The Family Farm by Fiona Palmer

The Family Farm’s blurb shows promise, but a slow plot and lacklustre romance make for a rather dull read.

I really, really wanted to like this book. I’m always on the lookout for good outback romances and at first glance The Family Farm fits the bill.

Isabelle Simpson returns to the family farm, eager to help her parents and show her father that she’s more than capable of managing the farm. But her father is convinced that farm life is too harsh for his remaining daughter, and this causes some conflict between then. When her father is hospitalised indefinitely, Isabelle surreptitiously takes over managing the farm.

Her father thinks their neighbour, Will Timmins, is in charge. For years Isabelle has blamed Will for her sister’s death, but gradually she learns the truth behind her sister’s tragedy and she discovers that Will has changed from the skirt-chasing prankster she knew as a child. (more)

Too Much Temptation by Lori Foster

Because who can resist a story about an overweight 25-year old virgin and an attractive, successful hero, who want each other in every hot, wet and dirty way?

Grace Jenkins has been attracted to her elderly employer’s grandson, Noah Harper, for years, but he’s been oblivious and engaged to someone else. When his engagement ends under mysterious circumstances, Grace knows he doesn’t deserve to be disowned by his grandmother over the break-up. She visits him to offer her support and ends up in his bed, knowing he isn’t interested in a relationship. Noah and Grace soon realise that they want more, but Noah’s grandmother wants him back with his fiancée and Grace back on the payroll and away from Noah.

This was a book that made a huge impression on me when I first read it about 6 years ago (when I was new to contemporary romance) and one that I’d meant to reread long before now.

Grace is an overweight, shy, 25-year old virgin but has a lot of spine, loyalty and the ability to let go of her self-consciousness over her weight and nudity at those crucial (more)

Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins

(Otherwise known as OMG, Wandergurl is reading a contemporary that is not also a paranormal and is not written by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.)

Grace Emerson is history teacher and civil war buff whose ex-fiancé is now dating her baby sister whom she loves and adores. Tired of the pitying looks and parental nagging, she invents a hot boyfriend to appease her family. In the meantime, Callahan O’Shea, a rugged bad boy with Irish heritage, moves in next door. Now … should she or shouldn’t she?

We all know what happens next, but Kristan Higgins does a good job of reinventing the (bad) boy next door and making the whole story appealing. Too Good To Be True is a hilarious mix of well thought out characters—including a cute West Highland terrier—in an easy to read page turner that kept me grinning.

The upside

Grace is a very relatable character. As a history nerd with an equally nagging family. (Mum asks me if I’ve met Anyone Interesting no matter where I go. (more)

Addition by Toni Jordan

Toni Jordan’s debut novel was a delight to read. It’s not often I come across unconventional protagonists, and this one has become a favourite.

“It all counts.”

So begins Toni Jordan’s debut novel about a woman with a peculiar problem: She counts—everything.

Grace Lisa Vandenburg lives by numbers—from the number of letters in her name, to the number of bites it takes to eat a flourless orange cake sprinkled with poppy seeds from her local cafe, she shapes her world using whatever unit of measurement presents itself.

So when she finds herself 1 banana short at the grocery checkout, what’s she supposed to do?

My shopping trolley has 2 trays of chicken thighs, fat and glossy, (more)

Courting Disaster by Kathleen O'Reilly (Southern Legacies: The Prestons, Book 6)

A virgin country singer paired with a playboy race car driver hero could’ve been a recipe for disaster, but Kathleen O’Reilly writes some of the best couple dynamics I’ve read in a category romance.

Courting Disaster is the sixth book in the Southern Legacies series, and this is painfully obvious in the first few chapters. The only mildly interesting event in the first 40 pages is a parking accident, which sets up the meeting between playboy race-car driver Demetri Lucas, a close friend of the Prestons, and country-and-western singer Elizabeth Innis, who’s part of the Prestons’ extended family.

Once O’Reilly gets through the series continuity info dump, the book picks up the pace and we’re treated to a romance that’s both somewhat traditional and yet unpredictable.

Old-fashioned romance with modern sensibilities

Elizabeth is a famous singer whose virginal reputation is part of her “brand”, if you will. O’Reilly gives her a back story in which this is plausible if not entirely believable. (more)

Keeping it in the Family by Sinéad Moriarty

I was lucky enough to win a copy of Keeping it in the Family by Sinéad Moriarty when Penguin Australia ran a Twitter contest (@PenguinBooksAus) to win a book from its new release catalogue. I was intrigued by the blurb, which sounded a bit like an Irish version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Being from a relatively large extended family of immigrants, I’m well acquainted with the insularity and cultural protectiveness that can be stifling and frustrating for immigrant children.

Keeping it in the Family isn’t exactly a romance novel, but the romance sets up the premise of the story, and what romance there is is rather sweet. The story begins with relationship columnist Niamh (pronounced NEEV) O’Flaherty falling in love. Pierre Alcee is gorgeous, intellectual and quite a bit older than Niamh, but their differences seem trivial when they’re together.

Their actual relationship takes up relatively few pages in the novel, and their dialogue has an almost staccato rhythm in its sparseness, but Moriarty does a good job of conveying their connection and the sense of fun that’s part of their attraction. It’s a heady, almost unbelievably quick courtship—within a month Pierre asks her to move in with him, and within 6 months they’re engaged. (more)

Disco Boy by Dominic Knight

I almost gave this book a pass. Author Dominic Knight is on the writing team of ABC’s The Chaser and was a regular contributor to the SMH. I felt certain that the book would approach romance with cynicism and biting sarcasm and just generally take the piss out of the genre.

I was wrong. I loved this book.

Two things convinced me to request an ARC of Disco Boy. First, I’ll never forget this piece that Knight wrote for the SMH championing the romantically inept man. I have a soft spot for dork-boys. Second, I read the first 3 chapters. Oh, my god, I thought, I know these people!

Paul Johnson is an overeducated underachiever who works as a low-rent party DJ, eschewing corporate life in pursuit of a musical career. In theory—because he hasn’t actually made any music during the 2 years he’s been pumping up the jam at weddings, RSL clubs and cruises. Meanwhile, the lure of the “grown up” career beckons as he sees his mate Nigel and ex-coworkers wallowing in all their corporate glory. Plus, Paul’s all too aware that DJing gives him zero bragging rights with the ladies.

So when he’s kicked out of a gig after accidentally playing ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ at a party, (more)

Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Glitter Baby is a reissue of Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ first novel, originally published in 1987, and is set in the 1950s, ’70s and ’80s. I think as a hangover from the 1970s bodice-rippers, romantic fiction from the 80s (the little I’ve read of it anyway) seems to require hard-edged and even harder-won sophistication and a loss of innocence, which can make the book quite heavy, especially for someone who discovered romance in the late 90s.

I can understand why this book has been out of print for so long: it’s a time capsule from decades past and is likely to sell again today primarily because of Phillips’ name on the cover. Or at least that’s why I bought it. But even the publishers seem confused as to how to market it for today’s readers. The front cover and spine describe the book as “fiction” or “women’s fiction”, but the quote on the back calls the book a “sweeping romance”.

It definitely doesn’t fit today’s typical structure for a romance novel. The first chapter shows Glitter Baby Fleur Savagar’s tentatively successful attempt to return to the spotlight after a mysterious fall from grace, (more)

Fit To Be Tied by Karen Kendall

Fit to Be Tied by Karen Kendall doesn’t begin like a conventional romance novel—it starts with a proposal. When Tom proposes to Jen, it should’ve been one of the happiest days of her life. But instead of ending the day having great monkey sex, Jen breaks the happy news to her parents just after they announce that they’re getting a divorce.

The story skips to the wedding where a frazzled Jen is trying her hardest to cope with various things going wrong on her big day—one of her shoes goes missing, her hair is horrible, she’s breaking out in hives … and Tom seems to be more than a little tipsy. But that’s nothing compared to discovering that Tom had been married before. And that his ex-wife is trying to crash the wedding party. And that he wasn’t actually divorced yet when he’d started dating Jen.

To cut a long story short, Jen decides she wants a divorce. While they’re on their honeymoon.

If you think the plot is ridiculous, that’s because it is. If it sounds a little funny, that’s also because it is (more)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight Saga, Book 1)

For some reason, the Twilight craze swept right by me. Despite reading a lot of great reviews, it never struck me as a book that I desperately wanted to read. I was curious, though, and when the film came out, I finally put the book in reserve at the library so I could read it before I see the film.

Twilight has so many obvious flaws, and yet I couldn’t put it down. Here’s a sample of what went through my mind as I read this book:

Half of brain: Why are we still reading this?
Other half of brain: Shut up, I’m reading.
HoB: This is ridiculous
OHoB: OMG, so thrilled!
HoB: Teenage boys would never say that.
OHoB: Aw, so sweet…
HoB: Bella sucks. And why is her default reaction icy?
OHoB: She’s a nerd, but popular … it’s just the way I always though high school should’ve been.
HoB: Edward seems to scowl a lot. And smirk. Smirky teenage boys are beyond annoying. (more)