Retro Review: Defiant

This review of Defiant by Bobbi Smith was first posted at The Romance Reader in 2006. Back then I rated it 2-Hearts (equivalent of a D grade) with a sensuality rating of PG.

+++++

One of my favorite booksellers recently told me that westerns were making a comeback. If books like Defiant are what fans of the sub genre have to look forward to we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Clint Williams should be dead. A Texas Ranger, he was home for a visit when the deadly Tucker Gang came calling. Clint’s father, also a Ranger, was very close to capturing the gang, but they struck first. Everyone is dead. Clint miraculously survives his wounds, and vows vengeance. To do so, he takes on the assumed identity of gunfighter Kane McCullough and tracks the Tucker Gang to Dry Springs, Texas.

Rachel Hammond is the innocent, beautiful daughter of the Dry Springs preacher. Daddy has a thing about crusading, and one night takes his family and members of his congregation into the Last Chance Saloon to save all the sinners. As one can imagine, their message is not well received, and Rachel soon finds herself being pawed by a drunken lout. Clint rides to the rescue, and she’s in the throes of puppy love.

That’s basically it. Clint wants revenge and is hanging around Dry Springs waiting for the outlaws to show up. Rachel moons over Clint. Clint feels that women like Rachel are “meant to be protected and cherished,” and even though he knows he cannot afford to be distracted, he continues to hover around her anyway.

It’s amazing I managed to keep my food down.

If Defiant had been better written, I might have been able to overlook the cardboard characters. If the characters were more compelling, I might have been able to overlook the poor writing. Unfortunately, with both strikes against it, Defiant doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Smith’s writing style is all tell and no show. In many cases, it felt like I was reading an outline to the story instead of the actual finished product. Compounding this is the fact that the author likes to head-hop a lot. One moment we’re being told what Rachel thinks, then what Clint thinks, then what one of the outlaws thinks, then what Rachel’s mother thinks, then what the town sheriff thinks and so on. Because of this, the reader feels disconnected from the main couple, thus further handicapping the romance, which isn’t much to brag about as is. One suspects that it is intended to be love at first sight, but it’s even more slipshod than that. Clint saves Rachel; they share some idle chitchat, then poof! They’re in love! They cannot stop thinking about each other!

Adding insult to injury, Rachel reinforces the stereotype for preachers’ daughters. She’s innocent and beautiful on the outside, but once she finds herself alone with Clint she practically throws herself at him. One moment she’s giggling like a schoolgirl and is so sickeningly sweet she gives the reader a toothache, the next she’s an experienced flirt dropping innuendos. It’s enough to give the reader whiplash. The purple prose certainly doesn’t help matters either with gems such as “They clung to each other as their lips met in a cherishing exchange that showed without words the depth of what they were feeling for one another.”

It’s hard to imagine it getting worse than that, but it does with the ending. The identity of the mastermind behind the Tucker Gang (known simply as The Boss) comes as no shock to anyone with two brain cells to rub together and Rachel blithely puts herself in danger for no credible reason.

I fervently hope that my favorite bookseller is correct and that westerns are on the upswing. Hopefully the rebirth of the sub genre won’t feature more books like this one.

+++++

Wendy Looks Back: Reading over this review and vaguely recalling this book, I'm not sure how this escaped 1-Heart (F Grade) territory.  Either I was feeling overly generous that day or else Dede (my former editor at TRR) coded the HTML incorrectly.  Anyway, if you subscribe to the school of thought that Wendy is a cranky fusspot or if you want to see for yourself if it's really as terrible as I said back in 2006 - Kindle Unlimited folks can give this one a whirl for free.

The Call Is Coming From Inside The House: RWA, Ethics and Terrible Optics

Folks, I've been kicking around Romancelandia a long time.  I started reviewing for a now defunct website (The Romance Reader) in 1999.  I started this blog in 2003. I attended my first RWA conference in 2002 - and have attended every single year since 2006.  RWA has always been an imperfect organization and there's been plenty of stuff for me to side-eye in the past 20 years.  A few examples? How about the fact that I (and many other reviewers/bloggers) "hid" their identities as such in the early days.  I was lucky. I could simply lead with the "I'm a librarian!" thing.  I knew I'd get love as a librarian. As a blogger and/or reviewer? Um, maybe not so much.  However, starting in 2007 (San Francisco) I started to disclose it more. 1) Because it was the worst kept secret anyway and 2) Because a new crop of romance authors, who grew up with review sites on the interwebs meant attitudes were changing.  Still, it was a Big, Hairy Deal when I was awarded Librarian of the Year in 2011. Because it truly did signify that things had changed. Someone could go from being "the enemy" to getting an award from the organization.

(The irony isn't lost on me that during a workshop at conference last year an agent said one of the reasons author income was down was because of "free library books" - so my days of getting love as a librarian might be taking a turn...)

I was there for if you're self-published you're not published at all, if you're only published in eBook you're not published at all, erotic romance isn't romance, LGBTQ+ characters can't have happy endings, and various RITA shenanigans over the years.  RWA has earned every single black-eye they received, but I did see change within the organization. Sometimes that change was slow - but it was happening. Presumably.

Last night we reached a bridge too far for many, many people. Author, and former Board member, Courtney Milan was sanctioned by the RWA Ethics Committee.  I'm going to direct you to this series of tweets by author Alyssa Cole and encourage you to read the documentation.

While change has occurred within RWA, the fact remains that this decision is yet another message in a long line of messages that marginalized, #ownvoices authors have been receiving for years.  RWA made promises to do better. I attended a round-table discussion at the start of last year's conference and heard the frustration in the voices of some authors of color who were being asked, yet again, to be patient, give the organization time, that they were working on it.  The simple truth is that you can only hear promises so many times, have those promises go unfilled for so many years, before you finally receive the message.

We did finally have two black writers win RITAs last year, but it wasn't without conflict.  A peer-judged contest is always going to be problematic on it's face (it just is), and once Kennedy Ryan and Minx Malone were announced as winners the Nice White Lady Brigade came out to question it.  In short, I don't blame authors of color and #ownvoices authors for being tired. Many of them have joined and worked with RWA on either the national or chapter level, believing that to enact change they need to be a part of the process. Volunteering for the organization is NOT easy. It's a huge time commitment.  Time taken away from their family, friends, THEIR OWN WRITING (!).  These sanctions, the optics of when said sanctions were dropped (2 days before Christmas when the RWA offices are closed), and giving Milan two weeks to respond DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON is...well, the optics suck y'all.

Since you're here reading my blog, I'm going to presume that you give a damn what Wendy thinks.  Well, I'm here to tell you.  Look, first things first, Ms. Milan and I are not friends. We follow each other on Twitter. I've probably engaged with her in the past (but not recent memory I don't think) - I mean, we know who each other is, we greet each other cordially when we run into each other at conferences - but we don't DM each other on Twitter, don't exchange emails, we don't exchange holiday cards. I'm neither a minion nor flying monkey so just stop with that noise before you open your mouth.

I attended the diversity training that RWA recently held, a requirement to judge the RITAs.  These types of trainings are not new for me, having been through various sessions at The Day Job. If Library Directors have a "platform" - my boss's platform is one of inclusion, equity and access.  This ain't my first rodeo. What this sanctioning of Milan is basically saying is that RWA's decision to bring forth this training is nothing more than lip service.  If Milan is being sanctioned for calling out racist content and an editor who has a problematic history within the community, then what recourse does that leave judges? What recourse does that leave the rest of us who aren't former Board members?

The argument by the complainants that the Davis book was published in 1999, and the author is a "historian" are laughable at best.  Yes, 1999 was 20 years ago. Yes, the genre has grown (some) over the years. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't call out problematic content.  I DNF'ed a book just a few months ago that was also published in 1999 because the hero had rape on the brain and the heroine was scared of him. Then there's this book from 2004 that I read in 2016 that used an Indian Prince secondary character as a token prop to help the white heroine confront her traumatic past which is insulting at best, racist AF at worst.  Yes, both books were published "a long time ago" by major publishers - but this sort of thing is not isolated to "the good old days of romances."  Problematic content should be called out and it's up to readers, authors, and lovers of the genre to evaluate said problematic content.

As for the "I'm a historian" argument - there's so much wrong with that it's hard to know where to begin.  For the record, I have a bachelor's degree in history (it doesn't matter much but apparently that counts for something in some corners so there you go). History is written by those coming from a position of power.  Case in point, I just finished listening to Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton. I sought this book out specifically after reading some less-than-stellar commentary about the recent Tubman movie and when I realized that what I learned about Tubman during my school days was more "Tubman as symbol" than "Tubman as person."  What I wanted and what I got were two different things - but the author did her best. The fact is Tubman was born a slave and was illiterate. She was property, not a person, in the eyes of the law and society. Her history pre-Civil War is basically lost. There would have been no perceived value in documenting it. Once she escapes to freedom and begins her work on the Underground Railroad, the nature of her clandestine work would limit the historical record. She was a wanted woman with a price on her head. It didn't behoove her or anyone working with the UGRR to keep records. Records would get you killed.  Also, let's take a moment to acknowledge that Harriet was black and a woman. The work of women (let alone black women) has been devalued since the dawn of time - to think the UGRR was exempt from this is simply foolishness.

In short, what we know about history is...what we know about history.  To think we do know everything about history is ignorant. So much is lost, so much is not preserved, and the people who preserve history, the people who chronicle history can do so because they are coming from a position of power.  It's why charges of "historical accuracy" by the pearl-clutching historical romance brigade set my teeth on edge.  Just because you didn't know something or just because your wee little brain is unwilling to accept that marginalized people could have moments of joy in their lives doesn't mean it's wrong or untrue.

So where does that leave us?  Well folks, it's time to pick the hill you want to die on - and that includes yours truly.  I judged four RWA contests in 2019. I signed on to judge the RITAs in 2020.  And now?  Part of me thinks I should honor my commitment to the RITAs if only to throw a wrench in the Nice White Ladies works.  However, I attended that training in good faith. On a Sunday afternoon. When there was other stuff I could have been doing. Should I honor a commitment to an organization who thinks so little of the time I've given them?  I will likely continue to volunteer to judge some chapter contests, for chapters that I feel are demonstrating that they are walking the walk.  But that too may dry up if the people currently in leadership positions within those chapters get fed up and walk away.

I'm an affiliate member of RWA (a special designation for booksellers and librarians) which is a non-voting body.  I literally just renewed my membership a couple weeks ago.  The cost is minimal, so I'm likely to ride out my membership for 2020 and reevaluate in 2021.  I'm also seriously looking at the conference in San Francisco which, dagnabit, I was looking forward to.  Right now I just don't think I can do it. There's too much water under the bridge on this. Too many years of broken promises and "be patient" and "be the change." Look, whether or not you personally like Milan, whether or not you consider her a friend - this is some sort of hill for RWA to decide to die on.

What does it mean for non-members and readers?  I hate to say it - you can write to RWA but if you're a non-member your letters may be dismissed out of hand. We could start by stop giving oxygen to the RITAs when the finalists are announced and I offer up this one small piece of tangible advice: There's still joy to be found in the genre. Seek it out, embrace it, and promote the hell out of it. Talk about the books and authors you want to talk about. Ask the hard questions. Be open to discourse. Blog about it, tweet about it, post reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Agitate for the genre you want to see, the genre you want to be a part of.  Vote with your time and dollars. Recommend books to your local libraries. Yes, it's exhausting.  Yes, it's thankless AF.  But if not you, then who?

Edited to Add 12/24/19: RWA has released the following statement via their Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Edited to Add 12/27/19: Lynn wrote a good, comprehensive piece for AAR, along with updates that have spun out the last couple of days.  It's a clear, concise rundown without inflaming passions (IMHO).  If you need to catch up or don't quite understand what all has happened - it's a good place to start.

Unusual Historical Picks for December 2019

Well Romancelandia, we made it. 2019 somehow managed to flit by in a second and still feel like the longest year in recorded human history. It’s been a rough year for a lot of folks, but I hope that you were able to snatch a few moments of joy and that nothing but blue skies are ahead for 2020. Let’s blow this popsicle stand by taking a gander at some of the unusual historicals that caught my eye for December.

The Music of Love by Minerva Spencer

Finding out that her husband was a bigamist didn’t devastate Portia Stefani; she held her head high when she forced him out of her life. But losing her beloved music school as a result of the traitorous bastard's gambling debts almost destroyed her. The only way she’ll be able to make ends meet is to accept a lucrative tutoring position in remote Cornwall. What Portia hasn't anticipated is the life-altering impact that her mesmerizing new employer has on her.  

Stacy Harrington learned the hard way to keep people at a distance. Playing the piano is the only thing that makes his solitary life enjoyable these days, and he’ll be damned if he allows his albinism to keep him from everything he loves. Bringing a private music tutor into his home is disruptive, but it’s the only solution. Unfortunately, nothing could have prepared him for the overwhelming attraction he feels toward his fiery new employee.  

It’s not long before a shared passion for music develops into something infinitely deeper. But when ghosts from the past—along with some very dark secrets—emerge to threaten everything they’ve built, can Stacy and Portia continue to make beautiful music together? Or will their happily ever after end on a painful, discordant note? 

This is the start of a new series, with Spencer writing as “S.M. LaViolette.” I am a sucker for musicians in historical romance and the description of this one has me positively swooning - with a heroine done wrong, a solitary hero, and “ghosts from the past” promising plenty of angst.

A Deal with her Rebel Viking by Michelle Styles

Her terms: free her family  

His terms: seduction?  

Defending her home, Lady Ansithe captures outlaw Viking Moir Mimirson. The prisoner will be the ideal ransom for her father, who’s being held hostage by the Danes. Yet Moir’s flirtatious negotiations exhilarate practical Ansithe as much as they surprise her… Can she be sure that this hardened warrior will work with her and not betray her? And what of his stolen kisses—can she trust those? 

I love when romance is subversive and flips the power dynamic on its ear - so anytime I can get a heroine who is holding the hero captive that’s enough to make my ears perk up. Desperate to free her father, the heroine needs to decide if she can trust her Viking captive which...good luck with that girl!

Her Rags to Riches Christmas by Laura Martin

A Christmas miracle rescue!  

But dare she wish for more?  

A Scandalous Australian Bachelors story. Wrongfully convicted and transported to Australia, Alice Fillips is saved from public flogging by wealthy landowner George Fitzgerald. Working as a domestic servant at his farm feels worlds away from her old life. But as the connection between her and George boils over, she’s torn between her fear of trusting anyone…and the tantalizing glimpse of the fresh start this man could offer… 

This is the third book in the Scandalous Australian Bachelors series, which somehow has managed to escape my attention before now. I suspect because the first two books take place in Merry Ol’ England, and this story actually has our hero heading back to Australia. The change of pace on the setting is enough for me to give this one a whirl.

Fallen Angel by Jenna Kernan (novella)

HIS BULLET … HIS RESPONSIBILITY  

Caught in crossfire between a bounty hunter and an outlaw, widowed mother, Abby March, catches a bullet in the shoulder. The Christmas tree she and her son were cutting is forgotten as they fall under the care of a dangerous stranger. As she recovers, she finds that Ford Statler hides his softer side and has suffered the kind of loss she well understands. As Christmas, and their parting approach, she wonders if they could have so much more than a happy Christmas together. 

Since the loss of his wife and child, Ford Statler lives a reckless existence. He’s always known a mistake would be costly, but never intended to harm an innocent. Now he’s made his bounty but missed seeing the small woman that the murderous outlaw held before him until it was too late. Saddled with the responsibility for an injured woman and boy, he finds himself longing to provide them with so much more than a Christmas to remember. 

Originally published in a Harlequin Historical western Christmas anthology, this story is now self-published and available for the first time as a separate novella. I enjoyed this when I first read it back in 2007, with a hero thrust into a caregiver role and the couple sharing close quarters.

What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to?

#TBRChallenge 2019: Holiday Kisses Anthology

The Book: Holiday Kisses by Jaci Burton, Shannon Stacey, HelenKay Dimon and Alison Kent

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Carina Press, 2011, three out of four stories part of series (exception: Alison Kent), stories available in anthology edition and sold separately.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I had a print copy of this, which means I must have picked it up at an RWA conference...but it's not autographed. Maybe I picked it up as part of a Carina/Harlequin spotlight? My personal cataloging notes are sketchy (to put it mildly).

The Review: I've always liked anthologies as a way to "sample" authors without having to expend a lot of time and energy.  I don't read nearly as many of them these days because thanks to digital many shorts are now available separately. I've obviously had this anthology languishing for a while, short works well for me this time of year (even more so than usual) so I landed on it pretty quickly for this month's challenge.

A Rare Gift by Jaci Burton kicked things off and suffered a bit because I personally have issues with the sibling's ex trope.  As someone who has sisters, the idea of boffing one of their exes (not to mention an ex-husband!!!) is an immediate no-go for me.  Calliope Andrews moved back home and started up a daycare center.  She's outgrowing her space though and wants to add an addition.  For that she calls Wyatt Kent, whose family runs a small construction outfit.  Wyatt was married to her sister, Cassandra, and they divorced two years ago.  It was not a happy fun-time divorce (are they ever?), he's still surly over it, and Calliope has had the hots for Wyatt since she was 15 (because, of course).

Cassandra isn't a dead ex (it works better for me when they're dead) and Wyatt, while not pining over his ex, still obviously has not "let it go."  So while I appreciated that Calliope was a heroine who knew what she wanted and went after it - the neatly tied up ending, the rushed "lets get married and start making babies yesterday" in the last chapter - it just didn't work for me.  Gurl, HE HAD A DISASTER MARRIAGE WITH YOUR SISTER!  Holidays are gonna be awkward.  But I'm a big enough person to admit that this is very much a personal preference thing and YMMV.

Final Grade = C

Mistletoe and Margaritas by Shannon Stacey was a novella that damn near ripped my guts out and was my favorite in the anthology.  Justin McCormick has loved Claire Rutledge since he first laid eyes on her.  The problem being that his BFF got there first. Brendan and Claire dated, got married, and had five years together before he died in an accident. Claire has been grieving for 2 years and during that time her and Justin have become inseparable BFFs.  It's getting harder for Justin to hide his feelings and Claire's starting to have very not-just-friend thoughts about Justin.  One holiday party, a couple of cocktails and some mistletoe kicks open the door.  This one features another fast marriage proposal, but works a bit better given the long friendship.  My only quibble in what is an engaging and emotional romance.

Final Grade = B+

The only reasons I didn't DNF It's Not Christmas Without You by HelenKay Dimon is because it's a novella and Dimon is an engaging writer.  Carrie Anders left her small West Virginia hometown for a dream job at a museum in Washington D.C. two hours away.  She broke it off with her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Austin Thomas, who runs a Christmas tree farm with his father and brother.  Austin thought that Carrie would get this crackpot idea of moving to The Big City out of her system and come home...but it's been six months.  So he drops serious cash, persuades his brother, and they rent a lot outside the heroine's apartment building to sell Christmas trees.  He's going to convince her to quit her job, come home, and marry him.

The hero in this story is a thundering jackass, borderline Neanderthal who completely disregards that the heroine has dreams and ambitions of her own separate from his precious man fee-fees.  To make matters worse, the heroine doesn't knee him in the giblets and send him packing. She puts up with his BS and keeps coming around the lot because she can't stay away.  I stuck with this story because I like Dimon's writing and it's short and it's kind of worth it in the end when the light finally dawns for Austin and he realizes he's an ass.  The problem being that I'm not sure I believe that he's reformed.  I mean, what are we talking here: a long distance relationship that consists of a 2 hour commute. This is not insurmountable IMHO and yet he's bound and determined to haul her home by her hair.  He sees the light but he's such a jackass for the majority of the story I'm not convinced they survive the first rough patch that happens after the happy ending.  And knowing Austin?  That rough patch probably happened within the first week.

Final Grade = C-

This Time Next Year by Alison Kent is a well done snowed-in-cabin-romance.  Brenna Keating is driving through the North Carolina mountains on the way to her grandmother's for Christmas when the predicted snow forecast shows up early. She's almost there when she swerves to avoid a deer and lands in a ditch. She's trapped, the snow is falling fast, and she probably would have frozen to death in her car if local doctor, Dillon Craig didn't happen upon her.  He's friends with her grandmother, and knows she's expecting Brenna. He frees her from her car and, the weather still terrible, takes her back to his cabin.  What you think happens next...happens next.

Brenna, a nurse, is spending one last Christmas with her grandmother before heading to Malawi for volunteer work. Her grandmother and her parents have all done similar work - kind of like a family calling.  Yet Brenna knows that her grandmother isn't getting any younger and this could very well be their last Christmas together.  Dillon served in Afghanistan as a medic, haunted by his war experiences and the fact that he was thousands of miles away from home when his father (who left him the cabin) died of a heart attack.

This is a nice, emotional, engaging romance featuring two grown-up characters who talk to each other.  I liked these two kids together and they form a partnership that naturally makes sense in my mind.  I've read several stories by Kent over the years and this is probably my favorite to date.  It's a nice contemporary romance.

Final Grade = B

Whew! Another year and another TBR Challenge complete.  I hope you all had fun participating and/or following along.  We're doing this again in 2020!  Be sure to check out this blog post for more information.

Review: A Distant Heart

The reason why I picked up A Distant Heart by Sonali Dev is simple enough - it was time for me to download a new audio book listen. I had added it to my "listen to it one of these days wishlist" and it was available with no wait, and viola!  What I didn't know going in is that it continues a story that began in a previous book, A Change of Heart.  For that reason I started this one a little behind the eight-ball.  Dev caught me up, and there's a possibility this may have been a "richer" reading experience had I been familiar with that previous book - but you know what? That's splitting hairs.  I freakin' loved this book.

Kimaya was a miracle baby.  Born to a Bollywood royal couple after a series of painful miscarriages.  She's a pampered princess, with a hyper-overprotective mother and a doting father, who is now in politics.  But it all unravels when Kimi hits grade school.  Her immune system is severely compromised to the point where she becomes the girl in the plastic bubble. Stuck in her room, with the latest medical equipment money can buy, cloistered, protected.  Her mother turns to religion with a fervor of a zealot and her father would literally do anything to save his little girl - ranging from throwing money around to allowing her to have a best friend.

Her best friend is Rahul Savant, whose police officer father was killed in the line of duty protecting Kimi's father from an assassin's bullet.  Rahul is now the man of the house, filled with grief and rage, and yet ends up accepting the help of Kimi's father (he resists at first, ultimately caving because the man's connections mean a better life and education for his two younger siblings).  But Rahul is prideful and insists on working off the debt, which is how he starts washing windows at the Mumbai mansion and how he meets Kimi.  They become fast friends and eventually (unsurprisingly) complicated romantic feelings start clouding their friendship.

There are layers of conflict in this story.  You wouldn't know by looking at the cover art, but this is also a bit of a romantic suspense tale.  Leftover from the previous book, there's a gangster (currently hospitalized after Rahul emptied his gun into him...) who has been dealing in black market organ "donations."  As in, murdering people to harvest their organs.  Kimi's medical issues ultimately mean she has to have a heart transplant, the donor and procedure being in Hong Kong.  No connection right?  Well...the gangster is threatening her, taunting her to find out the story behind her heart, and seems bent on revenge against her father for some reason.  Before you think you know the obvious solution to this - let me assure you, um you probably don't.  Because I thought it was obvious and ended up stunned (in a good way) when the denouement hits...it's a doozy.

What I loved about this romance is how emotionally messy it is.  Rahul being the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, beholden to Kimi's father, and loving her even knowing they can never be together.  Kimi, the princess in the tower, isolated, hungry for adventure, loving a man so scarred by loss, so beholden to her father, and frantic that one wrong decision on his part could literally upend her precarious health.  Kimi's parents, desperate to save their miracle child, torn apart by it - a mother lost in religious zeal and her father who is desperate to save her.

The book does utilize flashbacks, with the story flitting between Kimi and Rahul in younger days and leading up to the resolution of the gangster story line and the happy ending.  I suspect some readers may find it a little over-the-top at times, but it was Wendy Catnip, with all the emotional angst and a borderline soap opera suspense plot (I know black market organs are a thing in real life, but it can't help but sound fantastical).

I loved the emotionally messy romance, I enjoyed the suspense, and I gasped at the denouement.  It's been a while since I've wanted a happy ending this badly for a romantic couple and I couldn't tear myself away from this book during the final stretch.  I'm late to the party, but I sure am glad I'm finally here.

Final Grade = A

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is December 18!

Hey, hey, hey!  For those participating in the 2019 #TBRChallenge, a reminder that your commentary is "due" on Wednesday, December 18.  This month's theme is Holiday.

That time of year when I make y'all suffer because I can't say no to a Christmas romance.  However, notice the theme is "holiday." That means ANY holiday. But if even that puts you in the Scrooge-y mood, never fear! Remember that the monthly themes are always optional.

If you're participating on social media, please remember to use the #TBRChallenge hashtag so people can follow along.

I want to thank everyone who participated and followed along with the Challenge this past year.  Will I ever read through my ginormous TBR? Doubtful. But at least this challenge exists so that I can continue deluding myself.

Sign-ups have begun for the 2020 TBR Challenge - which you can read all about here.

Announcing the 2020 #TBRChallenge!

First, I want to thank everybody who weighed in and shared their thoughts about the TBR Challenge.  I was having a bit of a crisis of conscience, having hosted since 2011 and temporarily misplacing my mojo.  After your comments, and my own soul searching, the Challenge will live on in 2020 with some minor theme tweaks.

But first, the "rules:"

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: once a month pull a dormant book out of your TBR pile and read it.  On the 3rd Wednesday of the month, talk about that book.

Participation is as easy as being on social media!

• If you're on social media all you need to do is use the #TBRChallenge hashtag - there's no need to sign-up and your participation can vary throughout the year.
• You can use this hashtag on any day, at any time - but we're still going to concentrate on the 3rd Wednesday of every month to kick our commentary into high gear.  
• The idea is to have at least one day a month where we can always count on there being book chatter.

Want to let your blogging freak flag fly?  If you have a blog and want to post TBR commentary there, drop me a comment on this post with a link to your blog or hit me up on Twitter.  I like to post links to the various blogs on my TBR Challenge page so those who follow along can start following you.

Sound good?  Of course it does!  So what are the themes for 2020?  So glad you asked!

January 15 - We Love Short Shorts! (shorter reads)
February 19 - Friends
March 18 - Seasons
April 15 - Freebie
May 20 - Old School
June 17 - Getaway
July 15 - Family Ties
August 19 - Backlist
September 16 - Dress for Success
October 21 - Danger
November 18 - Series
December 16 - Festive

The concept for 2020 is to have more open-ended themes. Literally, make this challenge your own!  However you want to interpret these prompts? It's all good.  But if this sort of thing isn't your jam, that's OK too.  As always, the themes are optional.  Don't like 'em, don't have to use them.  See how easy this is?  I mean really, how could you not want to join in on the fun?

Review: Dancing in the Dark

Cheryl St. John was one of my go-to authors over at Harlequin, having published some very good books with Harlequin Historical and Love Inspired Historical.  She took some time away from writing for personal and family reasons - and has reemerged thanks to self-publishing.  She's reprinted several of her older Harlequin Historical titles and Dancing in the Dark is the first in a new self-published continuity series, Aspen Gold, she's doing with several of her writer pals.  The series is set in a fictional small resort town in the mountains of Colorado where everybody seems to be distantly related (by blood or marriage) - so naturally, plenty of opportunity for drama and shenanigans.

There's no way for me to talk about this book, my experience reading this book without spoilers.  I'll try to keep them at a minimum but you've been warned: SPOILERS!

Kendra Price grew up in Spencer, Colorado "raised" by a single mother who had more boyfriends than good sense and a spiteful sister.  She had an aunt (her mother's stepsister) who took her under her wing and encouraged her love of dance.  Kendra was so passionate about dance, and so good at it, she's made a career for herself - touring with various companies and now parlaying her way into teaching.  During this time she also became fast friends with Dustin "Dusty" Cavanaugh.  Kendra spent a lot of time with the Cavanaugh clan, her and Dusty fell in love, made plans - and naturally it all went to hell in a hand-basket one fateful night when Dusty slept with another girl and got her pregnant.  This broke Kendra's heart and she hightailed it as fast and far as she could away from Spencer.

Oh, did I mention that the Other Woman who Dusty got pregnant is Kendra's evil sister, Erica?  She carried the pregnancy to term, signed away her parental rights, and now Dusty is a single dad raising his son with the help of his large, supportive family.

Unfortunately for Kendra the mountains and Spencer are in her blood.  Kendra inherited her aunt's lake home after she passed and Kendra spends the summers in Spencer, teaching dance.  She's also looking to regroup.  The grind of touring and performing are starting to wear her down.  Spending time in Spencer is dangerous - given her strained relationship with her mother, sister and the possibility of running into Dusty (not to mention her young nephew!) - but she can't stay away.  Naturally what happens, happens.  She and Dusty finally reconnect and secrets come home to roost.

You have to hand it to St. John - the conflict cannon is definitely loaded for bear.  The revelation of Dusty's Baby Mama doesn't come right out of the gate, and when it hits - it's a whammy.  I love emotional conflict where you really wonder how the heck the author is going to pull off the HEA - it's that intense.  And unfortunately? That's kind of the problem with this book.  The conflict and resolution of said conflict is problematic.  Because the only way to get to that happy ending is for Dusty to be absolved of his sins - and for that to happen?  The author has to villainize the Evil Other Woman to cartoonish proportions.  In the end Dusty = victim and Erica's motives are never really clearly defined other than she is a not a nice person.  I  also found the compare/contrast between the sunshine and roses Cavanaugh clan with Kendra's trailer trash slutty mom and sister to be uncomfortable. 

I'm not going to sugar-coat, it's problematic.  Especially if you're a reader like me who finds the Evil Other Woman trope problematic on it's face.  To be honest I'm not sure of any other way St. John could have resolved this conflict to get to the happy ending as long as Dusty was the hero.  Part of me wishes that Kendra's hero would have been some other dude and part of the conflict would have been her "forgiving and moving on."  But that's not the story St. John wrote and there's a lot I liked in this book.  It showcases how well St. John can wring out emotion in even the most deceptively simple passages and moments, plus I inhaled it in one sitting.  Yes, there's a fair amount of set-up and yes, there are a bunch of secondary characters, but I got invested and will continue on with this series even though I've never read a single book by any of the other authors.

I even signed up for their newsletter.  Seriously.

I'm not going to lie, this book is problematic and some of you may read it and think I'm totally insane - but this conflict is nothing if not gutsy.  If you're a new St. John reader I wouldn't recommend starting here, but if you're already a fan? It's an interesting read.

Final Grade = B-

Thoughts on the Future of the #TBRChallenge

The #TBRChallenge has been floating around Romancelandia for a lot of years and in 2012 I took over hosting duties.  I wanted to keep it alive and frankly it was a way to force myself into reading something out of my giant horde of books at least once a month.

However, times they are a-changing.  Blogs are starting to dry up (for various and sundry reasons), more readers are migrating to social media platforms and podcasts, and even though my hosting tenure has birthed a hashtag (#TBRChallenge) - our numbers have dwindled down to a loyal few.  Also, to be perfectly blunt, while I'm still holding on to this blog by my fingernails, my life has changed quite a bit since 2003 and the time I can devote to blogging ain't what she used to be. Reading to theme (even though the themes are optional) and getting reviews up on a specified day - it's hard even for me, and I'm hosting this thing.

But I don't want to just kill the #TBRChallenge like I'm some Supreme Romancelandia Overlord.  I'm proposing a slightly altered version for 2020:

1) Participants commit to reading out of their TBR at least once a month (1 book? 25 books? Whatever!)

2) Reviews/commentary can be posted at any time during the month.

3) No provided themes.  But participants should feel free to create their own (ex. I'm toying with the idea of doing an All Harlequin Print TBR Challenge...)

4) Use the #TBRChallenge hashtag on your blog/social media etc.

For those of you who have been participating regularly, does this sound like a welcome change or a terrible idea?  And for those of you who have never or sporadically participated - do these changes sound like something that may tip you into joining the fray?

Opinions welcome.

Review: The Painted Castle

I picked up The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron because former RWA Librarian of the Year, Robin Bradford, tweeted about it. As part of her work as a Collection Development Librarian, Robin will regularly tweet about books she comes across in the course of her Day Job.  This was one of them, and she hooked me with the mention of "a lost painting of Queen Victoria."  We had it at work, and in no big hurry, I stuck myself on the wait list for the ebook copy.

I should mention that this book is published by Thomas Nelson (which is owned by Harpercollins).  For those of you who don't know publishers, Thomas Nelson publishes Christian books.  Outside of an epilogue where the God mentions get pretty heavy - this book is extremely light on the religious elements.  Like, seriously, the author could have wiped out a couple of sentences prior to the epilogue and this could have been published by plain ol' Harpercollins.  It's also more romantic elements than romance, but readers get three happy endings and some hot smooching action in the present-day story line so if you dig historical romance? You might dig this.

Keira Foley is an art historian whose career flamed out in New York. She's come home to Dublin to work in her family's pub, lick her wounds, and try to convince her overprotective brother, Cormac, that really, she's OK.  That's where Emory Scott finds her, a disreputable character and rumored art thief (although he was never charged).  He offers her a job at a rundown East Suffolk manner house, Parham Hill, where a walled off library and a long-lost portrait of Queen Victoria has been discovered.  At first Keira resists, but then her curiosity gets the better of her. Because of course it does.

As a young girl, Elizabeth Meade witnessed her father's murder and has vowed vengeance on the man responsible.  But it's 1843, and with she and her mother on shaky financial footing, only an advantageous match with do.  When Elizabeth meets her betrothed, the man her mother has brokered a deal with, she realizes that she's one step closer to closure on her father's murder and vengeance will soon be hers - she just needs to finish putting the puzzle pieces together first.

At the height of World War II, Amelia Woods is the mistress of Parham Hill, a young war widow watching over the estate's beekeeping operation and refugee children from London and Germany.  When her house is commandeered by American soldiers stationed at a neighboring airfield she finds her heart thawing to a dashing American pilot with his own pain and secrets.

This story is told over three alternating time periods, which is a tricky endeavor to pull off.  Unfortunately, I didn't always find it successful.  The long lost painting loosely ties together the three stories but....it's loose.  It felt, at times, like the author was writing three separate stories and crammed them all into one book.  The painting doesn't have enough secrets and isn't featured prominently enough in all the stories.  In the end, I think the story would have been better served if the history of Parham Hill estate had served as the focal point.  The long lost painting angle implies mystery and...there's just not a ton of mystery to be had.  Great history? A nice feel?  Yes.  A mystery?  Not so much.  And it's not helped much by the resolution of the 1843 storyline - with the bit about Elizabeth's murdered father never being fully fleshed out to my satisfaction.

But, it's still a pretty interesting historical fiction piece even though I wanted the threads tying all three storylines together to be stronger.  And you have a romantic couple in each story, all get their happy endings - and really, that's pretty awesome.  It's also a inspirational fiction book where I didn't feel like the characters were neutered.  Oh sure, there's no sex - but there's tension, "feelings" and some good smooching action, so it left me the romance reader pretty satisfied.

I'm not sorry I read this, but I didn't feel like the parts came together into a fully formed whole.  It's the third book in a series (the first two books feature Keira's brothers) and it's doubtful I'll go back for their stories, but I certainly would read this author again.  So I'm counting it a success.

Final Grade = B-