Saddle Up!

I had a new post go live on Sunday over at Heroes and Heartbreakers.  This time around I'm talking about western romances and why they rock my socks.

Sam Elliott = nom, nom, nom

Random Romance Sunday: Lacy In Leather?

The Book: Lacy by Diana Palmer

The Particulars: Historical romance, first appeared in 1991 from Ballantine.  Has since gone on to be reprinted numerous times, the most recent an upcoming mass market paperback edition from HQN (Harlequin).

The Blurb:

At the sprawling Whitehall cattle ranch, one indomitable woman dares to follow her desire no matter where it may take her.

When Lacy Jarrett and Cole Whitehall are unwittingly compromised into marriage, her dreams of a passionate forever are met with hard, cold resentment. For the boy whom she teased and flirted with not so long ago has been changed by the horrors of war. Their uneasy union bridles with torment - made worse by the blatant desire that remains unquenched and unchallenged. But Lacy's undying love for the handsome Texan is her destiny, and she vows to reignite the sensual fire dormant in their souls AND unlock the secrets of Cole's stormy heart.....

Is It In Wendy's TBR?:  Nope.

Any Reviews?:  Not really.  Amazon customer reviews range from 2 to 5 stars.  The average rating over at GoodReads is currently showing as 3.84 out of 5 stars.

Anything Else?:  I've never read Diana Palmer.  Now, that said, I've read enough reviews for various Diana Palmer books over the years to give me the feeling that it's probably a good thing I've never read a Diana Palmer.  My gut tells me that it wouldn't be the best experience for me.  At all.  Maybe I'm wrong and missing out.  And maybe this is a wise decision and it's allowing me to hang on to that last thread of sanity that my one and only book by Danielle Steel didn't snap.

That being said, I know more than one romance reader who considers Palmer their crackalicious guilty pleasure.  Hey, it's not our place to judge.  Mine is Thea Devine, and dollars to donuts over 75% of you reading this have gobbled up a fair number of J.R. Ward novels.  Here at the Bat Cave we preach tolerance and acceptance....as Wendy eyeballs that Old Skool Thea Devine in her TBR with the over-the-top trashy cover art.

Ahem.  

Even with the numerous reprints, I just had to showcase the original cover art.  I couldn't seem to find a bigger image, but I'm fascinated by what the heroine is wearing.  I mean, what is she wearing?  To me it looks like a leather apron with nothing underneath.  If she's a butcher or carpenter, I'm thinking it's not wise (or sanitary) to go to work with just a leather apron on.  Wonder if she's had the health department called on her....

The Cuteness, It Burns

Something to tide over the Lemon Drop Fan Club until my monthly reading recap post happens in another week or so.  I'm beginning to think y'all are a bit like my own parents.  You don't head out west to visit me or even my sister.  No, it's all about the baby.

Lemon Drop hits Mommy's bookshelf before bedtime for a little light reading.....

What can I say? Mommy's an English teacher. Poor kid doesn't stand a chance. 

Auntie Wendy is just going to have to slip her grocery bags full of Harlequins, books with oiled-up Fabio wannabes on the cover, and to even out the Love Cooties - books that feature dead bodies, autopsies, and the occasional serial killer.  After all, I want to ensure she'll be a well-rounded and informed reader, don't I?

On Reading Reviews

Gird your loins loyal blog followers: Wendy is going to beat the dead horse that is book reviews.  Now, before you scurry off in the totally opposite direction from this blog, let me assure you - this will not be one of those posts.  No, this is more a post about how we, as readers, read reviews.  It dawned on me recently that as much as I love talking about the books I read with other people, I don't read a whole lot of book reviews when it comes making purchasing decisions for my own personal leisure reading (for the Day Job, that's another matter entirely - I read a crap load of book reviews for work).  And being the Nosy Nellie that I am, I thought it would be fun to hear what the rest of you had to say on the subject.

I've always approached my own book reviews as me talking to some nameless, faceless reader out there in the ether.  I do not write book reviews for authors.  I'm writing them for readers.  Frankly the idea of an author looking at one of my reviews as a way to critique their work, or make it "better" somehow, slightly horrifies me.  I mean, really - what do I know about writing?  Holding up this blog as Exhibit A - yeah, not a whole helluva lot.  Over the years I would say my review style has evolved somewhat.  Frankly, I wrote better reviews when I was with TRR.  They sounded more "professional," for lack of a better adjective.  These days I'm definitely more "chatty" in my reviews.  With apologies to All About Romance, I like that "back fence" feeling in my reviews.  I like it when a little of the reviewer's personality comes through.

I have certain hard and fast rules when it comes to reading reviews.  The Grand Daddy #1 Rule Of Them All is that if I have immediate plans to read (and review) a title in the near future - I don't read any other reviews on the same book until afterward.  I have a number of reasons for doing this.  I like to go into books "cold."  I mean, I want to know next to nothing about the plot, characters, etc.  I also loathe and despise spoilers.  I think this is probably a holdover from my pre-romance reading days when all I read were mystery/suspense novels.  I mean, what's the point of reading the mystery if you already know "whodunit."  In a romance, I know I'm getting the happy ending, but I want to know nothing about the journey to said happy ending.  Hell, the journey is the whole bloody point.  And finally, I don't want to unintentionally "crib" anything from someone else's review while writing mine.  I would never do this intentionally, but sometimes things get lodged in my brain, and I can't remember where I might have picked it up - and well, it just saves hurt feelings and it means it's one less opportunity for Wendy to look like an asshole.  People, I don't need anymore opportunities than I already have.  Just sayin'.

Rule #1 is the most important.  If the book review passes that rule (Wendy has no immediate plans to read the book, it's not in her TBR etc.), then I continue on to other rules.  They are?  Well, these days, I'm pretty much skipping all paranormal romance and urban fantasy reviews.  Why?  For those of you who have "known" me a long time, you might recall at one point I had some Epic Burn Out over Regency historicals.  I went years without buying or reading them.  About three years as a matter of fact.  I've since recovered from Regency Burn Out, but now I'm back in Epic Burn Out Land with anything woo-woo paranormal-y.  I just don't care anymore.  So yeah, I'm skipping them.  Am I missing out on some great reads?  OK, yeah - probably am.  But I learned a long time ago that when I get in one of these "moods" time is the only solution.  Plus, there's the small factor that even before Epic Paranormal Woo-Woo Burn Out - these types of sub genres were harder sells for me.  Just not wired that way as a reader ::shrug::.  But I certainly appreciate that other readers love them, including the people who frequent my library system.  I read plenty of paranormal/urban fantasy reviews for work.  Trust me.  I'd have a revolt on my hands if I didn't.  But for me personally?  Yeah, nada.

I pretty much read all category romance reviews.  Even with only Harlequin publishing this sub genre these days, there's a ton of them published every month.  So much of it, that I can't possibly read or buy every single book, every single month.  I especially like reading category romance reviews from readers who enjoy them as much as I do.  Lori (who I swear, is my Harlequin Ho Reading Twin), Lynne Connolly, who I rely on to wade through all those Greek tycoons in the Presents line for me, and SarahT at Monkey Bear Reviews.  These are the readers I tend to be the most "in sync" with.  Certainly there are a lot of resources out there these days for category romance reviews, which I really appreciate!

With historical romances, erotic romance and single title contemporaries - my review reading is more scatter-shot.  I skip reviews for authors that I've discovered just don't work for me.  I skip pretty much all historical western reviews because I buy 90% of that sub genre no questions asked (doing my part by voting with my dollars), and I just flat-out don't read a lot of single title contemporaries.  I discovered this past year that when I want contemporary, I want category.  Go figure.

At the end of the day, reading reviews from others comes down to figuring out how well I mesh with them.  There's some readers out there in Romance Novel Land who seem to "mesh" with my own personal reading quirks pretty well - and others who are light years away.  At the end of the day, I like the reviews that give me a lot of "why."  Why the reader liked the book.  Why the reader loathed the book.  Why the reader thought the hero was yummy or missed a couple of stops on the evolutionary scale.  Why the heroine was smart and capable, or dumber than a sack of hair.  Ultimately this is what I'm looking for.  I browse a lot of online stops looking for this stuff, and when I find it, I keep reading.  It's really that simple for me.

How about you - have you noticed any of your own personal quirks when it comes to how and why you do or don't read reviews?

His Wife For One Night

Sometimes a good book needs to grow on me.  I start it, it's pleasant enough, not necessarily wow'ing me.  Then when I'm well and truly lulled, the author pulls out the big guns and hits me upside the head.  A double-whammy smackdown.  I get that punch-in-the-gut feeling, and I fall in love.  Then there are books like His Wife for One Night by Molly O'Keefe.  This type of book doesn't come along all that often for me, but when it does?  Sheer bliss.  What type is it?  The type of book that you read the first page, the first chapter and you just know.  You know you're going to love the book.  You know you're going to fall in love with these characters.  You just....know. 

Jack McKibbon grew up on a cattle ranch north of Los Angeles and has only one fond memory of his childhood - Mia Alatore.  His mother was pure evil, his father a coward who hid behind a whiskey bottle, but Mia?  Mia was his best friend.  The housekeeper's daughter.  She idolized Jack.  She allowed him dream.  And he dreamed big.  All the way to becoming a well-respected scientist whose life work it is to bring water to a thirsty world.  So when Mia needs help, help that can be solved by marrying her, he steps up to the plate.  She's working his family ranch, taking care of his sick father, and he's off saving the world.  It's a marriage of convenience until a night in Santa Barbara makes things terribly inconvenient.  Then tragedy strikes, and Jack finds himself coming home to the Rocky M ranch to lick his wounds, only to be confronted by a wife who wants a divorce.

Mia has loved Jack her entire life.  Desperately, passionately, loved him.  But Jack's too big, larger than life; Jack belongs to the whole world.  Now, after years of him coming, going, calling her to attend some fundraiser as his date, her putting her heart on her sleeve, she's done.  She can't do it anymore.  She can't keep putting her heart out there only to have Jack leave again.  She hasn't stopped loving him, but she can't keep on torturing herself this way.  She has a small measure of pride left.  Now, just as she's had the guts to tell him she wants out?  He's back, and suggesting that maybe they could really try this time.

This is an emotionally complicated and messy love story.  Jack, bless his heart, is totally self-absorbed and clueless.  He's not malicious about it, he's just....a scientist.  He's very logical and analytical, putting the various aspects of his life into neat, tidy compartments.  Work is in one.  Mia is in another.  And his past?  Another compartment, shoved into a dark, dusty back corner where he never goes.  When Santa Barbara happens, the lids to his compartments open up, the contents begin spilling out, and things get messy.  Jack doesn't do messy. 

You bleed for a heroine like Mia.  She's not afraid of hard work.  She's a strong woman.  But she's desperately in love with a man who just doesn't "get it."  Certainly she's prickly, and she doesn't necessarily throw herself at him, but Jack is so wrapped up in his own head that he doesn't see what's obviously standing right in front of him.  It all adds up to hurt feelings, painful declarations, and emotionally charged scenes between the two.  But now that Jack seems to have caught a clue, is it too late?  Because Mia just can't take it anymore.  She's hit her breaking point.  She's just not that much of a masochist to keep having her heart trampled all over.  Jack seems sincere, but can her heart afford to take the risk?

I don't like romance novels to be too easy - because honestly?  Who the hell ever said love was easy?  It's not.  It takes work, and with work comes pain, heartache, hurt feelings, anger, all the stuff we don't want to deal with.  But when we do deal with it?  It's heaven, and that's why they call it love.  O'Keefe weaves a painful back story, drops in two damaged people, and makes them bleed for their happily-ever-after.  It's magic.  Magic from the very first chapter.

Final Grade = A

Random Romance Sunday: Someone Pass The Ginkgo Biloba

The Book: Wild West Brides by Cathy Maxwell, Ruth Langan & Carolyn Davidson

The Particulars: Historical western anthology, Harlequin, 2002, Out of Print

Is It In Wendy's TBR?:  Nope, I've read it.


The Blurb:

National Bestselling authors Cathy Maxwell, Ruth Langan and Carolyn Davidson team up to bring you Wild West Brides, a collection of three brand-new stories about women who conquered the West and found their soul mates . . .

Flanna and the Lawman by Cathy Maxwell
Desperate for someone to help her protect her land, a female con artist saves an ex-lawman from the hangman's noose by claiming him as her no-good husband, and finds herself wanting to turn their charade into a real marriage.

This Side of Heaven by Ruth Langan
When a runaway and her young nephew find a safe haven with a solitary Montana rancher, three lonely people become a family, until their peace is threatened by the boy's father, bent on vengeance.

Second Chance Bride by Carolyn Davidson
His mail-order bride's deceit had stung him to the quick, but the pregnant widow's care of his four-year-old daughter had Jebediah rethinking his vow to send her packing as soon as her baby was born.

Any Reviews?:  Mrs. Giggles gave this one an 86:

"Of the three, only Cathy Maxwell's Flanna And The Lawman is worth a reread. In fact, Flanna And The Lawman is, in my opinion, ranks up there with Connie Brockway's Heaven With A Gun (from the Outlaw Love anthology) as one of the finest Western novellas I've read. The other two are standard, formulaic marry-in-distress romances with no refreshing twist to make them memorable."

RT gave it 4 Stars:

"These three tales are heartwarming, fun and a wonderful way to wile away a few hours and feel satisfied not once, but three times."

Anything Else?:  You want to know the real reason I review darn near everything I read somewhere online?  Yeah, so I can remember something about the book!  I've read this anthology.  I know I've read this anthology, but I'm pretty sure it was pre-blogging days.  The bad news is I did not read it for TRR, so that means....no review.  Which means I can't recall a damn thing about any of these stories. 

Usually I can recall at least a little something.  Like say, "I remember liking the Maxwell story" or "I thought the hero in the Langan story was yummy."  But yeah - I don't even have that. 

I got nothing people!

Which usually means I just found the book a pleasant diversion.  Nothing blindingly brilliant, nor brain-damagingly awful.  Nice, pleasant, but just sorta there.

The worst of it is that I did, at one time, have yearly reading records going this far back, but yep - you guessed it - they went up in flames during a Great Computer Meltdown (circa 2005). 

Uh, which would be why I keep all my reading spreadsheets in Google Docs these days.  Unless Google melts down, I'm thinking they'll be safe for at least a wee lil' bit......

Yammering Elsewhere

There's a whole lot of Wendy today, just....uh, at other online venues.  First up, it's my turn in the rotation over at Access Romance Readers Gab.  Today I'm talking about the evolving nature of conflict.  Specifically conflict in contemporary settings.  Ch-ch-check it out!

++++++

Today also marks my first ever post over at Heroes & Heartbreakers.  I'm blathering on about historical romances set in "unusual" locales and time periods, why I love them, why I want more of them, yada yada yada.  Also, if you haven't checked out the new site yet - be sure to do so!  I'm finding it a lot of fun so far, and I'm not just saying that because...well...I'm doing a bit of writing over there.

+++++

A really cool e-mail landed in my in-box yesterday.  This Saturday, February 19 Harpercollins/Avon will be hosting a live video chat at a booksigning at Turn The Page Bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland featuring Nora Roberts, Jeaniene Frost, Pamela Palmer, Grace Burrowes, Mary Burton and Stephanie Dray.  You can check out Avon's information page for all the gory details.

+++++

And in a different sort of "booking" update, my excitement over baseball Spring Training was dampened this morning by the news that my first baseman, Miguel Cabrera, has lost his damn mind.  I'm pretty well horrified for him, his family, and the entire Tigers organization.  I'm also thankful, that by some incredible miracle, nobody got hurt - because it sounds like Miggy didn't just tie one on....but more like two or three....or fifteen. 

I can't seem to talk about it anymore right now.  I'm flip-flopping between being truly worried about his well-being and mental health....to wanting to drive down to Florida and beat the crap out of him.

Sigh.

TBR Challenge 2011: Comfort Food

The Book:  Land of Dreams by Cheryl St. John

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Harlequin Historical #265, 1995, Out of Print, has not been digitized but should be fairly easy to find used.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  Cheryl St. John is an autobuy for me.

The Review: Every romance reader has at least one "comfort author."  An author whose books evoke warm fuzzy feelings - like drinking hot chocolate on a snowy day, your grandmother's apple pie, or homemade macaroni and cheese.  St. John is one of those authors for me.  If I had to label her particular "formula," I would say that she writes nice romances, about nice people.  Land of Dreams, only her third published book, reads like classic St. John.  If you've read this author before, this book holds absolutely no surprises....but then it doesn't have to.  It's pretty dang enjoyable, just like grandma's apple pie.

Thea Coulson has gone through life in her tiny Nebraska town known as Too Tall Thea.  She's either looking men in the eye, or looking down on them.  Between her height, her pale as snow complexion, and her red hair - well, it's no wonder she's an old maid.  Her status is also her burden to bear.  She runs her father's household, even though he's married to her stepmother.  She's also roped into various local causes, church functions, housewarming parties etc. etc. etc.  Thea does not have a life of her own.  Nobody is outright cruel to her, it's almost worse than that.  They take her for granted.   And she's so desperately lonely.  So lonely that when an Orphan Train rolls through and nobody claims Zoe, a young cripple girl who cannot talk, Thea convinces the social worker that she'll look after her until a suitable family can be found.

Booker Hayes has finally left the Army, and has gone to New York City to visit his younger sister.  Only he discovers both Julia and her husband have died, and his niece Zoe was taken to the foundling home.  When he gets there, he discovers he's too late.  She was hustled on board an Orphan Train.  So now he's off to Nebraska, where he discovers Zoe in the home of Thea Coulson.  Booker has some land in the area, and a lot of big dreams.  He wants to raise his niece, the only family he has left.  However, there's Thea to consider.  A woman he didn't expect to find, a woman he can't believe is still single.  Are all the men in town blind and epically stupid?

What we have here is a favorite trope among many romance readers: the Plain Jane heroine who is sitting on the shelf, and the hero who is immediately captivated by her.  There is no warming up period for Booker.  He takes one look at Thea and is smitten.  It actually gets worse for him once he gets to know her and discovers how kind, caring, and thoughtful she is....on top of being beautiful.  He can't believe his good fortune!  Now to convince her that he's the only one for her.

Naturally, it's not that easy.  Thea is filled with a lot of self-doubt.  Nobody is outright mean to her.  Nobody says nasty things to her...well, to her face anyway.  No, they don't see her at all.  She's the grease that keeps the cogs moving.  She's a necessity, but she's also wallpaper.  Nobody sees Thea, they just see what she can do for them.  And Booker is desperately afraid of turning into one of those people.  He wants Thea, and badly.  But does that make him just as selfish as....well....everyone else in her life?

The conflict here is very gentle.  Some would even say this book is a slow starter.  Even though she doesn't wallow, this is really Thea's story about her discovering her self-worth.  For that reason, some of the conflict between the couple stems from them not sitting down and hashing out their feelings.  Of course, after 27 years of believing she's not good enough, Thea's insecurities are pretty easy to understand.  What I really appreciated is that this allows the author to show the reader Thea's faults.  Without these faults, our heroine would have been a hopeless Mary Sue.  A Mary Poppins clone taking in orphaned children, baking pies for the church bake sale, and cooking her father's meals.  These moments allow the reader to see Thea's warts - she's slow to trust Booker, her selfishness.  It all makes her seem like a real person.

The author spices up the final quarter of the story with some external conflict.  This is actually pretty good stuff, although I would have liked more in the way of remorse from the idiot townspeople.  Also, this is when the relationship between Booker and Thea is finally consummated....and it's worth the wait.  I like sex as much as the next girl, but after a while I get a little bored with historical characters hopping in and out of bed without so much as a by-your-leave.  There's quite a bit of tap-dancing here, again because of communication issues, but hell, if I'm honest?  It was damn refreshing.

This is by no means my favorite book ever by St. John, but it was a pleasant, cozy read.  Which probably sounds like I'm damning it with faint praise - but I'm really not!  If you're a fan of historical westerns that give you that warm fuzzy feeling?  Yeah, this is good stuff.  I'm not going to say drop everything, run to the nearest UBS and buy it now!  But if it's sitting in your TBR or you stumble across it one day?  It's a really nice read.

Now someone pass me another slice of granny's apple pie.


Final Grade = B

Heroes & Heartbreakers

So there's a new online romance community on the Internet block!  Launching today is Heroes & Heartbreakers, a publisher-neutral online community that will discuss (and squee!) about all things romance.  The official launch was today - and holy cow! - there's just about something for everyone.  Whether it be blog posts, excerpts, short online reads, or contests.  There is oodles of content already - well worth heading on over and poking around a bit.

In other exciting news, I was invited to be one of their semi-regular contributors!  So you can expect to see the occasional SuperWendy post over there from time to time.  And since it's a publisher-neutral community, you can bet that I'll be beating a lot of the same dead horses I have in the last 10+ years discussing a lot of my personal favorite pet causes when it comes to the romance genre.  I'm not sure when my first post is scheduled to go live over there - but hey, it ain't all about me!  Head on over and see who else is hanging out.

Sidenote: I understand they're still working out the kinks of the RSS feed.  But in the meantime?  You can follow H&H on Twitter and Facebook.  Weeeeeeee!

Random Romance Sunday: Come To Butthead....

The Book: Demonwood by Anne Stuart

The Particulars: Historical Gothic romance, Candlelight Romance #523, 1979, Out of Print

The Blurb:

Demonwood. Its very name sent shivers down her spine. Why had she ever come to this forsaken place in the snow-covered Vermont wilderness? Connell Fitzgerald. Mary said his name and blushed.

Cynical, aloof, Connell was the most strikingly handsome man she had ever seen. Black hair framed his sun-tanned face. His fierce blue eyes pierced her soul.

But hadn't they warned her? Hadn't he killed his first wife? Mary didn't believe any of it. All she remembered was the excitement of their first kiss, the surging warmth of their bodies touching. They had said she was in grave danger, but she had vowed to make Connell love her forever. Could a passion like that be denied?

Is It In Wendy's TBR?:  No.  And you can bet if it were I would be putting this baby up on eBay so fast your head would start spinning.....

Any Reviews?:  Not really a review per se, but on her web site the author has a page she calls "out of print gems."  Buried at the bottom of the page is this particular "gem:"

"I love all my work (well, maybe there are a few that could happily disappear forever, like Demonwood or Lazarus Rising) but mainly I just love my books. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t write."

Eep.

Anything Else?:

Heh heh heh heh - she said "demon wood."

Beavis and Butthead, slightly horrified by the thought of demonized "wood."

Reminder: TBR Challenge For February

For those of you participating in the 2011 TBR Challenge, a reminder that your commentary is "due" on Wednesday, February 16. 

This month's theme is Ugly Ducklings.  This can run the gamut from Plain Jane heroines to scarred heroes.  Remember, the themes are completely and totally optional.  If you don't wanna read a book featuring an "ugly duckling," you don't have to.  Read something else you've unearthed from the depths of the TBR pile!

It's also not too late to sign-up.  If you are interested in doing so, or just want to learn more about the challenge, please see the information page.

eBook Review: Welcome To Cougarville!

Every romance reader has their weaknesses.  Those tropes or plot devices that they're unable to resist.  One of mine?  The younger hero who desperately wants to prove himself.  The hero in Vivian Arend's Turn It Up shouldn't have to prove anything to anybody - but he spends a good chunk of this story trying to convince our fair heroine (who is 10 years older than he is) that's she's the only woman for him.

Natasha "Tasha" Bellingham's biological clock isn't ticking so much as booming.  She's 34 and since Mr. Right has continued to evade her she decides a date with a turkey baster is the way to go.  That plan flies out the window though when Maxwell Turner gets wind of her scheme. 

Max has been in love with Tasha for years.  The problem is that she's always thrown up a road block between them by declaring that he's "too young."  So he's remained patient, spending time with her as a friend.  They're actually really great friends.  However when he finds out about her plans, he figures enough is enough.  If Tasha wants a baby, that's fine by him, but she ain't having one with anybody other than him.  So he sets about putting on the ol' full court press.  And this being an erotic romance, you know there's quite a bit of pressin' goin' on ::wink, wink, nudge, nudge::

Max is quite possibly one of the most swoonworthy heroes I've read about in recent memory.  I am a total sucker for the Hero In Pursuit trope, and Arend really makes it work here.  This can be tricky, since the guy who pines for the heroine from afar (and for years!) can come off as creepy or stalker-ish, but Max is such a fantastic guy that after the first chapter I was ready to remove the Gone Fishin' sign from my uterus and make babies with him.

The problem here is the heroine.  Max is so great that I frankly think that Tasha must be more than a little tetched to not immediately jump naked into his arms.  The main strike against him, in her obviously tetched opinion, is his youth - and since Tasha's had terrible past relationships with men her own age, she just knows it wouldn't work with Max.  Color me crazy, but if your experiences with men your own age end in disaster - I would think going younger or older would actually be the next logical step.  But hell, that's me.  Also, Max is gorgeous, super smart, healthy, a great kisser, even greater in (and out!) of bed, has his own business, is financially secure....oh, and he's nuts about her. 

Yeah, I can see why she'd hesitate to get involved with this guy ::eye roll:: /end sarcasm.

Blessedly, this is a novella, so Tasha's cold feet don't last for long and they enter into an arrangement.  However, in order to keep some tension in the story, the author introduces some other reasons for her commitment issues - namely those bad past relationships and an emotionally distant family.  This actually isn't half-bad conflict, but the problem is at novella length the author doesn't have the necessary word count to flesh it all out.  So instead Tasha still comes off as tetched to me.  Hell honey, if you hesitating in declaring your undying love to Max send him my way!  I've got no such problem.

I mean, other than the fact that Max is a fictional character and not real - but minor detail that....

Arend continues to excel at writing steamy, and it was nice to have a return visit with the Turner family.  On the subject of timeline, this book actually takes place before the events of Turn It On...and it was nice to see the heroine in that story (Max's twin sister) on the verge of making some decisions about her life.  I also, admittedly, am not the wildest fan of the ol' Booming Biological Clock plot device, but it serves it's purpose as a frame for the story.  However, readers looking for an "issues" romance involving a heroine wrestling with her decision in starting a family as a single parent should keep on looking.  The author is going for sexy and sizzle here, not dark and angsty.

This is kind of a hard story for me to grade.  As much as I adored Max, I never entirely warmed up to Tasha.  And I'm nothing if not a hard core heroine-centric romance reader.  Max is so lick-able that the guy deserves an A on his own.  But dang....I also have Tasha to consider.  So....

Final Grade = C+

The Rancher, The Baby And The Girl Next Door

Let me be honest here - as much as I love category romance, I tend to avoid books with babies on the cover.  Chalk it up to preconceived notions and not finding babies all that romantic.  Cute, yes.  Sweet, yes.  Adorable, certainly.  But the potential to suck all the sexy-times out of a room?  Monumental.  So yes, I avoid books with babies on the cover.  That all being said, Donna Alward is an author I've been meaning to try for a while now - and hello?  We have a rancher here.  A hunky Canadian rancher with mountains of emotional baggage.  Hell, I'm a mere mortal woman people.  I can't possibly be expected to resist that.  Baby on the cover or not.

Proud Rancher, Precious Bundle gives readers the ol' Found A Baby On My Doorstep trope.  And while this trope does have a high probability for silliness, Alward takes it, infuses it with a nice dose of reality, and runs with it.

After years working on spreads owned by others, Wyatt Black has bought his own piece of land complete with a fixer-upper ranch house.  He's working day and night, but decides to head back to the house one afternoon for a quick lunch break.  And that's when he finds baby Darcy sitting on his front porch.  Darcy is his half-sister's kid.  They both share the same useless father.  The difference being that Wyatt was acknowledged by the sperm donor, and Barbara wasn't.  In turn, Wyatt had enough of is own problems (see: Useless Father) that he never had any sort of relationship with her.  Now her baby is on his doorstep, Barbara is MIA, and Wyatt has a mountain of guilt.  Oh, and there's the small matter that Wyatt don't know nothing about no babies.

Completely out of his element, and frankly more than a little desperate, he shows up on his next door neighbor's doorstep with crying baby in tow.  Elli Marchuk is housesitting, and has already had one run-in with Wyatt.  But now the man is on her doorstep with an infant (!).  She simply cannot turn him away.  Even if the baby scares her so much that she can't breathe.

What we have here is what I like to call a "traditional" romance.  I happen to like these types of stories on occasion, and what makes this one work so well is that the author gives it some modern sensibilities.  If this book had been written 40 years ago, Elli would have swooped in like Mary Poppins, charmed the baby, bagged the man, and ridden off into the sunset with a passel of beautific children running behind her singing Kumbaya.  In this story, while Elli is what I call a "traditional" gal, her life is at a crossroads.  Her marriage didn't have the firmest of foundations, and when tragedy struck, it crumbled.  Then she lost her job.  So she's housesitting for friends, taking accounting classes online, and trying to piece her life back to together.  Then Wyatt shows up thinking that because she's a woman, well certainly she'll know what to do with a baby!  Never mind the fact that while she does know more than he does, it's not like she's drowning in real life experience.

Wyatt is one of my favorite types of heroes.  The guy who has no clue what the hell he's doing, but so desperately wants to do the right thing.  It's hard not to be charmed by this man, or to have my girlie heart go all mushy at the thought of him protecting this defenseless child.  He's strong, he's capable, and he's scared out of his mind.  I wanted to take this guy home to meet my Mom.

The author makes this story work by giving her characters plenty of believable baggage and including a dollop of reality.  A baby gets left on a doorstep, and when Barbara reappears that means Wyatt has to deal with social services (I don't know much about social services, but this seemed more believably handled here than it is in a lot of romances....which I admit isn't sayin' a whole lot).  Elli is still grieving for a past tragedy and has dealt with it by not dealing with it.  Wyatt is still stung by a screwed up childhood and his guilt over Barbara's situation.  All of this works really well as conflict.

Now that being said, it all works so well that I wished this were a longer story.  I tend to strongly dislike category romance reviews that say, "the book was too short blah blah blah" - but in this case, this one was.  There were moments in this story that took place "off page" that I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for. Also there were more than a few moments when I felt the budding romance took a back-seat to the conflict.  Between the baby and their baggage, it's not like the couple didn't have more than enough to worry about!  That all being said, the author makes up for it by giving the reader emotionally-charged final chapters with ::happy sigh::, equally emotionally-charged dialogue.  Still, I'd be lying if I didn't say I wished this had been published by Silhouette Special Edition or Harlequin SuperRomance.

I've always felt that traditional romance needs to have a place at the table when we're discussing the genre as a whole, and this latest for Alward is a fine example of a traditional story that didn't feel hopelessly "old-fashioned" or "outdated."  Yes we have a baby on the doorstep, but dang if the author didn't make me believe every blessed word of this fictional tale.  Wyatt and Elli both had their issues, but I loved that their pasts didn't keep them from finding their own happiness together.

Final Grade = B

Favorite Super Bowl Ad

No, nowhere near the obvious choice that I'm sure everyone else is going to be picking (although yes, I liked it too....).  My personal pick is so beautifully shot that I'm wondering who Chrysler hired to direct the commercial.  Plus, I'm from Michigan.  Not from Detroit, but dang, after I saw this spot I almost jumped up off the sofa and started chanting "U.S.A! U.S.A!"  Hell, the only thing missing here?  A shot of Comerica Park....which is actually right across the street from the Fox Theater. 

It made my sentimental heart go all squishy.  Oh, and that bit about being "written by folks who've never even been here?"  What he said.

Random Romance Sunday: The Lord, The Spinster And The Wager

The Book: Lord Stanhope's Proposal by Jessica Benson

The Particulars:  Historical romance, Traditional Regency, Zebra, 2000, Out of Print.  There is a 2005 reprint.  Different cover, same publisher, also out of print.

The Blurb: 

THE TON's MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR...
A true gentleman and handsome too, Lord Stanhope was the toast of the ton. But at the height of the Season he was rusticating to Sussex. Calista Ashton, an "elderly dried up spinster," had become the subject of a wager placed by his own foppish cousin. Now it was up to Stanhope to rescue the innocent Calista.

THE VICAR's MOST UNMARRIAGEABLE SISTER...
The vicar's sister, at four and twenty, didn't care a fig for fashion -- or amour. Instead, Calista Ashton loved racing fine steeds, reading scandalous books, and embracing an independent life. Now a group of visiting London bachelors have arrived at a neighboring estate. And much to Calista's dismay, she soon finds herself being courted by not one, but two noblemen! Unused to the ton's flirtations, her head was turned by the dashing Lord Stanhope who kissed divinely. Kissed? What was happening amid the lush country meadows: sweet seduction -- or true love?

Is It In Wendy's TBR?:  Nope.

Any Reviews?:  A treasure trove for a debut traditional Regency!  The Romance Reader gave this one four hearts (equivalent to a B grade):

"I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it was delightfully refreshing in its approach. There is a quirky prologue introducing the characters and I can only second the author's dedication to her agent, who never once suggested it be ditched. Calista and Tristan are two witty, mature characters, absolutely amazed at the insanity whirling around them as they find peace, laughter, and security in one other."

All About Romance gave it an A:

"Many Regency fans are mourning the shrinking of the sub-genre. If you need a healthy dose of lighthearted action, if you're tired of reading the same old, set-in-London stories, if you're ready for a level-headed and good-humored hero and heroine who manage to outwit everyone around them, I urge you to find Lord Stanhope's Proposal. You'll be cheering for Calista and Tristan as loudly as I did."

Rakehell (a site devoted to all things Regency) also gave this a very favorable review:

"If you didn't read this book the first time it was released, rush out and buy it immediately. This is a comedy of manners at its best. The writing is witty, light-hearted and brimming with amusing dialogue. The comedy is both in the dialogue and the situations the various characters find themselves in."

Anything Else?:  Let's go back in time to the mid-00s, when the traditional Regency was dying a slow, painful death.  In a bid to revive sagging sales, cartoon covers started popping up all over the place.  Now by all accounts, Benson wrote some "humorous" trads, but still....cartoon covers?  Really?  I mean, does anybody like these?  There's just something creepy and...cartoonish about them that they never appealed to me.  Give me headless people any day.

Also, admittedly, these types of covers usually had the opposite effect on me than the one I suspect the publishers were shooting for.  Instead of me thinking "fresh and lively," I'd think, "braindead, slapstick and stupid."  For every one "good" book I read with a cartoon cover, I must have read about 10 others that drove me to the nearest vodka bottle in a bid to kill off those short term memory brain cells.

All of Benson's trads eventually got the cartoon cover treatment, and when the the trad lines closed shop she went on to write a women's-fictiony-chick-lit book that was published in 2007.  Since then nada.

The Month That Was January 2011

Lemon Drop: Look Auntie Wendy!  I have a book!  It's made with this funny stuff that Mommy calls "paper...."

Me: Wow, how'd you get your hands on Mommy's book shelves?

Lemon Drop: Silly Auntie Wendy - I crawled over to it, of course!  This crawling thing is really neat-o.  Like The Great Baby Migration!  I'm a girl on the go, go, go!

Me: Hey, slow down there fireball.  Do you want to hang tight long enough to hear about what I read last month?

Lemon Drop:  Anything naughty?

Me: Well, 'fraid not.  But there are some decent reads to discuss.  I read six whole books last month.  I started out like a house on fire, and then kind of hit the skids in the second half.  But all books this month - and no padding my totals with short stories.  Here they are:

(Title links will take you to full reviews)

Guns And The Girl Next Door by HelenKay Dimon, romantic suspense, Harlequin Intrigue, 2011, Part of Series, Grade = B

• Heroine on the run after her boss tries to kill her in the middle of the woods runs up against the hero, a secret agent who also has ties to her boss.  Good action, a nice sense of urgency, and believable love scenes (no stopping to have sex while bad guys are shooting at them).  Harlequin Cheat Sheet: Secret Agent Hero, Heroine On The Run, Sequel Baitin' Hunky Hunks, Political Intrigue

Mommy Said Goodbye by Janice Kay Johnson, romantic suspense, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2004, Part of Series, Grade = B+

• When his wife disappears without a trace, hero finds himself living with a constant cloud of suspicion hanging over his head.  Then he learns that his son's new teacher is none other than one of his wife's former friends.  Great suspense thread, wonderful conflict, but did feel at times that the romance got a little lost in the shuffle.  Harlequin Cheat Sheet: Hero Under Suspicion, Teacher Heroine, One Troubled Young Boy, One Bubbly Little Girl, One Missing Wife

Revelations by Janice Kay Johnson, romantic suspense, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2004, Part of Series, Grade = B+

• Cop heroine has suspicions her father was murdered after some of his cronies also die in mysterious "accidents."  As if that weren't enough, she's developing feelings for her partner, the hero.  Smart, capable heroine with a vulnerable interior.  Great hero who recognizes her worth and is attracted to her....even before she buys some flattering clothes and starts wearing make-up.  Harlequin Cheat Sheet: Cop Heroine With Daddy Issues, Cop Hero, One Bitter Ex Wife, Two Kidlets

Darkwood Manor by Jenna Ryan, Gothic romantic suspense, Harlequin Intrigue, 2011, Grade = D

• Heroine inherits creepy old mansion from ex and runs up against mysterious hero who has family ties to the place.  When her beloved cousin disappears and spooky happenings begin, they unite forces to solve the mystery.  A lack of urgency, a hero who never fleshes out, annoying secondary characters, and a laughable villain doomed this one for me.  Harlequin Cheat Sheet: FBI Hero, Career Gal Heroine, One Missing Cousin, One Haunted Mansion, Superstitious Town Folk.

Now the reads with no full reviews.  Yeah, I suck:

Tempting a Proper Lady by Debra Mullins, historical romance, Avon, 2010, Part of Series, Grade = C

• A Victorian historical that was a mixed bag.  Heroine hoping to recover her reputation after her worthless husband dies is planning the wedding of an American heiress and a nobleman in need of funds.  Then the American hero shows up claiming he was engaged to the heiress first and that the nobleman dumped him on a deserted island where he's been for the last 2 years.  Great heroine that carried the book for me.  Also am a sucker for American hero in England trope (more so than American heroine....).  However aspects of this plot strained (while on the deserted island the hero just happened across pirate treasure ::snort::), and the plot felt loosey-goosey at times.  But all in all, a pleasant read even if it didn't knock my socks off.  Might read next book in series depending on back cover blurb.

The House on Sugar Plum Lane by Judy Duarte, inspirational women's fiction, Kensington, 2010, Part of Series, Grade = C

• Women's fiction with inspirational overtones.  Heroine on brink of divorce rents house in coastal California town that used to belong to her recently deceased mother's biological grandmother (Mommy was given up for adoption).  She's snooping for the truth because it was so desperately important to her mother during her final days.  Several secondary characters round out the story.  An OK story, although I thought the heroine's decision to dump her marriage just because her husband was a workaholic strained (Um, maybe she could have tried talking to the guy first before declaring she wanted a divorce?  Just sayin').  Also as the story wears on, the inspirational elements take on the subtlety of a sledgehammer.  But if you know someone who loves Debbie Macomber's brand of women's fiction?  This series would make a good read-a-like suggestion. 

Lemon Drop: Only four full reviews Auntie Wendy?  Did you get lazy when the calendar flipped to 2011?

Me: Well, yeah.  And sometimes with C reads I just don't have enough to say to stretch out into a full review.  This was one (OK, two) of those times.

Lemon Drop:  And no naughtiness?!  A girl cannot live on Are You My Mother? alone.  Sure, it's suspenseful....but not naughty.

Me: I'll try to do better next month sweetie.  Hey, I've got at least one ebook on tap for February that should promise some shenanigans.

Lemon Drop: Good.  Because if you don't corrupt me, who will?  I have it on good authority that it's one of your duties as my aunt.


Me: Oh boy....

Dropping The Veil

I met Rosie for lunch over the weekend where we chatted about life, going to RWA this summer (Squee!) and, of course, books.  One thing that came up in our conversation is my belief that what makes a book a keeper has as much to do with the time and place the reader is currently occupying, as it does with good writing, characterization and plotting.  Yes, the author can have all the "mechanics" of writing a good story down cold, but so much of what makes for an exquisite read is how that book hits the reader on an emotional level.  And as readers?  None of us live cookie-cutter lives.  We all come from different backgrounds, different experiences, and we all have our own "baggage" to lug around with us.  We bring all of that with us when we crack open a book.

Unless there are paranormal abilities involved, no author can predict any of this.  The best they can shoot for is to hit on some sort of "truth" through their characters.  One of the reasons that some of Megan Hart's books have worked so well for me is because she gives me some "truth" through the eyes of her characters.  At a recent So. Cal. Blogger gathering, Lori, Renee and I were talking about just that and I mentioned the reason Dirty worked so well for me was because I knew that heroine.  I'm pretty damn sure I went to college with her.  Maybe not as emotionally eff-ed up as Elle, but I knew women who could wield sex like a weapon.  Why they chose to do this certainly had everything to do with their own personal "baggage" - but yeah.  I could "relate" to Hart's character on that level.  It hit me in the gut.

One of the things I like to do when grading the books I read is to ask myself the question, "Do I want to drop everything and reread this right now?"  If the answer is yes, then the book gets an A.  Period.  End of story.  Despite the fact that I rarely reread thanks to crushing TBR Guilt.  However, it begs the question - can a book that hits you on that sort of level have the same impact the second, third, fourth etc. time around?

Some say no, I say yes.  As long as the reader is willing to "drop the veil."  The veil that takes you back in time to where you were when you read the story for the first time.  What your life was like.  Who the people in your life were.  What sort of emotional state you may have been in.

I seem to be able to "drop the veil" and this allows me to read books with a different set of expectations.  Right or wrong, if I pull out an old bodice ripper from the TBR, I'm probably not going to read it the same way as a book published last month.  Why?  Well, in a bodice ripper I expect purple prose out the ying-yang and "forced seduction."  I expect the heroine to be half flogged to death by the author as she heaps more and more abuse on her.  To a certain extent, I expect some absurd over-the-top-ness.  In a more contemporary release?  Yeah, all that gets on my last good nerve.  Give me purple prose and "forced seduction" in a current release and I'm likely to start frothing at the mouth. Hypocritical?  OK, sure.  But it is what it is.  I'm not the same girl I was at 16, thank the good Lord above.  Likewise, in another 10 years, where will I be?

At my core, I'm a nostalgic sack of mush.  I want to remember not only the keepers fondly, but also the emotional jolt they gave me.  Fiction, done well, does that for me.  It hits me in the gut.  It stays with me, maybe gives me a new way of looking at something or someone.  I keep those memories locked away, just as I keep my "keepers" sealed up tight in a Rubbermaid tote.  And when I open that tote I remember what I felt and what I was feeling during that time in my life.  That time when I first opened that book and I learned some sort of truth.