Part Time Cowboy by Maisey Yates

So we all know how Lisa can't resist a cowboy romance. This makes no sense at all, because I have been to the rodeo and at least half of them wear their pants so tight you can't believe they can sit, let alone ride a horse.  Despite this, I can't resist so of course I requested Part Time Cowboy.

Here's your summary:

A onetime bad girl comes home to small-town Oregon in the first in a sexy, heartfelt new series from USA TODAY bestselling author Maisey Yates 

Sadie Miller isn't expecting any welcome-home parades on her return to Copper Ridge. Least of all from part-time rancher, full-time lawman Eli Garrett. The straitlaced, impossibly hot deputy sheriff glares at her as if she's the same teenage hoodlum who fled town ten years ago. But running from her demons has brought Sadie full circle, ready to make a commitment at last. Not to a man, but to a bed-and-breakfast. On Garrett land. Okay, so her plan has a tiny flaw… 

Eli works too hard to let a blonde ball of trouble mess up his town. But keeping an eye on Sadie makes it tough to keep his hands off her. And if she's so wrong for him, why does being with her feel so right?

Guys. This book is HOT. A lot of romances (but not all, let's not go to that stereotype, k?) contain s-e-x. Honestly, most of the time it's not exciting and I skim it for dialogue or internal dialogue. It's not that it's bad, or purple prose (at least not any more) but it's just not what I care about. THIS book tho? It's believable and hot and the tension is delicious.

Eli is going down (that's what she said!) as one of my favorite heroes. He is straight as an arrow and feels responsible for the entire world. He carefully maintains control of every detail of every aspect of his life, and attempts to control everyone else's. His youth was not happy, and while he logically knows the problems and situation weren't of his making, he can't shake the idea that if he can only control everything that nothing bad will happen again. Of course we can all see how this could turn out badly, right? Sadie is something he absolutely can not control, not the person and not his intense reaction to her. Only around her can he forget about everyone else for any time at all. Most people would revel in this bit of release from responsibility, but Eli sees it as abandoning his duty. These two things ultimately clash at the end, and it's just beautiful.

Sadie isn't really as wild as the summary, and Eli, believe. She too has a a serious history in this town, a secret history of heartbreak, and she's back to try and face that. Eli was a central figure in the events leading to her disappearance ten years ago and Sadie has to face up to the fact that he wasn't actually to blame. I hate that I can't say more without giving it away, but trust me when I say that her exploration of what really happened and his need for ultimate control, always, come together in a fairly heartbreaking manner.  They are so perfect together and you really just want to cheer for them. No one steps out of character and the resolution comes from both of them. I believe in them.

The dialogue is both witty and brutal without getting overly dramatic or hokey. The scenes with the siblings play out just as well as the ones between Eli and Sadie. The cast of secondary characters really round out the book. I've already got the second book, about Eli's brother Connor, on my Kindle and can't wait to dive in. I can't see at all how Yates is going to dig him out of the grief he feels for his dead wife.  Even Lydia, who also wants Eli's attention, is terrific. It looks like there are three potential books here (Eli, Connor, their sister Kate), plus a little novella, but I'd love to see the whole town get some action (Lydia, the bartender Ace, Alison.)

With Part Time Cowboy, Maisey Yates and jumped right onto my list of "grab every title you see" and I am seriously hopeful that she stays there.

On Sunset Beach by Mariah Stewart

My recent disappointment with Susan Mallery's Fool's Gold series has led me to try to find other small town romances to fill that gap. I've been aware of Mariah Stewart for years, but never took the time to try one out. These two things combined to have me request On Sunset Beach from NetGalley.

Here's the summary:
From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes a captivating and heartwarming new novel in her beloved Chesapeake Diaries contemporary romance series—perfect for fans of Barbara Freethy, Robyn Carr, and Susan Mallery.
Carly Summit’s name couldn’t be more fitting, since in life she always lands on top. She grew up wealthy and privileged in a tony Connecticut town, opened her own gallery in New York City, and is about to make art world history displaying previously unknown works by a prominent twentieth-century painter. No wonder she possesses a can-do attitude that can’t be soured. Ford Sinclair is another story. A military career in war-torn Africa, where he witnessed unspeakable violence and suffering, has left him haunted and deeply cynical. Now he’s looking for a way to forget and a place to belong. He hopes to find both back home in St. Dennis.

When Carly is forced to move the premiere of her new exhibition from Manhattan to St. Dennis, and Ford agrees to take charge of the town’s only newspaper, the two cross paths. But it’s hardly the start of a beautiful friendship. While Ford can’t ignore her charms, Carly’s unflappable good cheer only confounds him. Yet beneath Ford’s stormy brooding, Carly sees a man worth caring about—even if her warmest ways can’t thaw his frozen heart.

My thoughts:
First of all, I think perhaps "frozen heart" is stretching things a bit far.  Ford is a bit shellshocked from his past, and finds it hard to think about his future in general. He's not sure that he really fits in in St. Dennis any longer but he also can't think ahead to what he does want to do.  When his mother conspires to throw him into her role at the newspaper, he agrees temporarily, only to discover that it's not the terrible hardship he'd imagined. The reader doesn't really see his role in the paper beyond how it applies to Carly, but we do see his dissatisfaction and uneasiness with life lessen as the book progresses. Ford is likeable, even when his war memories intrude.

Carly is a bit harder for me to like. She's very successful, but not afraid to admit that it was her family's money that enabled her to become a success. Sure, mom and dad paid for the first art gallery, but now she's successful both professionally and financially in her own right. However, in the first half of the book there are quite a few examples of her wealth that just felt like showing off to me. This doesn't continue through the book, and I came to admire her ability to go with the flow of the art exhibit in St Dennis, even when it disrupts her plans. At times she's a bit too good to be true, and every thing falls into place a bit too neatly for her. She works hard, but she's able to overcome any short deadline or change of plans with grace.

The romance itself is steady. It's not overnight and neither do either of them deny the attraction. I admit I found Ford a bit smarmy in their inital meeting, but that element dropped off quickly. It isn't perhaps the most swoonworthy of romance novels out there, but it does make me interested in the remainder of the series and I'll certainly be picking up another to see if it fills the hole left by Fool's Gold.

Recent Reads from NetGalley

I've been on a reading binge lately. This has largely consisted of Nora Roberts re-reads, but I have managed to squeeze in a couple books from NetGalley that I should mention.

First, a winner- Louder Than Love by Jessica Topper. This one was more in the women's fiction/romance category than a straight romance, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Katrina was widowed following an accident less than a year after the birth of her first child. She and her husband were madly in love and she grieves him still. She meets Adrian after tracking him down based on his recording of the theme song for a kids' show her daughter (now four) loves. She invites him to play for storytime at her local library, without realizing his past as part of a very popular heavy metal band. The attraction between them is instant but they are both carrying heavy baggage from their past. Adrian is completely adorable, and is reluctant to tell her about his past, and Katrina isn't a widow in name only. I've read a handful of reviews that say this one is just too slow, but I thought that any faster and the reader wouldn't have believed in Kat's first fairy tale romance or their ability to fall in love. This is a debut novel and while it was by no means perfect (the side stories of her friends were a bit annoying), I am adding Topper to my list of authors to watch out for.

Then, A Weaver Beginning by Allison Leigh. This was yet another in my streak of Harlequin requests, and I'm sad to report that it is completely forgettable. I had to go back and read the synopsis to have any idea what it was about. It wasn't terrible- I'd probably have remembered that- but the love story was too quick to be believable and the internal conflict was weak. Sloan McCray has moved back home to recover from his past life as an undercover agent. The town believes he is a hero while he feels otherwise. Abby Marcum is his very young, completely innocent in every way, new neighbor. She's 23 and has custody of her 6 year old half-brother. They are completely different in every way and yet fall in love almost instantly. While I do believe in love at first sight, I also think it needs to be backed up with SOMETHING else. None of the aspects of this book- the romance, the main characters, the external conflict, or the internal conflict- packed much of a punch.

Both titles were released on September 17th.

Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas

Dream Lake is the third book in the Friday Harbor series by Lisa Kleypas. It’s been a while since I read the first two, but when I saw this one sitting on the library shelf I grabbed it anyway. I’m a bit behind, as the fourth book has already been released. Dream Lake is about Alex, the most troubled of the Nolan brothers. In the first two novels he seems almost unredeemable, but by the end of Rainshadow Road (book 2), I found myself interested in how Kleypas would pull off making us like Alex.  Alex is the youngest brother and lived with their alcoholic parents the longest. Unlike the other brothers, he wasn’t able to escape the neglect and addiction that plagued their parents, and as Dream Lake opens he’s in the middle of a divorce, close to bankruptcy, and drinking himself into oblivion every day.  Real hero material, no?  In contrast, Zoe is sweet, naïve, and despite one clichéd failed marriage is open to falling in love. Zoe’s grandmother Emma suffers from dementia, and Zoe is in the position of needing a home remodeled so that she move into it with her grandmother and take care of her. With Alex’s life falling apart, he’s looking for a few small jobs to bring in some income. Zoe knows that Alex is a bad risk from the beginning, but she also knows that she can’t stop herself from wanting him.

I was fascinated by the idea that you could take a full blown alcoholic at the beginning of a romance novel and remodel him into a hero by the end. I’ve seen it done occasionally in a historical, but never in a contemporary romance.  Despite my misgivings, Kleypas manages to pull this portion of the book off really well. The book itself isn’t rushed, taking place over a couple of months, and Alex has time to both fight his demons and dry out. We are repeatedly told what an awful, selfish person he is, but  Alex’s behavior is anything but. There are a few scenes with his ex-wife that are supposed to demonstrate just how selfish he is, but even those don’t make you believe that he is as bad as he believes himself to be. I was completely able to buy the love story, and that these two opposite people could find something to love in each other.

Which brings me to the rest of the book. If you’ve read any reviews or synopsis of this, or the previous book, you know that this is a paranormal. There is a ghost. The ghost makes his first appearance in Rainshadow Road, as the end of that book and the beginning of this one overlap (which I love, I wish more series overlapped like this.) I was not thrilled with the idea of a ghost, but as it turns out, the ghost didn’t really bother me. I was able to feel his pain when Alex did and laughed at some of his comments. I wanted to see what happened with his unresolved past.  I am more bothered by the fact that the first novel is NOT a paranormal, and the types of magic that appears in book two and with Zoe bother me a lot more than the ghost itself. It seems like she’s throwing magic at the book to see what works and then not fully developing some of the lines. There’s a scene near the middle with another character, the heroine of book four, that makes it clear that that one will have yet another type of magic.  This feels very scattered and awkward to me, and I’d have preferred she just stuck with the ghost and left the rest out.

Overall, an enjoyable read, especially if you’re reading it for the romance and character development and are not bothered by unfinished threads. I will still look for book four in order to see how the series continues, even though it does not focus on a Nolan brother. It seems possible that Kleypas (or her publisher) has seen the success of series like the Lucky Harbor or Fool’s Gold series and is trying to develop another small town series.  I am afraid that my suspension of disbelief may not take me to an entire town with magical abilities, but another book or two would not be a hardship.

Friends to Lovers, the right way and the wrong way.

I recently read two romance novels that turned out to have very similar themes. One of them worked brilliantly for me, and the other one completely failed. Both novels featured a friends to lovers theme, with  the female half of the couple being the one who is afraid to admit their feelings. Both women have issues with their daddies, tho one of them idolizes hers in an unrealistic way, and the other feels unable to live up to her father’s exacting standards.  The difference for me was all in the personality of the heroine of each novel.

In Always on my Mind by Jill Shalvis, Leah has returned home to Lucky Harbor (yes, back to Lucky Harbor again!) after competing in a reality cooking show.  The final results show is coming up fast and she is determined to leave Lucky Harbor before it shows.  She’s sworn to secrecy on the results show, but it’s clear that something dramatic and unexpected will happen and she wants to be gone before it does. Leah grew up next door to local firefighter Jack, and together they listened to her father berate and criticize her for her entire childhood. Jack and Leah were best friends and he was often her only support when her father tore her down. After graduation Leah takes off, while Jack stays home to try and fill his own father’s heroic shoes.  Now Leah’s back and for spoilerish (but believable) reasons they find themselves playacting at dating. As I always hope it will happen, the playacting quickly becomes real even if they are both unwilling to admit it.

Always on My Mind really worked for me.  The situation between the two is realistic and the tension is hot and believable. You can see  their relationship develop  out of their friendship, and even when things are shaky and new, they are still friends and still LIKE each other.  Jack is solid hero material, both in the sense of being the hero of the book and from being a firefighter. Leah is completely loveable, even if she herself only sees her own shortcomings.  There is a little bit of an outside mystery going on, but any reader with a brain figures it out well before the characters do. This doesn’t actually distract from the book, as the tension he provides spurs some deep thinking on the part of the characters.

In direct contrast was What Happens Between Friends by Beth Andrews.   Sadie has run back home after her most recent string of failures and expects everything to be the same as always with her BFF Jamie.  Sadie has always lived a life of adventure, only going home to regroup after failing at one career or relationship or another. She idolizes her father, who passed away when she was a child, for his free spirit and his quest for adventure. For the first 9/10^th of the book she is outright scornful of her mom for settling down after his death, and of her sister and friends for being content to live in one town with a career and family. Jamie is actually fairly likeable. He’s worked for his father’s construction business his entire life. He’s a hands-on uncle, a terrific brother and an all around good guy. He has been in love with Sadie for his entire life, and finally realized that he either needs to go for it or give up on the idea of being with Sadie, if he ever wants his own wife and kids. He chooses to go for it, of course, and while Sadie is happy to spend the night with him, she freaks out the next morning. James stands firm tho, and isn’t willing to go back to his dreams, even if it means closing her out of his life.

This book has one major problem, and that is Sadie. She is completely unlikeable. From her first scene to the end of the book, she has very little to recommend her.  The author tries hard to paint her as a likable free spirit- she’s not into drugs, she is a hard worker, she never ever borrows money, etc, but it doesn’t  make up for the fact that she thinks every single other person in the book is a complete idiot for wanting a stable life.  This rears its head early in the book and I thought perhaps I could grow to love her as she grew to realize that she wanted to stay put, but she doesn’t show any signs of maturing at all.  James does his best to close her out once it’s clear that she has no plans to stay for him, and there’s one heartbreaking scene where he tells her he never wanted to change her; but Sadie refuses to even consider sticking around until literally the very last pages.  When she does, it is completely unbelievable. It is never really clear why Jamie and Sadie are such good friends, or what draws him to her and I wasn’t able to see her from his point of view at all.   I would have loved to see James in another book, with someone with the least bit of sense and likeability.  It seems possible that there will be (or have been) books about the supporting characters, but I have no desire at all to seek them out.

I received both of the above books from NetGalley.

Always on My Mind will be released on September 24th.

What Happens Between Friends came out August 6th.

Undone by Shannon Richard

The short review: Undone by Shannon Richard is sweet and easy, but not the best written book.

Paige Morrison has had an awful year. She lost her job, her boyfriend, and her apartment in a few short months. She’s moved home to live with mom and dad until she can get her feet back under her. Unfortunately, home for mom and dad is NOT home for Paige. Her parents have relocated to small town Florida and small town Florida does not approve of Paige. She’s too… well you know, I just don’t know. Too bright? She likes red shoes? She is outspoken? I really never did figure out just why they hated her, other than it was something to hang a plot on.

So Paige is having a really bad day She went on an interview only to be made fun of by the interviewer and when she leaves her car blows up. And who should come save her except local hottie Brendan King? Small town Florida is really conflicted over Brendan. It seems he didn’t fit in as a kid because  his mom had two kids out of wedlock. His mom has since died, and the town seems to accept his sister and grandparents just fine, so.. I just don’t know.  Brendan is successful enough and well liked enough to make one phone call and get Paige a good job.  I know, confusing to me too. Moving on.

Brendan fixes Paige’s Jeep and is so instantly smitten that he allows her a payment plan at his shop. He thinks up reasons to go see her based on one conversation. They immediately start dating and making out (but no S-E-X, cause Paige isn’t that kind of girl!) and the book is nothing but sexual tension and poorly written interactions for the next 200 pages. And the sexual tension isn’t really there, even tho it SAYS it’s there. Brendan and Paige sail right along to their HEA with really nothing to stop them, besides a little gossip.  There’s one big conflict at the end, that really only made Paige look bad, and a Dramatic Conclusion, but really there wasn’t much plot to make the love story work. There was never any question at all of them being together. I can hear all you non-romance readers now, “But don’t they ALWAYS get together?” Yes, they always do, but a great romance leaves you to wonder how they will overcome their circumstances or their personalities or their past to BE together. This one? Nope.  You guys know I love romance (just wait til I finally write up the other 7 romances I’ve read lately!) but this was just not good.  I didn’t hate the story, but it was pages too long. Chapters too long. It would have been a great novella And the writing is very juvenile, lots of he said/she said/he did/let me tell you what happened next in minute detail.

Despite all this (perhaps because of all this?), I read it very quickly. The cover is terrific, everything the book itself wants to be. And at the end I was pretty interested in reading the sister’s story (In love with her brother’s best friend.)  I hate to be so critical of a first time author, but this book still needed some serious editing. One fun thing, if you visit the author's website, there's a fun playlist of music to accompany the book. I love things like that.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this from the publisher via netgalley for review.

Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts (briefly)

As I'm sitting down to write up this book, all I can really think is that I've done this. I've written a similar review about a Nora Roberts book. Don't get me wrong, Whiskey Beach is a perfectly fine book, but there's really not a lot of new things to say about it. To condense a 500 page book into a list of bullet points seems a bit silly, but here you go:

Whiskey Beach is/has:

• Exactly what you'd expect from Nora Roberts.
• Easy to read, with a touch of not-really-dramatic suspense. She doesn't hide who-done-it. As usual.
• Filled with likeable characters, mostly stereotypes. This one has the Lawyer whose heart wasn't in it (-in hindsight), the Earthy Yoga Mama, and the Police Detective Who Knows He's Right, Even if He Isn't.
• Good, readable, but not particularly memorable.
• The romance is better than in most Roberts stand-alones, and I particularly enjoyed Abra's honesty, but it wasn't one that had me sighing in happiness at the end. 
• Has a terrific cover.

And there ya go. I will, of course, continue to read Nora Roberts, but I admit a preference for her 3 and 4 book series to the stand alone titles.

All He Ever Dreamed by Shannon Stacey

Josh Kowalski is finally breaking free of the family lodge. His siblings all found a  way to get away and start lives of their owns, but as the baby of the family he was the last one there, and never got his chance. Now he’s 30 years old and has never lived anywhere else or done anything else. After an honest discussion with his family last summer, he finally came clean about how much he wanted a chance at getting free, and the lodge is prepared for such an event.  Katie has been his best friend forever. As the daughter of the housekeeper, and de-facto mother to the Kowalskis, Katie has always been there, and always been in love with Josh. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows they are destined to be together as well, except Josh.  As Josh’s big break approaches will be realize his true feelings or will he leave Katie behind with the inn?

Friends to lovers, top of my list, right?  After reading Ryan and Lauren’s story (All He Ever Desired), I was pretty ambivalent about picking up another Shannon Stacey. I mean, it was good, but not terrific, and perhaps a bit predictable. But I’m a sucker for a book in a series (see also: Nora Roberts, Susan Mallery, Jill Shalvis) so when I saw it was available for request at NetGalley I asked for it. I read it pretty quickly, despite the craziness of my life. It was exactly what you’d expect it to be from the description and there were absolutely no surprises. The writing is not knock your socks off great, and the plot isn’t anything you couldn’t think up on your own. Josh and Katie aren’t surprising in any way, and honestly, the moment they “cross the line” is pretty sloppily done (and since this is my favorite bit of a friends to lovers story, it was disappointing to me.)  I’d love to have seen more of Josh’s thought process as he realized he was in love with her, but except for him suddenly noticing she was hot, there wasn’t much of that. The author tells us several times that he can’t talk about his feelings, that Josh just doesn’t DO that, but it almost seemed an excuse for him not to have any introspection. For Katie, she just loved him, period.  The more I write about this book the worse it sounds!  It wasn’t bad, honest, it just wasn’t really GOOD either, if you know what I mean?

At this point I wouldn’t recommend the series to anyone else, but I will likely request the next one if I see it come up on NetGalley. I find that I am fairly curious about the sister’s story.


All He Ever Dreamed will be published on April 30, 2013.
Review copy courtesy of NetGalley.

Back to the Good Fortune Diner by Vicki Essex

After being evicted and fired, Tiffany is back home in tiny Everville. She's mortified to be working at her family's diner again, and desperate to pay off her debt and get back to her dream life in publishing. To that end, she takes a side job tutoring the son of the man she tutored in high school. The man she still has a crush on, of course. Chris is determined that his son not be stuck on the farm like he was, and to get away he will need a college education, so when he finds out Tiffany is back in town, he immediately runs her down and begs her to tutor Simon.  Spending time with Tiffany again makes him realize how little he knew her back in high school, and he's suddenly very interested in getting to know her better. But what will happen when Tiffany finally is back on her feet?

Back to the Good Fortune Diner has a great premise. It's not really a reunion story, as they were never even friends, let alone a couple, and it's not a story of complete strangers either. In the introduction, the author explains that she has the same Chinese- American heritage as Tiffany, and that she wanted to write a story from that perspective as well. I thought both of these things would be fascinating. Unfortunately, I was wrong on both counts. It wasn't completely awful, but there's really no part of it that I'd recommend to anyone else.

First, the romance. Tiffany has a huge crush on Chris, and always has. She's completely unable to even look at him, let alone talk to him, without being speechless at how incredibly HOT he is. Every. Single. Time.  There's no past history basis for this- Chris wasn't mean to her in high school, but he didn't see her as a person either, and he wasn't a hero for any other reason.  He's just hot. Oooo-kay then!  About midway through the novel, Chris realizes he never gave her a chance to have a personality in high school, so he asks her out to dinner. This is a bit more believable, but honestly, I didn't really see them getting to know each other now either. They just suddenly become a Thing. And the entire time Tiffany is still struck dumb by his beauty. I never saw a progression of romance, or a falling in love, or even a sexual tension that went both ways. Having sex does not a romance make.

Second, the cultural aspect. I'm from South Dakota by way of Alabama. I don't have a ton of experience with different cultures beyond knowing the stereotypes. I could have written this. There wasn't one part of Tiffany's experience growing up Chinese-American that I found to be surprising or illuminating. I don't want to cast doubts on the author's upbringing, but honestly, it was just like she included all the stereotypes and called it good. Perhaps, as a white person, I shouldn't even go here, and I wouldn't mention it if SHE hadn't mentioned it first, you know? Anyway.

As a whole, just skip this one.

Disclosure: I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Other Side of Us by Sarah Mayberry

Do you ever operate under the assumption that you really enjoy specific authors, make mental notes of when they have new books out, and then carefully track copies down, only to one day realize that you really aren't that impressed by said author?  This has happened to me with Sarah Mayberry. I just finished my third book by her, but for the life of me I don't even remember reading the first two (Anything for You in 2008 and Her Best Friend in 2010.)  When I started to see reviews of The Other Side of Us, and found it available on NetGalley, I requested it. While it wasn't particularly a bad book, it wasn't particularly noteworthy either.

So what is The Other Side of Us about? Mackenzie has been in a horrific auto accident. A year later, she's still recovering physically, and fighting hard to get back into her old life. All she can see is how hard she's trying and how fast it's slipping away. Oliver has escaped to his late aunt's beach house to escape his soon-to-be-ex-wife and their divorce. He's bitter and angry and distrustful of marriage. They are forced to interact with each other because their dogs refuse to stay apart.

What did I enjoy about it? I enjoyed that both parts of the couple were incredibly honest with each other. There was no hiding from what they felt and no big misunderstanding. Oliver knew without a doubt that he was distrustful of his ex-wife and himself, and that it wasn't about Mackenzie at all. Mackenzie was aware that she wanted him, and was willing to go after him without holding back. They are both adults and they both act like adults for the entirety of the book.

What I didn't like so much?  It's a very fast book, the entire thing takes place over a couple of short weeks. This isn't usually something I dislike, but I didn't feel like it completely worked here. They both have so much other emotional stuff going on in their lives (which is addressed) that it seems unlikely they'd have time to really fall in love. Additionally, Oliver is only a few months out from finding out that his wife was cheating, not even a few months out from the divorce, which is still pending. Last, Oliver is really really perfect. He has a terrific sense of humor (he really does!), he is smoking hot, he's genuinely nice, and he's very self aware. He's completely unbelievable.

Final thoughts? It was good, but it wasn't great, and I won't likely seek out Sarah Mayberry. I will still look up specific titles of hers based on great recommendations.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.

Sullivan's Woman by Nora Roberts

This is the worst romance novel I have ever read, and that is saying a lot. This is the kind of romance novel that gives romance novels a bad name (minus the bodice ripping and sex- this one has no sex. At all.) Originally published in 1984, but republished in 2003, Sullivan's Woman features a moody jerk of an artist and a completely innocent dreamer of a writer. Of course she's stunningly beautiful, so he must paint her. Over the two months of their sitting she manages to fall completely in love with him, but hell if I can figure out why. So far as I can tell, they didn't actually talk and he just yells at her a lot. In the very final chapter we find out that he can't live without her and they live happily ever after. What? Huh?  This is exactly the stereotype of a romance that makes everyone think they are all crap. Spoiler: They aren't all crap.

If you're looking for a great romance you might try the following:

The MacKade brothers by, yes, Nora Roberts.
The Fool's Gold series by Susan Mallery
The Lucky Harbor books by Jill Shalvis
In the Midnight Rain by Ruth Wind (my favorite romance ever, in fact.)
Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
The Hathaways series by Lisa Kleypas
The Bride Quartet by Nora Roberts
Going too Far by Jennifer Echols (YA)
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen (YA)

Actually, you know what? Pretty much any romance novel you pick up is gonna be better than Sullivan's Woman. If it had been any author other than Nora Roberts I'd have abandoned it, but I just kept thinking it had to get better. It didn't.

Close Enough to Touch by Victoria Dahl

Regular readers of Books. Lists. Life. know that I am always willing to read a good romance novel. I have an affinity for small town series (Nora Robert's MacCade brothers, Susan Mallery's Fool's Gold series, Jill Shalvis's Lucky Harbor series) and it seemed likely that Close Enough to Touch , which is set in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, would be the beginning of another such series. I requested a copy through Net Galley after seeing a few positive reviews floating around.

Grace has fled her job as a makeup artist in Hollywood after being fired, cheated on, and mistaken for a thief. She stops to spend a few weeks in her aunt's apartment building in Jackson, Wyoming on her way to Vancouver for a fresh start. Cole Rawlins is an injured cowboy. He spent the past 13 years saving money to buy a ranch, and then got injured and his future is up in the air. Both Cole and Grace have a lot of negative history with Hollywood, and the appearance of a film shoot in Jackson Hole brings it to the surface for them both.

Grace is very damaged. She doesn't trust herself and she doesn't trust anyone else. She's sure that no one will love her, so she pushes everyone away so that she doesn't get hurt by their rejection. (SPOILER: Of course people like her!) Grace had a really bad childhood and a example of what not to do for a mother, but sometimes I felt that she went too far in not giving other people a chance, the very extreme end of jumping to conclusions.  It was really hard to like her at times and ultimately I didn't feel like she ever came around to a point where she could trust anyone enough to fall in love. It seemed like a very fast extreme switch, and I didn't quite buy it.

Cole isn't damaged so much as willfully blind. He's physically injured and it's not certain if he'll be able to ride again. It's hard to be a cowboy who can't ride a horse. This is weighing heavy on him, and I felt like this aspect was handled really well.  However, 13 years in his past he was briefly lured to Hollywood by (surprise!) the same director who is on his ranch now. He is unable to leave the past in the past and see what really happened, and it's really hard for me to see this as anything more than a cheesy excuse. I did like Cole more than Grace, but he was awfully perfect aside from his reliance on the past as an excuse.

In the end, while the book was enjoyable, I didn't think it went quite far enough as a romance. There wasn't really any sort of falling in love. There was a lot of lust and sex (holy graphic sex, batman! Probably the most explicit sex I've ever read in a straight romance) but I just didn't see enough tenderness and companionship to believe that they had fallen in love. At the end of the book everything is wrapped up in a tidy bow, and neatly sets up a handful of possible next-in-series contenders. I won't lie and say I won't give the next one a chance, but this one won't make any top ten lists for the year.

The Sleeping Night by Barbara Samuel

A couple months ago I ran across a review of The Sleeping Night at Karen Knows Best. I kept it as unread in my Google Reader for weeks, until it occurred to me to request it from NetGalley, which I promptly did.  Barbara Samuel is one of the aliases of Ruth Wind, who wrote one of my favorite books, In the Midnight Rain. I was super excited to get this one and started reading almost immediately. And then stalled. See, this one is a actual .pdf which meant I couldn't adjust the font, and the font was tiny.  On top of this, the book is fairly intense. Here's the summary from Amazon.com.

An unforgettable romance in an unforgiving time.

They'll need love and courage to see the dawn.

He's a hometown native, returning from the war, determined to change the world he'd fought to protect. She's the girl who's been his secret friend since childhood, now a beautiful woman. Her war-time letters kept him alive. But he's black, and she's white.

In 1946 in Gideon, Texas, their undeniable love might get them both killed.

The book opens with Isaiah coming home from war. As many black American WWII soldiers discovered, integration wasn't the same in Europe as it was in the American South. Behaviors that were okay in Europe were absolutely NOT okay in 1946 Texas.  Isaiah plans to say hello and goodbye in one breath and get out of town before he gets into trouble. He knows that he has feelings for Angel Corey, he always has, and he knows that those feelings will get him (or them) killed.

Angel's father, Parker, has always operated the colored store on the wrong side of town. Unfortunately, Parker died a few days before Isaiah gets home, leaving Angel alone. With no guardian and no husband, Angel is immediately under suspicion. A proper woman would leave the store and move into town. Angel has lived there her entire life though, and can't see how there's anything wrong about being there. Angel loves the black side of town as much as the white side. Her beliefs were instilled in her by her father, who served in WWI with Isaiah's father. Isaiah is her best friend and she has a hard time hiding that he's important to her.

The summary from Amazon would lead you to believe that Isaiah comes home gung ho to shake things up ("determined to change the world he'd fought to protect".) While he does come home feeling the weight of integration and Jim Crow, the book is not about Isaiah's determination to integrate Gideon, Texas. The book is about the two of them realizing their love for each other and the impossibility of it.  Integration isn't even an option yet, it's not even under discussion. Jim Crow is still law. This book is, all the way through, a love story. A tense, haunting, beautiful, love story.

The climax is a bit rushed, and I have a couple little annoyances with the book, but I loved it. One thing Barbara Samuel does well (and does well as Ruth Wind too) is setting. You get a really great sense of post-war Texas and war-time Europe. You know what the humidity feels like. The river in Gideon is a character itself. At the end of The Sleeping Night there is an except of In the Midnight Rain and another book, Jezebel's Blues. It wasn't until I got to this, after I finished the entire book, that I realized that both books are set in the same town. In the Midnight Rain takes place in between the time periods of The Sleeping Night. I didn't pay close enough attention to notice if some of the characters appear in both, but you can bet I'll be going back to find out. I'm not sure yet when Jezebel's Blues takes place, but it too is set in Gideon. Overall, one of the best books I've read yet this year.


Disclosure: I received this book as an ebook from Net Galley.

Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis

Lucky in Love is the first book from Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor series that continues past the story of the three sisters. Mallory, Amy and Grace meet at Eat Me, Lucky Harbor's diner, on the night of an intense storm. Mallory is an ER nurse who tries to save everyone she meets. For her, this means starting a community health center for people who can't afford health care. Due to a tragedy in her past, it's very important to Mallory not to let anyone slip through the cracks.  Ty is the "Mysterious Cute Guy" who lives outside of town and keeps to himself. Through a chance meeting, Ty ends up meeting Mallory and finds himself interested in getting to know another person for the first time in years.

Lucky in Love holds true to form. Ty is big and strong and handsome and rich.  I found that he differed a bit from the other men in that his past really was heartbreaking, and recent enough that he wasn't just using it as an excuse. I loved that he struggled with real demons, both mental and physical. Mallory doesn't set out to save Ty, but with the urging of her friends she does set out to HAVE him. I love that she is willing to finally enjoy herself with someone without ever expecting more, even when she started wanting more.

As with the other Lucky Harbor novels, the town itself becomes a character, with Lucille and her Facebook page leading the action. There is a shift in supporting characters with this book- while the innkeepers from the first three are mentioned, this time we see more of the people at the diner and the ones who work with Mallory. I appreciate that Shalvis didn't try to jam everyone we ever met into the book in a meaningful way (like Robyn Carr seems to do with her Virgin River series.)  The focus of the books stays with the main characters, with just enough town interaction to make a cohesive series. Lucky in Love is believable as well, it doesn't happen completely overnight and you can believe that they fall in love.

I requested this one from NetGalley and was awfully exited to have both it and the final book in the series waiting for me on my Nook.

(For those of you who aren't romance fans, only two more Jill Shalvis posts to go, for now. )

Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis

Head Over Heels was probably my favorite of the Lucky Harbor novels, with Forever and a Day coming in second (review on that to come!) Head Over Heels is the last of the three sisters. Chloe is the wild child, the one you can only count on to be flaky, the one who lived with their free-spirited mother the longest. She has very severe asthma, so she can't be counted on to do any heavy lifting at the inn the sisters inherited (and the sisters don't resent her for this at all, it's very refreshing.) Chloe is who she is and for the most part everyone loves her that way.  Naturally, being the wild child often leads to a little disregard of the law (mainly in regards to stupid ideas like hang gliding at night, not like theft) and that's where Sheriff Sawyer comes in. Sawyer takes his job as sheriff very very seriously. He can't quite forgive himself for his own youth and believes that if he slips up at all that the town will see him as the same screw up he was then. (Note: Not true, the town obviously loves the man.) (Note the second: The town's Facebook page, maintained by the lovable, snoopy, Lucille, is a complete character all its own, in all the books.)

This one was easily my favorite of the series. I loved that Chloe lived for what she believed in and that even though she had a hard time verbalizing love that she loved everyone with her whole being. I Loved that she had a serious health problem, but that she never used it as a crutch. I loved that she was insecure in how other's felt about her, but not really in a self-pitying way.  And Sawyer! While he did exhibit some of the same characteristics as all the other men, he had a bit more depth to him. His relationship with his father really colored his entire adult life, as did the Event in his youth. Sawyer really had to let himself take a chance to be with Chloe and I loved that he did so.

Shalvis continues to impress me with her writing, it's like she's listening to me talk. She doesn't shy away from the F-bomb (like I just did!) or other profanity, but she also doesn't throw it away like confetti. The men refer to themselves jacking off (occasionally, and only in private) and they tease each other like you'd expect men to do. (Not being a man, I can't vouch for this, but has to be somewhat accurate.) You can find her online at JillShalvis.com and on twitter.

Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

After the success of At Last, I ran to the library and scooped up every Jill Shalvis title on the shelf. Luckily, one of those was Simply Irresistible, the first book in the Lucky Harbor series. (I also requested books 4 and 6 from NetGalley, and got book 3 from the library, leaving me with a book 2 gap that I corrected with a $2.99 ebook for the Nook.) I was fairly worried that it wouldn't hold up and that At Last would be a fluke, but I wasn't disappointed. I pretty much read Simply Irresistible straight through to the end. Once again, Shalvis has a fresh easy style that matches how I think and talk and it never felt stilted or fake.

Simply Irresistible starts the Lucky Harbor series off by setting up a run of three half-sisters- Maddie, Tara and Chloe. Raised independently, they are thrown together by the inheritance of a rundown inn after the death of their mother. (Prepositional phrase anyone?)  Maddie has come to Lucky Harbor looking for a fresh start, she's lost her boyfriend, her home and her job and needs a place to recover. She's determined to make the inn a success, even when her sisters would rather sell and run. Jax is a local favorite, a jack of all trades. Maddie first runs across him as she almost runs over him, and then finds him tending bar, and then again when she drunk dials him for some construction contract work on the inn.

Maddie and Jax have immediate chemistry.  Things start off hot and heavy and then stay hot and heavy. When I read At Last I wondered if the book felt so fast because I'd missed the build up, but Simply Irresistible was also very fast. Maddie isn't in town a month before they are madly in love. (Oh, come on, not a spoiler. It's a romance novel fer cryin' out loud!)  Maddie and Jax are also much more fleshed out that Amy and Matt (from At Last) are, but Matt and Jax follow a very similar mold. Despite this, I enjoyed Simply Irresistible and had no hesitation about diving right into the next title, The Sweetest Thing .

For my thoughts on At Last, click here.

At Last by Jill Shalvis

In the last couple of months I've seen Jill Shalvis (on twitter) pop up all over my Google Reader (in the romance reading parts, anyway.) I added a couple books to my endless TBR list and picked one up at the library but never got around to reading it. My contemporary romance author knowledge is fairly limited (Nora Roberts, Susan Mallery, Robyn Carr, a couple Harlequin authors) and I've been burned by authors that "everyone" loves (Rachel Gibson I'm looking at you.)  But then last week I remembered NetGalley and went looking for something to add to my reader. For reasons unknown, I requested At Last by Jill Shalvis. And I loved it. It wasn't perfect, but it was good.

Shalvis has a very contemporary voice, she writes like I talk. I loved this. When Nora Roberts pulls out the F-bomb or adds a bit of crudeness to a book it seems just that- crude. Out of place and added for effect. I don't appreciate that. Somehow though, when Shalvis used the F-bomb it seemed pretty natural (and for those of you who hate it at all, it's not often, maybe twice). Her characters really thought and talked like I do and I really liked that.

That said, this particular romance had some flaws for me. I loved both Matt and Amy (ok, especially Matt) but I didn't completely buy the falling in love. It is likely this is because this is the 5th Lucky Harbor novel and if I'd read them in order I'd have had more background to prepare me, more interaction before this point, but as a standalone I didn't quite buy it. I loved the interaction with the guys from the various novels (I always do) but felt a little annoyed by the gimmick in the girls friendship (Chocoholics, lame and tired.)  However, these flaws won't stop me from reading another Shalvis and it's likely that I'll request the rest of the ones on NetGalley as well. I'm happy to have found a new author and really hope that she holds up for me.


(One question on ebooks- it consistently said this book was 253 pages long, but looking on Amazon it's a normal length romance -352 pages. Is this something I'm going to have to learn to ignore?)

Source: NetGalley