Marie August's Blog, page 19

Book Review: Shield's Lady by Jane Ann Krentz

Kindle edition of a vintage Krentz futuristic/sf romance

Shield's Lady by Jane Ann Krentz

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: January 1, 1996
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 352 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

This Kindle edition has multiple editing problems, including missing quotation and punctuation marks, and missing paragraph separations. However, there are no typos or spelling problems.

It is several hundred years since two space ships sent forth from Earth to found colonies on the planet Windarra crash landed on separate sections of the planet. Many lives were lost due to a huge explosion caused by a destructive form of light. One ship landed on an eastern continent and the other landed on a western continent, the survivors of each ship assuming the other ship was totally lost. The western group was saved by a mysterious group of humans called Shields who were able to work the source of the dangerous light, a crystal called prisma. The eastern group managed to survive without any help. The western group consisted of artists and inventors, and the eastern group contained business and accounting types. (If you are familiar with Myers-Briggs personality typing, the eastern group are ISTJ and the western group are ENFP.) The easterners evolved into a very formal, emotionally stifled society big on rules, and employing arranged marriages among clans/classes. The westerners evolved into a very colorful, emotional, expressive society with rules of their own, but less rigorously enforced. One particular rule was the contract between the westerners and the Shields.

The Shields have paid a price for their ability to work prisma. They are sterile except with a "Shieldmate," a special woman with whom they can form a type of psychic bond, called "linking," and even then they can only have sons. The contract with the western colonists allowed the Shields to seek a mate within the whole of the western society. They have no such contract with the eastern society. Unfortunately for the Shields, they have spent generations living on the rough frontier fighting bandits, and few western families want their daughters to unite with a Shield to go live far away in a very harsh setting.

It has only been a few years since the eastern and western contingents discovered each other. Sariana, the heroine, is from the eastern continent. She failed her entrance exams for university study and her pre-ordained track for her life was derailed in disgrace. Her fiance for an arranged marriage dumped her, and she has come to live among the westerners to try to restore her reputation and enable herself to reapply to the university for a career as a financial manager. At the start of the story, she has been working in that capacity for the flamboyant Avylyn clan, who are creators of flashy jewelery, but her entire success hangs in the balance if she cannot recover a stolen piece of crucial Avylyn artistic equipment, a prisma cutter.

All attempts to recover the stolen article fail and Sariana devises a desperate scheme. She has one of the clan drop a light hypnotic drug into the drink of a Shield, Gryph Chassyn, to put him in a more compliant mood so he will agree to help the Avylyns recover their prisma cutter. Unfortunately, the drug knocks out Gryph, and when he wakes up, the extremely confident Sariana realizes the "cure" for her problem may be worse than the "disease." Gryph is an incredibly sexy warrior who arouses emotions and desires in practical Sariana that she never knew she was capable of, and a single night of passion with Gryph leads to complications she never dreamed were possible.

I'm a big fan of Krentz. I've read almost everything she's ever written. My favorites are her paranormal romances, in particular her Harmony futuristics. It was a real treat to run across this book, which somehow I had missed. No doubt because it was originally published under the pseudonym, Amanda Glass, in June, 1989, under the Lovestruck imprint of Warner Books. It is considered the third book in the "Lost Colony" series (Crystal Flame published in 1986 is No. 1, and Sweet Starfire also published in 1986 is No. 2). In my own opinion, these books are not nearly as linked together as the Harmony books in terms of the worldbuilding, and they can definitely be read as stand-alone novels. This book has a completely resolved ending without any kind of cliffhanger.

Krentz began her career as a romance writer in 1979 and she has published over 120 novels. When this was written, she had been publishing about 10 years. This is a classic Krentz romance with a strong hero and a feisty heroine who is more than a match for him. One of Krentz's continual themes is the hero and heroine working together as a team to solve a mystery and overcome a dangerous villain. It is a formula that works extremely well for romantic suspense and never fails to entertain. However, by saying that, I don't mean to imply that Krentz is a "hack" or writes in a "formulaic" way. Rather, she allows the hero and heroine to uncover each other's true character, one of strong, sacrificial integrity, under circumstances of extreme adversity.

There are scenes of strong sensuality in this novel, but nothing very graphic. Krentz focuses on emotion more than sex for its own sake. The romantic conflict of two people from very different worlds finding a common ground to come together is extremely well done.

The worldbuilding in this novel is quite intriguing. I thoroughly enjoyed the society of the colorful, emotive westerners. The descriptions of their clothing and accessories, architecture, interior design, and inventions was fascinating and a lot of fun.

Fans of Krentz will not want to miss this novel, and fans of paranormal, and especially futuristic romance will enjoy it as well.

 
 

Book Review: How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer

Hilarious YA chick-lit novel

How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: April 23, 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 320 pages
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

The summer before their senior year in high school, Zoe and her cousin Jess are accepted as unpaid interns at "Fairyland Kingdom," a theme park in the Pinelands of southern New Jersey with its own private hotels, much like Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando. Zoe and Jess's mother were twins before Zoe's mother died of cancer within the past year, and the two girls have been best friends their whole lives. Zoe is looking forward to the summer, but not nearly as much as her cousin. Jess has coveted the role of princess at Fairyland since childhood, and she would have wanted this opportunity even if it didn't come with the chance of one female and one male intern winning a $25,000 "Dream and Do" grant. The grant is a big plus, though, because Jess's family has fallen on hard financial times. Zoe could definitely use the money as well for her own family's expenses, but she believes Jess's needs are greater than hers, and she is determined to do everything in her power to make sure Jess wins the grant.

The girls soon discover that in the history of the "Dream and Do" grant, no one has ever won but a prince and a princess. And unfortunately for Jess's chances, she is given the part of Red Riding Hood rather than a princess. Zoe had no aspirations to be a princess, so she is far less miserable than Jess when she isn't made a princess either. Instead, she is offered the position as personal assistant to the "Queen," the anorexic perfectionist who is the supreme leader of the park. The Queen demands absolute, instant obedience from her staff, and in addition to soothing the Queen's ego and being on call 24 hours a day, Zoe is required to care for Tinker Bell, the Queen's undersized, caviar-consuming bichon frise, who is almost as much of a diva as her mistress.

Luckily, there are two major compensations for Zoe and Jess in the midst of the unremitting challenges of their Fairyland assignments: a gorgeous hunk named Ian who plays Puss in Boots with elegant flair is quite taken with Zoe, and handsome RJ, who supervises the current crop of interns and is part of the prestigious Fairyland Executive Training Program, is blatantly infatuated with Jess.

This book is laugh-out-loud funny. The world of Fairyland is filled with humorously bizarre characters and situations, most especially, the Queen, who strongly reminded me of Cruella De Vil of the animated version of 101 Dalmatians.

Zoe is a marvelous heroine. She's a bit of a klutz, but she has an extremely warm heart, is utterly loyal, and never gives up. She always does her very best to accomplish every crazy assignment her impossible boss dumps on her.

The story has several comic mysteries which are quite well done--the ending of the book and the resolution of the main mystery took me completely by surprise. Ian is a charming and sexy romantic interest, and the witty repartee between him and Zoe is one of the most delightful sources of laughter in the book. And last, but not least, this book ends--as good comedy always does--on a satisfying high note.

Fans of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray and Sis Boom Bah by Jane Heller will love this book.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Chick Lit Plot: 5

Romance Plot: 5

Writing: 5

Overall: 5

Book Review: White Satin by Iris Johansen

Vintage contemporary romance from bestseller Iris Johansen

White Satin by Iris Johansen

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: December 28th, 1985
Publisher: Bantam Books
Pages: 208 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Twenty-year-old Dany Alexander is a world-class figure skater with a lifelong goal of taking home Olympic gold. Lovely, red-headed Dany has known darkly handsome Anthony Malik since she was six and he was 20 and an Olympic-gold figure skater. Her rich, jetsetting parents died when she was eight, and Anthony became her guardian. When at age 14, while skating with Anthony, Dany suddenly developed sexual awareness of him, he immediately sent her away to protect her from himself. He has known emotionally since she was a child that when she grew up, she was meant to be his mate, but he has had no intention of forcing himself on her until she came legally of age, gained maturity, and returned his feelings. As the story begins, Anthony is rich and powerful, having inherited a vast business empire from the man who was his sponsor during his figure skating days. He has overseen Dany's skating from a distance for years, and he comes to a decision he can wait no longer to claim Dany as his lover when she seems to be imminently in danger of getting involved sexually with another man.

Before Iris Johansen became a bestsellling author of suspense novels, she began her career in the early-1980s writing contemporary romance novels. White Satin was her twelfth novel and was originally published in 1985. Johansen was an extremely prolific romance writer, publishing six or more 50,000-word romances per year for Bantam, currently a division of Random House.

Bantam's Loveswept imprint of short, contemporary romances were a big innovation when they first came out in the early 1980s. They featured both the point of view (POV) of the heroine and the hero, where previously most contemporary romances of that era had only offered the heroine's POV. In addition, the sexual scenes were much more explicitly erotic than earlier contemporary romances--on a par with what had been common for some time in historical romance novels. The imprint lasted across the 1980s and 1990s, and its books were extremely popular. In August, 2011, Random House decided to reprint the Loveswept line as ebooks. The original plan was to release six books per year but could eventually move to up to 24 books per year since they have a large backlist. Among the first books released was Iris Johansen's This Fierce Splendor (a Loveswept historical romance). They also released at that time Lightning that Lingers by Sharon and Tom Curtis, Tall, Dark, and Lonesome by Debra Dixon, and Legends by Deborah Smith, all amazing authors of that line.

I recently checked out of my public library about seven or eight of Johansen's ebook Loveswept novels as I had collected those books in the late 1980s but had misplaced them over the years. Even in the days when I was a big fan of hers, I had never read that many of her short romances straight through. By doing that, I discovered that in these stories she employed a recognizable set of repeated themes, including virginal heroines age 20-24 and much older, highly sexually experienced alpha males who have a history of keeping mistresses and many of whom also purchased the services of expensive prostitutes. (By the way, prostitutes as a sexually cynical habit of the hero is something that I don't recall any other author of contemporary romance at that time utilizing as regularly as Johansen did, and I personally find that motif distasteful--I enjoy these stories in spite of it, not because of it. However, readers who like their romance with a "Beauty and the Beast" fairytale underpinning might not object.)

On the plus side, Johansen's Loveswept heroines and heroes are equally strong and independent; the heroines are very much a match for the high-handed males who cannot dominate them no matter how hard they try. The heroes aren't sadomasochistic in their dominance though, they are simply extremely protective of the heroines.

To keep the story multi-faceted, one or both of the protagonists is usually wounded, for various, nonrepetitive reasons, and most have led adventurous, interesting lives. The protagonists are very sympathetic because they are loyal, sacrificial, emotionally and mentally intelligent, and the males, though often harsh, are nurturing and of course, fantastic, sensitive lovers who live to please the heroines in bed.

Most romance novels, as well as romantic-comedy and romantic-drama movies, employ what some non-romance fans deridingly call "insta-love" or "obsession" as the inciting incident for the story. Johansen's Loveswept novels are usually no exception to that approach. No doubt because it is crucial for a romance plot to function. If the hero and heroine are not immediately, massively drawn to each other, there is no story.

This book, however, has the "insta-love" in the "backstory," that is, the hero realizes almost instantly, the first time he encounters Dany as a six-year-old child, that this vibrant person is his soulmate. I have personally never seen this approach to insta-love in any story other than the paranormal Twilight series when Jacob encounters newborn Renesme in Breaking Dawn and "imprints" on her on sight as his predestined mate. Recognizing one's eventual mate in a child is more difficult to carry off in a book such as this one which has no magical element to gloss over the "ick" factor of an adult attracted to a child. Nonetheless, Johansen pulls it off very well as the hero never succumbs to pedophilia any more than Jacob does in the Twilight series.

This is an enjoyable, quick read for romance fans, inevitably a little dated as a 30-year-old "contemporary" romance, but still an excellent example of the early work of a talented author.

 
 

Book Review: Wildest Hearts by Jane Ann Krentz

JAK at her very best

Wildest Hearts by Jane Ann Krentz

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: April 1, 1993
Publisher: Pocket Books
Pages: 400 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Oliver Rain is a 37-year-old, inscrutable, hard-nosed businessman who has supported his family of step-mother, twin step-brothers, and two sisters since his father deserted the family, stealing all their assets. This tragedy occurred when Oliver was only 21 years old, his half-brothers were toddlers, and his sisters teenagers. Oliver immediately surrendered his dream of being a botanical research scientist in order to recover the family's fortunes in the world of high finance that his father had occupied. Oliver is brilliant, sophisticated, loyal to his family's interests to a fault, and a complete introvert who trusts virtually no one. One of his few friends is technical wizard Daniel Lyncroft, older brother to kind, caring, and very quirky 29-year-old Annie Lyncroft, owner of a shop selling works of one-of-a-kind art that are as delightfully whimsical as Annie herself. When Daniel's plane goes down over the ocean, and he is presumed dead, Annie approaches Oliver and asks him to form a marriage of convenience with her to protect her brother's company. She and Daniel's pregnant fiance are convinced Daniel is still alive, and Annie desperately needs backup to hold onto Daniel's company until his return.

This classic, Krentz novel was originally published in 1993. It does not have as much of a suspense subplot to the main romance plot as later novels, but it does have a mystery--what happened to the heroine's brother? Is he actually dead? I also thought Krentz did a good job of not telegraphing the solution to the mystery.

This novel contains the very best of the attributes of a Krentz novel that draw me back again and again to her work: a strong, honorable, reliable hero with a bit of darkness in his soul from the wounds of betrayal in his past; a quirky but equally strong and independent heroine with a warm heart and a smart mouth who is more than a match for the hero; sharp, witty repartee between the hero and heroine; important friend and family relationships creating subplots that significantly bolster the romance plot.

This book formed part of my keeper shelf for years, but recently I have been offloading paper books, because they are such a hassle to haul around, and replacing them little by little with ebook versions of them. This book was one of my first replacements, because it is one of my all-time favorite romances. The ebook edition is well designed and edited, making it easy to read. Ideally the price would be lower, but given what book it is, I was willing to pay the price the publisher asked.

 
 

Book Review: Dawn in Eclipse Bay by Jane Ann Krentz

Review of Kindle edition of a Krentz romantic-suspense novel originally published in 2001

Dawn in Eclipse Bay by Jane Ann Krentz

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: May 1, 2001
Publisher: Jove
Pages: 352 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Dawn in Eclipse Bay is Book 2 in a trilogy of three, contemporary, romantic-suspense novels. The first book is Eclipse Bay. The third book is Summer in Eclipse Bay. Since this is a trilogy, this book is not nearly as enjoyable without reading the first book. It allows the reader to understand the backstory of the feud between the Hartes and the Madisons (which is described below).

I checked out a Kindle copy of this book through my local library, and the publisher required a rather onerous USB download. The formatting is oddly done with double-spacing between every paragraph. This might actually have made the book easier to read if it weren't for one big editing error--quite frequently the publisher has failed to keep dialog together with its attribution, so that it becomes confusing as to who is speaking. Other than that, there were no glaring problems with editing.

The events in this book take place several months after Lillian Harte's sister Hannah has married Gabe Madison's brother Rafe. Thirty-year-old Lillian is on the verge of shutting down her successful computer-program-based matchmaking business when 35-year-old Gabe insists on hiring her services. Reluctantly she takes him on as her final client. Unfortunately, he is the client from hell. He has been promised six dates, and his first five are, in his opinion, a disaster, even though Lillian has given him exactly what he has asked for. Lillian informs him that his list of requirements in a wife sound like he wants to marry a robot, and furthermore she is convinced he has lied in answer to every aspect of her questionnaire other than when he states he does not want an "artsy" wife.

Before all this happened, Lilian was attracted to Gabe at her sister's wedding, but after having Gabe as a client, she decides there is no chance of anything romantic ever happening between them because she is a dedicated artist who is leaving her business to move to Eclipse Bay and paint full time. When workaholic Gabe unexpectedly takes his first vacation in years and shows up on her doorstep in Eclipse Bay, she is taken completely by surprise and has no idea why he has chosen to rent a cabin within walking distance of hers for an entire month. To make matters worse, her mother, grandfather, Gabe's grandfather, and Gabe's ex-girlfriend who is a highly ambitious politician, are all sticking their oars into the turbulent waters of her connection with Gabe, and the whole, gossipy town is avidly looking on to witness the outcome of yet another pairing of a Madison and a Harte.

My favorite JAK books are the ones with lots of witty repartee between the hero and heroine, and this book definitely has some of that, though not as much as Eclipse Bay. It's still a quite enjoyable book, even though the hero and heroine are upstaged by Hannah and Rafe from Book 1. The town of Eclipse Bay and its quirky inhabitants are a joy to read about, and JAK provides her signature style of romance, a battle of wills between two equals paired with a subplot of a mystery that they team up to solve together.

For those who like thrillers or suspense that are gripping and scary, this is not that kind of book and not that kind of trilogy. The main event is definitely the romance, but if you like lighthearted romance, you will really enjoy this book.

For those who have not read Book 1, here is a bit of the backstory on the Harte/Madison Feud: Eclipse Bay is a small, seaside town in Oregon where all the inhabitants know each other--and gossip is a communal sport. The most popular source of ongoing speculation for the past 40 years has been the Hartes and Madisons. Mitchell Madison and Sinclair Harte were war buddies (presumably from WWII, as Mitchell is around 80 at the time of this story, which was originally published in 2000, making him born around 1920). After the war, they went into business together and were very successful until they brawled over a woman, whom neither of them ended up with, and broke up their business. Sinclair Harte recovered well, rebuilding his own business and making a successful marriage with one son, who followed in Sinclair's footsteps in his business, made his own successful marriage, and produced three children, a son Nick, who writes thrillers and is the hero of Book 3 of this trilogy; a daughter Lillian, who is the heroine of this book; and the youngest of the three siblings and heroine of Book 1, Hannah, formerly a wedding consultant and now co-owner of a bed and breakfast in Eclipse Bay with her new husband Rafe.

Mitchell Madison's life ran along a much rougher track than Sinclair Harte's. He had four failed marriages and his only child, a wildly emotional sculptor, had a long-term affair with his equally passionate model. Out of that stormy alliance came two sons, Rafe, the hero of Eclipse Bay, and his older brother Gabe. Their parents died in an accident when they were children, and they were raised by Mitchell.

 
 

Book Review: Masquerade by Janette Rallison

A witty, heart-warming feast for fans of romantic comedy!

Masquerade by Janette Rallison

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: November 20, 2012
Pages: 217 pages
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Clarissa Hancock married young and is currently a divorced, single mother of three-year-old Elaina. Clarissa has limited job skills, an unfinished college degree in family science, and is currently working multiple low-paying, part-time jobs to support herself and Elaina because her coldly malicious ex-husband has legally outmaneuvered her. Though he has granted Clarissa full physical custody of Elaina, he refuses to have anything to do with his daughter or provide more than the bare minimum of child support, forcing Clarissa to live a hand-to-mouth existence, lodged in cheap housing and shopping for Elaina's toys and clothing at garage sales.

When Clarissa applies for a job through an employment agency, she is shocked to discover that the job counselor assigned to her is an acquaintance of her ex-husband who attended her wedding and doesn't realize she is no longer married. He helps her get an interview to become a nanny for a movie star, one of whose requirements for the position is that the nanny be married so she won't be hitting on her boss.

Slade Jacobson has a four-year-daughter named Bella who is the product of his broken marriage with a gorgeous TV star who cheated on Slade and abandoned her daughter. Bella is a holy terror whose endless brushes with disaster have driven off countless nannies. She is Slade's top priority, but he is out of his depth raising her, and when he sees that Clarissa is an experienced mother with a warm, nurturing personality, and moreover is young, energetic and able to roll with the punches of raising Bella, he hires her on the spot.

Within days of hiring her, however, Slade decides he wants to take Bella with him on a business trip to Hawaii, and he asks Clarissa to come along and care for his daughter. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, an all-expenses-paid trip to paradise, with Elaina not simply tolerated by her boss, but a much-wanted companion for Bella. Not only that, Slade consistently treats Elaina with a degree of gentleness and affection that Elaina has never known from her father. How can Clarissa possibly pass up this offer?

Unfortunately, what begins as an innocent masquerade as a married woman spins out into a massive comedy of errors until, ultimately, not only is Clarissa's cushy job at stake, but her heart is very much on the line as she finds herself irresistibly falling for a boss who is far more than a pretty face.

I am a huge fan of Janette Rallison. I've read and added to my keeper shelf every one of her young adult novels. I stumbled across this book in the process of re-purchasing in Kindle format all of her books that I had originally bought in paper format. A bit of research into the history of this book led me to discover that it had originally been published by Rallison under the pseudonym Sierra St. James, along with several other adult romantic comedies:

Trial of the Heart by Sierra St. James (March 1999)
Masquerade by Sierra St. James (June 2001)
What the Doctor Ordered by Sierra St. James (June 2004)
Time Riders by Sierra St. James (June 2004)

Ms. Rallison recently re-released Masquerade as a Kindle edition with, apparently, some edits to the original edition, and hopefully she will be able to do the same for the other three St. James books in the near future.

As a Kindle edition, this book is outstandingly formatted, edited and designed with a lovely cover.

The story itself is an absolute delight! Over the years I've enjoyed thousands of romantic comedy novels, and this particular book is one of the best I've ever read. There are few authors who manage to create a book filled from beginning to end with humor based on verbal wit--especially clever repartee between the heroine and the hero. In those books that have any repartee at all, it tends to vanish within one or two chapters. Not so with this wonderful book. The exchanges of wit continue from beginning to end with countless laugh-out-loud moments. Other terrific sources of comedy are the many adventures of the intrepid Bella and Slade's numerous attempts to protect Clarissa from seduction at the hands of Landon, Slade's flirtatious, womanizing friend, who is a fellow movie star. Even the scenes revolving around the main antagonist frequently generate belly laughs.

One of the key elements of any romance is the hero, and Slade is absolutely wonderful, not merely a collection of sexy body parts, but a man of integrity and heart. Clarissa is also a strong, sympathetic heroine. She is determined, kind, intelligent, and has an appreciation of the absurdities of life that is one of the chief traits she shares with Slade. Beyond that, the subcharacters are clearly and colorfully drawn, each one distinct and contributing powerfully to the flow of the main plot of the book. An important feature of all of Rallison's work, heart-warming emotional connections among characters, abounds in this book as well.

By the way, this book is what is known in the romance industry as a "clean" or "sweet" romance. There is no swearing and no overt sexuality beyond mild kissing.

In every way possible, this book is an utter joy to read--another tremendous gift to her fans by a virtuoso author.

 
 

Book Review: Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James

Absolutely wonderful contemporary romantic comedy!

Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Pages: 320 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Thirty-year-old Taylor Donovan is a hotshot trial attorney on the fast track for a partnership at a major Chicago law firm when she's sent to its Los Angeles branch to take charge of the trial for a thirty-million-dollar, class-action, sexual-harassment law suit. Taylor has nothing but scorn for womanizing males, because she recently broke her engagement to a handsome law professor she'd been in a five-year relationship with after catching him in flagrante delicto with one of his teaching assistants. Because of that trust-crushing experience, Taylor is the last woman in the world to be swayed by the manifold charms of the golden boy of Hollywood, Jason Andrews. The 38-year-old actor (who keeps his true age a secret from his fans) has been dubbed by the tabloids as the "Sexiest Man Alive." Unlike her secretary, and all the other secretaries in the LA law firm, Taylor is irritated, not thrilled, when a senior partner insists that Taylor personally coach Jason for his next big role in a legal thriller because she is their top litigator. Nothing she can say will change her boss's mind, and irritation turns to disgust when Taylor loses not one but two days in a row--days she desperately needs to finish up crucial work for her trial--waiting in vain for Jason to show up for the appointments his agent scheduled for Jason's legal coaching. When Jason finally does waltz into the courtroom at the tail end of the first day of Taylor's trial, presenting himself at his convenience and without an apology in sight, she puts him in his place with assertive wit--something he hasn't experienced in the 16 years of his reign as the guy everyone in Hollywood routinely sucks up to. Jason is shocked, but more fascinated than angry with this gorgeous, brainy woman who makes him smile while she jerks his chain.

Julie James has a background as an attorney from Chicago, and that life experience adds greatly to the authentic feel of the heroine as an attorney. All too frequently careers in romance novels are merely glossed over, and it is a welcome change to experience the career of both the heroine and the hero in this novel brought into the story as a crucial element of the plot, in a way that is always entertaining. There are just enough details to make every scene solid and real, never too many to make the pace slow. The pace, in fact, is brisk, making this a really fast read.

The author has also written screenplays, and this book has a highly visual plot that I can easily imagine as a terrific, romantic-comedy film.

I discovered this book through Amazon's recommendation because I had recently read (and immensely enjoyed) Janette Rallison's hilarious romantic comedy about a Hollywood hunk, Masquerade. This has turned out to be one of the best recommendations Amazon has ever made. Like Masquerade, the humor in this book comes primarily from the clever repartee between the heroine and hero. In both books, the classic journey of romance from distrust to trust is a hilariously rocky one.

I love romantic comedies like this one, where the hero and heroine begin as antagonists, and the Meet Cute is extremely well done.

This book has no overt sex scenes, but plenty of sexual chemistry. There is a quite a bit of swearing, but all of it contributes to the overall humor, and none of it is particularly crude or offensive.

I highly recommend this book without reservation, and I am definitely going to be searching out all of the author's other novels.

 
 

Book Review: Scenes of Passion by Suzanne Brockmann

Review of Kindle Edition of Silhouette Desire # 1519

Scenes of Passion by Suzanne Brockmann

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: July 1, 2003
Publisher: Silhouette
Pages: 192 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

The editing and formatting of this Kindle edition are excellent. I saw no problems at all with either anywhere in this ebook.

Maggie Stanton has never been able to say, "No," to her family. At age 30 she is living at home, on the verge of becoming engaged to a man she doesn't really love, and is working at a job she hates as an attorney rather than the career she really wanted, being an actress. The only moments of her life that have real meaning are playing the lead in local, community theater. Then suddenly, Matthew Stone comes back to town. He's a theater buddy from her high school days whom she hasn't seen in over a decade, and at first she doesn't recognize him. He's lean and muscular, with long, Tarzan hair, and instead of being her best friend's boyfriend, all his attention is on Maggie.

This heroine is a really fascinating departure for Suzanne Brockmann. She's not at all like the forceful, take-charge women Brockmann usually writes. Instead, Maggie is a self-professed wimp with low self-esteem who has arrived at a major crossroads in her life: Will she continue living her life to satisfy the demands of her family and closest friends, or will she at long last throw off the shackles she's allowed to bind her? It was a fun ride watching Maggie take control of her own destiny and stop wasting her life being a passive, people-pleasing Good Girl.

I am a fan of Brockmann's, and I thought I had read all of her early contemporary romances prior to recently checking out this Kindle edition from my local, public library, but somehow I missed this one. I wouldn't call this one of her most outstanding romance novels; it is "merely" very good. The hero and heroine are clearly and sympathetically drawn; there is compelling romantic conflict between them, and there is a great deal of emotional and physical passion between them. As always in a Brockmann novel, the writing itself is extremely well done.

I particularly appreciated the fact that both lead characters in this story have strong growth arcs, that is, both become far more emotionally secure, stable and capable when together than they were able to be apart. I've always found that approach much more entertaining in a romance plot than only having the hero be the one who is "wounded" and "redeemed" by the love of a good woman.

 
 

Book Review: Kiss and Tell by Suzanne Brockmann

Review of Kindle edition of 1996 Bantam Loveswept #787, Book 1 Sunrise Key Romantic Comedy Trilogy

Kiss and Tell (Sunrise Key #1) by Suzanne Brockmann

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: April 1st 1996
Publisher: Bantam
Pages: 290 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

I read this book in the Kindle edition. Its editing and formatting are excellent, making it easy on the eyes.

Over a decade ago, Leila Hunt abandoned her home on a small island called Sunrise Key, near the Western Panhandle of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, for the bright lights of the big city. There are only a little over 600 residents on Sunrise Key, and everyone always knows everyone else's business. Leila much prefers the bustle and anonymity of New York City where she has a thriving, private practice as an accountant. Leila is thirty, and her biological clock is ticking. She's almost decided to commit herself to marriage to her workaholic boyfriend, even though she doesn't love him and hasn't slept with him. She's not convinced anyone better is ever going to show up--until she returns home during the winter holidays to stay at her brother Simon's home at Sunrise Key, and is kissed at midnight by an unknown "ninja" at a New Year's Eve costume party.

It's the most all-consuming, unforgettable kiss of Leila's life but, like the fairy-tale princess Cinderella, Leila's mysterious ninja flees immediately after their kiss, and in spite of promising to return soon, he doesn't come back. Leila is obsessed with figuring out who the ninja was and tracking him down, never suspecting that he's actually Marshall Devlin, Simon's best friend, a gorgeous, thirty-six-year-old, British expatriate who is the island's resident doctor and sometime veterinarian. Dev has been her verbal sparring partner the entire 18 years she's known him, and Leila has absolutely no idea that her explosive ninja kiss resulted from Dev's 12 years of frustrated attraction to Leila, whom until his unplanned kiss, he'd always assumed regarded him in the light of merely Simon's irritating friend.

I'm a big fan of Brockmann and I'd previously thought I'd read all her early contemporary romances, but somehow I missed this one. It is the first book in a romantic comedy trilogy. It really astounded me that Brockmann, who is known for her romantic suspense, would even consider writing comedy, let alone that she'd be so talented at it. The sexual chemistry is great, and the repartee between these attractive protagonists is witty and entertaining.

I have one small complaint. Though I do like Dev, he's often almost too perfect to be real. Brockmann portrays him as an old-fashioned, 19th Century country doctor, kind-hearted, generous, and utterly sacrificial. It's a bit over the top in credibility, for me anyway. I have a hard time imagining any doctor in the USA in this day and age willing to accept payment in pork and vegetables--they won't pay his bills for all the many things in modern life that require money. However, this is such a fun comedy, and the residents of Sunrise Key are so adorably grateful to Dev for all he's given them, I happily suspended my cynicism and enjoyed the ride.

 
 

Book Review: The Kissing Game by Suzanne Brockmann

Review of Kindle edition

The Kissing Game (Sunrise Key Trilogy, #2) by Suzanne Brockmann

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: February 24, 2009
Publisher: Bantam
Pages: 290 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

This is Book 2 in a romantic comedy trilogy Suzanne Brockmann wrote in 1996 for Bantam Loveswept. The other two books are: Book 1, Kiss and Tell, and Book 3, Otherwise Engaged. The Kindle edition is mostly cleanly edited, with occasional paragraph-break problems.

The hero of this book is Simon Hunt, thirty-six-year-old brother of Leila Hunt, the heroine of Book 1, and his romantic interest is thirty-year-old Frankie Paresky, Leila's best friend.

Like Simon, Frankie has lived all her life on Sunrise Key, a small island near the Western Panhandle of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. Frankie has no desire to live anywhere else, though she's often had trouble making ends meet. Recently she became licensed as a private detective, and she alternates pursuing that career while also driving the only cab on the island. Simon has made a habit of teasing her since she was a child, and the Sherlock Holmes jokes at her expense have been far too many since he discovered her PI aspirations. But then one day a rich client shows up on the island and offers Frankie a chance to trace down a missing heir to an estate on the island for a huge salary and a potential $10,000 bonus. Simon immediately volunteers himself as Frankie's Watson, partly because as an antiques dealer he is dying to get his hands on the expensive antiques in the mansion on the estate in question. But mainly because he is dying to see Frankie in action.

Similar to Book 1 in this series, the hero has known and teased the heroine for years, and both have secretly been attracted to each other for over a decade. Simon hasn't approached Frankie because she's not the type of woman he can just have a quick affair with and forget--he gets restless after three weeks, tops, with any given woman, and therefore he's always stuck to tourists. Frankie has avoided Simon because she doesn't want to get her heart broken. Due to the case, for the first time in their lives Frankie and Simon are spending a great deal of time together, often in very close quarters. It soon becomes impossible for them to deny the passion they feel for each other, and their romantic journey is both humorous and breathtakingly passionate--and often heartrendingly poignant and tender as well.

This is a great continuation of a fun trilogy and well worth the read for Brockmann fans. For fans of romantic comedy in particular, it is a wonderful treat from one of the best romance writers in the business.