TBR Read: Front Page Affair

The Book: Front Page Affair by Mira Lyn Kelly

The Particulars: Harlequin Presents Extra #136, 2011, Out of print, but available digitally.

The Review: Outside of the TBR Challenge, I have been crap for reading books out of my TBR this year.  But I'm working on a little project right now, which required me to read some Presents, and voila!  This particular book by Kelly was one I picked up at a Borders going-out-of-business sale (::sob::) after I read this nice review by Lynne Connolly over at TGTBTU.  I didn't love it as much as she did, but I did find it to be a very solid, enjoyable read.

Nate Evans is a big time business tycoon-y type (because, aren't they all in Presents-Land?) who needs to get the paparazzi off his scent.  There was a wee bump in his personal life some months back, something he settled quietly, but his absence from the social whirlwind has been noticed.  What he needs is a distraction.  To give the wagging tongues and cameras something else to feast on.  Enter stage left, Payton Liss.

Payton is from an Old Money Family and knew Nate as a kid.  Hell, she had the mother of all unrequited crushes.  But alas her brother and Nate had a falling out, which meant as a casualty Nate started staying away from her.  Well now, here they are, at the same society wedding and he's proposing a most outrageous proposition.  He wants them to pretend that they've been having a clandestine affair for months!  Payton wants to tell him no, but she's sorely tempted.  Yes she wants hearts, flowers, marriage and babies - but this is Nate.  And even if he tells her in no uncertain terms that he's not the settling down type?  Wouldn't it be delicious just to have a taste?  Especially since she's tired of always being the "good girl" in the family.

What follows in Nate and Payton striking a bargain, having a good time together, and naturally having their stupid, stupid feelings get in the way.  It's a classic set-up for most any friends-to-lovers story and Kelly infuses it with likeable characters that are honest with each other.  They like each other, they have fun together, there's a nice playfulness to them when they aren't burning up the sheets.  Then Stuff Happens at the end, the heroine blessedly stands firm and doesn't allow the hero to railroad her (Huzzah!) and it all comes to a close with a nicely done emotional finish.

What didn't work quite as well for me was the set-up to this whole affair.  I'm willing to roll with a New Money Businessman getting followed around by the paparazzi (but even that strains a bit).  What I wasn't quite as willing to roll with was why Nate wanted to keep the past several months a Big Huge Secret.  Uh, especially since HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!  I get that the court of public opinion is going to tar and feather you anyway you slice it - but when there is irrefutable evidence (as in, good enough to hold up in a court of law) - I just wasn't entirely buying it.  Although at the end of the day, it does illustrate that deep down, underneath the New Money Tycoon exterior, Nate is a decent guy.

So yeah, if you can buy the set-up and adore the friends-to-lovers theme as much as I do (ZOMG!), this was a quick, fun read.  Kelly is now on my category-reading radar.

Final Grade = B

TBR Read: Foxfire Bride

The Book:  Foxfire Bride by Maggie Osborne

The Particulars:  Historical western romance, 2004, Ballantine, in print and available digitally.  Also, neither here nor there, the last book Osborne published before she selfishly decided to abandon me and retire from writing.  Not that I'm bitter....

The Review: I'll be blunt: with a couple of exceptions, by and large my reading so far this year has ranged from "meh" to "I can't finish this."  This weekend I DNF'ed two new victims, one of them by a writer I normally enjoy.  I was starting to get punchy.  People, I was getting desperate.  So I asked myself, "Self, what do you feel like reading?"  The answer was: a western.  Yes, I have a stack of review books a mile high, but I was at my breaking point.  I needed to be selfish.  I needed to read something that was calling to me.  And this book by Maggie Osborne won the race.

I inhaled it in 24 hours.

Matthew Tanner is a prosperous mining engineer and he's just gotten word that his father has been kidnapped.    He's currently staying outside Carson City, Nevada and the kidnappers are demanding that he bring $50,000 to Denver in three months or his old man bites it.  Scaring up the money isn't an issue, getting to Denver is.  He needs an experienced scout to lead him and his two hired guards.  What he gets is Fox.

Fox is a remarkable woman with a sterling reputation.  She made a name for herself traveling through the west, alone.  A woman, traveling the west - alone.  She's resourceful.  She's smart.  She's also stubborn, and won't take crap from anyone.  After a rival guide shoots her in the leg, she and Peaches, a black man she's known since she was a child, settle in a small cabin and scrape together a living by harvesting ice.  But it's been a mild winter, and Fox has had time to brood.  After years of avoiding it, she's now determined to have revenge against the man she feels ruined her life - a mine owner named Hobbs Jennings.  She knows the man is in Denver, and is thinking about making the trip herself when Tanner shows up.  She's not wild about taking some greenhorns on the trip, but hell - Tanner's money is going to pay the way.  So she doesn't have to go to Denver on her own dime, and she gets to where she needs to go.  Win, win - right?  Well that is, until the trials of the trip and falling in love with Tanner smack her in the face.....

I love road romances, which is probably another reason why I like westerns so much.  I like that element of adversity that so easily fits into the setting.  This entire book is pretty much devoted to the trip from Carson City to Denver.  Besides the attraction brewing between Fox and Tanner, Osborne also rounds out the cast with very intriguing secondary characters - Peaches, plus the two hired guards that Tanner brings along to protect the money.  These characters added a lot of depth to the story, and I soon was swept up more so in the group dynamic, than in the budding romance.  It just made a really good mix.

Fox is pretty much a standard issue Osborne heroine.  I hate to use the "tomboy" label for her, mostly because I feel strongly that she's a product of her environment and circumstances.  Hobbs Jennings stole her life from her.  What was left for her to do was make the best of the situation - and that meant finding her own way out west.  So yes, she's a hard woman on the outside.  But on the inside?  That's another matter entirely:

"She wasn't afraid to step in front of a gunslinger itching to squeeze a trigger, but she was afraid of an officer's wife who was probably small and delicate and about as threatening as a kitten, whose only weapon was ridicule."

Ultimately what is standing in the way of the romance is the fact that Tanner and Fox come from two different worlds.  He was educated in Boston, had his tour in Europe, wears nice clothes and smokes good cigars.  She's worked on the docks in San Francisco, had to eat out of garbage cans some nights, has worked as a guide, and even lived with some Indians for a time.  These two people won't fit together in polite society, but that doesn't make the attraction between them burn any less.  It also means that if they want to make it work, they'll have to find a way.  I loved that Osborne doesn't make her heroine morph into a pod person to make it happen.

For a long time this book sat around my B range.  It's extremely readable, and I was inhaling it, but it didn't quite have that oomph factor.  A huge chunk of the conflict relies quite heavily on convenience and we do enter Big Secret territory.  I'm still not sure if I'll ever want to reread it (typically my requirement for an A read), but damn - it made me cry.  There were moments at the end of this story where my heart about beat out of my chest and....my eyes leaked out some tears.

I, generally, do not cry over books.  I just don't.  Cold-hearted soul that I am.

But Maggie Osborne made me cry, and I flat-out loved the characters here.  They all really came to life, and I got very emotionally invested.  I did feel one secondary character is left twisting in the breeze slightly at the end (mostly because by that point I was so invested I wanted to know everything....), but really I'm just splitting hairs.  It was a great read, and just what the doctor ordered.

Final Grade = A-

TBR Read: Papa Can You Hear Me?

The Book: Revelations by Janice Kay Johnson

The Particulars:  Contemporary romantic suspense, sequel to Mommy Said Goodbye, Harlequin SuperRomance #1228, 2004, Out of Print, but available in digital format(s)!


Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  Came across it in a used bookstore and the back cover blurb tickled my fancy.  It was sheer dumb luck that the previous book in this "series" was also in my TBR.  This is what can happen when your TBR pile can be seen from space.

The Review: Ann Caldwell became a cop to please a father who was impossible to please.  She was only 9 when her mother died, and desperate for some kind of normalcy, she looked to her detective father for reassurance.  She did this by becoming a tomboy, only to have the old man neglect her with emotional abuse.  Being a tomboy didn't please him, her inability to be "girlie" frustrated him, and her being a damn good cop wasn't enough.  So when her father dies in a car accident, she's left with a lack of closure.  A lifetime spent trying to please him has left her ill-equipped.  She has no friends, no man, and quite frankly, she's not really sure who she is.  Complicating all these issues is her attraction to her partner, Juan Diaz.

Juan is divorced with a couple of kids.  When he first was partnered with Ann, it was a bit rocky.  However, over time, he's developing more than "work partner"-type feelings for her.  Something about Ann's tough exterior, and achingly vulnerable interior just knocks the wind right out of him.  But his life is also complicated, with two kids, the demands of the job, and an ex-wife who puts the capital B in Bitter First Wife.

Along with the developing romance is Ann's gut feeling that someone is killing cops.  Since her father's car accident, some of his cronies in the department have also died in "accidents."  Ann grew up idolizing these men, and investigating into their potential murders turns up all sorts of baggage.  Hence the title of the book.

I am a complete and total sucker for heroines like Ann.  The ones with mountains of emotional baggage.  The ones who act all tough on the outside, but inside they are desperately lonely and vulnerable.  Ann is a smart, capable woman but is totally unsure of herself.  All she ever wanted was for her father to be proud of her, and the asshole was completely incapable, or unwilling, to give her that.  With him as a father, and a mother who "abandoned" her - it's easy to understand how and why she is so insecure.  She's muddling through, coping the way she knows how - by being "a cop."  And for her being a cop means trying to make everyone forget that she's a woman.  Except, of course, that Juan cannot forget.  And he's torn between putting on the full court press because he's desperately attracted to her, and taking it slow so she doesn't get spooked.  There is also the small matter that, oh yeah, they have to work together.

As enjoyable as this story is, it wasn't perfect.  When I read about heroines like Ann, I want everything to be perfect for them.  I understand this is not realistic.  Nobody's life is "perfect."  But after all the shit Ann's had to put up with, I want her to have "perfect," and there was just too much left twisting in the breeze.  For one thing, Juan comes from a large family, and while Ann has an obligatory meet-and-greet with his two kids, she doesn't meet any of the rest of them.  Also, Ann never runs up against Juan's Bitter First Wife.  I have complete faith that Ann will be able to handle that "relationship" - but it's a mighty big other shoe that never drops.

There's also no love scene.  Now, here's the thing - I don't need sex in my romance novels.  I don't.  But here?  With all of Ann's personal baggage?  I think I need one.  She's not very experienced in this area (she's not a virgin, but dang - pretty darn close) - and while I think Juan is a good guy - I wanted the reassurance of a love scene.  I wanted to read about Ann having a great orgasm because honestly?  If a woman ever needed and deserved one - it's Ann.

Still, this is a very good book.  Solid, emotional, a real heart-tugger with a interesting and competent suspense thread attached.  Revelations didn't hit my "must reread it one of these days" plateau, but it was still pretty dang awesome.

Final Grade = B+

Ride 'Em Cowgirl

OK, no secret here - I have a thing for westerns. Also, no big secret - I have a thing for anthologies. Yes, I understand and totally "get" why a lot of readers don't like them. They generally tend to be wildly uneven affairs. But I love them because I'm a ho for short reads, and anthologies are a great way to scope out new-to-you writers without investing a whole lot of time. I wish I could say Wild, Wild Women Of The West, an anthology of smokin' hot historical westerns was a huge success. Unfortunately it was very much blah. And after I get this review done for my blog? Yeah, what I'm mostly likely to remember about this reading experience is that Delilah Devlin and Myla Jackson are sisters (didn't know that!).

"A Taste Of Honey" by Delilah Devlin - I guess if I had a favorite story this one would probably be it. Honey Cafferty makes a living selling patent medicines in the back of the wagon that also doubles as her home. She's stumbled on a gold mine though - a liquid form of Viagra, and the women in the town she's currently residing in are mighty happy. Yep, mighty happy indeed. However the sheriff, Joe Tanner, is not amused. He wants her out of town.

There's some "humor" in this story and that's where it stumbled for me. In a moment of pure slapstick, the women in town get drunk, subdue and kidnap the sheriff, and drop him off to Honey where she quickly learns the fine art of how to wake up a man properly. I'll admit, I'm not a fan of humor in any type of book (be it romance or otherwise) so this element annoyed. Also, I found it implausible that on one hand Honey had such limited sexual experience given her lifestyle and on the other, that a woman with her limited experience was such a fast learner. Seriously. Is there like a sexual shenanigans chapter to Mensa?

Final Grade = C

"Queen Of Hearts" by Layla Chase - Lissa Tayte makes her living distracting men with her boobies and winning their money in poker games. That's where she meets newly-minted riverboat captain, Roark Sheridan. They play cards, they have smokin' hot sex, done and done. That is until Lissa shows up at his riverboat the next day demanding to know where her family is. Seems dear old Dad lost the family home (said riverboat) in a poker game to Roark.

This story was going along just fine until Lissa arrives at the boat. Then she starts accusing Roark of swindling her father. ::snort:: This coming from a girl who is quite skilled at poker. Frankly cupcake should know that you don't lose what you don't throw into the pot - but there you go. Such promise and she ends up playing the ol' You Done My Family Wrong Card. What a disappointment.

Final Grade = C

"Touch Of Magic" by Myla Jackson - The Amazing Catarina makes her living performing magic shows. She needs to make enough coin at her current stop in Abilene, Kansas to take herself back to Chicago and a semi-respectable life. But she runs afoul of cowboy Trace Adams who heckles her during her first show. So she hypnotizes him on stage and plants the suggestion in his tiny little pea brain to come to her room later that night. Hot, sweaty shenanigans ensue.

Trace has a girl waiting back home for him, but he's not in love with her. Catarina is attracted to him, but annoyed by the fact that he's heckling her and could ruin her chances to make lots of money. She also wants him, so she brain-washes him not only to teach him a lesson, but to also have a gander at his naughty bits. Ahhhh, it must be true love! Not! Skim, skim, skim, skim. Final chapter, everything peachy at the end and the poor dumb twit waiting for Trace back home gets another happily-ever-after with a guy who isn't a jack ass. Frankly we never meet the girl in the story, and she was the one I liked the most. That's probably not a good sign, huh?

Final Grade = DNF

Which leaves me with meh. I read this anthology between other books I had going, and it never really stood out for me. Even though I had loads of issues with the Jackson entry, I would be willing to try all of these authors again. That said, while I wasn't exactly turned off by this anthology, I wasn't exactly turned on either. I'm sure I've got worse books in Ye Olde TBR, but I also fervently hope I have better.

Overall Grade = C-

(ISBN 9780758219817, in print, Kensington Aphrodisia, Erotic Romance, $12.95)

Note To Kensington's Art Department: When you have an erotic romance anthology of historical stories? Yeah, might be a good idea to make the cover art....oh I don't know....reflect that. Just sayin'.

Pack Rat

Given that I won the first inaugural Blogger Book Slut award (I'm thinking of adding that to my business cards) it's not really a shock to anyone anymore that I own an obscene number of books. Really. It's not healthy. It's so bad that when My Man and I evacuated from the wild fires last November the first words out of the mouths of my mother and two sisters (after they learned we were safe) were:

"Oh my God! Wendy! Your books! All of your books!"

Which sort of begs the question on how I store all those books. Prior to My Man buying me a book case for my birthday last year, all of my books (yes, all of them!) were stored in Rubber Maid totes. I had separate totes for certain "types" of books. My historical romances had their own tote. Hard covers and trade paperbacks were in another. Contemporary romance and romantic suspense in another. And most importantly? All of my Harlequins had their very own tote.

Even with the arrival of actual shelving, I still have two Rubber Maid totes. One for my "keepers" and one for my Harlequins. Damn, I own a ton of Harlequins. Who knew those little books could take up so much space? Which is why I've essentially gone 98% digital in getting my Harlequin fix these days. It's just easier for me as far as storage is concerned.

I've had this post filed away in the back of my brain for several months, because someone was asking about book storage ideas. I'm thinking it was either Blanche or Barbara. Well, this was mine for a long time. Rubber Maid totes stuffed in the closet in our spare bedroom/home office. I also know a lot of readers who buy the smaller, flat totes that slide under the bed. Depends on what kind of storage space you're working with.

What are your sure-fire storage methods for your books? Have you largely gone digital? Do you use book cases or totes? Have you had to resort to a storage unit? Or do you not have this problem because you 1) don't horde books and/or 2) use the library for 100% of your reading?

Old School Romance Lurve

I've said it before and I'll say it again - what makes a book a "keeper" has just as much to do with the space and time the reader is currently occupying as it does with the book itself. Nothing illustrates this more than reading a romance "classic." I love genre fiction with the kind of slavish devotion usually reserved for stalkers, but even I'm one to admit that genre fiction tends to work best in what I call The Here And Now. A large chunk of genre fiction is not designed and written to stand the test of time. Some of it does.....

But a lot of it doesn't.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It just means that reading a "classic" of any genre sometimes requires the reader to approach the story from a slightly different angle.

Lightning That Lingers by Laura London (the pseudonym for husband and wife writing tandem Sharon and Tom Curtis) was first published by Bantam Loveswept in 1983, and is a favorite among many long time romance readers. I will say for a 26-year-old category romance, this story held up better than I thought it was going to. That doesn't mean it didn't show it's age though, and it doesn't mean that I'm ready to shout from the hill-tops that this is the greatest category romance ever written.

Jennifer Hamilton is a Plain Jane children's librarian (oh, of course she is!). She's young, fresh-faced, and innocent. So when her friends haul her to a local male strip club (The Cougar Club - no I'm not joking) she practically dies of embarrassment. However instead of the floor opening up to swallow her whole (which is what she wants to happen), she catches the eye of the "star" stripper, Phillip Brooks.

The Brooks family is old money American aristocracy. Phillip is actually an out of work biologist (seriously, I'm not joking) who lives in the former family summer home. He's stripping for a "greater good" - and takes care of injured wild life. The moment he spots Jenny he's smitten, flirtation and pursuit ensues, and a happily ever after is right around the corner.

First things first, this book was published in 1983, so it is dated. That can't really be helped. Jenny has a Dorothy Hamill hair cut. Phillip does a strip tease to a Stray Cats song. Swear to God, STDs are referred to as "social diseases" (which I'm pretty sure was dated even back in 1983) and Jenny mentions "Mr. Greenjeans." All in all though, really not bad for a 26-year-old category romance.

Parts of this story are just patently absurd. The first chapter begins by introducing the reader to Phillip and his pet owl, Chaucer, who lives and flies around freely in the rambling family summer home. Insert major eye roll here. Also, I didn't know it was humanly possible to cram so much purple prose in a story that only clocks in at 180 pages.

"Like frigid poison, the icy water bled through her clothes, lacerating her raw flesh, washing her in agony, convulsing her muscles."

Or another gem:

"As she had eased herself gracefully into the bath, he had seen her wince when the sore petals of her femininity touched the water, and he was sorry."

Admittedly I'm a "less is more" kind of reader, but I found myself rolling my eyes or fighting giggles more than once. Sigh....but again, 1983. Purple prose was pretty much the standard back then. Just makes me appreciate today's romance genre more, which allows writers to be a bit more....ummm....frank with their language.

So where does that leave me? Well, I can see why so many readers like this story. Phillip is charming and roguish and Jenny definitely fulfills a common reader fantasy; that of the Plain Jane who manages to snag the attention of the drop dead gorgeous hero. That being said, I didn't believe this romance. Yes Jenny is nice and sweet, but I couldn't figure out what Phillip saw in her. What was it about her that kicked his hormones into overdrive? I have no idea - other than it was probably the fact that she was the only woman not throwing her panties at him. And that's just not enough for me to believe that they're in love. Also, one of the things I really loathe about old school romance (and even some new school romance!) is that innocence is shorthand for "heroine" and Miss Slutty McSlut Slut is shorthand for dastardly "other woman."

Ahem, sorry. Got off track there. There is no dastardly "other woman" in this story and no Miss Slutty McSlut Slut. I might have been a tad annoyed however that the socially awkward, shy, bashful heroine just happened to be a librarian. Stereotype much?

I will say that if I read this book when I was teenager I probably would have loved it beyond all reason. I was a very shy Super Librarian-in-training when I was a teen, and thank the good Lord above, largely outgrew it by the time college rolled around. At 16 I would have been a swooning mess of teenage emo hormones reading this story. But now? As a more....ummm....forthright woman in her 30s? Yeah, not so much.

Final Grade = C

Teenage Super Librarian Grade = B+/A-

Contest Alert! Because I love to pass along the Old School Romance Lurve, I'm giving away my copy of Lightning That Lingers. It's pretty beat up. Lots of spine creasing, and the pages are pretty darn close from starting to separate from the spine. But it's a decent reading copy, and I would love to pass it along to another reader curious to read one of "the classics." Winner will be chosen from random comments on this post Friday, June 5 @ 8AM PST.

ETA: Contest is open to everybody - including published authors and those who live outside the US.

Eye Of The Tiger

The Super Librarian parents are boarding a plane and heading back home tomorrow afternoon. Yep, it's time for Wendy to come up for air! I've been able to sorta, kinda keep up with my e-mail, but am massively behind in my blog hopping (and blogging). So to kick start myself back into a semi-normal routine, I'd like to announce that I have won a most prestigious award! Tracy and Kris have honored me with the first ever Official Book Slut award. Isn't it purdy?

How did I win?

Well, first I shamelessly nominated myself. Then I disclosed to Tracy how many books I have in my TBR. This actually isn't a big secret. I have the whole blessed thing cataloged over at Library Thing. Still, I hate to openly admit it publicly because it's a source of much angst and crushing anxiety. Of course I'm among friends here, so I guess I shouldn't be overly embarrassed. Hell, some of you are probably even a little jealous. Sick puppies that you are.

So many thanks to Kris, Tracy, and all the romance junkies I've met and interacted with over the years (in person and online). It takes a village to raise a Book Slut, and I couldn't have done it without all of the help and encouragement you've given to me over the years. ::snort::

King Of The Wild Frontier

Dear KristieJ,

We share a number of books in common. You're one of my western homegirls yo. However, when it comes to books that you love and adore, we tend to run into some differences. Case in point, I slapped both Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas and Broken Wing by Judith James with C grades. Amazingly enough, you're still talking to me. You're also quite fond of shaking your head in disgust and nagging me ("Wendy, Wendy, Wendy") when you find out I've got some incredible book languishing in my TBR. So in an effort to disappoint you a little less when we see each other in July at RWA (squeee!), I promised you I would read Ride The Fire by Pamela Clare before then. I literally plowed through the last 100 pages on my lunch break today.

Description:

There was only one rule on the frontier—survival. So when wounded, buckskin-clad stranger appeared at the door of her isolated cabin, Elspeth Stewart felt no qualms about disarming him and then tying him to her bed. Newly widowed and expecting her first child, she had to protect herself at all costs. And Nicholas Kenleigh threatened not only her safety, but her peace of mind. The terrible scars on his body spoke of a tortured past, but his gentle touch and burning gaze awoke longings she had never expected to feel.

Bethie had every reason in the world to distrust men; the cruelty she suffered at their hands had marked her soul, though her blonde beauty showed no sign of it. But little by little she found herself believing in Nicholas, in his honor, his strength. As he brought her baby into the world, then took both mother and daughter into his care, she realized this scarred survivor could heal her wounded spirit, and together they would… Ride the Fire.

It's always interesting to read a book based on a blogger's recommendation, especially when it's a blogger you know personally. Reading this book, I immediately understood why you love the story so much. You've got a scarred, wounded hero, a wounded heroine, a wonderful sense of history, and long, languid kissing scenes. This book has KristieJ stamped all over it.

I think it's pretty well documented how much I abhor helpless heroines, and certainly Bethie is helpless. The difference here is that her helplessness is believable. She's a damaged, widowed, pregnant woman, living alone on the frontier in 1763. What I appreciated was that while she was alone and scared, she wasn't cowering in a corner waiting for someone to attack her. Oh no! Girlfriend knows how to use a rifle, and matches wits quite well with Nicholas when he shows up wounded on her doorstep.

I appreciate authors who can write a romance novel that bucks the conventions of what naysayers think of as a "bodice ripper." The next time some jackass tells me I read fluffy brain candy garbage, I'm ripping the prologue out of this book and telling them, "Hey, Jackass - this is a romance novel." Man, it's brutal. I liked the amount of factual history Clare weaved into this story, and I really liked the fact that she didn't pull her punches. This is not a sunshine happy puppy dog rainbow kind of book - but then the American frontier during the 1760s was not a happy sunshiney kind of place.

What I thought Clare did especially well in this story was writing the sheer scope of it without leaving the reader with abrupt transitions, and jarring head-hopping. There's a real saga-like quality to this story. I also am a sucker for damaged wounded characters learning to forgive themselves and love again - and both Nicholas and Bethie fit that mold.

I'll be honest, I did feel the prose bordered on turgid at times. It's not quite as purple as say some of those "bodice rippers" from the 1980s, but it's definitely more purple than what some other historical writers are putting out these days. The only time it really felt jarring to me was when Nicholas was having lusty thoughts about Bethie. I found myself thinking that no man, regardless of the time period, would think in such turgid terms - but since I'm not likely to be transported back to the 1760s, what do I really know?

All this being said, I'll be honest....this isn't a keeper for me. As you are no doubt aware, the magic of a "keeper" is often an elusive and mysterious thing. A lot depends on the time and place the reader is in when they pick up the book. I'm not sure what makes a book a keeper for me, what magic elements a book has to have, I just know it when I read it. And after finishing Ride The Fire, I don't have that burning, itching desire (is there an ointment for that?) to read it again. That's usually the benchmark for me. That the moment I finish the last page, I close the book and just "know" that I'll want to reread the story again someday. I didn't get that feeling here.

Doesn't mean I didn't like the book though, and it doesn't mean I won't recommend it to people. I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the ending which really cooked for me. So I guess this is all a long-winded way of saying Final Grade = B+. Now dear KristieJ, we've got one less book for you to nag me about. Don't fret though. My TBR is so obscene I'm sure there are plenty of other nagging candidates languishing on my shelves. Which means I should probably get better at lying before July....

How To Lose Friends & Alienate People

My last several reads have been on the disappointing side, so I thought it was time to take drastic action. Yep, I went back to my comfort food of choice, Harlequin Historical westerns. Then I figured, why not Jenna Kernan? She hasn't disappointed me yet, and Turner's Woman happens to be one of Sybil's most favoritest reads ever. Surely, nothing could go wrong...could it?

Jake Turner is traveling west on a super secret mission for President Andrew Jackson when he comes across a massacre in progress. A young woman, traveling with a group of idiot men, have run afoul of some Crow warriors. Seems the idiot men decided it might be fun to ride across a sacred burial ground and take some souvenirs. The men are goners, but Jake is on decent enough terms with this particular band that they let him take the woman. The chit certainly throws a wrench in the works, and he has absolutely no use for women, but his conscience pretty much forces him to save her sorry butt.

Emma Lancing was on her way to meet up with her father, a rendezvous she is not looking forward to since the man is an abusive tyrant. She's completely unsure what to do. Jake seems unwilling to go out of his way to reunite her with her asshole Daddy, and she's not about to travel off by her lonesome. So when Jake offers her a choice, she decides that she's going to travel with him. Why not? For the first time in her life she's in control of her destiny, and having an adventure sounds positively grand.

Emma is a fantastic heroine. Oh, how I loved this girl! She starts out this story shell-shocked. Almost like someone suffering from post-traumatic stress. Indian massacre aside, living under her father's tyrannical rule for her entire life, watching her mother succumb to madness only to be eventually shipped off to a mental ward, has left Emma completely unsure of herself. She has no life. She's essentially a prisoner. What Jake offers her is a chance at freedom. I loved watching this girl blossom into a woman, become more sure of herself, and discover that not only does she have a brain in her head, she knows her own mind. She's calling the shots now, and her Daddy can't say a damn thing about it.

The fly in the ointment is Jake - who is by far not anywhere near good enough for Emma. Man, is this guy a jackass! All woman are evil. Why? Yeah, you guessed it - he grew up back east and and some slutty Miss Thang tried to hog-tie and trick him in to marriage. That's women for you! Our sole purpose in life is to ruin a man's life by throwing the marriage noose around his neck. Then we climb into his bed, practically rape the guy, so we can get ourselves bunches of babies so he's tied to us forever! Insert maniacal laughter here.

This jackass idiot asshole keeps up this nonsense for the whole damn story. He treats Emma like a leper, despite the fact that she continually saves his sorry ass time and again over the course of the story. Seriously. This asswipe should have been killed at least three times by my count - and Emma, dear sweet wonderful Emma, keeps rescuing his sorry butt, for reasons that totally escaped me.

Seriously, how I loathed this "hero." He sped right past Alpha territory and went straight into Why Hasn't He Been Castrated With A Dull Spoon Yet territory.

So where does that leave us? Great heroine. Great, great, great heroine. Seriously. I'd totally go gay for Emma. Also, Kernan continues to be one of the very few authors mining the western landscape pre-Civil War era (basically when everything west of the Mississippi was the middle of nowhere). Her settings are almost like secondary characters to her stories, and this one is no exception.

But Jake! Oh Lord - this guy needed to be shot. Or stabbed. Or strung up by his Mr. Happy. Seriously, I can't decide which. All I know is that Emma was way to good for this assmunch and deserved way better. Unfortunately, this being a romance and him the only hero on the horizon, she's stuck with him. Poor girl.

Final Grade = C+

Seriously, this is my fourth C read in a row. I'm starting to get punchy.

Frenemies

Longtime readers of this blog know that the number one romance theme I cannot stand is that of soul mates. Oh, how I hate me the soul mates theme. We're talking loathe. Nothing you can say will make me change my mind (believe me, KristieJ has tried - and if she can't convince me no one can). Well guess what? I'm adding another theme to the list.

Authors, we need to talk. Please, for the love of all that is holy, think long and hard before writing adversarial couples. You know what I'm talking about. Hero and heroine despise each other. They fight, they kiss, they fight some more, they grope each other, they bicker, they make mad passionate monkey love, they argue, they fight again, they declare their love!

Seriously. Stop. It. Now.

I know why you do it. You do it because it's the quickest way to illustrate tension. The problem is, it's very hard to pull it off. For every one book where it works, there's literally hundreds where the hero and heroine come off looking like ill-tempered three-year-olds. This is a problem for me, since I like to read books about grown-ups. Grown-ups who talk and act like grown-ups. What can I say? I'm just wacky like that.

Which brings us to Snowfall by Sharon Sala.

Caitlin Bennett is a poor little rich girl whose Daddy is dead. Boo-frickin-hoo. Anywho, now she writes mystery novels, and she's been getting deranged letters from some whack-a-do. Said crazy stalker guy has also sent letters to her publisher. When an attempt is made on Caitlin's life, her editor calls his step-brother, Connor "Mac" McKee, an ex-cop turned security specialist to play bodyguard.

Caitlin and Mac have met before and don't like each other. So even though her life is in danger, instead of welcoming the guy with open arms, they pick up where their squabbling left off.

Wendy's eyes start bleeding.

In the meantime, there's an interesting suspense thread. It's obvious as hell (motive and identity), but it's still interesting. Our frustrated evil-doer is so pissed off he's taking to roaming the streets of New York raping women who look like Caitlin and slashing their faces.

I know, what a guy!

The suspense, along with the cops on the case, were the only things that kept me flipping the pages because honestly, the romance made my head hurt. When they weren't bickering, Mac was constantly calling Caitlin "Caitie," "honey," or "baby."

Gag, puke, barf. Endearments, while charming in real life, have a way of turning cloying pretty darn fast when on the printed page. While we're at it - authors, you need to stop doing that too. Just add it to the list.

Caitlin cries, dries her tears, fights with Mac, has sex with Mac, fights with him some more and then does something really colossally stupid towards the end that not only puts her safety at risk, but those of innocent people! Way to go moron! Woo Hoo! Seriously, could someone just shoot this chick and put me out of my misery?

Which leaves me wondering how the heck to grade this book. I mean, normally my utter dislike for the romantic couple would land this one somewhere in my D range. But, this just isn't "bad" enough for a D. I've read worse. Way worse. It's decently written, the suspense was nice albeit obvious, and I liked the cop characters - so let's split the difference. Final Grade = C-

Oh the joys and the dangers of unearthing long neglected books out of the TBR.

Apples And Oranges

Has this ever happened to you? You finish a really enjoyable book. The kind of book that sticks with you. And because of this, the next book you pick up suffers by comparison? Yep, I got The Just Finished A Maggie Osborne Novel Blues. Damn.

Let me state up front that this isn't going to be a complete review of A Scandalous Marriage by Cathy Maxwell. Why? Well, I'll be honest here - I skimmed quite a bit of it. Pretty much from the moment I realized this had a Romeo & Juliet plot thread front and center (FYI, the back cover description gives no indication of this). Yeah, yeah - the Maggie Osborne I just finished had the same sort of vibe, but it didn't directly involve the hero and heroine, and one of the major jackasses in that story (the hero's father) was dead. So, I could roll with it. In this story though? Not so much.

Devon Marshall, Viscount Huxhold loves Leah Carrollton, however there's a teeny little problem. Yeah, their families loathe each other. The Marshall's blame the Carrollton's for the death of Devon's parents and the Carrollton's are a pack of reprobate gamblers who blame the Marshalls for "ruining" them. Whatever. Devon and Leah fall in lurve, but it all goes to hell when Leah's idiot brother, Julian, calls Devon out in a duel and gets seriously injured (he ain't dead, but his hand is crippled). Leah says, "No, no Devon - I cannot run away with you now, you shot my idiot brother!" so Devon takes off and Leah gets knocked up by first pretty boy that wanders along (her way of getting back at her idiot family, naturally). Once pregnant, Leah runs away to the country, which is where Devon finds her quite by accident. Baby is born, Leah and Devon marry, and then the rest of the novel is spent dealing with family fallout.

I have a hard time with Romeo & Juliet plots because I want the romantic couple to reach deep down and grow a pair. Yeah, yeah, Regency England, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, historical accuracy, blah, blah, blah. This is one instance where I just can't seem to locate the "off switch" to my modern sensibilities. I know it isn't "fair" of me - but dang, it's just one of my foibles, so roll with it. I'm perfectly aware of the fact that I'm being unreasonable, I don't need anyone to point it out for me.

Now for readers who enjoy Romeo & Juliet With A Happy Ending plots? This one will probably be right up your alley. I did think some of the conflict was a little too easily resolved at times, but this story is well-written and flows nicely. Also, I really liked Devon as a hero, and Leah is OK, as long as the reader is willing to swallow the whole Rescue Fantasy aspect of her character. I found it a touch annoying, but I'll be honest - after reading The Promise Of Jenny Jones, any female character who can't find her big girl panties (let alone pull them up) is going to annoy the crap out of me.

For my own personal record keeping, I'm assigning this a Final Grade = C, but the rest of you should probably ignore that. I didn't give the entire book a thorough, careful reading, so I'd take my opinion with a grain of salt. Like I said though - if you dig rescue fantasies, along with Romeo & Juliet? This bad boy, published in 2000, is still in print.

Promises To Keep

Regular readers of this blog are probably sick of me bitching whining lamenting the fact that Maggie Osborne has retired from writing. Some nonsense about spending more time with her family. Like her family needs her more than I do! Bah! Well, at least I still have several of her books in the ol' TBR. That's some comfort I suppose.

The Promise of Jenny Jones is a favorite among many romance readers and yes, I am just now getting around to reading it. Such is the life of someone who owns more books than is good for her.

Jenny Jones is a mule driver, a buffalo skinner, and now a condemned women. Nobody in the god-forsaken, backwater Mexican town could believe a soldier could be so drunk that he'd actually attack someone like Jenny Jones. So there she sits in her jail cell, waiting for her date with a firing squad, all because she killed a man in self-defense. That's where Marguarita finds her.

Marguarita is dying of consumption and knows her days are numbered. What she proposes is that she'll take Jenny's place in front of the firing squad in exchange for Jenny taking her 6-year-old daughter, Graciela, to her father in California. Theirs was a passionate love affair, torn apart because both of their daddies were pig-headed bigoted assholes. So even though Marguarita was married to Robert, she was sent away to Mexico in disgrace, and Robert stayed in California to protect his inheritance of the family ranch. Marguarita fears for her daughter's life, because she believes that once she is dead, her vile cousins will cut Graciela's throat. With Marguartia dead, Graciela stands to inherit a lot of money. With Graciela dead, the cousins stand to inherit a lot of money. And ain't it always about the money?

Jenny Jones is no lady, but she does have morals. She never lies and once she makes a promise, she keeps it. Which is why Marguarita entrusts her with her daughter, and why she doesn't back down when the murderous cousins make multiple appearances and Ty Sanders shows up on the scene. Ty is Robert's brother, and promised him he'd go to Mexico to bring back his wife and daughter. Who he finds is Jenny Jones, a woman unlike any other he has met before. She's a gal that can hold her liquor, who doesn't whine when she gets shot, and is protecting his niece, who doesn't like her all that much, from thugs.

In my opinion, the whole point of reading romance is, well, the romance. I like the hero and heroine to be on the same page together fairly early in the story. That does not happen here. Ty and Jenny only have occasional run-ins (where they keep stealing the kid back and forth) until page 160, and the author only has 377 pages to work with. The only thing keeping this story from being a DNF for the first half was that it was Maggie Osborne. Wendy does not give up on Maggie Osborne.

And damn, it's a good thing I didn't either. Because while I was being lulled into complacency, something happened. Yep, the author blindsided me. Little did I know, I had fallen in love with Jenny, Ty and Graciela. I was hooked. And then the emotion showed up, and damn, a few tears leaked out. Yeah, I cried....and I do not cry over books. Just don't.

The "knock" against Osborne's books by some readers who don't know any better is that her heroine's are too "rough." Certainly Jenny is very rough. This is a woman who has not had an easy life. It's been hard. And what she knows about kids she basically doesn't like. It's amazing to watch her, over the course of this story, open her heart to a child who prays to God every night to "kill Jenny" and who succumbs to Ty's devilish charms. Maggie Osborne's heroines don't need the romance. If the man never comes along, they'll go on living and be just fine. No, Maggie Osborne's heroines deserve the romance - and yes there's a huge difference.

All of the characters grow and change over the story. Couple this with my tears, I found the second half to be close to perfection. Even though they're barely together in the first half, the chemistry between Ty and Jenny leaps off the page, and Jenny's later scenes with Graciela are enough to rip your heart out. Even cynical skeptics like me. It's not my favorite Osborne, but dang, it ain't half bad.

Final Grade = B+

It's OK, I Still Love You

After a dismal reading month of July, August has proven to be quite productive. So when I started jonesin' for a "naughty" book, I immediately hit the mammoth TBR pile and unearthed Velvet Glove by Emma Holly. I know several readers who have a fondness for this book, and Lord knows I wish I could say I was joining their ranks. While this isn't "bad" by any stretch of the imagination, it ruffled a few of my Personal Preference feathers. Calm down, calm down....let me explain:

Audrey was on vacation in Florida when she met Sterling. Sterling is wealthy, older, and totally into the S&M thing. He sets about making Audrey his submissive. Lo and behold, the girl likes it. That being said, Sterling is more S&M jackass than S&M tender lover. So Audrey, taking a page from the Romance Novel Heroine Handbook, does what girls like her do - she runs away.

Off she runs back to Washington D.C. into the arms of her "best friend" Tommy. Tommy has loved her forever and ever, but she doesn't love him "like that." Still, that doesn't keep her from sending him mixed signals by putting her mouth on various parts of his anatomy. This aspect of the story annoyed the crap out of me. Fine, you don't love the guy. Tell him that! And for the love of all that is holy, stop sexing him up! In my book this makes Audrey a tease. If I want a tease heroine to drive me insane, I'll find a too-stupid-to-live romance heroine thankyouverymuch.

Anyway, Sterling is not happy that Audrey has taken off, so he calls in a favor with a senator he's got in his pocket. The senator, tired of being in said pocket, calls up his hunky, bar-owning son, Patrick. He asks Patrick to protect Audrey, and ahem show her how lovely a legitimate dominant partner can be. This being an erotic novel, Patrick is up for to the task.

Besides Audrey being a tease with Tommy, she gives off a Little Girl Lost, Please Rescue Me vibe for the majority of the story that just grates on me. The reason I read erotica is to get away from Save Me, Protect Me, Love Me damsels like this. Yeah, Audrey likes sex, and has a whole mess of it over the course of this story, but there's still that underlying thread of helpless kittenish pet that annoys the everlovin' crap out of me.

Patrick's OK. He's hot, he's hunky, he owns a bar - all things I can get behind. But honestly? The character that salvages this story for me is Basil, the cross-dressing, gay jazz singer. Yeah, I can hear you thinking that he sounds like a cartoon cliche, but there are two scenes with him - one where he's talking to Audrey alone, another where he's talking to Patrick alone - that are just fabulous. The kind of scenes I would read over and over again. They're that good people. Insightful, touching, intelligent - damn, give me a minute here....

So where does that leave me? Originally I would say this book ended up being a B- for me. Even though I had Personal Preference Issues, it's still head and shoulders above a lot of what's getting marketed as "erotica" these days. But dang, I really did not like Audrey. Help Me, Save Me, Protect Me, Love Me = Barf, Puke, Gag. I still love me some Emma Holly, but I don't think this is one I'll have the itch to reread. Now where did I leave my copy of Cooking Up A Storm? Final Grade = C+

Pleasantville

I originally bought Beauty And The Baron by Deborah Hale because I'm a sucker for the "Beauty And The Beast" storyline. Human beings have a great capacity for "love." Whether you are short, tall, fat, skinny, ugly, beautiful - everyone can fall in love. Which might be why I get annoyed with English historical romances so much. I'm sorry, while they controlled a great many things, the privileged didn't hold the market share on falling in love. I'm sure butlers and scullery maids fell in love all the time! However, you'd never know it by picking up a romance novel set in 19th century England.

Ahem, anyway....

Beauty and the Baron takes place in the English countryside several years after Waterloo. Lord Lucius Daventry came home from battle a changed man. Once a handsome rake, he now has facial scars and hides behind a mask. He lurks on his grandfather's estate, only venturing out at night to do God only knows what. This leads to the locals calling him "Lord Lucifer" behind his back (of course they do, it was either that or the Devil Baron). While he's been wallowing, his beloved grandfather has befriended Miss Angela Lacewood, a local girl who has a habit of adopting neglected strays. However, now his grandfather is ill, and the doctor believes he only has three months to live. Lucius wants to make his last days happy, and since the old coot keeps trying to play matchmaker, he thinks a "pretend" engagement will do the trick. He proposes the idea for Angela, who at first balks. But Lucius sweetens the pot by offering to buy her brother's commission to India, plus she really does care for his grandfather quite a bit. She agrees, and the two decide that she will break their engagement after the old man passes. The scandal will be lessened if she's the one who breaks it off.

The best way to describe this story is pleasant. It's an easy read, unoffensive, and didn't illicit any strong emotions. That's good, because I didn't hate it. It's bad because it didn't inspire much in me outside of "pleasantness." It's an OK read that didn't get my heart thumping and travels along at an leisurely pace. It sat smack dab in the middle of "average" territory for the majority of the book.

Then Chapter 17 comes along, and I start to see some shine to the story. Angela has come to Lucius' estate and he's trying to convince her that the time has come to end their sham engagement. There's a fabulous exchange between the two characters, and a "spark" to the story finally makes enough of an appearance to ramp up my "average" grade to B- territory.

"I can't explain it, but I have a feeling it's different with you. If I let you go, I may never get you back. Perhaps if I'm patient, you'll come to see that my feelings for you aren't the maiden's daydream you believe them to be. And perhaps you'll come to see that your feelings for me are stronger than you think."

To me that's just perfect. One or two more chapters to wrap it up, and I would have left this story satisfied. Unfortunately, the author continues to write and we get 50 more pages and a slightly bizarre Cyrano de Bergerac storyline. It just seemed odd and tacked on. I tend to think of Cyrano as a farcical storyline, while Beauty and the Beast just, well, isn't. It just seemed out of place for this story. And so goes my elevated B- grade, back down to merely average. Oh well.

Beauty And The Baron is pleasant enough fare, but that's all it is. I didn't hate it, which is good, but it also means I have no burning desire to run out and snap up Hale's backlist. That's not so good.

Final Grade = C

Procrastination Station

For those of you out there who think I might be exaggerating my TBR, let me share with you Exhibit A. Here is concrete proof that I really am a sick little monkey.

Back in 2000 I reviewed the first book in Susan Wiggs' Chicago Fire trilogy, The Hostage, for The Romance Reader. I loved it. Then in 2001 I reviewed the third book in the trilogy, The Firebrand, for The Romance Reader and loved it. In fact, The Firebrand is one of my Top 5 all-time favorite romances. So where did that leave book two in the trilogy, The Mistress? Sitting in my TBR since 2000. No joke. Now honestly, how warped is that?

Plot Description:

As the historic fire ignites across town, Kathleen O'Leary finds herself dressed in borrowed diamonds and silk, enjoying a lavish masquerade. The penniless maid has caught the eye of Dylan Francis Kennedy, the rich, handsome gentleman all of high society has been speculating about. The night feels alive with magic. . . and ripe with promise.

Then fire sweeps through the city, cornering the young lovers with no hope of rescue. Desperate to share their last moments together, Kathleen and Dylan impulsively marry. Incredibly, they survive. Now, as the fire burns down to cold ash, Kathleen must tell Chicago's most eligible bachelor that he has married a fraud. But the joke's on her. For this gentleman is no gentleman. While Kathleen had hoped to win Dylan's love, he had planned only to capture her heart and steal her fortune. Dylan Kennedy -- con artist, gambler and ne'er-do-well—has been unwittingly caught in his own game. Now the real sparks are about to fly.

Since I adored The Hostage and The Firebrand it will probably strike some as odd that The Mistress was a major slog for me. The only way I can explain it is by stealing KristieJ's It's Not You, It's Me Theory. I have too much history with this book. Having read and loved the other two titles in the trilogy, I already had a good idea what this book was about. Harlequin's back cover copy doesn't help matters either. Basically it's the Reader's Digest Condensed Book version of the first 234 pages! It took me forever to get through them, and I skimmed chunks all the while muttering under my breath, "Yeah, yeah, this is all on the back cover copy. Let's get on with it!"

To be fair to Harlequin, they may not have had much of a choice. I remember when The Mistress first came out eight years ago. There were many readers on my various e-mail loops (my pre-blog addiction days) who were horrified by Dylan Kennedy. A hero who is scoundrel?! The shock! The horror! Fake rakes and bad boys who wouldn't know "bad" if it bit them in the ass are just fine - but give them a hero who really is despicable and a case of the vapors ensues. And make no mistake, Wiggs wrote an honest-to-goodness scoundrel. Dylan is a world class liar, a con artist, a charmer who waltzes his way through life when he's not running away from it. It's not until the con man gets conned himself, and finds himself falling in love, that he even begins to contemplate little things like honesty and trust.

Kathleen is a good, hardworking Irish girl who covets a better life. Having been employed as a ladie's maid, she envies the rich and has big dreams. When a couple of the well-heeled girls at the finishing school where she works suggest she masquerade as a proper lady for one evening, she agrees. She's desperate for a taste of the good life and it's not until she finds herself hitched to Dylan that she realizes how wrong she's been.

This is a hard book for me to assign a grade to, only because I don't feel I'm being entirely fair to it. The first couple hundred pages were a real drag for me, but I suspect that's largely because of my own personal baggage. That will learn me to leave trilogies unfinished and read out of order for 8 years. Geez. But on the whole, this is a good entry in what is probably my favorite historical romance series. I love the setting, I love Wiggs' historical voice, and I love the way the author seamlessly blends the fire sequences over the course of three separate stories. Oh, and the characters are pretty good too.

Final Grade = B-

A Time Of Legend

To kick off It Came From The TBR, let us hop into the Wayback Machine to a long forgotten time in Romance Novel Land. A magical time. A time of legend and myth. A time when Avon still published historicals that didn't take place in England. Hard to imagine now, but such a time did exist. Here in the real world we know it as the year 2000.

And in case you're wondering, it's really not that hard for me to be this much of a smart ass. Just ask my mother.

Mail Order Bride by Maureen McKade is a wonderful trip down memory lane. It reminds me, once again, of the great western romance authors Avon used to have writing for them. This isn't as emotional (and gut-wrenching) as McKade's more recent work for Berkley, but it's still pretty darn good.

Kate Murphy is a girl with limited options. Her abusive, drunken father finally had the good sense to die, but he left her with nothing but a dilapidated cabin and debt. She sells what she can, and decides to become a mail order bride. She answers an ad from a miner in Orion, Colorado. However she arrives on the stage the same day as a mine cave-in and learns her intended has died. Now she's really screwed, since she only has a few dollars left to her name. But luckily good fortune is smiling on our gal. She quickly secures lodging with a local widow woman (who has outlived five husbands, bless her soul) and gets a job as a nanny taking care of the mine superintendent's, Trev Trevelyan's, children. Kate don't know nothing about no babies, but it's either take care of 4-year-old Annabel Lee and infant Brynn or work in a saloon. Not much of a choice.

Trev's wife died in childbirth and she left a long shadow. She was above Trev in social standing, and resented her step down in the food chain. She also wasn't much of a mother, suffering what one might deduce as severe postpartum depression (or she could just be a spoiled child herself, but I like the depression theory). Since her death, Trev's daughter hasn't spoken a word, leaving many in town to think the girl is daft. Trev adores his children, but he has to work for a living, which means finding day care. The woman he was leaving them with turns out to be unacceptable, and he's damn near desperate when Kate Murphy falls into his lap.

Any romance reader worth their salt knows where this is going. Kate and Trev soon find themselves attracted to each other even though Trev has sworn off marriage, and Kate vows not to marry a miner once she learns how dangerous the job is (being from Kansas, she had no idea). She needs money to get out of Orion and Trev needs a sitter. It's win-win for both of them until they go and fall in love with each other. External conflict involving the mine cave-in and a looming labor strike keeps the story humming along between the tap dancing that Kate and Trev do around each other.

What I really enjoyed about this story is that both hero and heroine were grown-ups. They both had their own dreams, desires, and problems to deal with. Kate is my favorite kind of heroine. A Plain Jane spinster who is practical, not given to fits of vapors, and has a brain rattling around in her head. Trev is a good man living with past mistakes. It was a very pleasant read about nice people who don't succumb to silly, contrived conflict. It was well worth digging out my TBR, and it's well worth a look should you run across it during your next visit to the used bookstore.

Final Grade = B

It Came From The TBR

Anybody who has been crazy enough to go tip-toeing through my Library Thing account knows that I own an obscene amount of books. What I don't think most people realize is that all of those cataloged books? Every single one of them? I haven't read yet. That's right. I have over 900 books I have never, ever read.

It's a horrible sickness I tells ya.

So I am declaring 2008 The Year Of The TBR. That's right. I hope to read as many books as I can out of the TBR, concentrating on the ones I've had lying around for years. For the sake of this mission, let's say more than three years. Believe me, that gives me a ton to choose from.

It Came From The TBR will be a year-long, ongoing feature here at the Bat Cave for all of 2008. Stick around, read about my madness, and maybe add to your used bookstore shopping list while you're at it. Because honestly, we're all just a bunch of enablers here in Blog Land. And by all means, feel free to steal my idea for your own blog or reading resolution for 2008. Because I know I'm hardly the only one with this illness.