It took some creative mental gymnastics on my part, but I made BINGO again this month as part of Shallowreader's Romancelandia Bingo Challenge. Also, because I made BINGO last month, Vassiliki was kind enough to let me name my own square! Because I know you're all curious (ha ha!) - Father Figure was my contribution to the March sheet.
The BINGO row:
The Black Moment = Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh. The conflict in this story involves a Big Secret and by the time it comes tumbling out, the hero and heroine are in love and enjoying a blissful married existence. Needless to say, it makes for a very emotional "black moment."
Love thy Neighbor = Dare She Date the Dreamy Doc? by Sarah Morgan. The setting is a tiny Scottish island, where basically everybody is your darn neighbor!
Buff = Dare She Date the Dreamy Doc? again. And this is buff as in "polish." The hero lives in a lighthouse that he restored to be his home. That's a lot of polishing!
Hero/ine = Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women by Marianne Monson. The 12 biographies featured women who were the heroes (and heroines!) of their own stories. But for an added twist, one of the biographies was Charley Parkhurst, a woman who lived as a man and became a legendary stagecoach driver.
Patience = Scandal Takes the Stage and Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh. Scandal because it was an exercise in patience for me to finish it. Temptation because I had to patiently wait for the author to reveal how a blue-blooded virginal heroine could possibly have enough worldly knowledge to secretly be a famed erotica writer.
Miscellaneous Squares:
Father Figure and An Ill Wind = Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh. "Father" applies to the vicar hero and the fact that his father is a sanctimonious windbag. An Ill Wind applies to the Sword of Damocles Big Secret conflict that provides a sense of foreboding throughout the story.
Redundant and Dancing = Scandal Takes the Stage by Eva Leigh. The story felt redundant because of a lack of what I felt was compelling conflict (or really, any conflict). Dancing because there's a scene where the hero and heroine dance.
Independence = Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women by Marianne Monson. Pretty self-explanatory.
Comfort = Dare She Date the Dreamy Doc? by Sarah Morgan was a TBR Challenge read for March and the theme was "comfort read."
Terribly Sad! = The Gunslinger's Bride by Cheryl St. John. I have loved many of St. John's books so it seemed a sure thing to pick up this book for the TBR Challenge comfort read theme. Um, not so much. I DNF'ed this one at chapter six and it made me terribly sad!
2 comments:
I love your "Terribly Sad" justification :D
Meanwhile, the Sarah Morgan sounds excellent. I love me a Monarch of the Glen type story. Anything set on a Scottish Isle!
Vassiliki: I can't tell you how disappointed I was in that St. John! I've loved so many of her books and I think I've only given her a mediocre "C" grade once. Possibly. And even that might have been a novella. So to have such a strong, negative reaction to The Gunslinger's Bride was surprising. Oh well. They can't all be winners!
What I loved best about the Morgan was how cozy it felt. It had a great small town atmosphere without me loathing any of the nosy, meddling secondary characters. It wasn't a perfect read (I had quibbles), but the setting was fantastic and Morgan writes a realistic surly teen daughter.
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