Marie August's Blog, page 15

Book Review: About That Man (Trinity Harbor Trilogy #1) by Sherryl Woods

Small town adventures full of tenderness and fun!

About That Man (Trinity Harbor Trilogy #1) by Sherryl Woods

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: June 1, 2001
Publisher: Mira
Pages: 400 pages
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Daisy Spencer, the repressed 30-year-old daughter of the richest man in Trinity Cove, Virginia, fears that the most important things in life have passed her by--a husband and family. Then she catches a scared, defiant, runaway orphan hot-wiring her car, and it seems like a sign from heaven. Finally someone really needs her, and she is determined to take troubled, young Tommy into her heart and home. Her family vociferously disagrees with her decision, and her brothers track down Tommy's only relative, an uncle. They believe Walker Ames, a tough D.C. cop, is a far better choice for dealing with a juvenile delinquent than their naïve sister, and they strongly hope the policeman will take his nephew away quickly, before the boy breaks Daisy's heart. In the beginning, Walker is more than willing to fall in with the plans of Daisy's brothers, but after he meets the woman herself, all bets are off, and nothing will ever be the same for him again.

As a Northern Virginia resident, I really enjoyed this lively contemporary romance set in my own back yard. The Virginia small-town life is done accurately and well, and the hero is a very authentic D.C. policeman. In addition, while redemption stories like this one are usually unremittingly grim, this book is refreshingly written in a wonderful, light tone which makes the emotion of the story line even more deeply felt. All of the characters are unique, with distinctive voices, and their strong needs lead to vigorous antagonisms that keep the plot briskly rolling along.

I have previously read several of Ms. Woods' short contemporary romances and enjoyed them very much, so it was a real pleasure to be able to bask in one of her longer books and hear, even more happily, that this book is the start of a series. I am eager to get my hands on the next installment!

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Hero: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Romance Plot: 5

Writing: 5

Overall: 5

Book Review: To Charm A Knight by Linda Kay

Wild, witty romp of a time travel!

To Charm A Knight by Linda Kay

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: November 1, 2001
Publisher: Zebra
Pages: 352 pages
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Victoria Desmond's eccentric employer, billionaire Walter Harrington, is a medieval-era fanatic and owner of a crumbling castle. Unfortunately for Victoria, when Walter's wildest dream magically comes true, and he's transported through time to 13th Century England, Victoria is unwillingly dragged with him. Though Victoria has no idea how to survive in the Middle Ages, she is forced to save not only herself but clueless Walter from an evil knight. In spite of her best efforts the outlook is very grim for her and her boss, until Gareth of Avondel arrives on the scene and helps them out.

If you like medieval times and the sharp immediacy that time travel provides, this adventure will really get your blood racing. Gareth is sexy, intelligent and determined to have lovely, feisty Victoria for his own. And Victoria is a strong woman who refuses to whine as she accepts that she's going to have to hustle like mad to survive. I love the way the light tone of the story invites you to laugh, but not at the expense of a very pleasing hero and heroine. Instead, the humor comes from the contrast of the comic extremes of a hero and heroine who couldn't be more unalike. Their mutually weird ways constantly startle each other and lead to many hearty chuckles. They are also very hot lovers, always welcome in any romance!

In short, if you like laughter, exotic adventure and hot sex, you'll love this book!

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Action/Adventure Plot: 5

Romance Plot: 5

Writing: 5

Overall: 5

Book Review: Also Known As (AKA) by Robin Benway

Hilarious YA, chick-lit, spy-caper novel

Also Known As (AKA) by Robin Benway

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Pages: 319 pages
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Sixteen-year-old Maggie is a brilliant safecracker who's been helping her international-spy parents with their assignments since early childhood, the three of them assuming a string of false identities as they expose high-level crime all over the planet. In the course of Maggie's adventurous life, however, there is one experience she's never had--high school. Until the moment she's offered her first solo assignment in New York City, she's always been home schooled. Now she'll attend a $30,000/year exclusive private school in Manhattan in order to befriend Jesse, a boy her age who is the son of a mega-rich media mogul who is about to break a story that could ruin the lives of Maggie and her parents--and many other spies in their secret organization. Maggie is thrilled to have a chance to prove her mettle as a spy, but two major problems stand in her way: she's intensely attracted to handsome, witty Jesse, and she forms an unlikely but important friendship with Roux, a former Mean Girl who has been a social outcast since the previous school year when she slept with her best friend's boyfriend.

This book is primarily a chick-lit, spy-caper novel, and Maggie's relationships with her unconventional-but-loving parents and her lock-picking mentor, Angelo (who may or may not be an assassin) are simply terrific. Angelo is one of the most amazing characters I've seen in a YA novel in years. His tenderness toward Maggie is lovely, and the mysterious nature of his spy work adds an additional dimension to him that is fascinating. The requisite orphaning necessary for all YA protagonists so they can fight their own battles is not achieved via the common means employed in YA of parental neglect, incompetence, or general cluelessness. Instead it happens because of the nature of Maggie's spy assignment.

I loved Maggie's friendship with Roux, who is both extremely funny and very touching as she learns the true meaning of friendship for the first time ever as she connects with Maggie.

The romance with Jesse is absolutely wonderful. I am a sucker for clever repartee between the heroine and her love interest in a comedy, and this book is full of funny dialogue between them.

Both relationships are a first for Maggie, who has never had the chance to be around kids her age. All three teens have been wounded by past life experiences, and it is very moving to see how being together strengthens and heals all of them.

There is plenty of action-adventure in the story as well. The climax is very exciting, and the resolution of the story is supremely emotionally satisfying.

I have no idea if the author plans a sequel, but if she does, there is plenty of room for more comic spy adventures for Maggie and crew. I'm also very grateful that all the loose ends are tied up in this story so we are not left with an aggravating cliffhanger.

Fans of Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series will love this book, as will fans of Investigating the Hottie by Juli Alexander.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Action/Adventure Plot: 5

Romance Plot: 5

Writing: 5

Overall: 5

Book Review: The Wedding Party by Robyn Carr

Wild ensemble comedy

The Wedding Party by Robyn Carr

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: October 1, 2001
Publisher: Mira
Pages: 384 pages
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

If you enjoy ensemble comedy with a wide cast of characters, you will find a lot to appreciate in this riotous book. Charlene, the 45-year-old heroine, finds a host of obstacles in the way when she attempts a long-avoided walk down the aisle with her boyfriend of five years, including: her mom going off the deep end, her daughter angsting about growing old and ending up alone like her mom, her fiancé hanging out far too much with the wedding planner, and the her sexy ex husband stepping forward with the craziest behavior of all, a demand for another chance.

Robyn Carr keeps a lot of balls in the air with this story, but all the colorful characters and their competing needs add excellently to the frenetic pace which is a main source of the book's humor. The various story lines leap and skitter, ultimately feeding into each other for a strong climax. In addition, the romance with Charlene's ex husband is sexy and adds a lot to the humor as well. I also really appreciated encountering a well-lived-in older heroine for a change.

I rate this book as follows:

 
Heroine: 4

Hero: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Romance Plot: 4

Writing: 4

Overall: 4

 

Book Review: The Husband Test by Betina Krahn

Poignant and humorous medieval romance

The Husband Test by Betina Krahn

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: December 10, 2008
Publisher: Bantam
Pages: 404 pages
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Peril, Lord of Whitmore, is desperate for a virtuous bride in order to remove a curse from his newly inherited estate. Where better to find one, he thinks, than at the Brides of Virtue convent? Unfortunately, the abbess won't promise him a wife, rather, she sends along with him an ambitious but bungling novitiate, Eloise of Argent, to test the young earl and decide whether Peril is worthy to be a husband of one of her maidens.

From this initial fun premise, the book spins into constant adventure. The path to true love between these two very sympathetic protagonists is anything but smooth as, together, they battle treachery from all sides. Peril must work through his deep guilt at desiring a "nun," and Eloise must grow to care for Peril enough to consider abandoning her previous plans to become an abbess.

In spite of the often slapstick humor of Eloise's many well-intentioned plans-gone-awry, she is a strong, direct, intelligent heroine. For fans of tortured heroes, Peril will amply fill the bill. A powerful warrior forged in the fire of harsh experience, he discovers with Eloise a wealth of tenderness inside him he never knew he had. The emotional intensity and the sexual sparks between these two are incendiary. And as always, Ms. Krahn, a master at portrayal of the medieval era, makes it come so alive on the page, you will feel you are actually there.

 

Book Review: The Doc's Double Delivery / Down-Home Diva by Jaqueline Diamond, Stephanie Doyle

Fun double hitter with two sets of comic opposites!

The Doc's Double Delivery / Down-Home Diva (Harlequin Duets, No. 65) by Jaqueline Diamond, Stephanie Doyle

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: December 1, 2001
Publisher: Harlequin
Pages: 384 pages
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

DOC'S DOUBLE DELIVERY
By Jaqueline Diamond

Thirty-one-year-old Dr. Barry Cantress has just spent two years in the Peace Corps on Prego Prego, a Pacific Island overrun with goats. After far too many years of self-imposed celibacy, he's more than ready to fall in love and settle down. But before he can find just the right woman to be the mother of his future children, he falls into a mad, passionate liaison with a woman who couldn't be more wrong for him.

Chelsea Byers is a beautiful bohemian who spends her days as a receptionist in a pediatrician's office and her nights in exotic dance clubs. She has no idea that the tall, handsome, but clearly naïve young man she saves from a thief who put knock-out drops in his drink is her new boss. She only knows that she's more attracted to him than any man she's ever met. Chelsea takes him home with her to sleep off the effects of the drugging, but when he recovers somewhat in the middle of the night, they are unable to resist the attraction flaring between them.

Regrets come in the morning, and both pull back from the connection, but when Chelsea discovers she is pregnant with twins, Barry insists on doing the right thing--for all the wrong reasons, as far as Chelsea is concerned.

This book is very funny, a lot of the humor coming from the author's very sprightly voice. She is also outstanding at making each character very distinctive, clearly showing through her pacing and word choice the stiffness of the uptight hero when in his head, and ditto for the lively quirkiness of the heroine when in her point of view. Barry and Chelsea are a classic pairing of comic opposites reminiscent of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in the 40's screwball comedy, Bringing Up Baby....

 
DOWN HOME DIVA
By Stephanie Doyle

Brooklyn-born nail artist, Claudia Bertucci, is on the run from the Mob and forced to hide out at the peaceful Wisconsin dairy farm of former FBI agent, Ross Evans. She'd be bored out of her skull with staid life in the country if it weren't for her constant state of excitement around her incredibly sexy host.

The plot setup is believably, and humorously, done in a cute prologue, and from there, the story rolls along briskly and merrily. This is a classic fish-out-of-water comic plot with a pairing of two protagonists who are comic opposites. The heroine is a witty, sassy New Yorker who brings to mind the character, Fran, from the TV comedy, The Nanny. Her piercing observations are very funny to read, especially when contrasted to opinions of the cynical, strong-but-silent hero. Delightfully, the abundant laughs provided by the heroine don't detract at all from the sexual tension, which is immediate, hot and continuous between her and the hero. Some great chuckles come from the subcharacters, as well, a cute bunch of kooks. All in all, Down Home Diva is a wild, wacky ride you won't want to miss.

Book Review: Marine & The Princess by Cathie Linz

Delightful new installment in Men of Honor Series!

Marine & The Princess by Cathie Linz

Release Date: December 1, 2001
Publisher: Silhouette; First Edition
Pages: 192 pages
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Marine Corps Captain Mark Wilder is assigned to guard Princess Vanessa Von Volzemburg while she's traveling incognito in America. He has no desire for what he considers a frivolous assignment, but the princess just happens to be his sister-in-law's best friend, and his commanding officer believes it is in the country's best interest for Mark to protect her since her European nation is an important ally of the U.S.

This well-motivated setup works really well for getting this unlikely pair together and keeping them together. They have a long, hard road in order to bring their hearts, and lives, together, and it is a delightful ride getting there with them. As always, wonderful author Cathie Linz offers plenty of deep emotion along with the laughter she provides. Mark is a tough but fair and kind man. Vanessa is a strong, duty-bound woman who is desperate to break free of her family-imposed burdens and spread her wings. They are a great match for each other.

This story is a fun addition to the tradition of princess adventures, and, as such, is particularly in the spirit of the 1950's romantic comedy, Roman Holiday, with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. This, time, though, unlike in that movie, the boy gets the girl and there is, in keeping with modern times, lots more sexual tension! Enjoy!

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Hero: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Romance Plot: 5

Writing: 5

Overall: 5
 

Book Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Another fantastic read from a highly talented YA author of contemporary romance

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 480 pages
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Ryan is fooling around with his fellow jocks at a Taco Bell, egging each other on to ask out strange girls, when a pretty but tough-looking girl walks in, and his friends dare him to convince her to go out with him. Unlike the girls he usually dates who wear designer clothes, this girl has on a black tank top that shows lots of skin and tight jeans with a rip right below her bottom that widens seductively when she leans over the counter. Ryan doubts he has much of a chance with her, but he hates to lose, and he gives the challenge his all. Unfortunately for him, his initial impression was right.

Beth takes great pleasure in first flirting with, then rejecting, the full-of-himself gorgeous guy in a baseball cap who hits on her, unaware of how soon she'll encounter him again. Not long after the Taco Bell incident, Beth's drug-addict mother gets in trouble with the law and begs Beth to take the fall for her. Beth is bailed out by and given into the custody of her paternal uncle, who is twelve years older than seventeen-year-old Beth and newly married. He's just moved back to the small town where Beth spent her early childhood--before her father went to jail as a drug dealer. Beth never wanted to go back to the scene of awful memories, but her uncle insists she behave herself and stay with him--whether Beth or his wife wants her at his home or not. Beth flatly refuses until her uncle informs her if she doesn't cooperate, he will make sure her mother goes to jail. Beth has no choice but to do as he asks, and it doesn't help her sense of ill usage when one of the first people she runs into at her new school is the handsome jock from Taco Bell, who immediately pushes again to get her to go out with him.

It is so exciting to see a YA author with the incredible talent of Katie McGarry write a traditional, contemporary romance which doesn't involve a love triangle or a tragic ending to the story. McGarry is absolutely fantastic at writing romance. The romantic conflict between these two young people is one of my favorites. They come from two different worlds, and they start off as strangers and antagonists. I love the way Beth and Ryan spar.

Though we get more details of Beth's horrible family background in this story than in the first book in this series, Pushing the Limits, in many ways Beth is toned down from the really messed-up person she seemed in PTL. We find out here that she was more talk than action in PTL and, of course, living with her uncle naturally causes her to live a less out-of-control life than with her neglectful mother. In this book Beth is no longer getting stoned regularly as in the first book, and she is presented as someone who has, actually, had very little sex, rather than living up to the appearance of her being callously promiscuous in PTL.

Ryan is a very appealing romantic hero, smart, protective and sexy. It is particularly satisfying that this book is told, as is PTL, half from the heroine's point of view and half from the hero's. The progression of the romance is emotionally intense and sensually exciting without ever being graphic or crude. The exploration of Beth's relationship with her uncle, her mother, and her friendship with Isaiah, all of them together, creates an extremely well done social- and family-drama plot.

After having read PTL, this book, and the novella Crossing the Line, I am a confirmed fan of Ms. McGarry. I am intensely looking forward to reading Isaiah's story, which we get a preview of at the end of this book.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Hero: 5

Romance Plot: 5

Social/Family Drama Plot: 5

Writing: 5

Overall: 5

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Book Review: The Great Baby Caper by Eugenia Riley

A sexy, zany tale

The Great Baby Caper

Release Date: December 2001
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing Company
Pages: 395 pages
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

The Great Baby Caper is filled with comedy based in exaggeration, sometimes to the point of the bizarre, as in the case of the initial premise: Courtney Kelly is among the top candidates in line to become president and CEO of the company, Bootle Baby Bower. And she is appalled to hear that her boss, M. Billingham Bootle, is making the final decision about his successor based on all of the distinguished candidates going on an insane scavenger hunt at the company's annual meeting in New Orleans. Her assignment? To scout out the most eligible bachelor in the French Quarter and marry him within 12 hours! Courtney decides this is carrying eccentricity way too far. But it turns out to be even worse than that. What she doesn't know is this is all a convoluted plot of her boss to engineer Courtney's marriage to his grandson.

Mark Billingham is willing to participate in an elaborate entertainment for his grandfather's annual company meeting. It all sounds outlandish, but outlandish is his grandfather's middle name, and the game seems harmless enough. Not only that, it will give him a chance, at long last, to meet and spend time with beautiful, dynamic Courtney Kelly, a woman whom he's been infatuated with from afar for over a year after seeing her in a company video.

From this point on, the droll plot takes flight, progressing from Courtney's initial encounter with Mark, to her fight with Bootle and Mark when she discovers her boss's deception, her make-up with Mark and successive night of passion leading to an unplanned pregnancy, her ultimate marriage of convenience to Mark, and their gradually coming to terms with meshing together their high-powered careers--and high-powered personalities. Endless humorous imbroglios occur in the midst of these events, including a series of visits by the kids of Courtney's many siblings during sequential cruises by their parents.

If you enjoy frenetic comedy with lots of zany subcharacters and crazy complications thrown in one after the other like a juggler tossing a collection of plates, balls and bats in the air as he twirls a beach ball on his nose and a ring around his extended ankle, you will love this story. There is something going on every second, in the classic tradition of screwball comedy. The heroine is very strong, the hero sexy and tender, and their efforts to come together as a couple are moving as well as funny. A very entertaining read.