First Comes Marriage by Mary Balogh

I've been waiting for the last book to come out before I delved into Balogh's latest series. She's been a bit disappointing to me lately, but I live in hope!

First Comes Marriage by Mary Balogh
(2009, Regency Historical) 5/31/10
Grade: 3.5

When Viscount Lyngate arrives in their small village, Vanessa Huxtable Dew isn’t expecting her life to change. But soon she and her family are whisked away, as her younger brother has unexpectedly inherited an Earldom. Vanessa finds herself married to the viscount, her brother’s guardian - is it just to save her family, or is there more emotion involved?

This is the first book in a new Balogh series, and a lot of time is spent introducing the characters for the next four books. This takes away from the main romance between Elliott and Vanessa - but their romance doesn’t have a lot of conflict, so the time spent with other characters doesn’t detract much from the story. She thinks she’s plain but it determined to be happy anyway, he’s stuffy and afraid of love because his father was unfaithful - it all seems like a pale copy of Balogh’s other books. Vanessa, in particular, is very reminiscent of Christine in the much better Slightly Dangerous, but this book lacks the depth of emotion that that book had. (The most moving part of the book is Vanessa’s devotion to her first husband, who died young of consumption, but even that lacks some depth of feeling.) There’s nothing terribly wrong with this book - the characters are pleasant and the book is well written - but it just doesn’t bring anything new to this nice but familiar story. 3.5 - grading on the Balogh scale, since I know how much better her books can be.

There were things I really liked about this book, and I might have given a newer author more of a pass - but I know Balogh can take a familiar story and make it sing, and she just didn't do that here. So Balogh gets graded on a curve.

Broadway Nights by Seth Rudetsky

This was great fun. It tells the story of a part-time Broadway pianist who is now the music director of his first show - and all of his personal and professional dramas. I listened to the audio version and it was hilarious. It's read by the author (with guest appearances by lots of actors and actresses) and it's full of great dish about Broadway. It might have been a little too long in book form, but as an audio it was great. Very funny, and it made my commute fly by. Since this isn't a romance, I'm not going to give it an official rating, but I would highly recommend it to Broadway fans. (This is kind of an odd picture, but I bought the unabridged audio from Audible.)

Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb

Still a fan of the J.D. Robb books, although this one was not her best.

Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb
(2010, Futuristic Suspense) 5/22/2010
Grade: 3

The latest in the Eve/Roarke series. In this installment, the head of a computer game company is killed during a holo game, but how did it happen when he was alone in his apartment? And were his three business partners as close as they appeared to be?

This was one of the weaker entries in the series. The personal interactions between Eve and her friends were nice enough (I particularly liked Peabody in this one) but the case itself was dull. The three main suspects were barely distinguishable through most of the book, and the motive seemed to appear out of nowhere in the last 50 pages. Considering Roarke is supposed to be a computer genius, it seemed odd that no one even considered the method the killer used until almost the end of the book. (It seemed obvious to me in the first chapter). Usually I read the In Death books in a few hours, even the less interesting books in the series, but I found myself plodding through this one. It did improve in the last 100 pages or so, but overall, this one just fell short.

Multi-billionaire Roarke isn't exactly a realistic hero, but I had to laugh in this book when he mentions that he works on hologames in his spare time. In between working on cases with Eve and running half the businesses on the planet, presumably.

The Heart of Christmas (Anthology)

Seems a little odd to be reading a Christmas anthology while sitting by the pool in Florida (in May!) but somehow it worked.

The Heart of Christmas (Anthology)
(2009, Regency) 5/2/10
Grade: 3.5

Three stories: A Handful of Gold by Mary Balogh, A Season for Suitors by Nicola Cornick, This Wicked Gift by Courtney Milan. The first two are reprints, the third is new.

The Balogh story is a reprint, but it's still one of her most charming. The heroine, Verity Ewing has to become a mistress to save her sick sister. Julian Dare is planning a week of debauchery before an arranged marriage. But when they are stranded in the snow at Christmas, the find love. A little schmaltzy, but Balogh always gets me even when the story is as corny as this one.

The Cornick story is also a reprint, although I hadn't read it. It feels like an excerpt from a longer book. The heroine, Clara Davenport, has been in love with Sebastian Fleet for years, but he considers her just a friend. Finally she turns to him for advice, and he starts to see her in a new light. The characters were interesting, but it felt like a badly abridged version of a full length book - a lot of important details were missing.

The Milan story was well written and unusual, but it also felt somewhat contrived. The most interesting aspect was that the hero and heroine were not wealthy or titled. They were working people on the edge of poverty. The dialogue was also well written. However, the setup was odd. The heroine sleeps with the hero because he bought up her brothers debt.. but not really. At first they seem to be strangers, but then they act like they've been deeply in love for years. The story just felt unfinished, as if the author had to leave important parts out to fit it in the allotted page length. It definitely showed promise, but it didn't quite work for me.

Writing short stories is definitely an art, and most authors are not that good at it. Too many of them try to squeeze a full length book into short story length. And yet, I keep trying, because a good short story is so satisfying!

Always Valentine's Day by Kristin Hardy

Another vacation read - I read this one on the beach and in the jacuzzi tub. Such a great place to enjoy a good book!

Always Valentine's Day by Kristin Hardy (SSE 1952)
(2009, Contemporary Series) 5/1/10
Grade: 3.5

Larkin Hayes is on a cruise to Alaska to reconnect with her father after his latest divorce. But she keeps running into Christopher Trask, a goat farmer from Vermont, and his widowed aunt, Molly. After the cruise, they all meet again in Vermont - and Larkin finds that goats are more interesting than she'd expected.

This was a surprisingly fun and charming book. The characters were interesting and well written, and had more depth than you might expect. Even though the story was a bit predictable, the author does a good job with the two settings (the Alaskan cruise and the Vermont goat farm) and creates believable conflicts between the characters. The only negative was that a lot of secondary characters are shoehorned into the first section of the book, presumably because they appeared in previous stories. But they mostly disappear once the book gets going. Overall, an enjoyable read.

I debated whether to give this a higher grade, but it wasn't that memorable. A week later and I can barely remember it. But I enjoyed it while it lasted.

The Trouble with J.J. by Tami Hoag

I always pick some older books to take with me on the plane. This one kept me entertained on my trip to Florida.

The Trouble with J.J. by Tami Hoag
(1988, Contemporary Series) 4/28/10
Grade: 3

This is a reprint of an old Loveswept from the 80's. Genna Hastings is appalled when a tacky football player moves in next door, along with his collection of pink flamingos. But J.J. Hennessy turns out to be more interesting than she expected, and when he needs her help to gain custody of his adorable daughter, Genna starts to see J.J. in a new light.

This was a cute and charming book that worked well for the first two thirds, but fell apart in the last third. The hero and heroine had great chemistry, and their banter was fun and light hearted. The story was a bit cliched but for the first part of the book, it worked. However, the book lost its charm in the last section. Once the hero and heroine got together, the author throws in a bunch of silly misunderstandings to keep the story going, and unfortunately it let me feeling a bit disappointed.

It's amazing that the publisher was able to stretch this book into 320 pages. The print was huge! I guess you have to do something to make a skinny little Loveswept look like a full length book.

Something About You by Julie James

I'm such a bad reader! This is the first book I've read since January - shocking! I guess my New Year's resolution to read a book a week didn't work very well. One of my online reading groups picked this book for a book chat, so that forced me to finish something, finally.

Something About You by Julie James
(2010, Contemporary) 4/10/10
Grade: 3.5

When assistant U.S. attorney Cameron Lynde spends a weekend at a hotel, she never thought she'd witness a murder - or come face to face with FBI Agent Jack Pallas again. Three years ago, she'd worked with Jack and felt a strong attraction, but the investigation had ended badly. Now she's forced to work with him again - and this time, the sparks will really fly...

This book started with a lot of promise. Julie James is excellent at writing snappy dialogue and building sexual tension between characters. I enjoyed the interplay between Cameron and Jack. There were also great secondary characters, particularly Cameron's friend Collin and Jack's partner Wilkins. But after a while, I wanted more, and it just wasn't there. The book started to feel like yet another cookie cutter romantic suspense book. This was a real disappointment to me, because James's earlier books felt so fresh and innovative. I'm not a big fan of romantic suspense, and I just didn't care about the action scenes and the "killer on the loose" plotline. I was more interested in learning about the characters, and while there was some depth (particularly when it came to the heroine's relationship to her friends), there just wasn't enough character development. The sex scenes were hot, but they felt like dozens of other hot scenes I'd read before. (It's a bad sign when the hero and heroine are having hot sex and all you can think is, "will they get done soon so we can go back to the gay friend?") The characters just didn't engage me enough to make the familiar story feel new.

This probably sounds like I hated the book, which I didn't. It was well written and had some great dialogue. If this was by another author, I probably wouldn't have been so disappointed - but if it had been by another author, I probably wouldn't have bought it in the first place. Romantic suspense - even witty, hot romantic suspense - is just not my cup of tea. But it is a huge disappointment to find that my favorite author of 2009 has turned into yet another "eh, it was OK, I guess" author. And I see her next book is yet another FBI-agent-chasing-killers book. Sigh... still on the lookout for a good contemporary author who doesn't write about FBI agents.

A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore

I'm always on the lookout for new authors. To me, one of the great pleasures of reading is discovering a new author - I would be so bored if I only read the same old favorites! (Not to mention, I have to keep finding new authors, as my previous favorites stop writing the books that I enjoy the most.) And so, even if a debut book has flaws, it's still an enjoyable experience.

A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore
(2009, Regency Historical) 1/3/2010
Grade: 3.5

After seven years mourning her husband Garrett, who died at Waterloo, Sophie is finally happily married to his cousin and best friend, Tristan. But when Garrett returns alive, Sophie is pulled in two directions. Garrett was her first love, but he seems so different. And is there something strange about his reappearance, with the mysterious Mr. Fisk at his side?

This book had a lot of promise, and even though it had some flaws as well, I have high hopes for the author in the future. She does a great job showing how the heroine is torn between these two men, and how she loves them both. I wish she’d spent more time describing how Sophie had changed over the years, and come into her own as an adult woman since Garrett left - it’s mentioned a few times but it could have been explored in more detail. Because of that, I felt that Sophie’s ultimate choice wasn’t given enough support. She says all the right things at the end about why she made the choice she did, but there’s a long section in the middle where she barely thinks about the other guy, so I was a little skeptical when she declares that it was “always him” at the end. (I’m being vague so not to be too spoilery.) But it’s a nice change from the usual romance triangle, where the “other man” has to either turn out to be evil, or die tragically. Kudos to the author for avoiding both of those cliches.

The other flaw here is a couple of sex scenes that seem out of place - one at the beginning that involves bondage for no apparent reason (it’s never mentioned again) and another one that involves a fantasy about a threesome. They just didn’t seem to go with the rest of the book, and it almost felt like they were thrown in to make the book “hotter”. It was just an unnecessary distraction from the real substance of the book.

On the other hand, the plot about Garrett’s disappearance and the mysterious Mr. Fisk kept building and building throughout the book, until I couldn’t stop turning the pages to see what was going to happen. I debated on how to rate this one - I had to grade it down just a bit because the romance didn’t quite work, but it had so much going for it - I’ve already added the author’s next book to my wish list.

I have to comment on the cover. I know that authors don't choose their covers. But I've been laughing at this cover ever since I first saw it last spring! What is she doing with that flower?? Tucking it in her butt cleavage? Scratching an itch? I know some people thought this cover was pretty, but it just looks uncomfortable to me, not sexy.

The Lost (Anthology)

I just finished this anthology, which contains stories by J.D. Robb, Patricia Gaffney, Mary Blayney and Ruth Ryan Langan.

The Lost (Anthology)
(2009, Suspense) 1/1/2010
Grade: 4, 4, 2, 2

J.D. Robb: A woman goes missing from the Staten Island Ferry. Patricia Gaffney: A wife and mother awakens from a coma to discover she’s n the body of a dog. Mary Blayney: A cursed man finds hope with a religious singing nurse. Ruth Ryan Langan: A woman travels to Ireland to discover whether she’s the long lost daughter of a tycoon.

Two of the stories were excellent, and the other two were dull. The Blayney story was too convoluted for me. I read about 30 pages, but it just didn’t add up to a coherent story. The Langan story was very predictable. I predicted everything that would happen on page 1, and I wasn’t surprised.

The Robb story was one of the better installments of this series. I was a little worried about the mysterious futuristic gadget that comes up during the story, but it doesn’t magically solve the mystery. The most interesting part of the story was the question it brought up for Eve - is killing ever justified? It puts her outlook on life up against Roarke’s, and I would have loved to see this expanded to a full length book. Still, the story held together and I enjoyed it.

The most surprising story was The Dog Days of Laurie Summer by Patricia Gaffney. It was really funny! And yet, all of the fun elements of a woman-in-a-dog went with the real emotions of the heroine trying to connect with her family. It was very unexpected from Gaffney, and definitely made the anthology worth reading.

It's always hard to justify paying $7.99 for an anthology that might only contain one or two good stories. But this might be a good book to get from the library, just for the Gaffney story (and the Robb if you are an Eve and Roarke fan).

P.S. Trying to spiff up my blog with pictures - we'll see how that works out!

Best of 2009

I've been very disappointed in myself this year! I only read 31 books, compared to 102 last year, and almost all of those were in the first few months of the year. I have barely read anything at all since June. Admittedly, I've been very busy, with moving and starting a new job, but one of my resolutions this year is to read more. My goal is a book a week. (If I don't start reading, my TBR pile will overwhelm me!)

I only had two books this year that I graded 4.5, which is the equivalent of an A read. (No keepers, but I've become very picky about those...) One was a 2009 book, Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James. I think one reason I loved this book so much was that it was a contemporary. It's so hard to find a great contemporary! The other was a mostly unknown Harlequin Temptation from 2003, Room But Not Bored by Dawn Atkins. I really loved the characters, who weren't stereotypical at all, and I loved that the conflict came out of who they were as people, and felt very real. Although it's out of print, I'd recommend looking for it at a used bookstore! (If you can still find one - the great used bookstores seem to be disappearing, especially ones that carry back lists.)

Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

Room But Not Bored by Dawn Atkins

Here are the other books that I gave good grades (4). All of these were well worth reading. Not very many from 2009 - I didn't buy a lot of books this year. Hopefully more 2009 books will turn up on my future lists.

Marrying the Captain by Carla Kelly (2009)
Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James (2008)
The Legacy by T.J. Bennett (2008)
The Holly and the Ivy by Elisabeth Fairchild (1999)
The Fifth Favor by Shelby Reed (2005)
Shadows of the Heart by Tracy Grant (1996)
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins (1996)
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (2009)
Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory (2009)
Christmas Promise by Carla Kelly (short story) (2009)

One thing these all have in common - they all tried something different. Sometimes it was a different setting, or a different type of character, or a different storyline, but they weren't the same-old-same-old. Although I appreciate a tried-and-true story if it's done well, it's nice to see something new and different (if it's done well!).

One bonus of not reading a lot this year - not many clunkers. (I gave up on a few books without finishing them, but I don't count those.) The only truly bad books I read this year were The Wicked Ways of a Duke by Laura Lee Guhrke, which I read at the very beginning of January and mentioned last year, and The Santangeli Marriage by Sara Craven, which made it very clear to me that Harlequin Presents is Not For Me. But nothing since January that really made me want to scream and throw things. I guess that's a good thing!

So now I'm off to attack my TBR pile. Hopefully I'll have much more to report in the near future!


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Now playing: Owl City - Fireflies
via FoxyTunes

A Regency Christmas (Anthology)

It's nice to see Harlequin continuing the tradition of the Regency Christmas anthology, even if only one of the stories was really worth reading.

A Regency Christmas by Lyn Stone, Carla Kelly and Gail Ranstrom
(2009, Regency) 12/28/09
Grade: 2, 4 and DNF

Three Christmas stories by Lyn Stone, Carla Kelly and Gail Ranstrom. The Lyn Stone story is about a wounded captain who is thrown together with an equally troubled woman. Carla Kelly revists Navy captains with a story about a navy captain reviving a romance with an old love, now widowed. And Gail Ranstrom’s story is about the reading of a will.

The Lyn Stone story had promise, but it seemed like enough story for a book (or two) was crammed into 90 pages, and in the end, the story fell apart under its own weight. The Gail Ranstrom story felt very mannered and didn’t appeal, so I gave up after 20 pages. But the Carla Kelly story, Christmas Promise, made this book worthwhile. It was a lovely story of a Navy captain, left at loose ends when the war ends, rediscovering the woman he grew up with, who married his best friend, and who is now widowed. Somehow Carla Kelly can fit a story like this into 90 pages without it seeming rushed or incomplete (although I would have loved more). Her hero, Jeremiah Falk, was wonderful - somehow Kelly can write heroes who can be vulnerable but still very strong. The heroine was less well characterized (she was one of Kelly’s trademark strong-and-virtuous heroines) but she had her moments. Despite the short length, it left me with warm fuzzies, and it was a perfect compliment to her recent books about Naval heroes. A 4+ for that story (and alas, a 2 for the others).

I was looking through my Christmas anthologies from Mary Balogh and Mary Jo Putney, and Carla Kelly definitely needs an anthology of her own. (I saw in an interview that her publishers were considering it. Please, pretty please!) The interview (at Word Wenches) also said that the original title for this story was While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks, which is a great title, but I think Christmas Promise works well with the story.

Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb

I haven't posted in so long! I've barely read anything in the past few months. It took a library notice to nudge me into reading something new.

Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb
(2009, Futuristic Romantic Suspense) 12/26/09
Grade: 3.5

When the 16 year old daughter of a NY police captain is murdered, Eve Dallas is on the case. The horrific scene shocks even Eve, but she and Roarke methodically investigate, tracing the crime back over decades, to the police captain’s past.

Although I’m not usually a fan of suspense, there is something about the J.D. Robb books that attracts me. Maybe because they are procedurals and I like seeing all the pieces fall into place. This one felt very Law and Order-ish (and that’s a compliment). There wasn’t a lot of emphasis on the secondary characters, although we get to see Eve working with her team, including Roarke. (I was amused by his annoyance with the tedium of police work, although you would think he’d be used to it by now!) Overall, I found this a solid entry in the series, although nothing exceptional.

Interesting that there is no mention of Nora Roberts anywhere on the book, unlike previous books in the series. The jacket merely says "J.D. Robb is the pseudonym for a number-one New York Times bestselling author." I wonder if they're trying to widen the book's appeal to men? This would be a good book for a newbie to start with, if they didn't want to go back to the beginning - although I'm not sure if a reader could understand Eve without knowing her back story.

Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

For some reason I forgot to enter this in my database, back when I read it in April. Strange! Hopefully I'll get the details right after this long delay. My only excuse is that I was in the middle of packing...

Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James
(2009, Contemporary) 4/21/09
Grade: 4.5

Payton Kendall has worked hard, and now she’s on the verge of making partner at her law firm. The only obstacle? A sexual harrassment case and her personal nemesis - fellow lawyer J.D. Jameson, who’s had everything handed to him on a silver platter. But is she seeing truth when it comes to JD, or is she judging him just like he’s judged her?

A very clever and interesting book. I usually hate the “I hate you so we must secretly love each other” books, but this one makes it work - maybe because of the law firm backdrop. It made sense for these two to constantly be at odds. The hero and heroine are both very smart and dedicated and love their jobs, which is always refreshing to read about. The law firm background was very well done and believable. I found the “big misunderstanding” in the middle a little hard to believe, and that made the last third a bit slow, but the book came back at the end. (I was relieved that it didn’t end with one or the other having to give up their career dreams.) This wasn’t a perfect book, but I have to give it a little boost because it was unique, and I love a good contemporary (they’re so hard to find these days!)

Good romance contemporaries are so hard to find, especially if you're not looking for a sex-fest or a romantic suspense. I wonder why? Some of the highest sellers in romance started out in contemporary - Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz, etc. And when I go to the bookstore, those are the books I see people buying, even if they're buying reprints. So why are there so few new single title contemporaries being published? Even Nora Roberts can't write fast enough to satisfy the entire contemporary market.

Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory

Although medieval England isn't my favorite setting, I enjoy reading medievals from time to time, to have some variety if nothing else. But for a long time they've been almost extinct, especially in single titles. (Harlequin Historical kept publishing them.) It's nice to see a new author who is writing medievals, with more on the way.

Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory
(2009, Medieval) 8/4/09
Grade: 4

After 5 years of marriage to a brutal husband, Catherine risks everything to spy for the crown (and to help her old friend, Prince Harry). But after her husband is killed, she is forced to marry William FitzAlan, who isn’t sure if she can be trusted. Can Catherine overcome her painful past and learn to trust her new husband, and can William learn to trust her as well?

Although the plotline was fairly typical, this was an enjoyable medieval. The book was well written, and the characters were interesting. I enjoyed the unusual background of the English-Welsh wars of the early 1400’s, and the soon-to-be King Henry V. I got a little frustrated by the hero’s mistrust of the heroine (which went on a little too long), and the book got a little slow in the last third. (How many times can one heroine be kidnapped?) I would have preferred a little more emotional depth and a little less action. But overall, I enjoyed it, and I’m glad to see medievals back on romance shelves.

I'm sure I learned all about this time period in history class, but my memory is pretty vague. My only knowledge of Henry V is Shakespeare and St. Crispin's Day - but I couldn't tell you exactly what they were fighting about. (So much for having a minor in history!)

The Courtesan's Wager by Claudia Dain

I don't normally write about books that I don't finish, but in this case, I made an exception. I made it over 100 pages into this one before giving up, and it was a book that I was really looking forward to (and thought that I would enjoy). So I wanted to write something about it.

The Courtesan's Wager by Claudia Dain
(2009, Regency Historical) 8/3/09
Grade: DNF

The basic plotline - Amelia wants to marry a Duke, but they haven't noticed her. So she goes to see the infamous Lady Sophia Dalby, a onetime courtesan, who has a reputation for arranging advantageous matches.

Unfortunately, I had problems with this book. Firstly, it was very hard to follow without having read the previous books. I'm usually pretty good at coming into series in the middle, because I hate having to read two or three mediocre books in order to get to the good one in the series, but in this case, there were so many characters that it was hard to follow without knowing the background.

Secondly, the writing style. It wasn't bad, and in many cases it was very witty. But it lacked emotional involvement. I never felt close to the main characters, and I felt that the author was keeping me at a distance, watching from afar instead of getting into the characters' heads and hearts. This is a style that some people like, but I prefer a more direct and emotional style. Even after 100 pages, I didn't really care about the characters, and I think the writing style had a lot to do with that.

I didn't get a lot of the hero-heroine relationship (by page 100, they'd barely spoken to each other), but it seemed like it was going to be one of those "I hate you so I must love you" stories. Since I just glanced through the second half of the book (and skipped ahead and read the end), I could be wrong about that, but it's one of my least favorite romance tropes.

It's not that unusual for me, not to finish a book. I probably only finish half of the books that I start - I have too many books in my TBR pile to spend my time reading books I don't enjoy. But I was surprised by my reaction to this book. It was highly praised at Dear Author, and I guess I was expecting something quite different. (I actually assumed that the heroine would be the courtesan, based on what I'd heard of the book online, and I was quite surprised that she was not - I was expecting the Amelia storyline to become a secondary romance. She's a major character, but she's not the romantic lead.) And of course, the fact that it was a trade paperback made not finishing even more disappointing.

I guess it comes down to my tastes. I'm actually a pretty traditional romance reader, and when I pick up a romance, I want something specific - an emotional experience focused on the relationship between the hero and heroine. And that's not really what this book was about, even though it was nominally a romance.

The Santangeli Marriage by Sara Craven

There's a huge spoiler in this review. I couldn't really talk about how I felt about this book without discussing the ending.

I hardly ever read Harlequin Presents. The uber-rich, uber-dominant alpha heroes just don't appeal to me. But I love the exotic settings, which are so rare in other contemporary romances, so I'll pick one up if it's recommended to me (and if I'm assured that the hero isn't too much of an alpha jerk.) Oddly enough, that wasn't the problem with this book.

The Santangeli Marriage by Sara Craven (HP Extra #61)
(2009, Contemporary Series) 7/31/09
Grade: 2.5

Italian billionaire and playboy Lorenzo Santangeli is willing to marry his late mother’s innocent goddaughter. They grew up together, and he’s ready to settle down and have a family. But Marisa isn’t so sure, and after a honeymoon full of misunderstandings, she flees to London. Can they rebuild a marriage that never really began?

I usually like marriage in trouble stories, but this one was just frustrating. HP is known for its alpha heroes, but at least they’re usually straightforward about what they want. The hero here can’t make up his mind - does he want Marisa or not? But the heroine is much worse. She spends most of the book dithering - she loves him, she hates him, she loves him, she hates him. And the endless whining! I just wanted her to make up her mind one way or the other. The misunderstandings were endless - she loves him but can’t tell him, he loves her but won’t admit it, on and on. So why did I keep reading? At first I was curious about what would happen - I kept thinking that at some point, we’d get the “falling in love” part. (Not really, they’re still dithering on page 150 of a 184 page book.) Then I skimmed forward to the end, and I was intrigued.

(This is the spoiler part.) The heroine finds out she can’t have children, which threatens to ruin their marriage since having an heir is a big deal for the hero. That’s an unusual plot twist for a romance, especially in a traditional series romance like a HP. But the way it was handled was strange. The hero tells the heroine he loves her, but he never says “we can be happy without children” or “we can adopt” or anything like that. The implication is there, sort of, but it seemed odd that he didn’t say it. He just skips over the whole issue. It made me wonder if HP was trying to leave the ending vague, so readers can imagine a “miracle pregnancy” in the future if they want. (Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but given the rarity of an infertile heroine in a Harlequin, I had to wonder why the ending seemed to leave out an element that seemed like a crucial part of the story.)

I'm afraid this book hasn't convinced me to pick up more HP books. One of my favorite review sites seems to love them, and whenever I read their reviews, I think "oh, this one will be different". I must learn to resist that temptation, because so far, I haven't found a single HP that I enjoyed. Even as a guilty pleasure.

The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor

I like the idea of interconnected stories - there have only been a few Regency anthologies that had this idea, and I'm sure it's a lot of work for the authors, but it gives the stories a common background, and that helps when trying to create a romance that works despite the short page count.

The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor (Anthology)
Stories by Diane Gaston, Deb Marlowe and Amanda McCabe
(2009, Regency) 6/14/09
Grade: 3.5

Three interconnected stories by Diane Gaston, Deb Marlowe and Amanda McCabe. The illegitimate children of the Duke and Duchess of Manning live a charmed life despite their scandalous reputation, but after their parents’ deaths, they have to find love while still being true to the lively spirit of their family and the happy times they’ve shared at Welbourne.

I enjoyed the Regency feel of the three stories more than I enjoyed any particular love story. None of them was all that emotionally involving as a romance. However, I liked the overall atmosphere of the book, and the interesting background the authors gave to this family. (I wondered how historically accurate it was - none of the characters suffer any serious problems due to their illegitimacy, which seems surprising despite Prinny’s approval.) The first story, Justine and Brenner, did the most to lay out the family background, and perhaps because of that, the romance seemed like an afterthought. However, I felt it had the most emotional involvement of the three, with Justine’s questioning her place in the family, and Brenner’s struggle to deal with his mother’s desertion. The second story, Ned and Annalise, was the most fully realized as a romance, but it felt a bit superficial. And the last story, Drew and Charlotte, felt the most perfunctory - it was the shortest, and the most questionable in terms of the historical background. But overall, I enjoyed entering the world the authors created, even if the stories were too short to really delve into the characters.

Another book that explores the world of illegitimate children in the Regency. Unfortunately, this one mostly ignored the problem - I'm sure money and royal connections went a long way toward smoothing their path, but still, I couldn't help wondering when Annalise and Charlotte discuss "having a season" in London. Would that have been a realistic option?

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

I'm always a fan of unusual heroes, so of course I was all over this book!

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley
(2009, Victorian) 5/21/09
Grade: 4

Lord Ian Mackenzie is considered rather “odd”. Some people call him mad. But widowed heiress Beth Ackerley sees his kindness and his sexual attraction, and wants to get to know him better - in bed and out of it. But will secrets from his past drive them apart?

This book had a slow start. I was intrigued by Ian and Beth in the first couple of chapters, but then the book got bogged down in lengthy introductions of Ian’s brothers (set up for their own books), as well as a complicated murder mystery and long detailed sex scenes. The characters got lost, and I began to wonder if the book was worth finishing. Thankfully, in the second half , the author settled down and focused on Beth and Ian, and the book got much more interesting. I’m no expert on Aspergers, but the characterization of Ian rang true (most of the time), and the author was able to balance Ian’s problems with the romantic necessity of making him capable of a relationship with Beth. I also found Beth an interesting and unique character, with an unusual background that felt very Victorian. The mystery was perhaps a little too convoluted, and it depended too much on bringing in a villain at the last minute, but after the first section, it managed to influence the events of the book without taking over. Overall, I enjoyed the book very much, although it didn’t grab me emotionally (surprisingly, considering the subject), maybe because it took so long to really get going.

It's surprising, a number of authors have written books about "mad" heroes, but then the books don't really pay off with a deeply emotional story that focuses on the hero and his problems. Although this book was enjoyable, I was disappointed that so much space was taken up by the mystery, when what I really wanted was more of the hero and less of "who killed the prostitute". I can think of a couple of other books in the last few years that also had "mad" heroes, but the author didn't follow through. I wonder why - it seems like readers who are attracted to this kind of story are the kinds of readers who want emotional intensity, not yet another murder mystery or endless pages of sex scenes - but the authors keep throwing the other stuff in there instead of really following through with the angst. Come on, authors, give us what we want! (A selfish demand, I know, but what can I say, I'm a demanding reader! :->)

My New TBR Pile (Much Smaller!)

About six months ago, I decided I needed to significantly downsize my TBR pile. I had a lot of books that I had gotten at book signings, from sales tables, romance conferences, etc., that I realized I would never read. I'd bought many of them 10-15 years ago, when my reading tastes were different. So, I ruthless pared down my TBR pile - I read back blurbs, skimmed the first couple of chapters, looked up comments and reviews on the internet. I managed to reduce my TBR to only 400 books!! I'm shocked to see how small my book collection is now.

I gave away some to my local library. They didn't want the older ones, so those went to the used bookstore and freecycle. A lucky reader on freecycle got 9 file boxes of books. I traded over 200 books on paperbackswap.

So now I have a somewhat realistic reading goal - to read all the books in my TBR. Of course, I keep buying new ones, so it shouldn't take me more than 10 years or so...

My Old TBR Pile

When I moved to Georgia in 2006, I took a picture of my TBR "pile". (It took up an entire walk-in closet.) At that time, I had about 1500 books, which is a reduction from my all-time high of about 2200.