Here's a rehash of what I read, the great, the good, and the not-so-good.
Title links will take you to full reviews.
January - Category romance - Family At Stake by Molly O'Keefe (2006), Grade = B-
- Classic, angsty, reunited friends-to-lovers story within the Harlequin SuperRomance universe. The romance is good, but it was the other plot elements that I was actually the most invested in.
- A real keeper of a read, an American-set historical romance featuring a wounded Irish hero and a spinster southern belle heroine.
- A cute SuperRomance featuring a single mom, wounded cop hero, and a plucky young girl obsessed with Trixie Belden books. It was a pleasant G-rated read, but the romance was a little thin in spots (and no, not because of the "no sex" thing.....)
- A really good romantic suspense book featuring a clean-cut cop and a heroine from the wrong side of the tracks.
- A smooth writing style couldn't carry this contemporary romance that was completely devoid of anything resembling reality.
- A readable inspirational historical western romance with Hart's trademark angst. Unfortunately I found myself worn down by the exceedingly tolerant heroine who never got angry about anything.
- Typical Burton historical read for me. Which is to say that it was pleasant while I was reading it, but I don't have a lot of recall with it. One minor bugaboo on this one is a hero who doesn't open a box he inherits from the heroine's dead father until the end of the book (cripes I hate when characters do things like that - it's just not believable!)
- BDSM. 'Nuf said. OK, maybe not - I feel a rant coming on..... Character motivation that defied logic. Female characters in danger from a crazed stalker who have time to get together and gab about how amazing their sex lives are. A hero who can't have a "relationship" with the heroine because she's his dead BFF's "little sister" - but it's totally kosher to have "just sex" with her and arrange a gang-bang for her with three other guys. Ack! And a whole passel of men who kept calling the women in the story "baby," "honey," "sweetie," or "Angel." It was condescending as hell and I kept hoping the crazed stalker would show up with an Uzi. Breathe Wendy, breathe.....
- A cozy mystery that got lost under the "hook." I don't care about the heroine's work as an animal rescuer! I care about who killed the dead person!
- A mess of a read. Paranormal elements with absolutely no subtlety. A suspense thread that didn't make any sense. And cliches! Oh Lord the cliches! (The hero is Native American SO OF COURSE he has a "sixth sense", a teeth-grinding plot moppet etc. etc. etc.).
- Wonderful writing, but a plot device regarding the heroine that didn't work for me and the double standard in her actions compared to the hero's when they're both spies? Yeah, it bothered me.
- A nice SuperRomance read with just the right amount of "Christmas stuff" thrown in the mix. A heroine who meets her match with a hero who, in theory, should be totally ill-suited for her.
I am once again hosting the challenge for 2013, and I really cannot stress enough how much I enjoy the gig. I think all romance readers share the common goal of taming their respective TBR piles. This challenge is a fun, easy way to force your hand into actually, uh - doing something about the "problem." Would you like to sign on for 2013? More details can be found here, and you can either drop me an e-mail or leave me a comment on this post.
And so ends my recap(s) of my reading year that was 2012. Now, on to 2013!
2 comments:
I think I had better luck with my TBR reads than you did in 2012, Wendy. Granted they were few, but some of them were high caliber reads for me!
Hils: I started out great guns, and then wowzers! August through November were not very good. Those D reads especially, I probably should have DNF'ed - but knowing me (at the time) I probably didn't because I was operating under a time crunch. Oh well. At least they're out of the TBR now and out of the Bat Cave!
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