Reminder: #TBRChallenge for May

Hey, hey, hey!  For those of you participating in the 2018 #TBRChallenge, a reminder that your commentary is "due" on Wednesday, May 16.  The theme this month is Contemporary.

One of the broadest TBR Challenge themes - contemporary means any book set during "present day," at the time it was originally published.  So hey, that 25-year-old category romance you're dying to read?  Would totally count.

But what if you're not wild about contemporary romance?  What if you're a "you'll pry my historicals out of my cold dead hands Wendy!" kind of reader.  Hey, no problem!  The themes are optional.  The goal is to read something, anything, out of your TBR.

Reminders:

1) If you're participating via social media, remember to use the #TBRChallenge hashtag

and 

2) It is not too late to sign-up!  You can get further details and links to all the blogs participating on the 2018 TBR Challenge Information Page.

Mini-Review: Home to Wickham Falls

I have a devil of a time DNF'ing category romance.  I mean, they're short books, right?  Surely I can suck it up and stick with the story for 200-some measly pages and just finish it, can't I?  Well, no.  Sometimes that's just not possible - even in category romance.  I mean, first off - do you know how big just my category romance TBR is?  Second, as much as I love category romance, I've read a few that have been rage-inducing and I don't enjoy hate-reading, as a general rule. 

I'm happy to report that Home to Wickham Falls by Rochelle Alers is not rage-inducing.  No, it commits the other sin that will make me DNF a category romance:

It's boring.

Sawyer Middleton is a fabulously successful software engineer living in New York City.  He left small town Wickham Falls after a final falling out with his headstrong father and his visits home have been infrequent, much to the pursed-lipped annoyance of his mother and sister.  But Dad has had a heart attack and Sawyer realizes he cannot stay away any longer.

Jessica Calhoun is a single school teacher and BFF's with Sawyer's sister.  She's positively perfect in every way.  She's a dynamite teacher, a fabulous cook, and has an amazing vegetable garden.  She's the sort who shows up with a picnic basket full of food when someone in town has a crisis / medical emergency / relative to bury.  She's also the perfect hostess - because OF COURSE she is.

Look, I get that this is my baggage - but the whole shorthand of heroine being a fabulous cook/hostess/Mother Earth-type and OF COURSE the hero is attracted to her for those qualities - this tends to get on my last good nerve.  But I hate to cook, am as crafty as a rock, and hate gardening because eww, dirt and bugs.  And really, you know what a good hostess is?  Someone who makes sure my wine glass stays full.

Wait a minute, where was I?  Oh yeah...

Conflict?  What conflict?  There is literally NO conflict.  At least for the first 43% of the story which is where I'm giving up.  Basically what you're reading about is two people going about their daily lives - which hey, is true to life but boring as hell in fiction.  It just is.

I literally had the same reaction to this book that I did with my recent foray into Robyn Carr territory.  Like the Carr, this is very Small Town Cutesy and seems to be catering to the readers who WANT that sort of thing.  Look, I read cozy mysteries for a lot of years - so I get it.  But what's disappointing here is that Alers includes some serious underpinnings by way of character development and then just...doesn't do anything with it.  So what could have added richness and depth to the characters is just sort of left there, floating on the surface.

I was going to persevere and finish this because it's not bad, per se - but I was getting to the point where I was unmotivated to pick it up and turning to my audiobook TBR instead.  Yeah, time to move on.

Final Grade = DNF

Latest News From Wendy-Land

Remember when I used to blog regularly and my posts were insightful and informative and just generally pretty good (what do you mean no?!).  One thing I've learned over the years is that blogging is a marathon, not a sprint - and where I was 15 years ago (yes this blog is 15 years old...) is not where I am today.  For one thing, I've done the whole "moving up the ladder" thing at The Day Job which let me tell you, really reflects in my blogging mojo these days.  Plus, you know, I'm mired in a reading slump right now - which is no bueno.  But I do have some random bits of news, so here I am (and here you are).

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First up is that the Encyclopedia of Romance Fiction edited by Kristin Ramsdell (another former RWA Librarian of the Year) is going to be published in August 2018 - and ::drumroll please:: yours truly is one of the contributors! 

As a reference book (read: expensive) and being one of several contributors, I figure my total royalties will be somewhere around $2.57, but you know what?

MY WORDS ARE GOING TO BE IN A PUBLISHED BOOK YO!

Plan on me being just as annoying about this as I have been since I was named RWA Librarian of the Year....way back in 2011.  No, I'm never going to let that die.  I'm getting it engraved on my tombstone.  You've all been warned.

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In other happy news, I have an update on the health kick weight loss journey.  As of the typing of this post I've lost 34 pounds.  I'm 11 pounds away from my "goal weight," which is what I was when I finished graduate school.  That equated (at the time) to a size 10 (nearly 20 years ago...) and I figure a size 10 on this side of 40 is totally realistic.  I started this journey in mid-August 2017 so yeah, it's been one of those "slow and steady" kind of things, which I hope bodes well for me keeping it off.

Exercise is still...well, the pits (I just don't like it folks) and I still miss bread - but being smarter about my carbohydrate and sugar intake has really been the key for me.

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Book #1 (1977)

I'm mired in a reading slump right now - mostly out of laziness and general tiredness.  But I have fallen into an audiobook hole by revisiting the Sharon McCone mystery series by Marcia Muller.  I originally read some of these when I was a teenager and then, fresh out of college, revisited the first 19 on audio (#33 is due out this summer).  But it's been nearly 20 years since I've "read" any of these and it's been a fun nostalgia trip.

Sharon is a single woman, living and working in San Francisco for a low-cost law cooperative as their in-house investigator.  The early books (I'm on #6 at the moment) largely serve as time capsules now, but in some ways they hold up remarkably well.  Although some of the character depictions are dated (Ask the Cards a Question (1982) being the best/worst example of this so far), in many ways Muller was ahead of her time and some of the conflicts are still (amazingly) relevant.  For example, gay characters aren't portrayed as deviants.  Yes, they're set in San Francisco, but it's still pretty radical when you figure these early books were published in the early 1980s.  However, there is some racial stereotyping.  Although, to be fair, not as egregious as I've read in other 35 year old novels. 

What I've found most remarkable as I've torn through these is how "current" some of the conflict has read - which I guess goes to show that the more things change the more they stay the same.  In The Cheshire Cat's Eye (1983) neighborhood gentrification figures into the plot (upwardly mobile white people buying up cheap property in minority neighborhoods...) and in Leave a Message for Willie (1984) there's a bunch of alienated white guys running around playing soldier and spouting off racist garbage (a precursor to the militia movement that came to the forefront during the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995).  I've found it fascinating, especially since I've only been able to remember small snippets of these books given it's been nearly 20 years since I've had exposure to them.

Would I recommend them to today's reader?  I don't know - possibly.  Like all things, it depends on the reader.  I think they're an interesting time capsule, and Muller's Sharon McCone predates Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone - which puts another interesting spin on these because while both characters are "independent women" - Sharon is less prickly and actually has a love life (Kinsey did too - but Grafton tended to keep it off page when she mentioned it at all).  There's actually been a couple of closed door sex scenes, which it also pretty remarkable since, in my experience, mystery readers get downright irritated when "love cooties" creep in to break up the discovery of dead bodies. The fact that Muller didn't have her hand smacked for including romantic entanglements for her private eye heroine (and the character hasn't been punished for them thus far) is interesting.

We'll see how long this audio glom lasts - but unless I hit an epic wallbanger, it's probably going to last for while.  Good thing too, since right now this series and resulting nostalgia trip is the only reading I seem to be getting done.

Top 5 Unusual Historicals for April 2018

Spring seems to have finally sprung for most of us in North America, and April is the beginning of what is the start of my busy time at the office. My favorite way to unwind? Browsing the virtual and physical shelves looking for historicals to add to my insane TBR. Hey, some people play golf, I go book browsing. Here are the historicals catching my eye this month:

A Private Gentleman by Heidi Cullinan

To seal their bond, they must break the ties that bind.
Painfully introverted and rendered nearly mute by a heavy stammer, Lord George Albert Westin rarely ventures any farther than the club or his beloved gardens. When he hears rumors of an exotic new orchid sighted at a local hobbyist’s house, though, he girds himself with opiates and determination to attend a house party, hoping to sneak a peek. He finds the orchid, yes…but he finds something else even more rare and exquisite: Michael Vallant. Professional sodomite.

Michael climbed out of an adolescent hell as a courtesan’s bastard to become successful and independent-minded, seeing men on his own terms, protected by a powerful friend. He is master of his own world—until Wes. Not only because, for once, the sex is for pleasure and not for profit. They are joined by tendrils of a shameful, unspoken history. The closer his shy, poppy-addicted lover lures him to the light of love, the harder his past works to drag him back into the dark. There’s only one way out of this tangle. Help Wes face the fears that cripple him—right after Michael finds the courage to reveal the devastating truth that binds them. 

OMG, gimme gimme gimme. First, look at that cover. Seriously. Second, we’ve got a romance between an opium-addicted hero who falls for a male prostitute. I have to read this if only to see how the author pulls off the happy ending. (Note: newly self-published, this was originally published via Samhain. Check your digital TBRs before one-clicking!)

The Art of Love by Suzette D. Harrison

Ava Lydell is chasing her dream. A gifted artist, she’s fled the violence of the Deep South for the seduction of sunny California. As luck would have it, the economic crisis of The Great Depression interferes with her hopes and plans. Without patronage and reliable sales, her fledgling art studio fails. Now, she faces poverty, eviction…and the distraction of a mysterious, young stranger engaged in a questionable trade that delivers danger to Ava’s front door.  

In an age of Prohibition and poverty, Chase Jenkins has more than most Colored men. He’s savvy, successful, and hazardously employed. A bootlegger living on the wrong side of the law, he’s determined to discover who murdered his baby brother. He has no time for diversions. Especially one packaged in the form of a “midnight” beauty with sultry lips and curvaceous hips. Unable to deny her allure, he involves himself in her affairs despite better judgment. What begins as a crisis quickly becomes a risky romance. Join Chase and Ava on their journey to outlive danger and indulge in the art of love. 

I am stupid excited about this book because it’s set during The Great Depression. I think (maybe?) the late Dorothy Garlock wrote some books during this era, but I’m hard-pressed to recall any others (hey, let me know in the comments section!). California was a destination for many during this time, desperate for a fresh start and a better life. And while I’ve been vocal on my dislike of the trend of criminal heroes in contemporary romances - well Prohibition is another kettle of fish entirely. Contrary thy name is Wendy.

Lady Rogue by Theresa Romain

HER SECRET SCANDAL  

As far as London’s high society knows, Lady Isabel Morrow is above reproach. But the truth is rarely so simple. Though the young widow’s passionate fling with dashing Bow Street Runner Callum Jenks ended amicably months ago, she now needs his expertise. It seems Isabel’s late husband, a respected art dealer, was peddling forgeries. If those misdeeds are revealed, the marriage prospects of his younger cousin— now Isabel’s ward—will be ruined.  

For the second time, Isabel has upended Callum’s well-ordered world. He’s resolved to help her secretly replace the forgeries with the real masterpieces, as a . . . friend. A proper sort of friend doesn’t burn with desire, of course, or steal kisses on twilight errands. Or draw a willing lady into one passionate encounter after another. Isabel’s scheme is testing Callum’s heart as well as his loyalties. But with pleasure so intoxicating, the real crime would be to resist . . . 

This is the third book in Romain’s Royal Rewards series, and while it’s Regency-set, the intriguing pairing a widowed heroine, her former Bow Street Runner lover, and art forgeries is too tempting for me to pass up. Be sure to check out Romain’s recent interview about this book and her new upcoming series over at Love in the Panels.

From Courtesan to Convenient Wife by Marguerite Kaye

Every woman wants to marry him  

But what if he is already taken?  

In this Matches Made in Scandal story, Jean-Luc Bauduin, Parisian society’s most eligible bachelor, is determined to take only a wife of his choosing. But until that day comes, he’ll ward off his admirers by hiring Lady Sophia Acton to wear his ring! The passion Jean-Luc shares with his convenient bride is enormously satisfying—until he discovers Sophia’s utterly scandalous past! 

Kaye is one of my favorites in Harlequin Historical and she continues her new Matches Made in Scandal series moving the action to Paris. I love, love, love the “fake relationship” trope.

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

The one you love…

Robert Selby is determined to see his sister make an advantageous match. But he has two problems: the Selbys have no connections or money and Robert is really a housemaid named Charity Church. She’s enjoyed every minute of her masquerade over the past six years, but she knows her pretense is nearing an end. Charity needs to see her beloved friend married well and then Robert Selby will disappear…forever. 

May not be who you think… 

Alistair, Marquess of Pembroke, has spent years repairing the estate ruined by his wastrel father, and nothing is more important than protecting his fortune and name. He shouldn’t be so beguiled by the charming young man who shows up on his doorstep asking for favors. And he certainly shouldn’t be thinking of all the disreputable things he’d like to do to the impertinent scamp. 

But is who you need… 

When Charity’s true nature is revealed, Alistair knows he can’t marry a scandalous woman in breeches, and Charity isn’t about to lace herself into a corset and play a respectable miss. Can these stubborn souls learn to sacrifice what they’ve always wanted for a love that is more than they could have imagined? 

I feel like the blurb does this story a disservice because it makes it sound like your run-of-the-mill Chick In Pants historical and I suspect that will drive some potential readers away. However, early word is that Sebastian has written a “very very queer and very very delightful” romance. Be sure to check out Amy’s thoughtful review over at Love in the Panels. It just makes me want to read this book more.

What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to this month?

#TBRChallenge 2018: Satin and Silver

The Book: Satin and Silver by Jane Archer

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Signet, 1986, Out of print, Not available in digital.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I found this in a Las Vegas used bookstore and became entranced by the female cover model.  That dress! That choker!  HER HAIR!!  I mean, the dude appears to be drooling on her boobs but LOOK AT HER!  So yes, against my better judgment I bought this.  I mean, how could I not?

The Review: The Bodice Ripper Era in romance isn't all that different from today's genre.  There were good books.  There were bad books.  And then there was a whole lot of meh in between.  This book mostly stays in the meh territory with occasional trips into problematic territories that one kind of expects from this era of romance.  Unfortunately there's little WTF-ery to make this a truly memorable read in the sort of train-wreck vein - so for most of this I was largely bored.  Mores the pity.

Shenandoah Davis (seriously) is in Tombstone, Arizona (because of course she is) working her charms as a gambler and waiting for her uncle (who is in Leadville - because of course he is) to send for her.  All it would take is a mention of Dodge City for the author to hit Bodice Ripper Western Bingo.  Anyway, after the war options were limited for Shenandoah, so her uncle brought her out west and taught her a trade.  But never fear, our girl may work in saloons, but she's still a virgin because....1986.

Rogue Rogan (seriously) has just arrived in Tombstone, sent by "Fast Ed" Davis (yes, the uncle) to collect his niece and escort her back to Leadville.  Rogue doesn't want to dilly-dally for long since he needs to get back to the mine he owns with Uncle Fast Ed, get together some capital, and head back to his inherited silver mines in Silver City, New Mexico before his dastardly cousin, Blackie (seriously), finds the motherlode.  But turns out Shenandoah won't leave until her baby half-sister, Arabella, arrives from Philadelphia, and wouldn't you know it?  Her stagecoach was robbed and she was kidnapped.  It's 1883, why the chit wasn't taking the train I have no idea - but whatever.  Ours is not to reason why.  So before she agrees to go anywhere with him, Rogue agrees to go along with her to rescue Arabella...for a price.  Basically Shenandoah will be indebted to him and he'll name his price "later."  Because 1986 and jackass heroes y'all!

If there had been any hint of mining anywhere in the purple-y back cover blurb I would have left this book in Vegas, stunning female cover model aside.  Wendy's first rule of historical westerns: any one that mentions a mine tends to be a stinker.  I know, I don't get it either - but every single one I've read, I've slogged through or intensely disliked.  There's also the problem with this being three books in one.  You've got the Arabella rescue, the Leadville prelude, and then the mad dash at the end of the book (after 460+ pages) in Silver City where the author brings all the players together for a final, rushed showdown.

When the "romance" isn't insta-lust, it's sex scenes with dubious consent.  In fact the first "love scene" happens after the hero gets insanely jealous seeing Shenandoah with one of the villains (suffering from a punishing embrace that he takes to mean she's totally compliant!  Because OF COURSE!) and only stops just short of forcing himself on her after she turns all willing like a lust-filled jelly donut.  He gets jealous a lot.  She gets jealous a lot.  And they have lots of angry-like sex with punishing kisses because OMG they can't keep their hands off each other!  Because OF COURSE!

Just in case you don't realize how desirable Shenandoah is - every single male character in this book (except her uncle because...eww), wants to have sex with her - consensual or not.  Really, it doesn't matter.  Men turn into mindless rutting zombies when Shenandoah walks into a room.

Arabella's characterization is also rather insulting - given that she goes from proper eastern-bred lady to self-loathing Stockholm Syndrome sufferer who keeps flailing herself on the rocks no matter how understanding her uncle and sister are.  But don't worry - she miraculously sees the light just in time at the end to save the day (because OF COURSE!).  And falls in love with a guy named Cougar (seriously).

There's not even a heaping pile of one tragedy after another with a side of WTF-ery to keep me going.  No avalanches or earthquakes or marauding pirates who kidnap the heroine to a Caribbean island.  I mean, really?  What kind of Old School romance is this?

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this.  When it's not dull as dishwater, it seems to only feature the most annoying of the Old School Romance tropes.  I do love this cover (do you think that dress could work at the office?  Asking for a friend....), but that's pretty much all this has going for it.

Final Grade = D-

Reminder: #TBRChallenge for April

Hey, hey, hey!  For those of you participating in the 2018 #TBRChallenge, a reminder that your commentary is "due" on Wednesday, April 18.  The theme this month is Kicking It Old School.

A theme that is all about diving deep into your TBR - for our purposes, Old School is defined as any book that is 10+ years past it's original publication date.  Yes, 2008 was 10 years ago ::sob:: 

But what if you're a freak (sorry, you just are) who only has very recent releases in your TBR?  Hey, no problem!  The themes are optional.  The goal is to read something, anything, out of your TBR.

I am more than likely going to be late this month with my own Challenge.  I'm mired in a slump at the moment AND I have family visiting from out of town this next week.  So yeah, have fun without me y'all!

Reminders:

1) If you're participating via social media, remember to use the #TBRChallenge hashtag

and 

2) It is not too late to sign-up!  You can get further details and links to all the blogs participating on the 2018 TBR Challenge Information Page.

Review: Hired by the Brooding Billionaire

My only previous experience reading Kandy Shepherd resulted in a DNF....out of boredom.  For me, the kiss of death in category romance is boredom.  The whole point of category is the short word count, the fast pace, and the hyper-aware focus on the romance.  But the previous book I tried by Shepherd was so blah that I couldn't be bothered.  Which would explain how Hired by the Brooding Billionaire, an ARC I've had on my Kindle since 2015 (!) is just now getting read.  I was in the mood for a Harlequin Romance, my reading equivalent of comfort food, and opened this one to start reading not realizing who the author was.  Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.  And you know what?  It's not perfect, but I was engaged.

Shelley Fairhill is a horticulturalist/gardener and every day she walks past a magnificent home with a horribly neglected garden.  Underneath the mess of overgrowth she knows there's a real gem yearning to be restored, so she screws up her courage to buzz at the front gate.  The owner, Declan Grant, is a recluse and only buzzes her in because he's waiting on some computer parts and he thinks she's the courier finally arrived.  Um, no.  Needless to say he closes the door in her face, but not before she foists her business card off on him.

Turns out it doesn't take all that long for Shelley to hear back from Declan.  She thought the ship hadn't sailed so much as sunk at the dock.  But turns out his posh neighbors aren't too pleased with the overgrown garden and Declan has money to throw at the problem to make it go away.  So he calls Shelley and immediately finds himself enchanted with her.

I really liked these characters.  Shelley is my kind of girl.  5'10", strong, working a physically demanding job that requires less than appealing work wear and constantly overlooked.  Her last relationship ended so disastrously (Steve failed to mention that he was already married) that she's sworn off men and has plans to use her big pay day from Declan to travel.  Declan is a game designing wunderkind, having sold his Lara Croft-like creation at a young age basically making him a gazillionaire.  He was married and adored his wife, Lisa.  She died immediately following childbirth, as did their newborn daughter, Alice.  Declan blames himself and continues to mourn - hence the whole living like a hermit in his magnificent house and letting the garden go to hell.

This is a pretty straight-forward romance that gets dinged on execution.  The author has a tendency to get stuck in the weeds (ha!) and there's a lot of gardening goo-gah here that feels like filler.  It takes a while for the romance to get moving because Shelley is rhapsodizing over the garden and Declan finds himself creatively energized by Shelley to the point where he starts designing a new gaming heroine.  Once the gardening stuff settles down to a dull roar, the story picks up steam and I really liked the ending.  I suspect some readers may feel like Shelley overreacts (I don't think she did).  She  basically has to draw her line in the sand.  She loves Declan but she can't spend her life trying to heal a grieving man who cannot let go of the past out of guilt.  It's the choice Declan makes at the end, how he chooses to take those first steps towards dealing with his grief and his guilt, that were quite memorable.  It's not something we see a lot of in romance novels, let alone in our romance heroes.

No, it's not perfect.  The gardening porn was a bit much and the pacing dragged in the early chapters.  However I really liked these characters and was ultimately charmed by them.  Comfort food indeed.

Final Grade = B-