Dls’s Comments (group member since Sep 14, 2010)

Dls’s comments from the Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn group.

I am pretty sure I haven't read it...unless it's from a pretty old book ny an author who writes both historicals and contemporaries?

About to start Whisper of Scandal by Nicole Cornick

Oh yes, I do enjoy both of those. I would recommend Red's Honky Tonk (that's not quite the right title, but an amazing book) by Morsi, and How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal, to get started.
Funnily enough I find that I tend to prefer historicals to contemps even whenthey are by the same author--although now that I think about it I do also like Lisa Kleypas' contemporaries.

There are very few contemps that I even will read and none that I like as much as my favorite historicals with the giant exception of Jennifer crusie. If you haven't read her stuff start with Bet Me....

I'm thinking of trying Nalini Singh. Any suggestions on what to start with?

I just finished An Unlikely Countess. Not the strongest plot I've ever read but I loved how the relationship between the two develops and she has such a wonderful eye and ear for the period: the details, the nuances of behavior and class...

It was definitely one of my favorites . I was just rereading it.

I'm rereading Jo Beverleys in anticipation of tomorrow's release.

Just finished What I did For a Duke. Its a little more traditonal than I think of JAL writing--meaning, the hero is a noble, the woman is a sheltered young woman--but its very good--a wonderful sustained tone from begining to end.

Diana what is T3M from AD?
About a third of the way into Julie ann longs what I did for a duke. 20 pages in I wondered how she would ever get me to like the hero. Noe I'm fascinated by him. Really really good so far

I'm about 2/3 of the way through the new Anne Mallory. Its very intense in its focus just on the relationship between the two, and the sense that the hero is executing a grand game plan about her--the closest I can come to the feel is the new Anne Stuart trilogy. At the same time the hero is more likeable, the heroine gets more choices, and I like it a lot better. (Its a little like Wicked Intentions by Hoyt, in that flavor, although this hero is remarkably untroubled by personal problems or rakishness.)
I need to go back and reread her last book, but it doesn't feel similar to me, even though I suspect the description sounds similar.

Hm, Manda, what does it say about me that I read all but 3? Maybe I do need to cut back on the books a tad...

The AAR results are in. http://www.likesbooks.com/AnnualReade...

Last Night's Scandal cleaned up.
Best Romance
Best Historical Romance Set in the U.K.
Best Romance Heroine
Best Romance Couple

JQ won funniest (was there even any competition?)
I'm pretty sure The Forbidden Rose won for Best historical romance set outside the UK and is just mislabeled.

And many other good books there. (Is steampunk really considered paranormal? Huh.)

What I don't see is the guiltiest pleasure category...

Its One Forbidden Evening, by Jo Goodman. The book starts with the heroine acting for the first time on her desires and her needs, as opposed to what the men in her life have organized for her---so to have the man she loves wait for her to propose to him (just as she approached him the first time) is a lovely arc in the book.

I'm rereading Love in the Afternoon while I wait for the new Mallory and Longs. I'm also very eager to read the new Jo Beverley, out next week; the new excerpt on her website is really interesting.
And on a longer wait...I just read a small excerpt of Black Hawk, the Adrian book by Joanna Bourne, out in November, and REALLY can't wait for that!

Cindy that's how I felt at first too. Then I realized that really would haclve happened back then--her fathers expectations would have shaped her and controlled her from beyond the grave. As for Italy...his work was in Egypt and ao of course back then they would have gone where his job was. He did commit to coming back to England every year. What felt more unresolved to me was what about kids given that Egypt wasn't supposed to be healthy for kids...
It wouldn't work today but when I thought about it it was right for then.

After so many recommendations for Kaki Warner, I read her series this week. I must say I have very mixed feelings about her book. She really can create characters--her people are wonderfully believable, and her couples are interesting in how they connect and communicate. And her depictions of the West are gorgeous.

But I found her plotting to be melodramatic, overly busy, and to have huge holes in it. And that ruined a lot of the believability for me. The level of violence, particularly in the first one, bothered me. And I don't like plots with evil villains--people who are just bad through and through, black with no shade of grey.
I'm glad I read them but I can't say I fell in love with them.

On the Abandoned Brides--I too had a hard time with the first in the series. But when I thought about it I realized that part of what bothered me is the the heroine is so bound by the constraints of her day, and it was hard for me to make that mind shift and really appreciate why she seemed so passive. I admire Guhrke for taking on that challenge. I think its something she's done in other books that people have very strong reactions to--I'm thinking particulary of The marriage bed (I think that's the name--the one where the hero married the heroine for money and when she found out and wouldn't sleep with him he takes a series of mistresses.) I really am impressed with that book even though I can see why some people dislike the hero intensely.
I see the same kind of historical authenticity in this book too.

I'm always interested in the proposal--when and how the couple finally decide to make a commitment to each other. When the author does it right it often tells us a great deal about the couple. I particularly like this one...

“Will you marry me, Hero? If I go to my brother and tell him that I very much want you for my husband, will you have me? I find that being your lover is satisfying after a fashion”—she adopted his wicked smile when his own expression turned wry—“but I am persuaded that being your wife will be infinitely better.”
“If you are persuaded, I would be a fool to argue.”
“Then you will marry me?”
“Of course.”
“But why was there never a proposal?”
“There was,” he said. “You just made it. Did I not say it was inevitable?”
Heroine turned suddenly so that she lay fully on top of him. “Do you mean that you’ve been waiting all this time for me to make it?”
“Well, yes.”
“But you’ve known for weeks that I would accept yours.”
“And I was very glad of it.” He grinned up at her. “It gave me hope that you could be brought around to just this end.”
“You manipulated me.”
“I gave you time to learn the bent of your own mind.”

I didn't like her first book thought her second one was ok and fell in love with not quite a husband. As far as I'm concerned ahe doesn't have one wrong word in it . And all her books are so different!

This book has grown on me. The first time Iwasn't sure what to make of it, really. I reread it recently and really liked it. Its not exactly a marriage of convenience....