Kathryn Caskie – A Lady’s Guide to Rakes

Copyright: 2005

Pages: 320 (paperback edition)

Setting/Type: Regency/Straight Romance

Series: Featherton Sisters #3

Grade: DNF

Having had her heart broken by a “reformed rake,” Meredith Merriweather is determined to help with other young ladies avoid falling for the wrong man. Meredith intends to tempt the most notorious rake in all of London, the devilishly handsome Alexander Lamont, and then document the results in a cautionary guidebook called “A Lady’s Guide To Rakes”. But soon Alexander decides that Meredith is the woman for him. And as he uses all his rakish charms to win her heart, Meredith finds herself tempted to give in to a man no woman should trust, let along love.

Kathryn Caskie is another author I tried out because my library offered a copy of one of her books and her name found it’s way onto my wishlist under cryptical circumstances. I discontinued this story around page 150, after having discovered my wandering mind was contemplating to start on another book from my TBR pile.

All in all A Lady’s Guide to Rakes is a nice read with an orginal and humorous heroine, a funky plot and a well-musceled hero. Problem was, it didn’t capture me. The reading felt too flat, too bland, so that I started skipping rather big parts of the story. The one detail that really disturbed me was part of the hero’s personality.

Alexander needs to marry in order to placate his father who is finally fed up with his philandering. Circumstances let his father decide that Merredith is the one to bring him back onto the right path … and Alexander, too, decides that Merredith is probably the best choice for his reforming act. To me, Alexander was too wimpy and weak. He does his father’s bidding, curbs his behaviour so as not to loose his support and inheritance. I would have prefered him to stand up more for himself, being less of a dandy and playful boy and more of a full grown man instead.

Susanna Carr – Wicked Women 101

Copyright: 2005

Pages: 246 (tradesize edition)

Setting/Type: Contemporary/Straight Romance

Grade: DNF

Six Weeks to Sensuality – Amy Bryce has always been the quintessential lady. Sweet, loyal, steady Amy. She might as well have the word “sucker” tattooed on her forehead. Because, only a sucker would watch her ex-boyfriend propose to her worst enemy and let him get away with it. Well, this sucker’s finally had enough. Amy is over being a good girl. She’s ready to taste life on the edge, and what better way to get started than volunteering for hunky Dr. Marc Javier’s latest sensuality project? Code Pink – When it comes to making and breaking codes, Jennifer Clark is the undisputed master. Too bad she can’t seem to fathom men. And the most unfathomable all is Special Agent Bryan Matthews. One look at the guy and neon lights spelling out “Hot Sex” appear before her eyes. One problem: Bryan has made it clear that Jennifer’s not on his radar. Fantasies Are Forever – Former college brainiac Caroline Mitchell has reinvented herself as the chic owner of an aromatherapy business. But whenever her gorgeous co-worker Joe Hatcher is around, Caroline gets flustered and feels like she’s morphed back into geek mode. Joe has even begun to invade her dreams. And what dreams they are. The only way to get him out of her mind permanently is to get him into her bed at once.

Susanna Carr also writes erotic romance under the pen name Jenesi Ash, for me that was the main reason why I borrowed this book from the library (after it flashed to me from the shelf and cried TAKE ME, TAKE ME).

I started with the first story of this three person anthology and discontinued after having discovered that this book contains a plot ingredient I can’t stand at all and therefore try to avoid.

I am not sure if I got the details right but as far as I understood the heroine is a librarian and the hero, a doctor, works for an “Institute”, currently doing research on a sensuality project.

Ever since reading Lynsay Sands’s The Loving Daylights which features a silly, brainy heroine that invents some super foolish, nutty sex spy toys, I sidestep books with plots that in anyway include an institution or company that earn their money with researching/producing/making silly sex toys/matters. For the stories are interconnected with each other I decided to rather read another book of this author instead of spending reading time on a plot I don’t like.

Jill Mansell – Millie’s Fling

Copyright: 2006

Pages: 448 (paperback edition)

Setting/Type: Contemporary/Straight Romance

Grade: C+

When Millie saves bestselling novelist Orla Hart’s life and loses her boyfriend in the process, one wonders if the rest of the book can be as entertaining and eventful as this dramatic opening but for Millie Brady the fun has only just begun

Millie decides that a man-free summer is just what she needs but Orla, who wants Millie to be the heroine of her next novel, is determined to find her the man of her dreams. As far as Millie is concerned, the only man worth thinking about is Hugh Emerson but for Hugh, whose wife tragically died in a horse-riding accident, “dating is not on the agenda”. Millie’s determination not to fall in love with the young widower forms the centrepiece of the novel but Jill Mansell also delves into the shenanigans of Millie’s best friend Hester and her eventful love life; Orla and her cheating husband; Millie’s man-eating mother; and the leather-clad, sex-mad Lucas Kemp who runs a kiss-a-gram service.

There’s at least one person out there who understands my dilemma LOL, namely that I borrowed this book from my library because of it’s cover. Jill Mansell’s covers are very similar and when you walk through the aisles and always see those gorgeous editions you submit sooner or later… (I caved after 15 min.)

This is a rather long novel with a strong development of secondary characters and romances. After the first chapter I already knew that this author’s voice clicks for me. Jill Mansel has an incredible talent to draw real characters with flaws and quirks, humour and heart and with a sound talent to to endear themselves to you.

What I liked about the heroine Millie is that she’s so normal, so true. Instead of being a virgin or a woman scorned, she loves sex and men and takes life in big strikes with a healthy carpe diem mentality. Hugh, the hero, is totally different from Millie and a true original compared to some typical clichés. After the loss of his wife he has changed drastically and decided to never let himself become vulnerable again. His portrayal from emotionally cold, back into the world of the living is simply heart-warming.

Another reason why I am fond of this book is Mansell’s unique talent for humourous and funny situations. Their number is countless but they are never stupid or over the top but real and fresh.

So why, you might ask, did I give this book an average C+? I am honestly not sure and it’s damn hard to put my finger on the reason. The best I can come up with is that the book is simply too long. It may be a mixture between too little plot extended between too many pages, too many secondary characters (though everyone of them is well drawn and entertaining) and too little tension to keep my full attention until the happy end. In the end it didn’t add up to a better grade and I am truly sorry about that.

Emily Giffin – Something Blue

Copyright: 2005

Pages: 432 (trade-size paperback edition)

Setting/Type: Contemporary/Chick Lit

Series: Something Borrowed #2

Grade: DNF

Thirty years old, successful and stunning, Darcy Rhone used to think that ‘being down and out’ meant not finding a size four at the Barney’s Warehouse Sale. Now she is pregnant, unmarried and recovering from a broken engagement to Dex and the betrayal of her ex-best friend Rachel, who stole Dex’s affections. For the first time in her life, she is completely alone. Frantically casting around for help, she calls upon Ethan, an old high school friend, and convinces him to let her stay with him in London for a few weeks to get her act together. Little does she know what she’s in for when she boards the plane to cross the Atlantic, but as weeks turn into months, Darcy makes a surprising discovery. Preparing for motherhood and settling into a new career, she builds herself a new life from scratch, finally finding romance – in the most unexpected place …

Something Blue is one of those mysterious books that suddenly appeared on my wishlist. Of course, I have no clue at all who recommended it to me *humpf*. Anyway, this was a book I really despised and absolutely NEEDED to stop reading around page 50 in order to not strangle the heroine and wish some agonizing medieval torture on her.

I read this book quite some time back so that my hateful thoughts towards Miss Annoying already subsided a little … but there’re still some left *hehe*.

Darcy Rhone is young, successful and thinks of herself as some of the most friendliest and nicest person in her circle of friends (yes! I didn’t write anything wrong here). She is conceited, hypocritical and so totally annoying in her narcissistic view on life that I, as a reader, was not in a position to like her much less identify myself with her.

The blurb and your average course of a chick lit book is about redemption and personal development, but it’s hard to invest any reading time in this story when the 1st person teller, the heroine, is beyond anything acceptable. After page 50 I decided not to waste any more time on her or this book.

Fortunately this was a book from the library, so except for an hour of reading time I didn’t loose anything. I may one day give another book of this author a try but I am definitely not in a hurry to do so!

Linda Howard – Now You See Her

Copyright: 1999

Pages: 336 (hardcover edition)

Setting/Type: Contemporary, Paranormal/Romantic Suspense

Grade: A+

Paris Sweeney, who calls herself Sweeney, is living a pared-down existence devoted to painting when she begins to see ghosts. Worse, she starts painting disturbing images while sleepwalking, then wakes with an unnatural, bone-deep chill that can only be dispelled by direct body contact with the unexpected new man in her life–Richard Worth, the soon-to-be ex-husband of the gallery owner who sells Sweeney’s work. Then Sweeney realizes she’s painting the picture of a murder victim, just before the actual crime takes place. Can she stop the killing before it happens? And if not, is she destined to become either the prime suspect or the murderer’s next victim? Howard keeps the suspense streamlined and straightforward, focusing equally on the relationship between the sympathetic Sweeney, whose dreadful growing-up years forced her to become more independent than is good for her, and Richard, whose drive to leave his old life behind matches his determination to make Sweeney part of his future.

After having taken an envious peak on Alex’s last month’s reading list, I decided to catch up with my re-reading project and ordered some of my favorites to my library branch.

Now You See Her being one of them. Sweeney, the heroine, is a quirky, funny, ghost-seeing heroine that strives on painting great pictures and little else. So far she thinks herself lucky never having been involved in any messy relationships or affairs. That changes when she sees one morning a Diet Cola commercial on TV. Shortly after, she also realizes that her gallery owner’s soon-to-be ex-husband is serious hunk material.

Richard Worth is a to die for hero. I would love to swing my magic wand, making him thereby a real and life person with a secondary residence next to my living quarters :-). Richard grew up poorly but with strong ethical values and an unquenchable thirst to make money. He, too, succeeded, more so than he ever thought possible. Now the only thing he wants is to finish off his rotten marriage with Candra and to persuade Sweeney that he is better for her than Easter and Christmas thrown together. When Sweeney starts having problems because of her ghost-induced night-walking drawing sessions, Richard is the man to help her physically and psychically to recover.

Did I mention that I love this book? Linda Howard is one of the few authors that can pull off a near virginal/inexperienced heroine without making her look like a relict from medieval times. Sweeny is an adorable, funky heroine with a strong sense for humour and zero tolerance for bullshit. Richard is the ideal counterpart. Fed up with hypocrisy and sleek and cold New York they make one of those ideal couples whose names and characters you will never forget, even after another 1000 books.

The plot is very simple but well fleshed out, with a strongly and surely distinguished assortment of characters and villains. What makes this book an A+ read for me is less the plot but the individuality and specialness of Sweeny and Richard, one of the most gorgeous couple out there in Romancelandia.

Sharon Sala – Bloodlines

Copyright: 2005

Pages: 384 (paperback edition)

Setting/Type: Contemporary/Romantic Suspense

Grade: B+

Twenty-five years ago Olivia Sealy was kidnapped for ransom. Today she has no memory of the terrible event, yet an uneasy feeling still haunts her – a fear that is realized when an infant’s skeleton is found and a connection is made to Olivia’s past.
As news of the discovery makes headlines, Olivia and the people close to her suddenly become targets for a murderer bent on revenge. Still stunned by the revelation and its implications, Olivia puts her trust in Trey Bonney, the detective assigned to the case. But neither counts on a madman who may hold the answer to the twenty-five-year-old mystery – a secret someone hoped was buried for good.

Wow, where has this author hidden until now? Why did I only discover her now? This book was simply fantastic. Plot, suspense and characters and an extraordinary villain had me glued to the pages until 3 am!

Olivia has been kidnapped 25 years ago when she was barely two years old. During this event also her parents have been murdered. Today she can’t remember anything about this time, but in a convoluted way she feels guilty for her parents’s murder and her grandfather’s loss.

When a retired house owner discovers a skeleton of a two year old child in a suitcase, immured into the wall of his house, the whole case is unrolled again. One of the leading detectives is Trey Bonney. He and Olivia have a past history, they have been deeply in love during their high school years, yet when Olivia’s grandfather requested their separation, Olivia broke up with Try out of guilt and loyalty to her closest relative. When Olivia and Trey meet again it’s like they have been never separated. Trey forgives her and both know that this time they will finally stand up for their love.

Trey and Olivia are two immensely nice and wonderful characters. Their undying love for each other rings so true, so right it really warmed my heart and made me sigh. No commitment phobia, no single complex, simply true and basic love. Such a wonderful change to all those other relationship problems.

I first thought Olivia’s grandfather is going to be one of those possessive, unbending characters, but no, Marcus Sealy is much more complex than that. He realizes his mistake and becomes deeply reflective about his relationship with Olivia and also tries to mend his long ago mistake.

The suspense plot itself was one of the best I have read in a long time. Fantastic, non-stereotypical and especially unforeseeable, therefore I don’t want to write too much about it in order not to give away any clues. Let me put it this way, the villain in this story is very special … and I can honestly say I have never met quite another one like this person.

Any recommendations? I definitely want to read more from this author who – so I discovered – also goes by the pen name Dinah McCall.

Megan McKinney – Lions and Lace

Copyright: [1988] Mark this part with your mouse in order to see the year.

Pages: 400 (paperback edition)

Setting/Type: Turn of Century [New York]/Straight Romance

Series: Van Alen Sisters series #1

Grade: C-

She played by high society’s rules…

The gaslight’s glow lit Alana Van Alen’s golden hair. Born to luxury, she belonged with the Astors and the Vanderbilts at cotillions and soirees. But she shivered with fear and something more as she faced the handsome, ruthless Trevor Sheridan. He had bankrupted her fortune and would expose her family’s scandalous secret unless she accepted his outrageous offer, his emotional blackmail…his heart-stopping kiss.

He broken them all…

Born Irish, brought up in the streets, Trevor “the Predator” Sheridan learned early how to get the wealth the women he wanted. An expert as games of power, he played one that would destroy every famous family who snubbed him. Tricking the beautiful Alana was his trump card. But he never intended to want her…until her beauty and her resolve stole his breath away.

Now their desires swept them toward rapture…or ruin.

Without peeking at the copyright, when do you guess has this novel been written? LOL, exactly!!!! I can’t really be bothered to give this book a proper review. It is one of those childish romances I outgrew after my first year of reading romance. This book is about revenge, about the hero taking pleasure in annihilating his enemies and… of course the martyrdom inclined heroine that features some prominent TSTL moments. She – of all who did wrong to the Sheridan family – was the only one who of course didn’t do anything in-just (would you have guessed that?). This is a typical novel of it’s time (though I strongly would like to point out that there ARE good novels from back then). Flowery, voluptuous and essentially fluffy without any real depth.

I don’t really want to respect a hero who can’t distinguish between innocence and guilt and between the persons who committed said sin. Except for this the story has a certain soap-opera-quality to it with an ongoing suspense curve. The only condition I have on these type of books is to deliver great entertainment and at least enough wit now and then to save me from total stupidity during the worst moments. Well, suffice is to say, this book isn’t the brightest bulb in the universe and I don’t think I will ever read a McKinney again.

Olivia Gates – Emergency Marriage

Copyright: 2004

Pages: 284 (large print edition)

Setting/Type: Contemporary/Series Romance

Grade: DNF

A marriage made in … crisis!

Dr Laura Burnside is pregnant, single and alone. Her dream job as head of Global Aid Organization in Argentina has been snatched out of her hands by the arrogant Dr Armando Salazar. She has nowhere to go. And then Armando makes a proposal that turns her world upside down. Marry him. Give her child a father. Continue her vital emergency work in this beautiful country. And give in to the passion that has raged between her and the devastating Argentinian since their first meeting…

Uhmmmm, how shall I put it? I think I am simply not cut out for medical romances. Not only do I not swoon over gods in white (can you say that in English? it’s a very common expression in German) but all this medical talk bores me beyond anything. I put this book on my wishlist after having read Rosario’s review quite some time back, always eager to give an unknown, supposedly good author a try. In the end, the book read like any average Harlequin Presents with an overbearing hero, and martyrdom-inclined heroine. To be fair, the hero has more brain and backbone than many HP alphas I had the misfortune to encounter, but how I ever thought such a baby plot to be tempting is beyond me. Instead of being simply a debutant, student, secretary or bartered mistress, the heroine from this book is allowed to be a doctor, and a good one at that. Alas, she, too, like every true Harlequin heroine, can only find true happiness by being rescued by a testosterone carrier. End of story, end of my patience. This simply doesn’t work for me.

I guess I will delete all the other Gates from my wishlist. What a pity, Glasgow’s libraries are plentifully stocked with her work.

Elizabeth Chadwick – The Falcons of Montabard

Copyright: 2003

Pages: 480 (paperback edition)

Setting/Type: Medieval (England, Outremer)/Straight Romance

Grade: C-

Well, this was my first Chadwick, and to be perfectly honest, I was rather disappointed in the book. But let’s start with the easy part, the blurb *g*

In the aftermath of tragedy and scandal, Sabin FitzSimon, illegitimate son of a Norman earl, leaves England for the Holy Land in search of a new beginning. At first it seems impossible as the demons from his past life return to haunt him. There is more scandal and banishment, and Sabin finds his back to the wall. In the heat and dust, magnificence and danger of Northern Syria, he must either face himself, or be vanquished. Annais, daughter of Edmund Strongfist is a quiet, convent-raised young woman when she accompanies her father to their new life in the Holy Land. Her encounters with Sabin FitzSimon leave her bewildered, desirous, and more than a little hostile. Bravely facing up to heartache, an arranged marriage, war and death, she falls deeply in love with the country and its people. But it will take more than love to secure what she holds dear, including Sabin FitzSimon. It will take courage, endurance and raw determination to succeed…

Medievals are not my preferred genre but Chadwick excels at bringing this dirty and harsh time alive, giving it congeniality and flair and thereby transforming it into a period I could relate to. The historical background appears painstakingly researched and the slow pace and growth of the story gave me time to become acquainted with the characters and a rather unknown historical setting.

Unfortunately, in my case, I never really connected with Sabin and Annais.

Annais has all the right attributes. Not being TSTL and in possession of a brain combined with a loving heart, she should be every reader’s wish come true. But as much as I tried, she never became real to me and stayed spherical until the last page. I would have wished for more insight into her thoughts and dreams, for a wee bit less of “correctness” and some wild and improper traits. Sabin possessed a more three-dimensional nature, but he, too, never really touched my heart. Like Annais, he wasn’t allowed much reflection and space to grow, albeit he became definitely more mature and thereby lost some of his youthful willfulness.

A wee bit more focus on the inner development of Sabin and Annais would have improved the story for me , but to be fair, the historical richness and captivating descriptions of a far ago England and Jerusalem (Outremer) made up for those shortcomings.  

Jennifer Donnelly – The Tea Rose

Series: Rose Series #1 

Copyright: 2003

Pages: 782 (paperback edition)

Setting/Type: Edwardian (England), Turn of Century (America)/Straight Romance

Grade: A

I am a hopeless case at summarizing book plots, that’s why I do it the easy way and start by giving you the back cover blurb (minus all the raving comments).

East London, 1888-a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths.

Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, a bright and defiant young woman dares to dream of a life beyond tumbledown wharves, gaslit alleys, and the grim and crumbling dwellings of the poor.

Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger’s son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams.

But Fiona’s dreams are shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything-and everyone-she holds dear. Fearing her own death at the dark man’s hands, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit-and the ghosts of her past-propel her rise from a modest west side shopfront to the top of Manhattan’s tea trade.

Fiona’s old ghosts do not rest quietly, however, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

I should have reviewed this book immediately after finishing it, instead of waiting until the end of the second book. I changed my opinion about it twice and eventually it was the second book that kept me from putting this one on my wishlist (to replace the library copy).

Jennifer Donnelly has an amazing writing style. Her stories are allowed to develop over years and are not pressed into fluffy 375 Avon-ized pages. What captivated me the most and was simultaneously the biggest hurdle to overcome was the realistic and drastic description of the poor’s living condition. The author did her research well, sometimes I felt myself pushed beyond what I felt able to bear. I prefer emotional draining and captivating stories to (most often) shallow romantic comedies, but I discovered that I feel very VERY reluctant reading about the inhuman living circumstances of London’s poor population.  Fortunately for me and my heart, circumstances for the love couple do change for the better :-).

Center of the story is Fiona Finnegan who grows up in a very poor but well-loved surrounding. The parents work hart to make the four children feel save and secure and even though there’s never enough money to escape the poorest part of London, Whitechapel, the Finnegans feel optimism and joy towards life.  Fiona is planning to open a store with her sweetheart Joe Bristow and together they are saving up a fortune of £ 25 to start this venture. 

Fiona’s father is involved in the union which tries to achieve better payment for the working class. When he suddenly dies, circumstances for the Finnegan family change drastically. Life spirals downward and forces the family to move to cheaper lodgings, the youngest child dies of a bad cough, the mother is murdered by Jack the Ripper and Charlie, the eldest son drowns in the river. Fiona is left alone with her baby brother Seamie and a relationship with Joe that seems to deteriorate.

Joe, in drunken stupor, impregnates his boss’s daughter and is forced to marry her. Fiona, adamant in getting some money from her father’s employer Burton Tea overhears that her father was murdered to annihilate the efforts of the union. With £ 500 she accidentally steals from Mr. Burton’s office, she flees to New York to save hers and her brother’s life. On the ship to New York she meets Nicholas Soames, a gay man who escaped his father’s imposing banking world. Nicholas is deathly ill (he has syphilis) but in Fiona he finds a friend and a wife for the next decade. With the £500 of blood money Fiona starts building up her tea emporium TasTea and prepares for the battle against her father’s murder.

The most fascinating part of this book was Donnelly’s ability to create lively, three-dimensional and authentic characters. Fiona, as she is portrayed in her development from a young adult to a grown-up woman with an acute business sense and a loyal heart stronger than Fort Nox. Joe who suffers tremendously because of his drunken slip-up and becomes a formidable self-made business man. Nicholas who is one of the most darling and friendly secondary characters I ever had the pleasure to read about. And  countless other minor characters that fill the story with love, laughter, sorrow and reality.

In some way I wished I had never read the second book of this series, The Winter Rose, because as a stand-alone, The Tea Rose offers a perfect reading time and a heart-warming story about boundless love that survives life’s cruelty’s. As a stand-alone I would have immediately reserved a place for it on my keepershelf, because of the follow-up, alas, I deleted it from my wish list.