Mini-Reviews: Wendy's A Big Ol' Meanie Pants

I have (somewhat) of a reputation for being a cranky reader.  Or, if not cranky, at least a "tough" grader.  But this year?  I've lost my mind.  For a variety of reasons, I'm in a slump. And part of that slump seems to be that I'm either reading books I really, really love or books that I really, really am disinterested in.  As in, they may not necessarily be "bad" books - they just aren't engaging me for "reasons."  And given the size of my TBR and the looming ARC pile?  I'm giving myself permission to DNF more.  Here are the latest additions to the DNF pile - one of which was written by someone I consider a friend.  See?  Wendy is mean even to people she knows!

I have read three books by Susan Meier and none of those books cracked out of my C grade range.  So why do I keep reading her?  Because of The Angst.  She can write angst really well.  But Her Brooding Italian Boss might finally be the book that has me saying, "Oh well, so long. We're just not a good fit for each other."  I got to 30% and called it a day.

Heroine has just found out she's pregnant by her ex.  Oh, and she's unemployed (or underemployed - I can't remember now. But suffice it to say money is a BIG issue).  Anyway, instead of hauling the Baby Daddy to the nearest courthouse, she's at a friend's wedding where she runs into our Hot, Emotionally Wounded By Evil First Wife, Italian Artist Hero.  Before you can say Rescue Fantasy (thanks in large part to Hot Hero's meddling Bazillionaire Father), she's working as his personal assistant and getting all fluttery around him.

Here's the thing with Meier - she's really fond of the Rescue Fantasy and she tends to lay them on pretty thick.  Like, with a trowel.  It was little annoyances at first.  Ho hum, another rescue fantasy.  How many times is the heroine going to fret about being "pregnant with another man's baby?"  And then, it happens.  We learn about Evil First Wife and I was DONE.  Fading from glory supermodel hitches to hero's rising star wagon.  She plays around on him - uh, a lot.  Gets pregnant with his baby (presumably), doesn't tell him, then gets an abortion.  Hero now a shell of a man because of her betrayal, but naturally everyone around him (including the heroine) thinks it's because he loved her SO MUCH!!!!

I found this conflict...annoying.  The shorthand that only women who are Pure Evil would ever have an abortion.  The genre has never been good with handling this particular issue well - but it's comical how totally Old School it is here and honestly?  I found it rather insulting.  So, I'm out.

Final Grade = DNF

So, yeah.  I've known Megan Frampton a long time.  In Internet years we're like 239 years old.  She was also my editor at Heroes & Heartbreakers for several years and brought me in on that project back when it was still "a project."  I knew going into this book what to expect from her "voice," so I started The Duke's Guide to Correct Behavior expecting a frothy, light read.  I called it quits at the 40% mark when I realized I just didn't give a hoot about the characters and what happened to them next.

Through a series of improbable circumstances (namely three people dying before him), the hero is now a Duke.  He's very whiny about this.  All he wants to do is travel, be footloose and fancy free, drink and bed a bunch of women.  Um, dude.  What exactly do you think Romance Novel Dukes do?  Anyway....

His young daughter arrives on his doorstep after the child's mother dies.  What's refreshing here?  He knew he had the daughter - she isn't a secret and he had been paying Early Victorian Equivalent Child Support to the Baby Mama.  But ye gads!  More responsibility!  So he decides to hire a governess through heroine's employment agency.  A Duke using their service is a major step up for them, but oh noes!  No eligible governesses!  No matter, the heroine will take the job herself.

And....that's pretty much it.  After 40%.  I do have a reputation for loving The Angst, but yes - I am capable of enjoying light and fluff.  But I also expect conflict in my light and fluff and there just really isn't much conflict to be found here.  Other than the hero having NO clue how to be a Duke, which seemed odd since it's not like he was born in a gutter.  The guy knows how society works, so him not having the faintest clue how Duke's behave just makes him seem stupid.  But anyhoodle....maybe conflict shows up later in the story?  Entirely possible.  But at 40% I just didn't really care about these people in their thinly drawn early Victorian (1840) world and.....done.  Have you seen my pile of ARCs?  Of which this was one and it came out in November 2014?

Megan is a friend (hopefully still is if she sees this blog post....), and if I had been reading a print edition I would have skimmed through to the end.  But I just can't seem to skim digital with any sort of efficiency, so I'm moving on.  I'm hoping for better with Frampton's more recent work and chalking this one up as a bump in the road.

Final Grade = DNF

TBR Challenge 2014: Baring It All

Disclaimer: The author and I go way back.  Back before blogging became a "thing" and I was with The Romance Reader, she was a reviewer at All About Romance.  Over the years we've been friendly online, I'd see her at conferences etc.  So when she helped to concoct the idea that would eventually become Heroes & Heartbreakers (it was simply called "Project X" back in those development stages!), and she asked me to write a couple of columns for her to help pitch the concept?  I said, sure.  H&H took hold, I stayed on as a columnist, and Megan now edits the columns I submit.  So yes, we have a working relationship and I think she's the bee's knees.

The Book: Baring It All by Megan Frampton

The Particulars: Historical romance short story, 2013, Loveswept, digital only release

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  I picked it up at RWA 2013 in Atlanta.  Also, see above disclaimer.  I like Megan as a person, I thought maybe I should try reading some of her books.

The Review:

"Why did she have to fall in love with someone so smart?

Oh, that's right.  Because a stupid man just wouldn't do."

And that pretty well sums up what I liked about this story.  It's a quick, frothy concoction with some witty banter, equally witty internal monologues and some sexy shenanigans to spice up the proceedings. 

Lady Violet is betrothed to Lord Christian Jepstow, whom she has known since they were children.  She's, naturally, smitten as all get out - but the man doesn't seem to even notice she's a woman.  A troublesome bit of suspicion for Violet since they do plan to marry.  She'd prefer to have some passion in their marriage, instead of competing with his studies and various dead philosophers to gain his attention and affection.  What ever is a girl to do?  Well, take matters into her own hands of course!  Turns out her BFF and Christian's sister is unexpectedly called away and is unable to complete writing her newspaper column about women's fashion - the topic du jour being undergarments.  Violet proposes that they work on this endeavor together, and naturally the results = sexy times.

Enjoyment of this story hinges on a few things:

1) The reader has to be willing to go with the cotton candy, frothy tone of the tale the author lays out.  This, my friends, is about as far from angst as the Care Bears or My Little Pony.  I'm, generally speaking, an Angst Ho, but I loved the tone of this story and inhaled it in one sitting.

2) It's a short story, and by short story I mean short.  Similar in length to a Harlequin Historical Undone - so about 50 pages.  No sense in whining about it, it's a short story and it's not pretending to be anything else.  I think it works very well in this format and I didn't feel "cheated."  Hell, if anything, see #3....

3) This is, obvious from the first chapter, a short connected to the author's full-length release What Not To Bare, which just came out in October 2013.  I do think this short does what any decent short story connected to a series should do - which is stand alone, but also whet your appetite for other stories set in the same universe.  Mission accomplished!

I have the attention span of a fruit fly, and there are some days when Real Life is sucking out my very soul.  This is why I love reading shorts, because sometimes 50-100 pages is just about all my poor lil' wee brain can handle.  Yet I still want what feels like a complete story, and I want something that is going to entertain me while I'm on my lunch break at work, or trying to quickly unwind once I get home.  That's what Frampton accomplished for me with Baring It All.  One of the better short stories I've read in recent memory.

Final Grade = B+