Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I've had mixed results with Susan Elizabeth Phillips. On one hand, I think she has a unique voice, and unlike many romance writers, she isn't afraid to write about heroines who are less than perfect. On the other hand, I've found her books uneven, and sometimes I find her books lacking when it comes to the romance. Still, I appreciate a romance writer who isn't writing cookie cutter books.

Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
(2004, Contemporary) 6/28/08
Grade: 4

Back in high school, Sugar Beth was the queen of Parrish, Mississippi. She and her friends ruled the school. Now, Sugar Beth is back, but her life hasn’t turned out the way she wanted. Her only hope is to find a valuable painting left to her by her aunt... but she didn’t count on Colin Byrne living next door, the teacher whose life she’d ruined all those years ago.

As usual, SEP’s writing is smooth and easy to read - I finished this one in just a few hours. And it was refreshing to read about a heroine who was far from perfect. (Of course, she had a saintly reason for needing money, but I guess that’s inevitable in a romance.) However, I didn’t find the romance as compelling as Sugar Beth’s story. Although Colin was an interesting character, as the out-of-place British author who revels in his designer clothes, I got a little bored with their relationship, especially in the last third of the book. The story definitely fizzled out in the last section. I was more interested in the other characters in the town, particularly the troubled marriage between Winnie, Sugar Beth’s half sister, and Ryan, her ex-boyfriend. But overall, I found Sugar Beth a memorable and unique character, and so I had to give it a slightly higher grade based on that alone.

I don't seem to be a typical SEP fan when it comes to the books I like and don't like. I find her Chicago Stars books mostly forgettable - probably because I loathe football and would rather stick pins in my eyes than read about it. However, I enjoy her unconventional heroines, which seem to offend some of her more diehard fans!

White Picket Fences by Tara Taylor Quinn

I always appreciate a heroine who is a little bit different. Although I'm far from an athlete myself, it's nice to read about a heroine who is unabashedly athletic - and a hero who admires her for it.

White Picket Fences by Tara Taylor Quinn
(2000, Contemporary Series) 6/21/08
Grade: 4

Miranda Parsons is content with her job, her family, her home. If only she didn’t have to sponsor a pet therapy group at her college - dogs are so messy! But veterinarian Zack Foster is a lot more appealing. Zack is still reeling after his wife left him for another woman, so all he wants is an affair with no strings - which is just what Miranda wants too, right?

This was a very easy book to read - I finished it in one evening. I was impressed by the way the author handled Zack’s situation. Although Zack initially blames himself for not satisfying his wife, everyone around him quickly points out that his wife’s sexual orientation wasn’t his fault (or hers) and everyone ends up friends. Miranda’s issues are given less attention - although she learns to accept her imperfections and open herself to love, at the beginning she seemed compulsive almost to the extent of OCD, and that really isn’t addressed. However, my main problem with the book was the ever-so-perfect town of Shelter Valley. Every few pages, a character gives a little lecture about how wonderful Shelter Valley is, how perfect the people are, how much better than the nasty city. I expected a comment that all the children were above average. It was way, way overdone and it became intrusive. There were also too many references to characters from previous books. These were fairly minor problems, but it made me a bit reluctant to pick up other books in this series.

What is it with romance novelists and small towns? I've met lots of romance novelists, and for the most part, they live where the rest of us do - some in small towns, but mostly in suburbs and cities and various other places. But the myth of the idyllic small town persists in romance. No place could be as perfect as the romance novel small town - everyone who lives there is virtuous, kind, and altogether above average. Maybe some readers like this, but I find it cloying, especially when the author keeps stuffing it down the reader's throat every few pages. It's a tribute to how good the rest of this book was that I graded it as highly as I did, because the endless hosannas to Shelter Valley made me want to gag after a while.

My Hero by Marianna Jameson

Whenever I read a book under less-than-ideal circumstances, I have to wonder, would I have enjoyed the book more if I hadn't been distracted by other factors? Maybe. I read this book when I was in the hospital, and as I read it, I wondered if the book seemed confusing because my brain was fuzzy. However, I've read wonderful books at times when I was sick or distracted, and found them to be the perfect escape. (I remember reading The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh at a really terrible time in my life, and I was able to completely block out everything else when I read it.)

So, I think a great book will still be great no matter what. A mediocre book, though, might seem even more flawed, when I don't have the patience to be more forgiving of its deficiencies.

My Hero by Marianna Jameson
(2005, Contemporary) 6/18/08
Grade: 3

Romance novelist Miranda Lane is best known for her sensitive Southern heroes, but her new editor demands that her new book feature an alpha hero cop from the Northeast. She decides to spend a few weeks with a college friend in Stamford CT, and meets the perfect research subject - detective Chas Casey, who isn’t really the alpha jerk she expected.

The best thing about this book was the romance background. As a beta hero lover myself, I was amused by Miranda’s distaste for alpha heroes (she initially depicts her new hero as a grunting caveman with a truck and a gun rack). The behind the scenes look at a romance novelist was a lot of fun, and it was nice to read about a romance writer who is thoughtful and serious about her writing. However, the rest of the book was very muddled. There were some fun scenes between the hero and heroine, especially at the beginning, but their relationship didn’t seem to go anywhere. The conflict between them seemed contrived. The hero’s internal conflict about whether to remain a police officer came out of nowhere, and I never got any sense of why he was so conflicted about it. The author kept throwing in scenes with bunches of characters that the reader didn’t know, and trying to justify the hero’s “inner conflict”, but it made no sense. I found the whole thing confusing and frustrating. In the end, the book just didn’t hold together.

I think I need to get back to historicals for a while. Contemporaries are just not working for me at the moment!

String of Miracles by Sally Garrett

Although the back cover implies that the "change" in Mark is a big secret, it's actually revealed to the reader very early in the book - page 19. So I don't think it's really a spoiler.

String of Miracles by Sally Garrett (HSR 524)
(1992, Contemporary Series) 6/14/08
Grade: 3.5

Mark and Nancy met when she was his legal assistant, but he only saw her as a friend. After she goes to law school, she meets Mark again, but he’s completely changed. Instead of working at a big law firm and driving a sports car, he’s living in a small town and working part time as an umpire. What happened? And can they work out the differences between them?

The best thing about this book was the unique hero. Mark was a hard driving lawyer when a heart attack forced him to completely change his life. Mark’s characterization was very good - his frustrations, his successes, his failures. The author didn’t gloss over the physical side - his scars, his physical limitations, etc. However, the characterization of Nancy was more inconsistent. I never got a real sense of who she was - one minute she was a hard driving attorney, the next she just wanted to make babies. There’s a feeling in the book that you either give it all up and be virtuous, or you’re an evil money grubbing attorney with no soul. Something about it just seemed a little cliched and irritating. In the end, the book just didn’t hold together for me.

It's funny, there are two opposing views in romance about money (particularly series romance). On the one hand, books about Billionaires and Sheiks and Tycoons are ever popular. On the other hand, a lot of series romances romanticize the small town "simple life". Cities are bad, career ambition is bad, wanting money is bad. (On the other hand, it's OK to inherit loads of it, but you can't want it.) Romance heroes and heroines extol the virtues of the simple life, but somehow they can always afford charming cottages and meals at homespun local restaurants. Sometimes it's a nice fantasy, but other times, I find it a bit much. (Like when I'm wondering if an unemployment check will cover my rent...)

Maybe This Time by Kathleen Gilles Seidel

I've read a few books by Seidel, but the only one I really loved was Again (which is a keeper for me). I think it's a combination of the setting (I used to be a soap opera fan, and I loved the behind the scenes setting) and the strong love story, which Seidel often lacks. I admire many of her books, but they just don't do much for me emotionally.

Maybe This Time by Kathleen Gilles Seidel
(1990, Contemporary) 6/12/08
Grade: 3.5

In high school, they were all great friends, and everyone assumed Jeff and Emily would live happily ever after. But it didn’t work out that way, and 15 years later, Emily gets a reminder of the past that pushes her back to her old home town and her high school friends... and Jeff.

The characters in this book were very well written. I really loved the characterization of Emily - her insecurities about being a woman in a male-dominated workplace, her strike for independence by buying her own house, her attempts to become less rigid and more open. Jeff is slightly less defined, but I appreciated his struggles with his family history, how his life and career were shaped by his high school journalism teacher (who wasn’t the hero that Jeff wanted him to be), etc. The secondary characters were mostly defined in terms of how they related to Jeff and Emily, but they had their own unique qualities as well. However, the major drawback in this book was the complete lack of chemistry between Emily and Jeff. They were supposed to have this great love, but no matter how often the author told me that they were attracted to each other, they always seemed to relate to each other as platonic friends, not lovers. The book seemed very episodic, and I think part of that was because the romantic relationship that was supposed to hold the story together just wasn’t there.

The book also felt dated, in an odd way. It came out in 1990, but the characters were teenagers in the mid-60's, which would put the book in the late 70's or early 80's. Some things are universal, but although I appreciated Emily's struggle to be taken seriously at work, some of it pulled me out of the story. It's funny, I can read a historical and not be bothered, but a book set in the 70's seems hard to understand sometimes!

Summer Fancy by Anne Avery

I have a fondness for America books. (Americana books are set in the American West, but they usually feature people living in small towns, rather than on a farm or a ranch. If a character lives on a farm, he's part of a town community, rather than out on the frontier.) I've read a couple of other Anne Avery books, and found them enjoyable - I don't think she's writing any more. And Americana seems to be out of fashion these days, except for a few Harlequin Historical authors like Cheryl St. John.

Summer Fancy by Anne Avery
(1997, American West) 6/7/08
Grade: 3.5

When Zeke Jeffries moves to Rocky Ford, Colorado, the only thing on his mind is a good crop of watermelon. But the townsfolk have other ideas - especially the eligible women (and their determined mamas). Even Sophie, a flat chested spinster of 26, can’t help dreaming of Zeke, and Zeke finds himself charmed in spite of himself!

A cute story about two unlikely lovers, with a well drawn Americana setting. (It takes place in 1893.) Although Zeke’s diary entries weren’t quite integrated into the book - sometimes he’s writing in his diary, sometimes his thoughts and activities are just presented in the regular way, and there’s no real rhyme or reason to it - but I thought both Zeke and Sophie were enjoyable characters. But there just wasn’t a lot to this story, in terms of emotion, especially toward the end when Sophie decides not to marry Zeke for reasons that don’t make much sense. (It felt contrived.) However, the book was an enjoyable “slice of life” story that you don’t see much in romance any more.

I have never understood why American settings aren't more popular. There are lots of people who are fascinated by American history and geneology, and authors like LaVyrle Spencer are still much beloved by romance readers. Is it just not romantic enough, to think of the hero and heroine living happily ever after on a watermelon farm, rather than living a life of luxury in Regency England?

Night of the Hunter by Jennifer Greene

For a few months, I was really inspired to read, for some reason. I was reading several books a week, a pace that I haven't equalled since I was a grad student. But I kind of got sidetracked - right now, nothing in my TBR seems to excite me. I tried and discarded about a half dozen series books, and finally made it through this one - but nothing is jumping out at me and saying "read me!" at the moment.

Night of the Hunter by Jennifer Greene (SD 481)
(1989, Contemporary Series) 6/1/08
Grade: 3

Loner Carson Tanner doesn’t need anyone, but he’s drawn to the great Snowy owl with a broken wing. As he’s trying to help the bird, he stumbles onto Charly Erickson’s farm. Charly is different from any woman he’s ever known - always accepting of him, no matter how he pushes him away, but insecure and certain that no one could want a woman like her.

This book was, unfortunately, rather blah. I read it in short stretches over a couple of weeks, and it was very easy to put it down and forget about it. Jennifer Greene’s books are always well written, and the characters were well drawn, but they don’t really rise above their stereotypes (the hard bitten loner, the proud but insecure spinster). The details about the Snowy owl and life in northern Minnesota were fairly interesting, but there just wasn’t much here to keep my attention.

I wasn't going to even put this in my database, but I'll admit, in the week or so since I finished this one, it has stuck with me. More the setting than the characters, but at least that's something.