Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Monday, November 1, 2010

What's In ILL?: Spies, Wackiness and Tallchiefs

Wow. Remember when I used to do these posts? It's been ages (uh, since May!) and I thought there was no time like the present to wander across the hall to our Interlibrary Loan department and scope out some romances. Plus, I seem to be an excessively cranky mood of late, and I figured this was a safe topic. I don't want to leave the blog a vast wasteland just because I'm more irritable than usual.

I know. You'd think leftover Halloween candy would make everything better - but apparently not. But enough about me. On with the books!

Dangerous Passions by Kat Martin

Description:

When Elissa Tauber learns of her beloved brother's murder and that her native homeland is threatened, she is determined to expose the traitor. Posing as a recently widowed countess, she moves through the glittering world of the court, willing to barter her lovely body if she must.

More than one man poses a threat, but it is a the tall, imposing Lord Wolvermont, Colonel Adrian Kingsland, who endangers her heart. Even as she suspects he might be the spy called the Falcon, she longs for his touch. When fate takes a hand, Elissa must decide whether to betray her mission -- or lose the man she loves.

Wendy Says: Kat Martin has a backlist about 5 miles long, and I've never read her. This back cover copy doesn't really inspire me (it reads so....typical) - but if I'm to believe one of the reviewers over at Amazon? Yeah, most of the action takes place in Austria. That's pretty cool!

Gotcha! by Christie Craig

Description:

Macy Tucker was five years old when her beloved grandfather dropped dead in his spaghetti. At twelve, her father left his family in the dust. At twenty-five, her husband gave his secretary a pre-Christmas bonus in bed, and Macy gave him the boot. To put things lightly, men have been undependable.

That's why dating's off the menu. Macy is focused on putting herself though law school--which means being the delivery girl for Papa's Pizza. But cheesier than her job is her pie-eyed brother, who just recently escaped from prison to protect his new girlfriend. And hotter than Texas toast is the investigating detective. Proud, sexy...inflexible, he's a man who would kiss her just to shut her up. But Jake Baldwin's a protector as much as a dish. And when he gets his man--or his woman--Macy knows it's for life.

Wendy Says: Cover art like this tends to set off my "Danger, danger wacky alert!" alarm, which means I tend to run screaming in the other direction. Humor is a really hard sell for me, regardless of genre, and humorous books that annoy me no end tend to vastly outnumber the ones that don't make my eyes bleed. So yeah, not likely to read this one. But if this sounds like your bag o' tricks - looks like our dear sweet KristieJ reviewed this one last year. Click on over to read her thoughts.

The Groom Candidate by Cait London

Description:

The Most Satisfied Groom: Birk Tallchief, the most wanted hunk in Wyoming, was very happy with his new wife of convenience.
But the Bride's Still A Virgin: And their wedding night came and went weeks ago!

Thanks to his woman-loving reputation, newlywed Birk Tallchief was still a groom candidate to his sexy new bride. Meaning: until he lived up to the title of husband, he wasn't reaping any marital rewards with Lacey MacCandliss Tallchief. Hmm...considering he'd married Lacey for her sake--and was craving her like crazy--why was Birk the happiest husband in Amen Flats?

This Tallchief is the stuff that legends--and a Man of the Month--are made of....

Wendy Says: Sigh. Tallchief? Really? Birk Tallchief?! We're going there? And what's up with this cover? It's just, well, one hot mess. It's great that this book was featured on TV, but that sticker is massive overkill, and these painted covers just don't do it for me, unless they're done well. Which this one isn't.

Anywho....

London had a whole slew of books featuring the Tallchief clan (which I suspect is why I found this one in ILL), and Silhouette Desire decided to bestow this one with their "Man Of The Month" promotion - which is still used to this day. Making it one of the longer running promos in Category Romancelandia. You have to admit - it's catchy as heck. Who wouldn't want a new hunky man every month? You could move on to the next one before the previous one started leaving his dirty socks in the living room, wet towels on the bathroom floor (ewwwwww), and started scratching his butt in front of you.

Yes guys - this would be why we read these cute little books with the dopey titles. Our secret is out.

5 comments:

*Goddess* said...

Ahhhh, a "painted" cover! That explains it. I'm reading a book with a simliar cover and I keep looking at it, wondering why it looks so WEIRD. Thanks for clearing up that mystery, Wendy. You really are a Super Librarian!

Leslie said...

LMAO - Birk?!

I used to read Kat Martin years ago but she fell off the radar a while back.

Katie Mack said...

I hated Gotcha! The exclamation point in the title should have been my first clue, but I read it anyway. And regretted it. A TSTL heroine and ridiculously wacky plot and humor. It was torturous reading.

Ah, Cait London's mid-90s Desires. Oh how I loved them as a teen. Not so much any more. I tracked down my very favorite, The Seduction of Jake Tallman, a couple of years ago and re-read it. It was also a "Man of the Month" feature with a bad painted cover. I still love the book, but it's solely for nostalgic reasons. The heroine was a 39 year old virgin who didn't realize she was a virgin. Seriously. The absurdity of that apparently didn't make an impact on my tween mind, but it sure did on my adult one. I tried re-reading a few more of her Desires, but found them bland, at best.

Jill Sorenson said...

I loved the Kat Martin. She used to be one of my historical romance auto-buys. Her books always delivered a "from behind" sex scene. I appreciated that!

Wendy said...

Goddess: I like a good painted cover, but if they're not done well? Yeah, hot mess ahoy!

Leslie: That name does give one pause doesn't it?

Katie: How do you now "know" you're a virgin? That's what I can't wrap my mind around. It certainly doesn't bode well for the heroine's IQ either. I mean, eek!

Jill: Oooh la la! That's almost as a good as an "up against a wall" sex scene ;)