Year In Review 2015: The #TBRChallenge

Now that the calendar has turned, it's time for me to look back at my reading year that was 2015.  To kick things off, I'd like to recap last year's TBR Challenge.

I took over hosting duties in 2011 from Keishon and wow, I can't believe it's been four years already!  I host the challenge for several reasons, but the big two are: 1) it forces me to read something out the print pile at least once a month and 2) it's a guaranteed day in Romancelandia where we can kick back and learn/talk/read about "older" books. 

I always say the monthly themes are optional, but as hostess I do my best to follow them.  Title links will take you to full-length reviews.

January (We Love Short Shorts!) - Dishing It Out by Molly O'Keefe - Grade = B-

• An early category from O'Keefe published under Harlequin's defunct rom/com Flipside line.  A nice read, an interesting one for fans.

February (Recommended Read) - Precious and Fragile Things by Megan Hart - Grade = C+

• Hart's first foray into "general fiction." I was enjoying it, even though I felt like I wasn't the intended audience until...the ending.  There's a twist at the end that frankly smacked me as piling on completely unnecessary angst.

March (Series Catch-up) - Sins of a Wicked Princess by Anna Randol - Grade = D+

• I loved the first book in this trilogy, the second was meh, and this one was borderline dumpster fire.

April (Contemporary) - Double Down by Katie Porter - Grade = C+

• Sexy, fun erotic romance featuring a kink that does not feature the letters B, D, S or M.  Pretty light on conflict though.

May (Kickin' It Old School) -  A Soldier's Heart by Kathleen Korbel - Grade = A-

• 20 year old category romance featuring a former Army nurse heroine with PTSD and a couple in their 40s (!).  A few, small dated references (hello, car phones!) - but stands the test of time amazingly well.

June (Author With More Than One Book in TBR) - The Last Woman He'd Ever Date by Liz Fielding - Grade = B-

• A perfectly pleasant and frothy rom/com style read.  Biggest quibble was pacing issues and a meet-cute that dragged on a bit too long.

July (Lovely RITA) - Crazy Thing Called Love by Molly O'Keefe - Grade = A-

• What started as a perfectly serviceable single title contemporary featuring a wound-tight heroine and an NHL bad boy hero takes an amazing turn in the second half.  I didn't read it so much as inhale it in one gulp and stayed up way too late on a "school night" to read it start to finish.

August (Impulse Read) - A string of DNFs and finally Snapped by Christine D'Abo - Grades = DNFs and C+

• The less said about this month the better.  After four DNFs, I finally settled on a novella I picked up at July's RWA conference in NYC.  It wasn't without issues, but I finished it.  Which frankly seemed like a small miracle.

September (Historical) - Nobody's Darling by Teresa Medeiros - Grade = B-

• A book that I should have read 10 years ago so I could have given an "A" to it.  Well-written, entertaining, but there are some problematic elements that Jaded Wendy Romance Reader couldn't look past.

October (Paranormal or Romantic Suspense) - Impulse by JoAnn Ross - Grade = D+

• Come dine at The Character Trope Smorgasbord, stay to revel in an everything and the kitchen sink plot, and some awkward writing sequences that stopped me cold.  Silver lining = it was a quick, fast read.  God bless short chapters.

November (It's All About the Hype) -  Glitterland by Alexis Hall - Grade = B+

• I found this a bit wordy (which makes sense to the story but still...wordy).  Also one of the heroes speaks in the vernacular and that takes some getting used to.  Otherwise?  I really enjoyed this one.  Heartbreaking, emotional, and a great grovel scene at the end.

December (Holiday Read) - A Christmas Waltz by Jane Goodger - Grade = B

• Not without some issues, but I really enjoyed this western historical about a heroine who finds out her beloved is a lying snake and ends up falling for his stoic older brother.

I finished off the 2015 TBR Challenge with 2 A's, 5 B's, 3 C's, 2 D's and 4 DNF's.  In hindsight I really need to do a better job of giving myself enough lead time with this challenge to allow myself to DNF more.  But 2 A's and 5 B's is nothing to sneeze at.

I had a great time (once again!) hosting the challenge and it's certainly not too late to consider signing up for the 2016 TBR Challenge!  For more information and details on how to sign-up, please check out this blog post.

#TBRChallenge 2015: A Christmas Waltz

The Book: A Christmas Waltz by Jane Goodger

The Particulars: Historical romance, Kensington Zebra, 2010, Third book in trilogy, In Print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  I'm a sucker for Christmas books and westerns.  I also liked the sound of the blurb. 

The Review: This is a perfect example of the right book finding me at the right time.  Oh there are faults. Plenty of them.  I see and acknowledge the faults.  But at the moment I was reading this book on a lazy Saturday afternoon/evening?  I didn't really give a good gosh darn about any of those faults.  I was swept up into the story.

Lady Amelia Wellesley fell in love with Carson Kitteridge when his Wild West Show toured England.  He told her wonderful stories about his hometown in Texas, his rambling ranch, how he loved her and wanted to marry her.  He even asked her brother, an earl, for her hand in marriage.  He tells her he will send for her once he's back home in Texas and Amelia waits for a letter that, you guessed it, never comes.  Desperately in love, and correspondence delivery not always being reliable, she decides to come to Texas anyway.  Surely Carson will be ever so happy to see her!  However the reality of the situation is that Carson lied about everything.  Small Forks, Texas is nothing like he described, he has no ranch, seemingly no source of income and his older brother is certainly no moronic simpleton that Carson has to protect and take care of.

Dr. Boone Kitteridge has spent his whole life cleaning up after Carson and marveling at how seemingly intelligent women fall for his brother's smooth talking brand of malarkey.  But when Lady Amelia shows up, so pretty she makes his eyes hurt, he vows to not bail out Carson this time.  What he can't seem to do though is keep himself from falling for Amelia - a development that has Boone totally flummoxed as he's - well, he's terrible with women.  No experience, lacking all the charm his brother has, and carrying a mountain of "I'm unworthy" baggage thanks to a father who beat the crap out of him while doting on Carson.  Boone was essentially raised by the man who ran the general store, and while that man was good to him - let's just say affection was in short supply.  So falling for Amelia is something that Boone is not only ill-prepared for, but it also scares him spitless.

What we have here is a romance heroine who reminds us all that women, for as awesome as we are, can be completely and totally stupid when it comes to men.  Carson lied about everything to Amelia because, you guessed it, he wanted to get under her skirts.  To that end he simply told her everything that she wanted to hear.  She realizes fairly quickly just what a liar Carson is, but it takes a little bit longer for her heart to catch up to that fact.  She fancied herself in love, and that's not something a naïve young women gets over in a hurry.  However as Carson digs himself deeper into his hole, Amelia begins to see Boone in a new light - especially when circumstances arise that keep her from immediately returning to England.

This book can be read as a stand-alone, although past characters (namely Amelia's brother and sister-in-law from A Christmas Scandal) do play a healthy role in the latter half.  As much as I liked this story, and in fact inhaled it, it's not without problems.  Namely Amelia who fluctuates from too-stupid-to-live (making the trip to Texas and not realizing before then that Carson was a smooth-talking lothario), naïve and frankly self-absorbed (she says some things to Boone that damn near broke my heart).  Boone is classic wounded, Beta hero (virgin hero alert!) but by the end I wanted to shake him senseless and scream, "Talk to her damn you! Talk to her!!!!"  Yeah, yeah, his incredibly crappy childhood - but by the end all of the conflict stems from both characters being unwilling to just admit to the other how they truly feel. 

There's also a moment in the story were something Very, Very Bad happens to a secondary character - and while I understood why that choice was made from a plot standpoint - it's going to bother some readers.  It just....will.  And while I'm at it - this has got to be the most Un-Christmasy romance ever written.  Basically?  There is no Christmas until the final chapters when the couple finds themselves attending a Christmas Ball.  Good for those readers who dislike holiday romances - maybe not-so-grand for those of us who love holiday romances.

So mileage is going to vary on this one.  I can see all the issues with it, but for whatever nebulous reason of the moment - none of those issues bothered me all that much.  I think it's because that during a year when my reading mojo has been MIA, reading a book in a day is the equivalent to stumbling across a unicorn in my backyard.  I got sucked in.  I fell for Boone.  I liked Amelia (warts and all) and I wanted them to get together in the end.  Which, of course, they do.

Final Grade = B

#TBRChallenge 2015: Glitterland

The Book: Glitterland by Alexis Hall

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, M/M, Riptide Publishing, 2013, In Print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Sarah Lyons (Riptide's Editorial Director) pressed a print copy of this book into my hands at an RWA conference (um, Atlanta 2013?) and  said something along the lines of "I know you don't read a lot of m/m but you must read this."  Or something like that.  In true Wendy fashion I had every intention of reading it back then and....yeah.  Then the book came out, it got a TON of attention, the hype happened and then....the dissenting voices.  Being less than a newb to m/m (at that time) I just didn't have the energy to wade into the fray.  Plus - hype.  It freaks me out.

The Review: Ash Winters is a writer - something of a literary wunderkind, although his last book was a crime novel (it was well received by the by).  He's also clinically depressed, suffers from bipolar disorder, has spent time committed in a hospital, and has tried to kill himself.  So yeah.  Ash has issues.  He also has friends, although his relationships have been complicated by his mental illness.  To that end he has forced himself to attend a stag party at a local club for one of said friends when he meets Darian Taylor who is so far the opposite of Ash it's almost absurd.  Darian is from Essex, with his orange spray tan and aspirations to be a model.  Ash starts to think of him as a "glitter pirate."  Lots of flash, seemingly little substance, but holy hell - he wants him.  Just looking at him Ash wants him.  And for reasons that escape just about everybody - bubbly, positive Darian seems to want Ash.

What we have here is your basic opposites attract romance.  Ash is the guy who lives in his own head, consumed by his illness.  Just about everything in Ash's life is a struggle.  There's a scene where Darian shanghaies Ash into making a grocery store run and to watch Ash struggle with this, for what is for most of us totally mundane, task is heartbreaking and exhausting. 

As much as Ash is in his own head, Darian is the guy you want to be BFFs with.  It's not that he's stupid or simple or even superficial.  There's depth to Darian, he just doesn't wear it on his sleeve.  Darian is all about taking care of his beloved nan, his friends, fashion, fun; he's the model of positive living.  It's not that Darian never gets sad or upset or even angry - he just doesn't waste needless energy on letting those things weigh him down.

Parts of this story are quite funny, in a dorky book nerd sort of way.  Ash has a new book out that's doing well so he decides to call his agent, Amy.

I rang Amy, so she could congratulate me and I could congratulate her and to confirm my attendance at the proposed readings, signings, and interviews.  And possibly the Edinburgh International Book Festival next year, an occasion I thoroughly despised.  I always seemed to get stuck next to the new Martin Amis.  As if the old one wasn't bad enough.

Yeah, I'm a librarian - but seriously, I laughed until I fell out of my chair after reading that.

The most emotionally touching parts of this story, for me, came at the end.  Inevitably (because, like duh) Ash ends up stepping in it big time with Darian.  I mean rips his heart out, stomps on it for a while, and then shoves it back into his bare hands.  Which means we, dear readers, get a grovel scene.  A really, really good one.  Because after Ash screws up (and boy, does he screw up!), he has to admit some hard truths to himself and when he finally does?  Will he be too late to win back Darian?

But, alas, I did have some quibbles.  Like I mentioned, Ash is a writer, words are his life, and boy howdy does our guy get wordy (yep, first person point-of-view).  This story is very, very wordy in parts.  I started imagining the author gazing at a Post-It note stuck to his computer monitor that read: If 5 words are good, 20 words are better.  Sometimes this wordiness is great, lyrical even, and the prose melts your heart.  Other times?  It could have been dialed back a notch from exhausting.

Also there's the small matter of our Essex boy, Darian.  Vernacular folks, we haz it.  Darian has problems with the letter T and he hasn't met an H he couldn't drop.  For example, instead of "thanks," we're reading "fanks."  Instead of "think," we get "fink."  Honestly it takes a while to get used to and like all dialogue written in the vernacular (Scottish historical romance authors, I be lookin' at you...), it can be hard to pick up a flow or rhythm to reading those sections.  I liked the story and really liked the romance despite this writing choice - but I could easily understand some readers getting highly annoyed and throwing up their hands.

Quibbles aside, I really enjoyed this story quite a bit.  It didn't pass my OMG Must Reread This Someday test, but it's still a good solid read and I loved the romance.  As a character study it flipped most of my switches, and as a romance it hit most of my favorite sweet spots.  Sarah was right - I had to read this.  I'm kinda sorry now I didn't sooner.

Final Grade = B+

#TBRChallenge 2015: Everything and the Kitchen Sink

The Book: Impulse by JoAnn Ross

The Particulars: Romantic suspense, Pocket, 2006, In print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I honestly have no idea.  This isn't an autographed copy, so I don't think I picked it up at a conference, and the condition of the book is spectacular.  So I must have bought it new in a bookstore because the back cover blurb intrigued?  Your guess is as good as mine.

The Review: This book was a hot mess.  A readable hot mess, but a hot mess all the same.  As far as I can determine it's a stand-alone book, not connected in any way to any other books in the author's backlist.  And yet?  It's drowning in a sea of backstory and the author takes us out to dinner at The Trope Smorgasbord.

Once upon a time Will Bridger was working undercover vice in Savannah, Georgia.  Then he gets shot in a bust gone bad and loses his nerve.  It doesn't help that as he's lying in a hospital bed recovering from his gunshot wound he finds out his ex has died, leaving his teenage son motherless.  Oh, and he didn't know he had a teenage son.  Knowing he needs to make a change and knowing that he has an angry kid to now take care of, he moves back to his hometown of Hazard, Wyoming and is hired as the new Sheriff.

Faith Prescott has the late night radio show at the local station, and knew Will back in Savannah.  They had an affair while he was working a case that she was, unwittingly, wrapped up in.  Will makes his bust and their relationship hits the skids (because, like, duh).  She moves to Las Vegas, more stuff happens, she runs away to Hazard (Will said he was from there but he lied about everything else and it sounds like just the place to hide - so there you go) under an assumed identity.  Unfortunately her past seems to have found her in the form of a Las Vegas bounty hunter, and a pretty local teenager is found with her throat slashed out on a frozen lake.

So yeah, the backstory.  Good Lord there's a ton of it.  Faith's background alone is enough to make your head spin (sexually exploited child, teenage prostitute, unwittingly works for criminal, has affair with undercover cop, attracts stalker in Vegas, life falls apart in Vegas once stalker caught, goes to extreme lengths by running away, ends up in small town where serial killer sets up shop yada yada yada).  Then there's Will, the whole Savannah thing gone wrong, having his son dumped in his lap, his post-traumatic stress, his wild teenage years, his time in the military - and a partridge in a pear tree ::sing-song::.  Between all this baggage, none of which can possibly be explored with any depth in a 350 page novel, along with the suspense thread, and the fact that the author introduces us to several secondary characters - yeah, the "romance" here is totally Insta-Love.  Normally it would help that the characters have a shared history, but all of the backstory is "told" to the reader and I never got a good handle on who these characters were supposed to be.  They never felt real to me. 

Oh, and did I mention this entire story takes place in like 48 hours?  Yeah.

It's a lot of little things, like mini-bombs going off on the page.  Like the fact that Faith and Will's son Josh are supposedly "close."  But they spend zero time together on page until the end - so really, how "close" can they possibly be?  Also that Faith admits that while she knew the dead girl, and they talked, they never delved deeply into personal matters.  Then Faith sells Will on the fact that he needs her help looking for the killer because she knew things about the dead girl.  Really, like what?  You just said a few chapters ago that you didn't bear your souls to each other!

Then there's the writing.  It's lumpy.  There are moments when the author crams in current-at-the-time references that just felt jarring (the Torino Olympics, Janet Jackson's boob-snafu during the Super Bowl etc.) and asides that were just odd.  For instance, this is good:

Salvatore Sasone hated three things: Democrats, spaghetti sauce from a jar and cold weather.

 And this, is awful:

Given that his great-grandfather had immigrated to America from Sicily, obviously an appreciation of spaghetti (which had, by the way, been invented in his ancestral city of Catania) had been woven into his DNA with his black hair and dark eyes.

Oh for the love of Jeebus.  How was I expected to not laugh while reading that?

And there's things like that throughout the whole book, right down to an ending that puts the Capital R in Rushed.  Stuff starts flying out of left field in, what I'm guessing, was supposed to feel like a big, dramatic, and climactic ending.  Instead it was ::eyeroll:: seriously?

So why didn't I DNF this?  That's the million dollar question.  It was readable for me, despite it's numerous faults, it has short chapters, and having the print book meant it was super easy for me to skim (especially towards the end when any goodwill I had started to vanish).  Plus, I've pulled worse out of the depths of the TBR.  This isn't the worst thing I've ever read (not by a long shot), but there's also nothing here for me to recommend.  Although....I did keep reading it.  So I guess that's something.

Final Grade = D+

#TBRChallenge 2015: Nobody's Darling

The Book: Nobody's Darling by Teresa Medeiros

The Pariculars: Historical Romance, 1998, Bantam, In Print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Oh who the hell knows anymore!  I've had a print copy of this languishing in the TBR for at least a decade.  Seriously.  My guess?  Someone on a listserv a billion years ago recommended it.  Or it could just be the old standby Wendy excuse of "It's a western. Like duh." 

The Review: Here's a perfect example of what can happen when you let books sit in your TBR for close to a decade.  Had I read this back when I actually, oh you know, bought it - I think I would have really, really liked it.  But I've been reading romance for 16 years now and have gotten jaded.  Also there are things that bother me now that didn't bother me 16 years ago.  But I'm getting ahead of myself....

Esmerelda Fine is an orphan.  Her mother was the daughter of a Duke, but instead of marrying the man Daddy had handpicked for her, she ran away from home to elope with her one true love.  They settled in America and had two kids - Esmerelda followed by baby brother Bartholomew.  Then Mommy and Daddy get cholera and die.  Like her mother before her, Esmerelda keeps up the correspondence with her grandfather even though the old goat has effectively disowned the family and raises Bartholomew on her own.  Then one day in merry old England, Grandpapa gets the letter that strikes fear in his shriveled-up, miserly heart.  Bartholomew is dead and Esmerelda is heading to New Mexico to track down the outlaw who reportedly killed him. 

Billy Darling is a bounty hunter, which in the eyes of most makes him no better than an outlaw.  He's actually a wanted man at the moment thanks to a job gone bad, but the sheriff of Calamity, New Mexico isn't about to arrest him.  In fact, they're playing cards together in the saloon when in walks a slip of a woman who pulls a derringer on Billy.  She's spouting off about him killing her brother, which he most certainly did not - but convincing Esmerelda Fine of that is going to take some doing.

What follows is Billy and Esme getting things mostly squared away so we don't have too much of a Big Misunderstanding mucking up the plot.  Esme wants to find her brother's whereabouts however, and it's apparent that Billy is the best tracker in the area.  We all know where this is going, right?

I've read several books by Medeiros now and I've liked all of them to varying degrees, although all-out Squee! has eluded thus far.  The dedication before the start of the book makes mention of the John Wayne / Maureen O'Hara movie, McLintock! which should give those of you who know anything at all about that movie what to kind of expect here.  I suspect that's why I waited so long to read this - so scared I am of The Slapstick Humor Nightmare that can descend on "funny" romances.  But Medeiros keeps it more charming than funny ha-ha and it mostly works.

The problem comes in from outside factors - namely the secondary characters.  Billy is the baby of a family that is full of disreputable characters.  After he and Esme hit the road, his outlaw brothers find them and Billy tells Esme to trust him, ties her up and gags her in order to protect her.  Why?  Because Dear Old Brothers ask if they can have a go at her after Billy is done with her.  Esme proceeds to be terrified, Billy says no I don't like to share, and then they proceed to fool his brothers with some well placed moaning and groaning.  And throughout the course of the book, as the plot advances forward, Esmerelda keeps having to spend time in the company of the Darling Gang.  And as the reader I'm just to supposed to forget about this introduction?!  Not to mention baby brother Bartholomew who....ugh.  I could get past most of it during the reading of the book, but then we get a rosy, sunshiney sort of ending and I'm sorry - I can't get over the fact that Bartholomew is an asshole and Billy's brothers wanted to rape Esmerelda - well at least until they found out she could play "purdy music" on her violin.

Child, please.

Oh, and did I mention the Darling boys (including Billy) rode with Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson?  Look, I get it.  History is written by the victors and just as many people believe Quantrill and Anderson were folk heroes as those who believe they were psychopaths.  Here they are merely name-dropped.  They are neither addressed as villains or heroes - but they are addressed in relation to the hero of a romance novel.  Did I mention I was born and raised north of the Mason-Dixon?  Yeah, issues.  I haz them.

If you can get past the secondary characters who put the "problem" in "problematic elements" - the main romance itself is fairly light and charming.  Esme and Billy have a nice banter and I'm a sucker for a road romance.  There are moments in the story where both characters have to reconcile with their pasts and also address the fact that a Duke's daughter is just a wee smidge out of the league of a bounty hunter who wants to be a lawman.

I did feel at times the pacing suffered a bit (Part III of the book dragged on too long for me) and the villain is pretty thinly drawn, mostly serving as a device to move our couple through the plot and towards the happy ending.  All of this sounds like I disliked the book, which I didn't.  What ended up elevating it for me?  The actual text.  The actual book.  We live in a world where yes, self-publishing is wonderful and traditional publishers are asking authors to keep up frenetic writing paces.  As the reader?  I don't always get a quality product.  I'm sorry authors - but y'all know I'm speaking some truth right now.  Nobody's Darling reads like a book that everybody took their time on.  The author took time and care writing it.  Her editor took time and care EDITING it.  It's not even the best book I've ever read, but it reads like a frackin' masterpiece now - 17 years after it's publication date.  It is, creatively speaking, a well-put-together story.  Start to finish.  I had real, obvious, issues with the book - truly I did - but not once did I contemplate DNF'ing this.  I kept reading it because Medeiros MADE ME want to keep reading it.

So for that reason alone?  I'm probably going to slap this with a higher grade than I suspect most of you think I should.  The issues that bothered me (ugh, the Darling Gang!) are things that probably won't bother other readers and admittedly probably wouldn't have bothered me 16 years ago.  But I'm older and crankier now - and bother me they did.  Still, I think this is one worth reading and could totally see it as a "gateway western" for romance readers who don't normally go for the setting.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2015: Beware the Ides of Impulse

I often tell TBR Challenge participants that the idea behind the challenge is "fun."  You don't need to read to the monthly theme.  You can skip months without feeling guilty.  And you can DNF.  DNFs are totally allowed.  In a bid to "practice what I preach" I thought I would detail the long, sad strange trip that this month's Impulse Read theme sent me on.  Four DNFs and, finally, a novella I managed to get through.  I'm ready to stick a fork in this theme and declare it done!

I love historical westerns, and have impulse bought a lot over the years to "support" the sub genre.  I had the epic (see left) Dorchester Leisure print edition of After the Ashes by Cheryl Howe in my TBR, but it's since been reissued self-pub by the author.

Post-Civil War the heroine leaves Kentucky to live with her baby brother in New Mexico, the only family she has left.  The hero, a bounty hunter, shows up looking for said brother thanks to a stagecoach robbery gone bad.  Heroine just knows there's some mistake, because baby brother is a precious snowflake.  Hero leaves, baby brother returns, and convinces heroine to go into town and "sweet talk" the hero into letting him be.  Yes, dear baby brother suggests the heroine whore herself out - although not in so many words, and she....goes to town.  OK, not figuratively.  They don't actually "do it."  Then her and hero return to cabin only to discover baby brother has run off with what little money heroine had to her name.  Then a deputy shows up, a man the hero doesn't like, and in full Protect The Heroine mode, he tells the guy they're married.  Another heroine who will walk through fire for a relative who doesn't deserve it, plus for someone who managed to survive living through the Civil War - she was just too naive for my tastes.  It wasn't horrible, but I wasn't engaged.  DNF'ed after about 50 pages or so.

I picked up Wicked As Sin by Jillian Hunter at RWA 2008 - which I drove to.  Not having to ship books home = Wendy takes every book not tied down.  This starts out OK, but lost steam for me and I DNF'ed after 75 pages or so.  Hero is a former soldier and gambler who wins stately manor in poker game.  Stately manor is located in the town where he grew up and developed his wicked reputation.  Heroine is next door neighbor, pleased to be a spinster thanks to a fiance' who "took advantage" of her before he left to fight Napoleon.  Thankfully he had the good sense to get himself killed and now everybody thinks she's consumed with grief over the death of her beloved fiance'.

The mix of banter and humor juxtaposed against angsty backstory didn't always gel for me.  It was like this story didn't quite know what it wanted to be.  Also, it's the eighth book in a series, and while that wasn't a problem in the early chapters, I could see it heading down the Past Couples Showing Up road and I just wasn't in the mood.  The final nail in the coffin though was that the heroine's almost-brother-in-law shows up acting all skeevy towards her, although with more subtlety than his brother.  He drives all the way out to country to say, "Hey I know what my brother did to you, he was so uncouth and lacked finesse - you should totally be MY mistress!"  Really?!  It didn't work for me.  So, moving on.

Category romance, besides historical westerns, is one area where I happily impulse read.  I'm sure I picked up The Officer's Girl by Leigh Duncan at an RWA conference, but not sure which year.  Heroine is taking temporary job assignment in Florida and has rented a house on Cocoa Beach, which the Realtor assures her NEVER gets hurricane action.  Except a hurricane is on it's way, but the heroine is just SURE it's no problem.  The barrier island is literally evacuating, but she apparently fails to see people leaving town in packed up cars or homes with storm shutters and boarded up windows - so she pulls in, unpacks her boxes and is angry that the cable guys are late in arriving.  The hero is a cop driving around making sure everyone is evacuating like good little monkeys, when he spies the heroine.  He starts telling her she needs to leave.  She's dumbfounded.  He decides to slap the handcuffs on her to get her to listen.  I mean, really - what did he expect?  There she in all polished, put-together, in her designer clothes and fancy manicure.  She's totally a "me me girl" (literally, his words). Selfish and self-absorbed.

So first impressions?  She's a moron and he's an asshole.  I couldn't DNF this one quickly enough.

Hearts Are Wild by Laura Wright was either an impulse used bookstore purchase or library book sale find.  It's amazing how dated 2002 is now.  Heroine is starting her own matchmaking business (which includes videotaping clients "My name is Sharla, I like puppy dogs and long walks on the beach...."), and in walks the hero, with his leather jacket and his motorcycle out front.  He claims to be her new roommate and he's there to pick up the keys.  Seems Dear Old Granny rented him a room before she went into assisted living.  Heroine says, I can't live with you.  He says, I signed a lease.  She says, I don't care.  He says, too bad.  Then she says, hey give me four weeks to find you the perfect woman/match and I'll give you the keys and let you stay in the house. Um, sweetie?  HE'S SIGNED A LEASE.  Frankly I'd be torn between kissing Dear Old Granny on the lips (leather jacket wearing hunky hero on a motorcycle is cliche, but hello nurse!) or smothering the old bat in her sleep.  Decisions, decisions.

I love category romance and I'll obviously read a lot of wacky plots (amnesia, secret babies, boss/secretary romances) - but this meet-cute strained considerably for me.  DNF.

 I normally like to focus on "older" books in my TBR for the Challenge, but I was desperate to not end this month with a string of DNFs.  Plus, time was running out which means....novella.  I picked up a print copy of Snapped by Christine D'Abo in the Goodie Room at RWA this year and while it wasn't a smashing success, I managed to actually finish it.  I should probably give it a resounding A for that reason alone.

Heroine is the business brains of a small interior design firm she has with her BFF (the creative talent).  They're based out of Toronto, but have gotten roped into being judges on an interior design reality show.  The heroine's "job" is to be the bitch, which is a role she knows how to play.  While in New York filming, she's also gunning for a contract that they desperately need to stay afloat.  Too bad she's getting distracted by the hero, the assistant director, and a man she had a relationship with three years ago before it imploded in spectacular fashion.

This was a quick, sexy read and the first person narration really helped me find a reading groove after four DNFs in a row.  I also like the reality show setting.  What didn't work as well for me was the business deal sub-plot (Another "smart business-minded" heroine who drops the ball?  Really?!) and the first couple of sex scenes which take place in abandoned buildings.  In New York City.  (The hero is an amateur photographer and likes to photograph abandoned buildings).  Dude.  Not sexy.  Am I the only one who thinks Abandoned Building + New York City = Rats + Squatters?  I think this first sex scene is supposed to convince me how hot the couple is for each other - but dude, really?  An abandoned building?

This novella is connected to an earlier release, Nailed (the BFF's romance), which I haven't read.  It's obvious this is the second book in a duet, but I had no problem keeping up and didn't feel like the story suffered because I hadn't read the first one. 

This wasn't a resounding success for me, but hey - I finished it, and I would read D'Abo again.  So Final Grade = C+

And now let us all declare the Impulse Read theme D-E-A-D dead.  Praise Jeebus.

#TBRChallenge 2015: Crazy Thing Called Love

The Book: Crazy Thing Called Loved by Molly O'Keefe

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Third in Crooked Creek trilogy, 2013, Bantam, In Print, RITA Winner Best Contemporary Romance 2014

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: O'Keefe is an autobuy.

The Review: All readers have their quirks, and Molly O'Keefe's career trajectory illustrates one of mine.  I love category romance.  Love it. Gimme, gimme, gimme.  And when I find an author I like in category I'll read them until the wheels fall off and they're driving me over a cliff a la Thelma and Louise.  But when/if they leave category to jump to single title?  It's like my brain freezes up.  I'll be blunt: a very common issue I have with single title contemporaries is that they feel bloated.  I'm so in tune with the category format that it's like I go into single title contemporaries with a mental red pen poised in my hand.  I don't feel this way about historical romance, just contemporaries.  Yes, I know it's discriminatory and makes no sense, but there you have it.

Crazy Thing Called Love marks my first single title read by O'Keefe, which means I'm confident in saying that this third book in a trilogy stands alone well.  I also tore through it.  1) Because my own TBR Challenge snuck up on me and 2) Because I literally could not go to sleep one night until I finished every last word.  This story flowed for me from the first word to the last. And given that this is The Year of the Slump?  Cue the music, commence with the happy dancing!

Madelyn Cornish is picture perfect. Host of a local Dallas TV morning show, she's come a long way from the girl who grew up poor in Pittsburgh.  She's everything you expect from a TV host - polished, confident, razor sharp, and thin.  Her entire life is diet, exercise, work, control.  She took the lump of clay that was Maddy Baumgarten and has her eye on the prize - a shot at the big leagues.  What Would Matt Lauer Do?  However what nobody knows?  When Maddy was 18 she married her high school sweetheart, Billy Wilkins.  Billy Wilkins, notorious NHL enforcer (ahem, goon), who her producer now wants to feature on their show.  Maddy did a lot to bury the past, she's not about to dig it up.

Billy's career is in a tailspin.  Everyone loves a goon until they get old and the league decides they want to "clean up" the game.  After a devastating loss that kicks their team out of the playoffs, Billy who has been riding the bench, kinda, sorta - well punches out an opposing player during the hand-shake line at the end of the game.  The owner is pissed, his coach is pissed, his agent is practically begging, and the NHL is likely to bring the hammer down.  What he needs is spin. Damage control. While he'd normally run in the other direction of a "make-over" on a daytime TV show he ends up saying yes.  Not so much because of spin but because it means Maddy.  Billy is still in love with her and moving on since their divorce has been impossible.

The prologue opens with their marriage imploding and kicks things off with a devastating start.  What I enjoy about O'Keefe's couples is that she rarely makes one person "the bad guy" when things go south.  I suspect some readers will have issues with Maddy who is very hung up on "losing herself" in Billy's wake, who has a way of sweeping her off her feet and making her forget she's her own person.  I got this though - as let's be brutally honest - women losing their own identities in the wake of becoming wives (and/or mothers) isn't exactly uncommon.  Also given Maddy's background (loving parents, but still kind of a tough childhood), her hang-ups make sense.  For his part Billy is young and a touch selfish.  There's plenty of blame to go around when their marriage implodes.

As the author carries the story along the angst gets progressively heavier.  On the surface we have the fairly common reunion theme.  In reality, with Billy and Maddy back in each others orbits, the skeletons of their past don't stay buried for long.  Things get real complicated, real quick - which leaves Maddy, in particular, running scared.

This book got a fair share of praise when it was released, and obviously winning the RITA means a lot of folks really loved it.  I'll be honest, it was just pleasant for me for the first half.  A good, solid B read, but nothing that I was squee'ing about.  And then the second half happened.  I was hesitant, at first, about the turn O'Keefe takes, but it ended up really working out well.  So well in fact that by the time I was finished reading the epilogue it was 1AM and I was choking back tears.  Always a good thing.  Well, maybe not the 1AM on a "school night" - but, oh happy sigh!  I'm still undecided if I'll ever reread this, but hot damn, it's a good 'un.

Final Grade = A-

Prepping For July's #TBRChallenge

A few years ago one of the regular TBR Challengers (I want to say it was Phyl), suggested I add a Romance Writers of America RITA theme - the RITA being to RWA what the Edgars are to the Mystery Writers of America.  It's their Big Fancy Award.  Since July is RWA conference month, it's where I've been housing this theme for the past couple of years.

I normally like to keep the themes pretty open-ended, so participants have some wiggle room.  But as much as I love this theme, it takes some planning ahead.  Most of us can't go to our TBRs, randomly pick up a book, and just so happen to grab a past RITA winner or nominee.  So for the sake of planning ahead, here are some lists to help guide you on your TBR Challenge Quest for July.

All past RITA winners can be found on the RWA web site.

Nominees are trickier.  How I wish RWA had a database!  Alas, no.  Thanks to bloggers I got back to 2007.  Older than that?  It's thin on the ground and I didn't feel like dumpster diving through the depths of Google.  So eight years worth of nominees is gonna have to do folks.  Here they are:

2015 Nominees
2014 Nominees
2013 Nominees
2012 Nominees
2011 Nominees
2010 Nominees
2009 Nominees
2008 Nominees
2007 Nominees

I'm thinking, surely, that would be enough to go on?  Even if you have some restraint and unlike me your TBR pile cannot be seen from space?  Lots to choose from.  Happy hunting! 

TBR Challenge 2015: The Last Woman He'd Ever Date

The Book: The Last Woman He'd Ever Date by Liz Fielding

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Romance #4324, 2012, Out of Print, Available Digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I tend to impulse buy Liz Fielding books when I run up against them.  I find her writing style charming and her books tend to have that meet-cute rom/com vibe.  Basically?  She's kind of a comfort read.  When I want light and breezy, I can usually find that with a Fielding book.

The Review: This is going to be a dreaded review to write, mostly because I don't have a lot to say about this book.  It delivered exactly what I was looking for, and despite some minor quibbles, it kept me entertained throughout it's 200-some pages.  So that's good - I didn't hate it!  But it also didn't rock my world.  Which means in about a week I'm going to probably lack recall on what this story was about.  Hey, thank heavens for blogging, right?

Hal North is a bastard - both literally and figuratively.  His mother, a cook/housekeeper sort, had an affair with her employer, the owner of stately Cranbrook Park.  She passed Hal off as his drunken stepfather's child, but the players involved in the drama knew the truth.  When Hal, a rebellious teenager, rides his motorbike into the great hall, Sir Robert has his estate manager throw the boy out on his ear - banishing him from the property.  Since Hal is a romance hero, this has translated into him making something of himself and now he's a millionaire businessman.  Meanwhile, Sir Robert, in failing health, owes most of his internal organs and a fair amount of his hide to the tax man.  Before you can say, revenge plot, Hal is buying Cranbrook Park.

Claire Thackeray's father was the estate manager who did Sir Robert's dirty work all those years ago - which means, you guessed it, our hero has revenge plans for her since her Daddy is now conveniently dead.  Claire is now living on the estate, in Hal's childhood home of all places, works for the local newspaper, and is a single mother to 8-year-old Alice.  Claire's mother had big plans for her daughter.  She was going to get out of Cranbrook and make something of herself.  Naturally when that did not happen (and Claire wound up pregnant to boot) their relationship suffered.  But Claire is a make-lemonade-out-of-lemons sort, and likes her life.  Although she's naturally worried about her living situation now that Cranbrook has been sold to a mysterious buyer.  Imagine her shock when she finds out it's the prodigal bad boy returned.

Per Fielding's modus operandi, there's a meet-cute at the beginning of the book involving Claire, her bicycle, a runaway donkey (seriously) and a fishing pole.  There's lots of banter and embarrassment, and eventual sizzle when Claire rediscovers the fact that she has hormones.  Once the word gets out that Hal owns Cranbrook, he and Claire continue to be thrown together because 1) she lives on the property and 2) she's a reporter.  What exactly are his plans for the crumbling estate, the only claim to fame in their tiny English village?

Quite a few readers find revenge plots distasteful, but this one doesn't have the bite of say, a Harlequin Presents.  Certainly, Hal has plans - but those plans begin to lose their shine once Claire is back in his orbit.  They take jabs at each other, but I never felt like Hal was outright cruel to her.  Mostly the revenge idea is used towards the end of the story to spur our couple to their happy ending.

This was a nice pleasant read, but not without some quibbles.  Both Hal and Claire have a decent amount of parental baggage.  Claire's upwardly-mobile mother who has her dreams dashed when Claire gets knocked up.  Hal being the bastard son of a man who won't acknowledge him.  And yet?  Outside of Sir Robert being involved in the first couple of pages of Chapter 1, none of the parents play any sort of healthy role in this story.  They're off-page, as it were.  And given the baggage we can tie to them?  This seemed like an oversight to me.  I also felt, at times, that the pacing was a bit off.  That meet-cute in the beginning goes on for several chapters (four to be exact), which seemed a bit like overkill.  I also wanted a lot more "house stuff."  Claire starts poking around towards the end, going through Daddy's old journals, uncovering a secret in the stables etc. and I would have killed for more of that throughout the story.  But that's probably my love of "house books" showing through.

What we have here is going to seem very damning with faint praise, but what can I say?  I liked it.  It kept me entertained.  I didn't hate it, but I do think it could have been better.  So chalk this one up to a perfectly pleasant "comfort read" that entertained for the few hours I spent flipping through my print copy.  Charming, light, fluffy fun.

Final Grade = B-

TBR Challenge 2015: A Soldier's Heart

The Book:  A Soldier's Heart by Kathleen Korbel

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Silhouette Intimate Moments #602, 1994, Out of Print, No Digital Edition

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  Adored by numerous readers, and a RITA winner in 1995, I was eventually pushed over the edge to adding it to the TBR because of Victoria Janssen's love for it.  Like me, Victoria is a major category ho so I tend to listen to her recs.

The Review: I love the "social history" aspect of reading older category romances.  In the days before digital and self publishing, if you wanted "current issues" in your romance novels you often found them in category romances thanks to the sheer volume of them that were published every month and the tighter turn-around in deadlines.  There were elements of this story that were a tiny bit dated (say hello to your car phone!), but it still feels fresh and relevant reading it 20 years after the fact.  I can only imagine what it would have been like to be a reader back then, discovering this book.  Nothing short of a revolution.

Twenty years ago Tony Riordan was pulled out of a Vietnamese rice paddy barely hanging on to life.  By the time he makes it to the evac hospital he's ready to give up, slip away.  And then a nurse with a soothing voice punches him in the jaw and tells him in no uncertain terms that he will not die - she won't allow it.  Tony does survive and makes it home - but not without demons.  He's found help for his PTSD and is ready to put the last of those demons to rest, which means finding his nurse.

Vietnam was a lifetime ago for Claire Henderson, one she's trying to forget.  She lost her parents (figuratively, not literally), her husband (another Vietnam vet) and keeps her demons at bay playing the always on-call caregiver.  She's trying to open up a bed & breakfast, still works part-time as a nurse, has two teenage children, one of whom is itching to enlist so he can fly jets.  She's barely holding it together as is - then the nightly news starts filling up with Somalia and Tony walks into her present, a ghost from the past.  Claire begins to crack and Tony, knowing the signs, having seen them and still living with the struggle, stays in town under the guise of helping her with her B&B (handily, he's a contractor).

Let's go back to the early 1990s, shall we?  The US has a long history of shame when it comes to helping our veterans and it took until the early 1990s for the idea of treating PTSD to gain some traction.  And even then?  It was a lot of veterans helping their own in street-side clinics.  But hey - that's just the men.  Nobody was really thinking about the women.  The idea that women would come home with PTSD was still a foreign concept.  Claire feels like she didn't have it so bad - not like the boys did.  She didn't suffer like they did.  What she won't acknowledge is that just because she had it different doesn't mean she didn't suffer.  Their experiences do not invalidate her experiences.  Because of all of this, Tony is at a bit of a loss as to how to help her.

This element to the story is very well done and by far my favorite aspect of the story.  I've got a huge soft spot for nurse heroines, and Claire is pretty much a textbook example of why I do.  Nurses tend to be pretty amazing people and any nurse who has served in a war zone is balls-out amazing as far as I'm concerned.

"I was just one nurse in one evac hospital.  There were hundred of us, nurses, doctors, corpsmen, medics."

"It wasn't the doctors who held my hand when I thought they were my mom."

Her smile was fleeting and tenuous.  "The doctors didn't look a thing like your mom."

"Neither do you.  But you were there."

Her eyes gave her away before she could ever manage the words.  Huge eyes, eloquent eyes, eyes that betrayed the old horrors she'd locked so far away.  "It was only my job," she said quietly, and nobody in the kitchen believed her.

The Vietnam portions of the story are epic, and so well-done.  They are what really elevated this from being a "very good" read to a "great" one.

"What happened was I quit," she told him.  "Quit fighting, quit asking, quit giving a damn.  I went over because I could make a difference, but I was wrong.  I couldn't do it.  I couldn't take every one of those boys looking to me to save them, to hold them, to be their mothers and sisters and lovers.  I couldn't let them die without trying and I couldn't tell them it was going to be all right when I was sending them home with only one limb.  So I quit."

So yeah.  My heart pretty much got ripped out repeatedly while reading this book.

But this is me we're talking about and honestly, as emotional charged as this book is in so many ways and for all the praise it has garnered over the years.....it's not perfect.  The romance does get a little lost in the shuffle at times.  I'm not entirely sure how Tony and Claire fall in love because the "stuff" going on with them and around them takes a bigger piece of the action.  There's also an element of alcohol use that the author totally skates over, I suspect because we're talking category word count.  Tony likes the occasional beer, but it's mentioned that Claire sometimes has to down a couple glasses of wine before bed in the hopes she'll actually sleep.  Wine bottles in her bedroom, in the kitchen, are mentioned more than once.  Now just because Claire drinks wine before bed does not automatically make her an alcoholic, but she's obviously using it as a crutch, and that's classic alcoholic behavior right there.

The author does do a bang-up job with the ending, and I never got the impression that Claire was "cured" by the love of a strong hunky guy with a mustache.  Also, gird your loins - we have an older couple!  Vietnam vets + parents of teenage kids + 1990s = a romantic couple in their 40s.  The romance genre has evolved and changed in 20 years, but some things haven't.  Older protagonists still aren't thick on the ground and while we love us our military heroes?  We still don't see a ton of military heroines.  So this revolutionary book in 1994 still feels a bit revolutionary 20 years after the fact - if for only those two reasons alone.

This was firmly sitting in my B range for the majority of the story, but once Korbel turns up the angst and emotion in the final half things really begin to cook.  I'm not sure I'll ever reread this, but it's just too strong of a story for me to not give it an A, quibbles and all.

Final Grade = A-

TBR Challenge 2015: What Happens In Vegas....

The Book: Double Down by Katie Porter

The Particulars: Contemporary Erotic Romance, Samhain, 2012, Book #1 in series, Available in both digital and print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Katie Porter is the writing team of Carrie Lofty and Lorelie Brown.  I'd never read Brown before, but I generally really enjoy Lofty's work - so I picked this one up at an RWA conference (uh, 2013?).  Plus I was intrigued behind the idea of the series, and that the authors were willing to explore a big bag of kinky tricks (in other words, not all BDSM all the time - praise Jeebus!)

The Review: I love erotic romance, but dude - it's got issues.  No genre fiction is immune to what I call trend chasing (see: The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter, Twilight....), but erotic romance seems to fall really fast and hard into that particular pit.  The minute Fifty Shades became "a thing" we've been subjected to an endless stream of BDSM.  And sex clubs.  And red rooms of pain.  And a mountain of Angst-O-Rama-Jama that not even Sir Edmund Hillary could climb.  Now long time readers of this blog will be all like, "Seriously Wendy?  You of all people are poo-poo'ing angst?!"  I know, right?  I love me some angst.  But it has literally been running amok, totally unchecked, in erotic romance.  So it's kind of nice to read one that, by and large, falls into the "fun" category.  Sometimes the fun gets in the way of, oh, conflict - but hey.  There's promise here.

Major Ryan "Fang" Haverty is an honest-to-goodness fighter pilot.  Stationed at Nellis, he flies like the enemy in order to train Allied pilots.  He's kind of a big deal.  But Ryan has a deep, dark, naughty secret and all it takes to unlock it is a pair hot legs in seamed stockings.  Our boy Ryan?  Loves to role-play in the bedroom.  You know, naughty patient and authoritative nurse, out-of-town businessman and high priced call girl, yada yada yada.

The hot legs in seamed stockings belong to Cassandra Whitman, part-time waitress, part-time art gallery worker, and part-time tour guide at her parents' business.  She made the mistake of dipping her pen in the company ink, and her boss at the restaurant is her ex.  Ryan is eating dinner there when stuff happens, sparks fly, and they run out into the night to have some fun Sin City style.

What follows is Ryan and Cass getting to know each other, having fun, and having a grand ol' naughty time getting naked together.  It's....nice.  And to be honest?  Kind of boring.  Because while it is fun and sexy - there's not a whole lot in the way of conflict.  What is keeping these two from riding off into the sunset together?  Mostly Ryan's Poor White Trailer Trash Meets I Must Be A Pervert baggage.  See, Ryan is pretty hung up on the whole getting his rocks off by role-playing thing.  Which - I don't know - doesn't seem that big a deal to me.  Especially since Cass is a willing and enthusiastic participant.  There is no hesitation with this girl.  She's, like, all in.

It's pleasant, but to be frank - I never got that reader sense of urgency of OMG I Must Quit My Job So I Can Spend All Day Reading This Book!  It needed....something.  Which seems a bit two-faced of me since I just complained about all the angst floating around in erotic romance of late.  But this story went a little too far in the opposite direction.

That is, until the ending.  The ending is great.  Because by that point Ryan admits his deep dark secret fear that he's a sicko pervert and Cass ends up blasting him with both barrels.  The Black Moment in our story is really very well done.  It just takes a couple hundred pages for us to get to it - hence, my issues with the story.

I'm left feeling a bit lukewarm.  I loved that the authors explored a kink outside of the usual bag of erotic romance tricks, I liked the characters, I loved the set-up to the series.  It just was missing a decent shot of adrenaline.  But it was sexy and fun and I thought it ended on a really positive note.  So probably a good thing I have the next two books in the series waiting for me.  I'm up for a return visit.

Final Grade = C+

TBR Challenge 2015: Sins of a Wicked Princess

The Book: Sins of a Wicked Princess by Anna Randol

The Particulars: Historical romance, Avon, 2013, Third book in a trilogy, In Print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  I immensely enjoyed the first book in this trilogy, and got my hands on the next two books.  Plus, neither here nor there, this author is local for yours truly.

The Review:  As stated above, I really enjoyed the first book in this trilogy - it being a huge pleasant surprise what with 1) being by an unknown to me author 2) saddled with an insipid title and 3) equally insipid back cover blurb.  But close to full out love it I did so I read the second book - which despite being RITA nominated I found completely forgettable.  So forgettable in fact that all I could recall prior to rereading my review was that part of the story takes place in Russia.  Naturally my ardor cooled somewhat and languish this third and final book did - until now.

Warning: Thar Be Spoilers Ahoy!

Ian Maddox AKA Wraith was saved from the gallows and turned spy for the Crown.  Napoleon now vanquished, he and his two comrades have been sacked without much more than a by-your-leave.  The fly in the ointment?  While The Trio is now out of business, they've ticked off enough people that someone is trying to kill them.  But who?  The list of potential assassins is long.  Ian thinks Princess Juliana of Lenoria may be the culprit.  What with her living in exile, her parents murdered and The Trio being the ones responsible.

Of course it's not Juliana.  She's too busy trying to figure out how to 1) protect her people and 2) regain her kingdom.  No the real culprit is a criminal mastermind with his sticky fingers in a lot of pies who has managed, quite easily since the boy is a moron, to outwit her younger brother.  So now Juliana has to join forces with Ian to thwart the bad guy, save her idiot brother and save her kingdom.

Much like the last book the main issue I had was with the thin characterizations.  It takes a while for Juliana and Ian to get off the ground, so to speak, but eventually they do...somewhat.  However that never quite gels into romance for me.  I never quite could decipher the road map of how they go from bantering to falling in love - it just sort of happens.  The puzzle pieces are there, but it's like half of them have gone missing from the box.

What this leads to a pleasant, albeit forgettable read.  The secondary characters add some color (two of the servants, especially) and the dialogue is fun.  It's quick, breezy, the kind of light historical romance that Avon has built it's brand around for the last several years.  Nothing outright offensive, but nothing that makes it stand out either.

And then we get to the big reveal and it all slides way far south.  Like I said, The Trio is essentially responsible for Lenoria falling.  They were following orders.  Juliana's parents were going to throw their lot in with the French.  They had to go.  And while they didn't murder her parents directly?  They riled things up to the point of a coup and in the fervor her parents were murdered.  Juliana witnessing their deaths with her own adolescent eyes.

Got that?  Ian, while he did not pull the trigger, was responsible for events that led her parents being murdered.  And yet?  Juliana is remarkably OK with this.  There are no tears.  There is no wailing or hurled accusations.  There is no pulling a knife on the man and gutting him like a fish.  No.  He was "following orders."  Mumsy and Dada are cold in the ground but hey, it's OK.  Ian was just following orders!  What's to forgive?

I don't know.  Call me crazy.  Yes, hunky handsome spies for the Crown are all well and good.  Yes, I'm sure they kiss divinely.  But if I found out that the man I was making googly eyes at played a part in my parents' murder?  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that my ardent feelings would cool considerably.

But hey, maybe I'm just wacky.

It just doesn't work for me.  At all.  I could fly with the final chapters that take on a bit of a rushed mad-cap feel.  I could even fly with the fact that Ian makes some pretty incompetent decisions even though he's supposed to be a "master spy."  What I couldn't fly with was the fact that Juliana could just let the fact that Ian was responsible for the death of her beloved parents go.  Dude.  If she was living in the 21st century she'd probably write love letters to guys on death row. Seriously.

So yeah.  This was disappointing.  Loved the first book (about the female spy) and really did not care for the final two books (about male spies).  Which, once again, kind of showcases the fact that I'm an unrepentant heroine-centric reader.  The heroine spy?  I wanted to have babies with.  And her two male partners?  Meh.  So long fellas!

Final Grade = D+

TBR Challenge 2015: Better Late Than Never

The Book: Precious and Fragile Things by Megan Hart

The Particulars: General Fiction, MIRA, 2011, Out of Print, Available Digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  Megan Hart = Duh, of course Wendy is going to read it eventually.  I love Hart's books.

The Review:  This was Hart's first foray into "general fiction" and since she's an autobuy that's why it's been languishing in my TBR for ages.  However Rosie read this shortly after it released (I think?) and keeps asking me if I've ever read it every time we snatch the opportunity to meet for lunch.  So even though she has abandoned blogging because she doesn't love me (wah!), this month's challenge seemed like a good opportunity to dust it off.

Ever read a book, appreciate it, and yet know you are absolutely not the target audience for it?  Yeah, that.  I can appreciate many things about this book and would recommend it in a hot minute to those of you who have book clubs that don't suck.  But on a "personal level?"  Meh.

How many times did you wish for someone or something to take you away?  How many times did you imagine how nice it would be to get sick, really sick, so you could be hospitalized and have someone else take care of you for change?

Gilly Solomon is having one of those days.  She's running errands with her two small children who refuse to listen, behave, or you know - just shut up for 3 seconds - and she's made the mistake of trying to squeeze in "one last thing" - a trip to the ATM.  She's one step away from having a mental breakdown and getting sent off to Rancho Relaxo (you're welcome Simpsons fans).  As she gets back into her car, a man hops in the passenger seat, pulls a knife on her, and orders her to drive.  The fly in the ointment?  He didn't see that she had kids.  Gilly manages to get the kids to safety, but doesn't rescue herself (and she has opportunity).  Instead she keeps driving with her kidnapper, Todd.

They eventually make their way to his dead uncle's hunting cabin when a winter of epic proportions socks them in, out in the middle of nowhere, for a couple of months.  In close quarters.  Together.  As far as kidnappers go Todd is a decent sort (you know, except for the whole carjacking kidnapping "thing") so readers don't need to worry about Gilly getting raped, beaten etc.  The dilemma is, of course, that Todd's plan has gone all cockeyed and Gilly creates a bunch of complications for him.

Publisher's Weekly called this, "....a dark hostage story that, due to its unrelenting grimness, risks turning readers off."  Is this grim?  In my opinion, no more so than some of Hart's erotica.  She's always specialized in complicated characters who think and say the things we all do - it's just the rest of us have a hard time admitting them to ourselves.  Is that dark?  Maybe.  I'm not always convinced that it is - let's call it "challenging" or "thought-provoking" instead.

Where I think this book stumbled for me is that I didn't get the same "depth" out of the characters here that I have in other Hart stories.  I also cannot quite put my finger on why that is.  Is it because I can't "relate" to Gilly?  I don't think so - because even though I'm not a mother, I "get" where she is coming from.  I understand her, empathize with her a bit even.  Which is why I think this would be a great book club read.  Imagine all the great conversations you could have about societal expectations on women, the whole Earth Mother BS women get crammed down our throats, how having children is your #1 Mission In Life OMG You Must Make Babies!!!!  I just....wasn't that enthralled with her.

I also was fairly lukewarm on Todd, although he's a touch more interesting.  Yes, he's pretty much a world class screw up, but some of his back-story is interesting.  Although there's a twist at the end that didn't come out of left field so much as come from the stadium parking lot.  Honestly, why Hart felt the need to pile on I don't know.  The tragic back-story was plenty tragic enough already.

I think what would have helped this book for me was more of Gilly's back-story.  We get glimpses, but just that - glimpses.  The stuff about her mother was great, but more of her father and husband would have been welcome.  As it was I felt like I was skating above the surface and never really broke through the ice like I've done with other Hart books.  It just didn't quite get me all the way there.

So where does that leave us?  I hate rating any Hart book as "average," because her average is better than most writers' "good" - but yeah, average.  I didn't love this, but I could totally see it working for other readers and this is just the sort of book I'll book talk the hell out of, even if I don't want to gush all over it and have babies with it.  Not my monkey, not my circus, but I can still appreciate it on a certain level.

Final Grade = C+

TBR Challenge 2015: Dishing It Out

The Book: Dishing It Out by Molly O'Keefe

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Flipside #37, 2005, Book two in duet/series, Out of print, Available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I glommed O'Keefe's entire backlist after discovering her through her SuperRomances, which means yes - I picked up the two Harlequin Duets and two Flipsides she wrote even though I was never a huge fan of either lines.

The Review: O'Keefe definitely has a "style" and for those of us who love her books we know it's 1) Characters half a step away from rock bottom and 2) Angst-O-Rama-Jama.  And yet this is the same author who started her publishing career with Duets and Flipside.  A couple of speed bumps in a long line of doomed "romantic comedy" lines for Harlequin.  God bless Harlequin, I love them to death - but lighter rom/com lines have historically not gone well for them.

Marie Simmons is working her butt off trying to create some stability for herself.  After a nomadic early adulthood, she has settled in San Francisco and opened up a small cafe/bakery.  She's broke.  She's burning the candle at both ends.  But she's got style, a good "look," and she's been doing cooking segments for a local TV morning show.  Now they want to take the show weekly, but on one condition.  Giovanni "Van" MacAllister is to be her new cohost.  Her nemesis.  The guy who outbid her for the restaurant space she wanted across the street.  The guy who called her cafe a "cute little coffee shop" during one of his recent interviews.  And now the asshat thinks he can horn in on her gig and ride her coat-tails.  No thank you Mr. Man.

What follows is, of course, these two becoming cohosts.  Van isn't exactly Mr. Smooth and he "gets" why Marie isn't exactly his biggest fan.  But perception is everything, and Van needs this gig.  He's hoping the TV spot will help get his restaurant off the ground.  Marie may think he's Mr. Big Shot, but whoa baby - he's anything but.  So the two start working together only to realize that their sexual chemistry may just muck it all up.  Neither one is anxious to mix business with pleasure.

While this was a super quick read, I could tell that it was early on in author's career.  It's the sort of book that picked up steam as it went along.  It opens a little slow, and we don't even get Van's point of view until around page 60 or so.  Up until then it's all Marie, prickly as a wet cat, putting him through his paces.  For a while I was dreading a set-up of these two constantly trying to "one up" each other, and braced myself for various mean-spirited shenanigans - but blessedly the author does not travel that route.  Marie has stipulations, which Van accepts, and the rest of the book is spent with them figuring out how to coexist together - in business, and in pleasure.

This is a "romantic comedy" in the sense that it feels like a rom/com visually speaking.  It's easy to see this translating to the big, or small, screen.  But thankfully it's not "comedy," as in the Funny Ha Ha variety.  Readers are spared slapstick, forced attempts at humor, and other brain-bleed inducing endeavors that very rarely translate well on the page.  It's a rom/com in tone, light and breezy, carrying you along.  It's a textbook example of what I call a Chocolate Chip Cookie Read.  It's tasty and fun while you're consuming it, but three minutes later it's like you never ate anything at all and you're back scrounging in the cupboard even though you told yourself, "Only one cookie....."

Where things get intriguing is towards the end, when the O'Keefe we know "today" starts to creep in.  Things are really, really light until the author needs to get to the "black moment" to spur her characters towards our happy ending.  This is when Marie's past baggage creeps in (major trust issues), which will likely annoy some readers, but worked for me considering how badly she had been spurned in the past.

This was interesting.  It's not a perfect read.  I felt the character development was a little light in the pants mostly because the author never quite dives deeply enough below the surface of her characters. It also took a few chapters for the story to really pick up any sort of steam (as a general rule, category romances really need to hit the ground running).  But it's a pleasant read, and reading it as an intellectual exercise on Author Development + History, it's really intriguing.  Had I read this back when it was published, prior to O'Keefe making the jump to SuperRomance - I'm not sure I would have "seen" her taking that path.  But in hindsight?  It makes a lot of sense.  Especially when looking at the character baggage she concocts for this story.  Certainly she doesn't delve into it too deeply (hey, Flipside!), but you can see she very easily could have.  And that's the stuff that SuperRomances are made of.

This was a perfect example of an "OK" read for me until the second half, when the angst really began to go from simmer to boil.  I'm not sure I would recommend readers drop their lives and read this right now, but if you're already an O'Keefe fan?  I think this is well worth a look.

Final Grade = B-

Sign Up Now: 2015 TBR Challenge

The TBR Challenge has been kicking around Romancelandia, in one guise or another, for a number of years.  I took over hosting duties in 2011 and have decided that, once again, I'll bring the challenge back for 2015.

What is the TBR Challenge? Simply put, it's where readers pick up a long neglected book from their TBR pile, read it, and comment on that read on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. The idea is to read those long neglected books that you just had to get your hands on at the time, but have been languishing in your pile, all lost and forgotten.

Commentary on your chosen TBR read can happen anywhere online (your blog, Facebook, GoodReads, Twitter, a message board etc.) just provide me with a link when you sign-up so interested readers can follow all the challengers!

Why do I make you do "homework?"  Honestly?  Because it's fun.  Over the years many people have commented how much they enjoy following along with the TBR Challenge participants to discover "long lost gems" and maybe get a different perspective on a book they read years ago.  Plus is the one day every month where you are guaranteed to get some good book chatter.

This is a voluntary challenge and I want it to be fun.  Which means if you skip a month (or, uh, several), I'm not going to publicly shame you.  Hey, life happens.  Even to the best of us.  Also, I am keeping up with the tradition of providing monthly themes.  Some participants like that added focus.  Some prefer to go "off theme" and read wherever their mood takes them.  And both are perfectly and totally acceptable!  The goal of this challenge is to read neglected books out of your TBR, whatever they may be.

Monthly Commentary Dates + Suggest Themes

January 21 - We Love Short Shorts! (Category romance, novellas, short stories)

February 18 - Recommended Read (A book recommended to you by another reader/blogger etc.)

March 18 - Series Catch-Up (A book in a series you are behind on)

April 15 - Contemporary

May 20 - Kickin' It Old School (Copyright date is 10 years or older)

June 17 - More Than One (An author who has more than one book in your TBR pile)

July 15 - Lovely RITA (past RWA RITA winner and/or nominees)

August 19 - Impulse Read (The book you bought because of the cover or The book you bought on impulse or The book you cannot remember why you bought in the first place!)

September 16 - Historical

October 21 - Paranormal or romantic suspense

November 18 - It's All About The Hype (a book or author that got everybody talking)

December 16 - Holiday Themes (Christmas, Valentine's Day, any holiday!)

If you would like to sign-up for next year's challenge - please leave a comment on this post, and include a link to where you will be posting your commentary.  Or feel free to e-mail me the information.  I will then post the links to all the participants on the 2015 TBR Challenge Information Page so people can follow along (and discover new blogs!)

I take sign-ups for the challenge year round - so if you don't get on board in January, it's not too late. I hope to see plenty of veterans back and a hearty round of newcomers!  All aboard!