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.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Random Romance Sunday: And My Cat's Name Is Satan

The Book: You Again by Peggy Nicholson

The Particulars: Contemporary paranormal romance, Harlequin SuperRomance #698, 1996, Out of Print

The Blurb:
A handsome, sexy hero, his beautiful ex-wife, an attempted murder, a thoroughly hissable villainess and a. . . cat.

Jessica always thought that her brilliant charmer of an ex-husband married her on one of his impulses--an it-seemed-like-such-a-great-idea-at-the-time finale to a champagne picnic.

And Sam? Well, he figured Jessica never really loved him. He was her first man, and as sex itself is such a snazzy little concept... In other words, had Jessica confused all that lovely feeling with love?

Seven years ago Jessica and Sam divorced. Now they're together again, and fighting for their lives. But it'll take faith and love to win this particular battle--and one very special cat!
 Is It In Wendy's TBR?:  I love the HSR line, but no.  Just, no.

Any Reviews?:  A treasure trove actually.  All About Romance gave this one an A-.
Despite these small flaws, You Again is probably the most unusual and one of the most well-written mainstream series romances I've read. If you're not afraid of stories that are a bit off the beaten track, you should grab this at your friendly local used book store and treat yourself to a few hours of fun, intelligent entertainment.
 The blog, Harley Hell, gave this one 2.5 Stars:
Even though the cat on the cover plainly seems horrified at what's going on behind her, and the expression clearly didn't bode well for what was contained inside, it wasn't a horrible book. The protagonists were very likable, even if Sam was as dumb as a bag of hammers.

And in an added bit of fun - that AAR review?  Yeah, written by none other than Candy Tan.  Yes, that Candy Tan.  Full of awesomeness that gal is.

Anything Else?:  This week's edition of RRS is brought to gentle Bat Cave readers by none other than author Victoria Janssen, who turned me on (heh, no pun intended - she writes erotic stories) to the Harley Hell blog.  A blog by two readers who used to mock Harlequins and are now...well...addicted to them.  Don't worry ladies, it happens to a lot of us (::raises hand::).  Anywho, I was trolling through their archives when I came across this gem with the most horrified looking cat on the cover.  I can't decide if Ms. Kitty is horrified by the naughty clinch going on behind her back, or possessed by a demon.  Maybe a little of both - since from reading the reviews I learned that the heroine's soul ends up taking up residence in said kitty's body.

Seriously, I'm not making this up.

Because of that, I'd rather be boiled in oil than read this story - although I must admit that the "he was her first man" line from the back cover copy intrigues me no end.  That sort of implies she was "doing" something or someone else before she had her "first man."  So what and/or who was our heroine "doing?"  Women?  Circus clowns?  Sea turtles?  House plants?  What?!  Damn you Harlequin, how you mock me so!  ::shakes fist in air::

In Peggy Nicholson news, she has a decent-sized category backlist and wrote a couple of books for the now defunct Silhouette Bombshell line in the mid-aughts.  Since then?  Nada.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

"But it'll take faith and love to win this particular battle--and one very special cat!"

????

"the heroine's soul ends up taking up residence in said kitty's body."

???????


Thanks for this laugh!

Sycorax Pine said...

This cover is just BEGGING for a LOLcaption.

I'm also going to have to begin using the phrase "dumber than a bag of hammers" as often as I can. I'm going to try to restrain myself from using it while grading papers however: "This thesis is dumber than a bag of hammers" doesn't seem to be as constructive a tack as I could take.

Nicole said...

I actually have this one and have read it. I enjoyed it. Sure you don't want me to send it to you?

C2 said...

I've seen that cat! I think this is him/her, reliving that moment: yikes!

You so need to read/review it. Please??

Wendy said...

Jessica: I love reading category romances that take some risks - but yeah, I'm just not willing to go here.

Sycorax: It really is a phrase for all seasons :) And as much as I despise idiot heroines - is there anything worse than a "dumb" hero? Ick.

Nicole: Nah - I'm thinking not for me. But I figure it must have it's entertaining moments because Candy liked it too :)

C2: I just can't. As much as I adore all of my blogger readers - I'm so "over" paranormal that I tend to stay far, far away unless 1) it's an autobuy author or 2) my hand is forced for some reason (um, usually work-related).

Marie-Thérèse said...

I think this one sounds like a hoot! I can't resist a cat cover or a brand-new copy price of .44 cents, so I went ahead and ordered this. If the book proves even half as entertaining as Candy's review, it will be pennies well spent.

Wendy said...

Marie: The downside to these RRS posts is that I end up succumbing about half the time. The UBS hunting list grows, as does my wishlist over at Paperback Swap......

nath said...

The blurb is weird ^_^; It seems to start from the hero POV, then the heroine and then the hero again...

and LOL, you are having fun with the covers for this feature.

I don't know, a kitty is better than a dog no?

SarahT said...

That cat...scary stuff!

Tracy said...

In the kitty's body? Bwhahahaha! OMG hilarious.