#TBRChallenge 2016: Come Home for Christmas

The Book: Come Home for Christmas by Pat Pritchard

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Kensington Zebra, 2005, Out of Print, Not Available in Digital.  Pritchard also writes under the name Alexis Morgan, which is her more active pseudonym these days.  Some of her other Zebra westerns have been published in digital (after rights reverted back), but this one isn't one of them (yet).

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  It's a Christmas book and it's a historical western.  Of course it was in my TBR.

The Review: And yet another book for this year's TBR Challenge that I should have DNF'ed.  Not that this was bad.  It's not bad.  I've read worse.  Believe me.  No, I was just indifferent.  And I'm not sure if this is the fault of the book, the changes we've seen in the genre over the past 5 years (ALL THE FEELS!!!), or just the general reading funk I've been in for most of 2016.  It's probably a combination.  Just toss it all in the blender.

Jed Stark is a US Marshal tracking down a teenage horse thief.  However once he catches up with the boy (who has been slippery), he starts to suspect something rotten.  The boy claims the horse (a prize stallion) belonged to his grandfather, that the man accusing him of stealing the horse didn't "buy" the horse from his grandfather - but stole him then shot the old guy for his trouble.  Oh, and the town sheriff is in on it.  Doesn't help matters that the boy, Hawk, is part-Native.  Jed doesn't have the stomach to drag the boy to the hangman's noose, especially since his story sounds all too credible.  So while he gets it sorted out, he takes Hawk to the Johanson farm.  Over the years, the Johansons took in a lot of orphans, including Jed, who they thought of like a son.  But Jed left as soon as he was able, mostly because he knew he'd never be good enough for the likes of their daughter, Sadie.

When Jed left six years ago it broke Sadie's heart.  Her mother now gone, that leaves only her father - who according to the doctor is quite sick and isn't long for this world.  Now Jed is suddenly back, after all this time, to leave them Hawk, while he hits the trail again to sort out the mess.  But not before Sadie makes him promise to come back and visit regularly.  Her father is dying - slowly, but still dying.  Having Jed visit gives the old man something to look forward to.  However can Sadie's heart stand more of Jed's coming and going?

Hawk's troubles are dispatched of in short order, which leaves most of this book dealing with Jed leaving, coming back, helping with the harvest, leaving again, and then finally settling down to give Sadie her happy ending.  The conflict, such as it is, is the standard I Had a Horrible Childhood and I'm Not Good Enough for the Likes of Her.  Nothing wrong with this (even if we've all read it a billion times) - but Jed's past is never dealt with in a manner that's more than cursory.  It's hard to understand why he feels like he's not good enough for her if the author only turns over a couple tiny rocks and ignores the huge honkin' boulders where the bogeymen are lurking.  It all comes off as nothing more than Jed's stupid manly pride standing in the way.  Especially when it takes Ole, Hawk and Jed's marshal buddy, Bart, to basically tell him what a jackass he's being.  Heroes generally need one secondary character to tell them they're being idiots, but Jed needs three?!  It makes him come off as whiny and tiresome (Oh boo hoo! I'm not good enough for her!)

Without a deep dive into Jed's internal struggle, this book felt too long at 350 pages (it would have worked loads better as a Harlequin Historical).  I'm not sure if it's because the genre has gone so instant gratification in recent years (More Drama! More Feels! And All in 150 Pages!!!!), or I'm just an old cranky fusspot.  Probably a little of both.

That all being said, the world-building here is quite good.  I could see Johanson farm.  This isn't an inspirational, but the author gives her characters a sense of faith - which many pioneer families had in the 19th century even though it's an aspect that gets glossed over a lot in secular historical romance - and, wait for it, they're immigrants.  Sadie's parents are Ole and Olga Johanson.  They're farmers.  The history behind this historical romance is quite good and Pritchard weaves it all in without beating the reader over the head with The Research Stick.

This is a tortoise romance.  While a lot of today's romance is all racing ahead like a hare hopped up on meth, this is the slow and steady style of romance that will occasionally win the race.  Ultimately this didn't win for me because I wanted to go deeper into the internal conflict, but it's a quiet read that sometimes, as a reader, you need.  Damning with faint praise, but we could all do worse.

Final Grade = C

Review: Wendy's War On Christmas

I made a promise to myself at the start of 2016 that I would give myself permission to DNF more - and that includes ARCs. A Christmas Seduction by Daire St. Denis is only the 10th book I’ve DNF’ed this year, which goes to show that I’m terrible with resolutions. And I almost didn’t give up on this. It is, after all, a category romance, and I’ve never been all that good with DNF’ing category (hey, it’s only 200 pages - why not just finish it and see if it gets better?). But at the 18% mark I came to the realization that I wanted to throat punch the couple - so yeah, DNF I did.

Jolie Duval is a journalist who, instead of spending the holidays with her family, has decided to celebrate Christmas at a remote Montana ranch. There she meets hunky handyman Thaddeus Knight and she gets a hankering to unwrap him for holidays.

A pretty standard set-up, so where does it go wrong? Thad gets off on the wrong foot right away when, after driving for an hour in terrible conditions, Jolie arrives at the ranch to be greeted by his three dogs. Dogs that go running up to strangers and proceed to jump all over them (one of the dogs is named “Humper” so that should give you an idea). Jolie is terrified of dogs (we find out later she was bit by one as a child) and that’s enough for Thad to jump to all sorts of conclusions.

Four things tipped him off to her city-girl status. Her designer clothes, her designer bag, her ridiculous footwear and her fear of animals.

BURN IT! BURN IT WITH FIRE!!!!! 

OK. Look. First off - lots of folks don’t care for dogs. Especially dogs that jackass heroes fail to train properly. Also living in the city does not equate to “fear of animals.” Lots of folks who live in urban areas have pets. Heck, I’ve lived in urban areas where people are allowed to keep their own dang chickens. And what, people who live in rural areas can’t wear designer clothes? Hello?! Online shopping, anyone?!?! 

Then there’s Jolie - who is the sort of brain-dead ninny who spies a hot tub at the ranch, a hot tub that is not private and in a public area and even though she didn’t pack a swimsuit hey, why not just strip down nekkid and hop right in. I mean, seriously Wendy - how else do you expect the hero to spy her hot nekkid-ness and go all warm for her form? /end sarcasm.

Then there’s the small matter of why Jolie is spending the holidays by herself, which was enough for me to roll my eyes so far back in my head I think they got stuck like that for about 5 minutes:

As theirs was an atheist household, Jolie’s parents did not approve of using the word Christmas. Instead they called it “the holiday,” “the twenty-fifth” - anything but “Christmas.”

So we’re just going to ignore the fact that early church leaders melded the story of Jesus’ nativity with existing pagan winter holidays and traditions (look it up). Brain-bleed inducing “War on Christmas” aside - winter holidays are not the exclusive domain of Christianity. Many other religions celebrate this time of year. Atheists celebrate this time of year. For many people it’s an opportunity to be with family and friends, reflect on the year soon to be past, and count our blessings. And what are Jolie’s Satanist parents doing when she calls to deliver the news she won’t be home for the holiday? They’re planning a family dinner. SHOCK! HORROR!

Since the heroine doesn't want to spend time with them, and their atheism is specifically called out as the reason "why" - what does this imply, exactly?  That somehow not believing in some way makes you an "undesirable" person whose own daughter doesn't want to be around you.  Seriously.  This is romance.  This is the best reason the author could come up with?  What happened to the old stand-by of Mom is judgemental and keeps pressuring the heroine to get married and pop out grandbabies?

Which brings us to the moment when Jolie begins her “real Christmas” adventures. Does she crack open a Bible? Does she find out where the nearest church is? No. Her, Thad, and the other guests go out to cut down a Christmas tree. Because, you know, Christmas trees featuring so prominently in the story of Jesus’s birth. Right after Mary laid that baby in the manger her and Joseph started stringing up tinsel in the animal stalls. (Grab your hip boots folks, the sarcasm is getting deep around here!).

And that was enough for me. I disliked Thad, his stupid assumptions and his dumb-as-bricks untrained dogs. I hated the assumption that unless you’re Christian that somehow the holiday season can have zero meaning to a person. My Kindle overfloweth so...

Final Grade = DNF

#TBRChallenge 2016: December Reminder

For those of you participating in the 2016 TBR Challenge, this is a reminder that your commentary is "due" on Wednesday, December 21.  This month's theme is Holiday! 

Any holiday.  Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, New Year's - but let's be honest.  This month's theme is because Wendy likes Christmas books and I'm the hostess and choose to make everyone else suffer.  But all hope is not lost Christmas romance Scrooges!  Remember: the themes are optional!  If you don't want to read a holiday book, you don't have to.  The ultimate point of the TBR Challenge is to read something, anything, that has been languishing for far too long.

You can find more information about the challenge (and see the list of participants) on the 2016 Information Page. 

This month concludes the 2016 TBR Challenge!  I want to thank everyone for participating and following along.  And it's not too late to sign-up for the 2017 Challenge!  You can do so, and learn more about it, here.

Review: The Decent Proposal

I've often said that once an author publishes a book, there's very little left in their control.  It's now "out there" for public consumption and readers will walk into your story with their own ideas, their own warped baggage - in other words?  Readers are nut-jobs.  The Decent Proposal by Kemper Donovan is a book I brought baggage into.  Namely it's exactly the kind of book read and loved by folks who give me the side-eye while sneering at the bevy of Harlequins on my Kindle.  Make no mistake - this is a romance novel.  But because it's more a romance novel in the same way women's fiction can be "a romance" (there's a romance, there's a happy ending, but the romance isn't always "center stage") - books like The Decent Proposal are deemed "acceptable fluff" while The Tycoon's Pregnant Amnesiac Mistress is utter garbage.

So yes, I have baggage.  But this isn't the author's fault.  Let's chalk it up to too many years on the front lines of The Genre Wars.

Richard Baumbach is a 29-year-old independent film producer living in Los Angeles and when the reader meets him he's hungover and broke.  He's handsome, charming, has a BFF named Mike (who is a girl) who is naturally in love with him because every woman seems to be in love with Richard for reasons that utterly escape me.  Anywhere else in the US this guy would be living in his Mom's basement, but in Los Angeles he's trying to pass himself off as a producer.  SoCal folks - you know this guy before the first sentence introducing him to the reader even hits the period.

Elizabeth Santiago is a native Angeleno and a workaholic lawyer trying to make partner at her firm.  She's poster girl Model Minority.  She works hard and never, ever plays.  She's estranged from her family, doesn't date, other than work she really doesn't do anything other than read classic fiction.  Her and Richard are night and day - which makes it all the more shocking when a mysterious benefactor offers them each $500,000 if they spend 2 hours a week in each other's company for one full year.

They ultimately agree to the proposal and with a few added secondary characters (Mike, a homeless man Elizabeth befriends, Richard's business partner), the story follows the trajectory of a cinematic romantic comedy with flashes of drama to flesh it out.

There are two big hurdles to getting through this book.  One is Richard who I flat-out loathed for probably 2/3's of the proceedings.  He's a pretty boy with no substance.  He's the sort of guy who speaks in one-liners and wouldn't know depth if he fell off a cliff.  He's a shallow pool.  The other is the writing style.  Folks, this one is all tell and no show.  What is it with authors shooting for "literary?"  Do they learn in some MFA program that dialogue is a four-letter word that must be avoided at all costs?  I'll be blunt - had I tried to read this (I listened to it on audio), it wouldn't have survived the DNF test. 

DIALOGUE!  FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, WRITE SOME DANG DIALOGUE!!!!!

OK, I think I have that out of my system now.  Ahem.

So what makes this book?  Well, I really liked Elizabeth.  She's your classic Heroine With Mysterious Baggage, and I really appreciated the route the author took with that baggage.  It's traumatic, but it was refreshing to read about a heroine with a past that didn't involve her being a victim of some horrific crime.  I also got hooked on the "mystery" of the mysterious benefactor and how Richard and Elizabeth were ultimately chosen.  That literally carried me through the first half of the book when I otherwise might have DNF'ed.

I also appreciated that as much as I disliked Richard for a good chunk of the book - he does grow over the course of the story.  For that matter, so does Elizabeth and I liked reading the relationships that ended up developing between all the players in the story.  The author also does a very good job with the Los Angeles setting - probably the best I've read in genre fiction that wasn't crime noir.

In the end though I'm left with the feeling that this reads like a romance novel for people who turn their noses up at "traditional" genre fiction.  I liked elements to this story, but the tell over show, internal navel-gazing, and lack of dialogue really detracted for me.  I'm not entirely sorry I spent a week of my commute listening to this on audio, but I'm also left with the feeling that I'm not quite sure who I would recommend this too.  Oh yeah, people who sneer at my Harlequin Presents collection.

Final Grade = C

Mini-Reviews: Biographies, Famous and Infamous

Last Girl Before Freeway: The Life, Loves, Losses, and Liberation of Joan Rivers by Leslie Bennetts is something I picked up after reading an interview (somewhere Day Job-related) by the author.  Bennetts basically said that she had previously resisted biography writing because she couldn't imagine spending "that much time with one person and not getting bored" (paraphrasing).  But she changed her mind with Joan Rivers - mostly because Rivers is so contradictory how could you possibly get bored?  On one hand here's a woman who was a feminist and comic trailblazer who skewered societal norms and expectations placed on women.  On the other hand?  Rivers was extremely traditional, lambasted women who didn't bend to those societal norms, and made a name for herself with biting "comedy" that often times tore down other women.  So....yeah.  Contradictory.

Bennetts did her research - reading Rivers' books, interviewing friends and colleagues, and I found this to be a very even handed biography.  Other reviews I've read feel that Bennetts "trashed" Joan (and daughter Melissa) - but honestly?  I didn't see that.  Does Bennetts gloss over Joan's warts?  No.  But she also heaps on praise when it's due, and Rivers - for all her faults - had a pretty extraordinary life.

I'm neither a big Rivers fan nor do I loathe her - and this book didn't tip me further into one camp or the other.  But I did walk away fascinated by her story and with a newfound admiration.  Love her, hate her, there's no denying she was a force of nature.

Final Grade = B+ (very good on audio)

Let's be honest: outside of diehard fans, the only reasons one wants to read Every Little Step: My Story by Bobby Brown (w/Nick Chiles) is for 1) the trainwreck and 2) Whitney.  Which is mostly why I read it - but also because I think a lot of scorn was heaped on Bobby and not always "fairly."  I think we all can see now, in hindsight, that Whitney was not the Princess Good Girl Next Door that her handlers wanted the public to think she was.  But was Bobby the bogeyman who "corrupted" America's Sweetheart?  Hardly.  They were terrible for each other - in only the way two drug addicts can be terrible for each other - but casting Bobby in a villainous role against Whitney's sweetheart image stopped working a long time ago (if it even worked to begin with...)

The book opens with Brown's childhood in the Boston projects and ends with the death of his daughter, Bobbi Kristina.  Brown is fairly candid and willingly admits his mistakes.  However, he also throws quite a bit of shade towards the Houston clan - some of it warranted, in my opinion.  Again, hindsight being what it is.  People who paint Bobby has the villain will likely be unmoved, but when it comes to Whitney's problems, and later Bobbi Kristina's issues - I think there's plenty of what-ifs and blame that can be tossed around and it shouldn't all be landing at Bobby's feet.

I do think Brown probably could have devoted more time to the New Edition years, and those relationships, especially given that NE hit it big when Brown was only 14.  I felt like there was stuff left unsaid during those chapters, which may disappoint hardcore NE fans who pick up this book for that reason.

A note about the audiobook: avoid it.  Brown reads it and he's pretty terrible. It's like listening to a kid read out loud. He's past the "sounding out words" phase, but he stumbles, halts, and skips over pesky punctuation like commas and periods.  Look - some people just aren't good at "reading out loud."  Plus, between Brown's documented health issues, years of drug abuse, and his spotty formal education - it's no wonder he doesn't sound like James Earl Jones.  When the narrative gets more "conversational," he does better - and it's obvious he's not stupid - he's just not a good reader.  Note to publishers: when it comes to biographies we don't always need the author/subject to read the audio version.  We really don't.

Final Grade = C+

Mini-Reviews: Those Wacky Victorians

I saw a review for Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage and Manners by Therese ONeill mentioned somewhere Day Job-related.  Anyway, this looked fun and funny and it is - although admittedly I lost steam with it in the final 100 pages.

Basically this book covers all the stuff that historical romance writers tend to leave out.  You know - the pesky, troublesome reality because whoa doggie it's not easy to being a woman in the 21st century let alone the 19th.  This book covers everything from dressing, bathroom habits, menstruation (you're doing it wrong), diet, beauty, landing a man, keeping a man, and public behavior (um, just don't go out in public).  Outside of a snarky comment about "trashy romance novels" (ugh) - it's quite funny in parts.  I also realized an important fact about all the historical romance heroines I've read about over the years.  According to the proper Victorian decorum detailed in this book?

They're all whores.  Seriously.  Whores.

As funny as I found this (in parts) - my interest waned around the halfway point.  It was a very easy book for me to set down and not pick up for days (admittedly I'm in the midst of the longest reading slump on record).  It's the sort of book that (I think) works best to be kept on your nightstand, where you can casually read one chapter at a time when the mood strikes you.  But take this with a grain of salt (remember: Wendy's Slump From Hell).  For historical romance authors this may be a decent addition to your research library but it's not going to take the place of your more scholarly tomes.  This is more for "The Average Jane" sort of reader.  Nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn't throw out those primary sources if I were you.

Final Grade = Lord, I don't know.  It seems better than a C+.  Probably a B-.

Victoria: A Life by A.N. Wilson is something I stumbled across while browsing the downloadable audio offerings available at work.  The best way to describe this book?  Dense.  Also, probably not the best to listen to on audio since it's super easy to lose track of Victoria's eleventy-billion relations.  Google got a workout while I was listening to this.  Anyhoodle....

I'd only recommend this to hardcore Anglophiles, and even then this biography was not the greatest.  The author devoted over 600 pages of his time to writing about Victoria only to come off as rather dismissive of her.  The opinion of this book seems to be that Victoria would have been doomed without Albert (quite likely early on in her monarchy) and that she'd never have had a half-coherent political thought in her empty head without some man's wise council (be that Albert or one of the Prime Ministers she actually liked).
 
Outside of early chapters that talk about her childhood, this book is almost all politics.  What was Victoria like as a person?  Other than she was a terrible mother?  No idea. But if you want to know which European monarchs she was annoyed with, what Prime Ministers she swooned over and the ones she loathed - this is your book. 

I was hoping for more social history.  A "pulling back the curtain" kind of biography.  To be fair to the author, while Victoria kept copious journals, her children censored them heavily after she died.  So really - it's not entirely his fault. 

I do think this is a good research book.  If you're a historical author who needs something covering the political landscape of this period - you could do a lot worse.  Also, in hindsight, this book is fascinating in the details of the various family squabbles (and obstinate behavior) that descended the world into the destruction and chaos of World War I (and by extension....World War II).  But otherwise?  It's dense and slow and I was happy to finally be finished with it.

Final Grade = C-

Sign-Up Now: #TBRChallenge 2017

Sign-up now for your chance to participate in the 2017 TBR Challenge! 

What is the TBR Challenge?  Once a month participants pull a long-neglected book out of their TBR (To-Be-Read) piles, read it, and provide "commentary" on that book on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

Commentary on your chosen read can happen anywhere online: your blog, Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads etc.  Hashtag = #TBRChallenge

Frequently Asked Questions:

1) Dear Lord, you're going to make us do homework?  Yes.  Honestly, it's fun.  For participants of the challenge (and those who just follow along), the 3rd Wednesday of the month is a guarantee day of "book talk."  And, you know, older books - not the latest, greatest thing that's been promo'd half to death the past several weeks.

2) Dear Lord, you have themes?!  Yes.  I took over hosting this challenge in 2011 and the idea of themes came with it.  Some participants like the themes (which I try to keep broad) to help them focus when faced with the insurmountable crush of their TBRs.  However, the themes are optional!  The goal of this challenge is to read something (anything!) out of your TBR.  If you don't like the theme(s) - don't follow it.

3) So do I win anything if I complete the challenge?  Yes. Personal satisfaction.  I like to keep this challenge stress-free, so if you skip a month, post your commentary late (or early), go off theme etc. - the TBR Police will not be showing up at your door.

Great!  How do I sign up?

1) Leave a comment on this blog post, e-mail me or hit me up on Twitter.  I need whatever name you post under and a link to where you'll be posting your commentary.  So, for example: Wendy, The Misadventures of Super Librarian.  I will include your name and link on this dedicated page for the challenge so folks can follow along.

Commentary "due dates" and themes for next year are below:

January 18 - We Love Short Shorts! (category romance, short stories, novella etc.)
February 15 - New-To-You Author
March 15 - Comfort Read (Favorite Author? Favorite Trope? Favorite Sub Genre?)
April 19 - Contemporary
May 17 - Something Different (outside your comfort zone, unusual setting, non-romance etc.)
June 21 - Favorite Trope (a favorite theme - amnesia? secret baby? fairy tale? friends-to-lovers? etc.)
July 19 - Series Catch-Up (a book from a series you're behind on)
August 16 - Kicking It Old School (publication date 10 years or older)
September 20 - Historical
October 18 - Paranormal or Romantic Suspense
November 15 - Recommended Read (a book recommended to you by someone)
December 20 - Holiday Themes

It really is a lot of fun, plus a handy way to delude yourself into thinking that you're making progress on your TBR pile.