The Perils of Pleasure

Masterpiece!

.....review to come soon.

Sad news...maybe

I can't help but be skeptical and a tad disbelieving of the recent news I had the displeasure of learning. I frequent a used book store regularly. I try to go there at least 3 times a month in search of books of every and any genre. The store seems to specialize, however, in romance novels, and the owners have always been very diligent in keeping them all in strict alphabetical order. I absolutely love the store and I love the owner of the shop, a petite older blonde woman, maybe in her mid-fifties.

Recently, with two deaths in my family and a brief fling which brought back memories of a long lost love, I had no urge or desire to read anything, especially romance novels, so I stopped going to the store. I decided to go back recently, having recovered from my funk, after a trip of a lifetime in Central Europe. I looked everywhere for the owner, was sure she'd ask me about my whereabouts (she was always so very friendly and welcoming). She was never around whenever I stopped by. I finally, last week, decided to ask a man working in the store. What I learned shocked me. She apparently had passed away seven months prior. This was hard to believe because 1) I'd grown attached to her...seeing her smile at me whenever I'd walk in the store and 2) I could have sworn it hadn't been seven months since my last visit.

At this point, I don't know what to think. Why would he lie, unless we're getting people mixed up and the older woman who would often keep the other company in the store is the one who passed...I don't know. I feel horrible for the woman's family and it really just breaks my heart to hear the news.

I'm going to make a stop tomorrow and will make sure to ask again.

Masquerading the Marquess

This is the first book written by Anne Mallory so I'll try to be nice.

The plot is all over the place and I never felt I quite knew the heroine; her personality and MO changed so many times I thought I was dealing with Sybil, the Queen of Multiple Personalities. Initially, the story wasn't bad. The heroine was working as a lady's companion and I didn't mind that at all. She sees the hero and can't stop looking at him. Good...good...I like where this is going....where it was going. Next thing I know, she fired and I find out that the heroine does caricatures and she's decided she's going to make the hero's life hell because she believes he was the reason behind her firing. I don't even know why she thinks that. ANNOYING WENCH!!! But wait...this chick's not done yet. This woman is a jack, or jill, of all trades. I turn for a second and she's all of a sudden affiliated with the theatre world....turn another second and she's helping some special agent. WTF is going on here?

I had no choice but to skim most of the book, waiting for it to get good (i.e. for the heroine to get laid). It happened towards the end and I'm surprised I held on for so long. I don't usually want immediate sex in a novel, but that seemed to be the only thing to look forward to here and I admit the bits of foreplay in the carriage proved entertaining.

I wouldn't recommend the book, unless you're curious to know what a rough draft published as a book looks like. I started reading the author's THREE NIGHTS and love it so far, so the author might only be suffering from the curse of having terrible editors.

Skip it if you have it in your used book pile. I'm selling mine back to the UBS.

Seduce Me at Sunrise

I'm about to do something I never thought I'd do, say something I never thought I would say. I HATED THE LAST LISA KLEYPAS BOOK!!! Yes, I did...I know...I know...I'm ashamed and embarrassed and will probably be kicked out of the Lisa Kleypas Fan Club but I can't help it. I hated it...despised it. I read it all, of course, but I had to force myself to get through it. SEDUCE ME AT SUNRISE was painful. I don't care what other reviewers say; don't care how much it's praised. I hated it. I had such hopes for this book...such dreams for the characters but Merripen, the hero...got one word for you buddy: SHUT UP! Actually, I guess those were two words, huh? Gosh, STFU already with the whining and complaining about the differences in status between you and Winnifred, the heroine(he's a Roma gypsy; she's a fair aristocratic English rose). She wants you, fucker. Now get over it and do her!

What's frustrating about this whole story is that the hero says he doesn't want her, rejects the heroine at every turn and then gets violent and near deadly whenever she talks to someone else. He's got this whole "If I can't have her, nobody can" kind of attitude which is not only unhealthy, but made me nearly punch some guy out on my commuter train.

Gosh...I feel like I just swore in a church. I never thought I would dislike a Kleypas book. So far this is the only one out of the million (ok..I know it's not that much, but you get the idea) she's written. I am hopeful though that her next one will be better. Ok...I think I need to take a shower now.

Where have all the Julie Anne Long books gone?

Seriously, where are they? I own all of them except the last two she's written and I'm going crazy looking for them. I've been to 4 bookstores and nada. They don't have any Julie Anne Long books. Tomorrow I'm going to check a 5th. If that effort fails, I'm off somewhere else. I'm sorta boycotting amazon right now and I honestly don't want to wait 2 weeks to get them from B&N Online. I wanted to read the books now. I'm not a very patient person. The books are Book 1 (PERILS OF PLEASURE) and 2 (LIKE NO OTHER LOVER) of her new series.

If I have to be honest, I think I know why they're not around. Julie Anne Long is the most consistent of authors; I never been disappointed by her books. I've loved all of them. All of them have given me butterflies.

This isn't a cheap plug and I'm not expecting some Julie Anne Long groupie to send me free books or anything. Seriously, she up there with Lisa Kleypas, whom we all know is my favorite romance author EVER.

If all else fails, I'll just order them via B&N, but yeah...just wanted to read them on the train to work this week. What two weeks though, right (and yeah, I've got a life...I just commute 3 hours a day and would like to have something interesting and fun to read)?

In Bed with the Devil

PLEASE NOTE: Some spoilers below.

When this book first came out, I read a negative review that, coupled with the fact that the author put her other series on hold after the 2nd novel, made it easier for me NOT to go to my favorite used book store or even Borders to purchase it. I admit I'm still a little ticked that Heath put the Rose series on hold. The fact that the last book of the series was a total stinker didn't make the burn sting less. However, having started reading Elizabeth Hoyt's TO TASTE TEMPTATION and hating the heroine tremendously, I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet. I've been stressed lately because I've been fearing a lay off. Now...I have plans to go back to school part time but will still need a job to help me pay my student loans, bills, etc. Since no one seems to be hiring in my field lately, I'd very much like to keep my job 'til the economy improves. I think all of you can relate. Back to the topic at hand...not having anything else to read and needing a cheap distraction, I went to my UBS and purchased IN BED WITH THE DEVIL and came out with three hours of reading...not memorable reading, but good enough, I suppose.

The book isn't one of Heath's best. I enjoyed her Victorian series books when I first started reading them because I didn't know any better. At the time, I never even knew Heath wrote western romances. After reading the Texas trilogy, I was never the same; my opinion of Heath was never the same. Every time I read a Heath book, I compared it to her early westerns....unfortunately none of them have come close. That being said, she always provides me with a few hours of pleasure and, with today's economic crisis, anything that will take my mind off reality is good enough for me.

The heroine here is very bold...not at all the typical Victorian miss; she's feisty this one, feisty and...well...it seems as if she's a child of the 20th and 21st century. It's hard to believe she's from the time the book is set. She's bold and unafraid of being alone at night with a strange and dangerous man (who just happens to be insanely gorgeous). She has no chaperone whatsoever...her father is dying, her brother is missing and apparently the girl has no other relative keeping an eye on her. Seems a little far fetched. At some point, I was expecting Michael J. Fox to show up and take her back to the future, Huey Lewis blasting in the background.

The hero thinks he's a tough ass but is far from it. I don't get why people avoid him in Society...oh, yes..everyone is giving him the cut direct, despite the fact that he's an Earl or Duke or whatever because they're scared of him. Stupid...I never understood this plot piece at all. The whole thing seemed like a last minute add on to make the guy appear even sexier. MISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED.

I read the book at the gym for two hours while sitting on an exercise bike and doing some leg weights. I then finished it off at home before heading to bed. I wasn't bored, but I have to admit I skimmed a lot of pages towards the end of the book. There was so much verbal foreplay going on at the end, that I nearly fell asleep while doing leg presses. Go do it already!

The hero and heroine never really hid their desires or affections which I always welcome but gosh, did I want to throw a bucket of lemons at the hero whenever he spoke of his childhood friend, Frannie (who will probably get a book, I'm sure...I hope). This is another plot piece which got on my nerves after a bit.

The hero started off so strong and macho and then turned into a big mushy wimp. From Alpha Hero to...what's the word for someone who's not even on the DLIST of heroes? Blaugh....even in the end I was expecting him to grow some balls when he found out that his lady hid her pregnancy from him, but nope...dude looks like he's gonna start crying. PATHETIC.

Overall, the book is a good effort...something to pass the time really. It's not the kind of story you will remember a year from now.

I pray and hope her next book is better than this one. Also, now that I'm getting into this, wondering about the secondary characters and the lot, I hope she doesn't bail on this series and put stories ON HOLD like she did with that last one.

TEMPTED BY THE NIGHT AND THE PROBLEM WITH MEMORY

I nearly threw this book in the garbage when I realized it was a paranormal. Since when is Elizabeth Boyle a paranormal romance writer? I felt deceived and seriously ripped off. 10 pages, 20 pages, 30 pages, 60 pages went by and I couldn't get even remotely into the story. I was very close to giving up and writing a brutal review...then realized that I had mistakenly purchased three copies of the novel. How I did that is beyond me. I must have purchased it directly after my three week European vacation (more on that in a later post) and then the others when I was in some foggy daze. The fact that I spent more than $20 on a book I wanted to rip to shreds actually guilted me into finishing it. What's funny is that I actually didn't mind the book after page 80. Maybe I got used to the weirdness of it.

Paranormal romance is still not one of my favorite genres. I like a good old fashioned historical...I don't need the hero to turn into a ghost or some mythical creature fighting underworld crime. I just want a simple Duke or Viscount slut who gets brought down by the love of a sweet feisty little virgin who's also a professional sex fiend. See...it's that simple to please me. I'm really not that complicated when it comes to romance novels.

I did enjoy this book surprisingly. It's not one of my favorite Boyles, but it's also not the worst book I've ever read. I know it sounds like I didn't enjoy the book, but I actually did. I just hope she doesn't write another paranormal. Keep it simple, Elizabeth. That's all I've gotta say!

TEMPTED BY THE NIGHT is a good book and I recommend it. The only problem I had was that I couldn't remember anything about the hero and heroine who were obviously secondary characters in past books. It irked me to no end. I do remember never being given any indication that the hero was some sort of underworld wizard or whatever the heck he was. It would have helped if a summary of the characters were given at the beginning of the book or maybe..just maybe..if the book had been published close to the other ones mentioning the two characters. Just a thought.

I've noticed this problem with other series books I've read lately. Now, either the secondary characters weren't that memorable to begin with OR my memory is going down the tubes OR maybe they need to start publishing books closer together for a change (maybe if I write this enough, they'll actually do it).

Now I know that authors have lives and they can't write ten books at once. This is why I suggest they add a brief character summary to the beginning of their books. Shouldn't be too difficult, right?

I don't know. I might have to do what I used to do with Liz Carlyle books. Buy them and not read them until the series is completed. It takes years to read a series but it's worth it. No aggravation, no memory lapses.

This post is a bit all over the place and I apologize. I had this problem with the new Laura Lee Guhkre novel and it bothered me the entire time.

And seriously...WTF IS GOING ON WITH THE LISA VALDEZ NOVEL?

More to Come

I have much to report on. I've been a bit MIA with this blog but promise I will be back in full force soon. I've read several novels in the last few weeks; my reading mojo is back and I'm so glad. I read a book (new Boyle book) I was ready to throw away about a week ago. I persisted and am so glad I did. More on that later. I recently came back from a trip of a lifetime which I will also write about soon and post some pictures.

In the meantime, tomorrow are the elections. Anyone else glad they're almost over? They've been going on for what feels like years.

Several reviews and posts to come in the next few days. Thanks for all your patience.