Review: Whispers in the Reading Room

How I came to read Whispers in the Reading Room by Shelley Gray is so very typical of me.  Set in Gilded Age Chicago (just after the World's Fair closes), there's some mystery, a hero with a dubious reputation, and a librarian heroine.  Never mind the cover art. Published by Zondervan (an inspirational imprint of Harpercollins), my curiosity was piqued. Wendy catnip. While I wouldn't say that curiosity killed the cat in this instance, this turned out to be a slog of a read.

Lydia Bancroft is a librarian, a gently born lady who has fallen on hard times after the death of her father.  The only hope of securing her future, and returning her mother to their former lifestyle, she must marry well.  She's on the verge of doing that (so she thinks), when she finds herself intrigued by a mysterious patron who frequents her reading room.

Sebastian Marks was born on the wrong side of the tracks, his mother a prostitute, his father unknown.  Through sheer grit and determination, Sebastian has become one of the most feared men in Chicago, owner a notorious gambling hall / bar.  A big deal is made over the fact that he doesn't deal in women however, so like he's totally OK.  Anyway, he's smitten with Lydia from afar, knowing she's way too good for him.  However, when he spies her odious fiance' man-handling her in a hotel dining room, he swoops in to save the day.  Her engagement now kaput, her mother positively apoplectic, Lydia and Sebastian become friends.  That is until a shocking murder and Sebastian's over stimulated sense of self pity rear their ugly heads.

From a marketing standpoint this book is endlessly intriguing.  Technically it's an inspirational.  I guess.  Sort of.  But honestly?  Outside of a few mentions of scripture and prayer this easily could be marketed as simply a "gentle romance" and it would have been fine.  Also, while the sensuality of this story is very G-rated, I'll admit that I'm surprised I haven't seen more fire and brimstone reviews for this one.  Sebastian is a club owner.  He makes his living off of gambling and liquor.  Yes, he doesn't deal in prostitutes (minor detail), but gambling is illegal.  There's mention of bribing cops.  And, let me repeat, THIS IS AN INSPIRATIONAL.  Now obviously, I don't have a problem with this per se. I wouldn't consider faith to be a big driving theme in this story.  It's there, but it's a light touch.  The whole thing is such a dichotomy that even as I grew frustrated with the story I kept circling back around to this point.  For an inspirational the plot points of the hero's background sure are risky.

So where does it go wrong?  One word: Lydia.  Good Lord is this girl clueless.  Naive doesn't begin to cover it.  To make matters worse the author keeps trying to sell the fact that she's "so smart" because she's a librarian and reads a lot.  Well for someone who supposedly reads a lot (including Chicago newspapers) she sure is as dumb as a post when it comes to "the real world."  Normally I would say this fits the time period and her character.  She is a gently born lady after all and gently born ladies weren't expected to know much of anything that didn't involve needlepoint and playing the piano.  But Lydia has fallen from grace.  She's having to pawn family possessions to keep a roof (a ramshackle townhouse) over her head.  Her mother puts the B in bitter.  She's working for a living.  To have her still be so naive is just annoying.  To put it bluntly, if you dumped Lydia in the middle of the woods, all alone, she'd curl up into a little ball and be dead within 30 minutes.

In contrast, Sebastian is all wounded hero with a dark past which means, brace yourself, the romance here is Grade A, 100% Pure Rescue Fantasy.  Lydia is the precious snowflake who cannot get her hands dirty and Sebastian is the hero determined to keep her in a gilded cage all while pulling a Pullman car's worth of self-pity behind him.  And while Lydia has a nice moment of railing against Sebastian when he behaves like a jackass in the end, he does very little work to win her back and repent for his idiocy.  I pretty much wanted these two shot dead by a gang of ruffians by the time it was all said and done.

This is marketed as the third book in the Chicago World's Fair Mysteries series.  It stands alone extremely well, although this is much more a romance than a mystery - with the shocking murder not occurring until the final third of the book.  Even then the identity of the whodunit wasn't exactly much of a mental stretch.

I liked Gray's writing style and thought she handled the historical settings and details well, but nothing else about this story moved me.  If anything I was surprisingly close to DNF'ing it because I was so sick of Lydia's naivete and Sebastian's overbearing attitude, but persevered because I was that close to the finish.  Were there intriguing risky elements?  Certainly.  But at the end of the day this Rescue Fantasy romance with a helpless heroine and an overbearing hero protecting her (constantly) meant it read very old-fashioned.  Oh, what might have been.

Final Grade = C-

Sugar Withdrawal & Mini-Reviews

Remember when Wendy used to blog regularly?  Ah, yes.  The Good Old Days.  To condense this down to a few words without (too much) whining: work = busy, current US political climate = dumpster fire, some of my social media = #willfulignorance + #readabookalready.  Add to this that at the start of 2017 I made a pact with myself to take better care of my health.  This has led to a slew of doctor appointments - the first of which was a physical where my blood work showed I have "borderline" high cholesterol and a Vitamin D deficiency.

So, cholesterol.  Not really surprising since I have the sophisticated palate of a 13-year-old boy.  This means I am seriously watching what I eat.  No fast food (none), exercising a lot more, and trying to curb my refined sugar intake in the hopes of dropping some weight.  This last one has been...hard.  I can't remember the last piece of chocolate I had which should tell you what sort of mood I've been in.  The a-lot-less-sugar thing coupled with current events?  The good news is I haven't seriously hurt anyone.  Yet, anyway.

And how the heck do you live in one of the sunniest areas in the world and have a Vitamin D deficiency?!?!  Oh yeah, go to work in the dark.  Come home in the dark.  The whole see-through Irish complexion and I hear skin cancer sucks thing.  Sigh.  Follow-up appointment with the doc this week.  I'm on Week 2 with zero refined sugar junk food.  He'll be lucky if I don't stab him with a pencil.

+++++

My reading has been almost non-existent but I have finished two books in recent memory.  I finally listened to The Angel's Share by J.R. Ward, the second book in her trashy soap opera Bourbon Kings series.  The (supposed) trilogy follows the trial and tribulations of the Bradford clan, a family dynasty that built their fortune in Kentucky bourbon.  Once I let-go of the fact that the first book didn't work as a romance, the recovering soap opera addict in me loved every naughty minute of it.  

This installment felt very much like a "placeholder" or "set-up" book.  For reader's expecting a lot of Edward in this book (and I was one of them) - don't hold your breath.  He's in here - but it's basically a continuation of Lane, Lizzie, Gin's self-destruction with some of Edward's various secrets tossed in for flavor.  We finally meet the Bradford matriarch in this book, Gin's "secret baby" (OK, teenager) Amelia shows up, and wild child brother Maxwell returns.  The characterizations are still board as heck with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer and I could have done without all the Lane/Lizzie kissie-face nonsense (yes, they're a couple now - they're so in lurve - we get it already!)

I've heard this is only supposed to be a trilogy, but there's a lot left to tie up here.  Lane's still got to extricate himself from Wife #1, there's Daddy Bradford's murder, Edward's messed up love life, their drug-addicted mother, the cluster that is Gin's personal life, and Maxwell's mysterious return. There's a lot still hanging up in the air.  I'm enjoying this series, but I'll be honest, if Ward pulls a Karen Marie Moning or Sylvia Day and stretches out this series past the "original plan" of a trilogy? I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about that.

Final Grade = B

+++++

It took me the better part of a month to get through Dark Fissures by Matt Coyle, not because it was bad - but more likely it was my mood.  I thought I was in the mood for "dark," but perhaps not?  Anyway, this is the third book in a series about Rick Cahill, a former cop suspected by nearly everyone of murdering his wife.  Now a private investigator, Rick is barely eking out a living (the bank is thisclose to foreclosing on his house) when Brianne Colton hires him.  The cops say that her estranged husband, a former Navy SEAL turned cop, committed suicide.  Brianne doesn't buy it.  Rick's not sure he does either, but the fact that the dead man worked for the La Jolla Police Department, whose chief is, at best, corrupt and, at worst, gunning for Rick, complicates matters.

This series very much fits the mold of California crime noir.  The archetype of a lone hero (almost anti-hero) fighting a corrupt system has been around forever for a reason.  For the first half of this story I was ready to declare it stood alone from the "series baggage" well - but that ultimately changes.  Events in the preceding book definitely come into play, so starting the series here will put newcomers at a disadvantage.  I liked the suspense angle, but had a harder time with the pacing.  By the time I got to around 80% on my Kindle I was thinking, "Wow, he's going to need to wrap this up quick or else it's Cliffhanger Ahoy!"  I'm happy to report there's no cliffhanger, but the result is a rushed, almost mad-cap ending, and the world's most jarring epilogue.  I felt a bit hungover after it all.  The author wraps up some dangling threads (namely the police chief bent on bringing down Rick) but it's dashed off in a few sentences.  It felt really fast, especially after the deliberate pace set forth during the first 80% of the book.  I enjoyed it, as I do most lone wolf noir novels, but the ending really brought it down a notch.  I've enjoyed this series to date, but this one was weaker than the first two books.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2017: Swept Away By the Tycoon

The Book: Swept Away by the Tycoon by Barbara Wallace

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Romance #4426, 2014, Out of Print, Available Digitally, Book #2 in Best Friends trilogy

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: True story: I take just about any category romance that isn't tied down and offered to me at conferences - and this was one I picked up at RWA either 2014 or 2015.  The longer answer is that Wallace is pretty much an auto-buy these days - having liked more of her books than disliked.  I loved the first book in this series and enjoyed the third book.  Which means in true Wendy fashion...I'm finally getting around to reading the second book.  So typical.

The Review: It's hard to explain if you just don't "get" the format - but category romance is my equivalent to literary comfort food.  Not to say it can't be emotional and challenging and all the things that detractors like to claim it isn't - but, for me, when an author hits all the right emotional beats in a category it's basically macaroni and cheese.  I love it beyond all reason and immediately suspect anybody who tries to tell me it's not good for me.  Dude.  Macaroni and cheese is just flat-out good for the soul.

Chloe Abrams has terrible taste in men - look no further than the barista at her favorite coffee shop. Certainly they have been casually dating, but flirting with a customer and handing her his phone number while Chloe is standing right there?  Oh hells no.  To make matters more humiliating the scruffy customer who she has taken to mentally calling "The Slacker" is providing a running commentary during the whole episode.  Really, she has no choice.  She pours her freshly made peppermint latte over the now-ex's head and struts out of the coffee shop like a Queen.

"The Slacker" is Ian Black, a now disgraced tycoon - ousted from his own company and working his way through Step 8.  Yep, Ian is in recovery for his alcohol addiction and is working to make amends with all the people he's done wrong...and it's a long list.  He spends the majority of his day sitting in the coffee shop, which he happens to conveniently own, writing letters of apology.  Chloe, with her high heeled boots (and she's a former college basketball star - so the girl ain't short to begin with), curly hair and take no prisoners attitude pushes all of Ian's buttons right from the start.  But he's a mess and has bigger fish to fry.  Namely reconnecting with his now college-age son.

What I so enjoyed about this story was the slow build and the light touch to the conflict.  Wallace kept it all humming along without drowning the reader in a sea of angst.  The relationship between Chloe and Ian gets started through a series of conversations.  He owns the coffee shop and she loves coffee.  It's a relationship that starts out of habit and daily routine and kicks into gear through banter and mild flirtation.  Chloe is stung by a series of poor relationship decisions and an absent father.  Ian is working on his recovery with the same single-minded focus that led him to "show up" his own father by joining the military then building his own company from the ground up.  These are two driven people haunted by their pasts and various regrets.

The focus and theme of this romance is entirely wrapped up in forgiveness and Wallace tackles the topic in a way I'm not sure I've seen before in a romance.  Namely forgiveness only works when the person you want to forgive you agrees.  Forgiveness is going to happen on the wronged parties' timeline. Period. This is the stumbling block for Ian - and the lesson he ultimately has to learn over the course of this story.  He's driven, focused, and thinks he can tackle his 12 steps in the same way he built his company - and hello?  He can't. Because sometimes we don't always get what we want - no matter our drive or ambition or how badly WE want it.  Chloe has to learn that pushing people away before they can push you away isn't a healthy way to deal with rejection.

The romance moves along on a short timeline (seriously, like a week) but these are characters that talk to each other and find themselves thrown together by circumstance (thank you terrible weather!). The I-love-yous do seem quick, but Wallace avoids a marriage proposal or pregnancy in the final chapter, so that makes things a bit more palatable.  I could have done without Ian's nickname for Chloe (Curlilocks) but then I'm the sort that loathes nicknames in romances, being the cranky fusspot that I am. This one didn't surpass the other two books in the trilogy on my rating scale but it was still a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon and Wallace tugged my heart-strings at all the right moments.  And given my cranky fusspot nature?  That's a win.

Final Grade = B

Reminder: #TBRChallenge for January 2017

For those of you participating in the 2017 TBR Challenge, this is a reminder that your commentary is "due" on Wednesday, January 18.  This month's theme is We Love Short Shorts! (category romance, short stories, novella etc.)

The traditional theme for January, it's my way of easing us into the Challenge and to allow newcomers (welcome!) a chance to get their feet wet.  A long neglected Harlequin, that novella you downloaded for free to your Kindle, an anthology of short stories - think short!  But what if you abhor short reads?  Hey, no problem!  Remember: the themes are optional!  If you don't want to read something short, you don't have to.  The whole 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 2017 Information Page.  (And it's not too late to sign-up!)

Reading Year in Review 2016: #TBRChallenge

2016 marked the 5th anniversary of me taking over hosting duties for the #TBRChallenge and it was....well, it wasn't a very strong year for me Challenge-wise.  While the year started out pretty great (two A grades!), the second half the year was a quagmire of Meh It's OK, I Suppose C Grades.  It also marked the first time in my five years of hosting that I missed a month.

What does this mean going forward with the 2017 #TBRChallenge?  This year, I mean it!  I really need to DNF more books out of my TBR.  Why am I slogging my way through Meh, C Reads when there are undoubtedly hidden gems awaiting me?  Also, I really need to stop procrastinating.  I could DNF more if I didn't wait until the last minute to pick a book, read said book, and write the dang review.

Anyway, that's the plan. Let's see how long my good intentions last.  In the meantime, let's relive what I read for the 2016 #TBRChallenge:

January - Theme: We Love Short Shorts!

• I started off the New Year right, DNF'ing my original pick (a Harlequin Romance that wasn't working for me) in favor of Curveball by Charlotte Stein - an erotic romance novella that totally blew up my skirt. Grade = A-

February - Theme: Series Catch-Up

• I read the first book in the trilogy as part of the 2014 TBR Challenge, so it seemed fitting to read book two, A Man Worth Keeping by Molly O'Keefe for 2016's Challenge.  Unfortunately, while I loved the continuing on-going family Drama Llama, the romance wasn't nearly as convincing.  Grade = C+

March - Theme: Recommended Read

• A KristieJ favorite, I finally dug out The Way Home by Megan Chance.  This historical western was amazing.  I inhaled this almost 500-page book in a mere two days and only came up for air because of The Day Job.  Darn working for a living!  Grade = A

April - Theme: Contemporary

• A completely forgettable erotic romance, My Prerogative by Sasha White.  So forgettable that it's probably a good thing I reviewed it should I ever need to dredge up details in the future. Grade = C-

May - Theme: Something Different

• I dug one of the few YA romances I had in my TBR for this month, Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols.  I loved (LOVED!!!) the Nashville, country music scene world building and the heroine.  Was less enthralled by the romance and the hero. Grade = C+

June - Theme: Favorite Trope

• So deep is my devotion to the Virgin Hero trope that I'll even read a Fake Country/Royalty book.  A Royal World Apart by Maisey Yates is a very solid book in her Harlequin Presents output.  Grade = B

July - Theme: Award Nominee or Winner

• The month I skipped.  Because I suck.  Part of the blame was the RWA Conference, the other part was that work was nutso insane for me in July.

August - Theme: Kicking It Old School

• I love, love, love Jessica Hart's Harlequin Romances, which is how I had No Mistaking Love (1993) in my TBR.  While the writing was pure Hart (loved it!), and I really liked the heroine - the hero was pure Throwback Alphahole.  Grade = D+

September - Theme: Random Pick

• Ever get thrown by the "tone" of a book?  That was me with The Cowboy Way by Anna Alexander.  It was like this weird hybrid of a Harlequin Western (formerly American line) and an erotic romance.  It was just....odd.  Grade = C-

October - Theme: Paranormal or Romantic Suspense

• It's a sad tale of woe when a book starts out great and fizzles at the finish line.  Agent Bride by Beverly Long had a compelling suspense thread that died at the end and a romance that never really got off the ground. But it made for great airplane reading.  Grade = C

November - Theme: Historical

• I got suckered by a glowing review.  A Scandalous Situation by Patricia Frances Rowell was another book where the tone of the story was all over the place for me.  Grade = D+

December - Theme: Holiday

• We wish you a very meh Christmas.  Come Home for Christmas by Pat Pritchard was a serviceable read, but with no deep dive into the characters' internal baggage and the tortoise-like pace of the romance this one never registered above OK for me.  Grade = C

Kids, that leaves Auntie Wendy with 2 A's, 1 B, 6 (!) C's and 2 D's.  Excuse me while I go put my head in the oven.  No seriously, this is totally why I need to stop procrastinating and DNF more!  All those C's are totally unacceptable - and only ONE B?!  Ugh.

Anyway, there is always 2017.  I vow I will try and do better.  And hey, why not join in on the fun? It's not too late to sign-up for the 2017 TBR Challenge!

Reading Year in Review 2016: The Numbers, The Best, The Honorable Mentions

My perception of my reading year that was 2016 is that it was fairly dismal.  Very few books seemed to engage me to the point of Stay Up All Night To Read, Go To Work a Zombie the Next Day.  It took me weeks to finish some titles, and very little seemed to excite me.  But perception, it's a funny thing.  When I took a look at my GoodReads account (which is how I track all my reading these days) - outside of my A grades taking a nose dive from the previous year (I read 10 A graded books in 2015!), the numbers were really consistent from years past.

My goal every year is to read 100 books, and for the second year in a row - I fell short, stumbling over the finish line at 81 books.

A Grades = 4

B Grades (includes high B-) = 29

C Grades (includes low B-) = 30

D Grades = 7

DNF/Unrated = 10 DNFs, 1 Unrated

Audio Books = 33 

Thanks to a long commute and my desire to stay away from inane DJ/radio chatter as much as humanly possible - audio books made up nearly 41% of my total reading in 2016. 

Yeah, yeah - numbers blah, blah, blah.  What about the good stuff, Wendy?  What books did you love in 2016?  So glad you asked!  Here are the highlights:

Author Of The Year: Simone St. James

I have never, in all my years of blogging, named an "Author of the Year."  So why am I doing it for 2016?  Because I literally tore through St. James entire backlist (only 5 books, but still!) thanks to the wonders of audio (all quite good - produced by Blackstone Audio) and they all fell within my B Grade range.  Keeping that in mind (they were all B's! they were all good!), here they are in my order of favorite to not-as-favorite:

Silence for the Dead (2014) - Desperate heroine falsifies a nursing background to take a job at a remote hospital that treats World War I veterans with "shell shock."  A former private estate, the hospital has a dark history that is haunting the dreams of the patients.

The Other Side of Midnight (2015) - Medium heroine is called to investigate the murder of a famous psychic, and former friend, and is reunited with the man who discredited her own abilities.

The Haunting of Maddy Clare (2012) - Heroine working as a temp hires on with a ghost hunter to investigate the ghost of a young woman terrorizing a small English village.

An Inquiry Into Love and Death (2013) - Modern heroine (she's a college student!) finds herself traveling to a remote English village after her uncle dies to settle his affairs.  Turns out he was a ghost hunter and there are strange doings afoot.

Lost Among the Living (2016) - After her husband is killed in World War I, the heroine goes to work for his aunt as a paid companion and soon learns there was much about her husband that she never knew.

The Best of the Best (The A Grades)

Sawbones by Melissa Lenhardt (2016) was marketed as historical fiction, but features a very strong romance.  Doctor heroine is accused of murdering the husband of one of her society lady patients, and circumstances determine the best course of action is to flee - which she does, heading west and ultimately landing in a remote Army outpost in Colorado.  It's there she falls in love with a handsome Army captain and her past catches up to her.  Caveats being: it doesn't stand alone (book two is due out in May 2017), there's some ugly history, and quite a bit of violence (secondary characters die, there's a brutal Indian raid scene, and there's a rape - so....yeah.)  But this book riveted me in a way no other book did in 2016 and the romance totally blew up my skirt.

I dug out Curveball by Charlotte Stein (2013) for the TBR Challenge and this erotic romance novella (roughly 85 pages) was just what the doctor ordered.  Plump "nobody" heroine finds herself in the cross-hairs of her brother's loud, boisterous BFF - a more mismatched pair you'll never meet.  The anticipation in this story, the passion - it was light years ahead of any other erotic romance I read last year.  

2016 will likely go down as The Year of the Gothic for me (see: Simone St. James) as I also took time to reacquaint myself with some Barbara Michaels.  I started with Be Buried in the Rain (1985) only remembering that "I really liked it" when I first read it some 25+ years ago.  This one is still a gem.  Heroine returns to the crumbling family plantation to care for her sour, ailing grandmother and is reunited with a former lover, conducting an archaeological dig on her family's land.  Great atmosphere, compelling mystery, an independent heroine and a strong romance.

The Way Home by Megan Chance (1997) was another book I dug out thanks to the TBR Challenge and this historical western knocked my socks off.  After the travelling gambler who got her pregnant refuses to marry her, the heroine instead marries his quiet, shy brother - and that's when the romance begins.  Heartbreaking, emotional, satisfying on so many levels.

Honorable Mentions, or The Best of the Rest

The Bourbon Kings by J.R. Ward (2015) is the first book in a series about a family that made their fortune in Kentucky bourbon.  To be honest, this one didn't work one whit for me as a romance but boy howdy - it's everything I have ever wanted in a unrepentant, trashy soap opera.   Double-dealing, back-stabbing, and more skeletons in closets than you can shake a femur at.  This is Grade A Beach Read material all the way.

Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen (2015) is a stand-alone time slip thriller, with part of the story taking place in World War II era Italy, and the other in present day Boston.  When the violinist heroine fears her toddler daughter has become possessed by a piece of music she brought home from a work trip to Italy, she sets out to uncover the story behind the manuscript.  Quiet, haunting, and heartbreaking.

The Blacksmith's Wife by Elisabeth Hobbes (2016) features a heroine with designs to marry a handsome traveling knight but settles for his blacksmith half-brother instead.  I'm not going to lie, the lack of communication between the couple did wear me down a bit by the end, but there was a great feel for the medieval time period, a wonderfully yummy hero and a heroine forced to face the reality of her limited options. 

All I Am by Nicole Helm (2016) features a socially awkward wounded warrior hero and a party girl heroine aimlessly drifting through her life.  I'm a sucker for virgin hero and "bad girl" heroine pairings in romances, and Helm has written a charming one.  

And those were my highlights in reading for 2016.  It wasn't the best reading year on record for me, and I struggled to find my mojo all year long, but there were still plenty of highlights to be found. Now it's onward and upward into 2017.

Review: Cowboy Creek Christmas

2016 was not the greatest reading year for me - look no further than the last couple of reviews posted on this blog.  So I decided to finish up the year I was going to call in The Big Guns.  Cheryl St. John is my go-to "comfort read author" and I've enjoyed stories by Sherri Shackelford in the past - so Cowboy Creek Christmas had a leg up on most of my TBR pile right out the gate.  Final verdict?  While not without charm, I didn't love this.  I might have to officially declare myself broken.

Mistletoe Reunion by Cheryl St. John kicks things off with a reunited romance.  Marlys Boyd has moved to Cowboy Creek, Kansas to set up her own medical practice - but it's been a challenge.  Not only is she a woman doctor in an era when all female doctors were suspect - she practices, for that time period, alternative medicine.  Herbal remedies instead of bleeding an already sick patient, for example.  She decides that advertising in the local newspaper would be a smart way to drum up some business, but gets a shock when she meets the editor.  It's Sam Mason, the former fiancé she threw over in order to attend medical school.

After the busted engagement, Sam married another and had a son, August.  When his wife died in childbirth, Sam left the boy with his mother to raise while he was off fighting in the Civil War.  He later wrote about his experiences in a well-received book, which has led him to Cowboy Creek to start his own newspaper.  He feels no ill-will towards Marlys, but is still flabbergasted all the same when he finds out she's the new lady doctor everyone's been talking about.

I'll be blunt: St. John writes Competence Porn.  And in a genre that can sometimes fall down the Oh Come On Now Too Stupid To Live Rabbit Hole, her gentle romances featuring exceedingly practical characters can read like a breath of fresh air.  Marlys is calm, efficient, and very good at her job.  Sam's masculine pride took a hit when Marlys broke off their engagement, but over the course of the story, he understands why she did it.  Asking her to not be a doctor would be like asking her to stop breathing.  He didn't entirely understand it then, but he "gets" it now that they've been reunited.  These are characters who think things through, don't make rash decisions, but given their past history (Marlys dumping him once before, the fact that "most men" would demand a woman stop working upon marriage etc.) makes things complicated.

Where this story failed to engage me was in the execution - which honestly could be chalked up to a It's Me, Not You thing.  This is a "return" to Cowboy Creek.  There were three books before this one, so St. John's story is filled with many past couples and characters.  I wanted much more focus on the Marlys and Sam reunion and didn't really give a flying hoot about the past couples.  But for readers who have read the other books in the series?  They probably won't mind and will love the homey, holiday sweetness of the setting.  In many, many ways this read a lot like a small town contemporary to me.  Just, you know, set in post-Civil War Kansas.

Grade = B-

I fell right into Mistletoe Bride by Sherri Shackelford and barely came up for air while reading it.  Beatrix Haas had the misfortune of getting pregnant by a man who claimed to love her, but threw her over for another woman.  Now disowned by her domineering father, and her older sisters unwilling to go against their own husbands to take her in - her minister in Austria arranges for her to marry his distant cousin in Cowboy Creek.  She's in labor when she arrives in Kansas and there are immediate complications.  The midwife calls for town blacksmith Colton Werner, the only person close by who understands German.  Beatrix speaks some English, but in her delirium she has slipped into her native tongue.  When she finds out her intended, the former town sheriff, is dead and that her baby will be born a bastard, she's frantic.  Driven by her plight, and his own guilt, Colton tells the dying woman he'll marry her on the spot.  Which he does.  The pastor shows up and they exchange vows before the baby boy makes his appearance.

So we all know what happens next.  Beatrix miraculously survives and now Colton has a wife and child.  He's got a haunted past and she's carrying the baggage of her family estrangement.  It's a gentle, sweet romance between two people who don't think they're "good enough."  I also liked that Shackelford doesn't gloss over anti-immigrant sentiment, and in fact the Austrian Beatrix has some trouble with a prominent German family thanks to lingering hostilities stemming from the Austro-Prussian War (seriously, when was the last time you read that in a romance?)

Unfortunately it all gets a bit rushed at the end.  There's a turn of events with Beatrix's father that felt tacked on to me - and the bit with the German family comes to a rushed conclusion that I'm not sure I totally buy.  But the romance itself was very nice and I enjoyed these characters.  Also, yippee - blacksmith hero!

Grade = B-

These stories are cozy holiday reads featuring inspirational themes somewhere in the mid-range level of my own personal God Stuff scale (not overly preachy, but expect a fair amount of Christian talk/faith observance/themes).  I feel like both of these authors have written more compelling stories, but these aren't "bad" by any stretch of the imagination and if you've enjoyed the Cowboy Creek series up to this point, this book will likely be a surefire winner.

Final Grade = B-