a new horror – human dragon hunters.

Maricara has been ruling the Carpathian drakon since she was 11 years old. She’s held them together with the power of her gift, but even she can’t fight both the humans and the English drakon at the same time. So she journeys to England alone, under the guise of diplomacy, to assess the threat to her people. Instead, she finds herself in even more danger from both the drakon council, who want to contain her, and their Alpha, Kimber, who wants to marry her. However, the threat of the dragon hunters overshadows everything, creating animosity and distrust – and threatening to destroy the future of the drakon.

Kimber and Mari have a very intense relationship. They are both passionate and stubborn, kings of their people, and they argue and conflict as much as they connect, but there’s always an underlying passion. Kimber embraces it, but Mari is terrified by it, which makes for powerful relationship development.

Abé has been very clever here; she’d created two novels, which was more than enough to cement her world. Now, she’s created a turmoil within the drakon that mirrors the conflict in the outside world, as Europe creeps closer and closer towards revolution. The result is a new level of engagement for the reader. And, as I may have mentioned once or twice, it really worked for me.

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Trick My Truck but Don’t Mess with my Heart

Luann McLane
2008, Contemporary Romance
Signet

Grade: B
Sensuality: Subtle

I admit, I picked up Trick My Truck, But Don’t Mess With My Heart simply because I couldn’t get over the title. But I’ve already admitted I judge books by their covers, so I figured a title wasn’t too far removed.

LuAnn McLane’s latest takes place in a small, quiet, southern town where nothing much happens, and the plot follows similar lines. Not relying on big bangs (explosions or otherwise) or fancy monsters to drive the story, McLane focuses instead on character development and the growth of various sorts of relationships to hold interest, and it works. I’ve read a lot of plot-driven books recently, so this was a nice change of pace.

Candie leaves her big job in the city and returns to her small town roots when her father falls ill and leaves his used car business close to bankruptcy. Though she has every intention of returning to Chicago, she’s really excited to go home, spend some time with her family, and see her twin sister Sarah. But, as she arrives, she finds that the town has changed. No one waves as she drives by. People ignore her on the street. No one welcomes her back. But wait … no, people are waving to others. They’re stopping and chatting to each other. They’re just ignoring … her.

It turns out Sarah and her fiancé Nick broke up over another woman. And somehow that other woman is Candie. In order to cool the town’s fury and regain her social standing, Candie needs a boyfriend – fast. In comes Tommy Tucker, who’s willing to play along for awhile. Candie and Sarah start taking over the business and revamping it with their own ideas, and Candie finds herself sinking back into her little home town, with Chicago fading into the past. She has to make big decisions about her future, her business, and where Tommy fits into everything.

There were a couple of pacing problems in the story – a month goes by in the space of a sentence after two days of a couple of chapters each – and I would have liked to have seen more of the building of Candie and Tommy’s relationship. The whole book is also written in the first person, present tense, which was a little jarring when I first started, but actually worked really well with Candie’s voice.

In spite (or perhaps because?) of its unwieldy title, Trick My Truck is a light, gentle read that relies on likable characters navigating through real problems and real situations. A lack of contrivance and some genuine humor make this novel a breath of fresh air – from a general Southerly direction.

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Unleashing the Storm

Sydney Croft
March 2008, Erotic Romance (Paranormal)
Delta, Part of a series

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Burning

Sydney Croft is the writing team of Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler

I could sum this book up in one sentence: Unleashing the Storm was a compelling novel, but there was too much sex. Unfortunately, however, I don’t think my editors will find that acceptable. So here’s more.

Kira Donovan leads a solitary life of fear, but it’s the only way she knows how to survive. Her ability to talk to animals is both a blessing and a curse – she loves being able to communicate with them, to learn from them, but her unnatural empathy has an unpleasant side-effect: Kira goes into heat for about a month each year, during which time she must have sex every four hours or die.

ACRO is a top secret agency, dedicated to finding and developing people with special talents. Talents like those which Kira possesses. So they send Tom Knight out to get her. He has three days to convince her to join; if she doesn’t, he must neutralize the threat she presents should she fall into other, less ethical, hands. Unfortunately, Kira has been burned before and she’s not keen on jumping onto a corporate bandwagon. And Tom is finding it harder and harder to consider the alternatives.

This book is pretty much summed up in my first sentence. The very premise promised a hot ride – after all, two attractive characters, the necessity of having sex every four hours, and an author who’s proven her ability to write quality sex scenes – well that all adds up to a pretty erotic book.

However well-written the scenes were, though, they extended long past the main characters so it seemed that every character in the book, minor or not, had an extended sex scene. As deft as Croft’s touch is with such scenes, they were used too often in place of actual problem solving. Any issue a character had, it seemed, could be resolved with some really hot sex. Which, given the depth and tensions in the rest of the novel, seemed derivative and even a little cowardly for this author.

I end this review, though, wanting to recommend Unleashing the Storm. The characters of Kira and Tom were well-handled, both their strengths and their vulnerabilities. The tension, both romantic and plot-driven, was well-created and upheld. And the sex, though over-plentiful, was extraordinarily well-written. This is an author to watch.

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Personal Demon

Kelley Armstrong
April 2008, Urban Fantasy
Spectra, Part of a series

Grade: C
Sensuality: Warm

It’s tricky to review a book in a series you’ve followed as a reader since the beginning. I first read Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten in 2002, and it’s become one of my favorite novels. Sadly, Personal Demon, the 8th in Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series, has only cemented something that has grown clearer for the last three books. This series is running out of steam.

Demon is narrated by Lucas, the hero of Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic, and Hope, who was the narrator of an Armstrong short story. Interestingly, Lucas and Hope are not in a relationship. Hope’s hero is Karl Marsters (also a secondary character from previous books) but we never hear from him, which is sad. Karl is an intricate character, and I would have liked a visit to his point of view.

Hope is an Expisco demon, the rarest order, and an agent for the Supernatural council. She both senses and craves chaos – whether it be in a person’s darkest thoughts or as visions when in contact with a place where chaotic things happened. During a council mission not that long ago, Hope met Karl Marsters, a werewolf, and they both got into some trouble. Trouble that they were rescued from by Benicio Cortez, leader of the Cortez Cabal, Lucas’s father, and someone who doesn’t give favors freely. In order to repay that debt, Hope agrees to go undercover in a supernatural gang in Miami that’s been causing the Cabal some trouble and is drawn to some of its members who experience the same feelings of loss and isolation that she did growing up. After she joins, someone starts systematically killing off the gang members, and Hope begins to fear that she’s unwittingly aiding the gang members’ untimely demises.

A host of secondary characters from previous novels show up in this novel, and readers who aren’t familiar with Armstrong’s previous works will not be able to follow the ins and outs, nor the tensions that arise as Lucas returns to the family fold.

Using Lucas as a narrator instead of Karl helps move the series story arc forward significantly, but it also creates distance between the reader and the romantic sub-plot. By not using Karl as a narrator, I was in the same position as Hope – having to take what he said on faith, and hoping that he meant it. So, as a reader, I was reserved. Sure, I hope the love story will work out, but I don’t really believe in it.

The Otherworld world might be developing in an interesting manner, but I think that Armstrong is finding it hard to find the balance between the Urban Fantasy world and the Romance world. Because I’m such a fan of her love stories, I’m not mollified by a developing fantasy plot. The emotional depth and strong characterization, the intensity and sly humor that I loved so much in Armstrong’s earlier novels just don’t show up here. Add to that an eye-rolling denouement, and you’ve got a C read from a DIK author.

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Theft of Shadows

Naomi Bellis
2008, Paranormal Historical (1790s [Georgian] England)
Signet, Part of a series

Grade: B
Sensuality: Warm

Theft of Shadows is an enjoyable novel from a promising new voice in historical fiction. This is Naomi Bellis’ third book, and I’m the third reviewer at AAR to give the author a grade of “B”. This author is one to watch.

Gabriel, a French chevalier and former spy for the English, returns to London after reconciling with his exiled family to remake their fortune and allow them to live in comfort. However, only days after landing, he is attacked by a thief on a lonely stretch of road, and all is stolen from him. What’s worse is that the thief is a woman. And she steals his horse, which means a long, lonely walk to the city.

Because we’re all clever readers, we can see where this is going… That’s right, our heroine, Anne Tremaine is also our thief, and desperate for money so she can pose as a wealthy widow, and track down the man who cold-bloodedly destroyed her village.

After the loss of his fortune, Gabriel is forced to return to his old work, and the boss that he doesn’t trust. The job entrusted to him, however, seems simple. He must enter the world of the ton to keep an eye on a traitor to the crown, one with dark powers beyond the mortal world.

Though they meet again, and frequently, only Anne recognizes the Chevalier, and is torn between desperation that he might discover her – and send her to the gallows – and her growing desire for him. The eventual revelation of her identity is well handled; a secret identity is always tricky, but this is realistic, with consequences and actions true to their characters.

I truly liked the characterizations in this novel. Anne really works as a woman nearly destroyed who vows revenge, one who has no reason to trust anyone, but who is, nonetheless, vulnerable to her attraction and emotions. Gabriel plays the smooth courtier, making all the right moves, but with a deeper motive. He is attracted to Anne’s strength and mysterious ways, and you can see why, when all the men in her past have been cruel, she falls so easily for his courtesy.

There’s a paranormal plot that ties into the main suspense plot of the novel, which is also relatively fresh, tying nicely into history and mythology without crossing too much into well-trod ground. There’s a little bit of deus ex machina in regards to Gabriel’s role, but I found it easy to overlook. Obvious characters from previous novels also make an appearance, but don’t detract from the new couple.

So, to sum up: Go! Read! Enjoy!

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Thigh High

Christina Dodd
2008, Romantic Suspense
Signet, Part of a series

Grade: B-
Sensuality: Hot

Christina Dodd’s latest contemporary suspense, Thigh High, takes place in post-Katrina New Orleans during Mardi Gras, so as a reader, I felt immediately drawn into the story. How would the city be portrayed? Its citizens? The Mardi Gras celebrations? Would Dodd address any of the political issues still swirling around the disaster there? The answer to the latter is a resounding no, but Dodd still manages to create the image of a lively city, fallen but not broken, and steadily regaining its feet.

Nessa Dahl is practically New Orleans royalty, her family having lived there for centuries. She and her two great-aunts share Dahl house with a number of boarders, taken on to help pay the bills. Nessa herself works in a bank, keeping it running smoothly and without error, but stopped from advancement by an error early in her career and her obnoxious boss.

The chain of banks that Nessa works for has a claim to fame: every year, during Mardi Gras celebrations, it is paid a visit by the notorious Beaded Bandits. The Bandits appear once a year – every year – dressed in drag, and steal a token amount before disappearing for another year. For those who live in the city, the Bandits have been absorbed as yet another example of Mardi Gras eccentricity, but for the bank’s president, Mac MacNaught, they are thieves, plain and simple, and need to be stopped. He decides to travel south himself, in the guise of an investigator, to catch them – and Nessa Dahl, who is surely involved.

Dodd created a really nice dichotomy here, with the gruff, socially inadequate, frank Mac, and the poised, calm, gracious Nessa. The relationship builds against their wills, and they certainly have problems to overcome, but the sparks that fly are a joy to read.

During the course of the novel, there was only a small little hitch in what was otherwise lovely characterization – when Nessa declares her love for Mac, I was unsure if she really meant it, which made the following scenes slightly unsettling. However, the author regained control quickly. Readers like me will adore the diamond ring scene.

This was a truly enjoyable novel right up until the very last page. There Dodd managed to ruin the warm and fuzzy feelings by throwing an unnecessary wrench into what had not even been a subplot, by introducing four new characters – obviously heroes in subsequent books.

I don’t know if we can blame Dodd for this clumsy ending – after all, we know the publishers love a marketing opportunity – but this read like an advertisement, and cast an unhappy shadow over the whole story. I still want to recommend this novel, because it is a lot of fun. But I further my recommendation with this – do your best to stop at page 381.

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Writ on Water

Melanie Jackson
2007, Contemporary Romance
LoveSpell

Grade: D-
Sensuality: Subtle

It’s been a long time since I struggled through a novel like I did with Melanie Jackson’s Writ on Water. But with the unwieldy writing, the unnecessarily drawn out subplots, and utterly dull and lifeless characters, I could barely manage to keep my eyes open. In fact, this novel is so forgettable that I can’t be bothered to write out full paragraphs of the various problems. Instead, I present a bullet-point list:

• Language: Flowery, overblown, and much too long to use as an example here, the language in this novel borders on archaic. Jackson was attempting to channel some old gothics, it’s true, but in a contemporary set novel, the lengthy descriptive paragraphs, interjection of italicized quotes (for example, Rory and Chloe were of one heart and mind on the subject of flowers), and stilted, unnatural dialogue (refer to the “pudenda” reference below) distanced and detracted from the novel.
• Description: Fifteen pages of one dream. Enough Said.
• Overblown plot points: the prologue and the entire first section of the novel makes an enormous deal of the fact that our main character Chloe is going to be in close proximity to her “witch” grandmother. Chloe vows she’ll never go see her. She doesn’t. So why on earth is she even mentioned?
• No action: Our heroine rarely does anything because she’s too busy thinking in long, tedious paragraphs about her surroundings and finding random quotes to describe them – without crediting the original source. I fancy myself relatively well-read, but I could identify maybe two or three out of the ten to twelve she uses through the novel to describe everything from the weather to how she and hero Rory get along.
• Further unnecessary plot devices: On top of the grandma who doesn’t get a visit, Chloe’s so-called second sight and the paranormal plot line is another unnecessary, overblown plot element. The second sight helps her “solve” the mystery. Of course, anyone capable of thirty seconds of logical thought figured out the mystery two sentences after it occurred, but our Chloe has to dream it. And then use her “powers” for a last minute hitch in her relationship with Rory.
• Setting issues: Writ on Water is meant to be a contemporary, but the language is gothic. Chloe seems about as modern as a Model T, and somewhere along the way, digital cameras never made it to household use because of the expense.
• Character problems: the only true character is MacGregor, the patriarch. Chloe and Rory have the personalities and chemistry of wet cardboard. I couldn’t believe in either of them or their relationship, and I really couldn’t bring myself to care.
• Finally, just down-right unbelievable elements that had me by turns laughing my head off and moaning in disbelief: those of you brave enough to go ahead and read this novel will love the scene where Glinda the Good Witch appears, and Rory’s particularly tender pillow talk about the female pudenda.

If you really want a plot rundown, here it is: Chloe is a photographer who specializes in cemeteries and graveyards for insurance purposes. She is invited to spend time at the Patrick house, to photograph their very private, very personal grave yard. There she meets old MacGregor, a true eccentric, and his somewhat belligerent son, Rory. Something bad happens, Rory starts acting shifty, what is going to happen, will Chloe ever figure it out, will she and Rory be separated for ever….

I try to write balanced reviews, but the only positive thing I could find to say about this novel is that it helped me sleep on a very long flight over the Pacific. I actually feel insulted and angry at Dorchester for publishing this. People are going to buy it. They are going to spend hard-earned cash on something that should never have seen the light of day. Hopefully, by my honesty, I’ll be saving some of you your precious time and money.

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A Taste of Divinity

Heather Kundert, Christy Gissendaner, Audrey Godwin and Kendra Clark
2006, Erotic Romance
Triskelion

Grade: D
Sensuality: Burning

As a high school student, I was absolutely obsessed with the story of Cupid and Psyche. It struck some chord in my all-too-literate self, a chord so strong that when I made it to France six years later and stood in front of the famous statue by the same name, I was breathless and teary all at the same time. Imagine…a god falling in love with a mere mortal. It was almost as satisfying as the local basketball star falling for the slightly nerdy drama club president. Which never happened, by the way, but it’s okay. I’m over it. Really.

However, in A Taste of Divinity, four stories are linked together by the realization of just such a dream – a god recognizing the beauty and value in a mortal and falling in love. This premise can be extraordinarily powerful when tapped the right way. Some of the stories in this anthology manage that, while the others fell flat. And not only was the fantasy a flop at times, the whole was far less than the sum of its parts due to horrendous editing, which knocked down the anthology’s grade lower than the average of its individual stories.

Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Burning

Heather Kundert’s The Winds of Heaven opens the collection opens the collection with the betrayal of a friend. Calyx, the god-hero, spends years trapped by regret and self-doubt before deciding to do what he can to fix his errors and apologize to his friend. To do so, he must travel to the world of Pleythos. There, he meets Breanna, a dancer in a club who moves as if aided by the wind, and into Calyx’s heart.

This story, unfortunately, is the weakest of the collection, and sets a tone for the remaining three that is hard to shake. Fantasy shorts are often difficult to write as so much is needed in the way of world-building in order to contextualize the story. Kundert handles this well, but the relationship between her characters feels primitive instead of primal. I was skeptical that there was more than lust involved, and couldn’t believe in the avowals of love. But the main problem I had with this story rests with a delicate subject matter in romance – that of anal sex. There has been much discussion on the inclusion of anal sex in Romantica and Erotica in the last couple of years. Many don’t find it a fantasy they can buy into. Many think it’s a natural sexual act and thus should be included. Me, I think that, as with many things in romance, if it’s done right, it can be a potent fantasy. However, the scene in this story uses every squeamish element associated with the act, and drops the reader with a thud right out of the story. Shuddering. The whole pain/pleasure dichotomy has been well-documented, but if you need a god to take away the pain, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.

Grade: D-

Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Burning

Christy Gissendaner’s A Touch of Sin is a warm story in which the Welsh god of music takes a job as a popular karaoke DJ. Heroine Julie decides on the spur of the moment to visit an old friend at his nightclub. There she meets the aptly-named Sin, who has been helping Julie’s friend with his bar expansion. They have a completely renovated karaoke area, run by the oh-so-seductive Sin.

Although Julie does not have the gift of music, their chemistry is instantaneous, a sweet depiction of fate-induced love at first sight. Sin is the epitome of the god-lover, erotic and intimate, charismatic and affectionate. Readers will love the “entertain me” scene. One of the strongest stories of the collection, Gissendaner offers a swift and hot tale that delivers.

Grade: B

Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Burning

The third story, Cast a Moonlit Spell, by Audrey Godwin, is the other weak story in the collection. A beautiful nude statue of a god haunts librarian Gwen Gregory’s erotic dreams. Before the statue is removed from its park setting, she goes for one last look. This story brings the gods from Olympus into play, with a guest appearance from Thor. Love between mortals and gods is strictly forbidden, but Eros (aka Michael Eros), trapped for 50 years in a marble prison, can’t give Gwen up. He bargains with his life for one night of pleasure, risking everything to hold her one time.

The author works to set up a strong atmosphere, but it’s inappropriate and incongruous in the context of the story, and worse, it detracts from the romance between Gwen and Michael. Further, their love scenes especially initially, are mildly uncomfortable. Gwen is, naturally, quite frightened when Eros appears out of nowhere, and he overpowers her with his passion rather than appease her fears. It’s certainly not rape, but the author misses the opportunity for poignancy, and this scene is representative of the problems of the story in general. Godwin keeps setting the stage for solid relationship and character building, but she doesn’t follow through, leaving the reader feeling as if she’s been taken to the top of a mountain, but denied the view.

Grade: D+

Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Burning

The collection finishes with its strongest story, Kendra Clark’s Slaying the Goddess. A twist on the vampire/slayer romance, this story is the most detailed, the best developed, and the most satisfying. With a history of dealing with devastating personal loss, Jag’s only wish now is to gain mortality so that he might pass over to the other side and see the family he lost so brutally. In order to gain this boon from the gods, Jag must eradicate the goddesses of the night. Morgen watched her mother die prematurely at the hands of a goddess slayer. She must now protect not only herself, but her baby sister, the last goddess. And sometimes, she just gets so hungry.

Jag manages to track Morgen down, but when they meet, he discovers she instead needs his protection. The two can never be together, but their passion and mutual respect are stronger than any god-imposed law.

Grade: B

Unfortunately, the strength of Clark and the charm of Gissendaner do not mitigate the weaknesses of the other two stories. Another mark against this anthology is its bad editing. The plethora of spelling errors, misused words, and bad punctuation were unnecessary and unprofessional. Regardless of the good press they’ve been getting lately, e-books have to lift their game if they want to gain the respect of their printed cousins. And I write this as somebody involved in the ebook industry for the past year.

There is one very big plus to A Taste of Divinity, a plus almost worth the $6 price tag on its own – the cover. In a word? Divine. However, we all know the adage about books and covers. And it has never rung so true.