Bet Me

- Jennifer Crusie -

Picked up because this gets a lot of recs around the Smart Bitches website and I knew I had read it years ago, but couldn't really remember, so wanted to see what the fuss was about.

As usual most of the time, I was not steered wrong.

Cal was a really lovely hero, strong and take charge yet that rarity among alpha type heroes: able to admit when he was wrong.

Min was pretty awesome too, though I am not a huge fan of the chubby girl doesn't dress flatteringly but has cool shoes thing for some reason, it just bugs me. Also wish her weight wasn't such an issue, in the form of her horrible mother mainly and Min's constant diet talk, but as it provided the opportunity for Cal to demonstrate repeatedly how not an issue Min's size was for him, I can let it go.

Funny and quirky, with awesome secondary characters and a really fun story. Definitely deserves all the recs it gets.

Stupid and Contagious

- Caprice Crane -

I really wanted to enjoy this one because the writing was super charming in parts, but I think the first person POV, which went back and forth between Heaven and Brady, really killed it for me.

Brady in particular came off as really kind of narcissistic and a bit douchey, and Heaven as a bit too flaky. I think if is had been in third person, I wouldn't have been bothered by this as much but being so in the head of these two characters just didn't work for me.

I have another book of Caprice Crane's on my bookshelf, so hopefully the POV is different, because she has a really lighthearted, relatable style that normally I would really like.

The Painted Veil

- W. Somerset Maugham -

I really enjoyed the movie version of this book, and so wanted to read the original source.

Not surprisingly the movie sexed up the story a bit by adding a romantic reconciliation between Walter and Kitty before his death, and while I enjoyed that in the movie, the book really shone without it.

Written in simple, evocative language, the book takes us on a vivid inner and outer journey with Kitty as she develops from an immature, selfish girl into a more mature and self aware woman.

Despite being told more or less from Kitty's point of view, the book gives the reader ample opportunities to understand Kitty's impulsive and self entitled behaviour and despise her for it a little, but as the outer journey progresses, as Kitty is forced to leave behind her traitorous lover and accompany Walter on his voyage into the heart of 'cholera country', it is accompanied by Kitty's steady realization of how insignificant and misguided she really is.

Kitty's character growth is really what makes this story, as she stumbles, doubts herself and questions everything about herself and the path she has chosen, she is eminently relatable, and when she finally finds some measure of peace over her future, it feels as though she is appropriately awarded for the choices she has made and the growth she had experienced.

The setting of the novel itself, China in the early 20th Century is equally fascinating as it tells of a world so foreign to us, and English settlers method of adapting even as they cling to traditions and class consciousness of the country they left behind them.

The final element in a novel that packs so much into a relatively short book, features the struggles and faith in the face of horrifying loss of life due to the cholera epidemic of the french nuns living in the small town Kitty and Walter move to. The faith and devotion of these women is both admired and questioned by Kitty and acts as a counterpoint to her own struggle to grow and develop a more balanced view of the world.

There was so much packed in to this book, I feel like I need to reread it all over again to find all the stuff I missed first go round. Definitely a keeper.

A Rake's Guide to Pleasure

- Victoria Dahl -

I think my new favorite things about Victoria Dahl's historicals is that she finds a way to put the protagonists on a level playing field. Despite the disparity between the genders during this time period and despite the socioeconomic inequalities, Emma and Hart are drawn to each other both in spite of and because of their fears and insecurities. Emma fears being discovered before she can make the money she needs to survive. Hart fears being made a fool of again. They both fear the lack of control that their fierce attraction to each other results in and this above all else comes the closest to bringing them to equal footing with each other.

My other favorite new thing about Victoria Dahl's books is the way she writes angsty, tortured men like nobody's business. Turns out I am a total sucker for the type, and she does an excellent job creating men who for one reason or another feel they have to deny themselves something - in Hart's case, excessive passion and emotion in order to avoid another humiliation.

Hart was really the yummiest hero. I was a fan after meeting him in his sister's book, and now even more so :)

Hard & Fast

- Erin McCarthy -

One of my favorite things about Erin McCarthy's books is that her characters always come across as real people. Not cliched, too perfect for words romance novel characters, but people that you know or would totally be friends with in real life.

Hard and Fast is no exception. Ty and Imogen are both flawed, aware of their imperfections and very, very human. They are also funny as hell to read about and ride along with as their romance develops.

My favorite thing about this story in particular is how well Ty and Imogen communicate. A lot of romances stories feature couples who, usually for contrivance's sake, can't or won't speak openly and honestly with each other. This is certainly not the case with Ty & Imogen, resulting in some truly hilarious discussions due to their differing approaches to everything. Even the inevitable confrontation between them comes more from them saying the wrong things, or expressing themselves badly in the heat of the moment, rather than not communicating at all.

I am totally shocked by how much I am enjoyed the stock car racing world that both this and the previous book in the series, Flat Out Sexy, are set in because it is foreign to me and not something that I would generally be interested in.

But the family dynamics of the close knit car driving world is what really informs the atmosphere of these books and it is just really fun to read about and feel a part of.

Dirty Sexy Knitting

- Christie Ridgway -

Mixed response to this one as well.

One the one hand, I did like Gabe despite his selfish and self destructive behaviour (although did not need the 'he feels guilt for not being the perfect husband slash father' as the partial basis of his actions as a) no such things as the perfect husband/father and b) am fairly convinced that losing your wife and child to a drunk driver is more than enough reason to feel self destructive and suicidal, without the added rationalization of the guilt factor) and though his transition to more responsible behaviour felt fairly erratic and unexplained, I enjoyed the 'love of a good woman' trope pulling him out of it.

On the other hand: Cassandra. I said after the last book in the series that I wasn't really down with her taking all this action regarding the sperm donor father etc without her sister's consent and that is magnified even more in this book. As a character, and despite all the times we are told she is so sympathetic, nurturing etc to everyone else, she came across as way too self pitying to me. What's more, all the self pity - as in poor me, I never had a father and they did - was used as her rationalization for acting expliciting against her sister's wishes and contacting their father. I spend a lot of time just wishing she would stop feeling so sorry for herself over everything.

I enjoyed the Marlys and Dean storyline in this book way more and loved seeing her realize how atrocious her actions had been, and learn to grow up, grieve for her father and open herself up to emotion. Plus Dean is just sexy.

So overall this series has been enjoyable generally, but frustrating if I think too much about the specifics of many of the situations.

Fire & Ice

- Julie Garwood -

Very, very mixed feelings on this one... the mystery was beyond lame and I mostly skipped over the boring diary bits interspersed throughout because I just did not care. The resolution ended up being similarly ridiculous.

I did like the characters of Jack and Sophie though - despite Sophie's occasional too stupid to live moments. Really, girl who is getting death threats? You are going to open the curtain and stand in the window because a stranger on the phone tells you too? WTF? - and Jack remaining a fairly enigmatic character throughout. We don't really get to know him all that well.

I think what I liked about them was that they were upfront about their attraction to each other, acknowledged it was a bad idea for whatever reason, but also acknowledged that it was pretty much going to happen anyway.

Definitely glad I did not pay for this one though. Thank you, library.

True Love & Other Disasters

- Rachel Gibson -

This actually way exceeded my expectations for some reason, even though Rachel Gibson is generally a fairly reliable, fun read.

I think it was because the last hockey themed book of hers I read (See Jane Score) had a couple of elements I didn't like, but that wasn't the case here so it was just a really fun read.

The plot is very similar to Susan Elizabeth Phillip's "It Had to Be You" (woman inherits sports team and takes over running over team despite lack of sports knowledge, clashes then sparks with Alpha Male involved with team, etc) but both Faith and Ty were such fun characters and the relationship between them flowed so well, that it was just fun to read, despite similarities.

I really liked the fact that Faith was honest and comfortable with her reasons for marrying and staying with a man fifty years her senior and felt no need to apologize for it. Similarly, I loved that Ty had the perfect blend of Alpha Male, "big strong man" syndrome, and common sense, ie: he didn't hold onto preconceptions of who Faith was once he got to know her and so on. They ended up coming across as a very well matched, sexy couple.

Am really looking forward to Rachel Gibson's next book (spring 2010, sob!) which is the story of Mark Bressler, a former hockey captain who suffered devastating, career ending injuries in a car accident. Looks like his physiotherapist will be the female love interest - and I do love an injured alpha male storyline!

Mr Darcy's Diary

- Maya Slater -

Recommended by Mum!

Retells the events of Pride and Prejudice from Mr Darcy's perspective in the form of a diary that he has kept since the death of his mother.

Was certainly well written in the sense that it wasn't gratuitously over the top or unrecognisable as the character from the original, and I was enjoying it as I read along for the most part, but after finishing and the more that I think about, the more I think:meh.

It went a bit far for me in terms of making excuses for Mr. Darcy, ie: he was just distracted worrying about his sister (who was raped by Wickham which I certainly could have lived without) hence his initial rudeness to Elizabeth et al. Subsequently, he describes himself as so overcome by her beauty and wit that he is speechless and so on.

The inclusion of Lord Byron as an old school friend and corrupter of both Darcy and Bingley just did not work for me either. Over the top and unnecessary, I thought, and makes Darcy's disapproval of Wickham (who is now a repeat rapist instead of just a serial eloper to make him seem measurably worse) seem hypocritical given that Darcy is also portrayed as having flings with various servants and visiting bordellos.

Not that those things would not have occured, I suppose, but reading about Darcy taking a housemaid for a tumble at Netherfield or getting unintentionally drunk with Byron just does not ring true for me. What of his legendary pride and self control?

Marriage By Design

- Lynn Michaels -

Totally random find at the thrift store bookshelf turned out to be such a fun read!

Entertaining characters, engaging mystery and completely adorable romance. I really love that Mia and Joe had a very natural arc (despite the ridiculously short time period, I completely bought their relationship) and while there was natural conflict, in the form of Joe's investigation at Mia's family's business, there was no artificial issues thrown between them just for the sake of stringing out the happy ending.

I could have done with the last bit, featuring Mia's rabid desperation for a proposal from Joe, but given the wedding dress design business the family runs, I guess it was to be expected.

Divorced, Desperate & Dating

- Christie Craig -

I really kind of hate the titles of these books (previous one is "Divorced, Desperate & Delicious") and I think they do the stories themselves a disservice, because if the books hadn't been recommended to me, I would absolutely have been put off by the title and missed out on a really fun story.

Light as a feather plot wise, but in a good way - the action and the mystery fill out the edges while the developing relationships between Sue and Jason is the gooey center, and it's exactly as sweet as you would hope.

Not much else to say really - this book totally falls into the category of books that I really enjoy as I read them but will remember very little of a few weeks from now.

The Harder They Fall

- Jill Shalvis -

Jill Shalvis is rapidly becoming one of my favorite contemporary romance authors.

Despite a few quibbles, ie I never quite understood why Hunter was so adamantly against the idea of being in love - his control issues aside I felt like that was never quite understood - and I would have liked a little bit more of an explanation of how Trisha had moved past her traumatic childhood because she seemed to veer between confidence and sassiness and traumatic reactions to change fairly inexplicably, but overall they were both such likeable characters and their interactions, chemistry and developing relationship was so enjoyable, that I could totally overlook minor issues I had.

Heaven, Texas

- Susan Elizabeth Phillips -

Instead of reviewing, I am just going to write a list of the tropes, characteristics and plot elements that I hate with a fiery passion in romance stories, all of which appears in the first twenty pages:

- Over the top alpha male who is a "character", as evidenced by descriptions of colorful, outrageous outfits and insistence on wearing cowboy boots and stetson at all times, even when at a hot tub.

- Socially awkward female who has reached the age of thirty without learning even basic life skills, as evidenced by inability to dress, fix her fair, interact with people normally. Being shy and not caring about your appearance is one thing - Gracie, as presented in the first few chapters, is completely over the top. Equally as over the top in one direction as Bobby Tom is in the other, I suppose, but they do not cancel and/or balance each other out.

- Misogynistic male characters who treat women like disposable morons (ie: dude not letting Gracie get a word in edgewise to say she is not a stripper, Bobby Tom and his football quizzes.)

- Women, however shy they may be, apparently completely incapable of standing up for themselves in even the most basic way or in the most ludicrous circumstances (ie when one has been mistaken for a stripper and is being forcibly undressed).

- The implication that a man can tell a woman how to dress, think, talk etc and boom! True love. Ugh.


So basically in the first pages Gracie was socially awkward, spineless and desperate for a man to find her attractive, Bobby Tom was condescending, rude and misogynistic. Reviews on Amazon would have me believe that they both go through a journey/reveal layers in the course of the book, but I was honestly so put off by the setup and the awful, awful themes that seemed to be playing out, that I have zero interest in finding out.

This instinct feels fairly justified given that I flipped to the end and found Bobby Tom administering his future wife football quiz to Gracie and gamely going along with her wrong answers as a sign of his TWU WUV (you know, instead of realizing that such arbitrary and useless tests should probably not be applied to anyone, let alone one's future wife).

I say again: UGH.

I really enjoyed other books by SEP - "Lady Be Good" particularly - and also 'It Had To Be You' which is the first in a series of which "Heaven, Texas" is second. Now that I am thinking about those books, they featured similar themes, ie: ugly ducklings/overtly alpha men, but I think the characters felt more real instead of cariactures, and the were more discernible motivations and reasons for the power imbalances (ie: Phoebe in "It Had to Be You" was sexually assaulted as a teenager, hence her lack of subsequent sexual experiences, Molly in "Lady Be Good" was inexperienced. but had back bone to spare and no problem expressing and standing up for herself).

The complete lack of realism and subtlety in the first few chapters just irritated me too much to keep reading.