Book Thingo » Romance

Flawless by Carrie Lofty

Wandergurl — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:24 +0000

Flawless by Carrie Lofty (The Christies, Book 1)

A second chance romance filled with adventure and set in a South African diamond mine. Not your conventional romance.

Lady Vivienne Bancroft’s father, Sir William Christie, died and left each of his four children an inheritence. For them to claim it, each one has to take a part of his business and make it successful. Vivienne ends up with a diamond mine in South Africa that she has to make profitable in a year.

Miles Durham, Viscount Bancroft, and his wife have been estranged for a few years. He wants to get her back and somehow prove himself to her by taking part in making the venture profitable.

I love adventure romances in your not so average settings! It’s not often that you get a romance in colonial South Africa—in a diamond mine, no less—and for that alone I bought this book. (Okay, Rendezvous also recommended it in their newsletter.) It didn’t disappoint.

Vivienne is quiet and strong, and she has been on her own for quite some time. All she wants to do is get back to her life, her lovely New York brownstone, but somehow she’s ended up in Africa with her ex.

Miles is really a rogue—the kind who gambles and who squandered her dowry and had nothing come of him. So it’s no surprise that she dumped him because she realised he was a lying, cheating cad. South Africa is his redemption in more ways than one. He’s actually a competent, capable bloke (I guess he’d be a bloke if he didn’t have a title) and I like how Carrie Lofty is able to show Miles developing self-awareness and actual balls, not just the ones attached to his nether regions.

Vivienne and Miles become more aware of what they’re capable of. In South Africa they’re not just society people—they actually have the capacity to make a difference, and not just profit wise. To me, this arc is what anchors the book.

Their story and growth as a couple is intertwined with their growing diamond mine and the fledgling industry. The story sounds well researched and the bits of history and facts are quite interesting. I also liked the way Lofty uses the secondary characters to show the life and times of the Victorian era—they provided insight into history, how people treated others, and why they did so. The adventure of the setting matched the adventure of Miles and Vivienne getting to know each other again and discovering that each person is more than what they seemed, and in Vivienne’s case, that Miles might be worth that second chance.

Yay or nay?

If you like adventure romances with just the right amount of character and insight, this one is for you.

Who might enjoy it: Readers who like romances in unusual settings

Who might not enjoy it: Readers looking for a conventional romance

Title: Flawless (excerpt)
Series: The Christies (Book 1)
Author: Carrie Lofty
Publisher: Pocket/Simon & Schuster

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The Lone Warrior by Denise Rossetti

Kat — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The Lone Warrior by Denise Rossetti (Four-sided Pentacle, Book 3)

Despite some poignant moments, too many inconsistent elements may prevent you from fully enjoying the story. Best enjoyed as part of the series in which it belongs.

This review is part of the AWW2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge. Click here for a list of books I’ve read so far.

When Denise Rossetti this year’s Australian Romance Readers Award for The Lone Warrior for Favourite Erotic Romance, I knew I had to read this book. I’m not sure who categorised this book for the awards, but it’s more fantasy romance than erotic, and the publisher label at the back of the book says ‘paranormal romance’.

When Mehcredi’s attempt to do the Necromancer’s bidding goes awry, she’s bound to the service of earth shaman Walker. Abandoned as a child, Mehcredi doesn’t know how to be with people, and effectively being trapped into dealing with a bunch of strangers brings old insecurities to the surface.

Mehcredi gradually finds some peace within Walker’s circle of friends, and some measure of self-confidence. When Walker frees her from her bond so he can pursue his quest to avenge his slain kin—he’s the only one left after they were wiped out by demons—Mehcredi insists on coming along, disguised as Walker’s apprentice.

The beginning of this story had me hooked. Until Mehcredi and Walker set off on their journey, I was invested in her story—of her awful childhood and how she makes new friends, gains self-esteem and, at times, loses progress. I was particularly moved by her description of masturbating, as a child, in a closet:

If there was one thing she’d learned at Lonefell, it was the comfort her own bod could give her. The only names she knew for what she did were ugly or childish, or both—frigging, beating off, jerking off. Taso called that soft, sensitive place a cunt, spitting out the word as if it tasted foul in his mouth. But when she lay hunched in some hidey-hole at the keep, cold and miserable and unable to sleep, stroking it helped. The fingers of one hand busy, she’d achieve release, the other first shoved in her mouth to stifle her cries. Afterward, she’d drift off, telling herself it didn’t matter, that at least one person cared enough to gift her with pleasure—even if it was herself.

I wasn’t so moved by Walker’s growing awareness of and lust towards Mehcredi. To call this book an erotic romance is, I think, stretching the definition. Yes, Rossetti uses words like cunt and cock and fuck, but the sex scenes, to me, are more purple prose than erotica. (‘Nngh’ is not a word, and even if it were, it would not be sexy.) The explicit language merely emphasises the lack of depth in these scenes and the weakness of the romance. I understood why Mehcredi fell in love with Walker, but not why he fell in love with her.

The external plot starts off promisingly, but towards the end, I was handicapped by not having read the previous books in the Four-sided Pentacle series. The explanations of magic, demons, djinns and technomages aren’t detailed enough to prevent confusion, ultimately causing me to lose a lot of interest in what was going on. I also found some scene transitions off-putting, with sex scenes interrupted by demon scenes.

I suppose what it all comes down to is a lack of consistency throughout the story. This is reflected in the characters, the language, the pace and the mythology. Mehcredi is an assassin, but she’s not really. Walker is the last of his kin, except he’s not. Prue negates magic, except not with Erik. Magic seems all too easy with the good guys, and even at the very end, the consequence of Walker saving Mehcredi’s life—the source of their final conflict—resolves itself in a terribly convenient way. (Mild spoiler alert: I wonder how Walker feels about part of his soul now being just a fashion accessory?)

Yay or nay?

This book is probably best enjoyed in series order because it seems to rely on worldbuilding done in previous books. I was interested enough in the outcome to keep reading to the end, but despite some poignant moments, there were too many inconsistent elements for me to fully enjoy the story.

Who might enjoy it: Readers who like an awkward heroine

Who might not enjoy it: Fantasy readers expecting a deep mythology

Title: The Lone Warrior (excerpt)
Series: Four-sided Pentacle (Book 3)
Author: Denise Rossetti
Publisher: Berkley/Penguin

Flirting With Intent by Kelly Hunter

Kat — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Flirting With Intent by Kelly Hunter (The Wests, Book 1)

Starts off beautifully, but sizzling chemistry can’t save a couple that feels like they won’t last six months, let alone a lifetime.

This review is part of the AWW2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge. Click here for a list of books I’ve read so far.

It’s no secret that, despite discovering her work only last year, Kelly Hunter is one of my favourite category romance authors. Flirting With Intent doesn’t disappoint in the writing department—it includes some beautiful, subtle scenes—but there’s just something lacking between the couple in this book.

It’s not chemistry, because from the moment Ruby Maguire and Damon West meet, the pages fairly sizzle. They embark on a high intensity, high risk affair after their attempts to flirt without intent dissolve in a blaze of kisses and hot limo sex—mostly off-page, but that doesn’t diminish Hunter’s ability to convey the passion between them.

Ruby’s father disappeared after being implicated in financial fraud, and she’s in a kind of limbo. She has a cushy job, courtesy of a Damon’s father, but it’s only a temporary gig while she recovers her equilibrium.

Damon is a computer hacker and his entire professional life is secret and possibly dodgy, depending on your ethical boundaries. He can’t offer the one thing Ruby demands even from a fling—honesty.

Up until Hunter fleshes out the internal conflicts for these characters, she had me entranced. Ruby and Damon are quick, funny and their dialogue is filled with innuendo and layers of meaning. I love that.

But the plot makes for unbelievable characters, irritating twists and, most disappointingly, a weak ending. There’s no way I can believe that a lawyer can be with an unethical hacker without it eventually destroying her career and, more likely, them ending up in gaol.

Hunter doesn’t fully explain the nature of Damon’s work, so I’m left with the impression that although he’s working for the good guys—whoever they might be—his work is shady enough that his safety is always an issue. The actual hacking methods that Damon uses are also suspect. (Some people get irritated by badly characterised sheikhs or military operatives; hackers are my pet peeve.)

Not to mention that fact that he has to involve Ruby in the shady business because she accidentally finds out what he does for a living. That’s…really not heroic, and for me it’s more problematic than the thing he later does and to which Ruby takes exception.

As for Ruby, she’s just too perfect, really. I love her character, but Damon didn’t deserve her. I felt that in their relationship, she would have to make most of the compromises.

One last thing: the story is set in Hong Kong and Sydney. Never mind that the protagonists are both Westerners—I love that Hunter explores these cities in her stories and gives them a bit of their own character.

Yay or nay?

The story starts off beautifully, but sizzling chemistry can’t save a couple that feels like they won’t last six months, let alone a lifetime.

Who might enjoy it: People who enjoyed Swordfish

Who might not enjoy it: Ethical hackers

Title: Flirting With Intent (excerpt)
Series: The Wests (Book 1)
Author: Kelly Hunter
Publisher: Mills & Boon

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Two Against The Odds by Joan Kilby

Kat — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Two Against The Odds by Joan Kilby

This book takes risks and touches on issues not often found in the romance genre, but the lack of chemistry between an unsympathetic heroine and a hero who doesn’t seem ready for a long-term commitment make this one a DNF for me.

This review is part of the AWW2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge. Click here for a list of books I’ve read so far.

I wanted to like this book. There are too few older heroines in romance, and this book deals not only with a twelve-year gap between the heroine and the hero, but it tackles issues not normally found in the genre—abortion, miscarriage and tax evasion.

Rafe Ellersley is sent to audit Lexie Thatcher, an artist who hasn’t paid her taxes in four years and has so far ignored all communication with the tax office. He’s not overly enthused about his job, but he needs the money to be able to fulfil his dream of owning and running a fishing charter.

Lexie Thatcher is in the middle of a painting that she plans to enter in the Archibald Prize, but she’s experiencing painter’s block. The last thing she needs is the tax man hanging out at her place, asking her for receipts, and worrying about how much she may have to pay in back taxes and penalties.

Much is made, during their early encounters, of their attraction and their age difference. Lexie is supposed to be 38 years old, but here the writing starts to fall apart for me. She’s been painting for a while, yet she hasn’t got a handle on how to run a business. She doesn’t pay tax and ignores the tax office because it’s too stressful to handle. She doesn’t even take it seriously when Rafe appears at her doorstep. But most of all, for a woman of my generation, she sounds…like my mum. Maybe even older.

I couldn’t figure out what attracted Rafe to Lexie. She comes across as supremely annoying, and for all that she supposedly looks so young for her age—’yoga kept her firm and toned; forgetting to eat must help keep her slim’—I know people in their early twenties with a better handle on their lives.

So anyway, they end up sleeping together, and Rafe warns her that it won’t affect the result of the audit. Lexie is understandably hurt by the implication that she was trying to bribe him with sexual favours. I found it incredibly difficult to believe that Rafe is so overcome by passion that he’s willing to sacrifice his job and his dream, with the added risk of STDs when he takes Lexie’s word that she’s on birth control. I thought, Bugger this, life’s too short to keep reading a story I have zero interest in.

This is a book that doesn’t follow ye olde romance conventions. The plot points aren’t predictable and neither is the structure of the story. The ending, though happy enough, is as close to being realistic as you’re likely to get in a romance. The story delves into some deeply emotional issues; if you’ve suffered from miscarriage, keep the tissues close by. So props to Joan Kilby for taking so many risks in this one book.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t pull it off. Lexie is an annoying heroine who lacks self-awareness. She’s also excruciatingly stereotyped—an artist who has no head for business, subscribes to new age practices, works herself to exhaustion and loves cats and children. Every creative person I know issues receipts and pays taxes. And if they do take under-the-table cash payments? No one hears about it—especially not the tax man.

Rafe isn’t ready for a commitment and I have no idea what kind of life he envisages with Lexie. He seems like a more realistic and three-dimensional character, but unfortunately, the plot conspires to underscore how young he is and how unprepared he is for marriage and family. Rafe’s character also comes across as inconsistent. He’s apparently a great accountant, but instead of working for a private firm he’s at the tax office, which, I’m assuming, pays nowhere near the same, with the added bonus that he can audit corporations rather than single mothers and artists struggling to make ends meet.

This book was DNF for me, although I skimmed through the rest of the book to check if I might be able to pick up the story at a more interesting place. No such luck.

Yay or nay?

Who might enjoy it: Readers who love heroines who wear peasant skirts

Who might not enjoy it: Tax office employees

Title: Two Against The Odds (excerpt)
Series: Summerside Stories (Book 3)
Author: Joan Kilby
Publisher: Mills & Boon Special Moments

One Good Reason by Sarah Mayberry

Kat — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

One Good Reason by Sarah Mayberry & Feels Like Home by Beth Andrews

A dramatic story with moments that will break your heart. Unfortunately, the hero’s emotional catharsis is rushed and the the resolution doesn’t match the story’s earlier promise.

This review is part of the AWW2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge. Click here for a list of books I’ve read so far.

Gabby Wade has held a torch for her boss and best friend Tyler Adamson for four years. Unfortunately, Tyler is now very happily married—and we know it’s for read and for good because Australian author Sarah Mayberry wrote his story in The Last Goodbye (Mills & Boon Super Romance). When Tyler’s elder brother, temporarily home for reasons unknown, mistakes her for a lesbian it’s the last straw. Gabby gets spectacularly drunk…and realises that she’s been going through a long period of heartbreak and grief.

Jon Adamson is helping Tyler out with his furniture business while coming to grips with their father’s death. They come from an abusive family and Jon is wracked with grief that he didn’t do enough to protect Tyler from their violent father.

Gabby and Jon immediately feel a connection when they meet, but it’s a slow burn and they both need to face some truths before they can even acknowledge the possibility of accepting a new relationship, no matter how temporary. Gabby guards her independence fiercely, and Jon’s instinct to protect those around him tends to irritate rather than charm her.

But Gabby isn’t invulnerable, and when she gradually lets Jon into her life—her private life, not just her life at work where she spends most of her time—they begin a passionate though fragile relationship. But Jon still has a lot healing to do, and his heart isn’t quite ready to fully open up. Gabby, however, has been through this before, and she’s unwilling to give her heart fully to someone who isn’t capable of risking his heart for her.

It’s to Australian author Sarah Mayberry’s credit that even when her books haven’t been to my taste, I still appreciate her craftsmanship and enjoy some—if not all—aspects of the story. All the characters in this story and their way of speaking with each other ring true—including all instances in which ‘mate’ is used, I’m relieved to say. Gabby is charming and complex, and Mayberry isn’t precious about Tyler. He’s almost always seen from Gabby’s perspective and doesn’t always come across as worthy of being a romantic hero.

Jon is tormented for most of the book, and although I was affected by his struggle to work through his guilt, I found this part of the novel somewhat…dull. It felt repetitive and rushed and forced and, yes, I skimmed through to the end. This should have been a longer story, based on where Mayberry starts with Jon’s character. There’s a lot for him to work through, and although the author starts off with a lot of unspoken longings, I felt that subtlety is eventually sacrificed to fit the happy ending within the word count.

The other aspect of the story that bothered me a lot was Gabby’s previous relationship with Tyler. This was no mere fling—she was with him for three years before ending it because of his lack of emotional commitment. The thought that the hero’s brother knows the heroine intimately and has seen her naked was, at best, distracting. To Mayberry’s credit, she eventually addresses the issue through Jon’s point of view. Still. It was very distracting.

Yay or nay?

One Good Reason is a dramatic story with moments that will break your heart. Unfortunately, the hero’s emotional catharsis is rushed and the the resolution doesn’t match the story’s earlier promise.

Who might enjoy it: Readers who love a slow, romantic start and a dramatic finish

Who might not enjoy it: Readers who would find the notion of a hero ending up with his brother’s ex-girlfriend more than a little distracting

This book is connected to The Last Goodbye (Mills & Boon Special Moments, April 2011), which tells the story of Jon’s brother, Tyler.

Title: One Good Reason (excerpt)
Author: Sarah Mayberry
Publisher: Mills & Boon Blush (11/2011)

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Lover Reborn by J. R. Ward

Kat — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 01:00:00 +0000

Lover Reborn by J. R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 10)

Tohr’s book hearkens back to the earlier books in the BDB series. It’s not without its faults, but in true J. R. Ward fashion, when she pulls out the angst, it’s very, very good.

Click here for a round-up of all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo.

I thought I had weaned myself off the crack, cold turkey, after I managed to resist the call of Lover Unleashed. But as a former Cellie, I was interested to see how Tohr gets his happy ending. Plus a review copy of Lover Reborn turned up in the mail. How could I resist?

Warning: This will be a long post. I’m using subheadings so you can skip to the bits that matter to you. There are spoilers, although I’ve tried not to give away major plot points.

The good stuff

I wasn’t expecting much from this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. For the most part, J. R. Ward restrains herself from going overly over the top and delivers a story that is more layered and coherent—if not always believable—than the BDB has delivered for some time.

Tohr is still steeped in grief when Lover Reborn begins. Despite the irksome Ward-style writing, the story begins at a cracking pace, with the Brothers chasing stupid lessers—don’t worry, they don’t feature much in this book; more on that soon—and finding themselves face-to-face with the Band of Bastards. I didn’t read the previous book and had no idea who they were, but Ward does a good job of unobtrusively filling in the blanks. Plus I had Decadence’s cheat sheets.

The baddies in this book are a gang of vampires led by Xcor (note: X is the new H), who has his eye on Wrath’s throne and plans to use the glymera to get there. These guys are so much more interesting than lessers—so you can tell they’ll eventually be reformed. Sigh.

Tohr’s romantic arc doesn’t intersect much with the external conflict. Lassiter, it turns out, is on a mission to save Wellsie and Baby Tohr from the In Between—the BDB version of purgatory, which didn’t exist before but does now. Oh, don’t be questioning the world breaking. Therein lies madness.

The book spans over a year of BDB time, which is a pleasant change from previous books. Certainly, Tohr and No’One (aka Joanoni—it’s a Twitter thing) need the time to sort out their issues and the build-up at the start of their relationship is wonderfully angsty, and Ward can write angst like nobody’s business.

But the pacing of the romance isn’t always perfect. When the external plot ramps up, sometimes Tohr’s story gets lost in the action. Lassiter fills us in on what’s been happening, which is convenient but unsatisfying.

Nevertheless, Ward gives Tohr’s healing process a lot of page time. I have issues with how this is handled (see the section on dealing with Wellsie below), but if you buy into Tohr and Joanoni as a couple, then it probably won’t bother you as much. I’m pretty sure many readers will find Tohr’s two-year mourning period insufficient, but I don’t think this is unrealistic. I think people who have been in a happy relationship and lose their partner have a very good template for relationships and are more receptive to new love than we might allow them to be.

The first feeding scene between Tohr and Joanoni—okay, No’one—is done excruciatingly well and brought me to tears. Their conflicts, however, are a mixed bag. Tohr’s declaration that ‘I want to fuck you. That’s why I went back home.’ is just so underwhelming, and on a few occasions he descends to unbelievable levels of arseholic. Their big break up scene could have been more subtle (then again, it’s the BDB), but it’s still a lot more toned down and believable than many of the other books in the series.

For the most part, the relationship between Tohr and No’One is summed up by this quote from her:

I am happy to simply have time with you. That is enough—and more than I could ever have expected out of my fate. These past few months have been a complicated joy that…

Ward being Ward, there’s an extra special twist at the end for No’One that came as a surprise to me. I loved that I didn’t guess it (although perhaps it was just me). That’s how immersed I was with the story—I wasn’t thinking ahead at all. The resolution of the impossible-love-twist may not work for every reader, but at least it makes more sense than Ghost Jane or Monogamous Primale Phury or Scribe Unvirgin or…well, you know where madness lies.

This is also one of the few couples in the series whose happy ending feels secure, at least on an emotional level.

Dealing with the issue of Wellsie

My biggest problem with Tohr’s emotional arc is that Ward uses Wellsie to force Tohr’s romance with No’One. Tohr is essentially forced to get over it by Lassiter in order to save Wellsie and Baby Tohr from being lost between life and death.

It’s as if Ward has to apologise to Wellsie fans for killing her off. What ends up happening is exactly the opposite of what I think Ward intended. To me, this plot does a great disservice to Wellsie—it’s basically her fault that Tohr has to find another love. It also puts a seedy tone around Tohr and No’One’s relationship, especially when they’re finally having sex. It’s like Lassiter is pimping him out so Wellsie and Baby Tohr can get to heaven.

Wait. What?

Yes, fine, it’s more complicated than that. It’s Tohr’s inability to let go of Wellsie that keeps her tethered to the living—in the undead vampire sense—world. And, okay, Wellsie’s plight enables Ward to externalise Tohr’s recovery, at least in the beginning—his grief is mirrored by Wellsie’s state and his inability to move on is illustrated clearly to the reader. After that, though, when Wellsie keeps getting worse even with Tohr trying his absolute best to have sex with someone else without feeling guilty—WTF? I hear you scream. Yes, I know.—it just seems cruel.

Because Ward uses Wellsie as an excuse for Tohr having to move on, Tohr’s recovery from grief never really feels natural. Worse, it feels like a betrayal of Wellsie’s character. And I’m not even a Wellsie fan.

Vampire ennui and self-esteem issues

If I had to sum up every character’s problem in the BDB series, it would be lack of self-esteem. Go reread your books and tell me you disagree. Everything boils down to characters feeling like they’re not good enough. It’s getting tiring. How long have these vampires been around again?

I was also uncomfortable with the level of contempt that some of the characters directed to anyone other than themselves or their friends. This is particularly noticeable at the beginning of the book. Given Tohr’s disdain for human beings it’s hard to fathom why he bothers fighting lessers. Maybe it’s become a hobby for lack of anything more exciting to do? Vampire ennui saves humankind. Awesome.

Xhex repeatedly goes off on internal rants about the glymera and sexist Brothers and the Kardashians—basically, notions of femininity that don’t fit her:

Anyone tried to turn her into a glymera chickadee? She’d just saw through the gold bars, set a bomb on the base of the stand, and hang the steaming remains from a chandelier in the foyer.

I get what Ward is trying to convey, and perhaps she’s responding to (I think well-deserved) criticism about the portrayal of women in the BDB world. I love that Xhex challenges the Brothers, including JM, about the patronising way they treat her, and she does become more tolerant towards the end of the book. But for the most part, especially when Xhex isn’t even with the Brothers, I think Ward overcompensates—it’s all just too over the top and angry and reinforces the notion that women who have made different choices about their lives can’t peacefully co-exist.

Xcor is one seething mess of self-esteem issues. He’s like V but uglier. Apparently. I don’t know anymore. He’s a great villain, but since he doesn’t seem destined to remain one forever, I’m kind of unimpressed. Nevertheless, the Band of Bastard members are intriguing and these new antagonists bode well for the coming books.

Secondary relationships and characters

If I had to sum up the theme of Lover Reborn, it would be one of healing.

Ward almost breaks John Matthew’s HEA to provide Tohr’s story with some parallel angst. JM and Xhex discover they just can’t work together, and Xhex leaves the mansion. Again, there’s something forced about their conflict—or at least, the way it’s presented is awkward. A lot of time elapses between scenes and Ward has to fill the reader in with bursts of info dump. There’s some good angst in their story, but JM seems to have a regressed, and their sex scenes are so not sexy. To me they were pointless and porny (not in a good way).

Qhuaylock doesn’t feature much in this book, but Qhuinn does have his own arc. Since the last chapter (excluding the epilogue) ends on Quinn and Blay, it comes as no surprise to me that book 11 of the series will be their book. In the meantime, Lover Reborn is not the book to make Qhaylock fans happy. Me, I’m a Saxton fan, so I’m destined for heartbreak.

Layla’s story arc is the one that caused me the most anger while reading this book. To me, she’s one of the most victimised characters in the series and I desperately wanted her to end up with someone who deserves her. Instead, it looks like Ward will use her to redeem the unredeemable. It sucks like a starving vampire.

There’s also a twist around Layla which I totally saw coming. It might make other readers gnash their teeth, but hey, now it’s your turn. :D

Rhage is totally adorable in this book.

Tohr shrugged. ‘Assuming he’s kept the same ones on, they’re a total of five. Three cousins. That porn star Zypher—’

Rhage harrumphed at that. Clearly, even though he was now very happily mated, he felt like the race had one, and only one, sex legend—and it was him.

Wardspeak

Look, you can’t escape Ward’s narrative style, and maybe I’m just more sensitive to it now, but the language irks. The brand-dropping seems to have been toned down, but Ward still tries much too hard to be urban and edgy…with unfortunate results. (See the Xhex quote above—I rolled my eyes. Seriously.)

This isn’t helped by godawful editing choices, and at this point, I can’t tell if the blame lies with the editor or with the author. Certainly, I’d hate to have been the proofreader for this book. Tense, punctuation, word choice, lack of nouns—they’ll offend anyone with any love for the English language. I wonder if foreign translations are just as painful?

Deliberately bad punctuation and stupid vocabulary aren’t subversive or cool. They’re just annoying and they make reading more difficult than it has to be.

To summarise: Give. Me. A. Break(s); Xcqh’BBQ… Gotchu.

Gesundheit.

Yay or nay?

Lover Reborn hearkens back to the earlier books in the BDB series. It’s not without its faults, but in true Ward fashion, when she pulls out the angst, it’s very, very good. My advice to readers is to do what they’ve been doing along: love the bits that are angsty and awesome and ignore the bits that aren’t. It’s the only way to keep enjoying this series.

Who might enjoy it: Long-term BDB fans—especially those who skipped the last book

Who might not enjoy it: Readers who love Wellsie or Layla or Qhaylock

A review copy of this book was generously provided by Hachette Australia.

Title: Lover Reborn
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood (Book 10)
Author: J. R. Ward
Publisher: Piatkus/Hachette Australia

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Heart Of The Desert by Carol Marinelli

Kat — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Heart Of The Desert by Carol Marinelli

A beautifully written story—the sheikh romance for readers who hate sheikh romances. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read in the Mills & Boon Sexy line.

This review is part of the AWW2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge. Click here for a list of books I’ve read so far.

I’ve never reviewed a Carol Marinelli book, but I’ve tried the author’s work twice; both times were DNF, and I didn’t pick up another one of hers again until I started reading Heart Of The Desert, a sequel to her 2009 M&B Medical, Secret Sheikh, Secret Baby. It’s an absolute keeper.

Georgie Anderson almost had a one-night stand with her brother-in-law, Prince Ibrahim Zaraq, but she turned him down at the last minute and harsh words were exchanged. So when they end up back at Zaraq at the same time, it’s all they can do to be civil to each other.

A series of events finds them stranded in the desert—the desert that haunts Ibrahim and seduces Georgie. But Ibrahim is the third prince of Zaraq, and he’s bound by rules and customs that will never accept Georgie in his life even though each of them knows they may never find anyone else who will understand and accept them so completely.

Heart Of The Desert is a beautifully written book, with a lyricism I don’t often find in category romance—or any contemporary romance for that matter. Forget what you know or think of sheikh romances because this is nothing like that. Despite small misunderstandings and the occasional petulant outburst from each of the protagonists, the conflicts in this story are largely internal and deeply poignant.

One of the criticisms I tend to have about category romance is the lack of subtlety in the writing, and I recognise that this is partly a result of the reduced word count. In Heart Of The Desert, Marinelli resists the impulse; for the most part, the story is almost excruciatingly restrained without being obscure. I’m not sure if this is because some of the events alluded to were covered in the previous book (featuring Georgie’s sister and one of Ibrahim’s brothers). This may be a problem for readers who expect a more straightforward approach to backstory—some details of Georgie and Ibrahim’s past issues remain frustratingly unrevealed—but I freaking loved it. In this scene, for example, Marinelli hints at Georgie’s previous eating disorder while increasing the emotional stakes for both protagonists:

‘I don’t like goat’s cheese.’

‘Neither do I,’ Ibrahim said, ‘when it is from a high-street store. Try it.’ He held it to her mouth and it was a gesture Georgie usually could not tolerate. Despite her healing, still there were boundaries and unwittingly he had crossed one. He held the morsel to her lips, told her what she should eat, only his black eyes caressed her as they did so, and there was, for the first time in this situation, the absence of fear.

Having never been to the Middle East, I’m not the best judge of how faithfully Marinelli captures the subtlety of the culture (fictional country notwithstanding). Suffice it to say that the setting felt well-researched and presents the exoticism of the locale while avoiding the tendency to exaggerate its charms. Marinelli doesn’t ignore the hardships of adapting to a foreign culture, albeit almost solely from a white Western female’s perspective.

Despite the exotic setting—How many of us have been through a sandstorm?—there’s an emotional honesty to the characters that just made me weep. This isn’t just about a sheikh and an ingénue from the West. Georgie and Ibrahim’s story is really about two people who need each other desperately but whose relationship is forever at odds with their obligations to their families and to themselves—something almost every one of us can relate to.

But perhaps what I love most about Heart Of The Desert is that Ibrahim was a continual surprise. When I thought he’d be a boor, he became tormented. When I expected aggression, he showed controlled passion. I was totally in love with him.

It was almost the same as it had once been, this charge, this pull, that propelled him to her, and she wanted to give in and run, to cross the club and just run to him, but instead she stood there, shivering inside as he came back to her, rare tears in her eyes as he bent his head and offered words she’d neither expected nor sought.

‘I apologise.’

And she couldn’t say anything, because she’d have wept or, worse, she’d have turned to him, to the mouth that she’d craved for so long now.

‘Not for all of it, but for some of the things I said. You’re not…’ His voice was husky. He did not have to repeat it, the word had been ringing in her ears for months now. ‘I apologise.’

‘Thank you.’ Somehow she found her voice. ‘I’m sorry too.’

She was.

Every day.

Every hour.

She was sorry.

And then he turned away and she could not stand to watch him leave a second time so she took her seat instead.

The story does have its weaknesses. The use of mysticism of massage to express Georgie and Ibrahim’s deepening connection doesn’t work well. Marinelli tries to do too much with this and it feels painfully contrived—a jarring note in an otherwise restrained book; fortunately, it only happens a couple of times.

I mentioned the petulance, the biggest of which is Ibrahim’s dummy spit towards the end of the book. In this case, Marinelli’s soft touch works against the story because it’s not always clear why Ibrahim is being so combative. Even by the end of the book, his emotional crisis has to be unpacked by the reader based on subtle cues.

The epilogue, while not unexpected, resolves external conflicts much too conveniently and serves to diminish some of the hard decisions that Ibraham and Georgie have had to make. It’s satisfying, but even if not everything had fallen into place I felt that Georgie and Ibrahim would not only make it, but that they’d have a wonderful life together.

Yay or nay?

Heart Of The Desert is a beautifully written story—the sheikh romance for readers who hate sheikh romances. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read in the Mills & Boon Sexy line.

Who might enjoy it: People who love a thrilling, angsty rollercoaster romance

Who might not enjoy it: Skeptics

This book is connected to Secret Sheikh, Secret Baby (published under the Medical line in 2009), which tells the story of Georgie’s sister and Ibrahim’s brother.

Title: Heart Of The Desert (excerpt)
Author: Carol Marinelli
Publisher: Mills & Boon
Australia: 9781742778259 (8/2011)
UK: 9780263886726 (7/2011)
US: 9780373130207 (20/9/2011)
Ebook: 9781742907666 (8/2011)

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Innocent In The Ivory Tower by Lucy Ellis

Kat — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Innocent In The Ivory Tower by Lucy Ellis

When this book gets good, it’s, oh, so very good. Alexei and Maisy may reflect the traditional alpha male and ingénue pairing in category romance, but they don’t always behave as expected. And that’s a good thing.

This review is part of the AWW2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge. Click here for a list of books I’ve read so far.

This book is the reason I try to read past a bad beginning to get to the meat of a story. Maisy Edmonds has been left caring for her best friend’s baby, Kostya, when she and her husband die in an accident. When the house suddenly explodes with strange men, it’s all she can do to convince Alexei Ranaevsky that Kostya needs her.

Alexei is Kostya’s godfather and he takes his role seriously. So much so that without any warning whatsoever, he storms the house where the baby is living, agrees to bring Maisy with him to provide some constancy in the baby’s life…and proceeds to pash her when he accidentally but conveniently walks in while she’s clad in nothing but a towel.

First of all…WTF? Second, when a man barges into your house looking like he’s about to take the baby in your care, then forces you to be ready to join them, who the hell takes the time to have a shower? No, you find a phone and call the goddamn police.

Anyway.

If you can slog through that ridiculously over-the-top premise, you won’t be sorry, because the story is actually quite lovely, and Alexei generally comes across as someone who understands Maisy and wants the best for her.

Yes, there are times when Alexei verges into uber-alpha male domain, but author Lucy Ellis (who used to write as Lucy Snowe) pulls him back before he goes too far. There are some gorgeous moments in this book, and the book had me hooked after a scene in which Maisy throws Alexei’s accusations that she’s dressing up for the local men back in his face, and instead of acting like a petulant brat as I was expecting, he walks away. He sees through her bravado: ‘She was taunting him because he’d offended her. She didn’t mean to push his buttons. But she had.’

I’ll be honest. There are some odd notes in the dialogue, the plot and the characters, but none big enough to dampen my enjoyment of the story or my fondness for this couple. I think what I disliked most was a kind of underlying stereotype about how men and women behave—’”If you leave it to the men they’ll never be ready,’ said [Alexei's housekeeper]. ‘They always need a little nudge.”‘—but I’ll be the first to admit that this is poor criticism given that the book is published under Mills & Boon’s Sexy imprint.

And Maisy isn’t always your typical naive heroine. She shows flashes of naughtiness and humour that are just delightful. When Alexei invites her to fix herself up, Maisy wonders if, with enough force, the soap dish would crack his skull. When she has an orgasm after some vigorous but non-penetrative activity, she’s mortified that she’s used Alex as a sex toy.

But my favourite scene is an intimate one, and it’s writing like this that lures me back to category romance, time and time again:

Maisy hung on to him, but she had gone very still and quiet inside. Her instincts were telling he something and she didn’t want to hear it right now. Easier just to take him at his word. But those words settled like stones in her belly.

This was her power over him. This was what she used for leverage. She had just manipulated a situation her way with sex. Those games he had tried to play with her early on and quickly given up she had now instigated as her own, however unconsciously [sic].

But something about this relationship—probably to do with how it started, the imbalances between them and Alexei’s history—was changing her. Changing them.

She didn’t want to be this woman. She didn’t want to be this way with Alexei. She wanted honest, and real, and for him to love her. The realisation flashed with neon clarity across her mind. She was in love with him.

Yay or nay?

Skim through the beginning, because when this book gets good, it’s, oh, so very good. Alexei and Maisy may reflect the traditional alpha male and ingénue pairing in category romance, but they don’t always behave as expected. And that’s a good thing.

Who might enjoy it: Category romance tragics

Who might not enjoy it: Readers who expect a realistic plot

This book is part of a connected series featuring Alexei’s friends—all Russian heroes who grew up together in an orphanage. Unfortunately, I can’t find a complete list of titles and order of release. I think Innocent In The Ivory Tower is the third book, because it features two other couples who, I’m assuming, got their story in previous books. But I could be wrong!

Title: Innocent In The Ivory Tower
Author: Lucy Ellis
Publisher: Millls & Boon

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A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

Wandergurl — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:00:20 +0000

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant (Blackshear Family, Book 1)

Sweet and well written, but requires a lot of patience.

Martha Russell is recently widowed. If she is not pregnant with an heir, she loses control of her beloved estate and the accompanying servants to her brother-in-law, who is not known for being kind. She decides to contract her hunky new neighbour, Theopilus Mirkwood, who has been exiled to the country by his father, into being her sperm stud. And this is where our story begins.

I had been looking forward to this book for a long time. Other readers absolutely raved in their reviews—lyrical, romantic, well-written, etc. Then I got the book and it took me two months to read it.

While I will agree that A Lady Awakened is well written and lyrical and thoughtful and beautifully done, I did not like it. I would, however, give Cecilia Grant a second chance and try her next offering, and hopefully it will not try my patience as much as this book has done.

For starters, while I get that this is the whatever ages (Regency? post? pre?) and that women enjoying sex is not the usual and doesn’t really happen and I understand the lead character’s moral qualms are at the root of her not being able to orgasm, did the author have to make Mary frigid for two-thirds of the book? This is a romance novel, for god’s sake—could Grant not have made her enjoy the sex and end her suffering somewhere along the halfway point? Does it really take that long to get an orgasm in a romance novel? (Note: This is not real life.) There are no sweet scenes to build you up to the sex, either, because I’ve read books where there’s one sex scene in the end and something has usually happened before that.

All they do is talk about crops.

Yes, crops. And agriculture, etc. Theo has been sent to the country to learn about estate management. He discovers, while studding, that it relaxes Martha—or Mrs. Russell as he calls her for the entire book. He talks about estate management because she loves it. I get it. I get you need a happy topic to get into the comfort zone. I did, however, think there was too much talk of agriculture, in bed and out of it.

I spent most of the book feeling sorry for Mr Mirkwood. He had spent most of his life being told that he was good at only one thing—debauchery—only to find that no matter what he did he ended up getting stuck with Ms Frigid. Talk about deflating the ego. In the end he figures out he’s a natural born leader—yay, you!—but along the way I wanted to go, Dude, I know this is a challenge and you just want to make this work, but really? You need to go and do something else with your life.

I spent a lot of time feeling like this was not a romance. LIke it was a journey of self-discovery for both characters—in this case well done, but I was, quite honestly, bored. I’ve read books before where everything is slow to unfold, but it does happen. I got halfway through this book and felt that there was no sign of romance. And I don’t mean the sex. I felt that there was no hint that they would end up together. I didn’t feel chemistry or tension—other than the painful, awkward kind—or even the tentative stirrings of what might have been. Nope. Dead in the water like a frigid widow.

So I put the book down.

I finally decided to pick it up again, because I felt that not finishing it was stopping me from reading other books, and god knows, we need more reviews! So I picked it up again, and thankfully the romance did, too. By then, however, I was at the last third of the book and I couldn’t be arsed, so I skimmed and skimmed.

The ending is rather sweet. Bad guy gets his comeuppance, girl and guy fall in love, there’s a small misunderstanding, and oh, happy sex. But why does it have to all be crammed at the end? And nothing really starts in the love department till they finally achieve orgasm. I realise she had to get over that to figure out that she could love someone, and I’m glad he does all the admitting first, but not that they take so long to get there.

Yay or nay?

I would only recommend this book because everyone else liked it. It’s had good reviews everywhere. It is written rather well, and it does end up sweetly. Maybe you just need more patience than I had when I was reading this book.

Who might enjoy it: People who like their romance drawn out and slow-paced

Who might not enjoy it: People who don’t like reading about crops

Title: A Lady Awakened (excerpt)
Series: Blackshear Family (Book 1)
Author: Cecilia Grant
Publisher: Bantam US

Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl

Kat — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:00:00 +0000

Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl (Tumble Creek, Book 3)

The heroine’s struggle for self-acceptance may get a little dull, but a sexy hero, some hilarious dialogue and the snappy writing make this book a delight to read.

Lead Me On is the third book in a connected series set in Tumble Creek, Colorado, although the plot and characters stand alone and there’s absolutely no reason you couldn’t read them out of order.

Jane Morgan has changed her name and appearance to shed any trace of her troubled childhood, and the last thing she wants is a man like Chase—not only does he blow things up for a living, he’s inked and clearly so far away from the conservative, suited up man she’s looking for that she really should never have called him while tipsy.

Chase agrees to be Jane’s birthday present to herself—despite the prim demeanour, she’s completely uninhibited in the bedroom—he’s outraged when she sneaks off while he’s in the shower.

I love the way Victoria Dahl sets up these two characters. Jane, with her insecurities and snobbiness, could have been irritating if not for the humour and passion that Dahl provides. Chase is a hero to swoon over. He looks like a bad boy and used to be somewhat of a bad boy, but by the time the story starts, he’s in the right place in his life to be the dependable and patient guy that Jane needs.

It turns out that Jane’s mum used to chase after men in prison for life, and Jane refuses to be like her mum. She was also pretty wild as a teenager, and after an incident that changed her, Jane is determined never to be that girl again.

Of course, Chase is the perfect guy for her. He’s just bad enough to push her buttons, but mature enough not to be a destructive force in her life. I love that he calls her out on ‘being fucking rude’ and treating him ‘like a worthless piece of garbage’ after their first encounter. I love that he gets angry with her, but doesn’t issue ultimatums and believes in Jane enough to give her space to work it out in her head and in her heart.

Dahl reverses some typical romance roles in this book. Jane is the one who insists on a casual relationship, and she’s the one who initiates the booty calls. Chase is first to recognise and admit his deepening feelings for Jane, and he’s the one who attempts to seduce her into capitulating—by withholding sex and then shaving his head so his tattoos stand out.

Jane snatched up the phone and flipped it open. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t call him, but here was a way around that.

Pulling up his number, she typed out a text message.

Want to come over?

She counted to ten. Then counted again. Then she set her phone down and walked away from it to make it beep. It worked. Jane raced back and picked it up.

Dinner? A walk? It’s a beautiful evening.

She scowled at the screen.

No, just here.

This time she didn’t put it down—she only glared and waited, tapping her foot. Finally her answer arrived.

Thank you, but no. Have a good nite.

‘Oh, you bastard,’ she huffed, tossing the phone onto the couch. ‘What kind of man refuses sex?’

Jane’s journey to self-acceptance is a little heavy-handed at times, but Chase provides a good foil for these moments. Still, I would have preferred her to develop more gradual sense of awareness rather than an epiphany that felt contrived and banal.

The secondary characters in the story don’t get much character development, so they tend to seem like cardboard cutouts, particularly Jane’s ex-boyfriend. To Dahl’s credit, though, the external plot doesn’t detract from the romance.

One last thing: I love a hero who never forgets to use a condom. There’s a fantastic scene in this book where Chase is tempted to go without, and Jane pretty much gives him permission, but he controls himself enough to get the thing done. With much swearing involved. I also love a hero who knows when it’s appropriate to say adult words.

Yay or nay?

The heroine’s struggle for self-acceptance may get a little dull, but a sexy hero, some hilarious dialogue and the snappy writing make this book a delight to read.

Who might enjoy it: Readers who like sexual confident heroes and heroines

Who might not enjoy it: Prison groupies

Title: Lead Me On (excerpt)
Series: Tumble Creek (Book 3)
Author: Victoria Dahl
Publisher: HQN/Harlequin