The Month That Was May 2013

Me: Hey, everybody thinks you'll go far - are you going to be a rock and roll star?

Lemon Drop: Mommy said I should take some time and learn how to play....

Me: Well at this rate you're more likely to go country, holding it slide style.  Do you want to kill your Mommy?

Lemon Drop:  Well, it could be worse.  I figure it's learn to rock out on the guitar or get myself an autotune machine, low-rise jeans, say y'all a lot and be the next Britney Spears.

Me: So you want to kill your parents, your aunts and your grandparents.  You are a devious little monkey.  Why don't we put your musical ambitions on the back burner for now and talk about what your Aunt Wendy read last month.  I only finished six books in May - but four of them were Bs!  Woo Hoo!

Title links will take you to full reviews.

The Greatest Of Sins by Christine Merrill - Historical romance, Harlequin Historical, 2013, Grade = D+

• Appreciated the risks the author took, but the fact that the non-blood-related hero and heroine were raised together, as siblings, from the time the heroine was born hit my personal ick button.  Chalk it up to me having an adopted niece growing up with her younger brother (who is biologically linked to the Wendy family gene pool).  My brain, it didn't want to go there....

Down By Contact by Jami Davenport - Contemporary romance, Boroughs Publishing, Digital only, 2013, Grade = B

• Book three in series featuring an uncouth NFL linebacker hero in need of etiquette lessons and the former mean girl who done him wrong in high school.  Good conflict, zippy story, I inhaled this in one sitting.

A Prior Engagement by Karina Bliss - Contemporary romance, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2013, Grade = B

• Soldier hero returns from the dead to find out the girl who done him wrong is claiming to be his fiancee.  Author does a good job of crawling inside the characters' and I understood these people even though there were times I wanted to shake 'em 'til their teeth rattled.

The Drifter by Susan Wiggs - Historical romance, Mira, 1998, Grade = B

• My TBR Challenge read for the month.  Doctor heroine gets some excitement when the hero shows up, in the dead of night, and kidnaps her to help his sick "wife."  Sympathetic characters with interesting baggage.

How To Seduce A Sheikh by Marguerite Kaye - Historical romance short story, Harlequin Historical Undone, Digital only, 2013, Grade = C+

• French heroine is rescued by sexy sheikh after she's put up for sale at a slave market.  Great use of setting and likable characters - but thought the conflict was too much for a short story.

The First Move by Jennifer Lohmann - Contemporary romance, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2013, Grade = B+

• Emotionally closed off heroine still living with a fateful decision she made as a teenager finds her life upended by the hero, a guy she went to high school with whom she didn't know existed at the time.  I had issues with the hero and romance, but as a "heroine's journey" this story was absolutely fabulous.

Lemon Drop: You really should reconsider my Britney Spears idea Aunt Wendy.  I mean, she's as dense as a bag of hair - but she is rich.  Rich enough to support her ingrate relatives.....

Me: Ahhh, I think I understand now grasshopper.  

Lemon Drop: That dream gig you fantasize about when you're on your third glass of wine.  Yeah, once I'm rich and famous I'd totally hire you to read romance novels and watch Law & Order reruns. 

Me: The student surpasses the teacher.  Why not?  I figure you have as much of a shot at being the next Britney Spears as your cousin, The Flash, does of playing for the Detroit Tigers.  Solid retirement planning on my part.

Lemon Drop:  Oh, and do my laundry.  And clean my mansion.  And just be at my general beck and call.  I won't ask you to cook though - because, like, whoa......

Me: On second thought....maybe not.