The Wedding Ring Promise by Susan Mallery

I'm trying to clear out some of my old series books - this one was surprisingly appealing.

The Wedding Ring Promise by Susan Mallery (SSE 1190)
(1998, Contemporary Series) 3/31/2012
Grade: 3.5

Ten years after Dylan Black gave her a ring and promised her an adventure “someday”, Molly desperately needs a distraction. After losing her job and her fiancee, and waiting for news from her doctor, she looks up the former bad boy. Dylan has become a success, but he’s always had a soft spot for Molly, and they decide to spend a week together... as friends. But friendship may lead to something more.

I can see from this early book why Susan Mallory became a success. She manages to take a fairly standard story and make it more interesting than you might expect. The love scenes in particular have a down-to-earth realism that you rarely see in categories. The characters were appealing, if somewhat familiar. I found myself skipping ahead a few times, but overall, this was an enjoyable, if predictable, read.

Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb

I keep reading these even though they've become a bit repetitive. At least this one was from the library.

Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb
(2012, Futuristic Suspense) 3/1/2012
Grade: 3.5

Eve becomes an inadvertent celebrity when the Icove case is turned into a movie, and a murder takes place at a party with all the stars in attendance. Eve and Peabody find themselves in the middle of a Hollywood scandal.

Fun but rather light and a bit dull. This book had some fun moments with Eve and Peabody, but the story just wasn’t as interesting as some of the other books in the series. It was enjoyable for the characters but I found myself a little bored.

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

The first historical I've read in a while...

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant
(2011, Regency Historical) 1/16/2012
Grade: 4.5

After the sudden death of her husband, Martha Russell has one chance to save the estate from his cruel brother (and herself from a life as a dependent) - to conceive a child. She makes an arrangement with a neighbor for him to have sex with her every day for the next month, but she is determined it will have nothing to do with desire - or love. But as she gets to know Theo Mirkwood, her task becomes more difficult...

This book started out wonderfully. If I hadn’t read the reviews, I might have expected this to be yet another one of those books about a widow wanting “experience”, but the approach was quite different here. There’s a real depth to the characters, as the heroine learns to respect the hero and the hero finds a purpose in his life beyond pleasure. The first two thirds of the book were just superb. Unfortunately, the book fell down a bit in the last third. The focus shifted to the plot, and making sure all of the different threads were wrapped up. There were fewer interactions between the hero and heroine. The final section was almost confusing, it was so stuffed with plot points. It left the book with a slightly less-than-perfect impression, although it was still very enjoyable and worth reading.

Winning the Wallflower by Eloisa James

A short story that was a bit disappointing...

Winning the Wallflower by Eloisa James
(2011, Regency Historical) 1/1/2012
Grade: 3

When Lucy unexpectedly inherits a fortune, her mother is thrilled because it means Lucy can break off her engagement to the son of a solicitor, who is wealthy but not suitable. But Lucy isn’t so sure. Cyrus Ravensthorpe is attractive, but Lucy wonders if there’s something more behind his silent exterior. It takes a broken engagement for each of them to learn who the other really is on the inside.

This started off very well, with interesting characters and an almost Julia Quinn-ish writing style. The characters were well drawn and unique, despite the short story length. However, the story was just too short - even shorter than expected since half of the length of the Kindle book was taken up by excerpts from other books. The story was just getting started when abruptly it was over. It left me somewhat unsatisfied.

New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb

I haven't been updating this blog regularly - I haven't been reading a lot but I have read a few books.

New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb
(2011, Futuristic Suspense) 12/30/2011
Grade: 3.5

Eve has to relive one of her earliest cases as a detective... and her traumatic past... when she has to track down a pedophile and serial killer who has escaped from prison. But she never expected to be drawn back to Dallas, and to discover an even closer connection to the killer.

This was a good entry in the Robb series, with some interesting twists and turns. Eve and Roarke’s reaction to Texas “niceness” was fun, and the twist involving Eve’s mother was shocking and painful. But the stories are becoming repetitive, even if they are still extremely readable.