Johanna Edwards -- the next big thing

What do I hate about books? Unrealistic pat endings. So, why do I read so many romances!? I am torturing myself, I think.

However. This particular book only had a little bit of a hard-to-believe-ness in it. Thankfully.

This book is a great one for those of us (ahem) who are addicted to reality television. Kat is an overweight woman who ends up on a reality tv show. She has an internet boyfriend to whom she lies about her weight. Edwards throws in some twists in the book that I don't expect (which I appreciate!) and it's interesting to have an insider's view of reality television.

All in all, I liked this book. It was Johanna's first novel, and I think she did a good job.

www.johannaedwards.com

Loretta Chase -- Mr. Impossible

So, I guess it's pretty obvious that I read a lot of romance. It's funny: I feel well-rounded. And yet. I read nothing but raunchy stuff. Hmmm.

I chose this latest book based on a review for the author's latest book. It's how I end up selecting a lot of what I read. Especially since nothing ever looks appealing just based on the cover and the blurbs. I can never find a book I want just sitting on shelf anymore.

This is a standard romance paperback, but I did enjoy it. The heroine is unusual, as they always are. She is a scholar in Egypt, but her brother is posing as the sibling with all the hieroglyphic knowledge, since it is unseemly that a woman could be as smart and advanced as she is. She rescues her hero from prison when her brother is kidnapped for his "knowledge" of the hieroglyphs so that he can help her get to her brother and rescue him. I found the story interesting, and I liked the interplay between the two people. It was an unusual setting,a nd that too was enjoyable.

Overall? This was a textbook romance that held my interest better than many I've read. I especially liked the Egyptian setting and the fact that most of the story was more believable than quite a many romances I've read. Hooray!

www.lorettachase.com

Lauren Willig -- The Masque of the Black Tulip

I never thought I would find a series that I hate reading, but wouldn't mind having a factual account of what happens so that I could know how it all ends without having to actually read the books. Sad, isn't it?

I really hated The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. It was a glorified romance novel. The cover made me think it was one of these historical novels that are written fairly well and make you feel as if you might have learned something at the end of the book, whether you really did or not. Which, I know. I deserve it for literally judging a book by its cover. So, during the first book, I was expecting Phillipa Gregory and got something like Judith Krantz. Disappointing. And I really didn't enjoy the jumping plotline wherein you start in modern times with a young researcher and then jump into the past when she begins her research. And jump out at unexpected moments. It was very jolting.

But, perhaps I was too hasty. Maybe the fact that I just wasn't prepared for the kind of book it turned out to be is why I reacted so strongly to Pink Carnation.

Nope. The second book? I honestly threw across the room at the end. These books are whitewashed, simplified, dumbed down and they play it too safely. There is never any real danger to the protagonists. I'm sure the author thinks she is being clever and hiding the true villains til the end, but it is painfully obvious who the bad people are if you pay any attention to what's been written.

Worst of all? I'll probably read the next one, too. Thank God I have acces to a public library and I don't have to buy these books.

http://www.laurenwillig.com

Bella Andre -- Take me

This book was good in many ways: a non-traditional heroine who's a size 16, a lot of steamy sex scenes, some trash talk-- which always livens things up, in my opinion. But I felt that it failed in several ways as well. I found it vaguely insulting that a man could suddenly develop the hots for a friend he's known for years simply based on a sexy outfit. Travis goes from loathing Lily to instant lust, and I guess I just can't buy it. And Lily has made such a shrine to Travis over the years, loving a man who can't stand her-- I could see other scenarios taking place more realistically than the one that is played out in this book. But Travis is the character I have trouble believing in. There are many moments in the book where I can truly believe in Lily as a person, but Travis? One dimensional. His behavior doesn't match up. There wasn't enough character development on his end to make me believe that his actions made sense.
One thing I will say about the novel is that the sex is interesting. It's billed as "erotica" but really, it wasn't much different than other romance novels I have read, aside from the occasional "cock" thrown in here and there, and some masturbatory scenes.
Let's hope my mom never reads this blog. Heh.
I think that Bella Andre is going to improve, though. I will definitely give another of her books a try in the future.

Twilight before Christmas -- Christine Feehan

Oops, I did it again. I read another really stupid book from the Drake sisters series. This one is a normal length, as opposed to the first one I read. I thought that, once she'd gotten a little more writing under her belt, this series may turn out ok. I'm easy to please. I don't require much to entertain me.
But somehow, a book was published in which the characters, who are usually (in other situations) fairly educated and able people, can't figure out that they seem to be a good couple. But also, there is this mysterious, never fully explained misty stuff that likes following the heroine, Kate Drake, all around town, causing mayhem and doing really stupid things. Best of all, there is a poem at the beginning of the book that is intended to encapsulate what's happening in each chapter. "It was dreadful," to quote Simon Cowell.
The premise of this series is that these extraordinary women who do everything exactly right and have all these superpowers meet certain men and instantly, almost chemically, love is all around. I found this book to be especially childish, simplified, and unrealistic. And while I like a romance as much as the next gal with a healthy libido, I found this series to be lacking of anything worth spending my time on.

Rosemary Rogers - Sapphire

Remember Sweet Savage Love? In the 70s, Rosemary Rogers created her own subgenre of romance by introducing hard-core sex scenes combined with I-love-to-hate-you-style interaction between the hero and heroine, along with rape and degredation, which the heroine suffers through via the hero.
It's the kind of book you either love or hate. I reread SSL last year after I taught a romance reader's advisory class for our staff. I couldn't remember why this book was such a big deal so I picked it up again, years after I stole it from my mother to read when I was in high school. Reading it was hard to do-- the rape and degredation of the heroine was difficult to sit through. And seriously, those people got around-- there was sex with just about everyone they encountered. So when I saw that Rosemary Rogers had recently written another romance title, Sapphire, I wondered if she'd given up on that whole scene. It may have been her bread and butter in the 70s, but those kind of books seem to be fairly un-politically correct currently. So I picked up her new one and settled down for a read.
Turns out, there was no actual rape, although there were a few sex scenes that were deliberately rough and hurried. There was some degredation, but not as bad as in the older books. The historical novel's eponymous heroine makes her way to London to claim her father's title and become part of society after a confusing upbringing in Martinique. There she encounters not her father, an Earl, but his new heir, an American who refuses to believe her when she insists she is the daughter of the orginal earl. He believes she is lying to get money from him, even though she insists she is not doing anything but clearing her mother's name and making a place for herself in Society. Because she's clearly manipulating him, in his opinon, he take pleasure in finding ways to embarrass and humiliate her in public. When he inadvertently rescues her from a would-be gentleman rapist (before the rapist gets very far with her), instead of feeling even a little sorry for her (since he's fully aware she's been assaulted), he chooses to kidnap her, take her to America, and force her to be his mistress. Naturally.
Honestly, none of the story makes a whole lot of sense. The whole setup of the book is an excuse to have him be mean to her and have to suck it up in the end when he realizes he can't live without her. He forces her to be his maid when she refuses to be his mistress (she'll be married, like a woman of her station deserves, by gum, or she'll be nothing at all) and weirdly enough, she ends up running away from him and becoming A) a man, and B) a winning jockey.
I'd say this is a book that may appeal to burgeoning dominants or submissives that like reading about contrived humiliating circumstances. (ha! As if there isn't specialty erotica out there to satisfy them already.) Or, for people who like really graphic sex scenes. Because there's plenty of that, too. If you are looking for plot, historical details, or interesting unusual characters-- don't bother. I wish that Rosemary had gotten further away from the "let's punish the heroine even though she hasn't done anything to deserve it" routine and stuck to erotic sex scenes.

Christine Feehan - Magic in the wind

There seems to be a lot of fuss about Christine Feehan's books. So, I thought I'd read one. My library most recently received a copy of "Magic in the wind" so I requested it. When I picked it up, the first thought I had was, "That is one skinny little book." It has 103 pages, although the print is small. My inclination would be to suggest larger print, simply to give the book a bit more heft-- it's not going to break the little old ladies' arms if the book is a little heavier.

The back of the book has this paragraph:"Praised for her blend of 'action, suspense, and... erotically charged romance' (Booklist) New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan presents the story of Sarah, the eldest of the extraordinary - and magical - Drake sisters, now rewritten and expanded, in this very special collector's edition..."

Once I read that, I tried to imagine how this tiny little book must have appeared originally, since it's been rewritten and expanded. I did get a small thrill at the idea that the book would be erotically charged. What's not to like about that? Bring it on, I say.

I read the entire book in one evening. Which isn't hard to do when you ignore all the things you should be doing instead. Like housework. And while I have no doubt the vampires in Christine's other books get up to all sorts of hot monkey lovin', unfortunately, Sarah and her neighbor (a complete stranger that, yes, her front gate (!) lets her know is her perfect mate) keep it pretty tame. I guess you can't devote a whole heck of a lot of pages to sexual horseplay when your grand total is 103 pages. The plot wasn't so bad-- there just wasn't room for much to happen in such a short book. Magical sisters, mysterious attempted murders-- it could have been developed into something interesting to read. But the problem really centers around the book's length-- scenes don't make much sense because there really aren't enough words there to explain what's really happening. I had to reread a pivotal scene several times just to really understand and picture in my mind what was really taking place at that point in the story. And what's really sad is that since they reissued this story (rewritten and expanded, no less) why not take the time to really redo the book and make it something worth spending the time on?

I expect there are others is the "Drake Sisters" series, and I may read another to see if things improve. But I think I'm ready to try out one of these sexy vampire stories instead. Especially since I can't count on Anne Rice to supply any more vampire stories anytime soon. :)

http://www.christinefeehan.com/

Robert Everz - Digging James Dean

Quite often, I pick up a book because I read a review for the one about to be released and think, "That sounds pretty good... maybe I'll just pick up their last one and try that." Which is how I found "Digging James Dean." I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. The main character, Nina Zero, is the main character in several other books by Eversz and it appears that there is a timeline in the series, although I wasn't required to read the other books first to fully understand this one.
Nina Zero is an ex-con who works as a tabloid photographer. The characters in the book are memorable, dimensional and would probably be fun to hang around with. The book doesn't have a pat ending, which threw me for a loop-- but justice, in it's fashion, is served to some degree. I wouldn't have minded an ending that was a bit more clear, but I won't complain about what I got. I would say that this book could make a good movie, especially with all the Hollywood connections, but then again, I recall the V.I. Warshawski debacle, so who could say if a movie would be a good idea?
To sum up, this book doesn't go too deep into the dark side. But it is fast-paced and keeps the reader's interest. I look forward to reading more Nina Zero books.