- Jill Shalvis -
Yay! I didn't particularly like "Aussie Rules" so I was worried about starting this one, but it is much more in line with the "Wishful, CA" set books and "Double Play" in that the characters are full bodied and three dimensional, with realistic flaws and hang ups, and the setting and geography of the town where the story is set is so vividly and realistically created that I can see it in my head as though it was somewhere I had been before.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Anyone But You
- Jennifer Crusie -
Totally adorable (although I do call bullshit on any kind of basset hound mix being able to make it up and down a fire escape with those short little legs.)
Anyway.... the older woman, younger man thing doesn't usually work for me but here it just did as Alex and Nina were both trying to escape the various expectations/responsibilities that did not work for them and together were able to find a happy mix of what does work for them.
I did think the she raised assorted siblings who are never mentioned again so doesn't want kids/he hates family responsibilities/craziness so doesn't want kids either, thing was a bit heavy handed ( I prefer Cal & Min from "Bet Me" who are just okay with not wanting kids, full stop), and a little too convenient, but overall this book was adorable and I want to read the romance between Alex's brother and Nina's best friend, which I don't think exists anywhere except in my head.
Totally adorable (although I do call bullshit on any kind of basset hound mix being able to make it up and down a fire escape with those short little legs.)
Anyway.... the older woman, younger man thing doesn't usually work for me but here it just did as Alex and Nina were both trying to escape the various expectations/responsibilities that did not work for them and together were able to find a happy mix of what does work for them.
I did think the she raised assorted siblings who are never mentioned again so doesn't want kids/he hates family responsibilities/craziness so doesn't want kids either, thing was a bit heavy handed ( I prefer Cal & Min from "Bet Me" who are just okay with not wanting kids, full stop), and a little too convenient, but overall this book was adorable and I want to read the romance between Alex's brother and Nina's best friend, which I don't think exists anywhere except in my head.
Netherland
- Joseph O'Neill -
On the one hand, this book was strangely evocative - from the dislocation of being an expat in a strange land, to the comfortable joyousness of coming across something you loved from home like cricket, I could relate to these kinds of experiences and appreciate the dreamy quality that they have as you float between the reality of life where you are now and the familiarity of these things that remind you of home.
On the other hand, as Hans wanders the city in a emotional fog, displaced by 9/11 from his Tribeca apartment and living a solitary life in a hotel filled with transients and strangers after his wife takes their son back to London, the narrative had a very disconnected quality to it.
I think this was intentional as Hans tries to find his way out of the sad state of inertness that circumstances have left him trapped in, but it also meant that is was hard to get truly invested in the story, as Hans never really seemed to be.
He related the story of his time alone in New York and of his strange friendship with the doomed Chuck Ramiskoon as though it had all happened to someone else. It almost seems like, as he tells the story from back in his "real" life, back with his family, that it never really happened at all.
On the one hand, this book was strangely evocative - from the dislocation of being an expat in a strange land, to the comfortable joyousness of coming across something you loved from home like cricket, I could relate to these kinds of experiences and appreciate the dreamy quality that they have as you float between the reality of life where you are now and the familiarity of these things that remind you of home.
On the other hand, as Hans wanders the city in a emotional fog, displaced by 9/11 from his Tribeca apartment and living a solitary life in a hotel filled with transients and strangers after his wife takes their son back to London, the narrative had a very disconnected quality to it.
I think this was intentional as Hans tries to find his way out of the sad state of inertness that circumstances have left him trapped in, but it also meant that is was hard to get truly invested in the story, as Hans never really seemed to be.
He related the story of his time alone in New York and of his strange friendship with the doomed Chuck Ramiskoon as though it had all happened to someone else. It almost seems like, as he tells the story from back in his "real" life, back with his family, that it never really happened at all.
Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List
- David Leviathan & Rachel Cohn -
Eh, it was okay. Definitely cute, but the teenagers were a bit too teenagery in this one for me, and Naomi's use of symbols in place of words drove me a bit insane.
Also did not like the fact that Bruce the First just disappeared from the POV shifts once his part was done, as did Bruce the Second a bit. Almost would have been better if it was just Naomi and Ely had the POV, because it came across a little bit unbalanced as it was. Then again, neither Ely or Naomi were particularly nice people so that might have cut the sweetness to non existent.
Eh, it was okay. Definitely cute, but the teenagers were a bit too teenagery in this one for me, and Naomi's use of symbols in place of words drove me a bit insane.
Also did not like the fact that Bruce the First just disappeared from the POV shifts once his part was done, as did Bruce the Second a bit. Almost would have been better if it was just Naomi and Ely had the POV, because it came across a little bit unbalanced as it was. Then again, neither Ely or Naomi were particularly nice people so that might have cut the sweetness to non existent.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Calhoun Women - Catherine and Amanda
- Nora Roberts -
Have only got through the first half of the two part story, but so far: ugh.
Trent and Catherine have had no actual conversation of substance - they went from fighting to kissing, whereupon she decided (with the help of a seance) that he is the one, and she is in love with him, and when he expresses doubts about the whole insta-love thing, she swans around telling him he had let go of the best thing he will ever have in his life and she feels sorry for him. Just UGH.
Also not a fan of the scheming, matchmaking aunt feigning forgetfullness to get what she wants - too manipulative for me.
We'll see how I feel after the second part, but am suspecting I will strongly prefer the single title, longer length novels from Nora Roberts, as opposed to these shorter ones.
Have only got through the first half of the two part story, but so far: ugh.
Trent and Catherine have had no actual conversation of substance - they went from fighting to kissing, whereupon she decided (with the help of a seance) that he is the one, and she is in love with him, and when he expresses doubts about the whole insta-love thing, she swans around telling him he had let go of the best thing he will ever have in his life and she feels sorry for him. Just UGH.
Also not a fan of the scheming, matchmaking aunt feigning forgetfullness to get what she wants - too manipulative for me.
We'll see how I feel after the second part, but am suspecting I will strongly prefer the single title, longer length novels from Nora Roberts, as opposed to these shorter ones.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Bound By Your Touch
- Meredith Duran -
A mesmerizing read in a lot of ways, much more tightly plotted than "Duke of Shadow" which had the weird disconnect between the two halves.
In many ways Lydia, the spinster who prides herself on her intelligence, is a character type that just irritates me in general, but it worked here because the author wasn't afraid to have her be unlikeable. She was petty with her sister, stubborn to the point of stupidity in her loyalty to her father and clung way too tightly to the shield of propriety with Sanburne, all of which made her seem very much like a real person, flaws and all. What I loved about Lydia was her gradual journey to let go of the expectations that society placed on a woman in her situation, and that she had done her utmost to live up to. Her realization that she doesn't have to fade into the background, forgo all pleasure and that is worthy of being listened to was lovely to read.
I did get frustrated on occasion by her stubbord defense of her father, but as it tied so beatifully into what she taught Sanburne about love and faith, ultimately it made sense.
The Hero: James, Lord Sanburne. Devastated and guiltstricken over the abuse his sister suffered at the hands of her husband and her subsequent incarceration for his murder, Sanburne devotes his life to harassing and embarrassing his father, whom he believes did not do enought to help his sister.
Again, the archetype of the wastrel hero gleefully wasting his life away irritates me a little, but it was all so slowly but surely revealed to be an unsatisfying act on Sanburne's part, that it ultimately worked for me as Lydia helped him find his way out of his mess of guilt and regret.
The paralell's between each of their relationships with their family, and the various misconceptions they each had to relinquish and move on from, brought a depth to the story that I really enjoyed.
I already want to reread, now that I know how it ends, to uncover more layers.
A mesmerizing read in a lot of ways, much more tightly plotted than "Duke of Shadow" which had the weird disconnect between the two halves.
In many ways Lydia, the spinster who prides herself on her intelligence, is a character type that just irritates me in general, but it worked here because the author wasn't afraid to have her be unlikeable. She was petty with her sister, stubborn to the point of stupidity in her loyalty to her father and clung way too tightly to the shield of propriety with Sanburne, all of which made her seem very much like a real person, flaws and all. What I loved about Lydia was her gradual journey to let go of the expectations that society placed on a woman in her situation, and that she had done her utmost to live up to. Her realization that she doesn't have to fade into the background, forgo all pleasure and that is worthy of being listened to was lovely to read.
I did get frustrated on occasion by her stubbord defense of her father, but as it tied so beatifully into what she taught Sanburne about love and faith, ultimately it made sense.
The Hero: James, Lord Sanburne. Devastated and guiltstricken over the abuse his sister suffered at the hands of her husband and her subsequent incarceration for his murder, Sanburne devotes his life to harassing and embarrassing his father, whom he believes did not do enought to help his sister.
Again, the archetype of the wastrel hero gleefully wasting his life away irritates me a little, but it was all so slowly but surely revealed to be an unsatisfying act on Sanburne's part, that it ultimately worked for me as Lydia helped him find his way out of his mess of guilt and regret.
The paralell's between each of their relationships with their family, and the various misconceptions they each had to relinquish and move on from, brought a depth to the story that I really enjoyed.
I already want to reread, now that I know how it ends, to uncover more layers.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Leopard Prince
- Elizabeth Hoyt -
Follow up to "The Raven Prince" and despite the fact that I find the fairytale stories woven into the main story kind of overdone and useless, I really loved this book.
First of all, I loved that the hero, Harry Pye, was a commoner and the heroine, Georgiana, and wealthy, independent landowner. Just a nice change of pace for a historical.
Secondly, I loved that George had a mind of her own and wasn't afraid to use it to draw her own conclusions about the world around her. I loved her interactions with her family, particularly her brothers and I loved that she was both attracted to and interesting in Harry and did not automatically view him as beneath her because he was an employee.
Finally, I though both the mystery and the conflict were well done as Harry cleared his name, restored relations with his brothers and he and George figured out how to deal with the issues between them and be together. I could have done without the church sex scene whilst their entire family waited outside, but overall this was a really enjoyable read.
Follow up to "The Raven Prince" and despite the fact that I find the fairytale stories woven into the main story kind of overdone and useless, I really loved this book.
First of all, I loved that the hero, Harry Pye, was a commoner and the heroine, Georgiana, and wealthy, independent landowner. Just a nice change of pace for a historical.
Secondly, I loved that George had a mind of her own and wasn't afraid to use it to draw her own conclusions about the world around her. I loved her interactions with her family, particularly her brothers and I loved that she was both attracted to and interesting in Harry and did not automatically view him as beneath her because he was an employee.
Finally, I though both the mystery and the conflict were well done as Harry cleared his name, restored relations with his brothers and he and George figured out how to deal with the issues between them and be together. I could have done without the church sex scene whilst their entire family waited outside, but overall this was a really enjoyable read.
The Wedding
- Julie Garwood -
Another medieval set in Scotland and oh, wow. I really do love these Scottish heroes.
Follows the pattern of The Bride a fair bit: like Jamie and Alec, Brenna and Connor enter into a marriage approximately ten minutes after meeting as part of a revenge plot, both husbands are baffled by the unexpected lack of deference and appreciation for the honor of being chosen as brides to the lairds that their respective woman show, both men and baffled and amused by the antics of their women and finally, the clansmen around the lairds all are instantly adoring and amused by their chiefs new brides.
For all that they are formulaic though, the stories are entertaining as hell. Funny and warm and just really enjoyable. I probably prefer Jamie over Brenna as a heroine, because Brenna came off as a bit ditsy sometimes, but I genuinely enjoyed the book anyway.
Another medieval set in Scotland and oh, wow. I really do love these Scottish heroes.
Follows the pattern of The Bride a fair bit: like Jamie and Alec, Brenna and Connor enter into a marriage approximately ten minutes after meeting as part of a revenge plot, both husbands are baffled by the unexpected lack of deference and appreciation for the honor of being chosen as brides to the lairds that their respective woman show, both men and baffled and amused by the antics of their women and finally, the clansmen around the lairds all are instantly adoring and amused by their chiefs new brides.
For all that they are formulaic though, the stories are entertaining as hell. Funny and warm and just really enjoyable. I probably prefer Jamie over Brenna as a heroine, because Brenna came off as a bit ditsy sometimes, but I genuinely enjoyed the book anyway.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Nobody's Baby But Mine
- Susan Elizabeth Phillips -
Ugh. The many reasons why I did not like and did not finish....
This is the second book in a row of SEP's that I have wanted to throw against a wall with all of my might after only a couple of chapters. In this book, unlike Heaven, Texas, I can still see potential in both the story and the two lead characters so I am not giving up yet, but I have to get this out so here we go - a list of all the things pissing me off about this story so far:
- second book in a row where awkward/socially inept woman in posing as or mistaken for a stripper/hooker by misogynistic group of football players. a) under what circumstances actually happen and b) in the case of Jane, who is supposed to be super duper smart, she seriously cannot come up with a better cover story?
- Jane's plan to get Cal to knock her up. I have a hard time believing in Jane's supposed super intelligence based on this plan so far because:
1. really? She can't come up with any other way to have a child than to trap some unsuspecting guy and steal his sperm.
2. there has been no mention so far that Jane's parents are of anything other than average intelligence so presumably her "huge" intellect was a genetic fluke. On what evidence then, does she base her "can't use sperm bank potentially from med student and therefore too smart sperm" theory on.
3. Really? All sperm bank, willingly donated spunk, is from med student. All of it? She couldn't at least check and see if there were any "dumber" donors.
4. Her split second decision that Cal is dumb enough to qualify for sperm donorship in the first place. Based on a two second interview clip where he speaks with a Southern accent and is therefore clearly dumb? Based on the fact that he is an athlete and therefore can't also be smart? Come ON. There are so many holes to be poked, it's not even funny. It just makes Jane look like a snobby, judgemental moron.
- Jane's moral conflict -she KNOWS what she is doing is wrong. She herself equates it to stealing, and yet she blunders on through with it cause she wants a baby and can't come up with ANY other way to have one? It's just CREEPY. Which brings me to:
- The sex scenes. Two of them so far, both revolving around Jane's desire to conceive and Cal's inexplicable attraction to her, despite her acting like an illogical and untruthful twit. To Jane's mind, apparently if she enjoys herself while on her quest to get knocked up, THAT'S what will make the whole thing tawdry and gross (not the fact that she is lying to some guy about their use of protection and trying to get herself pregnant without his consent) so she tries NOT to enjoy herself, to focus on how humiliated she feels (for putting herself in this situation? for being so dishonest with another human being? For maybe enjoying sex with a "dumb" person? Who knows.) so the scenes end up coming across as some bizarro form of rape, where she is uncomfortable and desperate for it to end and he is just too overcome with lust to think about her strange reactions. It was deeply, deeply uncomfortable to read.
Only saving grace so far is that at least the deception of what Jane wanted from Cal hasn't gone on too long. He has just found out, one month into her pregnancy, and is confronting her as opposed to secretly plotting against her (a la that Susan Mallery book) or them falling in love only for him to find out about the deception later, but even so. How on EARTH does a real relationship with any kind of trust develop from her? Let alone the sperm stealing, Jane better have some major grovelling coming up for her baseless assumption of Cal's utter idiocy. It's so condescending and ick.
Ugh. The many reasons why I did not like and did not finish....
This is the second book in a row of SEP's that I have wanted to throw against a wall with all of my might after only a couple of chapters. In this book, unlike Heaven, Texas, I can still see potential in both the story and the two lead characters so I am not giving up yet, but I have to get this out so here we go - a list of all the things pissing me off about this story so far:
- second book in a row where awkward/socially inept woman in posing as or mistaken for a stripper/hooker by misogynistic group of football players. a) under what circumstances actually happen and b) in the case of Jane, who is supposed to be super duper smart, she seriously cannot come up with a better cover story?
- Jane's plan to get Cal to knock her up. I have a hard time believing in Jane's supposed super intelligence based on this plan so far because:
1. really? She can't come up with any other way to have a child than to trap some unsuspecting guy and steal his sperm.
2. there has been no mention so far that Jane's parents are of anything other than average intelligence so presumably her "huge" intellect was a genetic fluke. On what evidence then, does she base her "can't use sperm bank potentially from med student and therefore too smart sperm" theory on.
3. Really? All sperm bank, willingly donated spunk, is from med student. All of it? She couldn't at least check and see if there were any "dumber" donors.
4. Her split second decision that Cal is dumb enough to qualify for sperm donorship in the first place. Based on a two second interview clip where he speaks with a Southern accent and is therefore clearly dumb? Based on the fact that he is an athlete and therefore can't also be smart? Come ON. There are so many holes to be poked, it's not even funny. It just makes Jane look like a snobby, judgemental moron.
- Jane's moral conflict -she KNOWS what she is doing is wrong. She herself equates it to stealing, and yet she blunders on through with it cause she wants a baby and can't come up with ANY other way to have one? It's just CREEPY. Which brings me to:
- The sex scenes. Two of them so far, both revolving around Jane's desire to conceive and Cal's inexplicable attraction to her, despite her acting like an illogical and untruthful twit. To Jane's mind, apparently if she enjoys herself while on her quest to get knocked up, THAT'S what will make the whole thing tawdry and gross (not the fact that she is lying to some guy about their use of protection and trying to get herself pregnant without his consent) so she tries NOT to enjoy herself, to focus on how humiliated she feels (for putting herself in this situation? for being so dishonest with another human being? For maybe enjoying sex with a "dumb" person? Who knows.) so the scenes end up coming across as some bizarro form of rape, where she is uncomfortable and desperate for it to end and he is just too overcome with lust to think about her strange reactions. It was deeply, deeply uncomfortable to read.
Only saving grace so far is that at least the deception of what Jane wanted from Cal hasn't gone on too long. He has just found out, one month into her pregnancy, and is confronting her as opposed to secretly plotting against her (a la that Susan Mallery book) or them falling in love only for him to find out about the deception later, but even so. How on EARTH does a real relationship with any kind of trust develop from her? Let alone the sperm stealing, Jane better have some major grovelling coming up for her baseless assumption of Cal's utter idiocy. It's so condescending and ick.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Duke of Shadows
- Meredith Duran -
Appreciate the skill here in creating incredibly vivid descriptions of places, characters and experiences, but the disconnect between the first part, set in India, and the second back in London was just too big for me.
Had to just WTF to Emma's pissiness and not even attempting to find out why Julian hadn't met her as planned - it was a freaking chaotic war zone for craps sake, it never crossed her mind that misinformation was involved in same way, given the involvement of her assy ex fiancee?
Then the conflict/mystery of the second part just seemed like it should be in a completely different book. Just very, very strange and disconnected feeling from the first part.
Appreciate the skill here in creating incredibly vivid descriptions of places, characters and experiences, but the disconnect between the first part, set in India, and the second back in London was just too big for me.
Had to just WTF to Emma's pissiness and not even attempting to find out why Julian hadn't met her as planned - it was a freaking chaotic war zone for craps sake, it never crossed her mind that misinformation was involved in same way, given the involvement of her assy ex fiancee?
Then the conflict/mystery of the second part just seemed like it should be in a completely different book. Just very, very strange and disconnected feeling from the first part.
Practice Makes Perfect
- Julie James -
Another winner from Julie James. Such great characters that I almost don't care that they spent eight years secretly lusting/openly fighting because of the stupidest misunderstanding ever. Seemed a bit contrived, over board and immature, but like I said - the story itself is so great and funny and enjoyable that I could mostly let it go.
Another winner from Julie James. Such great characters that I almost don't care that they spent eight years secretly lusting/openly fighting because of the stupidest misunderstanding ever. Seemed a bit contrived, over board and immature, but like I said - the story itself is so great and funny and enjoyable that I could mostly let it go.
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