Review: Isn't She Lovely

Rating: 3 stars
Author: Lauren Layne
Genre: New Adult
Publisher: Flirt

It worked, it didn't work. I really don't know. I liked it and yet it didn't really make much of a lasting impression. 

Here I am about a week later struggling to remember anything that made much of an impression from this book. It's a the premise is that two college students decide to do a real-life Pygmalion scenario. Only we've got the goth-girl with a troubled past and the fancy rich boy with a broken heart. 

Don't worry if you can't remember the story of Pygmalion. It's Elizabeth Doolittle or Julia Roberts with Richard Gere, but fortunately they explain all in the book, with examples. 

The relationship is sweet and moves at a reasonable speed. There is no insta-love (thank god!). The thing I liked best was that Stephanie leaves Ethan for a really good reason at the end of the book. She feels like he isn't going to accept her for who she truly is, not the reinvented polished "pretty woman" version of herself.  

The way Ethan gets their HEA, well that was precious and hilarious. I liked it a lot. 

It's also well-written, with some depth of characterization. It's a nice little light read.

Review: Struck by Lightening #1-3

Stars: 2.5

Author: Cecilia Tan

Publisher: Hachette Book Group

Genre: Romance/Erotica

As a whole work I'm very unsure how to rate these books. I feel like the first book was maybe a 3.5 star read, but it lacked an ending which certainly knocked it back a star. Then there is the fact that the first book feels like almost a completely different story than the next two, though one does not work without the other two which makes it confusing. The second two books are very, very short, more like novellas which was aggravating since they are the same price. 

Slow Surrender is more like novel length, but it feels like the author just didn't feel like giving the reader the ending because she wanted it to be a trilogy. The trouble then is that the ending isn't provided for the reader until Slow Seduction, but there is a lot that really isn't needed in those last two books and so I feel like the whole thing could just be condensed into one volume and share the reader a lot of trouble and reduce the amount of skimming.

Slow Surrender grabbed my attention because of the very mysterious James who is introduced right away as he asks Karina a question when she waitressing. They immediately begin playing a "game" of seduction. Karina doesn't know the rules, and neither does the reader. That works well and draws the reader into the story. The reader remains in the dark about who James is and his intentions with Karina throughout the entire book. That mystery provides thrilling aspect that makes you want to keep reading. There are definitely obvious clues as to James' true identity, but it is still fun to read about Karina and James' encounters because for the whole first volume it feels like they are virtual strangers becoming more and more intimate without their relationship progressing in any "normal" way.

However, James' true identity was a bit of a deal-breaker, really a jump-the-shark moment for me because it just seemed utterly ridiculous. 

SPOILER!! Seriously, I'm going to spoil it, stop reading.

It turns out that not only is James a rich, reclusive, dominant, and a billionaire  (so I'm totally fine with him up to this point), he is also--- wait for it--- a international rocker star of MYSTERY. I mean that literally, he is this ridiculously well-known rock star (known for his rock operas, of course! you know, like all those rock stars that are known for such things) who has always kept his real identity a secret from his fans by using masks during performances and hiding literally from the press. 

Now, I don't have any problem with the idea of hidden identities or rock stars. In fact, I like both tropes in my romance, but this whole scenario seemed a bit over the top. And I'll tell you why: James is initially presented to the reader as a sort of refined business man type. He's constantly in and out of meetings, and going various places with his driver in his limo, talking on his phone and he's always very, very busy. Classic, billionaire romance hero stuff, you know. THEN we find out that James is also a gifted artist not just a rich guy who asks random waitresses to stick marbles in their panties. In fact, it turns out that his glassworks are re-known in the art community and he has displayed his work at various art shows, also keeping his true artist identity a secret. THEN we find out that James is also very involved in the BDSM scene and is a member of an exclusive and secretive BDSM club where he attends and is a well-known and much coveted dominant.  Finally, we also find out that he is a gifted modern dancer, and performs on stage when in his rock-star persona with other dancers.  **Just a quick insert here-- he practices and performs for his "rock operas" wearing spandex pants and a mid-drift top. Karina of course thinks this is so HAWT. I do not. I think that might actual have been the exact moment that this character was lost to me. I cannot in good conscious believe that a man who has been described as urbane and sophisticated, driving around in a limo in NYC wearing three piece suits would then don a pair of spandex leggings and a belly shirt and prance about on a stage doing modern dance.

I don't know about you but for me James has WAY TOO MANY THINGS GOING ON FOR ONE CHARACTER.  Like WAY too many. He loses all credibility by book three because there is just too much going on. He cannot be amazing at everything and it doesn't even make sense for all of these interests to be combined in one character. In the first book the reader doesn't really know or understand the many facets of James the Amazing Spandex Prancer, but by book three you are blown away by the sheer amount of things happening with him, and not in a good way.

So that whole angle really didn't work for me, and it basically made the books not work for me. 

SPOILER END.

However, what did work for me is the very good writing and excellent portrayal of the BDSM culture. The D/s scenes that James and Karina play out with each other I felt were well-done and pretty stand out for the genre as a whole. I wish actually that this book had focused only on D/s element between the two characters because there is a lot to explore there as Karina experiences being a submissive with James for the very first time. The reader gets to see her go through that as she realizes that she really enjoys it and she is sort of flummoxed abut her feelings. Also, the latter two books briefly, but in my opinion much too superficially, explore Karina's mental state as she wonders if she enjoys being a submissive in general, or if it is just James that gets her going. That would have made a better, more emotionally potent book for me.

The whole thing should be condensed in to one volume and all the other nonsense in James character should be taken out. Tan should also get rid of the whole bit with Karina going to London and almost becoming a submissive at the secret BDSM club, but then doing actually doing it, and go straight to the reconciliation between her and James. If I was editing this book that is what I'd do.

Review: Beautiful Stranger

Stars: 4 stars
Author Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Romance
Amazon

Christina Lauren writes good romance people.

I didn't get on the bandwagon with their first fanfic-- Beautiful Bastard because reviews in various places made me wary. Either that book is actually something I should read, or they have improved their writing significantly because I liked this book SO much.

Max is a GOOOOD romance hero. Somehow he is a bad-boy, but not really (or at least not to Sara). He and Sara have some really crazy times together and this book could easily have degenerated into mindless erotica, but it didn't. Sara and Max have a genuinely solid connection to one another that neither one of them can really deny after their first encounter together as strangers.

Sara has some issues with the idea of having a relationship due to the fact that her ex was a cheating scum-bag and so she gives Max a run for his money before admitting that she likes him. That usually bugs me-- when the heroine obviously really likes the guy but can't get out of her own head enough to admit it-- but for whatever reason, it didn't bug me here.

The other book I read by this duo that I really enjoyed was Diry Rowdy Thing that was similarly fun to read. I'll pick up some of their other books for sure.

Review: A Different Blue

Stars: 4
Author: Amy Harmon
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Genre: New Adult
Amazon


This might have been a five star read had I read it before The Law of Moses (also by Ms. Harmon), but I didn't, and so some of it felt recycled. Although, in retrospect, I guess Moses was a recycled from this book not the other way around since this was published first...

This is my third Amy Harmon book and I wasn't disappointed. She is writing some quality new adult literature in a landscape that can sometimes be bleak. Her books are pretty tame: closed door love scenes, very little swearing and always a bit of religion thrown in. I don't like inspirational fiction, but Harmon usually doesn't enter into that territory.

Blue is a quality character. Other reviews said they found her hard to like. I can understand that, but she worked for me. I get tired of characters with really crappy lives that are all timid wallflowers hiding behind horrible outfits. Blue deals with her issues using a sexy persona and false confidence. It was interesting watching her peel away her layers as she gets to know Wilson.

The other thing I liked about this book was that even though there is a teacher-student thing going on here, it isn't a taboo book about a clandestine romance. It is a romance, but that doesn't really begin until Blue is fully an adult, making her own choices and no longer a student.

I also liked that Blue is Native American and she's an artist-- but not a painter-- she carves wood, now there is a cool talent.

The reason this wasn't a five star read for me was that there is the...

SPOILER

 accidental, unwanted pregnancy which makes up a big part of the conflict.


END SPOILER

While I appreciated that that was absolutely a situation Blue could have gotten into, I was annoyed since the same thing had happened in The Law of Moses.

There was also an incredible amount of will-they-won't-they? between Wilson and Blue which could have been cleared up by either one of them actually using WORDS and expressing their FEELINGS, but of course neither of them could do that. It takes the WHOLE damn book for them to figure anything out, so don't go into this book thinking that you are getting a full-on romance because you are not.

Review: Making Faces

Stars:  4 stars
Author: Amy Harmon
Genre: New Adult

Publisher: Smashwords
 
After reading review after review of people who read an Amy Harmon book and were hooked I figured it was time to pick one up.

This is a very sweet, but heart-wrenching story. Since the blurb talks a lot about Ambrose coming back from war and having to face life again after losing four friends and being disfigured, I thought the story would dive right in there and begin with the romance between Fern and Ambrose, but it doesn't. In truth the story reads more like a YA book than either New Adult or romance. The romance between Fern and Ambrose is a strong central element to plot but much of the story is the back story of Ambrose, Fern and Bailey growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania.

Bailey, Fern's cousin, is also essential to the story. He is Fern's best friend and confidante. Bailey has Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. Bailey's character was one of the most important parts of the story for me. I have personal experience with a friend with muscular dystrophy and felt Bailey's struggles keenly.

Without spoiling it, Harmon does a good job of introducing all the elements and characters she needs for the ending of the book early on, but it isn't a standard romance. The plot, flow and overall feel of the book are more young adult than romance. I liked that about it, because it was very PG, sweet and thoughtful.

Review: Maldeamores

Rating: 5 stars
Author: Mara White
Genre: Romance/Erotica
Publisher: Heightsbound

I should have known what I was getting myself into. I read White’s first novel Heights of Desire in one sitting, palms sweating, agonizing about what was going to happen—even though I knew, from the blurb that I wasn’t going to get my happy ending.

The same was true of Maldeamores, the third in her Heightsbound series, I couldn’t put it down, and believe me, I tried. At two am, frantically worrying about lack of sleep, I thought maybe I could just finish in the morning. But who was I kidding? Screw sleep. I had to know what happened to Lucky and Belén.

There is no disclaimer about the lack HEA on this one, but maybe there should be because it goes against the grain for normal romance readership (though the prologue will give you a pretty good idea). Though, if you’ve read White’s other books you know that a happy ending isn’t really her style.  I’m the type of reader that enjoys reading outside of my comfort zone so it worked for me. That’s one of the reason I’ve so enjoyed White’s books. The other reason is that the woman always nails the voices of her main characters. White’s writing is sharp and her characterization distinct and spot on. She writes Spanish Harlem in New York City like no one else you can practically imagine yourself watching the story from the corner bodega. And, perhaps the thing I enjoy most she has an uncanny ability to write an authentic, Hispanic-male, bad-boy. Need I say more? Yum.

The real issue here, and what is going to perhaps turn people off is the topic of this book: incest. I suppose we can argue that cousin to cousin romance isn't technically incest-- but really? think about that doesn't make you the tiniest bit squeamish? It does me. I guess if incest is an absolute deal-breaker for you then put the book down now, but I urge you to read on because it’s worth it. I’ve read a couple of books on the subject of incest, most notably Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma which is both disturbing and amazing. Reading that book you are uncomfortable, questioning everything, but you can’t put it down. This story is like that, though perhaps more tame. I have stayed away from the more popular, voyeuristic titles on incest-that-really-isn’t-incest: books about step-brothers and adopted siblings etc. Those books sole purpose is to titillate with the idea of the forbidden without actually delving into the issue for real. I think those books are fine, they are just not for me.

This isn’t one of those books.

There is nothing hedonistic about White’s exploration of the idea of two cousins falling in love with one another, though I wasn’t sure for the first part of the book. In the first 30%, I wondered where White was going with her characters and her conflict. The beginning of the novel explores Belén and Lucky’s childhood as they grow up, grow apart, and grow more and more attracted to one another, and while I enjoyed that part, the novel grew in depth in the latter half.

The second part of the novel follows Lucky to the marines and Belén to Vassar, as they continue to think about, and fight with their feelings for one another. Certainly there is a good amount of erotic content, particularly toward the end, including a ménage situation. It should be noted, that this ménage serves to further the plot not just because the author really wanted a menage.

However, what pushed this book from one that I was enjoying, to one that I couldn’t put down, was what happens after Belén goes to college away from home. There Belén begins to explore of the topic of being in love with her cousin, and the book takes on a different tone. She discusses the topic with her roommate and best friend, goes to therapy, and even joins a support group for co-dependency in an attempt to grapple with this issue. Giving the reader access to all of those different perspectives on the conflict added a lot to the book and made it much more than just a naughty book about two cousins who love each other.  Because quite frankly, as Belén struggled with her feelings, so did I.

I hesitate to call this a romance. It is sort of a genre-bending novel. It IS a romance, but it doesn’t follow the formula. It has elements of erotica too, but while your reading those parts, at times you feel like maybe you should be disgusted instead of riveted. And, like White’s other books, this is a tragedy and it is taboo. All that rolled together makes for one damn fine read, and I loved it.

Review: Believe (True Believers)

Rating: 2.5 stars
Author: Erin McCarthy
Genre: New Adult
Publisher: Penguin Group

I'm just not sure what to make of this book. I don't think it's a bad book. In fact, I think a lot of people will probably like it. There were just a lot of things that didn't work for me.

I read this book because it was on sale, had a catchy synopsis, and a compelling cover. It's NA and I've been on a winning streak lately with NA, reading pretty good stuff which is sort of unusual for this genre.

The streak is now officially over and I have to blame Believe. Like I said, I think a lot of others will like this.  For me, it was too fast, too superficial and too inconsistent.  

We are told that Robin was a party girl in the first few pages. She literally tells us. Explaining that she spent most of college going to parties, making out with random guys and getting drunk. A few pages in and she sleeps with her best-friend's boyfriend while black out drunk.  Post-sleeping-with-boy-disaster she's a hot mess. She feels terrible, and naturally friend's boyfriend turns out to be a total creeper. 

The problem for me here was that she tells us that she used to be a party girl, but we never get to see it, so it's hard to believe that it is part of her character. Telling just isn't as effective as showing. Yes, we see that she slept with her friends guy, but that's all. That isn't enough to establish her as a reckless and out of control character, which is what the rest of the book is predicated upon. 

Robin does a completely 180 after her mistake. The Robin the reader actually gets to know is reclusive, unconcerned about her looks, and depressed. The opposite of a party-girl. That's all we see for the rest of the book. 

When Phoenix steps into the picture, fresh out of jail, I got back on board. So what if the heroine is tepid? A hot bad boy is all a story really needs. He was attractive and interesting. Nothing like a bad boy with tattoos to spice a book up. So we find out he's had a hard life (haven't they all?) and of course he and Robin hit off immediately.  I do mean IMMEDIATELY. Within days of knowing each other, really within seconds of kissing each other, Robin is ready to go all the way. That's also fine, if that worked for her character, but it just didn't resonant with me. They moved too fast. Sex doesn't always equal love, but since the premise of the book is that these two characters are falling in love, I didn't think leaping into bed was the way to do it. Especially since Robin had just freaked about her latest sexual escapade. Also, they declare their love for each other WITHIN PAGES. Insta-love really only works when it is in a paranormal and the supernatural beings are not suppose to follow normal human emotional patterns. Even then it gets dicey. So I was annoyed. Insta-love is no bueno.

Oh and lest I forget, to add to the insta-love ridiculousness, Phoenix is a tattoo artist (because that is what bad boys do these days) and he decides, in the tradition of Maddox from Beautiful Disaster by Jamie Maguire, to get a tattoo.  Not just any tattoo, but you guessed it! a portrait of his one-true-love (well at least his true love of the last three days) on his ribs.

(Don't worry, Robin ALSO gets a tattoo-- of a blue bird. Because her name is Robin and in Phoenix's tattoo of her she is wearing a blue bird necklace that she doesn't actually possessed. So this was clearly the right choice for Robin to get on her to represent Phoenix on her body.  Yes, I'm confused too.) An

Moving on, Phoenix and Robin are in love and want to be together. Then comes the baggage. They've each got a lot and they have to get over it-- together. That all worked too.  

The next thing that didn't work for me was that Phoenix and Robin are both clean. Phoenix has always been drug and alcohol free because of his junkie mom. Okay, I can buy that. But he came off sounding like a public service announcement at times, even though the obligatory, "you can do what you want, it doesn't bother me, I just have chosen to live my life this way," comments were thrown in.

Then we're expected to believe that Robin has also gone clean and now essentially considers herself an alcoholic. Again, that's fine, maybe she was making poor choices with alcohol and I applaud her decision not to drink, but it got a little over the top.  

SPOILER ALERT:

By the end Robin in a her darkest moment has basically chugged a bottle of tequila and winds up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Then she decides she is an addict and goes to rehab?! I'm just not sure how this series of events played out. One minute she had made some bad choices and needed to cut back and the next she is sitting alone in her apartment chugging straight from a bottle?! A lot of disconnect going on here. She got to the lowest place an addict could go within the span of like an hour and there was no gradual downhill slide, there was just fine and then REALLY NOT FINE? So the message is that if you ever make a bad choice with alcohol you have a problem with it? Even in college when kids are likely to make a lot of really bad choices before they wise up and make good ones? I think not. I think she could probably have just called it quits for a bit, rehab was overkill. Really the whole thing just seemed like overkill.  

All that just overshadowed the rest of the story for me. 

Review: No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah McLean

Rating: 3 stars
Author: Sarah Maclean
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Avon
Amazon
Goodreads

I keep trying with Maclean's books because I love the out of the box premises, troubled heroes and plucky heroines. This was no different. The set up was great, very intriguing: a man framed for a murder he didn't commit and a woman with a forged identify. Also our hero, Temple, is a fighter. He boxes for the gaming hell The Fallen Angel. He's never lost a fight. This was all vey intriguing, right up to the meeting between our heroes, but I got a bit lost in the angst. And boy was there a lot of angst. Rightfully so, there was a lot to cover: Mara's troubled, secret past, Temple's demons over losing his life as a Duke and place in society. And of course, of course the characters can't just come out and say what they feel, so that takes up most of the book.  Mara fighting with herself about her feelings for Temple and her reason for coming to him, showing that she's really alive and demanding money in exchange for revealing herself to the world. 

In fact the whole conflict is predicated Mara's inability to tell Temple why she needs the money. It is not, as Temple believes, just to save her brother from financial ruin, but rather because her brother frittered away all of her money for the running of her orphanage as well. So really, she could have saved them all a lot of trouble if she would have come out with the "secret" about 40%, naturally. And her rubbish excuse for not doing so and dragging their nonsense out for pages and pages is that Temple upon first discovering her alive says, "nothing you could do would make me forgive." Well that obviously a load of bollocks, Mara knows it and the reader knows after a few more interactions between.  The two of them can't keep their hands off each other, they keep finding excuses to see each other and they really like each other, from the get-go. I just got irritated with them running from each other for the whole book.

This makes it seem like the book. I did like it. I think that Maclean writes well and her characters are always dynamic and out of the ordinary. I think the real problem for me is that I enjoyed Nine Rules For Romancing a Rake so much that I just hold all of her other books to that standard.  If you like a dark hero, some angst in your historical, this one is for you.

Review: This is What Happy Looks Like

Rating: 3.5 stars
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: YA Romance
Publisher: Headline
Goodreads
Amazon

More of a 3.5 rating. I really liked the beginning of this book. It started off gangbusters-- I was pulled right into the writing and the characters. I think beginning the book with emails was a great move, different and interesting. Smith does a nice job with the movie star meets and falls in love with-one-of-the-common-folk trope. Graham and Ellie were both very three-dimensional characters. The setting, a small coastal town in Maine was gorgeously done. 

In other books where the hero is a famous person, I've never really "gotten" why it was so rough to be in their shoes. I usually think, yes it sucks that they are being chased around by the press and that they have to live under a microscope, but really, wasn't that what they signed up for when they decided to become celebrities? With Graham though I could understand how he was feeling and why he was feeling this way. The fame just sort of snuck up on him all of a sudden. One thing led to another and suddenly, sort of without warning he was famous-- and lonely and isolated. I really felt for him. 

Ellie...well I felt for her as well, but not as much as Graham. I understand the "secret" bad idea, and why she felt she had to keep it a secret, but it got old for me pretty quick. After her first angst filled decision to back away from Graham and his fame for personal reasons I was behind her, but when she kept doing it, again and again, it got old. 

The reason that this book got demoted from a five-star read to a three point five star was that even though Graham and Ellie came to really understand each other by the end and got their happily ever of a sort, but I didn't really feel it. There was something lacking the whole last half of the book with regard to their connection. After their first encounter and all their emails, I was expecting them not to be so typically teen-angsty, all muddled in their own emotions. In the last half of the book, they kept finding reason after reason why they couldn't see each other and had to keep rushing off to deal with other things in their lives. The things they were dealing with, especially Ellie, were no doubt important, but it seemed to detract rather than add to the central plot which was the story between Ellie and Graham. I guess I got the rationale for why the author included these things, but it wasn't the direction that I thought the story should go in. It stopped being the happy little love story and tried to go in a different direction-- one that I just wasn't feeling.

Just the same it was a pleasant little read and I recommend it.