Book Thingo » Historical 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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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

Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens

Kat — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:00:23 +0000

Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens

What better book to kick-off #AWW2012 than one of the most well-loved titles by one of Australia’s best-selling female authors, Stephanie Laurens.

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

I’m almost ashamed to admit that until now I’d only read one book by Stephanie Laurens. (In my defence, the book was The Promise in a Kiss. More on that later.) But now I’ve broken the drought, and I finally understand why Laurens has such a dedicated fan base and why Devil’s Bride comes up, time and time again, when romance readers list their all-time favourite novels.

Devil’s Bride is an interesting book. Lauren’s prose is reminiscent of an older, more distant style of narration that’s now become somewhat unfashionable in romance fiction. And yet the story features Honoria, a heroine whose tendency towards independence, I suspect, owes more to modern sensibilities than any attempt at historical accuracy. (I’m no historian, so I’m happy to be proven wrong on this count.) This juxtaposition of contemporary values against the narration’s more traditional cadence—including, at times, purple prose just shy of being unbearable—kept me enthralled throughout the first half of the story.

Honoria Wetherby stumbles upon a dying man and is discovered by Devil, Duke of St Ives. Together they tend to the shooting victim and keep vigil though his final hours; the next morning, having spent the night together unchaperoned, the only way to salvage the situation is for Devil to marry her. She refuses.

She, Honoria Prudence Anstruther-Wetherby, was not going to be pressured into anything. It was patently obvious both Devil and the Dowager would do everything possible to tempt her, to convince her to accept his proposal—the proposal he hadn’t made. That last was not a fact she was likely to forget—he’d simply taken it for granted that she would marry him.

She’d known from the first he was impossible, even when she’d thought him a mere country squire; as a duke, he was doubly—triply—so. Aside from anything else—his chest, for example—he was a first-class tyrant. Sane women did not marry tyrants.

He can’t understand why, of course, and is determined to make her his wife.

What follows is so wonderfully unexpected that I almost can’t believe this book was first published more than ten years ago (1998). Devil courts Honoria. He does so with style and charm and without disempowering her, despite Honoria’s almost incomprehensible disregard for her reputation. Laurens, meanwhile, keeps the reader charmed. (‘It’s ridiculous,’ says Honoria, ‘there wasn’t even a bed.’ To which Devil replies, ‘Trust me—there’s no requirement for a bed.’)

Devil is the epitome of the modern alpha hero. He’s so honourable and capable and, well, indestructible, it almost hurts your teeth. But he’s also so superbly charming that it’s impossible not to feel a tad swoony. I certainly can’t understand how Honoria manages to resist for so long.

The weakness of the story—and it’s a big one—is the mystery subplot. Because the romance is pretty much a done deal halfway into the book, Laurens relies on solving the mystery of the shooter to fill the rest of the word count. This could have worked, except that the villain is so obvious it’s almost reverse psychology: It couldn’t possibly be who I think it is. Sadly, it was, and the reader is left wondering how everyone manages to be completely oblivious. I suppose that’s one for the not-so-infallible hero.

Spoiler warning: If you want to read this series, start with this book. Under no circumstances should you start with the prequel. Trust me. It happened to me.

Devil’s Bride is the first of the Cynster books; however, the eighth book published for this series, The Promise in a Kiss, is a prequel to Devil’s Bride. The Promise in a Kiss features Devil’s parents, Sebastian and Helena, and on its own is a relatively enjoyable book. Unfortunately, one look at the family tree shows that Sebastian later fathers a child with another woman. This is the worst betrayal imaginable to me as a romance reader; it’s the reason I’ve refused to read another Laurens novel for years. I’m still offended, to be honest, but it’s been long enough that I’ve forgotten Sebastian’s story and no longer have any emotional investment in Helena’s HEA. But it still makes me very sad and reluctant to keep reading the series.

Yay or nay?

Devil’s Bride is so gloriously, deliciously over-the-top yet gloriously, deliciously irresistible. Never mind the predictable plot and the fantastical notion of a compromised Regency heroine who isn’t given a single cut direct—this is a true old-fashioned romance that goes straight to the heart.

Who might enjoy it: Readers who prefer their alpha heroes not to be domineering

Who might not enjoy it: Sticklers for historically accurate character portrayals

Title: Devil’s Bride (excerpt)
Series: Cynsters (Book 1)
Author: Stephanie Laurens
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
A format: 9780380794560 (1/2/2000)
Ebook: 9780061760273 (16/1/2010)

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The Many Sins of Lord Cameron by Jennifer Ashley

Wandergurl — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:54 +0000

The Many Sins of Lord Cameron by Jennifer Ashley (Highland Pleasures, Book 3)

A Victorian romance that doesn’t pull a fast one on the reader. It’s a shame we get only one book a year in this series.

Lord Cameron Mackenzie has been a bachelor ever since his psycho first wife died and has raised his son with the help of his brothers and the women who have married into their family. He’s known for his talent with training race horses, and, of course, for his reputation with women.

Ainsley Douglas is a widowed lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria (yes, it’s not a Regency!) and a good friend of one of the Mackenzie wives’. She’s been sent to their house party to retrieve incriminating letters that are being used to blackmail the queen. She’s encountered Cameron before—in smouldering but unfulfilled circumstances—and finds herself caught up with him again in her attempt to retrieve the letters.

Cameron is the third brother to feature in Jennifer Ashley’s lovely series featuring the scandalous Mackenzie family. Like the previous book featuring Cameron’s brother, Ian, this is not entirely a conventional romance novel. Both Ainsley and Cameron were married before, but while she was married to a kind man to avoid scandal, he was married to a psycho nymphomaniac who ended up causing scandal. His wife’s death is a bit of a mystery in the beginning, but it’s explained rather quickly—none of this dragged-on Jane Eyresque mysteriousness typical in other books.

The theme of the series appears to be about healing—everyone saves themselves and each other from drowning in their own hang-ups or traumas. The Mackenzies are a strong, proud and scandalous family, deeply affected by the abuse they suffered at the hands of their psycho dad, and they’ve come out better for it. Yes, they’re in need of love, and sometimes saving from themselves, but they’re believable, sympathetic characters, not the kind who act like arseholes, and then we’re just supposed to forgive them and let them be redeemed because we feel sorry for them as they had crap childhoods, evil women treated them badly, etc.

The family dynamics between the siblings and their wives is also lovely, which is as it should be because it sets up the rest of the characters for the series!

I liked both Ainsley, for her quiet kind of strength and hidden cheekiness, and Cameron, for his stubborn kindness and the way he grew as a character. I have yet to read a book in this series that I didn’t love—they’re all keepers for me. Ainsley and Cameron’s romance is unconventional for the prudish Victorian age, and I liked how this was played out.

Ashley does not pull any fast ones on you. The Mackenzies don’t have everyone on their side, the Queen doesn’t like them, society loves them—the title’s a dukedom—but thinks they’re crazy, mamas don’t entirely throw their daughters at them, and in the end, it’s still like that. There’s no magic fix. The road to redemption is there, they get their happy endings, but you get to appreciate the entire journey.

Yay or nay?

I highly recommend the entire Highland Pleasures series. You can read this one on its own, but it would be better if you read them all in order. I look forward to the next book, and it is a shame that they only come out once a year!

Title: The Many Sins of Lord Cameron
Series: Highland Pleasures (Book 3)
Author: Jennifer Ashley
Publisher: Berkley
A format: 9780425240496 (2/8/2011)

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The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Heartless by Gail Carriger

Wandergurl — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:13 +0000

Heartless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate, Book 4)

The latest instalment of the Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series proves that some things can get even better with time.

Alexia Maccon (nee Tarrabotti) has got herself into trouble again. Aside from the ‘infant inconvenience’ that has led to everyone trying to kill her—featuring, this time around, zombie, semi-mechanised porcupines—she has to solve a plot to assassinate the Queen. All while waddling about, moving, investigating her husband’s past, fussing over members of the pack and having tea.

This latest instalment of the Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series proves that some things can get even better with time. This book was just as witty and compelling as the others—I read it at every possible moment—and even more creative. (The porcupines were totally original.) Alexia, despite being preggers and totally dependent on her parasol, hunky werewolves and her unflappable butler to prop her up, still manages to save the day and pop out a baby besides. (Yes, the progeny makes its appearance in this one, which is not a spoiler since you can tell that from the size of her in chapter one.)

Connal, Lord Maccon, is still the smitten werewolf, but he gets to play a bigger part in this book, what with managing his pack. (In the last book he was a mostly absent ass.) His gruff but affectionate nature has ensured that I kind of have a soft spot for him, especially since his wife is doing such a good job of training him. Lord Akeldama, Alexia’s gay BFF has a bigger role in this books as well, and he invents even more affectionate nicknames for her. We also get further glimpses into his character, and we get to see more than his all-knowing, fashion-loving self.

This book fleshes out other secondary characters. We get to learn more about vampire hives, pack politics and how an alpha becomes an alpha. There’s also a whole bunch of dirigibles and we even get to find out Biffy’s real name.

Which brings me to this important point: I love this book, and this series, but you really can’t start from here. It can, if you must, stand alone. The central plot point is explained in such a way that it finishes in this book, but all the secondary threads, including the one involving the baby that has been stretched for the last few books, don’t end or start here. It will leave you wondering, and the continuity is better if you begin from the start.

Was there anything I didn’t like about it? Well, I kind of figured out a major plot point from just a little after the beginning. I also still really dislike Alexia’s sisters. Also, I don’t really get why it’s called Heartless. I don’t think it fits with the theme of the book—I think they just wanted something that ended with ‘-less’. Other than that, I have to say I liked it better than the last one.

Yay or Nay?

YAAAAY! I’m so glad there is more of this series and I look forward to the next one. (In May, 2012!) Highly recommended for people who are kinda over paranormals and want something different. Yes, this still has vampires and werewolves, but it’s steampunk. And Victorian London. And so incredibly witty it will make you laugh out loud. Also, there’s a lot of tea.

Title: Heartless (excerpt)
Series: Parasol Protectorate (Book 4)
Author: Gail Carriger
Publisher: Orbit/Hachette
B format: 9780356500096 (7/2011)
A format: 9780316127196 (28/6/2011)
Ebook: 9780748122677 (7/7/2011)

Books in the Parasol Protectorate series

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Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn

Wandergurl — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:00:10 +0000

Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn (Smythe-Smith Quartet, Book 1)

No one does comedy, wit and light-hearted romance like Julia Quinn.

In which wandergurl and @katydidinoz band together to win a coveted ARC at ARRC2011′s silent auction.

Honoria Smythe-Smith plays the violin in the infamous Smythe-Smith quartet’s annual musicale. (If you’ve read the Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, you’ll know they sound horrible.) It’s her secondish season out, and this time, she’s determined to find a husband, as the last few have cried off.

Marcus Holyroyd, Earl of Chatteris, is Honoria’s brother’s BFF. Since his hurried departure for the continent, he’s been looking out for Honoria (discreetly) and warning away any inappropriate suitors. He’s also secretly in love with her, but he hasn’t figured that out yet, which is all right, because she hasn’t figured out that she’s in love with him.

Will they figure it out in time for the next Smythe-Smith musicale?

I loved this book. It was just the right combination of romance and comedy mixed with a bit of light and fluffy, some squee-ing, and of course, smiling to myself. Having been disappointed by Quinn’s last book (which I never finished), I was pleasantly surprised to find this one to be so sweet and compelling enough to finish that I stayed up to read it through.

I enjoyed the fact that it was one of those cases where they were both in love with each other and realised it at about the same time. There was none of this ‘I’m in love with my brother’s BFF or BFF’s brother and I have loved him FOREVER and carried a torch and oh he will never look at me that way.’ Or ‘I am in love with my BFF’s sister or sister’s BFF but I must never ever look at her that way because it is not honourable and she deserves better and I have a stain upon my soul. ‘ Nope. Their backgrounds aren’t that complicated. They have baggage, but not like a matching set of Louis Vuitton.

While some parts of the plot are a bit suspicious (MILD SPOILER ALERT: They get to spend time together because of a letter written by a housekeeper and, yes, her mother agrees that they just run off to go help him!) it mostly moved along nicely. There are no secret spies, babies, mystery plot twists, suspected supernatural creatures, etc. It’s just a story about two people falling in love. You don’t get a lot of that anymore and I loved that this book.

Yay or nay?

A resounding YAY! whether you’re a Quinn fan or not. This book reminds me why Quinn has such a following: no one does comedy, wit and light-hearted romance the way she does.

This review is based an advanced reading copy donated by the author to the ARRC silent auction to benefit Queensland flood victims.

UK edition

Title: Just Like Heaven (excerpt)
Series: Smythe-Smith Quartet (Book 1)
Author: Julia Quinn
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
A format: 9780061491900 (31/5/2011)
Ebook: 9780062079534 (31/5/2011)

Where you can buy this book

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What Happens in London by Julia Quinn

Mixed Bag: April 2011 (Aussie Author edition)

Kat — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In keeping with Aussie Author Appreciation Month, this Mixed Bag features local authors whose work we haven’t previously reviewed on Book Thingo.

Their Newborn Gift by Nikki Logan

Their Newborn Gift by Nikki Logan (Australian edition)

Lea Curran’s one-night stand with rodeo star Reilly Martin resulted in a baby he never knew about. But four-year old Molly’s only chance to live a normal life may rest with cord blood from a close genetic match. Lea will do anything to save her daughter, including sleep with Reilly again to conceive another child. But first she has to tell him about his daughter.

The complications in this story make for dramatic conflicts, and the first twist totally threw me. Nikki Logan doesn’t let up on the angst, and with a terminally ill child involved, this book is guaranteed to be a tear-jerker. Luckily, it’s a romance. With an epilogue!

Reilly starts off acting like ye olde heartless hero bent on revenge for Lea leaving him after one night—‘as cheap as a motel television’—and not telling him about the baby.

…in all her planning and visualisation it had never occurred to her he would care about the baby that would result, let alone want it. The paradigm she was working from was five years out of date: Reilly Martin, king of the circuit; lover of women; drinker of beer.

Wanter of heirs, apparently.

But it’s not long before he’s mush. We don’t see the story from his point of view, so there’s a bit at the end where you may feel like smacking Lea on the head for being so obtuse.

Yay or nay? Delivers what you’d expect in a category romance, with the added bonus of being set in the Kimberley. You can read an excerpt via the author’s website.

A review copy of this book was generously provided by the author. This book was released under the Sweet Romance line in Australia and the Romance line in the US.

Publisher: Harlequin Romance | Australia: 9781742551241 (7/2010) | US: 9780373176649 (6/2010) | Ebook: 9781742787169 (7/2010)

Her Best Friend by Sarah Mayberry

Her Best Friend by Sarah Mayberry (Australian edition)

Amy Parker’s two biggest dreams were to restore the local movie theatre to its former glory, and for BFF Quinn Whitfield to see her as more than a friend. When soon-to-be-divorced Quinn shows us unexpectedly, Amy might finally get everything she’s always wished for.

This isn’t a bad read if you like your Blaze very dramatic and angsty. Mayberry’s writing is always up to par, but I had a problem with the love triangle in the story. I was left feeling like Amy deserved more than to be the second choice, even if she ultimately proves to be a better match for Quinn.

Yay or nay? Despite the happy ending, the story felt bittersweet and the hero failed to satisfy. You can read an excerpt via the author’s website.

Publisher: Harlequin Special Moments | Australia: 9781742553191 (5/2010) | US: 9780373783717 (2010) | UK: 9780263888829 (4/2011) | Ebook: 9781742780696 (5/2010)

A Most Sinful Proposal by Sara Bennett

Marissa Rotherhild doesn’t want to marry a botanist, but she ends up trying to seduce one into an affair. Lord Valentine Kent is determined to find a rare kind of rose, but there’s an insane man determined to thwart him, and the whole thing is putting Marissa in danger.

She’s innocent, but she’s a temptress. He’s an absent-minded botanist, but he’s not really—just…driven? The villain is completely insane and who knows why. There’s a leak in the household, whose identity becomes glaringly obvious to the reader after the second time the character is mentioned. They all run around the countryside looking for a rose.

Everything about this book was confusing. Characters made the oddest decisions and everyone moved at the whim of the external plot. Marissa does something so incredibly stupid at the end of the book, but by that time it was too late to DNF the entire thing.

Yay or nay? Best read in one sitting or confusion will get the better of you and it will be impossible to finish. You can read an excerpt via the author’s website.

Publisher: Avon (Harper Collins) | A format: 9780061339172 (2010)

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My Reckless Surrender by Anna Campbell

Kat — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

My Reckless Surrender by Anna Campbell

Dramatic, thrilling and, yes, a little over the top—vintage Anna Campbell.

This is a modified version of the winning review in the ARRC2011 Reader Challenge. (Here’s a photo of Kat receiving the award.)

‘I want to be your lover.’

Diana Carrick presents the Earl of Ashcroft with an offer too good for a notorious rake to refuse. So when he declines, she doesn’t know whether to feel relief or despair. She’s made a bargain with the devil: a child in exchange for marriage to the man who controls the estate in which Diana grew up and which she loves.

Tarquin Vale, Earl of Ashcroft, is intrigued by the mysterious proposition but senses a bit of, well, dodginess about the entire affair. But this is a romance, after all, and his willpower is no match for Diana’s allure. Ashcroft embodies that favourite of all historical romance heroes—the rake who’s not really a rake—with an added bonus of being powerful enough to vanquish villains.

Anna Campbell’s work has been christened ‘Regency Noir’ and, to the extent that the villain creates a potentially sordid situation for Diana, My Reckless Surrender fits the bill. But it doesn’t come close to the darker themes of Claiming the Courtesan and Untouched. Much of the first part of the story revolves around Diana and Ashcroft’s mutual seduction, and these pages are dominated by passionate and sexy scenes. We also get subtle touches of humour that are not only delightful to read, but serve to demonstrate why Diana and Ashcroft are right for each other.

Campbell’s prose veers towards purple, but those of us who love her work already know this. There’s something delicious about Campbell’s masterful lovers:

He refused to suffer this incendiary craving alone. Some instinct told him she offered the right lover a depth of passion unlike any he’d experienced.

He intended to be that right lover.

and there’s something charming about Diana, who is in the process of discovering passion and desire, yet whose chaste background betrays her every time:

“So availability isn’t your only requirement in a lover?” Nerves made her voice quake. Nerves and a simmering need.

Oh, she was a sad, sad case. He wasn’t touching her, and still she burned. In his company, her body became something alien, beyond her control.

He burst out laughing. “Diana, do you have any idea how insulting your questions are?”

Her color rose again. “I’m trying to understand.”

He shrugged. “Attraction is always mysterious.”

For this I can forgive the use of the term ‘interior passage’. Maybe.

Yay or nay?

Campbell has gone from strength to strength, and this is her best book so far. Although the bad guy is a caricature of sleaze and nastiness, Ashcroft and Diana are nuanced characters. Campbell balances Diana’s internal conflicts so that she comes across neither mercenary nor stupid. The climax of the story is dramatic, thrilling and, yes, a little over the top—vintage Anna Campbell.

This book won the Australian Romance Readers Award for Favourite Historical Romance 2010. You can watch a video of the author talking about the book at Scarlet Pages, the Avon blog.

US edition

Australian edition

Title: My Reckless Surrender (excerpt)
Author: Anna Campbell
Publisher: Avon (HarperCollins)
C format: 9780732291044 (1/6/2010)
A format: 9780732291051 (1/1/2011)
US mass market: 9780061684319 (1/6/2010)

Where you can buy this book

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The Countess by Lynsay Sands

Kat — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:00:00 +0000

The Countess by Lynsay Sands (Madison Sisters, Book 1)

Light on plot, on character and on plausibility. And they make out next to a corpse.

The Countess was one of the first books I requested from NetGalley. In the process, I made some important discoveries:

1. DRM-protected NetGalley books expire 60 days after downloading.
2. It isn’t unusual for me to take me more than 60 days to review a book I’ve read.
3. Sony Reader’s note-taking feature is linked to the ebook file. When the ebook file expires, my notes are unreadable.

Technology sucks sometimes.

Luckily, I can still do this review, but it’ll be a little more general than usual. Except when I specifically mention making out next to the dead guy. More on that later.

Christiana, Countess of Radnor, had thought she was entering a love match, but her first year of marriage revealed her husband, Dicky, to be an abusive and tyrannical man. When he drops dead without warning, she and sisters cook up a plan to keep his death a secret until one of them can marry and save their father from his gambling debts.

You think that’s hard to believe? You don’t know the half of it.

The thing is, I don’t mind a bit of fantastical historical romping. Lynsay Sands’ The Switch is on my keeper list, and I wouldn’t exactly call it realistic. But Christiana keeps Dicky’s body on a bed packed with ice. In a time when disease isn’t exactly easy to treat and hygiene isn’t entirely…hygienic.

Anyway, that’s just the set up. It turns out that Dicky is really an impostor—the Earl’s twin brother. The real earl, Richard Fairgrave, conveniently turns up at the first ball the sisters attend after Dicky’s death. Imagine their total shock.

I wasn’t shocked, because I read the blurb.

Christiana is understandably torn because she loathes Dicky but, OMG, suddenly he’s making her swoony and fluttery as she’d felt when he was first courting her. Except there’s still a dead body in the house and the truth is revealed.

So okay, it’s Weekend at Bernie’s historical romance-style. But when I got to the scene where Christiana and Richard do the hot and heavy next to the corpse (possibly partly on top of it, but I couldn’t check my expired egalley), I squealed and not in a good way.

Listen, you can pack a corpse in ice as much as you like but unless it’s in a freaking freezer, there’s no way this scene could have been anything but gross. And smelly.

The story never recovers. Richard is looking for whoever killed Dicky—and hence might have tried to kill him. The conclusion is underwhelming. Christiana is trying to figure out if she wants to stay married or not…by having sex with Richard. Nice. Consummate the marriage and trap your own ridiculous self. WTF? Meanwhile, in the sequel, one of her sisters is apparently off doing the rumpy-pumpy in a carriage with Richard’s BFF while the corpse looks on. Splendid.

Yay or nay?

An extremely light historical romp. Light on plot, on character and on plausibility. But let’s face it. You’re still thinking about the threesome with the corpse, aren’t you? I know I am. Not the author’s best work, I’m afraid.

An e-galley of this book was generously provided by Avon via NetGalley.

Title: The Countess (excerpt)
Series: Madison Sisters (Book 1)
Author: Lynsay Sands
Publisher: Avon/Harper Collins
A format: 9780061963049 (25/1/2011)
Ebook: 9780062041661 (25/1/2011)

Where you can buy this book

Books in the Madison Sisters series

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To dream the impossible dream (Top 5 for 2010 + TBR Challenge)

Wandergurl — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:00:01 +0000

Wandergurl’s recommended reads from 2010 and a self-imposed challenge to conquer her TBR pile.

Book picks for 2010

The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne

Effectively the prequel to The Spymaster’s Lady, this equally wonderfully written novel is about ‘Maggie and Doyle’. Marguerite de Fleurignac, a French noblewoman, encounters William Doyle in her burnt out chateau. They both pretend to be people they are not, as she is trying to desperately smuggle out people during the revolution and he is an English spy looking for her father. The romance is lush and lovely, the spy plot moves around nicely, and I was kept captivated. Highly recommended.

Feet of the Chameleon by Ian Hawkey

This is a largely anecdotal history of modern African football and how it has shaped various countries’ political histories. I read this book during the football (soccer) world cup while in Africa so it was especially poignant. It explained a lot of things that were interesting to me, and would be interesting for anyone with an interest in Africa, its people and its history.

A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemsin

A fantasy novel written about a world with a hundred thousand kingdoms, in which one family and effectively one god rules an earth where many other minor gods and goddesses walk among its people. After the death of her mother, Yeine is summoned to the court of the worlds’ ruling family, the Arameri. She is surprisingly named one of their heirs and has to survive political machinations, competition from the other heirs and the gods themselves, who have a greater stake in this than anyone else. The writing flows well and transports the reader to the lofty hights of Sky, the Arameri palace, as well as the surrounding towns and the lives of its inhabitants. There’s a bit of romance that also drives the story forward.

Changeless and Blameless by Gail Carriger

Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series is one of my favourites, and I can’t wait for the next one. Changeless ended with a massive cliffhanger that annoyed the bejeezus out of me, so I never reviewed it. I picked up the next book and devoured it in a few hours, and am pleased to say that it ends satisfactorily. I need the next one, stat!

Set in steampunk London, Alexia is Soulless, married to a werewolf and has a gay BFF who happens to be a vampire. In Blameless, she tries to figure out what exactly being soulless means, so that she can clear her name based on things that happened in Changeless which i cannot spoil! If you haven’t read this series, start with Soulless!

Lover Mine by J. R. Ward

This book is here because it’s the book that got me to believe in The Crack (TM) again. This is all your fault, J. R. Ward. You and your sunglasses and hip hop lingo. Damn you, I’m going to end up with the next book, whatever happens. Do not read this book unless you’ve started the series. Start with Dark Lover at your own risk. You feel me?

TBR Challenge

Every year I start a challenge or two which I forget about two months after. I never end up completing my challenges. Hence, I’ve decided to set up my own.

My challenge is to finish all the books in my TBR by Dec 31, 2011.

There are approximately 75. (I have made extra allowance for the romance novels I haven’t counted). I think it’s do-able. Sort of.

The rules are:

1. All books read from the TBR must be reviewed (even if it’s just part of the mixed bag).
2. You must read at least 50 pages before giving up. If you do give up, you don’t have to review.
3. You are allowed to give a book away if you pick it up and think, What was I thinking?
4. You must not replace a completed TBR book with a new one. You need to finish at least 5 before you are allowed to add to it. (Pre-planned purchases are excluded—e.g. those in the 2011 new releases listing. This is because 70% of my TBR is impulse purchasing. If you buy a pre-planned purchase you must read it immediately without adding to the TBR! )
5. Are there any other rules I should add?

Please feel free to join me in this challenge. Let’s hope I don’t forget about this one.

Wandergurl’s recommended reads from 2010 and a self-imposed challenge to reduce her TBR pile.

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