DNF Review: Falling Hard

I was in the audience when Falling Hard by Lexi Ryan won the RITA for Best Contemporary Romance: Long.  During her acceptance speech, something she said set off my "Ooooh, I love angst" alarm and literally, while siting in the audience, I hopped on my phone and downloaded this book from the library.

And now I'm DNF'ing it at 35%.  I just can't.  And I'm going to tell you why "I just can't."  So consider that your warning for Spoilers Ahoy!

I used to really love first person.  I was, after all, a mystery/suspense reader long before I "found" romance and that particular genre is laden with first person.  But, hand to God romance genre, STOP TRYING TO KILL MY LOVE OF FIRST PERSON!  Ahem.  Yep.  This is dueling first person point-of-view, alternating between hero and heroine.  And just for added kicks, WE ALSO GET FLASHBACKS!!!!  On top of that?  This is New Adult.  Look, I've been reading romance a long time (pretty constantly for 20+ years) and I like to think that just past 40 isn't all THAT old.  But god damn this book made me feel old.  Oh, and the characters pissed me off.  But more on that in a moment.

Emma Rothschild is a former child actress with a dark past.  I gave up before I found out what her Big Secret is, but I'm guessing it's some sort of sexual abuse/assault.  Anyway, her mother is, like, the worst, she's not acting anymore, and she's heading to Vegas with her BFF for a girl's weekend/bachelorette party (her BFF is getting married).  Anyway, her BFF hooks her up with a hot wardrobe and wig so nobody will recognize her.  Because even though she's out of acting, Emma is still a TMZ darling.

Keegan was a college football star, and just got picked up by an NFL team as a free agent (in other words: he's a making-league-minimum kind of player).  He also owns a bar back in his college town (or hometown or whatever - this is part of a series - blah, blah, blah it's all a rich tableau).  Anyway, he got a girl knocked up and now he's a Daddy.  He loves his daughter but couldn't make a relationship with her mother work because she fell for some hotshot quarterback (because of course she did).  Keegan seems nice, so I decide I hate her guts.  Anyway, he goes to Vegas for what's supposed to be a bachelor party for his buddy, but the buddy's woman (and friends!) tag along so it's turned into a couple's weekend thing.  That's when he spots Emma at a nightclub and cannot believe his eyes.  They had a "thing" 5 years ago before she dumped him like a hot potato - with no explanation.  And he's never gotten over her.

OK, so the set-up here has some promise, despite being book four in a series and laden with past couples.  Emma's got secrets, Keegan's got secrets and a complicated life, and we've got the ol' Reunited Lovers trope.  The writing style wasn't doing much for me, other than making me feel frackin' old, but whatever.  I mean, this did win a RITA, so roll with it Wendy.

Then we get to the first sex scene.  The morning after, our couple wakes up with their same secretive baggage with a side of added regrets.  However, they don't have much time to dwell on it since THE HEROINE'S FIANCE SHOWS UP AND KNOCKS ON THE HOTEL ROOM DOOR!

THAT'S RIGHT KIDS - OUR HEROINE IS ENGAGED TO ANOTHER DUDE!

No set-up.  No foreshadowing.  This little nugget is dropped like a fart in an elevator.

And just when you decide you want to yank her hair out by the roots for hurting Mr. Nice Guy hero?  Guess what?  The author drops the bombshell that Keegan was raised by a Con Man Daddy.  When Keegan "met" Emma 5 years ago?  Yeah, Keegan (all on his own) orchestrated the "meet cute" in order to meet Emma so HE COULD CON HER!!!!

Then, presumably, he falls in twu wuv and she breaks his fee-fees and five years later we get him boinking her in Vegas not knowing she's engaged.

I JUST CAN'T EVEN WITH THESE PEOPLE!!!!!

BURN IT ALL DOWN!!!!!!

And that's where I tapped out.  Between the dueling first-person (WITH FLASHBACKS!!!), coupled with two characters who wouldn't know honest it if bit them in the butt I'm beyond caring.  Done.  Done done donity done done.

Final Grade = DNF 

Top 4 Unusual Historicals for July 2018

I have a love/hate relationship with July. I love fireworks (well except when my idiot neighbors are still shooting them off on July 14th…), it’s my birthday month, and I’m generally able to attend the Romance Writers of America annual conference (this year held in Denver). However, it is also my busiest, craziest month at my day job. This entails a lot of time doing math and looking at spreadsheets (yes, it’s just as glamorous as it sounds!). I come home from work mentally exhausted and looking for anyway to unwind. Which leads us to this latest batch of unusual historicals! Who doesn’t love to unwind reading and browsing for new books?

The Gaucho’s Lady by Genevieve Turner

After a self-imposed exile in Argentina, Juan Moreno is ready to return home to California, wiser, wearier, and a widower. But the night before his departure, a wealthy landowner’s daughter appears in his simple room with a gun and demands that he kidnap her.

Eliana Suarez never wanted to leave home; the pampas are deep in her blood. But when her cruel father insists she marry a man even crueler than he is, she must flee. Luckily for her, one of her father’s gauchos is leaving Argentina—and only if she can convince him to take her along, will she be saved.

Juan never could resist a lady’s desperate appeal and soon they’re racing to Buenos Aires, barely two steps ahead of their pursuers. They’ll have to deal with outlaws, anarchists, and her father’s fury in their flight to freedom and safety. But no matter how fast they run, they can never escape their growing attraction… and their own hearts.

We (and by “we” I mean the United States) tend to think of the western as our creation. I mean, it kind of is but Canada, Mexico, and Australia (just to name a few) have their own history of ranching and cowboy culture. Argentina does as well (as does Venezuela - seriously I could keep going…), which is where Tuner takes us with her latest release. As someone who has enjoyed western historicals set outside the United States, I’m excited to try this one!

Unfit to Print by KJ Charles (novella)

When crusading lawyer Vikram Pandey sets out in search of a missing youth, his investigations take him to Holywell Street, London’s most notorious address. He expects to find a disgraceful array of sordid bookshops. He doesn’t expect one of them to be run by the long-lost friend whose disappearance and presumed death he’s been mourning for thirteen years.

Gil Lawless became a Holywell Street bookseller for his own reasons, and he’s damned if he’s going to apologise or listen to moralising from anyone. Not even Vikram; not even if the once-beloved boy has grown into a man who makes his mouth water.

Now the upright lawyer and the illicit bookseller need to work together to track down the missing youth. And on the way, they may even learn if there’s more than just memory and old affection binding them together...

My gripe with Victorian-set romances is that so often the author gives me pseudo-Regency instead. Repeat after me: Victorian and Regency are nowhere near the same thing. Ahem. Anyway, Charles writes about Victorian London with a wonderful atmospheric style and I was sunk after reading “lawyer” and “bookseller” in the description. Andrea at Love in Panels really enjoyed this story noting it was emotional, sensual, accessible and atmospheric (see, there’s that word again!). Please note, this is a novella.

Diary of a War Bride by Lauri Robinson

July 1942
Dear diary, despite the war raging around me, I find I can’t stop thinking about the American officer, Sergeant Dale Johnson. I’ve never known anyone as brave, kind and handsome! But I promised myself I wouldn’t care this much about a man again, especially when he could be transferred at any time. Yet that only makes me want to relish our time together. Now fighting my heart feels like the biggest battle…

Robinson, predominantly having published westerns, has a sizeable Harlequin Historical backlist that also includes a 1920s trilogy. This book (with a gorgeous cover, says me) gives readers a World War II romance, a setting oft-used in inspirational but rarely seen in secular romance circles. I’ve liked some of Robinson’s westerns, so I’m anxious to try to this one.

A Gentleman Never Scores by Cat Sebastian

Once beloved by London's fashionable elite, Hartley Sedgwick has become a recluse after a spate of salacious gossip exposed his most-private secrets. Rarely venturing from the house whose inheritance is a daily reminder of his downfall, he’s captivated by the exceedingly handsome man who seeks to rob him.

Since retiring from the boxing ring, Sam Fox has made his pub, The Bell, into a haven for those in his Free Black community. But when his best friend Kate implores him to find and destroy a scandalously revealing painting of her, he agrees. Sam would do anything to protect those he loves, even if it means stealing from a wealthy gentleman. But when he encounters Hartley, he soon finds himself wanting to steal more than just a painting from the lovely, lonely man—he wants to steal his heart.

Cat Sebastian returns with a new book in her Seducing the Sedgwicks series. One hero who used to move in fashionable circles but now a recluse (oh, do tell!) is certainly intriguing. However, if I’m being honest, it’s the character of Sam Fox that had me sitting up a little taller in my seat. A former boxer turned pub owner turned housebreaker to help out a friend? I am so there.

What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to reading this month?

Review: The Tycoon's Socialite Bride

The Tycoon's Socialite Bride by Tracey Livesay is a contemporary category romance that was published by Entangled in 2014.  I missed it back then, but discovered it recently thanks to a gorgeous cover refresh (seriously, I LOVE this cover so much!).  And while I'm so over tycoons and billionaires in erotic romance, I can't seem to get enough of them in category romance.  I think because the category romance format just lends itself better to the "fairy tale" aspect of the trope (even though I feel cheated that hot, non-oily billionaires are apparently NOT a dime a dozen.  Thanks for the unrealistic expectations Harlequin!)

Anyway, I inhaled the first half of this book the Sunday before RWA, resented the fact that I worked on Monday, and didn't inhale the second half until Tuesday when I was on the plane to Denver.  Ladies and gents, it was time well spent.

Marcus Pearson was a poor kid who grew up to be a real estate mogul.  With steely-eyed focus, everything in his life since he was a teenager has been to achieve the goals of 1) getting rich and 2) destroying David Holcombe and his boutique Washington DC hotel.  A single mother, Marcus' mom was a maid at the hotel and David Holcombe's response to something bad that happens to her there is...well, just as awful as you can probably imagine.  Word is the hotel is for sale, and that's Marcus' in, but Holcombe won't even read his proposal - he suspects because in upper crust DC society Marcus is a "nobody" or in more polite terms "new money."  What he needs is a boost.

That boost comes in the form of Pamela Harrington, a D.C. socialite from a prominent political family (her fathers casts a long shadow).  And, as luck would have it, she wants something that Marcus has.  Seems Marcus' "people" bought a building in an gentrifying area of the city.  Currently a women's shelter is occupying the space and Pamela does not want to see them evicted.  So she tracks down Marcus on the golf course looking to work out some sort of deal.  She didn't plan on him proposing a marriage of convenience!

Pamela's connections and pedigree are just what Marcus needs to move his revenge plan for Holcombe forward.  Pamela has very strong feelings about the women's shelter and having just broken off an engagement (much to her father's chagrin), temporarily marrying Marcus isn't the worst idea she's ever heard.  She thinks he's giving her name too much credit, but if it means saving the shelter?  She'll do it.

We all think we know what's going to happen next, but Livesay throws a curve ball to spice up the proceedings.  Namely, once word gets out of their engagement things don't go entirely according to plan.  Namely, Pamela's father, who is "not pleased" although he's much too dignified and well-heeled to show that displeasure to anyone outside of the family circle.  The fact that his daughter has not stepped into the perfect society role carved out by his late wife and broken off an engagement to a perfectly suitable young man continues to displease him.  Now she's marrying some...well, upstart!  With no breeding or dignity or a drop of blue-blood to recommend him.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this story.  Livesay hits all the right emotional beats, infuses some fantastic father/daughter angst, and sets the story up so that Pamela and Marcus become "a team" fairly quickly.  Of course, it cannot all be smooth sailing.  Marcus desperately wants his revenge and The Black Moment is courtesy of when he has to make a choice.  How badly does he want that revenge?  Because in order to achieve it, he will surely lose the woman he has come to care about.

And Pamela?  Bloody fantastic!  She's strong and determined without being pluckily annoying.  I'm not sure pluckily is even a word - but you get my drift.  She's smart, hard-working, has her head screwed on straight, but has a complicated relationship with her stony father and family legacy.  Pamela is a woman who knows what she wants, but it's the navigating around the society she's in that makes it tricky.  She's smooth as silk, but still looking for affirmation and support.  She wants a man who sees HER, not just what her name can do for him.  And even though she agreed to marry Marcus because he needs her name, that doesn't make it hurt less when he fails to see HER.

Sigh, this is a really well-done category romance.  The D.C. setting is well-played and for readers who cannot deal with fictional politicians right now (not that I blame you....), this romance is set in the D.C. world without featuring political main characters.  It's got a nice sense of place, a dynamite heroine and a hero with plenty of angsty baggage.  I obviously need to read a lot more of Tracey Livesay.

Final Grade = B+

#TBRChallenge 2018: Cinderella's Wedding Wish

The Book: Cinderella's Wedding Wish by Jessica Hart

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Romance #4084, 2009, Out of Print, Available Digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  Hart is probably my most favorite author in the Harlequin Romance universe.  She's an autobuy.  This was one of her backlist titles I picked up when I "discovered" her with a later 2009 release.

The Review:  I like category romance for a lot of reasons, but it's hard to deny that it's a format that is laden with tropes.  So for this month's Favorite Trope theme, I decided to go into my Harlequin TBR and read the first book that caught my eye.  Lo and behold, this Jessica Hart was right on top and it's a Boss/Secretary book!  Yes, yes - I'm part of the problem.  I love Boss/Secretary books.  I know, I know!  Don't hate the player, hate the game.  Turns out though this really isn't a Boss/Secretary romance - it's more general office romance with some Cinderella and Fake Relationship tossed into the blender.

Miranda Fairchild is the plain middle child, while her two sisters are raving beauties.  Miranda left college to try to save the family business (a department store) but it was too late.  The damage was done, her father having ignored the signs of impending doom for far too long.  Her younger sister's answer to this little problem is to try to bag a rich husband (older sister is already married), while ever practical Miranda goes the old fashioned route.  Yeah, she finds a job.  The problem is her resume isn't all that impressive (the stored died on her watch after all), so she's working as a temp at the Knighton group and working evenings at a friend's catering business.

Rafe Knighton is an only child, a reformed bad boy that still managed to inherit the family business even though his father disapproved of him (ultimately though Daddy did leave him the company).  The problem is that even though he's "grown up," Rafe cannot shake his reputation.  It's while walking the halls of his company that he meets Miranda accosting an uncooperative copy machine (girl, I'm been there...) and he's taken with her.  Her temp assignment is almost up, and Rafe knows she's just the woman he needs....to help him find a wife.  He asks her to organize a charity gala to help him look for a potential spouse.  Someone intelligent, accomplished, and beautiful certainly wouldn't hurt.  He's ready to settle down and certainly a wife will convince everyone (the press, his own board of directors etc.) that he's no longer a "bad boy."

Eventually Rafe's plan to land a wife has him turning to Miranda to pose as a temporary/fake fiancee, but there's tap-dancing to get through first.  We all know what happens next, they soon learn there is more to the other one than meets the eye.

This is pretty much standard issue, right down to Miranda hiding behind an ill-fitting, less-than-flattering wardrobe.  While Miranda certainly stacks up with her sisters in the looks department, she never saw herself that way so...why even bother?  Rafe is drop-dead gorgeous but has never been given much credit in the brains department because of his reputation. 

This is a very pleasant, straight-forward and sweet romance.  There's one off-page sex scene and there's some nice chemistry between the main characters.  But this all sounds like damning with faint praise, doesn't it?  That's because it kind of is.  I hate to judge an author by previous (and future) work, but this one doesn't have the emotional gut-punch I've experienced with other books by Hart.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice.  It's a good, solid, romantic read.  But it didn't leave me swooning or weepy like a lot of her other books have.

But there's nothing wrong with straight-forward and honestly, this is not "bad."  It's a good, pleasant read that I tore through in a couple of sittings.  It's just nowhere near the best of what Hart can showcase in the Harlequin Romance format.  Good, but not a favorite and not the first book I would recommend to a newbie by this author.

Final Grade = B-

Reminder: #TBRChallenge for July

Hey, hey, hey!  For those of you participating in the 2018 #TBRChallenge, a reminder that your commentary is "due" on Wednesday, July 18.  The theme this month is Favorite Trope.

Friends to Lovers? Mail Order Bride? Marriage of Convenience? Reunited Lovers? Marriage in Trouble?  Amnesia? Secret Baby?  This month is all about picking your poison and reading a book with one of your favorite tropes.

But what if you've read every book ever published with your favorite trope?  Hey, that's OK.  The themes are optional and really, you can read whatever you want.  The whole point of the TBR Challenge is to read something that has been languishing in your TBR.

Reminders:

1) If you're participating via social media, remember to use the #TBRChallenge hashtag

and 

2) It is not too late to sign-up!  You can get further details and links to all the blogs participating on the 2018 TBR Challenge Information Page.

Review: The Soldier Prince

I'll be honest, I don't naturally gravitate to what I call "fake royalty" romances.  I tend to read them by authors that are already known commodities to me and even then it's somewhat grudgingly.  Never mind that I've enjoyed several such books in the past.  Royalty romances featuring made-up countries is a mental block that I'm unlikely to ever fully shake.  So reading such a book by an completely unknown to me author is - well, let's just say it's out of character.  But something about The Soldier Prince by Aarti V Raman hit me in just the right way that weekend I finally decided to clean out my in-box.  And you know what?  I liked this.  Quite a bit.  Like enough that I want the next two books in the series...um, by tomorrow would be great.

Sasha Ray is a perfectly ordinary Indian-American girl from New Jersey working as a waitress in New York City while struggling to pay for college.  In fact the only semi-exciting thing to happen to her is the mystery hunk who sits in her station every day, always orders the chicken parm salad with two cups of espresso, pays cash, and leaves her a 40% tip.  Then, as he pays for his meal, he forks over a wade of cash and tells the staff to feed whomever comes into the deli for free until his money runs out.  How was Sasha to know he was not only royalty but a former special ops soldier?

Alexander Heinrickson is "the spare" and witnessed his mother's murder while he was accompanying her on a humanitarian mission.  It broke him.  In his grief he left everything behind, the girl he loved, his family, and joined the Marines.  Then, after his tour, he joined a private special ops firm because...well, romance hero.  Anyway, he finally walked away from all of that eight months ago but has not been able to haul himself back home to Stellangard.  But it looks like someone is there to change his mind.  He's being followed.  By a small band of mercenaries who are determined to do him harm (turns out they want to kidnap him).  Nothing he's not capable of handling, well that is until Sasha shows up to warn him.  Now she's in danger and he has to protect her while he tries to figure out who is out to get him.  That means he cannot avoid home any longer and oh, she's going to have to come to Stellangard until he unravels the mess.

This book is basically a Harlequin on steroids with all sorts of delicious tropey-ness that sucked me right in.  Yes, the plot is slightly absurd - sort of like if a Harlequin Presents and a Harlequin Romantic Suspense had a baby - but it's all in good fun with the author laying down a thick frosting of fairy tale.  If you recently watched the Prince Harry / Meghan Markle royal wedding for the 12th time (you know who you are...) this is the book for you.

Sasha is a nice American girl with a nice American life.  She's strong and brave without being a cliche and will acknowledge when she makes a muck of things, even though she always has good intentions.  Alexander (AKA Xander) is all Alpha still grieving over his mother's death when he was a teenager.  Oh, and the girl he left behind?  Turns out she married his brother - the Crown Prince - and there are still "feelings" there.  So yeah, all the delicious tropes, all the angsty baggage, gorge at the trough my greedy category romance fans!

There are, however, a few slight bumps in the road.  Raman is not an American - which, in and of itself, is not a problem.  But the early chapters of this book take place in New York City and it all feels a little "off."  The turns of phrase, the edges around the setting - it's nothing that an American beta reader couldn't have helped smooth out a bit.  Also, there's some head-hopping.  Not a ton, but occasionally the author will leave the third person point-of-view of Sasha or Xander and briefly move it to a secondary character.  Again, nothing intrinsically wrong with this (I'm not a vehement head-hopping hater) but the transitions aren't always smooth and I found myself backtracking to previous paragraphs because I missed the "hop."

But I really enjoyed this - slightly absurd fairy tale plot and all.  The author has created an interesting and sympathetic cast of characters, has laid the foundation for a good on-going suspense thread, and hits all the buttons that light up the part of my brain addicted to category romance.  I need another series like a hole in the head, and in fact am a little burnt out on them, but damn if I don't want more of this world.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got an author newsletter to sign up for.

Final Grade = B