Dear Author » second chances

REVIEW: Lover Reborn by J. R. Ward

Jane — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:00:26 +0000

Dear Ms. Ward:

I haven’t read a book in this series since Book 5. My interest waned as I felt the series moved farther away from the core romance base where the series was birthed. I read the flyleaf of the hardcover when I received my complimentary copy and discovered that this was the love story of Tohrment. Tohrment lost his bonded mate in book one when she was shot, a casualty in the vampire/lesser war. Because suicide would prevent Tohr from reaching the Fade, the vampire heaven, where he would be able to live out eternity with his Wellsie and their unborn son, Tohr spends each night fighting the vampire enemies with the hope of death.

He hasn’t fed from another woman in quite some time and his frame is becoming gaunt and weak. With each swipe of the blade, he seeks oblivion. Even in his blinding grief, however, he is a man who loves his adopted son, John Matthew, and the king, Wrath, that Tohr serves. Tohr is caring man, crippled by his loss. I’ve been trying out new paranormal romances but the power in this book makes those other authors’ stories seem anemic. Tohr’s grief is a palpable, living thing. It is as animated and full blooded as some characters in other books. One scene early on in the book features Tohr taking Wellsie’s dress that she wore during their bonding ceremony and placing it on “her” side of the bed, stroking it:

With a shaking hand, he touched the satin of the filled-out bodice. There were whalebones set within the fabric, the structure of the dress built to enhance a female’s gentle, curving body.

It was not as good as her rib cage, though. Just as the satin was not as good as her body. And the sleeves weren’t as good as her arms.

“I miss you. . . .” He stroked the indentation of the dress where her waist would have been—should have been. “I miss you so much.”

To think she had once filled this dress out. Had lived inside of it for a brief time, nothing but a camera shot of one evening in both their lives.

Why couldn’t his memories bring her back? They felt strong enough, powerful enough, a summoning spell that should have had her magically reinflating the gown.

Except she was real and alive only in his mind. Ever with him, always out of reach.

That’s what death was, he realized. The great fictionalizer.

The struggle I had throughout the story, however, was that Tohr’s entire emotional arc was getting over his grief or perhaps, coming to terms with it. Tohr is confronted by an angel, Lassiter, who is stuck in the In Between and charged with a task of winning his freedom from the In Between by convincing Tohr to let go of Wellsie. Because Tohr’s grief and his refusal to move on from Wellsie’s death is keeping her from entering the Fade, vampire heaven. She is becoming nothing, a spirit to haunt the In Between, a purgatory. In order for Wellsie to escape the In Between, Tohr must overcome his grief, start to live again. Tohr is tormented by this – that his actions are causing Wellsie pain and preventing her from an eternal peace and happiness.

No’One is a former member of the vampire aristocracy, a Chosen. She was stolen from her home and raped repeatedly by a Sympath. As part of the backstory that was revealed in previous books, No’One was impregnated and subsequently rescued by the Brotherhood. During her pregnancy, No’One is cared for by Darius and Tohr in their early days. No’One gives birth to a half Sympath/half vampire named Xhex (her story is in Lover Mine). No’One kills herself and Tohr buries her but she comes back to life ordered by the Scribe Virgin. No’One refuses to take a name, hides her remarkable beauty in dark robes, and seeks to undertake the most menial tasks available. She no longer feels as if she is a woman of worth ever since her abduction and rape. She is taken into the home of the BDB to reconnect with her daughter, Xhex.

No’One and Tohr begin to use each other. Tohr to try to get over Wellsie and No’One because she believes her service to Tohr as a blood donor and then later as a sexual mate is part of a greater atonement.

There were several things I appreciated in this story. First, the unexpected happened, particularly at the end. Second, you addressed what I thought was one of the biggest weaknesses in the series, and this is the role of women within the patriarchal vampire society. Finally, the multitude of story lines were deftly woven together and while the subplots didn’t captivate me like the main romance, they all played off each other.

The powerful emotional connection I felt to Tohr’s grief overshadowed the romance. I did not believe that Tohr fell in love with No’One. His grief wasn’t packed away until about 90% of the story was through. I was unconvinced that No’One’s love was returned. I believed that Tohr could come to love her but not that he actually did. Further, I felt that his dark moment which led to cruelty wasn’t assuaged by a sufficiently meaningful grovel.

The ploys for future stories were obvious and unlike a couple of twists to the Tohr and No’One storyline, were predictable which lessened their emotional impact. I was fully engaged in the story when Tohr and No’One were on page but was impatient at times to move through parts such as Xhex and John’s struggle to maintain their HEA or Quinn and Blay’s apparent continued misunderstanding. Likely because I haven’t been following these stories, they held little interest for me. When I was finished, I was vaguely dissatisfied but the grief storyline will stay with me and I’ll reassure myself that Tohr’s good heart will eventually come to love No’One in the manner in which she deserves. B-

Best regards,

Jane

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REVIEW: The Way Back by Stephanie Doyle

Jane — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:00:24 +0000

Dear Ms. Doyle:

I believe that this is the first book of yours that I have read but now I’ll definitely be on the look out for more Stephanie Doyle books. Gabby Haines is a former host of Wake Up Philadelphia, the “hottest job on morning television in Philadelphia.” She was replaced by a “younger, thinner, hipper version of herself.” Gabby takes a job at McKay Publishing to pay the bills while she figures out what to do with her life. As the newbie, she’s given the worst assignment. Hunt down Colonel Jamison Hunter and twist his arm into writing the book that McKay had contracted with him many years before.
Colonel Jamison Hunter was once an American hero. An astronaut, Hunter undertook an unauthorized space walk to repair the shuttle and save his crew. His golden image became irreparably tarnished when he was caught in a motel room, half dressed with a woman not his wife. The entire female population that had once idolized him felt like he cheated on them. Gabby was twenty three when it happened and shortly thereafter found her fiancé in bed with her half-sister.

Gabby theorizes that she’ll overcome Hunter’s resistance toward publishing his story and become a writer. Hunter is her ticket to a new life. Hunter, of course, does not want to cooperate. He’s tried to pay his advance back to McKay, has kept those advance funds separate so that he can finally convince them to just leave him alone, but he hadn’t bargained for someone as desperate and determined as Gabby.

The pace of this story is snappy, in part, I believe because of the good dialogue. Gabby takes to following Jamie on the beach during his five mile morning run. The beach is public, Gabby thinks. Jamie tells her that they can talk as long as she can keep up. In the beginning, Gabby can barely last two sentences before Jamie outpaces her. But each day, Gabby gains a little more endurance and each day, Jamie’s admiration for her persistence grows until he wants her in a very real and intimate way:

“We should go out on a date.”

“A date?”

“Yes. An off-island-nice-napkins-restaurant date. I’ll pick you up, we’ll ferry to the mainland and we’ll eat lobster. That kind of date.”

“A date so you can continue to seduce me.”

“Well, that is part of the purpose of the date and I’m not saying I won’t be trying the whole time. But also a date a chance to sit and talk and eat. Get to know each other. I don’t mention taking you to bed because it would be considered ungentlemanly, even though I’m thinking about it. And you don’t talk about the book that I’m never going to agree to write with you. A date.”

There is also a lot of subtlety here because while the story is about infidelity, a failed marriage, and regrets; it is also about acceptance, forgiveness, and overcoming one’s fears. There is a lovely secondary romance between a young woman strongly connected with Jamie and the veterinarian. Like Gabby, Zhanna has had a lot of loss in her life. She, like Gabby, is scared to love because she feels she will only suffer loss. Tom preserves to overcome that but ultimately both Gabby and Zhanna have to rise above their fears.

“I’m not going to sleep with you,” Zhanna blurted.

Tom straightened from where he’d been unloading the bag. He crossed his arms over his chest and ducked his head. “Is that what you think this is about?”

“Isn’t it?” She cradled the fuzz against her cheek and the animal purred so loud it shook. Zhanna would never tell him but she’d slept with men for worse reasons. Seemingly at a loss for words, he eventually burst out laughing. “You know, I suppose it is. I wanted to do something nice for you so you would like me. I want you to like me because I like you. And yes, I hope maybe someday you’ll like me enough to sleep with me. Who knew I was such a cad?”

While there was a strong focus on the term forgive, I really felt that the message should have been one of acceptance. Gabby, in particular, has to accept the past and put it away and move forward to trust that what is offered to her is worth the risk. Forgiveness is usually owed to those who have been harmed and Gabby was never directly harmed by Jamie. Instead, whatever man he was, she had to learn to accept and move forward.

“Why? Why me?”

Because he was everything to her. Everything she wanted to believe a man could be and he made her feel safe. Hell, she even felt safe right now.

“You were heroic. Smart and handsome, brave and daring. You were larger than life. But I also thought you still might be someone who a person could sit beside and have a beer with. You made me feel safe in a dangerous world.” She stared out at the night, a little too embarrassed by her honesty to make eye contact. “Must seem silly to you.”

“It does. What you saw was a fake image of me. A caricature the news created. If they could have, they would have had me walking around like a damn superhero. But I’m not talking about that guy and back then. I’m asking, do you want to have sex with me? The man you’ve known the past few days?”

When I first read this, I thought that this was a decent book but when I read it again to write my review, I realized it was a much stronger book than I had originally given credit. It has a strong secondary romance. It’s funny. It’s sexy. It’s emotionally touching. My grade would be a B. Did I say it was sexy and funny:

“Then think of me. And do sinful things to your body you think I might like to do.” She turned to him surprised to hear such naughty language from a man who had kissed her the way she’d always imagined Lancelot might kiss Guinevere. Then he wiggled his eyebrows like the dirty man he apparently was and made her smile.

“Jamison Hunter, you are a pervert.”

“Gabby Haines, all I can tell you is I’m going to have some pretty rocking dreams tonight.”

Best regards,

Jane

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REVIEW: The Husband Recipe by Linda Winstead Jones

Jayne — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:00:29 +0000

“It started with a baseball…

Which shattered Lauren Russell’s perfectly ordered life. Lauren’s new neighbors were about to see the Southern lifestyle columnist’s temper! Then she met Cole Donovan, the sexy single dad. He was not the man from her husband list; he was too tall, too sexy—and definitely had too many kids! But somehow, looking into his blue, blue eyes, she forgot all that….

Lauren was too elegant, too prim and didn’t understand that his three rambunctious kids were the focus of his life. But his tempting neighbor smelled delicious, looked luscious and cooked like a dream. Cole wasn’t looking for a wife, but he couldn’t stay away from Lauren. Was it a recipe for disaster—or marriage?”

Dear Ms. Winstead Jones,

There still sure are a lot of Harlequin authors who I haven’t tried yet and it just happened to be your newest book which caught my eye next. My own house is a disaster and my cooking – though I love to do it – often depends on how many pots and pans I’m willing to get dirty at a time. I envy people who can look into their pantries and whip up something scrumptious from what’s there so Lauren’s profession called to me. Then it’s also kind of fun to watch an ordered person’s world upended and it appeared that these three children would accomplish that. And who isn’t interested in sexy? So, selection made I got to reading.

Cole and Lauren begin to interact almost cautiously. Neither had counted on meeting the other, both have lives and plans and they take things fairly slowly, get to know each other and establish a foundation before jumping into bed. They get to like each other before they start to love each other. They’ve also dated in the past and are open to possible relationships. This is important to me because I don’t like characters who fixate on one past love to the exclusion of all others. I’ve just read that trope too often. Here, Cole and Lauren seem like fairly normal, well adjusted adults.

The three children also come across as such. They’re definitely not plot moppets and are neither perfect, lisping angels nor spawn from out of a nightmare. They run around, they play, they like to eat fish sticks and don’t want to brush their teeth. The’re also intelligent and view their dad’s relationships in the way young children would – how the dates would affect them. I especially think Meredith’s character is well drawn as a young woman on the verge of growing up but who’s still got a bit of maturing left.

A major thing I like about the book is that both Cole and Lauren don’t immediately dissolve in a puddle of lust. In fact, despite noticing each other’s better physical qualities, they remain relatively in control until after quite a few meetings. When things do heat up, they sizzle yet at the same time there’s a degree of humor that had me laughing such as the first time Cole arrives at Lauren’s house and sex is on the agenda.

“Reality intruded like a splash of ice water. “Oh, tell me you came prepared.” When she’d thought about not overthinking, that hadn’t meant they shouldn’t think at all.
His voice was raspy as he responded, “Do I not look prepared?”
She smiled, touched him, leaned in so her breasts rested against him. He was so warm. Almost hot. “A condom, Cole. Please tell me…”
He squatted and reached into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling out three wrapped condoms. A baby monitor and a three-pack. He was most certainly prepared.”

I do like some humor with my sex. Some smiles along with the sparks. And things were going well until the last minute additions of Complications to the mix combined with the panic button pushing done by both Cole and Lauren. One person sounding the “I’m not sure I’m ready for this” alarm is understandable but when they both did it, it was too much. This followed by the quick realization by both of them that they’d messed up all seemed too much like plot manipulations and running out of space rather than the natural flow of a relationship.

This slight hiccup is somewhat redeemed by a good, solid ending. Both Cole and Lauren have come to their senses, they talk and it doesn’t appear that Lauren is ready to throw over her career to be a baby maker. The children and adults are all on the same page about the relationship and things look good without an immediate frog march down the aisle to show how deliriously in love everyone is. Overall, I’m impressed with “The Husband Recipe” and have added you to my list of watched authors. B-

~Jayne

REVIEW: Mardie and the City Surgeon by Marion Lennox

Jayne — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

The last person Mardie Rainey expects to see on her doorstep is her childhood sweetheart, Blake Maddock. Fifteen years ago, Blake Maddock had walked away, leaving her teenage heart sore and broken. But now—with a thunderstorm raging overhead—she can’t turn him away, nor the injured border collie in his arms….

Blake Maddock spent his life running from one tragic mistake… Now the frightened boy has become a formidable man—and he’s coming back for the woman he has never forgotten….

Dear Ms. Lennox,

Recently I met fellow DA reviewer Sunita, which was a blast, and as book lovers do, of course we talked about books. We agree that one of our least favorite tropes is the “I kissed you once 10 years (or more) ago and have never forgotten it nor moved on with my life.” Argh, I hate this. So imagine my happiness when you made it very plain that Mardie hadn’t waited and faded away, she hadn’t lived in stasis since Blake left. She’d loved another man, married him, had a good and satisfying life before losing him. She still loved him in a way that was all his though there was room in her heart for another. Yeah, that’s another trope I dislike: the “I’ve loved and lost and will never love again!” Hate that too. Thank you for this.

I seriously enjoyed the sections about the dogs. They are such a part of these peoples’ lives that a story without them would feel incomplete. The parts with Charlie and Bessie working again and later at the funeral had me almost bawling. Would have had I been home but I had to hold it together at work. Still these are lovely scenes of how much dogs love and are loved and love to be useful.

Another wonderful thing about the story is that when Blake returns fifteen years after he left and shows up at Mardie’s door, she doesn’t turn into mush – well, perhaps for a minute in surprise but then she gets over it. And lets Blake know that she hasn’t wrapped herself up and mourned his loss all this time. He left, she was sad but then she got over it. She moved on. She’s lived a successful life and hasn’t thought about him or wondered about him. She took her passion for art and has made a name for herself as well as finding happiness teaching arts courses. I was bouncing in happiness through all this. Oh, and I loved it when she called him on how he viewed her life since she hadn’t gone overseas and saved children’s lives. And even after Blake makes a half hearted and emotionally induced proposal, she is wise enough to turn him down because she knows it’s still all wrong. Yeah, Mardie!

It’s wrong and Mardie insists that it be right. She probes Blakes’ reasons for not wanting to stay in Banskia Bay, she offers encouragement and mentions the therapy that helped her past the loss of her husband but she doesn’t push it or make ultimatums. She – and Blake – realize that neither will be happy trying to make a marriage work at their present stage. Yes, this takes the story down to the wire but I needed for them to work all this out to their satisfaction before I’d believe in their HEA.

And Blake does have some serious issues in his past. Some screwed up parents and a guardian aunt who wasn’t much better. Again I appreciate that this isn’t just a pity party on his part but some deep seated emotional mess that goes back a ways and must be dealt with. The way you described why he had to leave Banksia Bay and why he never contacted Mardie makes sense. He needed to leave this place that he saw as an exile where his parents sent him and if he’d talked to or written to Mardie, he wouldn’t have been strong enough not to crumble. When Mardie is finally given a window into what has driven Blake all these years and what still continues to haunt him, she knows these are things she might be able to help with – a little – but she can’t solve them for him. Nothing gets papered over or shoved under a rug with these two. They hurt each other somethimes with what they say but no punches get pulled and I like that.

Blake’s reasoning about why he needs to leave Banksia Bay and Mardie now also makes guy sense – he’s afraid he’ll hurt her by getting involved while he’s there – and planning to leave. It’s here that I can sort of see the start of his change of heart. Before, he’s wanted to leave to escape bad memories or to in some way make up for his twin’s death but now, emotion for Mardie is starting to seep through. I like that the time frame of the story allows for these slower shifts in emotion since there’s a lot to be dealt with and sorted out. Over the course of fixing Bessie’s eyes and the fund raising dinner and the month long recovery needed for the dog, Blake gets time to think and time to slowly see Mardie and Banksia Bay not as escapes anymore but as a person and a place that are home to him. There’s also the fact that they still have that connection they had years ago of being able to tease each other and almost know what the other is thinking that they’ve never lost.

Their ultimate realization that they’re both ready, willing and in an emotional place to finally get together for good is sweet and gentle and plays out in a way true to the setting of the story. Thanks for another enjoyable excursion with these salt of the earth people – and their dogs! B

~Jayne

REVIEW: Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer

Sunita — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:00:47 +0000

Dear Readers,

When I reviewed The Nonesuch a few months ago during Sourcebooks’ summer Heyer sale, I mentioned in passing that I really wanted to review Sprig Muslin, but it hadn’t been digitized yet. Now it is, so as promised, here’s a review.

This book wasn’t in my Top 10 Heyer Regencies during the first decade or so that I read her (that would be my teens and early twenties). It was too slow and too rural, and the hero and heroine weren’t exciting enough. I was totally a These Old Shades, Devil’s Cub, and Frederica kind of girl. But as I reread it in later years, I grew to appreciate the quiet humor. I especially came to love Lady Hester, the plain spinster heroine, and it’s become one of my very favorite Heyers.

Sprig Muslin chronicles the romance of Lady Hester Theale, the aging, on-the-shelf daughter of a gaming-mad Earl, and Sir Gareth Ludlow, one of Heyer’s patented top-of-the-trees, Corinthian heroes. Having reached his mid-thirties and lost his only brother at Salamanca, Sir Gareth accepts that he has to marry and produce heirs. But since losing his beautiful and much beloved fiancée in a riding accident a decade agp, he believes he is unable to offer a wife love. He chooses Hester, an old friend, over younger and more beautiful candidates because he thinks that marriage to him will be better for her than her current life as a general dogsbody for her father and her siblings’ families. But Hester shocks everyone, not least Sir Gareth, when she turns him down:

“I can offer you a position of the first consequence. You would be at no one’s beck and call, you would be your own mistress—with a husband who, I promise you, would not make unreasonable demands of you. You may be sure that I should always attend to your wishes, and hold you in respect as well as affection. Would that not mean a happier life than the one you now lead?”

Her face was very white; she pulled her hand away, saying in a stifled voice: “No—anguish!”

This seemed so strange a thing for her to have said that he thought he could not have heard her aright. “I beg your pardon?” he said blankly.

She had moved away from him in some agitation, and said now, with her back turned to him: “I didn’t mean it— don’t heed it! I say such foolish things! Pray forgive me! I am so deeply grateful to you! Your wife will be the happiest of females, unless she is a monster, and I do hope you won’t marry a monster! If only I could find my handkerchief!”

Gareth’s proposal visit to Brancaster is complicated by his meeting with Amanda, a lovely sixteen-year-old who has run away from home in order to compel her grandfather to agree to her marriage to a serving officer who is a younger son. She refuses to tell Gareth her name or address, and he cannot leave her on her own, so he takes her with him, to the consternation of Hester’s family (but not Hester). When Amanda runs away, Gareth must postpone any attempt to persuade Hester to change her mind and go after her. In the meantime Amanda has found a younger and more credulous knight-errant, and an accident occurs when Gareth catches up to them. When they can’t think of anyone else to turn to, the panicked and guilt-stricken pair beseech Hester to come and nurse Gareth until he recovers.

Gareth can’t be moved, so the four wind up in an inn in a tiny village, isolated from their families and friends and with their whereabouts unknown. This suits Amanda perfectly, because her grandfather won’t be able to find her and thus will submit to her ultimatum. Hester has her hands full caring for Gareth, and she isn’t averse to being cut off from her usual life for a while. As Gareth recovers, he sees a different side to Hester, and his feelings of friendship deepen into something else:

Lady Hester emerged from her hiding-place, her cap now wildly askew. Sir Gareth lay back against his pillows, watching her, a question behind the brimming laughter in his eyes.

“Gareth!” said Hester, in an awed voice. “You must own that Amanda is wonderful! I should never have thought of saying I was your natural sister!”

He was shaking with laughter, his hand pressed instinctively to his hurt shoulder. “No? Nor I, my dear!”

Suddenly she began to laugh too. “Oh, dear, of all the absurd situations—! I was just thinking how W—Widmore would l—look if he knew!”

The thought was too much for her. She sat down in the Windsor chair, and laughed till she cried. Mopping her streaming eyes at last, she said: “I don’t think I have ever laughed so much in all my life. But I must say, Gareth, there is one thing about this new story of Amanda’s which I cannot like!”

“Oh, no, is there?” he said unsteadily.

“Yes,” she said, sober again. “It was not well done of Amanda to make up such a tale about your father. For he was a most excellent person, and it seems quite dreadful to be slandering him! Really, Gareth, you should have denied it!”

“I assure you, he would have delighted in the story, for he was blessed with a lively sense of humour,” Sir Gareth replied. He looked at her, a glimmer in his eyes, and a smile quivering on his lips. “Do you know, Hester, in all these years I have held you in esteem and regard, yet I never knew you until we were pitchforked into this fantastic imbroglio? Certainly Amanda is wonderful! I must be eternally grateful to her!”

There’s not a lot of plot to this story. Gareth offers for Hester and is turned down; Amanda runs away to force her grandfather to bend to her will; Gareth is injured and must be nursed back to health. Amanda’s knight-errant, Hildebrand, stays a friend because Amanda is unshakeably devoted to her Brigade-Major.

But what the novel lacks in plot it makes up for in characterizations. Amanda could have been intensely annoying, but her determination and her commitment are admirable. Hildebrand, Hester’s family, and the innkeeper and his sister are portrayed with Heyer’s usual deft touch. The book is chock full of sparkling dialogue, and it is relatively free of the cant that Heyer loved so much.

Best of all, though, is the way the romance unfolds. There is nothing external (apart from Gareth’s injury) that drives the couple together or apart. Hester is truly a plain-Jane, downtrodden spinster when we meet her, but she blossoms away from her family. Heyer shows us her wit, humor, and intelligence, all of which Hester has suppressed during years of living with her unsympathetic, uninterested, unimaginative family. In the end, she gets Gareth on her terms, not his.

Gareth is saved from being unbearably arrogant at the beginning of the novel by his innate decency; his assumption that the best Hester can do is a loveless marriage is harsh but probably true, and he genuinely believes that his ability to fall in love died with his fiancée.

By the end of the story, Heyer convinces us not only that the handsome and sought-after Gareth can fall in love with someone like Hester, but that she is the ideal person for him at this point in his life. And she does this not by turning Hester into a different woman or by demonizing his late fiancée but by revealing to us and to Gareth the wonderful woman who has been trapped under that spinster exterior.

Grade: A-

~ Sunita

Note: this book is currently $1.99 at Amazon

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REVIEW: Bittersweet Victories by Rachel Smith

Jayne — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:00:31 +0000

“Marty Lopez is living with HIV. He is also a recovering cocaine addict and has done time because of his addiction, before developing a second career as a substance abuse counselor. Over his family’s opposition, he moves to Texas from California, looking for a new life in a small town.
Angie Davis is divorced. She lives with her grandparents and goes to school part time, and she really likes the new counselor at Second Horizon, the treatment center where she works.

When Angie learns that her current boyfriend has been unfaithful, Marty offers a listening ear. But friendship is all he offers, because the consequences of his past don’t leave room for love in his future.

Angie, however, has other ideas. As the months go by, friendship becomes love and love becomes commitment, until family, fear, and the ghosts of Marty’s past combine to test Angie’s faith and thrust Marty into the public eye. Suddenly their love must survive not only their own doubts, but scrutiny from an entire town.”

Dear Ms. Smith,

I can’t recall exactly how your book came to my attention but it’s definitely unique. An ex-con, recovering drug addict, HIV positive hero – wow, honestly can’t say I’ve ever seen this combo before and here there’s no sugar coating what Marty did. No justification of why he did this, no miraculous redeeming reasons behind it. He’s guilty as charged, on parole, attending NA, paying restitution and facing what HIV might do to end his life early even if he takes his meds, boosts his immune system and does everything he can to keep living. At first, despite all this, he seemed a little too perfectly reformed. I just didn’t get an image of him having anything to resist unlike some of his sponsees. Even when he does briefly fall off the wagon, he immediately repents, reforms, goes back into sponsorship and faces few repercussions from Angie or at his job.

Angie is so loving, so supportive, so mothering. But from what you have her say after attending Al-Anon meetings, I guess this can be a common thing among families of addicts. The way she pushes, I can understand Marty’s frustration and slight anger though, again, they discuss things loudly a bit, come to a quick resolution of their conflict and sail happily on. This seemed a little ‘skimming over’ of the issues they faced and I was left with the feeling of unease as if they were papering over their problems. One major thing that I didn’t notice getting addressed was the’ initially important to Angie’ issue she had with how Marty had dealt with telling his sexual partners about his condition. This first seemed like it might be a deal breaker for their relationship then as time went by, it’s not mentioned again.

So while Angie is Miss Fantastic, the opposite end of the spectrum is demonstrated by Marty’s large family which is both supportive – while smothering – and also so quick to believe the worst can and is happening to and of him. With a family like this, who needs negative enemies? I do like that there’s little effort to make sure that the fact that the hero’s family is Hispanic is highlighted – hey, folks – remember the Lopezes are HISPANIC! Got that? The last name, a few ‘Tios’ and other words tossed in the conversation and reference to his sister’s wonderful pico de gallo are about it.

Generally I like a bit of description to set a scene or initially describe characters but here there’s too darn much description in places. Did we need a list of every cat supply bought for Bella? Every article of furniture and decoration in the tiny apartment Marty and Angie share? Every piece of clothing they were wearing during the early scenes of the book? Nope, I don’t think so. And if anyone’s ever wanted to know about sexual practices that are okay between sero-disparate couples, they can learn most of it here along with the proper way to apply a condom. The first sex scene is a little too high school and almost giggle inducing though I appreciate Marty’s concern for Angie.

The tone of the book can get preachy at times. Angie is Righteousness Personified when arguing with her sister about Marty. Marty’s brother Steve takes up the banner later in the book when telling off the rest of the Lopez clan when they’re ready to down Marty yet again. Marty downs himself for much of the book and while normally I get quickly tired of the martyr hero or heroine, in this case it’s more justified as Marty did some stupid, selfish, arrogant, illegal and appalling things before being caught and convicted made him see the light. Then there are also the references to Higher Powers while talking about the 12 step program. There’s definitely a place in the story for the 12 step stuff and it makes perfect sense here but depending on reader’s tastes, all these might become too much.

The pace of the novel felt a touch off to me. The opening and middle sections have a leisurely feel but the last section is a descent into a three ring circus. The arrival of the large Lopez family for the wedding then an intervention gone bad followed by a shooting, the SWAT team, regional news blanket coverage, a major hospital scene, surgery, a transplant, more news stuff and then finally the wedding was way too much of a pile on.

“Bittersweet Victories” does convey the ending of HFN in the face of Marty’s illness. You don’t attempt to miraculously cure what can’t be cured. Marty and Angie do know what they are facing plus what might be coming down the road in the future and seem content with that. Because of all these issues, this won’t be a book that some readers are going to want to read for whatever reason but it’s one that I’m glad, despite the grade, that you wrote and that I read. C-

~Jayne

REVIEW: Lawman by Laurie Grant

Jayne — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:00:41 +0000

Olivia Didn’t Believe in Second Chances

She and Cal Devlin had been in love a lifetime ago, before she’d lost everything and been branded a “scarlet woman.” And though she longed for nothing more than to be back in Cal’s arms, their passion could only mean his ruin…!

Caleb had learned that some Texans never forgave their native sons who fought for the Union, but as the new lawman in town, he was determined to prove himself worthy of respect, and win back the heart of the woman he’d left behind.

Dear Ms. Grant,

Of all the bizarre things, it is the cover of this book that made me check it out. I’m trying to remember the last time I saw a romance cover with a mustachioed hero on it. Yep, it’s been a long time. And his eye patch shows. Even when heroes are allowed to be scarred and less than perfect, often the cover won’t reflect this but here – large as life – there it is. And he’s not one of those otherwise perfect, almost airbrushed people either. Neither is the heroine. She’s cute but not stunning. Covers certainly have changed in the past 14 years.

Writing styles have changed too and this one definitely seems more 90s but in a good way. The pace is slower but after I got used to it – again – it seemed like I really got to know Olivia and Cal plus several other characters. Nothing felt rushed or shortchanged. And it definitely feels like a book from before the shorter word counts of today. It might take getting used to but I enjoyed the leisurely way the story plays out.

It’s a post Civil War story though not so much a Reconstruction one. Issues from the War are still there especially since Cal fought for the Union – something that initially causes him grief in his hometown – though Gillespie Springs folk appear a bit more ready to at least forget if not outright forgive. Perhaps his background and reasons for fighting against the South are explored in the previous book but it seemed odd that there is only a glancing mention of any black characters in this book. It’s as if all the main characters in the book have decided to put the past behind them and not think much about it anymore. Anywho, it appears that enough time has passed for tempers to die down and reflection to have taken place. Cal shows the scars of his Army time – at least on the outside though he doesn’t appear to suffer from any PTSD. If the book were written today I’d bet he would though.

Olivia isn’t the Belle of Brazos County anymore either having married and then lost her husband in circumstances which make for an interesting introduction to her character. The whole town thinks she’s a Scarlet Woman who did the deed with her husband’s – who came back from the war with an interesting injury – hired hand. A husband who then murdered the Mexican hired man than killed himself from the shame of what his wife did. Only we soon learn this is far from the truth, Still it’s an interesting background for Olivia and one that’s more truly gutwrenching than I’ve seen in a while. I did wonder if she would ever face what happened to her in terms of a future sexual relationship and was glad that some thought and care is given to this issue.

One thing that stands out is that both Cal and Olivia have suffered in their years apart and still bear the scars of this but Cal at least doesn’t use this as an angst anchor around his neck. He doesn’t whine about how no woman could ever love him or how he can’t bear to risk love and loss again. He’s quietly hopeful that eventually he and Livy can find their way back to the love they once shared and perhaps the marriage that they’d both wished for. Livy is the main one dragging her feet but only because she is living down the shame of what the town thinks she did and doesn’t want Cal to have this burden added to what he’s already got on his plate. Once they get their feelings worked out, they’re both gung ho for love and marriage which is another delightful change.

Cal used to be a preacher so his references to God and the Bible make sense in context with this and the greater emphasis on religion in that day. At times near the start of the story, I almost wondered if it was an early inspie but this is toned down later on – plus Cal swears a time or two. Or three. One thing that might piss some people off is the secondary character Jovia Mendez. It’s not the fact that she’s Mexican so much as the dialect given to her with Mees Livy, eef, and other misspellings used to convey her accent and speech pattern. Faux brogue drives me nuts and I can see this Tex-Mexican having the same affect on readers.

Few things are kept hidden from the reader and everyone’s motives are spelled out clearly early on so it’s just a matter of watching things happen. The villain is known from the start as well as why he’s doing what he is. I kind of liked the fact that this shifts the oomph of the story back on Livy and Cal instead of sidetracking it to what might be planned by said villain.

This is the second book in a trilogy of the brothers but after some initial exposition things settle down and I didn’t feel that I was missing much by not having read the first book. At some point I would like to go back and read “Devil’s Dare” for the background information as well as the fact that the hero and heroine appear to meet under unusual circumstances. Since Westerns are certainly fewer and harder to come by in the past decade, I’m happy that Harlequin has reissued this one though I wish more time had been spent dealing with the aftermath of the War. B-

~Jayne

REVIEW: The Next Always by Nora Roberts

Jayne — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:00:30 +0000

Meet the Montgomery brothers – Beckett, Ryder, and Owen – as they bring an intimate bed-and-breakfast to life in their hometown.

The historic hotel in Boonsboro, Maryland, has endured war and peace, the changing of hands, and even rumored hauntings. Now it’s getting a major face lift from the Montgomery brothers and their eccentric mother. As the architect of the family, Beckett’s social life consists mostly of talking shop over pizza and beer. But there’s another project he’s got his eye on: the girl he’s been waiting to kiss since he was sixteen…

Dear Ms. Roberts,

There’s a great story here buried underneath all the inn refurbishment stuff. Seriously, if I wanted to learn how to rehab a historic inn, I’d go back and read these parts carefully but, here’s the important part, I’m reading this as a romance, not a blueprint how-to. And since I know that you and your husband recently rehabed a historic inn in, guess where?, Boonsboro, Maryland, I felt uncomfortable that this is one big sell for you – write a book, hawk your inn and maybe get some customer reservations from it. It isn’t just the Inn, but also the bookstore, and and every Boonsboro reference that seems to read like one giant, but beautiful, infomercial.

I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed a lot of your contemporary romances and as I said, there are parts of this story which are great vintage Roberts. The relationships of the two sets of brothers – the hero and his potential hero brothers plus the three young sons of this heroine – are wonderful. The book has that easy, comfortable and insulting in that casual way that among men says “I love ya bro” way about it. It’s also got a realistic heroine who occasionally has babysitting issues and has to work around the boys and their schedule. A working mother of young sons who doesn’t have this, who miraculously always has enough sleep, the laundry folded and never worries about coverage for potential dates would make me think she’s a space alien. I really enjoyed watching Beckett and Clare fall in love. They’ve got pasts, lives outside of the romance and ties to the community. They seem like real people.

I usually hate it when I feel that book one is all about the set up of the characters for the next two books – which is the stated goal of this series. Here, it’s annoying me to some degree but the characters are still mainly here to play a role in this book.

I didn’t much care for the subplot with Clare’s stalker. A bit of him to shift Beckett closer to declaring himself is okay but the whole thing went from annoying to psychotic in a heartbeat. And the warning from Lizzie is just bizarre. Sorry but it’s truly bizarre.

Beckett’s “Men Nights” with the boys and his manly gifts to them are funny and touching. Also that he kept his promise to talk things over with Harry before asking Clare to marry him. See there are parts of the book that are fabulous, that are simply effortlessly good. And then more inn stuff would come along which would send me into FF mode.

It’s a fast read, especially when I’m basically skimming most of the stuff about the inn, but there was way too much of that. And yes, I noted the reference to Eve and Roarke. The romance part gets a B but the information brochure about the Inn Boonsboro got old very quickly. Overall grade C

~Jayne

REVIEW: The Bride Plan by Kasey Michaels

Jayne — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:00:49 +0000

Dear Ms. Michaels,

Last year I gave the first two books in this series A- grades. And ever since then I’ve been eagerly waiting for Chessie’s chance to find her Mr. Perfect after being left at the altar by Mr. Asshole. Would there be revenge? Or public humiliation? Or would MaryLou work her matchmaking magic again to get us a satisfying ending? I had to wait a while to find out and the results aren’t quite up to the two previous books but I’m still fairly happy by the end.

As proprietor of the Second-Chance Bridal salon, Chessie Burton couldn’t exactly avoid thinking about weddings. But her good friends’ quest to find her a man had her running for cover. Her safe haven used to be her store, until renovator Jace Edwards—and his hammer, nails and very naked chest—invaded her space.

Soon Jace found himself wanting to be the only man in Chessie’s life—but he’d walked down the aisle once before and vowed never to do so again. So how could he keep things light with a woman whose business was marriage? Especially once her friends dubbed him the perfect groom-to-be!

Chessie got publicly walloped by her ex-fiance in that he left her an hour before the altar but she turned lemons into lemonade. She acted graciously at the time and has built a business out of her experience which she loves and is good at. Her triumph is her best revenge. When Rick returns, Chessie doesn’t go to pieces, she doesn’t agonize over him, she doesn’t turn stupid – she ignores him. Until he pressures her into meeting and even then, she quickly realizes that she’s grown past what happened, she isn’t going to dwell on it nor allow it to take over or dictate her responses. She acts maturely, like a woman with the sense and smarts to run her own business.

So Chessie has moved on from her first engagement, learned and matured. Jace has too. He acknowledges his responsibility in the failure of his first marriage and is wary of a second one. I love Jace’s initial thoughts on the store and the clientele they cater to – Strike Two Bridal for 1st time losers. As a romance hero he can’t be a total shit so I can accept that his fault during the first marriage lay in the fact that he was trying to established his business and taking classes thus having little time for a the demands of a relationship. I like that he shows his concern in X-chromosome ways – by puttering around Chessie’s house fixing things and deciding that she needs an alarm system.

They have the proverbial “one night of hot sex to get the other out of their systems.” Frankly I’m tired of this though it seems to be a standard romance trope I’m going to have to deal with. They then have to deal with the fallout in how they feel about this and where their relationship stands. Both are dissatisfied with the decision to just have that one night with no strings or expectations. They have some Men are from Mars and Women from Venus awkward moments afterwards as they misunderstand what the other is thinking but! they then move forward and decide to get to know the other. Despite the fact that they can “Booh” and “Yah” with the best of them, both realize that though sex is great it’s not the whole of a relationship and forge ahead to discover the rest of the other.

MaryLou is a sneaky woman. I know someone like her and love that person. Her instincts about Jace bordered on slightly stereotypical – he’s a he man just because he’s a carpenter/contractor? He’s all man because he wears a tool belt? Thankfully ML has other instincts to back up why she thought Jace would be good for Chessie in that they’re both driven people, have started and nurtured their own businesses, etc because the initial reasons don’t sit well with me. However, I do approve of the fact that ML got Chessie to spill the beans to Jace about meeting Rick. For their relationship to have a hope in surviving, the boards need to be cleared and secrets like this aired and dealt with.

Other characters from first two books are revisited and take part in this book but don’t overwhelm the story or muscle Jace and Chessie out of the spotlight so we can find out how deliriously happy they are. This also makes me happy.

It’s not that this isn’t a good book but it’s hard to maintain a series and unfortunately it shows here. Though perhaps some of my disappointment is due to the fact that the first two were so strong. And maybe because I have been waiting for this one … and waiting and waiting. No – I’m not impatient, not me. I liked Chessie and Jace’s road to their HEA but I didn’t love it with the warm furry bunny love of the first two books. B

~Jayne

REVIEW: Principal of Love by Patricia McLinn

Jayne — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:00:23 +0000

“Meet Josh Kincannon, high school principal, single father of three, and thus, he thinks ruefully, celibate into the foreseeable future. After working with Vanessa Irish on a project for tiny Drago, Illinois, Josh believes he knows her. Then he catches sight of her wild, vibrant robe, and it makes him curious –then a lot more than curious. And that celibacy claim is about to crumble.”

Dear Ms. McLinn,

We at DA love ebooks for many reasons but, for me at least, one of the most important is because so many older and – for years – hard or very hard to find print books are now available again. I’ve bought several of your titles from “A Writer’s Work” and now a few from “Smashwords.” Low cost, multiple formats, instant gratification and good books. What’s not to love?

“Principal of Love” is a retro, vintage (though I laugh to use this adjective for a 1990s book) reissue. It has a slower, more in-depth feel that I associate with the 90s books. Plus it would be hard to imagine the heroine’s background working for a book set today. But beyond that, it doesn’t feel too dated as the issues covered – the Kincannon family’s loss of their mother and how Josh and the children deal with that, plus Fay’s issues with her abusive, alcoholic mother are – unfortunately – timeless. But the exact cause of Vanessa’s issues with lack of social interaction as a child and how this affects her now might be more problematic. OTOH, maybe not as the lack of social skills is said to be an issue for contemporary children who spend all day in front of computer screens.

Vanessa is more than a woman who was raised without the usual social mores that most of us take for granted. She is different and not like others. She’s naturally quiet and withdrawn – introverted to an extreme degree. To have been raised as she was – in a let it all hang out and be free with no social restrictions or structure – would be horrible for Vanessa. Then to get tossed in the hormone filled, emotional deep end of high school while an adolescent would be a shock to the system. To her numbers, math and its strict rules and structure would seem heavenly – something that makes sense, has rules, can be predicted and controlled. She does realize that her social skills are lacking, that she wasn’t raised with and had to be taught the schmoozing social lubrication that allows most of society to keep from getting on each other’s last nerve. Here’s a woman who has to monitor her interactions, who isn’t sure what she “ought” to be doing, who has to mentally double check what she thinks people are doing and what she thinks it means and how she should respond. She doesn’t have the “off”/social screening button that eases social friction – and at first I thought she might have Auspergers.

It’s quite the clash of personalities between Josh and Vanessa. He’s gregarious and outgoing. She’s withdrawn and protecting herself behind a shell. She has to lower her shields and he has to realize why she’s that way and accept that she’s always going to have some social issues. But she does make peace with her past, with the way she was raised, with her feelings on the death of her parents, and with the people who took her in – the fact that Vanessa bought the vibrant, peacock colored robe that first attracted Josh’s attention because it reminded her of the one Mrs. Schmidt wore says something about her hidden feelings for the couple. Josh’s role as a principal helps him react properly – meaning without wigging out – to Vanessa’s past. Instead of immediately pitying her and smothering her with – for her unwanted – sympathy, he admires her strength in forging a new life for herself at that age.

Vanessa’s initial impression of Josh’s children is telling. She mentally thinks of the smallest child as “it.” Maybe it’s because as a toddler, Livvy’s gender isn’t readily apparent but I think it says more about how Vanessa initially views children. She also deals better with them by treating them more as adults – especially Topher and Fay – than most adults would. It’s how Vanessa works and it works better for these children in particular and most children in general. She doesn’t talk down to or patronize them. Vanessa is also a geek – off to college at 16 – so she can identify with intellectual Topher. This leads to some lovely interaction between the two of them, something that Josh, for all his father’s love, doesn’t totally get because he’s at ease in social situations.

Young(er) children in books can be wonderful or a sticking point for me. Here they’re great even though they don’t always act that way. Josh’s three children react differently to their abandonment by their mother. Xena’s “take control of the family” and Topher’s withdrawal into himself makes sense. I’m not so not sure about Livvy’s speech issues.

Josh isn’t perfect either. He’s always thought that his first marriage is good, that his wife had settled down and was as happy as he was but when she takes off, he has to examine his faulty views on that and realize that he saw what he wanted to see rather than what was there all along. He can also be a tad defensive about his children and, in Topher’s case, can push for what he wants his children do rather than what they might actually want to do themselves. It takes Vanessa’s insight into Topher’s personality to get Josh to stop that. He’s not perfect but he is trying and is a supportive father and it’s her insight into Topher that leads him to understand it’s also an insight into her and how she processes the world and new things. She has to be given time too.

The book stumbles slightly right at the end just as relationship is moving forward. Vanessa and Josh’s misunderstandings due arise from the events in their past but I still hated it when it happened, especially since up til then they seemed to be learning from the past and overcoming these issues. Obviously they overcome the problems but the sudden resurgence of the conflict felt more manufactured and jarring.

Vanessa’s past has to be viewed as a product of the late 60s and early 70s but once past that, these characters came alive for me. Many of their issues – the children dealing with divorce, Josh working out dating as a single father, teenage Fay’s alcoholic mother, Vanessa trying to fit into the (eventual) role of a stepmother – are still as relevant now as then. One thing I really like about your books is the humor and I loved watching “Josh Kincannon – high school principal, single father of three, and thus essentially celibate both back into misty memory and forward into the foreseeable future…” morph to “Still single father of three, still high school principal, but no longer celibate back into the misty past, and he hoped to God not into the foreseeable future.” B

~Jayne

Friday Film Review: The Wedding Singer

Jayne — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:00:08 +0000

The Wedding Singer (1998)
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Grade: B-

I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t expect I’d like this movie. Drew Barrymore is an actress who works for me about 50:50 while Adam Sandler is someone I’ll dive for the remote to change the channel away from. But the comments about the movie in the “Ever After” thread made me shrug my shoulders and say “why not?”

Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) has dreams of becoming a songwriter but somewhere along the way, his gigs as a wedding singer to make extra cash turned into what he does for a living. He does it well but it’s not a chick magnet profession. Julia (Drew Barrymore) is a waitress he meets at some of the weddings they both work at and the two exchange small talk and discuss their own upcoming nuptials.

But when Robbie is stood up at the altar, it’s Julia who tries to bring him out of his funk by asking him to help her plan her wedding to a slick Wall Street bond man. As they test cakes, check out dresses and bargain down photographers they begin to have feelings for each other. But will Robbie get the courage to tell Julia how he feels for her – and what a schmuck her fiance is – before it’s too late?

I hadn’t realized that this movie is an homage to the 1980s. Oh, the fashions that I remember: trampy Madonna lace gloves, workout wear, RELAX t-shirts, gelled hair that could withstand a wind tunnel, Miami Vice pastels and Michael Jackson’s red jacket – it’s all there and had me laughing. The music, however, is what takes the cake and makes the film. It not only sets the 80s mood but the lyrics are spot on for the feel and needs of the scene they’re used for. And they even got Billy Idol and a Boy George imitator!

Drew Barrymore is perfect as the perky “girl next door” type. She’s sweet without being saccharine and manages not to come off as too much of a chump for not having seen the truth of her fiance. Matthew Glave as fiance Glenn is a good mix of too suave player whose eyes are still roving but who doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong. After all, he’s doing what he thinks he has to and marrying Julia, right?

There are lots of wonderful secondary characters played by fabulous actors including Steve Buscemi, Allen Covert, Frank Sivero, Ellen Albertini Dow and Christine Taylor. You might not immediately know their names but the faces will be familiar and they do well with their parts.

But the true surprise for me is Adam Sandler’s performance. I like Robbie Hart. I want him to pull himself together, realize what a putz Glenn is and a treasure Julia is and make everything right at the end. And when he does, it’s fabulous. The last scenes on the plane with the first class conspiracy to get these two together is a scream plus the song Robbie sings to Julia makes me smile as well as laugh.

I’m glad I gave this one a shot since up til now, I’d avoided it like the plague. Sure, it’s a bit cheesy and campy and feel good but it doesn’t make fun of anyone unlike so many romantic comedies that must make either the hero or heroine – or both – look like fools. And the way Sandler and Barrymore play their characters, I truly can see them growing old with each other and singing at their 50th Anniversary. B-

~Jayne

REVIEW: Krakow Waltz by Kate Allan

Jayne — Sat, 07 May 2011 16:07:13 +0000

“The Honourable Miss Annabel Wells needs to catch a husband to save her reputation – and fast. But even in her dire straits she can’t bring herself to accept Mr Henry Champion, a gentleman without property or pedigree, no matter what she feels about him. She marries a foreign count but when her husband is killed in duel will Henry come all the way across Europe to the rescue or is too late for a second chance for love?”

Dear Ms Allan,

A friend described this book as having a stuck up heroine which initially interested me not at all but then I remembered having read one of your previous books shortly after Dear Author started and liking the writing. Not long after my friend mentioned the book, it was offered to us to review and I decided to give it a shot. After all, it isn’t often that a Regency is set mainly in Poland!

I love the setting and the fact that it’s used well. The land and people and politics of the time become an integral part of the story though it took a while before I and the hero realized just how dangerous it was for Annabel to remain in Poland after her first husband’s death and that it’s not just about a family land inheritance. I do wish this had been elaborated on a bit more as I’m the first to admit that I know less than I should about Polish history, especially this time when it appears great things could have happened. But then Poland got sold down the river after WWII as well and for similar reasons. I love that Annabel thinks dearly of this land she’s lived in for 9 years and feels at home there.

Henry isn’t a Duke. He isn’t even titled nor is he rich. Wow, you certainly took a risk with that but I love it. It makes his reasons for not speaking up for Annabel 9 years ago believable. And even now he’s still not sure whether or not she’ll welcome his advances. But as a minor hero of Waterloo (I adore this too, he’s not some “save the day” savior of the battle) and aide to Wellington, he’s sort of made his mark and has some gravitas now. Of course he still has a wry sense of self deprecating humor which made me laugh. Annabel doesn’t regret her decision of 9 years ago. It was the correct one for her at the time and she’s enjoyed her life in Poland.

Despite the fact that they met 9 years ago, neither Henry nor Annabel has mooned over the thought of the other for all that time. When faced with the reunion, each vaguely wonders about the other but no one’s life was put on hold with breathless anticipation and “never having forgotten each other.” Thank you. It’s definitely a two steps forward one step back romance. The reasons for the steps back make sense and fit the story but each interruption of them getting to the point in the romance began to get on my nerves a bit. Henry’s bungled proposal at the end helped make it worth the wait. But…though Annabel’s reasons for fearing marital relations also fit her background and I love the fact that Henry takes them seriously, his explanation/reasurrance followed by a brief 10 second contemplation by Annabel sure seems fast to overcome all her fears.

Marek, Count Ralenski, is a fun addition – also with a great sense of humor and down to earth realism. His character makes me want to investigate Poland’s support of Napoleon. He’s a great friend to Henry and Annabel and I hope we’ll see more of him and his courtship. He’s got the soul of a poet as he gently takes Henry to task for ignoring Annabel as if she was an insignificant flower. Sometimes heroes need a swift kick and Ralenski’s the man for the job. However, I felt that there isn’t much to the villain Zakonski beyond being a bully boy. He’s bad from start to end and I’m still not sure if his interest in Annabel was personal or just for the land. I would have liked to have seen more of why you made him the villain.

Helena and Robards are nice additions to the story. I can see them being “in the know” about their respective employers due to their close relationships with Annabel and Henry. I also like their common sense and support for the main characters. Henry’s sister Jane is delightful and how she deftly manages his romance – or tries to before Henry finally takes matters into his own hands and gets Annabel for himself. Jane would be a fun s-i-l to have.

Sometimes my first thoughts about whether or not to try a book turn out to be totally wrong as is the case here. Good thing I’m allowed to change my mind about what I read and review! Though a Regency in a world full of Regencies, it’s also different and takes some chances that I think will reward those looking for something other than the usual Nobleman/Spy/Rake books. Thanks for offering it to us. B

~Jayne

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Friday Film Review: Grosse Pointe Blank

Jayne — Fri, 06 May 2011 09:00:43 +0000

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
Genre: Action/Romance/Comedy
Grade: B+

It’ll soon be that time of year again, when we get contacted about the organized hell that are High School Reunions. “Festivals of Pain” as one character here calls this one, when we see people we’ve barely thought of in 10, 20, 30 years and wince as we look back on our class pictures. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could arrive and casually mention that you’re a professional killer? That’d get some looks!

With apologies to “Afterburner” I’m going to snag, but slightly modify, the IMDB synopsis of the plot.

Martin Blank (John Cusak) is a freelance hitman who starts to develop a conscience, which causes him to muff a couple of routine assignments. On the advice of his secretary (Joan Cusak) and his psychiatrist (Alan Arkin), he attends his 10th year High School reunion in Grosse Pointe, Michigan (a Detroit suburb where he’s also contracted to kill someone). Hot on his tail are a couple of over-enthusiastic federal agents (Hank Azaria and K. Todd Freeman), another assassin who wants to kill him, and Grocer (Dan Aykroyd), an assassin who wants him to join an “Assassin’s Union.” Plus there’s his high school sweetheart (Minnie Driver) he left waiting in her prom dress 10 years ago who might, or might not, want to figuratively kill him too.

On someone’s advice from a previous review, forgive me I can’t recall who or which review, I put this one in the rental queue and loved it. I’ve since added it to my growing DVD collection – doing these reviews is playing fun havoc with my credit card – and enjoy it each time I pull it out. It also serves to solidify my certainty that I will never attend a class reunion if I can possibly avoid it. Gah!

Popcorn! I love the assassin “spy vs spy” (for those of you who’ve ever read Mad Magazine) stuff that Blank and Grocer engage in. The careful meetings where each has one hand on his gun and the final showdown when we see that television – or in this case A television – really can kill you! The firefight at the Ultimart is hilarious too.

Minnie Driver is fantastic as Martin’s abandoned girlfriend who gives him hell “on the air” when he shows up after 10 years. She manages to avoid doing “bitter” or “my life stopped 10 years ago and I’ve never gotten over you” while retaining a confident sense of humor and not letting Martin off the hook. She makes it easy to see why Martin would never have forgotten her and decides to turn his life around to keep her in it.

John Cusak is Martin Blank, a sort of loner who discovered a moral flexibility while in the Army which has allowed him to become a rich professional killer. And I’m amazed at how many people in town he tells what he does for a living as well as their humorous responses to the news. “Do you get dental with that?” His sister Joan cracks me up as Martin’s secretary who needles him into going to the reunion as she coolly orders more hollow point bullets for him. She definitely deserves the profit sharing.

And then there’s the reunion when Martin discovers that a real friend really will help him dispose of the body. As well as being able to get pens, have a chance to break into his old locker, put those motivational hall banners to actual good use and dance to oldies but goodies. The soundtrack for the film is fabulous. I love the stuff he comes up with before heading to the High School to tell people what he’s done with his life. Pet psychiatrist, couch insurance, test marketing positive thinking and leading a men’s group – “We specialize in ritualized killings.”

But wait, there’s more! The final showdown during which Martin saves the day, ponders the meaning of his life and what he’s done for the past few years then proposes to Debi is worth the price of admission. I laughed myself silly when Martin finishes up one assassin by bashing him with a frying pan. I will say that the Newberry house is going to need a lot of refurb’ing before going back on the market, though.

The film is clever, funny, with action sequences so OTT that you can sit back and enjoy them as entertainment and not worry that you’re laughing at and with assassins. It has a strong heroine and an introspective killer hero who truly seems to have a “newfound respect for life.” The music is great, the actors are well cast and it’s certainly not your usual rom-com. Here’s a big “Thanks!” to whoever recommended it to me.

~Jayne

REVIEW: My One and Only by Kristan Higgins

Jane — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:00:44 +0000

Dear Ms. Higgins:

Let me try to articulate in the beginning what I liked about this book because most of the review is going to be what I didn’t like. After I finished the book, I emailed a friend of mine and said that this book really disappointed me. It’s like everything I love about your books got turned around and made into a bad caricature. What I did like is that I felt the heroine’s position as an attorney was rendered authentically; that she was independent; and goal oriented. I kind of liked her sister but she isn’t given much screen time. I really like reconciliation stories and this is about a divorce attorney and her former husband getting back together. Yay! Right? Only not so much.

Maybe you haven’t heard but some people complain that your books aren’t very feminist in that they portray only one type of woman and that is a woman who seeks fulfillment and completion by becoming a pair. I haven’t agreed with these past complaints because there is nothing anti feminist with wanting to share your life with someone special but this book kind of puts some credence into those complaints.

It is about a divorce attorney, Harper James, who hates marriage and believes that every marriage will ultimately end in divorce. She even goes about interjecting herself into strangers’ conversations to tell them how doomed their marriage is. But the book starts out with Harper trying to convince her firefighter boyfriend to marry her. This is the first of many internal character inconsistencies. What am I supposed to take from this? That the heroine doesn’t practice what she preaches? It may have made sense if she actually loved her firefighter boyfriend, but she doesn’t. In fact, she only likes how he looks (hot) and how she feels when she’s with him (self important). She views him as beneath her (because she is so much smarter than he is). If anything, these actions show me that Harper is a shallow woman who is emotionally insecure. Even that would be okay if that was her character arc. Instead, her character arc is to come to grips with the fact she doesn’t like commitment. The reason she is anti commitment is because her mother abandoned the her when she was a child. Since then Harper James has convinced herself she doesn’t believe in love, marriage and happy ever after.

Of course, the perfect conflict for this book is to make the divorce attorney who doesn’t believe in marriage to fall in love and get married which she did twelve years ago to Nick Lowery. Nick swept Harper off her feet and convinced her that marriage would work for the two of them. Within six months, however, Harper had given up on the marriage and filed for divorce. Nick blames her for the decline of their marriage. The entire book is spent trying to convince us that Harper was pretty much solely responsible for the downfall of the marriage. It is this characterization, this message, that drove me completely nuts in this book. Nick was a new architect. He spent every waking minute of his day working. He misses birthdays, dates, special events. He has moved Harper from Boston to New York and she knows no one. She puts off going to law school for a year. Her entire world changes for him yet he makes no concessions for that. Instead, he expects her to understand that he is trying to build a career and she should have been supportive. Instead, Harper gets a job waitressing and she never tells her co workers that she is married. He caught her getting kissed by one of the co workers, none of whom he had ever met because he was working 24 hours a day 7 days a week and packs up his things and leaves.

They meet again when Nick’s brother marries Harper’s sister and this is the path of their reconciliation. We get pages of pages of how she ruined the marriage, how she cheated on him, how she’s emotionally stunted and it’s never his fault. Toward the end, he says that he should have spent more time with her, but it felt like a half assed attempt, at best, to save face for Nick. I could not stand the hero in this book. I was reading a paper ARC and wanted to rip the pages out at some points.

I wasn’t ever convinced that Harper was the evil witch that it seemed I was supposed to think she was. Instead I saw her as a lonely, heartsick young woman whose love never got any sun. She matured into a cynical woman but part of her change was caused by Nick and the story’s glorification of Nick’s character juxtaposed with the villification of Harper’s character was very offensive to me. In fact, part of the character change that I wanted to see in Nick occurred in the frigging epilogue. To have that was like rubbing salt in my exposed wound. D

Best regards,

Jane

Topic: Redemption or The Big Second-Chance

Jane — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:00:40 +0000

We had a run of “If You Like Posts” by Dear Author readers. It is a great series and one day, reader Laura emailed me and asked if we had done one for Redemption stories. We had not. I said to her that she should write one for us and she did. Back in December. So I apologize to Laura for waiting for so long to post this. I love the redemption story and I am so grateful that Laura wrote up this post as a launching pad for a great trope.

*****

The idea of making a big mistake or series of mistakes and finding happiness and fulfillment, despite the mistakes, is an alluring idea. We've all done things we regret or made errors that were seemingly unfixable, but I think everyone likes the idea that it is possible to come full circle, to make things right.

Book examples:

Persuasion by Jane Austen
Barely a Lady by Eileen Dreyer
Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Examples from favorite books:
In Persuasion, one of my favorite examples of this type of novel, Anne Elliot is persuaded to make the logical decision not to marry the penniless (at the time) Fredrick Wentworth. Finding each other years later, Anne realizes her feelings for Fredrick have not changed, but he doesn't want to be rejected by Anne again. In the end, they find their way back to each other despite the obstacles raised by Anne's family and friends.

In Barely a Lady, Jack has divorced Olivia. Being divorced puts Grace in disgrace, unable to earn a living when employers learn about her past. Olivia is reunited with Jack after they haven't seen each other for several years. Jack is experiencing amnesia and believes he's still married to Olivia. Jack's recovery from the amnesia allows him to process the falsehoods that led him to divorce Olivia. Jack and Olivia make painful steps to rebuild their relationship to make their happy ending.

In Ain't She Sweet, Sugar Beth Carey is a popular, wealthy, and hellish teenager, tormenting most of her small southern hometown. She wields enough influence to get her high school English teacher, Colin Byrne, wrongfully fired for sexual harassment. After more than a decade away from home, Sugar Beth returns a changed woman. Her past victims aren't much interested in her beyond revenge. Sugar Beth pays her dues, to some degree, and finds her happily ever after with Colin.

Settings: It doesn't really matter where or when the story happens, the characters and their conflict resolution are what makes the story.

Heroine/Hero Type: Strong, only strong heroines and heroes can make the painful steps necessary come back from whatever mess they've made of their lives.

Plot (action-oriented / character-driven): Character-driven

Writing style (simple v. ornate): Simple

Dialogue (lots/little/balanced): Balanced, most of these stories really need dialogue between the characters to work through problems. However, internal dialogue is also hugely important to understanding the characters.

Humor (Yes/No-serious/some): Humor can be effective depending on the story, but isn't necessary in all cases.

Emotional Angst (high/medium/low): Variable, sometimes an angsty read hits the spot.

Conflict (externally driven/internally driven/both): Both, there has to be conflict between the hero and heroine along with internal conflict to make the story interesting. Often, the hero and heroine have their own issues that need to be worked through before they can repair their relationship.

Heat level: (kisses/warm/hot/scorching): Variable, having copious amounts of super-heated sex does not magically cure a diseased relationship. On the other hand, the physical aspect of a relationship can't be ignored completely or the story is not true to the characters. I think everyone has read a book or two where one of the characters tries to sex the other back in line with what they want. That would be an example of faulty conflict resolution.

What are some of your favorite redemption stories?

REVIEW: Stranded with Her Ex by Jill Sorenson

Jayne — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 09:00:22 +0000

Dear Ms. Sorenson,

It is with regret that I write this DNF review. The blurb of “Stranded with Her Ex” sounded so interesting. Two divorced wildlife researchers – a seal researcher and a shark expert, stuck together out on a remote island, find each other again. But as I’ve sometimes found, blurbs that caught my eye don’t always work out for me when I’m when presented with the total product.

Somehow I got a wrong impression about the tone of book. When Jane emailed me the info, I must have completely missed the part about it being a Silhouette Suspense novel and I kept waiting for the light, frothy comedy I was expecting but found angst galore. It’s certainly not your fault but I had to do 180 mental turn just as the book is beginning which irritated me, again more at myself, for misreading what I was getting myself into. Note to self: always double check category of book before starting.

Daniella is a special snowflake. In the first few chapters I get told over and over how fragile she is, how likely to mentally collapse, how worried her ex is about whether or not she’ll be able to do her job and not go into complete meltdown. It’s wearing to be around people like this – and I’ve worked with a few – and wearing to repeatedly read about how close they and everyone around them thinks they are to a breakdown.

Sean is hunky, hunky, hunky. I get it. But he’s also Mr. Secret Emo Sensitive who was crushed when his attempts to reach out to Daniella following their tragic loss were rejected. He’s worried enough about Daniella’s mental status to almost order her off the island. At the point I stopped reading, that irked me more than made me say “aaah, he cares.”

I’m not a fan of mental lusting and, oh boy, there are tons of this. Literally ‘coming to a halt and staring’ mental lusting. ML to the point that everyone around them notices it and sometimes smirks about it. Sean is turned on by the heroine’s toothpaste aroma. Right.

These are animal researchers on a preserve island. At one point Daniella thinks that this kind of work is not for the faint of heart. It’s not. I applaud you for being realistic about this survival of the fittest. It’s elemental survival. It’s also gory and described – sometimes in detail. I am a bleeding heart when it comes to animals and though I realize in my head that carnivores must eat meat to survive, I don’t want to read about the way the remains of a seal look after the initial strike of a shark. I don’t want that mental image in my head. I respect your talents as an author to describe it so realistically that I have this mental image but I don’t want the image. Then there was the scene of the baby seal with the plastic around his neck, who is obviously doomed, and the ongoing threat of whoever mutilated another seal corpse which I just didn’t want to read anything more about.

Certain aspects of the story get bogged down. There’s lots of detail about the different species of birds on the island. Needed? I don’t think so. That is followed by more information about the early people to live there – which I found myself skimming. And then there is lots of info about surfing, wanting to surf, surfing conditions, surfboards – which I found boring.

So delicate snowflake heroine + emo yet also sorta controlling seeming hero + way too much mental lusting + gory nature stuff + slightly boring parts = DNF.

~Jayne

REVIEW: Second Chance Dad by Pamela Stone

Jane — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:00:19 +0000

Dear Ms. Stone:

This is my first time I’ve read a book of yours. Second Chance Dad caught my eye because I am a fan of the second chance theme. More of the story seemed centered around the second chances of Hanna Rosser, a recently divorced mother of Ashton, a sixth grade boy with growing pains. Hanna has spent that last several years being a mom but when her corporate lawyer husband takes up with a 22 year old law student, Hanna decides to move back to her home town of Marble Falls and open a bookstore with her mother.

Ashton immediately makes friends with Mackenzie Keegan, a tomboy whose father lets her run free within Marble Falls. Vince Keegan lost his son and his wife nine years ago and moved to Marble Falls where his deceased wife’s family lived. There he recovered from his loss and mastered the skill of being a single parent.

Initially, I was irritated with how the hero was presented because I felt the reader was being presented with a valuation of which parenting style was better. Hanna was more “uptight” and strict. She didn’t want Ashton riding on the back of Mackenzie’s motorized bicycle. She made Ashton do his homework prior to going out and playing. She wants her son to wear a life vest when he goes tubing. She doesn’t want to get a pet for her kid no matter how much he might enjoy them. Of course, Vince is just the opposite. And Ashton was miserable and acting out.

Mackenzie, on the other hand, was precocious. A smart acting (and smart mouthed kid) who could crew her own boat, control a motorized bicycle, and single handedly defeat bullies. Plus, she and her dad had a near perfect relationship.

Hanna and Ashton had bigger problems that her parenting style. Her husband left her for a college student, she has lost her independence and had to move in with her mother, Ashton’s suffering from a loss of security, the break up of his family, and the sudden change in his environment. Showing Hanna’s struggle to be a parent as a stylistic choice rather than relating to the divorce and moving back home seemed to unduly canonize Vince.

When Vince was suddenly interested in Hanna, I wondered why. Because she was good looking? At the point in which he decides to pursue Hanna, the extent of his interactions with her were her making his kid cry and meeting in the principal’s office acting starchy.

About the half way mark, I felt the story turned away from whom was the better parent to a conflict that felt very authentic to me. Vince was ready to have a partner in his life. He realized that as much as he loved his daughter and his in-laws, he had given up dreams of his own and there was a space in his life that longed for a partner. Hanna, on the other hand, is still feeling the aftershocks of her divorce. She likes Vince, a lot, but she’s very uncertain. Further, Hanna felt like Vince’s in laws weren’t ready to give Vince over to Hanna.

There were a number of small jealousies exhibited by Vince’s daughter, Vince’s mother in law, and these provided a slightly different but very realistic barrier to Hanna and Vince’s blossoming romance.

And, in an unusual romance move, both Vince and Hanna weren’t totally in love with the small town. Hanna missed her life in Dallas. Vince had longed to travel all over the world as a bridge engineer. Their romance was often impeded by the small town gossip. I had initially thought that this would be a romance that would praise the small town life over all else (as is often the case) but it wasn’t. Yay!

I did like the sexual tension and the tender way in which their loving was played out although some of the explicitness seemed forced, as if this was uncomfortable to write. I would definitely read another Stone but I liked the second half of this book far more than the first half. C

Best regards,

Jane

Friday Film Review: Undertaking Betty

Jayne — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:00:42 +0000

Undertaking Betty (aka Plots with a View) (2002)
Genre: Romance/Black Comedy
Grade: B-

I like Brenda Blethyn, Alfred Molina, Christopher Walken and Robert Pugh and the premise sounded fun so I rented this from Netflix not expecting more than an enjoyable hour and a half of entertainment. That’s about what I got. However it’s a cute film and if you’re looking for a popcorn movie, it’s a good choice.

“A woman (Brenda Blethyn) who’s husband (Robet Pugh) is cheating on her and an undertaker (Alfred Molina) who’s in love with her for ages, decide to fake her death so they can be together. However, the other town’s undertaker (Christopher Walken) who loves over-the-top funerals complicates things.”

At first, Betty comes off as a bit of a ‘put upon’ older wife. Her dictatorial husband Hugh married her for her money and because she was the daughter of the town mayor but has obviously never loved her while Boris Plots, as we see from the opening flashback, has loved her from afar for over 30 years. The two share a love for ballroom dancing and have even named their cats Fred and Ginger but it’s not until Hugh’s mother dies and her burial service is done by Plots that Boris finally works up the nerve to tell Betty how he feels.

[nggallery id=91]

But Betty feels horrible at the thought of publicly leaving Hugh so the two cook up the scheme for Betty to ‘die’ and Boris to handle the funeral after which the two of them will be free to run off to Tahiti and ballroom dance to their hearts content. Unfortunately the other undertaker in town sticks a spanner in the wheels when he first tries to underbid Boris to handle the funeral, mainly for the publicity of burying the mayor’s wife, but later is so taken with how lifelike Betty looks at the funeral viewing that he just has to learn Boris’s trade secrets. Then Betty learns, during hilarious open coffin viewing confessionals by her cheating husband and his tramp-y mistress, of his long term adultery and she decides she just has to get her own back before leaving with Boris.

The movie has several Hollywood spectacle dance numbers for Molina and Blethyn which make them look pretty good as they hoof it up. There’s a funny comment in the featurette bonus from Molina about the horror of watching himself practice in a dance studio lined with mirrors. The fantasy funerals offered by Walken’s funeral parlor are just as funny (his motto is to put “fun” back in funerals) and include a Vegas style show funeral and Star Trek tribute that goes horribly wrong.

Walken’s attempts to learn what ‘special fluids’ Boris used to make Betty practically glow in the coffin (her husband says she hadn’t looked that good in 15 years), are hysterical. Watch for the scene where he and his assistant break into Plots and discover that Betty’s still alive. Betty’s revenge against her husband and his mistress goes slightly overboard but given the fantasy nature of the dance numbers it’s not too bad and has its funny moments.

“Undertaking Betty” is cute and as the film progresses, I found myself cheering for Betty and Boris to get their HEA, which we see as the film closes. Even Fred and Ginger share in the final dance number and we’re also shown how Betty gets her own back from Hugh while rewarding those who had been kind to her. It’s utter fantasy and a bit silly in places but also a sweet second chance at romance. B-

~Jayne

REVIEW: The Way to Texas by Liz Talley

Jayne — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:00:25 +0000

“Her stay in Oak Stand, Texas, is only temporary. After a series of setbacks, Dawn Taggart is giving herself one year to pull everything together so she can start over somewhere else. No putting down roots here. No romantic entanglements. No exceptions!

Not even the very persuasive Tyson Hart can change that. A contractor looking for a fresh start himself, Tyson is the type of guy who promises forever-’and means it. But Dawn refuses to let those whiskey-colored eyes, that smooth voice and the broadest set of shoulders this side of Houston weaken her resolve. Her mind is made up. Now, if she could only convince her heart…”

Dear Ms. Talley,

Dawn’s character caught my attention when I read the first book in this series, “Vegas Two- Step” last year. She’s a veteran of a bad marriage and has the battle scars to prove it. And it seemed that her wounds would go deep since her entire life had its share of problems. So when I checked the upcoming Harlequin Super Romances and found it listed, I was a happy camper.

Some of the previous characters make appearances here, like Jack and Nellie, but in supporting roles that make sense. I love the initial “baby on the way” scene and usually I’m not a fan of “lets show how past characters are all fertile and happy.” Tyson is nervous, especially when – as he says – Nellie springs a leak but then he swings into action doing what men can do best in those moments – driving like a bat out of hell to the hospital. I like how you use this to also allow Tyson and Dawn to quickly get to know the other’s basic personality as there’s nothing like a crisis to get to strip someone down to bare bones.

‘Second chance at love’ stories are favorites for me and I like that both Dawn and Tyson have survived rough and broken marriages and are due for happiness. They’ve suffered and are initially reluctant to risk their hearts which means they also know where the other is coming from. And both have a teenage child which adds to the difficulties in working out their relationship. Add to that the presence of the previous spouses and our couple have their work cut out for them. Lots of conflict here but it’s conflict done well.

I felt the relationships between Dawn and her son Andrew and Tyson and his daughter Laurel were handled well. The children are at the stage where they still want their original familles back and are suspicious of the new romantic interests their parents have. They are close to the age when acceptance would come easier but not quite there yet. Their rebellion and back talking seem realistic to me. But I do feel that, however well you wrote the scene when Dawn explains things to Andrew and for all the basic truth of her arguments to him, his change of heart comes fairly quickly. Ditto for Laurel. They’re strongly against the romance for days or weeks then suddenly after one ‘heart-to-heart’ they both do a 180? It was just too fast.

Dawn and Tyson have the hots for each other but they also feel comfortable with each other even to the point of going into what went wrong – warts and all – with their first marriages and bad dating choices. As I mentioned earlier, I like that they both don’t want to rush into anything new and take some time to get to know the other. Dawn does toss up a lot of roadblocks and comes up with a lot of excuses which might have been a deal breaker had Tyson had less experience in relationships. But he realizes she’s been burned – more than once. And then there’s the fact that she thought Tyson might be on the rebound – and everybody knows that rebound relationships = bad. So I can understand her actions.

When Dawn has decided she’s had enough of men stomping on her heart – or so she thinks – she really lets loose. Because that’s one hell of a hissy fit, tantrum she throws. 20 years of pent up emotion are all that could account for it. But good for Tyson that he didn’t press the matter, that he backed off and then tried again in a more subtle way. Of course it helps when he’s got Nellie and the townspeople on his side.

So, let’s talk about the town of Oak Stand. All snickers aside, it still sounds like a nice place to live with nice people in it. The Senior Center could have been insulting or cutesy but instead shows that the seniors of the town still have life, humor and something to give to their community. I lurve seeing Bubba again. I hope that his character translates well for those who’ve never had the chance to meet a ‘good ol’ boy’ in person. They can be charming.

Forget a doctor or a lawyer…give me a man who can repair things or make them with his own hands. I love that in a man so I was already predisposed to love Tyson. Plus he’s a Tar Heel! Ahem, sorry. Where was I? Yes, Tyson is a delicious hero. And Dawn is well worthy of him – at least once she gets her hissy out of her system. I can believe in their romance and not just because the plot tells me so. I’m also looking forward to the at least one more romance in this series. B

~Jayne

REVIEW: The Hating Game by Tallie Roland

Jayne — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 17:33:23 +0000

Dear Ms. Roland,

I will admit to not understanding the whole appeal of reality TV shows. Let’s go on national TV, make a fool of myself – or be made a fool of by the hosts, all for …what? Fleeting D list fame? Nope, not for me. And not for our heroine Mattie Johns either. No, it’s gonna take potential bankruptcy and a chance at a shitload of money to get her onboard with the program.

“When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she’s confident she’ll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she’s perfected from years of her love ‘em and leave ‘em dating strategy.

After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy Ã‚ £200,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it’s revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes.

Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end.”

Call me strange but I actually relish that Mattie is hard to like. And I do think that some readers aren’t going to cotton to her or stick with the book long enough to see her thaw. She’s definitely a prickly pear but she stays true to the background you’ve given her and doesn’t suddenly go all mushy and emo. Even after she gets her true love and her business is saved, I still think she’s going to have a touch of “take no prisoners” in her personality.

She does have a history and though it might be repeated a time or two too many, it makes her subsequent dating practices make sense and even slightly exonerates her implosion when she thinks Kyle cheated on her. But I do have problems with the fact that Kyle realizes Mattie actually responds well to men taking a chance and being strong in the relationship and yet he hasn’t found a way to get Mattie to listen to him before the crazy show comes along.

I love the show idea that Nate comes up with and can easily see ratings mad executive types monkeying about with it as described. And speaking of “powers that be,”
Silver is a nightmare. The movie “Network” comes to mind about all this. It was right in the day and is still correct today. TV networks are scum. The character of the drunken host used for the studio bits is a scream and I kept picturing Bill Nighy in that role.

The way you turned the tables on the dating order and who wins the two weeks with Mattie is a nice twist. I didn’t see that coming but it all works in with the way the producers have manipulated things up til then. I felt sorry for Charlie and how the show might have caused him so much grief. Giovanni turned out to be more fun than I anticipated. But how could Adam have lost a stone or more of weight so quickly? Or gotten chiseled muscles? I simply don’t see that he had enough time.

Mattie’s best friend Jess was little Miss Downtrodden and Ignored with the spine of a wilted cabbage for most of the book. I hope they both realize that their relationship needs some serious work as it seems codependent for the both of them and not in a healthy way for either. And prawn crisps? I agree with Jess that these sound revolting. I kind of guessed that she and a certain person might end up together and was glad to see Said Person had enough of a conscience to do the right thing in the end.

You set up the conflict between Kyle and Mattie with some pretty harsh stuff and I wondered how anyone could get back together despite all that. But then the truth comes out and in a believable way. I’ve read that it takes 10 positive words to negate 1 negative one which helps explain why Mattie is ready to believe Chloe rather than Kyle. Since this seems more of a next generation Chick Lit book than a standard romance, I was ready for the action to center on Mattie rather than Mattie and Kyle but a little more time spent from his POV would have helped explain why he was so willing to go through all he did to get her back.

I did enjoy the fun factoids that start each chapter. Quite eye opening and amusing.

Even if no one got the £200,000 prize money, all’s well that ends well – especially the “torture by clown show” fate for one character. Though I want Silver to be attacked by a shiver of sharks or maybe a fever of sting rays. One lives in hope. B

~Jayne

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