The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Beth Ackerley is a widow who has suddenly, unexpectedly, become an heiress. All she wants to do is sit back and relax with her money, possibly with a new husband. In the process of trying to get a husband, she comes into contact with Lord Ian Mackenzie, the youngest of the Mackenzie brothers, a family notorious for the drama worthy of a modern soap opera. Lord Ian, in particular, is infamous for being “mad” and eccentric, having been previously locked up in a mental asylum for a perceived illness that in modern times would be a disability that can be dealt with. Lord Ian decides that she must be his and sets about it in his own way, and there the story unfolds.

I loved the drama of this story. At first glance, Lord Ian could be any suitor trying to woo a woman—if not for his unconventional bluntness and his trying to prove himself suitable without even knowing that is what he is doing. Both characters have angst-filled backgrounds that Jennifer Ashley uses to show us how their characters have come to be (more)

Sea Lord by Virginia Kantra (Children of the Sea, Book 3)

Conn ap Llyr is the prince of the Selkies, children of the sea with supernatural powers. Conn’s people are dying. They have not had children in a long time, and they are under attack from the children of fire, demons that come from under the earth, who are surreptitiously trying to destroy their civilisation. Conn believes that the key to saving them lies in a prophecy that claims that the daughter of one of their witches Atargatis would have enough power to defeat the demons and bring their civilisation back from the brink of extinction.

Lucy Hunter is the daughter of the selkie Atargatis and a human. Her father fell in love with her mother and took away her pelt, without which she is unable to transform and return to the sea in her selkie form (that of a seal). They had three children, of which Lucy was the youngest, until one day she found her pelt and returned to the sea with Lucy’s middle brother, Dylan (see Sea Fever, the book before this one). Lucy is afraid of the water, but at the same time cannot be too far away from it without knowing why. She was raised by her eldest brother, Caleb (see Sea Witch, the first book in this series), and neither of them knew of their mother’s heritage. (more)

Tempted All Night by Liz Carlyle

BOOK GIVEAWAY: Read on for a chance to win a free copy of Tempted All Night. The contest ends midnight on Friday, June 5 AEST.

I think I read a Liz Carlyle book once, and I mustn’t have liked it because I’ve avoided her books for some reason. So when I got a free copy of Tempted All Night at ARRC 09, it was a chance to reacquaint myself with Carlyle’s writing and see if I should start paying her more attention.

Tempted All Night didn’t immediately grab my attention, and I didn’t care much for the suspense plot, but some exquisitely written, finely balanced scenes between lovers Tristan and Phae had me alternately thrilled and in tears.

Tristan Talbot: hero in rogue’s clothing

Tristan Talbot, Lord Avoncliffe, is your typical historical romance rogue. He’s popular with the ladies—and not of the virginal kind—who generally see him as a frivolous, somewhat dim-witted, yet vastly entertaining companion. In truth, he’s a former mercenary whose past has jaded him to the point where he doesn’t care (more)

Lover Avenged by J. R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 7)

I’m not making any bones about it—this is the fangirl review. I am a frequent visitor to the message board, and the first thing I do is check J. R. Ward’s profile to see if she’s posted anything new about the series. (Did you know that Ehlena was the nurse who brought Butch a cup of coffee when he visited the clinic in Lover Awakened and that it was her first day on the job? Or that she was the nurse who knew how to shoot in Lover Enshrined?) I’ve even taken time off work to attend chats with the Brothers.

I bought Lover Avenged for around the same price that Kat did, but since I bought it from Ward’s virtual signing (you order the book from her nominated store and tell them how you want it personalised, then she signs it in the comfort of her home and posts it out), that includes shipping from the US. Unfortunately, the damn publisher’s embargo meant that no books were allowed to be posted until the release date, so I received my copy after Part 9 of the cheat sheet was posted.

Overall style

I’ve commented on a lot of the technique in response to Kat’s review, so I won’t repeat it all here.

I liked how the ambivalence of Rehvenge’s dual nature was handled, (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)

Lover Avenged by J. R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 7)

Rants

1. Does the amount of hip-hop lingo use correspond to the amount of increased emotionality expressed by romantic profusions that make these alpha males sound like chicks? ‘Cause the thuggier they got the more effusive they were.

2. It felt a little cluttered. Like a messy desk where you kind of knew where everything was but in some cases you still had to stick your hand in and wade about in the murkiness. Perhaps better organisation/editing was called for.

3. Too many side stories. While they all meant something, they kind of detracted from the point of the story. Whether it’s an urban fantasy or a romance, there’s usually a main storyline, as is the case with every book. Trying to run several plotlines at the same time made everything look equal, even when they’re not. And if that was the intention, it detracted from the overall clarity and flow of the story.

4. Two words: Golden Retriever. (more)

Lover Avenged by J. R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 7)

Before I start my review, let me get this off my chest: I paid $55 for this book. I’ll wait while you pick yourself up from the floor.

Granted, I paid a premium price to buy it from my local independent bookstore, and so I could read it immediately, but since the cheapest Australian bookstore price we could find for this book was just short of $40, I don’t think I’m exaggerrating when I give a big old WHAT THE FUCK?!? And you know what gets me most? It’s the fact that this could’ve been a much leaner, much cheaper hardcover if the series weren’t so damn “bestselling” that suckers like me keep putting up with the fat just to get to the ever-dwindling romance between the pages.

So—expensive hardcover? Punishes the loyal reader.

Anyway, I’d been looking forward to Rehv’s story because J. R. Ward wrote some pretty dark, very angsty scenes with him in Lover Revealed, plus I was interested in what happens between John Matthew and Xhex now that he’s stopped all the whingeing. It’s frustrating, then, that Ward seems to have changed the focus of this series towards the greater world building and vampire mythology (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)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

I was so excited to get this book, I made sure that my name was down for an order at the bookstore. When I went over yesterday I was so happy to find that I had a copy, because they had run out of copies for anyone who hadn’t ordered. I read the first paragraph and laughed and laughed—it was a promising beginning.

And then I got bored.

Let me say, first, that I have seen Pride and Prejudice on film in its many forms. I quite love the story, and I’ve seen the BBC miniseries—the last time possibly within the last year—the Bollywood version, and I own the Keira Knightley DVD and I watch that for feel-good fuzzies quite a bit. Like a lot of people, I know what’s going to happen. And therein lies the problem. I have seen so much of it, so many times, that while this is supposed to be a more original, fresh retelling, the essential elements are still the same. So knowing what was going to happen, even the lines that they were going to say, at some point, just bored (more)