I wrote this post once, and wouldn't you know it? Blogger decided to have a snit and my ramblings got sucked into a cyberspace black hole. So let's try this again.
I'm obviously back from my trip. Central New York was fairly typical for this time of year - dreary, rainy and snowy. My boyfriend's relatives all crawled out from the wood work (he hasn't been home in 2 years) and I ate entirely too much (as usual). I naturally got sick, which is an unfortunate habit of mine when I travel. To be fair, the sore throat was here before I left California - but by Thanksgiving I had a full blown head cold. After drugging myself with Benadryl and actually sleeping, I was much better by Friday. I still have a lingering cough however that tends to rear up when I'm not pushing the fluids.
My reading during the holiday was mostly lackluster - with the notable exception of Christmas Pie by Emma Craig. It had all the necessary ingredients for a holiday romance - nice couple, a cute slightly paranormal story, sweet romance and charming atmosphere.
The heroine is a typist in a turn of the century San Francisco law firm. She is the sole bread winner for the household which includes herself and her invalid mother. Her older brother used to send money home, and then his Navy ship went missing. The family has heard no word on his fate and are naturally worried. On her way home from the office, the heroine stops in a Chinatown shop to buy a Christmas gift for her mother. The wise old woman behind the counter also gives her an old coin with her purchase saying it will bring her "good luck." And naturally, it does.
Through happenstance the heroine catches the eye of her employer - the head honcho lawyer at the firm. He's immediately smitten, and becomes quite taken with her circumstances, especially since it appears his estranged father had something to do with them. The hero is a do-gooder who has been valiantly trying to make amends for his father's successful, albeit unscrupulous, business practices in the shipping industry.
Naturally as they continue to spend a lot of time together, they fall in love.
What I really liked about this book was that it was leisurely. Very little conflict, but pleasant enough to keep me turning the pages. I also liked the "properness" of the courtship. Hero and herione are fairly formal with each other in the beginning and don't really take liberties until the latter half of the story. I also enjoyed the fact that Craig knows the time period and included many "gee-whiz" inventions of the day - the automobile, telephone and cable car.
Since I've only read a paltry 69 books so far this year (I read 89 in 2003), I'm going to zip through some of my Harlequin collection while I await more review books. I'm quickly nearing the halfway point of Three Little Words by Carrie Alexander - book two in her North Country Stories series. It's been lovely so far - featuring a librarian heroine and a down-and-out true crime writer running from his past.
No comments:
Post a Comment