Like all contest reading it was a mixed bag. There were books I really didn't think were all that great. Then there were the nothing memorable either way, merely OK books. And then there were the books that featured something that "stuck" with me. For the sake of this round-up I'm going to talk about those books; the Wendy Graded B and C books (alas, no A reads this year in contest judging!). And, of course, I'm including the book I selected as Top Pick!
So the issues I had with the story were mostly the hero (he's an undercover cop and yet the heroine suggests to him he might want to alter his appearance to "fit in" in town. Really dude?) and some back-story, info-dump in the first chapters. It's the heroine here who is interesting. The self-medicating issue with her alcoholism is not one you see every day in romance. Also she's very aware of her bipolar disorder, monitors her medication, sees her doctor regularly etc. These "interesting issues" you don't see in romance novels every day continue toward the end. [SPOILER] Heroine gets pregnant. She's older, has a mental illness, and is just repairing the damage she's done to herself and her relationships. Abortion is actually thought about and discussed. The heroine isn't necessarily "overjoyed" with this news. She's, naturally, worried. Was kind of refreshing to read a book where the heroine didn't spout off any "I'll always have a piece of him" BS. [END SPOILER].
So the hero is, frankly, pretty standard here for stories of this ilk. There's nothing particularly memorable about him, in my opinion. But again, it's the heroine who makes this trilogy. She's got an ex-fiance she's broken things off with, a strained relationship with her parents, and she's tired of feeling helpless. Sure, she'll be the hero's "plus one" for however long it lasts - but in exchange she wants self-defense lessons. Yes, the hero does "save her" to some extent, but she's actively working to save herself - and that's what I liked about this series.
The hero is a bounty hunter and a "seer" - descended from a survivor of Atlantis (yes, that Atlantis). His ability to "see" people across time and space makes him darn good at his job - until he's hired to find a car thief who jumped bail and he can't "see" him. What the heck? The heroine is that car thief's stepsister and since she put her condo up for bail she has a vested interest in finding him. She eventually runs into the hero and they join forces. What neither of them know? Wayward stepbrother stole something other than a car and there are some Very Bad Men gunning for him.
The world-building here is in line with urban fantasy. It's a world we recognize as an everyday world, it's just inhabited by people with "powers." The Atlantis angle was interesting, there's a nice chemistry between the main couple, and the series-itis (this is the first book in a trilogy folks) is there, but not too annoying (the hero's siblings are on tap for other books). If you're looking for a new paranormal, Burn-Out Girl thought this was very solid. It's pricier as a trade paperback, but it got very good reviews in the trade journals (including a starred review in Publisher's Weekly), so your local library may be an option.
This is likely a book that would drive historical purists up one wall and down the other. However I appreciated it for how the author plays with her history without completely running off the rails. Yes, a heroine in the early 19th century running around as amateur shrink would be unlikely - but the survivor's guilt angle worked for me. Also her idea for helping soldiers is "talk therapy," which hardly strains at the seams. I also liked the window into mental illness treatment during this time period. Let's face it - the hero has money and power, even if he is believed to be totally mad. That affords him a certain lifestyle, even if he is institutionalized. My only real quibble is a bit of a throwaway line, where I felt that the heroine's husband (obviously "not well") is demonized a bit for the way he treated her. I could see that rankling some readers, and while it rankled me a bit - it didn't detract overall from the story which I felt was very interesting and a different take on what we typically see in a Regency.
And that's it! The four books that stuck with me in various, positive ways, during the course of my contest reading. While I didn't find an "A" read this year, I did run up against some interesting books that I may not have read otherwise. Which really, is why I keep signing up to judge contests every year even with my TBR Pile of Doom. There's nothing quite like stumbling across a good book that you otherwise may have never found.
