Part One Of Two

In between the bad news we got last week, and The Boyfriend's family visiting this week, I've gotten very little reading done. With my brain scattered in various directions, it's probably a good thing I'm currently working on an anthology, All Through The Night by Suzanne Forster, Thea Devine, Lori Foster and Shannon McKenna. Since I've been a bad blogger, I thought I'd talk about this book in parts - today being part one. Spoilers run rampant here, so consider yourself warned.

Stranger In Her Bed by Suzanne Forster - This story was not a good way to start off, as I found it very silly. The heroine is suffering from agoraphobia after being mugged on the street outsider her home. The neighborhood has gone to pot, with thugs running wild and free. She also quit her job as a software designer due to a public humiliation (she sent a titillating e-mail to the owner of the company not realizing he was the owner - hello, stupid), but still works for the same company as a software tester. She's currently testing out a software that's a cross between phone sex and porn, and when her fantasy man shows up in her bedroom (in the middle of the night!) she boinks him to free him from a "curse." Naturally it's the company owner who's her fantasy man - oh and the human resources person who has been calling her and the guy renting an apartment from her over the garage. Personally my brain would be setting off The Stalker Alarm and I'd run far, far away - but I'm silly like that. Final Grade = D.

No Mercy by Thea Devine - Devine is one of those authors I know I shouldn't like, but I just can't help myself. This story is vintage Devine, so if you haven't liked her work before, this isn't likely to change your mind. Heroine is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who marries a very rich bad boy with lots of family connections. Marriage bursts into flames and seven years later, white trash heroine is successful real estate agent. Hero comes riding back into town having salvaged the family business and wants the heroine back. He's possessive, she's still in love with him but scared out of her wits. Lots of family dysfunction also in the mix. None of these characters are terribly likeable, but Devine works for me because her heroines aren't shrinking violets. When the hero bulldozes into the story, the heroine stands toe-to-toe with him, for the most part anyway. Final Fangirl Grade = B-.

I'm taking a pit stop to torture myself with The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers by Lilian Jackson Braun (Why? Why do I keep bothering? Seriously, I should go on that TV show Intervention), then it's back to the anthology for the Lori Foster (oh boy....) and Shannon McKenna stories.