con-artist

REVIEW: Crooked Hearts by Patricia Gaffney

REVIEW: Crooked Hearts by Patricia Gaffney

Dear Ms. Gaffney, Back when I was devouring your backlist, in my early days as a romance reader, I avoided Crooked Hearts at first. I had very rigid notions of what I liked and what I didn’t like, and “Western” and “humorous” were on my “do not like” list, as far as romance went. I was pretty(…)

REVIEW: Red Glove by Holly Black

REVIEW: Red Glove by Holly Black

Note: This review is going to be spoilery for White Cat because there’s no good way to discuss Red Glove without revealing the big secret of that book. Skim very selectively if you’re spoiler-phobic! Dear Ms. Black, Last year, you introduced us to the Curse Workers. In the Curse Worker world, magic was outlawed along(…)

Friday Film Review: Trouble in Paradise

Friday Film Review: Trouble in Paradise

Trouble in Paradise (1932) Genre: comedy Grade: wonderful The first time I watched “Trouble in Paradise” I fell in love with it. It’s smart, sophisticated, cultured and urbane. And it’s about two crooks who meet, fall in love then take advantage of a situation to instill themselves into the household of a wealthy widow in(…)

REVIEW: White Cat by Holly Black

REVIEW: White Cat by Holly Black

Dear Ms. Black, I was first introduced to your books a few years ago with your debut, Tithe, the first in a series about faeries in modern times. In some ways, I consider those books to have kickstarted the popularity of faeries in recent young adult fiction. That said, I’ve made no secret of the(…)

REVIEW: Skin Game by Ava Gray

REVIEW: Skin Game by Ava Gray

Dear Ms. Gray (aka Ms. Aguirre): In reviewing my emails (because my memory, as you know, is terribly spotty), I see I received the book for review from you. I had enjoyed Grimspace and heard that this book was fresh for the romance genre and it is. Kyra is a grifter, working with her father,(…)

Con Artist Protagonists

JMC posted last week about having problems with con artist protagonists. I’ve enjoyed the occasional assassin book such as Kelley Armstrong’s Nadia Stafford series or Barry Eisler’s John Rain series. Jenny Crusie seems to love the morally ambiguous protagonist with books like Welcome to Temptation, Faking It, and Agnes and the Hitman. I voted in(…)

REVIEW:  Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews

REVIEW: Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews

Dear Ms. Andrews, Though this is one of the first ebooks I bought, it’s taken me a while to get back to it. In fact, I’m kind of reading your “Savannah” series backwards but enjoying it none the less. One thing that’s really stood out so far is the “closer than sisters” bond between BeBe(…)