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.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The Month That Was July 2013

Me: Mmmmmm, ice cream!  Can I have some?

Lemon Drop: Ha!  As if!  Mommy thinks this is her secret stash of ice cream, but I found it!

Me: But, but, but....can't I have some?  ::sadface::

Lemon DropSigh.  I suppose.  But only after you tell me what you read last month Auntie Wendy.  And just so long as you stop pouting.....

Title links will take you to full reviews.

Diamonds In The Rough by Portia Da Costa - Historical erotic romance, HQN, 2013, Grade = C
  • I've liked her short stories, but Da Costa's full-length historicals have been mixed for me.  Loved the heroine, was less thrilled with hero, and never really bought into the romance.
A Cowboy's Pride by Pamela Britton - Contemporary romance, Harlequin American, 2013, Grade = B-
  • Injured rodeo cowboy falls for physical therapist.  Great emotional struggle for both characters but the We Don't Have Any Condoms sex scene got on my last hot nerve.
Rancher To The Rescue by Jennifer Faye - Contemporary romance, Harlequin Romance, 2013, Grade = D+
  •  Liked hero.  Liked the relationship he had with his grandmother.  Hated the heroine with the passion of a thousand blazing suns.  I cannot stand reading about women who won't help themselves and that's this cupcake in a nutshell.
The Man Behind The Pinstripes by Melissa McClone - Contemporary romance, Harlequin Romance, 2013, Grade = B+
  •  Heroine With A Past runs up against a distrustful hero when she starts working for his grandmother.  Great heroine!
To Have A Wilde by Kimberly Kaye Terry - Contemporary romance, Kimani Romance, 2013, Grade = DNF
  • I gave up on this one out of sheer boredom.  By Chapter Six (in a category romance no less!) the hero and heroine still hadn't spent any meaningful time together and the lack of dialogue made all the internal lusting a slog to wade through.  
High Noon by Nora Roberts - Romantic suspense, Putnam, 2007, Grade = B-
  •  The perfect cure for a DNF was diving into a Nora Roberts book.  I just felt like I was in the hands of a pro.  The hero and heroine were both a little too perfect for me - but I loved the suspense in this one, and really enjoyed reading about the heroine's job.
Paradise Valley by Rosanne Bittner - Historical western romance, Sourcebooks, 2013, Grade = B-
  •  Wonderful, gritty, frontier-style setting with plenty of action.  Was less enamored with the romance which seemed rushed to me.
His Uptown Girl by Liz Talley - Contemporary romance, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2013, Grade = A
  •  Young widow finds romance in post-Katrina New Orleans with younger musician hero.  Wonderful romance with plenty of emotionally charged dialogue.
A Cowboy To Come Home To by Donna Alward - Contemporary romance, Harlequin Romance, 2013, Grade = B
  • A story that should have been a train-wreck, but wasn't.  Yes, the heroine is determined to get pregnant at all costs.  Yes, it's a reunion story featuring an unrequited high school crush.  But the author avoids all the crap that can crop up in stories of this ilk that annoy the heck out of me.  Not a favorite of mine by Alward, but really solid.
Me: OK, where's my ice cream?

Lemon Drop: Geez, one track mind Auntie Wendy.  Just don't tell Mommy.

5 comments:

little alys said...

Lemon drop is getting so cute!

Hehehe, ice cream for book reviews...not a bad trade. Although it looks like there isn't much ice cream left. :D

Christine said...

All of a sudden Lemon Drop looks so grown up in that photo!

Nice mix of grades in that line up. Nice to know you can rely on Nora for a solid read, right? I need to remind myself of that so I pick up another In Death book soon. It's been too long..

Wendy said...

Alys: We'll have to raid Lil' Sis's freezer for more of that ice cream! Assuming Lemon Drop will share.

Christine: That's a new shorter haircut. A lot of folks say it makes her look younger, and I think it makes her look older!

That Nora read really did the trick. I wasn't enamored with it, but I really got swept along in the story. I felt like I was in good hands with that read.

nath said...

Someone got a hair cut! She looks great with short hair! :P

Funny how you always seem to have ups and downs in a month, Wendy :)

Wendy said...

Nath: Her hair had gotten long, but she was "resistant" to her mother putting it up in a ponytail or in pigtails. So yeah, my exasperated sister took her for a haircut.

You should see my grades for this month. All over the place! Of course for many of those books, they're contest reads - so I won't be able to publicly blab my grading for a couple more months :(