Her Rancher Rescuer by Donna Alward

So remember last week when I told you what I was reading? I didn’t finish any of them. Instead I wandered off and read a romance novel. Shocker, I know. I grabbed Her Rancher Rescuer on NetGalley because of a good review I read, and the other night when all my paper books were out of reach I fired it up. I read it in about 24 hours and I have to say it was worth it. This one was really worth your purchase.

 

 

Amy has always lived in the same small town, and always had a reputation as someone who can’t keep a man. She’s prone to diving in heart first and then getting hurt when things don’t turn out. Having grown up under the shadow of her father’s abandonment, she’s finally ready to break away from the town and become more than what people expect. After yet another humiliation at a wedding Amy hides in the ladies room, only to be rescued by handsome millionaire Jack Shephard. Jack was an Olympic skiing hopeful, who had his dreams shattered after a crash, and now owns a successful sporting goods chain and ranch/retreat center. He is in a bit of a bind as his resort manager has fallen and broken her hip, and Amy sees her chance to get out of town with an offer to help him. Of course they are crazy attracted to each other, so what’s gonna happen when they are cooped up in a house together?

 

 

Here’s why this was great, despite the millionaire premise- both main characters are flawed. Both have made mistakes. The growth that they both do thru the course of the story is real and believable. Amy has to learn to see herself as worthy in and of herself and not just as half of a relationship. She’s always been on the search for a man to bring her happiness after seeing her mother so devastated by her father’s desertion. Amy realizes after the wedding that she has to get out of town and make a success of herself or she’s going to always be the same old predictable, lonely Amy. Once she realizes that she’s fallen for Jack, she’s still willing to walk away and not throw herself after him (so long as she believes he isn’t in love with her too, anyway.)

 

 

Jack himself has an incredibly scandalous past. His skiing career ended on a terribly after he tried too hard to rescue someone who didn’t want rescued. He is terrified to open up again, because of way the old relationship ended. He has to learn that he can trust a woman with his heart, and he has to learn to risk himself for happiness. Jack may be a millionaire hotshot, but he really felt like an ordinary guy. He is successful in business, but has this big glaring hole in his life. He tries to do the right thing by Amy, but there are so many little moments where it’s obvious that he is scared and clueless on what he should do. He messes up in the end, of course, but never comes off as a heartless jerk.

 

 

The story itself is just really well written. There is a ton of tension, despite being PG in nature. Amy and Jack are both vulnerable but not stupid, and you can see the affection and respect between them. The ranch setting is there, but doesn’t play a huge role in the story, beyond a reason to get her out of town. If you are a fan of Harlequin romances, this is one I would highly recommend. If you are on the fence about them, this would be a good one to test out. I ended the book with a smile on my face and the desire to find more books by Alward.

(Sorry about the weird bolding- Blogsy apparently doesn't believe in paragraph breaks today!)

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Big Sky Christmas by C.J. Carmichael

It's been a really long time since I read a romance novel with a baby on the cover. 15 years ago, they were a staple of my romance reading, but since having kids of my own it's just not as romantic as it was. Regardless, the title of this one and the Montana setting made me request a copy. (Apparently I outgrew babies but not cowboys.)

Big Sky Christmas is the fourth book in the Coffee Creek series and it really shows.  Winnie has come back home after 18 months away- 18 months after her fiance was killed on their wedding day, and 11 months after the birth of their son. One of the first people she encounters is Jackson Stone, foster brother to her late fiance, and the man who carries a secret torch for her. And that's... pretty much the entire plot.  This book is so incredibly light weight that I can't think of anything to even say about it.  It's pretty obviously the final book in a series, all the other characters are paired up into neat pairs, and the ranch setting is an obvious series element.

There is nothing  outright objectionable about this one, but there's nothing to really recommend it either- unless of course you've read the first three and have a need to wrap it up. (I have not read the first three.) The Christmas setting isn't overwhelming. The ranch tidbits are perfectly paced.  Winnie and Jackson are both perfectly nice perfect people.   The background story explaining how Jackson came to be part of the story is a nice touch.  Do I feel compelled to track down the first three books? Unfortunately, no, this one is pretty darn forgettable.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read it- Big Sky Christmas will be out October 1st.

Marrying the Royal Marine by Carla Kelly

My library has one small set of shelves for "New and Popular" books. It's a bit misleading, because "new" means "new to our library" not "newly published". This means that I will often go to look over the shelves and find several books from an author's backlist, including books published decades ago. This was recently the case with Carla Kelly. There were a good half dozen of her books sitting there in a row, and I thought that it was interesting that I had never read a Carla Kelly, since she's written 40+ books, and I picked two up. One of them happened to be a Harlequin Historical from June 2010, and the third in a trilogy, Marrying the Royal Marine . It should also be noted that I've only read a couple Harlequin Historicals, because in my mind a historical should be longer. And the covers are cheesy.  I sat down yesterday and read the entire thing. If I were the type to buy and keep books, this one would be a keeper.

Polly Brandon is the youngest illegitimate daughter of a complete sleezeball. She's grown up in orphanages and believes herself to be ugly and unworthy. Despite these things, she's generally fairly content and when the opportunity arises for her to travel to Portugal to help her older sister in the war, she goes. After boarding the ship for a week long trip, she discovers that she gets horribly sick on boats, and being the only female on the ship, has to accept help from Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Junot, Royal Marine. (Seems unlikely, but it's well done as to why it has to be him.) The two are immediately comfortable with each other, and find themselves secretly falling in love, despite each knowing it's impossible. After arriving in Oporto, they are separated for a time, but the feelings don't go away. The Napoleonic War throws them back together, in horribly intimate circumstances, and they manage to fall completely in love.

Guys, this was terrific. I loved every single bit of it. The setting is so well done, the author clearly knows her history (or seems to, I am not overly familiar with the war) but doesn't stop the story to teach you the details, she just assumes you'll figure it out. Rather than having war be the backdrop to force the time period, the war is front and center. These people are IN the war. The book does not shy away from the horrible bits- death, massive injury, rape, madness, starvation, misery. These things are not alluded to, they are THERE. And yet the focus on our couple is still maintained. It is so well done, that while you are horrified by the circumstances you're also able to believe the love story.

The hero is just terrific, despite being named Hugh. Compassionate and smart, good looking and terribly old. (He's 37.) He's honest with both Polly (who he calls Brandon) and himself. He knows he wants a wife and a family, and he is very aware that Polly is painfully young (she's 18 as the story opens.)  He is honorable, even as he walks away from her in misery. (So many romance heroes would give a pretty speech to her about how they can't be together, and break her heart before leaving. He doesn't do this.)  Polly is young, but not sheltered. She knows her position in life and is not trying to snag a hero or be anyone she's not. She's slower to realize her feelings, but like Hugh, is always honest with herself. She finds herself in an adventure much more dangerous than she ever dreamed, and she's able to stand up and be a hero in her own right. (I don't mean hero-who-won-the-war, I mean hero-who-does-the-right-thing-when-it'd-be-easier-not-to.) I really loved the way the author was able to give them both very distinct voices, and clearly showed their internal dialogue without becoming melodramatic or silly.  There were no moments of contrived drama, and I never had to suspend belief.

This will easily be in my top ten of the year, and I'll be watching the thrift store for my own copy. You better believe that I will be picking up the first two in the series at the library today.

You can find Carla Kelly online here and here.

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.

Wild For the Sheriff by Kathleen O'Brien

When Rowena Wright returns to her childhood home after 16 years and the death of her father, she's prepared for it to be a difficult return. The house hold a lot of dark memories, as does the local sheriff, Dallas Garwood. Rowena's mom died suddenly when she was a teenager, and she and her sisters were sent off to live with relatives without a backward glance. Rowena was known as a wild child, the one who tempted Saint Dallas into Temptation, and got caught. (No secret babies, it does not go there, thankfully.) She's certain the close knit locals hate her, and she's shocked to find that Dallas actually doesn't hate her. Dallas is cautious, but never assumes she's the same person she used to be. He's cautious, because he has a child, but he's definitely interested in pursuing Rowena.

If you read the back cover of Wild for the Sheriff , it sounds like a totally different book. Even the cover imagine brings to mind a fun reunion book. Instead, there's a lot of processing of both of their pasts, and there is a lot of darkness. This isn't a light and fluffy romance, and there's a good bit of doubt about what will happen. There's a lot to like in these pages and for the most part Rowena and Dallas are both reasonable adults. Rowena worries a good bit about what she inherited from her parents, and discovers that she is a lot more different than she thought. Dallas has a son from a failed marriage and as any good parent does, he worries about the effect that a failed romance with Rowena will have on his child. Despite this being a Harlequin romance, the majority of the book isn't really focused on the romance. It's largely about Rowena herself coming to terms with her family and her past, and making a decision about how she wants to live her future. The romance is a little bit steamy (the bridge!!) and largely just a quiet side story until the final resolution. It worked for me, but it wasn't typical of a Harlequin, in my experience.

The book has flaws, of course, the secondary characters are about as fleshed out as you'd expect from a Harlequin, while still setting us up for a series. Rowena has two sisters, and it falls for the common trope of "we were raised separately after the death of our mother, so we are totally different and don't know each other well." (See Also: the first three Lucky Harbor novels.) Dallas has a younger brother who is an actual adult but Dallas is still overly invested in raising him and making sure he goes to college. (See Also: Only Mine from the Fool's Gold series by Susan Mallery.) Rowena is a bit fickle and selfish and I'm not sure I really appreciated her rashness, but she does come to her senses quickly enough.  Despite all this, I couldn't really stop thinking about the book after I finished, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series as they are released.


This title will be published in February 2013.

You can find Kathleen O'Brien online here (tho it does not appear that she updates it regularly), on twitter, and on Facebook.

I received a copy of Wild For the Sheriff from NetGalley for review purposes, but the opinions are my own.

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.

The problem with series

Like many (most?) other readers I have quite a few series that I enjoy. Lately I've been finding that the farther I am into the series, the MORE likely I am to quit it.  There seems to be two main reasons for this, first, the author takes the characters in a direction that I don't enjoy. An example of this is Laurell K. Hamilton. I don't believe that the Anita from book one (Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter),) which I loved, would have gone where the Anita of book 9 or so and later has gone.  This is also true of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series. I loved the first 6 or 7, but really hated Kay by about book 9 (Trace, I think).  While Kay did grow and change, she changed into someone unlikable and I didn't want to read any more of her.

The second reason I lose interest in a series is because it doesn't seem like each book is new. The best example of this is Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series (Starts with One for the Money (Stephanie Plum, No. 1) and runs up to Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum) at this point). Every book is pretty much the same as the previous book, with no changes to the characters themselves. They are living in exactly one moment in time and don't vary from that.  I think this is why I enjoyed the one in which she hooked up with Ranger so much (no idea which one that was, sorry, somewhere in the middle.)  This isn't a problem that is immediately obvious either. It seems that most series can handle 3 or 4 books before it crops up. I'm a bit worried that Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden is going to turn out a bit like this, but he still has time to show some growth (Starts with Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) if you're interested), as I'm only on book 4 or 5.

The reason I bring this up is that I recently realized that the reason I haven't reviewed Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 10) by Charlaine Harris yet is that I couldn't really think of anything interesting to say about it. It was better than the one before (Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9)) but that's about all I could say. The characters have some minor changes- Jason for the better, Pam for the better, not so sure about Eric or Sam- but overall it wasn't thrilling or exciting. Oh sure, I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but once I was done it was just over.  I'll probably keep reading them so long as she's writing them, but I no longer feel the need to rush out to find a copy. (This is not true for Evanovich, I think I'm done there.) It almost seems like she's just writing on the surface of the world she built, but not bothering to expand or explore it any longer.  This is in direct contrast with Patricia Briggs's Mercedes Thompson series (starting with Moon Called (Mercy Thompson)) which I love love love.

There are still several series that haven't landed in either of these categories yet for me, series that I enjoy tremendously but just haven't had time to get current on, but I live in dread (as much as you can over a book series anyway) that they will one day fall into one of these groups. I'm curious, what makes you stop reading a series? Do you agree or disagree with any of my examples? I had a very hard time thinking of non-paranormal series for this post, aside from Evanovich. What non-paranormal, non-mystery series do you read and enjoy? Do you see either of these patterns there?


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1,2,3... 26, 27, 28...

Ever since I finished From Dead to Worse last week I've been slightly obsessed with obtaining a copy of the next one- Dead and Gone . There aren't many series that I'm completely caught up on, and the idea of being about to draw a (temporary) (mental) line through a series fills me with pleasure. (I also take great pleasure in using up all the ink in a pen. Does this make me wierd?)

Anyway, it got me to wondering- Do most people read an entire series at once? Do you feel compelled to finish the series before starting something else? What if you don't like the series? Can you ever offically quit it? What series have you officially given up on? What are your favorites? Do you have some that languish in the TBR until you get around to them? Also, do you consider a trilogy to be a series? For me there has to be more than three books to be considered a series.

I think right now my top series would be:

• Patricia Briggs's Mercedes Thompson


• Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse


• Jim Butcher's Dresden Files


• JD Robb's In Death Series


• Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville


• J. D. Rowling's Harry Potter
  

Of those, I'm current on the Briggs and Harry Potter. I'm one behind on Harris, 5 behind on Butcher, and 4 or 5 behind on Robb. They are consistently strong entries (except maybe JD Robb's.) They have well defined main characters and a highly developed world and background. What are your favorite series?

As you may be able to tell from this list, I don't read a lot of series that don't have a paranormal/futuristic element to them. I do read Janet Evanovich's and I'm all caught up except for Finger Lickin' Fifteen. Do you have a non-paranormal series that you can't get enough of? What about lesser known series? What do you buy the minute it comes out?

As for giving up- I officially quite Anita Blake after Obsidian Butterfly . I stopped Sue Graftonaround L. I only read the first Rachel Caine Morganville Vampiresbook, even though I love her Weather Wardens (ok, I've only finished 2, but I know I WILL love them when I finally get around to them!) What about you? What series got old before it ended? Are you done with Evanovich? (I almost am, but I keep hearing that she's almost done writing them.)

There are so many new series that I'd love to give a chance, but I keep thinking that I can't even keep up with the ones I know I like! And yet, I'm still asking you to give me more. It's ok, my TBR can take it.

TBR Day: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

Summer Knight is the fourth in the Dresden Files series. After it's slow take off for me, I think this series is really picking up. It almost seems like the first one or two were warm ups and Butcher has hit his stride. Harry is much less whiny, much less needy, and his need to be a hero has acquired a little common sense.

In this installment we see Harry working for the Winter Queen to find out who killed a rival faerie. The vampires are going to war with the wizard's White Council because of what happened in book three. Harry has been called before the Council for his part in those events, and if he can't disarm the coming war with the vampires his career as a wizard is over. Unfortunately, the war between the Faerie is much more imminent and much more dangerous. Like the others, the action is non-stop. I'm pretty sure Harry doesn't sleep for days.

The recurring characters are mostly good. Murphy isn't overwhelmingly "you HAVE TO TELL ME, Harry!" The werewolves are back and in good form. Lea is great. Bob isn't in it nearly enough. The person from Harry's past was good, but I don't know that I like the idea of bringing them in just for this storyline. Almost made it TOO easy to make Harry get involved by throwing them into it. Overall, I think this was the best one yet.

On a related note, series books are almost impossibly hard to review. There's not a lot you can say without giving away the plot to the previous books. I almost hesitate to even mention the plot summary off the back of the book for fear it will spoil something for someone. I find myself reading more and more series books lately, so this is getting to be more of a problem. Off the top of my head, unfinished series waiting on my shelves include: Kim Harrison, Rachel Caine, Laurell Hamilton, J. D. Robb, Charlaine Harris (ok, the last one isn't on my shelf, yet), and Janet Evanovich (ditto), and the rest of the Dresdens. Soon this blog will turn into: "Yep, it was good."