Wish Me Tomorrow

After launching with mostly reprints of older titles (mainly Special Edition and SuperRomances as far as I can tell), Harlequin Heartwarming is starting to branch out with original stories.  Wish Me Tomorrow marks Karen Rock's adult romance debut, and while I found some aspects of the story uneven, its strong emotional core make her an author to keep an eye on.

When she was a high school senior, Christie Bates' brother (who was only 18-months-older) finally succumbed to his long battle with leukemia.  An event like this effects people in a variety of ways, and for Christie it meant she went to nursing school and became a grief counselor.  In fact, that's how she meets Eli Roberts.  Eli brings his neighbor, John, to Christie's cancer support group.  A single father, Eli's bone cancer is in remission, which is how he met John - while they were both in the middle of chemo.  Christie wears her optimism on her sleeve and is a very positive person.  So you can imagine Eli's reaction when she starts spouting various platitudes.

However, these two are eventually thrown together thanks to a crisis  - and spend even more time together thanks to Eli's family situation.  His children, Becca and Tommy, have been acting out.  Especially Becca, who is one step away from flunking the eighth grade.  You guessed it - grief counselor Christie finds herself drawn not only to the family in crisis, but sexy Eli as well.

Looking over my reading spreadsheet, I'm almost ready to declare 2013 The Year Of The Cancer Romance.  I didn't set out to do it on purpose, but I've read a number of books this year featuring cancer survivors.  What makes this one notable is that it's the hero, and not the heroine (seriously, lots o' breast cancer reads this year).  It was a welcome change of pace, to see a hero, a man, coping with this sort of health crisis - and might I add - not coping with it terribly well.  Eli's solution to his cancer is to shut everyone out, including his children.  He thinks he's sheltering them, saving them from worrying over the details.  When in reality?  By not talking about it - he's scaring the hell out of them.

Christie is the sort of romance heroine who could get on my last good nerve if it weren't for her heartbreaking emotional back-story.  She is a bit of a Polly Perfect - sunny, optimistic - but it turns out that sunshine happy-go-lucky exterior is covering up a wounded interior.  When she finally bares her soul to Eli I found myself with tears streaming down my cheeks.  Literally, I was crying.  My throat started to close up and I sniffled.  I sniffled for cripes sake!

What didn't work so well for me was how every other woman in Christie's age bracket was portrayed in this story.  Eli, conveniently, has one of those ex-wives that I'm beginning to think only exist in Romancelandia.  Eli gets cancer, she leaves, and essentially abandons the children (She, literally, never sees them.  Never returns their phone calls.  Nothing.  Nada.)  Eli even tells Christie that the ex never wanted to have children.  Um, and she ends up having two?  Look, I know a lot of women feel pressure to have children - but the ex is never written in a way that makes me think she would feel "pressure" to conform (just the opposite actually).  So how the hell did she end up with two kids?  What, did Eli crawl up her vagina and take her ovaries hostage?  None of it makes sense, other than to be a convenient way to justify Eli having "trust issues" and being a single father.  Then there's the Overly Pushy Dance Mom (Becca's in dance) that aggressively flirts with Eli in front of Christie.  I get it, Christie is sweetness and light, but Christie can show off some claws when she has to.  Degenerating another female isn't the only way an author can further develop a heroine's character.  I'm sorry, it isn't.

However, that's really my only serious quibble - well, other than the ending.  Rock ends it the way I think she has to - especially if she wants any sort of realism to her story.  Our couple does end up together in the end.  They do declare their feelings openly, to each other.  However, Eli has bone cancer.  You don't need to be a rocket scientist (or even an expert in cancer) to realize that isn't exactly something that magically goes away with the wave of a wand and a sprinkle of fairy dust.  So while there is a happy ending, there is a wee bit of a cloud hanging overhead.  While that didn't necessarily bother me, I can certainly understand it being something that some readers would just want to avoid altogether.  And really, I can't say they're "wrong" and I'm "right."  It's going to boil down to what individual readers can roll with.

Still, it's a brave debut, gutsy in a lot of ways.  It's not an easy book, and Rock makes her characters ask and answer a lot of tough questions.  It's not a perfect read, but hell - it made Wendy cry.  That counts for a lot in my book.

Final Grade = B-

Note: It appears that print editions are only available through Harlequin.  Digital editions are available through a variety of online retail outlets.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.....

The Ususally Unusual Over At H&H

I've over at Heroes & Heartbreakers today, once again bringing you a handy shopping list of "unusual" historicals for September. 

And yes, I know it's a pretty thin list this month.  Historicals, in general, are pretty thin this month.  But never fear!  It looks like there will be more fruit on the vine for October.

Not that I need more books to read, or anything.  It's not like I'm totally neglecting every single book I own at the moment.  Stupid real life, sucking out my brains again....

Digital Review: Louder Than Love

Let's get this out of the way up front - Louder Than Love by Jessica Topper is women's fiction with very, very strong romantic elements. Now that I've publicly disclosed that - it should give you an idea of what sort of book we're dealing with here.  In a nutshell, one that gets better as it goes along.

Katrina ("Tree" or "Kat") Lewis is a single mother and a librarian.  She passionately loved her husband, and tragically lost him in a train accident before their daughter, Abbey, even turned a year old.  She left New York City, moved back home into her parents' house and grieved.  In fact, she's still somewhat grieving, although her pack of girlfriends think it's time for her to get her groove back.

It's while she's planning a library music program for kiddies that she meets Adrian Graves.  She wants him because he wrote the theme song for a PBS cartoon series about a Sherlock Holmes-like cat.  The problem is tracking him down.  The guy isn't exactly easy to find - but find him she does - and after she dangles a small paycheck in front of his nose - he agrees.  What she doesn't realize?  He doesn't exactly need the money.  Adrian (under a different name) was once a member of an influential heavy metal band.

This story, in a nutshell, can be summed up as Heroine Meets Hero, they spend time together, they eventually realize they love each other.  Conflict?  Um, yeah.  The conflict is basically a whole bunch of navel-gazing.  Lots of internal monologue'ing, especially in the early chapters, and very little heft to the angst until further along in the book.  Hell, Kat doesn't even find out about Adrian's heavy metal past until you're 50% (thank you Kindle) through the book.

The author tries to spice things up with a "villain" of sorts - but there's no bite to him and Kat just comes off looking stupid (Cupcake, when you notice that someone has driven a screwdriver through one of your car tires - you call the cops to file a police report.  Even if you only suspect who did it - hell, even if you have no suspicions whatsoever who did it.  The cops have it on record in case there is a rash of vandalism, or you know, you have a crazy psycho stalker who starts leaving dead kittens on your front porch).  Other filler includes Kat's group of girlfriends who frankly annoyed the crud out of me.  It didn't really help matters that everyone has a slightly "hipster turned Mommy brigade" vibe to them.

For the record, I loathe hipsters.  I don't really think I'm alone on this one either.

Nobody likes hipsters.  It's why they're called "hipsters."

It's a very slow book.  A very, very slow book.  The kind of book that I suspect more than a few people would DNF.  How a book about a librarian and a rock star could end up so boring is anybody's guess - but that's what happens here.

Now, on to the good.  The emotional stuff is well done.  I liked that Kat wasn't a "token widow" and 1) loved her dead husband and 2) struggles with "moving on."  I also liked Abbey (named after The Beatles album Abbey Road - gah, hipsters!), who seemed like a normal kid and doesn't stray into precocious matchmaking tot.  I also thought the "music stuff" was really well done.  Actually if I had to pick the top positive of this story - that would be it.  If you're a music junkie (even if you don't like heavy metal) - this aspect of the plot (such as it is) is done quite well.

So where does that leave us?  Well, somewhere around average.  It did get better the deeper I got into the book, mostly because I got more invested in Kat and Adrian as a couple.  But I'm not going to lie - I was glad when I got to the end and could move on to something else.

Final Grade = C-

TBR Challenge 2013: Eyes Of Silver, Eyes Of Gold

The Book: Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O'Connell

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Self-published, 2010, Available in print and digitally.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  At RWA 2013 in Atlanta, KristieJ threw down the gauntlet.  Said I had to read this book.  Then Rosie said that if I read this book?  Yeah, she'd totally blog again.  And since her blog has been a dead zone, and frankly all my Old Guard Blogging Buddies have been abandoning me (Why aren't you all thinking about me?!?!?!) - if I could get Rosie to blog by reading this book and get KristieJ to stop saying "Wendy, Wendy, Wendy" over the same book?  That is what we call killing two birds with one stone.  I downloaded it on to my Kindle right there in that Atlanta hotel room.

The Review:  Anne Wells is 28 years old, still unmarried, and so head-strong that her father has decided it's high time he bring her to heel.  Since Anne seems unwilling to budge and refuses to marry the man her father has selected for her, he keeps her a prisoner in their own home - but resourceful Anne manages to escape.  The problem?  Daddy Dearest has also been withholding food - so when a storm hits, a weakened Anne takes shelter in a barn - not realizing said barn belongs to Cord Bennett.

Cord is half-Indian, and despite his white father and Indian mother being married, there are events in Cord's past that make everyone in town think he's the devil incarnate.  When Daddy Dearest finds Anne in Cord's house?  Um, yeah.  Anne is assaulted (spoiler: not raped, for those of you with that particular trigger) and after the two are hastily married in some sort of bizarre, sicko ceremony?  Cord is beaten nearly to death.

But, of course, he doesn't die - because then our story would be over before we get 30 pages into this affair.

Anyway, the rest of the story pretty much follows Cord and Anne being thrown together, trying to make the best of it, despite the fact that both of their families should be shot, dismembered and sent through a hay thresher.

But I'm blood-thirsty like that.

This is a book that generated waves of squee'ing fangirls some time ago, and I sort of, kind of, understand why.  It's a compelling story.  The author employs Old Skool Romance Writing Rule #3 that the more external "bad stuff" that happens to the romantic couple, the better.  Also, the female characters in this story (OK, mostly Anne - but also sister-in-law Martha) have some spunk.  I like spunky heroines, so the moments when Anne starts mouthing off to various asshole secondary characters (and she's got plenty of targets to choose from), were really great.

But the writing?  Oh, the writing!  I gotta hand it to the author, she came up with a good story.  Too bad she decided to TELL it to me instead of painting me a picture.  Seriously all that was missing was a campfire, a log to sit on and some marshmallows for me to roast.  Damn near everything was told to me, nothing was really shown.  Which is unfortunate since I wouldn't have minded crawling around inside the characters' skin, getting to know them, seeing things through their eyes.  Instead I get "this happened, then that happened, and oh by the way, this happened 10 years ago to Cord and that's why everybody thinks he's the spawn of Satan."  The worst was during the climactic finish when a secondary character TELLS Cord (and naturally the reader) events that went down to spur the story towards the finish line.  You know what would have been better?  Actually SEEING those events first hand.  You know, AS THEY OCCURED!  Not reading some secondary character relating them to Cord AFTER THE FACT and therefore, TELLING me what happened.

SHOW ME!  SHOW ME WHAT HAPPENED!!!!!!!

Ahem.   OK.  Where was I?

Oh yeah.

But I kept reading.  Why?  Because, like I said, it's a compelling story.  Despite the fact that the villain is one-dimensionally eviiiiiillllllllll and all the secondary characters are painfully, moronically, unobservant (I think I'm supposed to think they're stubborn - but seriously a dumber bunch of people you'll never meet.  I kept hoping Cord would shoot his dumb-ass brothers, or baring that, Anne would - but alas.  Opportunity wasted).

Venting my spleen all over this blog post probably makes you think I'm going to slap this with a low grade - but I'm not.  I read it in 2 days and like I said, it's a compelling story.  And while the writing did bug the hell out of me, it does get marginally better as the story wears on.  In the end I'm glad I read it, and I did like it (my venting aside), but it also depresses me a little to think about what might have been.  What if this story saw a critique group?  What if an editor really sunk their claws into it?  What if the writing had been SHOWING instead of TELLING?  What if, what if, what if.  Yes, I'm happy that so many readers have squee'ed over this book, a historical western (people squee'ing over westerns = happy, happy Wendy) - but it makes me weep for the better written westerns that have died on the vine the past 10+ years in Romancelandia.  In the end, I'm slapping it with the grade I am because I did like the story - but will I ever recommend this tale?  Maybe?  Possibly?  But with serious reservations and a whole lot of "but, but, but...." thrown in as I'm "hand-selling" it.

Final Grade = B-

Digital Review: Everybody Hurts

Rebecca Rogers Maher might be one of the more exciting author discoveries I've made this year.  The Bridge is the second self-published novella I've read by her, and while it certainly does have "triggers" in it (just as Hurricane Lily did), it's really gutsy. Whether those guts are going to work for other readers is, well - up to other readers.

There is no meet-cute in this story.  Henry and Christa meet each other on the west tower of the Brooklyn Bridge in the wee early hours of the morning.  Both of them are there to commit suicide.  Henry because he's tired of pretending (he suffers from depression) and Christa because her breast cancer has come back for a sequel.  Funny thing about trying to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge though - neither one of them can go through with it now that the other one is there.  So they decide to grab some breakfast - and over breakfast they decide to spend the day together.  They'll spend 24 hours together, trying to convince the other one that life is worth living.

Yeah, it's not exactly Sunshine Happy Land - but the emotional heft of this story is really great.  Henry was born into a privileged world and has a privileged life - which has made his depression a struggle for those around him to understand.  By contrast, Christa is on her own.  Her mother dead from a drug overdose, her sister an alcoholic.  She waits tables for a living and has a failed marriage under her belt.  She's already had one mastectomy, and they've just found a lump in her other breast.  She's alone, broke, tired, and not willing to go through breast cancer yet again.

The biggest trigger in this story, I think, will be Henry's depression.  It's something that isn't easy to understand (and live with) in "real life" - so writing about it isn't exactly a cake walk.  Like all tough subjects, I suspect readers will either actively dislike him (for being "selfish") or maybe say the author "got it wrong" (that's not how depression is in my personal/my friend's/my relative's experience).  As an average layperson who has extremely limited experience with depression, Henry worked for me.  And honestly, I found Christa to be a perfect foil for him.  They're opposites on one side of the coin, and have a lot in common on the other.  Even given the shorter novella format, I understood how these two people would be drawn to each other and develop feelings - even on such an abbreviated time table.  I also loved that the author told this story in first person, alternating chapters between the two different points-of-view.  We're inside both Christa's and Henry's heads - which makes both of them easier characters to crawl around inside of and "understand."

The fly in the ointment here is obviously the ending.  The book starts out in a dark place, and it is a romance - so how does the author end it with hope, but without descending into Sugary Fairy Tale Land?  Well, she's brings in an outside event.  It's not entirely successful for me, but it does work - and honestly mulling it over in my own head, I'm not sure what else could have been done.  The story does end hopefully, and it also ends with, what I felt, were realistic expectations.  Henry's depression isn't just going to magically go away.  Christa's cancer is something she's going to have to deal with for the rest of her days (and how many days will that be?).  But I don't feel sad for these people in the end.  I'm happy for them.  I'm  happy they've found each other and made a meaningful connection.  I'm not sure all readers will feel this way, which will make for some intriguing discussions (hopefully!).  Maher is setting herself up to be an author who won't be for everyone, but that everyone really should read.  Her voice and her risks are that intriguing.

Grade = B+

Digital Review: Like a Record Player

I have publicly said, many times, that I love first person point-of-view. If anything could possibly get my ovaries out of permanent vacation mode, more first person romance novels would probably be it.  Well, I've finally found out where all the first person books in Romancelandia live.

In self-publishing.

Spin by Bella Love is the first in a sexy contemporary novella series, and does what all first books in series should do.  That is to say, even with my quibbles, I'm looking forward to the later installments featuring the hero's friends and business partners.

Jane MacInnee ("Janey Mac") has spent her entire life trying to make people forget she's from Dodge Run.  From the time she was old enough to know better, she's determined to kick up her heels and run as far away from RedneckVille as she can - including her drunken mother and an abusive father (oh, who just happened to be the town mayor).  The problem is that the only thing Jane is good at is "getting shit done."  So she figures her ticket to success is managing other people - specifically as an event planner to people who have more money than good manners.  It's while she's working a job that she thinks will catapult her into the stratosphere that she runs into Finn Dante.

Finn was the "bad boy" in Dodge Run.  The boy mothers told their girls to stay away from, and naturally none of those girls listened.  Not even Jane - who had a couple of brief encounters with him that got her all spun up.  Now she just so happens to be in Finn's backyard, and he's bound and determined to finish what they started all those years ago.  The question is - will Jane stop running scared long enough to enjoy the ride?

If you're a reader that totally goes for the whole Small Town Bad Boy thing, then this is the book for you.  Finn is so hot he could melt ice cubes on the North Pole.  He's sexy, he's charming, and he practically smolders on the page.  He also seems like a nice guy, one who doesn't let any personal baggage (his military career, his past....) get in his way.  He's a guy that isn't scared (or at least doesn't let on that he is) and he's not the sort of guy to let anything hold him back.

In contrast, Jane is very much the sort of person who is letting her baggage overwhelm her.  Her whole life has been spent trying to make people forget she's "trash from Dodge Run."  She's going to climb that ladder no matter how many butts she has to kiss, how many messes she needs to clean up, and she's going to do it all while soothing a ruffled caterer, reassuring her steamrolled client's daughter, and dodging the lecherous advances of her client's husband.  She's got a "can-do" attitude that masks the fact that she's spent her whole life running scared.

Even though this novella is told in alternating first-person points of view (between Jane and Finn) - Jane is really the character that carries this story.  She's a mess, but she's a likable, charming and sometimes funny mess.  She knows she should say no to Finn, she knows she should stay away, but she can't - because, I mean, hello?  Just look at the guy.

I did have a few quibbles with the story, but nothing that will keep me from dumping the series.  I did think there were a few uneven chapter transitions and the writing could have been smoothed out in a few places.  Also I raised my eyebrows so high during the sex scene involving food that I'm surprised they're still on my forehead - but extra points to the author for not using the old stand-bys of chocolate, whipped cream, honey or champagne.  Trust me, there is no way you're going to guess.  Still, I had a good time reading it, and I was engaged by the characters.  Heck, I even read the teaser for the next story featured at the end, and that's something I never do.

Final Grade = B-

Reminder: TBR Challenge For September

For those of you participating in the 2013 TBR Challenge, this is a reminder that your "commentary" is due on Wednesday, September 18.

The theme this month is Westerns (Contemporary or Historical - they're all good!).   Ahhh, yes - the theme y'all get stuck with every single year because "Wendy likes westerns."  However remember, the themes are totally and completely optional.  Maybe you're not in the mood for a western or maybe (perish the thought!) you don't really care for them.  Hey, that's totally cool! The themes aren't important - it's the act of reading something, anything!, that has been lying neglected in your TBR pile.

Details about the challenge and a list of participants can be found here.

Digital Review: Those Wacky Highlanders

Readers often talk about how digital has changed the way they read.  For me?  The only noticeable difference I see is the way I read short stories and novellas.  I've always enjoyed anthologies - being a quick, easy, and cost effective way to try multiple authors in one scoop.  But with digital?  It's just easier to read (and buy!) one short story or one novella by one author.  What Harlequin has done with Highlanders is give readers the traditional anthology format in digital by spotlighting three of their authors currently working in Scottish settings.

The Warrior And The Rose by Brenda Joyce is a story that I suspect will please her fans, but me?  Yeah, not so much.

Lady Juliana MacDougall is going to her family's chapel to pray for her brother's safe return (he's off fighting against Robert Bruce).  She thought she was far away from the war, until the war shows up to murder her bishop and burn down her chapel.  Alasdair Og came to exact vengeance after he discovers that Juliana's brother sent the bishop to spy on them.  Sworn enemies, that doesn't stop from Alasdair from admiring Juliana's spirited nature or from Juliana from noticing the hot and hunky highlander.

This is an I Hate You, I Hate You, We Are Sworn Enemies, Let's Have Sex, Now I Lurve You books.  Honestly, it's a story that probably could have worked in a full-length novel, where the author would have had more time to really develop the emotional complexities a relationship like this would entail.  But here?  It's rushed.  And sadly the sex is written in a vague sort of way, so you can't really chalk up the hate one minute, love the next stuff to some sizzling bedroom play.  If you're a fan of the author, or a big Scottish history nut (Juliana and Alasdair were apparently a real life couple) - then this maybe worth a whirl.  For me?  It was pretty unsatisfying.

Grade = D

The Forbidden Highlander by Terri Brisbin didn't light my world on fire, but it gets better the further along you read and the author does well with the short format.

James Murray is in love with Elizabeth MacLerie.  The fly in the ointment?  It's been arranged for James to marry Elizabeth's BFF.  So he convinces Elizabeth to run away with him, to find an old priest in a nearby area, so they can elope.  Sure, people will be pissed, but by then the deed will be done.  Except bad weather stalls their travel long enough for Elizabeth's disgruntled brother (who thinks his sister has been kidnapped) to give chase.

Part of this story reminded me of Romeo and Juliet in respect that James and Elizabeth strike me as dumb kids.  But the further the story rolls along, plus the introduction of Elizabeth's Big Secret spices things up a bit.  I liked that Elizabeth's past does effect James and he does react to it, and I also liked that he comes around ("Gee, I was kind of an asshat to her....") on his own and a third party doesn't need to point out the error of his ways.  It wasn't a super-spectacular read for me, but it was enjoyable.

Grade = B-

Rescued By The Highland Warrior by Michelle Willingham has a pretty unsavory premise, but I ended up loving the journey the author took me on.

Celeste de Laurent's husband is dead and having provided no heir (let alone a spare!), her brother-in-law and wife are set to inherit big.  But Wifey isn't willing to chance it.  I mean, Celeste could still be pregnant and just not know it yet.  So when she's not trying to poison her with herbs to make her miscarry, she's openly threatening her.  Celeste's entire life has been built on protecting and providing for herself and her younger sister.  She knows she's not preggers and she's so scared of going back to desolate poverty that she concocts a scheme to get pregnant by....oh anyone will do.  But she decides to find Dougal MacKinloch, the guy she tossed over to marry her dead husband.  Why?  Because while she was madly in love with Dougal, love don't pay the rent.  Needless to say, Dougal is still smarting over that rejection.

So yeah, the heroine sounds like a total bitch, right?  But as a woman, you can understand it.  It's medieval Scotland.  As a woman if you don't marry well you're pretty much screwed (and not in a good way).  Having grown up in poverty, then throwing herself on the kindness of strangers to make a good match for her after her parents die -  it's not like she had a ton of options of throwing that all away just because she happened to be in love.  I suspect a lot of readers won't "like" her.  I'm not sure I always liked her - but I did understand her.

There's great emotional stuff here, and I loved that when Dougal thinks Celeste deceives him (again!) - his entire family rallies around him.  This was definitely my favorite story in the bunch.  Willingham packs a lot of angst in a short word count.

Grade = B

Yep, pretty much a standard anthology.  A story I didn't like, a story that I liked OK, and a story I liked quite a bit.  If you're a fan of Scottish historicals and looking for some new-to-you authors, this anthology isn't a bad way to go.

The Month That Was August 2013

Me: Whatcha doin' peanut?

Lemon Drop:  Digging in this sandbox, trying to find your mojo Auntie Wendy.

Me: What, just because I can't seem to blog consistently at the moment?

Lemon Drop:  At all.  You can't seem to blog AT ALL at the moment Auntie Wendy.  My public - she awaits!

Me: Drama Queen much?  You know, you could start your own blog.

Lemon Drop:  Ahem.  I'm three.  I can't even spell.

Me:  Well, neither can I!  It didn't stop me!  You keep digging, and I'll tell you about what I read last month.  Well, sort of....

Title links will take you to full reviews

Contest reads I can't talk about just yet (all 2012, links take you to Amazon):

The Dirty Girls Book Club by Susanna Fox - Contemporary Erotic Romance
Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols - Contemporary Young Adult
Nanny For the Millionaire's Twins by Susan Meier - Contemporary, Harlequin Romance
Do You Believe In Magic? by Susan Squires - Paranormal Romance
In Rides Trouble by Julie Ann Walker - Romantic Suspense
A Taste for Scandal by Erin Knightley - Historical Romance
Worth The Risk by Robin Bielman - Contemporary Novella, Entangled Ever After
A Light in the Window by Julie Lessman - Historical Inspirational Romance
Sea Change by Karen White - Contemporary, Romantic Elements

Now, on to books that I can (and did) talk about!

To Sin With A Viking by Michelle Willingham - Harlequin Historical, 2013, Grade = B-

• His arranged marriage imploding, the hero finds twu wuv with a half-starved Irish gal whose younger brother kidnapped the hero's wife.  Sounds unsavory, but the author handles the angst well.  Plus, the wife is getting her own romance early next year.

Training The Receptionist by Juniper Bell - Erotic romance novella, 2010, Samhain, Grade = B+

• It requires you to completely kick reality out the door, but I really enjoyed this first novella in a trilogy featuring an aimless 20-something who takes the world's kinkiest receptionist job.  

Let Me Go by Chelsea Cain - Suspense, 2013, Minotaur, Grade = B

• Latest book in series featuring a painkiller popping homicide detective and the female serial killer who loves to toy with him.  I inhaled it, and not sorry I read it, but not as enjoyable as some of the others in the series.

Roping The Wrangler by Lacy Williams - Love Inspired Historical, 2013, Grade = B-

• A sweet historical western that finds a schoolmarm and a man from her past getting thrown together to help out three underprivileged kidlets.  Warm, fuzzy, but felt the wrap-up with the villain left too many dangling threads.

Lemon Drop:  Thirteen books?!?  You lost your mojo because you've had your nose in a dang book all month long.

Me: More like Auntie Wendy went on vacation and now she's trying to readjust to being back in her cruel, cruel reality.

Lemon Drop: Now who's the drama queen?