Monday, July 31, 2006
**** Until Forever by Johanna Lindsey. Time-travel romance.
This is an unusual time-travel romance. Instead of one of the characters traveling in time and then finding their true love, these characters go back and forth in time.
Roseleen, a history professor and collector of antique weapons, has just made the coup of a lifetime: a medieval sword, "Blooddrinker's Curse." She had to buy it through her step-brother, as the previous owner was convinced that a woman must never be allowed to own the sword.
Understandably, because when a woman holds it, she summons its owner, Thorn Blooddrinker, from Valhalla, and he's cursed to obey her every command.
Roseleen's confusion and disbelief is well-done, falling between unbelievable credulity and boring (if probably realistic) insistence on disbelief that goes on too long. Thorn's reactions, too, are realistic--he's angry at being summoned, particularly when the woman summoning him doesn't seem to have any reason for it.
Their falling in love is a given, and unfortunately, as such, it's not particularly believable. I believe they're in lust with each other, and I believe that history professor Roseleen finds an actual Viking warrior fascinating. I just don't see true love. But I'm notoriously skeptical.
What made the book for me was when their time-traveling (Thorn can go to any time in which the sword has existed, and he likes going to battles) causes changes that are evident when they return to the present. Trying to figure out what they'd changed and how, and going back to fix things was lots of fun, reminiscent of The Butterfly Effect.
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Categories: Books, 4stars, TimeTravelRomance
Labels: 4 stars, books, TimeTravelRomance
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Link of the Week # 8
I was planning on using the Erbacher Wiesenmarkt, where we spent yesterday, as this week's link, but there aren't all that many pictures on the site, and it's in German. Google's translation isn't all that great, either.
Then I thought of the ZDF Fernsehgarten, which my mother-in-law took my daughter to see today in Mainz. But that's in German, too, and again, the translation leaves a lot to be desired.
Knock yourself out if you want to, though.
Instead, I think I'll just post the link to the
Enjoy.
...more
Categories: LOTW,
Then I thought of the ZDF Fernsehgarten, which my mother-in-law took my daughter to see today in Mainz. But that's in German, too, and again, the translation leaves a lot to be desired.
Knock yourself out if you want to, though.
Instead, I think I'll just post the link to the
Enjoy.
...more
Categories: LOTW,
Labels: cool links
** Fathers and Daughters, ed. by Jill M. Morgan. Women's fiction, memoirs.
I'd bought this book because it had stories in it by Diana Gabaldon and Carole Nelson Douglas. Other than the fact that it makes my collections of their works complete, I should have saved my money.
It's an anthology version of sappy, over-sentimental stories you might find in the Father's Day letters to the editor section of any newspaper, or expanded versions of the sentiments you find on the serious Father's Day cards, and the fact that the stories/memoirs were all written by bestselling authors didn't make them any more interesting.
Frustratingly, even though I only read one story at a time, interspersing other books between the stories, they still ran together--to me, it felt as though they were all written about 2 or maybe 3 fathers. Which could be because the authors are mostly contemporaries. Seems like all the fathers were uncommunicative, but fair, and all of them were into playing baseball. They were all pretty much stereotypical fathers of the 40s and 50s. Ho-hum.
I suppose some of my cynicism comes from my distant relationship with my own father, but I am not a fan of sentimentalism, regardless how it's directed.
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Categories: Books, 2stars, WomensFiction, Memoir
Labels: 2 stars, books, memoir, WomensFiction
Saturday, July 29, 2006
July TBR Challenge
On June 28, a dear friend died at the age of 28.
The July challenge is this: In Sara's memory, read a book by one of her favorite authors: Nora Roberts, JD Robb, Jennifer Crusie, Suzanne Brockmann or Linda Howard, or one that reminds you of her.
I read:
***** Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie. Contemporary romance.
The original paperback, not the hardcover reissue, which I still haven't purchased. Jill, were there changes to the reissue?
Anyway, it had been in my TBR pile forever--apparently, I just went out and collected all of Crusie's backlist (and the couple of reissues out at the time) so I could be Crusiefied and Burned, but I never got around to reading ABY and Sizzle. Sizzle's still in the TBR somewhere.
Recently divorced 40-year-old Nina is, in typical Crusie fashion, trying to fix her life. Her first step is to get a dog. She'd planned on a puppy, but when she saw depressed basset/beagle Fred, she knew he needed her, and couldn't resist.
Fred turns out to be a great decision, because he plays matchmaker between Nina and her downstairs neighbor, 30-year-old E.R. doc Alex.
Even for a short book, everything's there--character development, plenty of realism re: their age difference, what they both want from life, and what they each think the other wants.
Anyone But You should even appeal to those jaded by the romance genre: ****spoiler****Not only is there not an epilogue listing their half-dozen offspring's names and genders, but Nina and Alex have decided not to have kids at all.****
Loved it, of course. I suppose Jenny would probably be able to point out all the flaws in the story, but I couldn't see them. I didn't look particularly hard, either--I was too busy being involved in the story. Excellent characters, Crusie's distinctive voice, and a great dog. What more could I ask for?
Except, of course, that it was bittersweet thinking about Sara while reading it.
Categories: TBRChallenge, Books, 5stars, ContemporaryRomance
The July challenge is this: In Sara's memory, read a book by one of her favorite authors: Nora Roberts, JD Robb, Jennifer Crusie, Suzanne Brockmann or Linda Howard, or one that reminds you of her.
I read:
***** Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie. Contemporary romance.
The original paperback, not the hardcover reissue, which I still haven't purchased. Jill, were there changes to the reissue?
Anyway, it had been in my TBR pile forever--apparently, I just went out and collected all of Crusie's backlist (and the couple of reissues out at the time) so I could be Crusiefied and Burned, but I never got around to reading ABY and Sizzle. Sizzle's still in the TBR somewhere.
Recently divorced 40-year-old Nina is, in typical Crusie fashion, trying to fix her life. Her first step is to get a dog. She'd planned on a puppy, but when she saw depressed basset/beagle Fred, she knew he needed her, and couldn't resist.
Fred turns out to be a great decision, because he plays matchmaker between Nina and her downstairs neighbor, 30-year-old E.R. doc Alex.
Even for a short book, everything's there--character development, plenty of realism re: their age difference, what they both want from life, and what they each think the other wants.
Anyone But You should even appeal to those jaded by the romance genre: ****spoiler****Not only is there not an epilogue listing their half-dozen offspring's names and genders, but Nina and Alex have decided not to have kids at all.****
Loved it, of course. I suppose Jenny would probably be able to point out all the flaws in the story, but I couldn't see them. I didn't look particularly hard, either--I was too busy being involved in the story. Excellent characters, Crusie's distinctive voice, and a great dog. What more could I ask for?
Except, of course, that it was bittersweet thinking about Sara while reading it.
Categories: TBRChallenge, Books, 5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance, tbr challenge
Friday, July 28, 2006
**** Midnight in Death by J. D. Robb. Futuristic romantic suspense.
Aside: What is the rule about italics and novellas, anyway? Ah, okay. I found this on the Southern Literary Journal website:
Titles of novellas, if published singly, should be set in italics. If the novella is one of several in a collection, or is in a collection of short stories, use quotation marks.Which doesn't help a whole lot, as the version I read was in a collection, but it's also available all on its lonesome. Does anybody else really care?
On to the story. It's the 8th in the In Death series, and Nora compensates for the shorter length by leaving out some of the secondary characters, and by having Eve know from the beginning whodunit.
The killer is a psychopath Eve helped put away some years ago, a spiritual heir of Mengele who tortures his victims to death to study their bodies' pain and fear responses. His mission since his escape from prison is both to further his "research" and to get revenge on those responsible for locking him up.
Despite its short length, Midnight in Death is a complete story, and we get some good character insights into the recurring characters. And the killer is a refreshing change from the serial killers who are killing their mothers over and over again.
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Categories: Books, 4stars, RomanticSuspense
Labels: 4 stars, books, RomanticSuspense
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Yes, I'm being a bit lazy. That's because even though we've been back for 5 days, I'm still completely swamped. Four or five chapters of beta reading to do, 2072 emails still in my various in-boxes, nine books still to write comments on, and bunches of blogs and messageboards to catch up on. And that's just the online stuff. Inexplicably, the family wants to do things like go to the movies and the pool, play games, watch South Park and Seinfeld on DVD, and eat meals. And now that I've lost 10.5 pounds and am up to 38 minutes of exercise a day (go, me!), I've got to keep that up, too, so I don't lose my momentum.
Huh. Looks like I've almost got a TT of why I don't have time to do a decent TT. If I didn't already have most of this one already written...
Without further ado...
- When you arrive (or nearly arrive) at your destination at 11 p.m. after a dozen hours of driving, one of the last things you really want is for the Pisa Autostrade exit to be closed, forcing you to take the Livorno exit where you'll drive around the docks for 20 minutes looking for signs. (maps? we don't need no steenkin' maps.)
- At 11:45 on a Tuesday night, Tirrenia is hopping. People everywhere, even little kids. These people are night owls. I approve.
- Moby averaged 18.2 mpg from Miesau to Camp Darby. Not bad, particularly when you consider how loaded-down it was with 5 people and 10 days' worth of camping stuff, and the mountain roads. We lost a whole mpg on the drive back--mostly because we took the St.Gotthard's pass instead of the tunnel.
- It's a very good idea to try out the cute new sandals in Pisa before going to Rome.
- Never leave Carl unattended around sidewalk vendors.
- Nobody does ice cream like the Italians. My favorites: the peach was heavenly; the chocolate was an orgasm on a cone.
- Tour guides/drill sergeants. Not much difference.
- Going to the beach after 3 p.m. is a great idea for a few reasons:
- you miss the hottest part of the day.
- you don't get sick of the beach.
- the kids don't get sick of the beach, and you don't have to listen to them whining "do we HAVE to go to the beach today?"
- less chance of sunburn
- better chance of getting an umbrella close to the water--7 days out of 8, we got one in the front row; the other day, it was in the 2nd row.
- everything was half price, so you don't feel guilty about only staying 3 or 4 hours.
- Sand and salt water are an excellent cure for blisters.
- It's apparently possible, after all, to have sex in the water. We observed this from a fairly close distance (20 m.?) on 2 separate occasions.
- Non-drowsy Dramamine isn't.
- Italian coffee is even better than German coffee.
- Driving in Italy is not for the faint of heart.
Sorry for the lack of pix. I'm short of time. Maybe next week.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
- Raggedy's elevator tips
- Carmen takes on idiots
- Mysterious Lady's been busy
- Knitting Maniac on Napoleon Dynamite
- Minerva Jane used to read in the shower
- Toddlerisms from Lil Duck Duck
- Zeus's sister is schizo
- Doug's reading history
- Christine's Vegas Vacation
- Karen's summer
- Armywife keeps us informed
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Categories: ThursdayThirteen, AboutMe
Labels: TT
*** Infamous by Virginia Henley. Historical romance.
As Infamous opens, Jory (Marjory) has decided, on the advice of her promiscuous friend Joanna Plantagenet, to take her first lover before her brother and uncle arrange a marriage for her. The target of her decision is the infamous Guy deBeauchamp, who's already buried two wives under mysterious circumstances.
They fall in love, and plan to marry, but Jory's brother and uncle turn down Guy's offer, unbeknownst to Jory, believing they're acting in her best interests.
The book follows Jory through an affectionate, if not passionate, marriage, widowhood, and her eventual reunion with Guy.
Infamous is very reminiscent of the Bertrice Small historical romances I've read, in that it contains liberal references to actual historical figures (at one point, Jory has an affair with Robert the Bruce), is full of sensuality, and is a sweeping story encompassing many years and more than one relationship for the heroine.
Unfortunately, it's also written in a rather distant style. I'm not sure if it's omniscient or 3rd-person limited with headhopping, but it kept me from really caring about the characters. It felt very much as if I were listening to someone telling me about a book they'd read, and while I found it interesting, even fascinating in parts, I never became involved in the story.
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Categories: Books, 3stars, HistoricalRomance
Labels: 3 stars, books, HistoricalRomance
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
***** Another Fine Myth & Myth Conceptions by Robert Asprin. Fantasy.
I'd read a couple of later book in this series, Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections (#6), and Sweet Myth-Tery of Life (#7), a while ago and loved them, so decided to start from the beginning.
Another Fine Myth starts the series and introduces us to apprentice magician Skeeve. He's forcibly ejected from his rather mundane life when his master is assassinated immediately after summoning the demon Aahz, stripping him of his powers as a practical joke.
It's then up to Aahz to explain things to Skeeve, most notably that "demons" are merely denizens of other dimensions, Aahz himself being a Pervect (not a Pervert) from the dimension Perv. Aahz also has to take up Skeeve's training to help Aahz recover his powers, find the killer, and return to his own dimension.
In Myth Conceptions, Aahz still doesn't have his powers, but Skeeve is better trained, and when a messenger arrives from Possiltum saying they're in need of a court magician, Aahz encourages Skeeve to apply for the job.
He does, only to discover that instead of the cushy position they'd expected, the reason Possiltum needs a court magician is that they're being threatened by a huge invading army. They travel to the market at Deveel to assemble a force of their own to counter it with humorous results.
Both stories are laugh-out-loud funny, and full of Asprin's pun-ny humor and dry wit. The characters are entertaining and real (or as real as creatures from various dimensions can be). Skeeve and Aahz as heroes are neither omnipotent nor bumbling, and the rest of the characters, including Skeeve's accidental dragon, are well-drawn enough that you can care about them.
Fortunately, there are, so far, 16 books in the series, so I've got 12 to go until I run out. I've already ordered the next one.
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Categories: Books, 5stars, Fantasy
Labels: 5 stars, books, fantasy
**** Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding. Chick lit.
My daughter got this from the library while we were on vacation, and passed it on to me to read before she returned it. She loved it. I wasn't quite as enamored.
I didn't hate it, either. It was a fun read, but didn't have a whole lot of substance to it. I had to roll my eyes at all the Amazon reviews trashing the book because it mentioned Osama Bin Laden. One of these days, I'll have to write down my theory about things like that.
Anyway, Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination is like a comedy version of the movie Conspiracy Theory. Olivia is a journalist who sees conspiracies and Big Stories everywhere, and finally stumbles on to one, by sheer accident.
My main complaint about the story is that it was too firmly straddling the fence between being a semi-serious James Bond-type story and being an over-the-top Stephanie Plum-type story. If it had leaned more either way, I'd have been much happier with it. Instead, we're asked to believe, for example, that ****spoiler****the CIA would recruit her on the spot as an agent because of her overactive imagination**** and without the support of the entire book being completely over-the-top, things like that just fall flat.
The romance, too, was too wishy-washy. I'd have been happier with it being focused on either less or more, or even left out completely. As it was, I couldn't believe in it, and it felt out of place.
I did, however, love Olivia's "Rules for Living." (#1: "Don't panic." #2: "No one is thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves, just like you.") In fact, I think they made the book for me. Without them, I'd probably have given the book 3 or 3.5 stars. Not just that the rules were present, but what they were, and how Olivia referred to them at times throughout the story.
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Categories: Books, 4stars, ChickLit
Labels: 4 stars, books, ChickLit
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
weirdness quiz
| You Are 40% Weird |
 Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it! |
I'll accept that assessment. :)
Categories: AboutMe
Labels: quiz
****½ Night Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Contemporary paranormal romance.
I'm not really sure why these books tend to languish in my TBR pile so long. I always really enjoy them when I read them, but I'm never in any hurry to read the next one. Hmmm.
Anyway, this is the third Dark Hunter book, about Sunshine and Talon. He'd been cursed centuries before by a god to lose any woman he loved, and Sunshine was deliberately placed in his path to distract him during Mardi Gras, when a couple of gods planned to release The Destroyer and reclaim their godhoods.
The time of year is also a bad time of year for Daimons (vampires), and the baddest-of-the-bad Dark Hunters, Zarek, has been called to New Orleans from Alaska to help out.
I enjoyed the romance between Sunshine and Talon--Sunshine was independent and practical, things I always appreciate in a heroine, and of course Talon was tormented by fear of his curse. There's a twist in their relationship later on: ****spoiler****Sunshine is the reincarnation of his wife**** and I thought that was handled well, and realistically.
In addition, there was quite a bit of character development of the secondary characters--we learned more about Ash, Zarek, and Valerius--and some of the history and politics of the Dark Hunters.
All in all, a fun, satisfying read. I believe there are 3 more in my TBR pile. I'll get to them eventually, and no doubt I'll enjoy them when I do.
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Categories: Books, 4.5stars, ParanormalRomance
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, ParanormalRomance
****½ Seducing Sir Oliver by Nicole Byrd. Historical romance.
This is the 7th book in Nicole Byrd's Sinclair family series. The series arc has Gabriel Sinclair searching for his birth father. In Seducing Sir Oliver, he's found him, and at the same time finds 5 half-sisters, all living in genteel poverty that's only getting worse.
Unable to hold on to his anger and resentment, Gabriel invites one of his sisters back to London with him, to help her make a place in society.
Juliana is unable to stay with Gabriel because of a measles outbreak in his home, so family friend Lady Sealey invites Juliana to stay with her, along with her godson, the Sir Oliver of the title.
Juliana and Oliver quickly find a common interest--and mutual attraction--when they join forces to recapture the monkey that's part of Oliver's zoology studies.
Seducing Sir Oliver is a rollicking story of animal misadventures (there are big cats and a snake in addition to the monkey), threatening notes to Lady Sealey, a determined would-be fiancee, and both Juliana and Oliver thinking the other deserves better than themselves. It has, like the rest of the books in the series, Nicole Byrd's trademark blend of romance, mystery, wit, and sensuality.
The next book is about Juliana's twin sisters. I can hardly wait.
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Categories: Books, 4.5stars, HistoricalRomance
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, HistoricalRomance
Monday, July 24, 2006
***½ Endings and Beginnings by Nora Roberts. Contemporary romance. Re-read.
This book was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Not in that it was action-packed-exciting, but in my response to the characters.
I loved Liv and T.C. in the beginning--both dedicated, driven reporters in Washington, D.C. T.C. was the senior of the two, and Liv viewed him both as a rival and as an inspiration. And T.C. respected Liv enough to take her seriously, offering her a bit of help, but not making things easy for her.
Then in the middle, I got exasperated with them, particularly with Liv, because the story degenerated into one of those "I LURVE you, but I can't have a relationship with you because you might leave me, or die" plots that irritate the heck out of me.
And then they redeemed themselves in the end. Liv got over her fears credibly, and nobody sacrificed their identity to get the HEA.
Endings and Beginnings is obviously an early Nora, but it shows her genius with characters. They definitely came alive, even in such a short space of time. A nice little bonus for Noraholics was the appearance of Myra Ditmyer from the MacGregors series.
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Categories: Books, 3.5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Link of the Week # 7
I was going to try for something vacation-related for this week's link, but I'm really, really swamped with post-vacation catching up. Unpacking, laundry (though the kid's doing most of that), beta-reading, a bajillion emails, a bunch of book reviews, and today we'll be spending 4 more hours in Moby and the rest of the day going to the in-laws to pick up the dog.
So since I was creatively stumped for a link, here's something to help when you're in the same boat:
The Imagination Prompt Generator. Enjoy.
And if you write something based on one of their prompts, leave a link in the comments.
Categories: LOTW
So since I was creatively stumped for a link, here's something to help when you're in the same boat:
The Imagination Prompt Generator. Enjoy.
And if you write something based on one of their prompts, leave a link in the comments.
Categories: LOTW
Labels: cool links
** War and Peas by Jill Churchill. Mystery.
This book is one of the reasons why I didn't read as much on vacation as I might have. It's a short book, only 250 pages, but it was far too easy to put down and not tempting enough to pick up again. It took me over two days to read it.
The title is awfully clever and cute, referring to the setting of the mystery: a pea museum and Civil War reenactment.
I suspect I'd have liked the book more if I'd read more than just one other book in the series--if I'd already known the cast of characters and looked forward to spending time with them again. Unfortunately, the characters weren't developed enough in this particular volume of the series to make me care about them.
The story did have potential--the pea museum's director is murdered during a Civil War reenactment, in front of scores of witnesses, none of whom saw anything suspicious.
But the solving of the mystery consisted of Jane Jeffry, the series protagonist, periodically speculating with other characters about who might have killed her and why. There's no gathering of clues, no gradual unfolding of the plot. The solution, when it's presented, comes completely out of left field with no foreshadowing, the motive not even so much as hinted at throughout the story.
And there was zero reason given for the bizarre method of the second murder, which was the last straw. Not that I'd intended to seek out more books in this series before that, but at that point, I wasn't just disappointed, I was mad.
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Categories: Books, 2stars, Mystery
Labels: 2 stars, books, mystery
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Magic Man
I'm back! Did you miss me? Italy was wonderful. Ten days of sunshine and temperatures in the 90s (mid-30s for anyone not in the U.S.). I took 20 books along, and read much less than I'd expected to. I was too busy.
I wrote this review out longhand... and learned my lesson. It's much, much easier using a keyboard.
****½ Magic Man by Patricia Rice. Historical romance.
Finally! Aidan's story! I've been waiting for this for a while.
Aidan has been the mysterious relative of the Malcolms--or is it the Iveses--throughout this historical romance series about two families with magical gifts. He has a habit of coming to the characters' aid and then disappearing, always disparaging those magical gifts and denying any suggestion that he might have gifts of his own.
And that's how we find him at the beginning of Magic Man--m,inding his own business, until he's summoned to the aid of the Malcolms, and the itch on his nose leads him straight to their visitor, Mora, who's being attacked by brigands.
Mora, for her part, would love to have magical gifts, but doesn't believe she does. Still, when her adoptive parents dies and she'll have to leave her home, she sees no harm in trying A Spelle for Trubble in the Journal of Lessons her mother left her.
The answer to her troubles comes in the form of an invitation to stay at the Malcolms' country estate, and the man who saves her from attack, and who seems to be able to make the earth move--literally.
Aidan is also on the verge of losing his home to a greedy aunt who insists his illegitimacy makes him ineligible to inherit. Making matters worse, she intends to expand her coal mine, destroying the homes of his tenants.
As he searches for some other heir or some way to protect his land and people, it becomes more and more difficult to deny his heritage and his magical gifts, particularly with Mora around, who's developing gifts of her own, and also discovering her own heritage.
While I enjoyed the magic/paranormal aspects of the story, what made it exceptional for me was the characters and their romance. Both Aidan and Mora are complex characters, and both are dealing with similar issues, though from different angles. They're both dealing with a loss of their homes, a lack of family, and the possibility of magic talents. And just as their magic talents complement each other, so do their family and home issues, making Magic Man satisfying both emotionally--because I cared about the characters, and intellectually--because the story fit together so completely.
Unfortunately, Magic Man is the last of the series. I'm going to miss the Malcolms and the Iveses, but kudos to Ms. Rice for not drawing a series out until it gets dull. I'm going to have to check out her other books--in my experience, a talent like this for characterization and satisfying romance plots carries over to other sub-genres.
...more
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, HistoricalRomance
I wrote this review out longhand... and learned my lesson. It's much, much easier using a keyboard.
****½ Magic Man by Patricia Rice. Historical romance.
Finally! Aidan's story! I've been waiting for this for a while.
Aidan has been the mysterious relative of the Malcolms--or is it the Iveses--throughout this historical romance series about two families with magical gifts. He has a habit of coming to the characters' aid and then disappearing, always disparaging those magical gifts and denying any suggestion that he might have gifts of his own.
And that's how we find him at the beginning of Magic Man--m,inding his own business, until he's summoned to the aid of the Malcolms, and the itch on his nose leads him straight to their visitor, Mora, who's being attacked by brigands.
Mora, for her part, would love to have magical gifts, but doesn't believe she does. Still, when her adoptive parents dies and she'll have to leave her home, she sees no harm in trying A Spelle for Trubble in the Journal of Lessons her mother left her.
The answer to her troubles comes in the form of an invitation to stay at the Malcolms' country estate, and the man who saves her from attack, and who seems to be able to make the earth move--literally.
Aidan is also on the verge of losing his home to a greedy aunt who insists his illegitimacy makes him ineligible to inherit. Making matters worse, she intends to expand her coal mine, destroying the homes of his tenants.
As he searches for some other heir or some way to protect his land and people, it becomes more and more difficult to deny his heritage and his magical gifts, particularly with Mora around, who's developing gifts of her own, and also discovering her own heritage.
While I enjoyed the magic/paranormal aspects of the story, what made it exceptional for me was the characters and their romance. Both Aidan and Mora are complex characters, and both are dealing with similar issues, though from different angles. They're both dealing with a loss of their homes, a lack of family, and the possibility of magic talents. And just as their magic talents complement each other, so do their family and home issues, making Magic Man satisfying both emotionally--because I cared about the characters, and intellectually--because the story fit together so completely.
Unfortunately, Magic Man is the last of the series. I'm going to miss the Malcolms and the Iveses, but kudos to Ms. Rice for not drawing a series out until it gets dull. I'm going to have to check out her other books--in my experience, a talent like this for characterization and satisfying romance plots carries over to other sub-genres.
...more
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, HistoricalRomance
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, HistoricalRomance
Monday, July 10, 2006
How do you say "vacation" in Italian?
I donno, but here's where we're going to be for most of the next 10 days:
Oh, there'll be a day in Rome, and a day in Pisa (we always go to Pisa--it's only a 10-minute drive), and we'll go out to dinner, and hang out at the campground a little, but most of the time will be spent right here on the beach.
I might stop by the library and check out the computers, but don't hold your breath.
See you in 10 days!
Categories: AboutMe
Oh, there'll be a day in Rome, and a day in Pisa (we always go to Pisa--it's only a 10-minute drive), and we'll go out to dinner, and hang out at the campground a little, but most of the time will be spent right here on the beach.
I might stop by the library and check out the computers, but don't hold your breath.
See you in 10 days!
Categories: AboutMe
Labels: about me
***** Captive Moon by C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp. Contemporary paranormal romance.
And the trend continues. I loved this one as well.
But first, a brief PSA: Phone lines in Germany are underground--thus, the phones do not go out regardless of how bad a winter storm is. Cars drive on the right in Germany, and the driver sits on the left, just as in the U.S. You won't find a roast beef sandwich, or indeed a sandwich at all in a typical German restaurant--you might possibly find one in an English pub or an American diner. When flying from the U.S. to Germany, you'll never arrive at 5 p.m. Note: this is all stuff that you wouldn't notice unless you live here, and it really makes no difference to the story.
I was a little sad to discover that this third Sazi book didn't feature Tony again, nor was it written in first person, but it didn't take me long to get caught up in the new characters--maybe a page or two.
Antoine Monier, the shapeshifting half-lion, half-cougar leader of the Sazi cats, and world-famous entertainer, discovers a were-tiger being held in a cage after poachers killed several tigers. He rescues her, only to find that she's a member of the Hayalet Kabile, a tribe thought to be extinct--a tribe that views the Sazi as enemies.
Meanwhile, Antoine's grandmother has challenged him for control of the clan, charging that he's allowing those under his care to come to harm and that he's not making full use of his gifts.
Tahira is the were-tiger Antoine rescued, and it quickly becomes apparent that it's not a simple case of poachers. She'd been searching for her missing brother Rabi, and had been missing herself for a month--of which she has little memory. The abductors are clearly looking specifically for shapeshifters.
The search and investigation are exciting and will keep you turning pages long after you should have turned out the lights. But it's exciting because you care so much about the characters. Both Antoine and Tahira are very powerful, but neither of them knows much about their more unusual gifts, and as a result neither uses them to the fullest.
Antoine is a seer, but his visions make him feel worried and helpless, so he ignores them as much as he can. Tahira is a power well--that is, she can absorb and store power from other shapeshifters--but she has no understanding of what that means, and instead has always thought the powerful members of her clan had avoided her because she was useless.
It's fascinating to watch them discover their potential while they discover their attraction to each other, while dealing with danger, mystery, winter storms, and the leader of the snakes who's there to witness the challenge and sees himself as a rival for Tahira's affections.
The secondary characters--Antoine's grandmother and employees, as well as the villains--are all realistic and have plot threads of their own. I'm hoping to see more of several of them, particularly the Australian Matty; Margo, Antoine's secretary; and Larry and Bruce.
As with the previous two Sazi books, Captive Moon is a dense, rich story that seamlessly combines fantasy, mystery/adventure, and romance. I'm relieved to see that there's a 4th book due out in January. I hope this series continues a good long while.
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Categories: Books, 5stars, ParanormalRomance
Labels: 5 stars, books, ParanormalRomance
***** Seven Ways to Lose Your Lover by Alesia Holliday. Chick lit.
Yes, another excellent book. There's at least one more, then maybe I'll get to something I can complain about.
Shane is "The Breakup Artist." That is, she helps people get out of relationships by telling them how to get the other person to break up with them. Theoretically, it'll prevent bad feelings on the part of the dumpee... provided, of course, that said dumpee doesn't know they've been conned. Which, of course, is what happens.
I was prepared to be skeptical about this, because, as is fairly evident in my relationship theories, I don't like the games people play in relationships. Shane, though, isn't advocating anything--in fact, she reluctantly takes her talent public first to help out her boss, then to earn the money to buy into the partnership and help her neighbor realize his dream. And she worries about how it'll affect her karma constantly, making her much more likeable than I'd expected from the cover blurb.
Her first assignment is to extricate her boss's niece Lizzie from Awful Ben. Unfortunately, Lizzie is impatient and Ben overhears her gloating about her success, and he and his friend Gleason decide to confront The Breakup Artist.
What follows is a nicely intertwining story of Shane's work breaking up her clients, her roommate Annie who wants help breaking up with too-perfect Nick, her gay neighbors' career and relationship problems, and Ben's dilemma between attraction and revenge.
The characters are all well-drawn and understandable: there are no stereotypes or cliches here, and everyone has believable motivations for their actions. There's snappy dialogue, and laugh-out-loud wit, including a hilarious parrot scene, and Shane's adopted stray
Once again, Alesia Holliday has written a witty, warm, and just-this-side-of-out-of-control story that's a joy to read.
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Categories: Books, 5stars, ChickLit
Labels: 5 stars, books, ChickLit
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Link of the Week # 6
This week's Link of the Week is the
Unfortunately, they're not taking any more requests, but you can see the pictures of the 44 items destroyed by the Solar Death Ray, as well as 4 that fell to the Gravity Death Log.
Categories: LOTW
Labels: cool links
***** Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours by Jim Butcher. Contemporary fantasy/comics tie-in.
Of course this one's getting 5 stars. Jim Butcher wrote it. I admit to being a fangirl, but not without reason.
In this book, Peter Parker/Spider-Man is up against the siblings of Morlun, beings who feed on the life forces of totemistic forces (basically, those with super-powers who have a connection of some sort with an animal). To defeat them will take teamwork, and Spidey tends to be more of a loner.
I'm not all that familiar with Spider-Man canon--the newspaper comic strip and the movies is as far as my familiarity goes--but I didn't have any problem getting into the book. Things that have happened in the past are referred to, but in such a way that a newbie isn't lost, and a long-time fan wouldn't be bored.
The Darkest Hours isn't, of course, nearly as complex or as dark (despite the title) as Jim's work in his own worlds--he's playing in someone else's sandbox, and he didn't make the rules. But he manages to put his own stamp on it anyway.
Spidey is a much lighter character than any of Jim's own, but he's still a good showcase for the author's talents, particularly those for witty dialogue, crisp clear action scenes, intelligent deduction, and honest, undisguised emotion. Peter has the wit of Harry Dresden, but he also has a warm and loving relationship with his wife, and that shines through, without coyness or sly asides. If I had to choose one element that made this book stand out, it would be the relationship between Peter and MJ.
Fortunately, I don't have to choose.
I doubt I'll read more Spider-Man books--unless Jim, or another author I respect writes one, but this was a fun, light read, and well worth the time and money spent.
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Categories: Books, 5stars, ContemporaryFantasy
Labels: 5 stars, books, ContemporaryFantasy
Saturday, July 08, 2006
****½ Holiday in Death by J. D. Robb. Futuristic romantic suspense.
What is this? The 6th excellent book I've read in a row? The streak doesn't end here, either. I swear, I need to find some mediocre books soon, before my head explodes.
At least this isn't another 5-star book. The serial killer plot is what kept it from being a 5-star read for me.
I assume by this point, everyone pretty well knows what J. D. Robb's In Death series is about: mid-21st century, homicide cop married to billionaire with a shady past. Each book has a mystery/police procedural story as well as advances in the characters' personal lives.
Holiday in Death, unsurprisingly, takes place around Christmastime 2058. A serial killer who dresses as Santa is targeting the clients of a dating service: raping and murdering them, then decorating their bodies with a "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme. The hunt for the killer is well done, and Eve makes a wrong turn that's emotionally affecting, and well as showing that she's human. It's just that serial killer stories get to be pretty much same-old, same-old after a while. It's always a guy killing his mother over and over again. Ho-hum. But that's a matter of taste, or at least a matter of how many romantic suspense and mystery books I've read with serial killers in them.
What was great about this story is how Eve deals with the holiday, her first since meeting and marrying Roarke. She's got her usual disgruntled attitude toward her fellow humans, and, as usual, hates shopping. On the other hand, her life is now becoming full of people who matter to her, and the process of coming up with gifts for them shows how much her life has changed.
Holiday in Death also begins the McNab/Peabody/Charles Monroe triangle, and the real start of the McNab/Peabody relationship. We'd met McNab in the previous book, Vengeance in Death, but that one only showed the beginnings of sparks between the two.
One of the lovely things about this series is the leisurely way in which the secondary relationships develop. Eve and Roarke did take 3 books from first meet to wedding, but it was still a pretty romance-novel-ish pace. McNab and Peabody, and other relationships in the series, proceed at a more true-to-life rate, and because the main characters are happily committed, we readers can enjoy the small developments without too much impatience.
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Categories: Books, 4.5stars, RomanticSuspense
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, RomanticSuspense
Friday, July 07, 2006
***** Moon's Web by C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp. Contemporary paranormal romance/contemporary fantasy.
See? I told you to expect more raves. This isn't the last of them, either.
Moon's Web is the second Sazi book from Adams and Clamp. It takes the world and characters from Hunter's Moon and ratchets the tension up a notch.
Werewolf and assassin Tony and his human wife Sue have joined a werewolf pack, with all the adjustments that entails, and at the same time, Babs, the werewolf who turned Tony, is abducted and Tony is tasked with not only finding her but keeping his old mafia boss from going after her and starting a war that will expose and endanger all the Sazi. In addition, Tony's having to deal with new powers and odd side-effects.
There's a lot going on in Moon's Web, but it's not hard to keep it all straight (just hard for me to write about it coherently--but then, I always have that problem when I really like a book). The pack rules and politics were especially well done--I loved Tony's chafing against the rules, his careless blunders, and the fact that both Tony and the pack leaders are all drawn in shades of gray: none of them is all right or all wrong.
The whole book, in fact, is three-dimensional like that. Tony develops new powers, and there are side-effects to the powers as well as to the mate bond and the pack bond, but he and everyone else has both strengths and weaknesses, good and bad. Nobody is the strongest or wisest, though Lelya, the pack leader's mother, comes close.
Likewise, solving the mystery and defeating the villain aren't the work of Tony alone--everyone plays a part.
The romance in Moon's Web is a continuation of the romance in Hunter's Moon. That is, there's an already-committed couple, and we see developments in their relationship, rather than an entirely new couple meeting and falling in love. Though that does happen, it's not the focus of the story.
The world Adams & Clamp have built in these first two Sazi books is detailed and full, even though they never resort to laundry-list descriptions. It's rich enough to support a long, long series, and I hope it does so.
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Categories: Books, 5stars, ParanormalRomance
Labels: 5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
****½ Raiders of the Lost Corset by Ellen Byerrum. Mystery.
Yeah, I know. Another rave review. Get used to it--looking at the next few books on my TBR pile, I doubt it's going to change in the next few books at least.
This is the fourth book in the Crimes of Fashion series and, I think, the best so far. Fashion reporter Lacey Smithsonian travels to France and New Orleans in search of a corset in which was hidden jewels from the Russian revolution, after a dying corset-maker makes her promise to find it.
The treasure hunt caper variously involves her friends the madcap stylist Stella, lawyer Brooke and Brooke's boyfriend of DeadFed.com--conspiracy nuts, as well as an international "jewel retriever" and an ex-KGB agent as they follow a series of clues. There are also developments in Lacey's love life with her on-again, off-again beau Vic.
Raiders of the Lost Corset is a fast-moving and fun story full of the romance of adventure.
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Categories: Books, 4.5stars, Mystery
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, mystery
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Heinerfest is a carnival that takes over much of the city of Darmstadt, my husband's hometown, more or less. We went on Monday with my husband's brother, sister-in-law, and oldest niece, and stayed until after the fireworks. These are some pix--mostly ones we took, but I also snagged a couple from Flickr.
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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Categories: ThursdayThirteen, AboutMe
Labels: TT
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
****½ Match Game by Beverly Brandt. Contemporary romance.
Huh. I'm completely distracted now, because I went to look at the Amazon reviews, and found one complaining about "the ending scenes that involved the musician from Meat Loaf's band." So I just went and re-read the last couple chapters. Nope, no musician from Meat Loaf's band in there--in fact, no musicians at all. These are things that bug me.
Anyway. Beverly Brandt and Jacey Ford are overlapping here, and I should have read Match Game before Dead Heat. I did have it before, but Match Game got buried in the TBR pile. Sam from Dead Heat is the brother of Mike in Match Game, and their mother Lillian and her company, Rules of Engagement, figure prominently in both books.
Accountant Savannah Taylor's wedding is interrupted... when she's arrested by the FBI for fraud and money laundering. It turns out it's a case of identity theft, but her fiance decides she's not worth the trouble of rescheduling the wedding.
All this makes Savannah reevaluate her life, especially when she looks at the bills the fake "Vanna" rang up--her alter ego was living a much more exciting life than hers.
So she quits her job, and goes to Naples, Florida, where the fraudulent charges were made, with the dual goal of finding the thief and reinventing herself.
She looks for a new, more glamorous job, and follows the advice in magazines to try to change herself into someone who's sexier and more exciting. Along the way, she meets a group of rowdy spring-breakers staying at the same motel, and a sexy but apparently gay man who rescues her... twice.
Savannah is written with a lot of warmth and compassion. It's easy to relate to her reacting to the arrest and desertion by trying to reinvent herself, and I share her penchant for taking quizzes.
For his part, Mike is a federal air marshal, who sees too much of the bad side of people in his job, and is a bit too serious and responsible for his own good.
They both get what they need, but Match Game is primarily Savannah's story. The ending is action-packed and satisfying... and musician-free.
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Categories: Books, 4.5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Envy Quiz
| People Envy Your Ingenuity |
 You're a person with unique ideas, big plans, and a zany outlook on life. Many people look to you for inspiration. People envy your creativity and "who cares?" attitude. They feel very ordinary next to you - and they usually are! |
I'm not sure how true this is, but I like how it sounds. :)
Categories: AboutMe
Labels: quiz
***** The Adventuress by Carole Nelson Douglas. Mystery. Re-read.
This is a re-read--I read it in its previous incarnation as Good Morning, Irene. Having left the rest of the series in the States, and, yes, I confess, not having paid attention to the fact that it's a reprint (reissue? I always get those mixed up.), I took it as an excuse to reacquaint myself with Irene & co.
This is such a fun series. I thoroughly enjoy Irene, the unconventional singer who solves mysteries, her patient and clever husband Godfrey, and particularly Nell, the narrator, and Irene's strait-laced parson's daughter companion.
Nell's personality is a wonderful lens through which to view the action--she's a decidedly imperfect narrator, and it's entertaining to read between her lines. In a non-spoilery example, Nell comes up with reasons why Irene and Godfrey are so exhausted they need to take a mid-day nap.
In The Adventuress, Godfrey saves a young woman from drowning herself from the ruin of having been abducted and tatooed, only to find that two days later, she's missing, presumed dead, and her aunt is suspected of the murder.
The case leads the three to Monaco, and a decades-old story of shipwreck, hidden treasure, and a shadowy figure behind it all who wants the treasure all for himself. Irene may be the nominal star of the series, but the mystery wouldn't have been solved without the talents of Godfrey and Nell.
I'm glad I picked this one up. It's been too long since I've read this series.
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Categories: Books, 5stars, Mystery
Labels: 5 stars, books, mystery
Monday, July 03, 2006
***** The Comeback Kiss by Lani Diane Rich. Contemporary romance.
I've read this out of order. I'm aware that the hero, Finn, was a character in Maybe Baby, but Maybe Baby is stuck in my TBR pile somewhere, and everybody was talking about The Comeback Kiss, so I couldn't resist. It doesn't seem to matter--I don't feel as if I've missed anything.
Lani is such an entertaining writer. Her characters are as bright and vivid as her online persona, and just as irresistible.
The Comeback Kiss starts with Finn returning Tessa's Thing (no, not the toy, the real Thing, but this one looks more like what Lani described than any of the other pix I could find) that he'd run off with 10 years ago, on the eve of a fire that changed Tessa's life forever--her mother died, and she ended up spending the next ten years fighting for custody of her then-6-year-old sister Izzy.
There was a fire the night Finn left; there's another fire the night he comes back, and the small town of Lucy's Lake seems to alternately regard him as a hero and an arsonist.
Finn and Izzy, aided by Tessa and Finn's boss Babs, try to discover the identity of the real culprit, always with the shadow of the evil social worker hanging over their heads, not to mention Finn's instincts continually urging him to leave.
And did I mention the talking dog?
The Comeback Kiss is just a wonderfully fun book, with that lovely solid foundation of characters changing their lives underneath. I'm looking forward to unearthing Maybe Baby from the TBR mountain, but not too soon--Lani Diane Rich's books are books to savor.
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Categories: Books, 5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
