tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46728518876453619552024-02-01T19:01:45.710-08:00The Romantical SkepticReviews of romance novels that I loved, a few that I hated and some that I was only meh about.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-45024882691243050852013-09-29T20:14:00.000-07:002013-09-29T20:14:01.635-07:00So Tough to Tame by Victoria Dahl<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqb0rLrpx3sHBs61gIB_Ua_Kx5hg3G41ExDx4P83Ib9B3hJra38UWGgbYZ3AdbeL21gXJGbY48-xrxPX-j8do9EiJKrLwKjTDp4Jfp7qXTXnNrzuUEcWmpehYoKyrIvZhn3s65jDTIeI/s1600/so+tough+to+tame.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqb0rLrpx3sHBs61gIB_Ua_Kx5hg3G41ExDx4P83Ib9B3hJra38UWGgbYZ3AdbeL21gXJGbY48-xrxPX-j8do9EiJKrLwKjTDp4Jfp7qXTXnNrzuUEcWmpehYoKyrIvZhn3s65jDTIeI/s320/so+tough+to+tame.png" width="202" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Very hot book. Like, super hot. I don't like to do spoilers, and I'm hardly a prude, but I have to say that there is one particular sex scene that is even more raunchy than normal in contemporary romance. It's the thing that nice girls never do ;) It was so interesting that I read my first such scene here in 2013 when its probably been going on since the time of the Greeks and the Kama Sutra. I wonder if this is the beginning of some new trend...Well kudos to Ms. Dahl for pushing the envelope in such a matter of fact way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought this was generally a good read. I didn't love it as much as the others of Ms. Dahl's contemporaries (but to be fair, those were phenomenal) because I thought there wasn't enough real mental connection between the H and h. I mean, yes they had known each other since childhood, and yes they are attracted to one another, and yes they are both nice, kind people, but I didn't feel the reason they were the One for one another. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Here's the 2-minute summary - </b></span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He:</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A nice and easygoing cowboy who likes his simple life with horses and people and doesn't really need the complication of a life with too much ambition.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She: </b>A woman who has come home to rebuild her life after a terrible scandal that ruined her professional and personal reputation. She was a security specialist in Las Vegas who got tied up in some bad business (not of her own doing) and spent all her savings trying to defend herself against the accusations. She was acquitted of professional wrongdoing but people keep bringing it back up and she knows she can't afford anything going wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> They had been friends as kids. In fact, she had tutored him when they had been younger, and knows that he has a learning disability that slowed him down in school work - but <i>not</i> with the girls in high school. She rolls back into town and sees at once that his flirting days are far from behind him and decides, what the heck, she never had a chance with him when they were kids, but she certainly has one with him now. She's more confident and worldly and just goes for it. He's into it, but also harbors the life long insecurity of feeling dumb and inferior. Especially when it comes to her - she of all people, knows exactly how "dumb" he is. The conflict is mainly him working through his inferiority issues so he feels like he is "worthy" of someone like her.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-46918636900679790012013-09-29T19:49:00.000-07:002013-09-29T19:49:09.556-07:00Neanderthal Seeks Human; A Smart Romance by Penny Reid<a href="http://i1.wp.com/fictionvixen.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Neanderthal03.jpg?w=200" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1.wp.com/fictionvixen.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Neanderthal03.jpg?w=200" width="196" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">♥</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was a BAD book, you guys. Like incredibly, monumentally, horrifically silly. I feel sad for myself that I read it. I feel sad for the genre that it has been thus maltreated. That chick-lit has taken a step backwards into the dark days of the themes of the 80s. That we took all that was kitchy and hilarious about 50 Shades of Grey and turned it into this horrid, pepto-bismol hued travesty. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oof.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The issue:</b> I guess my main problem with this book is that I found the heroine to be ridiculous. She was clueless, oblivious and very dumb, frankly. She's always having to be taken care of by others (her ex, her bff, the hero), and can't really seem to figure things out on her own. She is supposed to be quirky and cute with all the spouting off about random facts about legal codes and mathematics, but she just reminded me of a really ditsy version of Rain Man. The hero was also ridiculous, but I guess if you like the whole Alpha/Dom type, then he's just a cliched version of that hero archetype. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: purple;">Why was I so upset? I was offended by all this because we should have MOVED ON from these types of heroines by now. These helpless, silly victims who are smart but only in a vague, totally useless way. We have so many wonderful examples of how we can do this plot in a more elegant way that doesn't belittle the female character to the point that she is a weak, pathetic entity. I feel like an opportunity was wasted here - and that frustrated me.</span></b></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The plot</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Allow me to provide a blow-by-blow synopsis of the salient plot points and while it may seem that I am I'm cherry picking only the most ludicrous ones, I assure you I am not. As you will soon see for yourselves, ALL the plot points are ludicrous. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Girl whose life is falling apart in slow, painful motion meets boy:</b> We open on the pot. As in the porcelain throne. The crapper. The john. There is a rather funny description of our </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">heroine, who I shall hereafter refer to as "h", losing her shit. Pun intended. She's just been fired, you see. Also, she's found out that her boyfriend of many years has been unfaithful. And that she's going to be homeless pretty soon because she obviously can't live with her faithless jerk of an ex-bf now. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://coolpile.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Girls-Dont-Poop-Cool-Advertisement-From-Poo-Pourri-A-Before-You-Go-Toilet-Deodorizer-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://coolpile.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Girls-Dont-Poop-Cool-Advertisement-From-Poo-Pourri-A-Before-You-Go-Toilet-Deodorizer-.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So far so good, right? Fun set up. Snappy writing. Girl is both charmingly frazzled and clearly needs some good luck in her life. As purveyors of chick lit, we know that there couldn't be a more ripe situation for Mr. Oh So Right to stride in than when the chick's life is falling to pieces about her ears. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And true to form, the hero (hereafter, referred to as "H") appears not 6 pages into the slowly unfolding train wreck of the h's life. He comes not so much as a conquering hero, but in the person of a uniformed security guard to escort her off the premises. Not a lot of dialogue except for her slightly hysterical ramblings (we rapidly learn that she has some kind of un-diagnosed Asperger's symptoms and a history of reality-avoidance that springs from her difficult childhood). The H remains impassive and stoic but we know he's obviously struck by this blubbering ingenue. Think Bridget Jones but with more talking. We also suspect that there is something more to the man than his apparent profession as a security guard. Not because of any particular clue except that we know that in Romancelandia no one falls in love with a security guard. I'm not being an elitist dick. It just would never happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Girl and boy continue to meet while laboring under series of misunderstandings: </b>After a vaguely flirtatious elevator ride as he is escorting her out of the building, she finds herself in a limo being chauffeured home by an affable stereotype, Vince. She's briefly visited by the uneasy question of WHY SHE'S IN A LIMO IF SHE'S JUST BEEN FIRED, but pushes that out of the way to concentrate on ruminating on how embarrassed she was that the H had seen her in her worst moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next time H & h's paths cross is random. She is at a bar with her bff. He happens to be at the same bar. He seems to be a bouncer of some sort. He appears to enjoy her smexy get up (smoldering gaze, lingering glances) but advises her to leave the bar since its not the type of place for nice girls like her. Her friend, a doctor is called away urgently but the h returns to the bar with the intention of seeing the mysterious dude again. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We learn what happens next in flashback, but here's where things start getting a little eyebrow raising in terms of logic and rational behavior. Apparently, the h returns and is spotted by some dastardly men who roofie her drink. She blacks out and is saved (of course) by he H. She wakes up in a compromising-seeming position in a strange bed learns what happens from the H who is right out of a shower looking manly and delicious. He assures her that "nothing happened" with those guys or him (except for her getting ROOFIED). Then they go for brunch. Hmmm... seems about right. Get roofied at night, seem to be utterly underwhelmed by the news that you almost got horribly violated and go for brunch the next morning with the security guard you've been secretly ogling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While at brunch, he learns that she's got a photographic memory and is amazing with numbers and can spout off random facts at will. He says he can get her a job at his firm in the accounting department and hands her his card telling her to call. Here's where the series of misunderstandings begins. He repeatedly says its HIS company, so even a blind and deaf mole could read the subtext and surmise that he means he OWNS the company and it is HIS. She is so charmingly oblivious that she basically thinks he means "his" in the general way that means "company where he works". Ok. Ha ha. What fun it'll be when she finds out in 2 seconds when she asks him the specific question about this company. Not. In fact. This dummy doesn't figure this out for more than half the book. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She obviously gets the job and now that they work closely with one another, they embark on a more serious flirtation that eventually leads to sex. The H now turns into some kind of watered-down Christian Grey character (penthouse, fancy car, grim outward persona/inner turmoil, insistence on her being "kept" - provides her with a job, her own security detail, buys her a cell phone, insists she move into a fancy apartment that he provides. There's even a lame recreation of the Christian Grey/Anna Steele emailing thing, but this time in the form of even lamer text messages. Oh and I forgot to mention how his lawyers draw up a contract that is meant to "protect" her job even in case of the dissolution of their relationship. Different from the Christian Grey contract, true, but still idiotic.) The eye rolling was almost uncontrollable. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The passion between H & h continues to grow in a weird and disturbing way and to create even more "urgency" the writer also introduces a plot by the h's criminally inclined sister, a couple of rough thugs and a fight scene that involves the h's knitting circle.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, the writing remained engaging and snappy till the end. Despite the incredibly silliness of the plot, I did find myself smiling several times throughout the book at the entertaining language.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-75187465090536847272013-09-14T18:22:00.000-07:002013-09-14T18:27:28.799-07:00And Then He Kissed Her by Laura Lee Guhrke<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjek_Co9ahQq-02O_TmnE3cETtB61fJa-jaGPi-QheRuHXr3wkffI95Q9N8IsMVp-rTpEpwPn8TJRkCYIBDLfpskCGq9RsNwe1Sr1CHZZzOClo5PobmnIgo6RLLAU13dUzgRxTG7H9fjnJG/s1600/athkh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjek_Co9ahQq-02O_TmnE3cETtB61fJa-jaGPi-QheRuHXr3wkffI95Q9N8IsMVp-rTpEpwPn8TJRkCYIBDLfpskCGq9RsNwe1Sr1CHZZzOClo5PobmnIgo6RLLAU13dUzgRxTG7H9fjnJG/s320/athkh.jpg" height="320" width="197" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Hmmm... I am not really sure what to say about this book except that it wasn't really my cup of tea. Maybe if I liked really boring tea...Well, no. That's not entirely fair. There is ONE interesting thing about this book at that is the fact that it is set in 1890s England - a really interesting time - well after the Regency period, late into the repressive Victorian era, and right before "Modern" Britain.</i></b> Change was afoot and some of that change was reflected in this book. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Economically, Britain was booming - there were the Railways, international trade and imperialism; even telephones and electric lights in some households. Culturally, women had a <i>smidge</i> more options. The heroine of this story, the delightfully Victorian-ly named Emmaline Dove, for example worked for a living as a secretary. She had independence and respectability and although she lived modestly, she wasn't in the kind of desperate circumstances of any of the unmarried, un-dowered Austen heroines of the Regency.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/97/Hysteria_%282011_film%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="File:Hysteria (2011 film).jpg" border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/97/Hysteria_%282011_film%29.jpg" height="320" width="223" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sexually however, the Victorian period was a bleak time for ladies. Not that any time in the past seems to have been particularly breezy for women, but the Victorians seemed to take special delight in removing any thought of pleasure or fun for the fairer sex. Like a good Victorian lady, Emma, begins as a rather mousy sex-less creature, who is taught early on by her aunt to suppress any baser instincts. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Aside:</b> Recall that this was a time that <b><span style="color: magenta;">sexual frustration in women was referred to as "hysterical mania" to be treated by doctors providing "pelvic massage" to induce "hysterical paroxism"</span></b> in order to relieve the patients <i>hysterical symptoms</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Another aside:</b> There was this lovely movie called "Hysteria" (trailer below) that I watched a while back starring Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal which tells the story of Dr. Joseph Mortimer's 1880s invention of the electromechanical vibrator. The hilarious-but-also-kinda-sad reason for mechanizing the vibrator was basically because the good Doctor Mortimer's wrists starting hurting from giving so many women pelvic massages that he needed good old technology to help a brother out. The obvious question arises - how the hell many massages was this guy giving anyway? Can you get carpal tunnel from too many pelvic massages? Have All the Women been informed? Because it seems like that would be information ladies would like to have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I seem to have digressed far, far off the garden path. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, my POINT is, that while this story was incredibly tiresomely AND pedantically dull, it was set in a cool period in history.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I should outline the He/Her/Conflict of the book so at least you have all the facts to decide for yourselves:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Viscount Marlowe, or Harry, is one of the modern haute ton who actually works for a living. This was a time when the aristocracy was broke and had to either marry rich American heiress (Downton Abbey, Season 4 Coming Soon, what whaaat!) or actually work for a living <gasp!> Harry chooses to work and runs a successful publishing enterprise.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> Emmaline Dove is the quiet, spinsterish, plain, humorless secretary who keeps Harry on schedule and is the silent force behind everything at the company actually getting done. She keeps working for him even when he asks her to do stuff like buy "going away presents" for the mistresses he ditches and even though she knows he's selfish and a faithless rake, because he is fair minded enough to pay her what he would pay a male secretary, and because she dreams of one day being able to publish her own book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> He never wants to get married again because of a whole thing with his previous wife who was in love with someone else and ran off and now he's scarred for life and feels guilty for subjecting his family to the stigma of his divorce. There's some sexual chemistry between Harry and Emma, they embark on an affair, he unveils the hedonist beneath her starchy, repressed exterior, she knows he's a love-em-and-leave-em kinda guy but she falls for him anyway, he skirts the issue of commitment until there's a whole Grand Gesture event (which wasn't that grand, honestly - he bought her a bunch of books) and boom they live happily ever after.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basically the plot of Any Romantic Comedy Ever. But this wasn't really that funny. It was just sort of obvious and un-funny. And I found Emma incredibly tiresome and unsympathetic. She just caved. Like in 2 seconds under his smoldering gaze, she CAVED and gives everything up. It just felt like all her snippy attitude and sense of independence and moralizing were nothing more than a cloak to hide her sexual frustration. She didn't really seem to have a personality except "sexually frustrated spinster" and then when she finally gives it up (and oh, of course HE'S the one who is responsible for all this flowering and passion, right? Honestly, it could have been ANY DUDE, she was THAT wound up) she's all hedonistic and sexual. Please. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, the writing wasn't bad. I mean, I liked it but I wasn't transported. Maybe I was in a bad mood because I thought she was lame and he was a selfish jerk and I just hit a wall. As I said, not my cup of tea.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I leave you with the trailer of Hysteria which WAS my cup of tea. Really funny tea.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4FWReqkTWfA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-36349609096666010902013-09-02T11:34:00.001-07:002013-09-02T11:46:32.067-07:00Her Favorite Rival by Sarah Mayberry<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<a href="http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780373718726_p0_v3_s260x420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780373718726_p0_v3_s260x420.JPG" height="320" width="201" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>I need to stop this OBSESSION already with Ms. Mayberry's books. Having one of her books on my kindle is like when I have cheesecake in the fridge. I simply CANNOT resist it, have no self control and I just HAVE to have it NOW. This is what has happened with Sarah Mayberry books. I have 3 more before I will have read EVERY SINGLE one of her super romances and then I anticipate some fierce and awful withdrawal sweats.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me just say (again) how very impressed I am at how beautifully this lady writes conflict. I mean we're talking proper Conflict with a capital C. Not the piddly kind - ooh she's totally into him, and he just can't commit - Mayberry conflicts are juicy, serious, intense and incredibly relate-able.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Other stuff that I totally loved:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) The chick was kick ass, serious, awesome, cautious but when she really wanted something - she just went for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Ms. Mayberry "showed rather than told" how the H was a natural caretaker. I know authors love to say how the hero has a superhero complex, how he has a desperate need to "protect and serve", and often authors literally give the hero a profession where he protects and serves all day long. In this story, the H's every action shows how he takes care of others. Made me feel mushy and vanilla-pudding-y inside. I wanted to weep with relief when he finally found someone to take care of him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Her Favorite Rival" is a companion story to <a href="http://theromanticalskeptic.blogspot.com/2013/09/her-favorite-temptation-by-sarah.html" target="_blank">Her Favorite Temptation</a> that featured Leah and Will. Leah's sister Audrey is the h in this story.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the 2-minute synopsis:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He: </b>Zach is a young, up-and-comer at the company. He is hard working and determined to rise above his rather horrendous childhood circumstances. He's a nice, charming guy who's wholly focused on his five-year-plan that certainly doesn't leave a whole lot of room for romancing the co-worker to whom he is so attracted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> Audrey grew up knowing she was second-best in her parent's eyes. She made a stupid mistake at 16 and has spent the next 17 years "atoning" for it. She keeps her head down, works hard and never complains. She's ambitious and wants the best for herself in her career and is willing to put in the time and effort to get it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> SO MANY CONFLICTS!!! But good, meaty ones where you feel a sense of real satisfaction as Ms. Mayberry helps unravel them by the end. Not that they ever completely go away, but the characters learn the "tools" to cope with their conflicts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One source of tension is obviously the fact that they work together and work romances are mostly a terrible idea. They both love their jobs and are intensely ambitious and don't want to do anything to jeopardize their careers for a random fling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other conflicts are personal demons that they both have to let go of before really jumping into something with the other. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-71757105878946325912013-09-01T10:04:00.000-07:002013-09-01T10:08:56.926-07:00Her Favorite Temptation by Sarah Mayberry<a href="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxQSEhUUExQVFRQWFxQVFRQVFBYUFRQXFBQYFhUUFRQYHCggGBolHBUUITEhJSktLi4uFx8zODMsNygtLisBCgoKDg0OGhAQGywkICQtLCwsLDQsLC0sLCwvLCwsLDQsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLP/AABEIARsAsgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xAAcAAACAgMBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAFBgMEAAIHAQj/xABOEAACAQMCBAQDBQUEBQYPAAABAgMABBESIQUGMUETIlFhMnGRBxQjgaFCUrHB8BWC0eEzNGJyshYlNVOz0ggkJkNjdIOSk6LCw9Pi8f/EABoBAAIDAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEAAECBQb/xAAxEQACAgEDAQcDAgYDAAAAAAAAAQIDEQQSITETFCJBUVJhMoHwM0IFcZGh4fEVI8H/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AOfuNz8z/GvQK3kHmPzP8ansLN5pEijGXkZUUe7HAz7ep9K5Z0GXuGDy0QVaYuceVRYvF4eTG6KpJ/6yNQHJ9NWzfPVQFFrE4uLwyotNZRirUqpWyJUyJWCzRUqVY6lSOp0iqFECx1uI6srFW4iqEKnh174dXBFWeFUIUjHWhjq+Yq0aKoQoFKjKVeaOomjqEKTLUbJVxkqJlqiyoUrUrVkrWhWryQgIrUipyK0K1ZCHTWVJprKmSC3IPMfmf40x8tpLbRNxBNIMcqQxll1DVIpMjY9QuBn/AGzXrcpSnJ1x+v7Wd+n7NGOEctztE1p4sQWWSORdTNgPGDqA8v7SnH9wVmrVVSkkpc+X8wtmnsSba4/8GrmLii8QmS1t5I5I2jdwQMkTIHKjV2yAAfZjSvacvzOiuF8rYAJyBkyNHgnGAQVJI7DenXmThHgTJcQCKICN4gqroJdw41gKuDgNn8qWIjcwrhZMBVKjTjIXLNscZBy7HPXf5UTUX1Qs22Pn8wBppsnHMFwaLy1Np1ELjVIvxb5j16vn/o26e1T2/L0rBG8gDqrLlsfEQFGSOpLAYqVOIXHUy52zuqnPXfBXc+dsnruc9alg4tKhU5UgYGCiYGDlQcAHYgY9O2KD3rTeoXuuo9ppBwCUnGFzlRuf3hGR/wBsn6+la3HDmiIV9mwDjuAfWp24xIu4J8uAFAGdipG53bGhNySfKKiHEBIFYknYKM4zhdgKj1NGOGRaW/PMTRYa3EVbidcZweuPnWNP10jcevTPpQ+9U+4vu13tNfCrU6fUUtcYivn+CSJAegy+f+Gl08AvmJP3hPq//dosbams70ZdFq/azpGgGtXhpGteCcQTf7xGcZ2y/bt8NMnC5rgD8UxMPUFsnttlaqV1K6TRa09z/ay88VQPFV/XkbjFQ3LhRv8ATvQ1qqm8bjXdrfaD3jqF0qzLcAEDS2+2cDH8akFvqOBjoD9c/wCFW9RWurJ3a32gxkqMrRN7M4zkf1tWv9mse6/rWe9U+4vu1vtBZWtCKK/2Wx7jqR37fl7V4eDtvuuxx39AfT3qd7p9xXdrfaCcVlFDwhv30+p/wrKneqvcTu1vtL3iswHVADkggZPzPw+/U1agj0sHGdQwQ+d9jkb/ADoH/wApY8/DJ9F/71bR8wxfuPn1AUf/AFVynp7vKLR2HfVjqOPG+KfeCpzpCqPKVJGojLb/AKflQuSF2U6F1HoNOTv6Yx6UPteKq/w6/wC8FP8AOrQn1bY2PXG2fyrU677bN845YCFlNcdsJF2Hh5WIlkYkp+GFycMToGWHxMPMcDoFOfSpF4cAF8Q4yrSMw8wMag+VB+25xvjYZA70LitGxpUnRnIQsdO+/wAPSr9twxmbY42+IEhgM/s4+eAPemVUsr/rb+/5+ehh3LDfaJfYk4dZAkvIj+GuWEQ80xGCVUj3A+eAT0yRX/s8l91MSKniSEnUQcnUEGMswBQbDAY71YuYXcqsZCxxklcE5Zz8TkgbnG2e+52zgDb6zMGbhn+FW1HU2rBG+G69h3orpjHw7M/Pr/jy8jEb2/FvS+Pz+pf8BS6gRlAdKRxE/iSE9z10D36AAkZ6VHJbDLaQ2jU3hgqS8m/7I6kdd8dvU4pKh59t86ljmBHQ4jBz3bOv9as23OUEiNJ4c5CkBtSqzMxzg51nbbuaBPS2tfpvr8fn5/UkdRBP9T8/Pz0a7ayBkAlzk7mMHBVFGp2c4OgAAnHUnp61DwzhJAd3DaA2dJwjNryRq/6tMLqLHspxmldOboTuiTKfXCqR8iGqsea4E1ahJgkE4C746avN5juaPXp5qOHW/wCwOd8W8qaH2K0SSc6XXwjlhpbdUUDUzFvgA9W/LOayz4VEEB8RhkswY7nwo1JdlUDJxhRq2BOfbVz5+erdgB4c+kdcCPzY6D/Sbjv8wK9H2iW438OdSNlI0KQB2yJM96uOnn509SO6PlaPkVg7AvocKW0ohIDn0EjnZBgrliO+wNQS8PaS4CBTGinQAM/jOM62RW3CjfzdABk7+WkmTnOCUBQsxGdWMKBq+Qfc/OtpOe7dTlo7gkjDNhCTkYIyZOlSOnlGP6Tz9i3em89osfce72yRVxES+pnKkEaFjRipd36bsCBjYYO9SiyOsxKh8QFVeVjpjXGS6j1x9TgkelJ3BeaoLr8FPEXclVkwFGdzgKxGetMxgbVqLEkABSWYld87Ht2oU6eXmpr85/2Wrltx2i/v9v8ARJcMmn8MER9PFkB/EJYYCL69cemd+ma0U7/lUEqk/ESxyDliWOxz1NamUDO1LXaeyT8MMBq76ormZYi6L+Z+u/8AOoi5zhQSSxzjsOmTnp0qE3oAAAOwA+leRX6IMAN+mT8zmhd1tXO033mr3F4L7D6//rXlUf7TX90/T/Osqu63e0rvNXuE5Y6mjiqdIasxQV29xy8Fvg8O1HIYap8Jho3FFW0wMupkMdXQDpKg4BxnbfABGAewOTXkUdWVStp4MMhVMUlfareFLXQOsjBfy6n+FPZWua/avKNUK+mpv4AVupZmjMuhzacaIwB1P6Zovy4VFrKHJAdlAIGrcA9vzoNdSAg5O/oASAP8fej/AC1D4ls0QOCG1ZI7Y3/hTs/pMQ5YLmm0+VT+eMYFVZx0/rr/AJfxow3CST5Qx96sJwJ+pB+m35mqU0jXZyYv52wB+dVxa6gcHzelNKcvSyMFRetGR9njRrqY7+gqnfGPmTsZMQrKEqpPTGfqMYqaca4y2enX+v1onzHw8xKdsA4B99yf5Uux3BAI7EYPyzWovesojWx4ZPwa78GVX/dOa6zwfnOGbCnyt71xskY968jmIOQcVLKlMGpYPoNsEZG4qpMtKPJHGJPDIfJHYmmJ+Jr3Fc+WIvAyoSazgyQVXetmvUPeozKD0NVkmGjXFZXtZUKPI4atww1JBHkVdhipNyGizwuKjEcVVOHR0WjSjw5QvPqaxpUwWtlSpdNFRhlZhXCvtSvme7IzsoAH1OT+ld5uNlJ9q+aedbvxLqU9tRA/KmNMszB2PwgzII2xj9a6NyZCBFgDOdye/wBa5lauFOTXX+Ro/wAHLDvtRdW9sTelw5Be34UT02Hvv9DV2Lgy/tb+3arkDjtU1zcLEhdu3Qd2J2AHzNc7c2OvgyG3SIbAD09/apDIHBA7UtcT4kxOAVLgeZv2Yx+6ue/vRXk2cSQBs51ZOfXeptMvjkXubuBG4hdFwH6qe2Rvgn3rj95ZyQsUlQow7H+R6GvoO/cKaX+YOEw3MfnUE9j3B+dGo1HZ+F9CXU9pz5nEs5q3w228SRE/eYD6mit/wRUfSM7nHXPeiXAeFeFMrnfB9NhttTs747eBSOmlu5OhW/C0ijVVGMAVQuohRhmLKPkKqzcPb9rCD/aOP06/pXG8UmdFYS5Fq4WqEjEdDTFc2sY6sT/ur/M4oZKsY/ZJ+bf4Cix+WRtegN++Sepr2r2qL901lEwvVA+PaNvDjkUWiipbtGIYYp1srTyjNLqmU29oKc1FcmWK0SQivILMVaFqKahp5JC0rYtmgNelqsLCBVW7X0rUq3FZZUZJvBS4wT4T6euDj6V80catGDMx9Tn619LzPgb9K5hz5y18UkYyrbkdwfUevyrensSkSceDkJp15N5t8FRDLnA+BgM7fut/jSobbz6d85xU4g0Z6EjGw6gd/wCX1p6yMZxwwNcpQeUdLuOeY1zpUtjck4Uf1+VBeLc8vOFGgqqtqyDnOOnaktpCdQ9T/X9e1TWMeASQc/LI+lAWnriHd82P3CeAT3UZkSUaG3Pcn1FOHDJFtIBGTjSNyfXvXO+QePPbTiJj+FIQMejHYY9M0+c/38dvCAyIWdhvgHAB3OfoPzpa2Mt20aqlF8sXuPczEnyAnfGfz7VPDdOyYIYE+vT60HfjNvJrdcBVAVFHsclj7kgbU0cNfMKt0yv1oU47UuBhPPOTn/M0pVl9Qcn+vzpm5Xu0mAxgk4B/zFJHNV8TdPg7LgY9+proH2fcG0R+MRhpQCPZe23qev0ot8VGpN9QFVjdkkug3iQqoVPKAMZHxn5t2+Q/Wh9zF1JosLXAoZdt1pB5fUKsZ4A1ytDpI80SuBVQrVo2DzBXtWitZWskDFiuXWny26CkfhYy607wU1plyzn6h9AjDVlKqQmrSU8hNm5qrc1bqrc0C/6QlfUEcUHlpG524sI49Od9PlHqTt+m9PfEvgNcZ+0Afirnc46dsdv50lp1m3A3P9MVYV8+ph133raS0XPUs3YKd/0qGS4bIGB9K6ZyNylpxPOMt1ROwz3I9a6dligsi8IbmRco8ikhZZhjO4jxk/nmndeCRL8Maj+6KNWsW1bXAWkZOU+WxqLUXhChxDl6GQ5aMEjcEDBBHQgjcGlnn3gkk6A+IxCfsnH6nGT+ddImUKCx6DeuZ3d7NdXDDUUiycKg8xA/rrUr3J5z0NvDWMdTmVzC0ZxuCP40Xj5quzFoDfCMagPNiifNvASq+IuWA6kjf88UpWs+hs/p610Y7bI5ayIS3VywngKcp8JN3dKrZKg65Ce4B6H5nA+td+4fbgAADGKRfs04YqxGULgyH/5VOB+ua6PAmBXO1E+0tx5Ibrj2dfyyG6GBQC+o3etS7fNS0uoasHTGoDWTPVWa4AqYCs9LVlVPHHrWVraTIy8EkHiDNO0Mo9aTuGW4xv1okbc/ssRUjqdmUkKzq3+Y2xOKtCUDqaQReSRt5mOKuf2hrHxGmI6ltZwBenw+o8I4PQ1WuzS5Z35Xuay54k5bY1i7UPZyi4U+Lgv8QbyH5VxTnO9X7x66R+tdZeJ5BuTvXI+eeFGCfLDZskZ771Wk5sy/QJbxHAI4RGJbqMEeXWur69K7tauNsdK4LwaTRKXPUHOfTP8AOus8v8UDgjPQZpnVJ8MxRymN8lwqLlmCqOpJobHzDDIcIGI/fOw/KhM0f3ksZMmMHSkYJAYjqzY675qrxK2jh0BcsxOFRTpHuQB0UetBXQKo88jPxNS8LaSMkHHoKUOB28scb6Yg0jHDlmCgegGMk/SnNUwo+QoJxS1Zfxk2x19MCsqTTNxWUCbDg0g1ibBVs7dhn0rmPO/BBbTZQeR8kDsD6fKu1WV8kq7EZ7j0pE+02DMf6j8qLRY1Z/MxdXug89UOXKFoI7WFfSNPrpGaZM4FCuDD8NB/sr/CiUp2paL6sk1zgH3j0vX7UbuzQC/bGax5h4IBX0+mqPDbZ7mTC7jvjt8z2ry+ky3tTbypZ6YwSMZ3xT9FKxli99zXCPE5YjAGdGe+wNe0f0+1ZTnZx9BLtJeoGtZcUSjmpcgnq9Bd9q8+4nTLfFegNT2EQ0L86oX0uVqzZXYCKCa24vYZT5D1zaBY9QqjCuRmp+IcSQw4B3qnYTfh1ucUoYMQb3DHaL5BSR9qXBzNbl1+KPLADv6/pmnaxk8gqveqGBB3BpirhJoBPqz5keQj65p3+z/i4DlGO7AAH+VDvtE4MILjUq4jcZGBsCOo/gfzqxwjlghBOko8RSrBSpVT3wGJ3+dO2uEq+fMxUpbuDqlpDkbbdf1qzw3gqKxc5Zz1Zjk/Ieg9hQTh3FQVBzg9weoPcGmK2uxjY0hF46jkk/IIXSjTgUo3800iuNkXoqbliOmWOB9B9TTDc3YAoB96JciPDN0Zj8Kn0rXDeSVJrgXbXh7WoJJC/wAflQvj0ryQ6mBKE5APUb4z7ZprktCSVLGWQnOcYC+wHb+NQ8S4VpjCtg7jP5mr3JPIWUeMZGjhSYRR7D+FX5RtUVjHsKtyrtS0FwDn9QCvBSxxqbSKaL8YzXO+beIhB69gK1XFylgNlRjllK2GtwPU10zh8OlQPQCuV8vXimVT0Hoe3+NdRsrtSuxrrxWODlTblyXqyoPGFZRMgsCAt1WkvESoJHarY4DJU0XLM0mVRQSe2VGc+mSMmuVGp56D7tXqKMvNMp2rQcySUfv+QrqIapIwg92Tf5DOT1HSvYfs7vXGpINQ9QyEf8VOqMVxtFXJ+oGj5meiMHNj4xWp5WlUlSoyOuGVvfqpIq1a8uvn4KHNQaxg1FyT6j3y3xkvGMiiVxd0s2t2IFCld6o3/HmPTalkmgkllh+7eNvjAPzAND5PDHZSnTG2B6bexobPwS/kXWsLMm51h4iuB1OrXihA5R4jMrGGOTP+xNEV+RKvtRVVJ9SRmocpjLxLhPjAPF5XG22MOPRh/A0MsL+RfLnoSp3zgjYilJOYeIWYaJxupKeddRUqSpGpTvggjfNQ8vcZdH0z5xIxKudstnfPtk9a06JY9TSujk6Wt7qwGoxZIhGAAB1wBjP0pFbiqjZtvntVu35iVRgt+tB2cBNzHfCKNsD5UJ4hh5UQHOWG3oAcn+H60vX/ADUiqdJz7dc0V5DtXcG4m2Z/9Gv7iZ6/M9fpVTW2OSRy2PNumBXsvSvY98AdegHzrTiJMR0vscagMjcdMjFDSe0n7sCzzBchFOa59LwaS5fWwIjHwg9W9/lT/Lb+O2s7op2HYn1reWMDtQ1a4/SObE1hiKvBgnRcVJ4zR9NqaLlBQLiMIrULpZ5Myri0U/7Zf1r2hxhr2mu2YDsUV4/tHfugonwX7QPFuIIzGPNNCvyzIozXLqK8q/67a/8ArEH/AGq10uzRydzO/wD2sySpc2rx20twBHMCY4nk0EtGRnSDjOD9KI8iXTycPumkgkgOqXyyI0bMPATzAMAcdRn2pJ/8JG4dJbPQzLlJ86WIz5o/Sin2GzM3CLwsxY+LPuxJP+rR9zWtqzkrPGAZyNf+PbPKqCK3tkzNMwOkaU1FVVQS7Y3wPUeoyYXi8ZsxfRt4lqH0SvoZXhOQCXi3ON1+HPxCqPIRWXli4SKNZpE8fxITr85DCTBEbK5zHpxg74x7Vz/hPO1yLK5s7a0tkt3SV59InYorIEaTXLM2k7KB74wCTWOzRe5nTeYuXJH+7Ok0AS5ZFR3LKPxFymARlmbIAUDPXOACRzznzh8/D7n7vI6PlFlV0yAVYsu6n4TlG237etOP2xOV4NwtlJDA25BBwQRbEggjoa5ZaJcXkhZ2lnkOAXkZpGwOgLsScVl1wXJuM5M7F9l2W4Df7ZJN2MAZJJtk2Apf+z+ylsYobtkaItKsKqylGlBRncYOMrhMfPftThyDwx7bgt4rHS5Fy4KnBXNuuCCOh2oXawSNbW8bSPKElWcNK7Ow/CdCoLZODrz12x71U8bUXHOWEIOGKkEt1cDTDLPIygrrciaY6NSDYbsB1pU5k+znVPAfvCLBcBRbyFGZctgpEQACoIbYnsN6cOb7JYbGOaTxZgzxhIBM0cCF8kPJjPT8t2HzqXnQH7hwwFdB8SHKjPlP3WTyjUc7e++1Yk9q+2TUVl/fAk8c5fFg8VtcTeJlQwYRudEeSuSx2bdTsNxtRK25MV5vAikSVhGksjaWRIUkXVGXZh8TDcL1xvtThzDZJe21tcyYAhLfeD0xEB+Pj3zGpHzqh9nl/wCOvExsLiRvE0jqFkixGo9Qvw+21ZVcZS+Hygjtaj89GLfDuUYLxS1rIJfDwzKY2jMi5+KMnZgcd8dvUU78JsgYDKjLpQHIwVxpUEjLYA2PXpQb7HiD5h8IgAJ7DzL19Oh+lX7K5EvCeJOu8bvftGexjbJQj2IOfzoapjPDfyanbKPhXwE7xRGsMniqFmZFjddR8zgsmMDcEAnNDby2ZeIRC5uRJI4j0KYzp0eKQUComMkg5LY6jfah1vErSQElzoKaELsUQnAJVM4B9xR7jQ/53gP/AKGP9Z2rFbg4txXoakpRklL5KnNNzFHdurTAEQxaYBFKcbvg6lXQM9Ou2KrX9usTRJPJ4bzZKIEZyAMAtJj4Blh/QNXOMEDijlhsIbdzt+yryFj8gAaj581LdxSCKJlaEqsj+L8SuWKDRIF6Mp6ZO++20tqhKU5NdC67JqMIp9QJxq0aCQxvjUAGGNwynIDD2yCPypfvqMccvrmeSOW48IYRxGIkZNSlhktqds4K7HbvQS6akrFFS8PQercnDxdQURWVsayryWc4isnbtRXgss9q4lhZFfYh2iilKkHIKGRToPuMGp1cit1lxXolFHm3JhviNxxjiUI8RJrqI50uLKNwCDhvDlWLKnK4Okjpir3Dbnj9vGIoIrmKMdESwjVTt1wIdyfXqaq3/M5bh1vYRlkQGd7kjK69UrNHFnuuDqPvgdjXQPtLXHALLG2DZYwcEYhOCCOlTBaZy9briVhN434tnLKOn3dLdJQmM/g6AjY1DfT+171BxbmK+uceNMHUMH0CKJY2YHIaSJU0yf3wep9aaJ7i5419xt0VpLm3W5WaRtl8MmHwpZH9cKQe5IzjeqEfKbyRTy200N0Lcnx1h8QOuM+ZBIi+InlbzKd9JxmokvMrL8g5wq9e+jWG4vVnA6QPa26quFK+QGPIIBIypBFM9nZRxKFjVVA9ABSRbcjXJthewy28kWRpaORw2fE0Fj4kahQpBJLEABTTzacMult0lcwTK2MSW8niLg7B2YqF0+rAkD2FL3VtcrkPVPPDRNNdXPRLlo138ixQ6d+uQU3qKJSo8zZ/uqgGB+6gAH0q5ccPZIRPrieIkAvG+sDLackgYIzscZqtx7hbrbrIZYFikKgyNIUUKwJHxKOuMYGTv0oEt2A0VFsBz8wXZykNy8cZOAoVCcdyGZSy/ke9StcXJhWL7zL4QzlSEYnOc5kK6+5796kl5ZeJEmMkLwyYxMjkxrn4dRIGAemR39zTLzHaxR2lniSCIMyF3bUBNmBj5SqEsSfNvjYUqo3yzl4whmbpjjCyKsk7yRGDxWWFiGkQBcOQQd2xkfCNgd8Uh3XEZIbySWCR4nV3CuhwQM4wexGw2ORtXRZeEfgvdB1SBTgyEOVbz6MqqqWIyRvgUt3vIsgdZpZYRbzszRyqzaTqBcK5ZQUOAdsHpRNM5Qy59McA74xnhQ9QjwF57i3IllwkzM0ixRRQeNk7mQxKpbO+c9cnPWmSaG5W3PhSNHbKullWKEpjGDqDIdQx1P1q9zVZxQJZqklvbx4cEHUviYRMadKHOPfHWqF595fh0zRTw/ddL+LgOZNOPxEUlRjIPf12NVKNiteW8deC4ODgsJfcExXjplg41Do2hMA+oTGkfkKtcOuJpgJJrhpD2JjiVgM9A6IGx7ZoNc2TLaC4lkSCF2CI8mtmkJBxojRWZtlY59ATR7hvDWhghLSRmORQUnUsYmyNQ306gcdiPX0NLOFqhlZwx1upy8sokv5J5dpbmRo/3NKLkA5wzKoZh7E1DJfXCLoiuGRB0QpHKo/3fEU4+QovfcHeJlWR4lDZw7PpQHIAUswG5zsBk0O45w97dlSTGXBKlTkHTjV1AORkfWqfbx8TyYj2EvCsC/MpLF3dpHPV3OTt0A9B7Ch1zRK5NCrtqFlt5YxhJYRSJrKgMlZRMGMi4RWhrJJPLv1BxTVwDlRn0yyhlQEEJp8zafUN0U9K71lkYLLOBXXKbwgMOB3GkN4ZAIyMkA4Ptn+NdY+0e2ZuBWSAZbNmNPuITkUE4pf+GrMApYA7SJqX/wB1tjUPCuebq8Uo+hkjKnT4ERUEfDpBXynr0NJV6uUk3Ieno0mlEaPsg4Q0EN1rUCaQJgZ30hXCjV/vFvrSJyrza3D2MdtYL4k2iMxtPLIzFC2EClchgWYEU02vG2DAqZEkGwdVzkHtjBUj2PpWcVkknDa5I11gq7JBHFK4YYZGkxqwRscYz0qR1nHiJPR4eIlXTjlHHXzr8v8ApEbVPAv/AJKzDtlx9bsZ/nS7x3i93Hbm1XwPuuCPBFvHj4tepfRtXmz670Lt+arxbUWgMH3fGkxG3Qht8lmON2LebPrvTK1EGhd6axM6Dy/ck8tzN3XxB89Mi71d5p8/CLEtuTJbk/Pw5K53wXme9WEWiLG0BGkxiCNtWTuXyPMSe9dR4yJl4XaxxqrSAwiWNkSTChWJzGemG07jcUKcoybUfRm4wlBLd1yiOd1i4JLrwASQn+80oCY/vnNac7yf+JcOIxu8XXpvavS9dxzXJj8eTVHHvHCiqkSnBGrSOrYJ3JOMnHU0SN7ciNYllUIuNOqJJGTHQoWGxHbOcdqT7xDGz4xkY7GSe75zg34nw14+HGS4lnaIumLSMogZmlCr4jspKrqwSB6dzV3mv/om18un8SHy51Y2fbVgZ+lCl4ncRReFHN5DknxEWU5Y6iRrB6k53zvQ6743c+D4Jn1pnUTJHHI2Sc+UsDjcnHp2xtVxurUcc9MFuqxyz85GX7Rz/qHfaUfVI8Ctdf8AzHfdiFnGOhBCLtj1pSuOaLsxLEsq6UxoZokaRMDAKOR5TjbPUetVU5kuI4Tbq8IhYEPGYI2DgjDFsjLE9zRIzg7N/wAYJ2U1Db85GH7YWBseHtH/AKIsNOOm9uSn6Bqu28+jl62z8bPEIs9Tm71bf+zDn5ZrnTczTpEYMxyQE6vAmiWSNWyTqQbFNydgcUR5Z4xPdXCGdlYRRkW8QjVYIQAF8kIGOnc5Owospra5fAPs2mo/J0X7R4w1zbZAP4Vx192irPtG62X+7N/wx0KvLqeVlaaRJCmdOYUBAOMrkDdTgZHsKrcSv7ibHiyI4XOn8FAUzjIVgMjOBSk9RBueH1SDwomtnHRsFXBoPfNRmegPETScB6RQLCsquTWUzgCUuWbNpJvFP+jgYOSRszKcqmPyBPt8667YX5YA7ENvsT3379aSOQ5FCSW5xkMXB9Q2Nz7jp9KbOFcJWPOGfSTkKTsM9dPoK3qpSdjT8gGmhFVJrzC8sMci4IBz+YNBDwJIQfBUJvnAGxPuKNiIAbVsF7GlsvAZCxBx3Q+iRdJ9ex+VEbmRWGRVi74OkmzqGHuK1i4dGgwB+Wc1Tawa4F66gMhwBmorTlhc5fJ/2RsPz9aaSFXoKjaSpvl5EZXtuHqowAAPQDArb+yoc5MaZ9dIzUnj4qJroZGokLncgZIHcgZGT+dZRTTZZ1gbDYVWuLsCo57y1H/npv8A4Cf/AJqD3nErIdbi4/K2Q/8A36LGmcuEYc4R5ke3vEKowh5m0oCxPYb/AF9PnQ3i1/bhcwzTO+R5ZLdI1x3OpZmOfbFAJL5j3/jTtWif7uBezWxXEOTqttyifDYyPhyp0hcEK2PKWJ6742Fcu4rBNBIRMrK/qd8+4boRUPiMf/7UqQM2xOR6EkinYadR4QjPUSlzIjiudfWmjlAYmJHZD+pFAV4cncfTamzlOy0KW38x2z6L/nmgauvsqW/XgNprHbal6cjO0maglepKgmNcNHYyD7qSgV61Fr00DvTRoIpsolqyo9de01gHkk5cvfu85dgSCuNgdu9O8XNkWM+Yn0C/40jg1iPk11p6KuctzycOGsshHasD1Hzgmd0YD12P6Vei5hibowrnwatTQ7f4bBrwPASrXzT8aydQiv1b4WyT0A6n8qimnwfT5jFKPLF5CqXEdzLLEkyxolxGhcwsrlyrAblXC4IHUKfmCnEEkRl8SY3aLaM1o9uGYTqkpysshDCHSWILNsBpGc7UjPQTiOw1tbCLT1XuLoKMsQo9zVa+tQJbqJpZVSGyF8hj0atOlD4b5GGPnO4IG3vsNt+CWt7Iio926PcLCHkUR+EGiVtbOylJG8QkeGpBwM9xVx0EmuWVLXRzwmW5L/IDKrspyA4Q6CR2D40noe/ah1zPM/wrp+YLH6CiVjcJHw+NZy7KnFXh/CCgkrblN9WwGxPQ9Pzq/EnhX5iRmzFcImvOCRqU9vUGhz0/ZtZQWGoVieDnF+kwJ1MT7YK/pQ+UsnxKy56agRn5Z611bmKMOYeItuGgDS7ZH3m2IjGfZ2aHb0U1R5+4etxxO98Qyv4UMLRxoCdR8CLILlWWFNySxGKdqnhYE7YKTycy8QmrUNk5TxND+HnGvQ2jP7uvGM+2aauKcmwxC7WOSVpoLeG7jQtHpeGQKZS2E3aPJJwQGGOlW5I4IOGXSETFI7y0WQLJHr8XwT4qq/h6Qqtld1OdHbOzKa8xVxYqQIKsrTLxnlFLZJJy7PBm3EAMkMEj+PH4h8R5PIpVQdgPMT2ryThFjGjyvcSyQpeJbCW38ORXSSAzBwMbMvwnBbdTgb7HUogHGQvpuQB1Ow/OniwiCqB2Ax9BQiCxtI4redjclpo7mSOMCM5e3m8JQxx5Q2x749T3Zb5I4dTASNEYIpYmLKC7StpCHy4BBD5HXCE965f8Scp4jHojpfw9KCcn1ZrVecVsJdgT/W1QyvmuQkdTIMvO9AL5qNXzb+1L1/JRq1yRvgpF6yq5lrKc2gNxbBr2PaoFetw9dw88WfEr3xKr66zXVlYCNrxZ445YhHE6SmMuJVckGLXoKFHUqfxG3B/TIM0fMMyo8YWExPEITAyOYgokaXI84bVrdm1ajknfoMB9deGSqaXmWm0G5eZJmaRyluzS2ws3OiQaocAEYWQAN5RuAOm2Kr2fMdxCkMarCRbymaF3jLNG5ILYOoDBxvkE+hBxgUJK2WQGsuCNbmX/APlHIyCJo4An3lrvCrKPxmyDuZT5cEjH896vW3NEi3b3cixEuwc4V9CyDGHKlycbDIzjbpS3LHWQT9jQp1qa2yCQscXuiPCTySx+EdHgCUT+GocIz+GVA+POnB6Z6gelb8U41cs1wzx27feVRJgY5NDiPHh5HibMuB8JA9c0vcD4kUyhOR1Qe3cflRhpC3X4Sds9a41jsqm4naqVdkVLBJBxl1Zbx3C3ca+AkUcDhZYxAyI7tkoMMwyvl2GRvigcN1Klu1tpSSN3WRxKH1F1GA2tHUjv33yaKEZ6/CKiuGA2A29az3mRvsIlSbjt03j+L4UyTmMvFKh8JTEMReEEZWjKgAAg7jrmh8/GJTA1uY4RG0on8qOpV1Tw104fAATy4IOepyd6ISxn2+m49qH3Cj0/r2o0NVMHPSwYQ4ZxppvBidY1S3VlRlD6wsz65NRLkNlhnoPQYFMl9fK7RQxStJBA0rBihjDtIRpGlhnYAn5yNSBZOUm26EYP8aZrWU59tjQ9RNuTfqjVNSUUvRh5p6rSz++xqi9z1Hy/Wqlzc4pRRDmcQuRS7eXGamv7mg7Sknb6mn6Kmxe61QXJLmsqvo9zWU73diHekWzJWwlqvmvC1O5EcFrxqwS1VU1tqqskwWJHrFeq+qt0NWupTXBsjZzXiNp2GwrUtio5HqnwWiwtzUcjZqJRW/h1XLL4RtFc4IOcEdD/ACpgsOOIRhjg98/yNLwirR3xQLtPGz6g9OolX9I0S8XjBADeXvjJ/Wt04rG7dRgdM7fxpTXepKD/AMfW11YXv9ifRDbLKH3HTH1qnNGM4+tLDTsp8pOKsRcYOMH60rLSSh0HK9ZGXXgKmPzj51fik/woRBdA/M/pVi8vgmANzgbfL1oLrlJqId2xitzCVzNjvj/KhFzfjff6d6HzTF92OagxT1egx9TEJ6/P0o2lk1HJ+laFq9JrzFOxiorCEZScnmRrqNZW2msrXJng9zXg61jV4KhCXFRtW9amrKPBW6tWoqRaiIyNjW6pWktSR9KiXJG+D1+lZG+axulQxnerfDIiaV8VCiZrZutTKKrqToahaw1sa0arKIWFV5Fq01eRLmsNZNp4K0NwVNWh6k596imjHpUq9KxGCTbNzsckkbKdq8xXqVIBRQRGEr0rUuK1NWQjxWVIBXtUUf/Z" /></a><akxgctbnzsckkbkdq8xxqvibrqrger0ruuk1nwqjxwvibxtuuf></akxgctbnzsckkbkdq8xxqvibrqrger0ruuk1nwqjxwvibxtuuf><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Confession: I think I am addicted to Sarah Mayberry. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't stop reading her books! I finish one and barely give myself a second to catch my breath before I'm ready to attack the next one. This is reminding me of the Rachel Gibson binge of 2006. INSANITY.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her Favorite Temptation was typical Mayberry genius. Two extremely lovable and awesome characters are facing significant personal challenges but who do it gracefully and become even MORE awesome in the process. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And as usual I loved, loved, loved her Epilogue because it closed the loop on the way both h & H approached their personal demons and why they were so right for one another. I am constantly amazed by the way Ms. Mayberry manages to show friendship, caring and love AND show how each character is a "whole" person in themselves. They each have personal challenges, personal interests and ambitions and each is a fully realized person who manages to find a great fit with the other. I am really not a fan of characters who are shown as nothing more than almost-marrieds. Like they have no direction, interests, hobbies, passions etc except the other person. Ms. Mayberry NEVER does that to her characters. Kristan Higgins does an awesome job of writing characters that have a whole personality too and I went through a whole KH addiction phase too, I recall...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh man. I am just dreading the day I finish all her books. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> A musician who's one half of a popular band. He's in "hiding" from the world and his family because he's been given some terrible new about his health that leaves him feeling scared and unstable and he feels like he needs to withdraw from everything just to process his own feelings. He really likes her but is scared to really do anything about it because his own life hangs in such precarious balance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> A sweet, goofy doctor who lives next door to the H. She thinks he's a hot dish but doesn't recognize him for the rock star that he is. She has always been a good girl, always sucked up to her parents and worked hard in school and then work. But she's feeling stifled in both her job and her life. Then she meets this sweet, charming, smokin' dude who lives next door who encourages her to be brave. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict: *Spoiler ahead* </b>After he undergoes the operation on his tumor, he realized he may have lost the use of his right hand - understandably a horribly difficult and traumatic event for <i>anyone</i> and even more so for someone who makes his living as a musician. He knows the next few months of rehabilitation are going to be intense and even though he loves her, he feels like he just can't put the h through that kind of situation - not when he feels so "unmanned" by his situation. The h meanwhile loves him but feels like she can't demand his attention and focus when he's going through such a difficult transition in his life. So they both hover about each other, in love, but uncertain whether they should really just go for it. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-19815703252524301082013-08-28T09:14:00.000-07:002013-08-28T09:14:02.822-07:00Maybe THIS Is Why We Like to Read Romance Novels - Because In Real Life, Guys Like THIS Exist<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OMG <a href="http://jezebel.com/insanely-detailed-craigslist-personal-ad-has-a-28-quest-1212317513" target="_blank">Jezebel</a>, the often raunchy and always hilarious purveyor of the world's feminist happenings, brought me THIS piece of awesome this morning and I have not been able to stop laughing and now my sides hurt and I wanna dump coffee all over this @ssbag's head.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When is there going to be romance novel written about a couple that meets on craigslist?? PLEASE let it be soon.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<header class="mtn mbl" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 15px !important; margin-top: 0px !important;"><h1 class="headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; direction: ltr; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, serif; font-size: 33px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<a data-id="" href="http://jezebel.com/insanely-detailed-craigslist-personal-ad-has-a-28-quest-1212317513" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;">'Gentleman' Seeks 'Worthy' Woman in Personal Ad With 28-Question FAQ</a></h1>
</header><div class="row" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px -18px; max-width: none; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<div class="twelve columns marquee-asset-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px 18px; position: relative; width: 672px;">
<span class="img-border mbs" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin-bottom: 5px !important; position: relative;"><img class="marquee js_annotatable-image cursor-crosshair" data-asset-url="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18yez97r4bzvmpng/ku-bigpic.png" data-chomp-id="18yez97r4bzvmpng" height="546" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18yez97r4bzvmpng/ku-bigpic.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: crosshair; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 636px;" width="970" /></span><span class="image-annotation-footnote-wrapper" data-footnote-chomp-id="18yez97r4bzvmpng" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 636px;"></span></div>
</div>
<div class="row post-content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px -18px; max-width: none; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<div class="first-text" data-textannotation-id="d961f9313eac03b3f34ec1941f1e5c76" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote data-textannotation-id="afca480385b368573b97bec234555b7f" style="background-color: white; border-left-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5; margin: 10px 0px 19px 18px; max-width: 100%; overflow: auto; padding: 16px 35px; width: 638.390625px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">** PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE AD CAREFULLY BEFORE CONTACTING ME INCLUDING THE FAQs/COMMENTS AT THE END. THANK YOU.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />(P.S. If you contact me it will be assumed you have read, understood and agree with everything on this page. If you disagree or don't like anything please don't contact me. On the other hand, "If you SNOOZE, you lose. . .") NOTE: I WILL TEST YOU early in the first communications/interactions between us to know if you are real, honest, motivated, serious, etc. Please take this as a fair and friendly prior warning. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">ME = </strong>A very nice, mature , "gentleman." with a higher college degree and education. I have my own house (not apartment), car, income, etc. I am of Middle-Eastern descent (Iranian/Persian). A professional man with a GOOD BACKGROUND. Better than 99% of what you will find, GUARANTEE #1.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">YOU =</strong> Good girl for friendship and romance. You would be treated very well and nobody will treat you better (GUARANTEE #2). HOWEVER IN ORDER FOR THIS TO HAPPEN . . .YOU HAVE TO BE. . . "Worthy," "Deserving" and "Reciprocate."</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-1913307791189052522013-08-24T22:06:00.001-07:002013-08-24T22:06:21.295-07:00The Last Goodbye by Sarah Mayberry<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327910387l/8940946.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327910387l/8940946.jpg" width="202" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> One of two brothers who grew up in an abusive home, and had a truly terrifying father. Now all grown up and far away from his unhappy home, Tyler, the younger of the two siblings, gets a call that his father is dying. He goes home to sort things out and to finally confront his awful father but finds that that things between them are still unsettling and painful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She</b>: Ally is an advice columnist who has lived her life like a gypsy. Her mother was never able to stick to one place, and she also feels like she's inherited the "nomad" gene. For a few weeks at least, she's been living next door to Tyler's father and so she meets Tyler right in the middle of what is a <b>really</b> crappy time for the guy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict: </b>Tyler is traumatized by his horrendous father and painful childhood and isn't really the type of guy who feels like he can be casual about his relationships. Ally, on the other hand has only ever had casual relationships. She moves around a lot and can't seem to stay in one place for too long. They're super attracted to one another but it just seems like they both have a lot of healing to do before really getting into anything serious with anyone else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Loved:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Man, oh man. I am stupefied that in the space of 85,000 words, Ms. Mayberry managed to make be feel so twisted up inside by this horrible ogre of a father, AND feel like there was hope after all for Tyler AND feel like he and Ally should leap headfirst into a relationship with one another. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mean, if a friend of mine came to me and said, hey, this guy I'm dating has this sick, twisted family who's left him traumatized and having nightmares, should I keep seeing him? I would be like, heeeelllllls no, sister! Get out of there NOW. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But THIS book happened. And I felt SO much sympathy for this poor man, and SO happy that they did find each other! How did that even happen...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) There was no nicely tied up conclusion to the abusive family bit of the story. Sometimes sh!t happens and it just sucks and that's all there is to it. Nothing can really make it go away, but there is still hope for that cycle of violence to be broken and set right for the future. Sigh. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) I believe I have mentioned this, but I'll do it again. I. Love. Ms. Mayberry's. Epilogues. This lady knows what to do with an Epilogue. She gives us a little MORE story. Just a sweet treat at the end that makes me gush and feel all mopey and hopeful. She never does the same old, same old dribble about couples staring moonily at each other and rocking a fat little giggling baby in their arms. I mean puhleese. I LOVE SARAH MAYBERRY'S EPILOGUES. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Things that made me go <i>huh?</i>:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Why did this dude never seek counselling? Surely professional help (beyond the admirable, and heartfelt efforts of the agony aunt heroine) was called for for such a situation as this? I'm not saying that therapy would have solved all his problems, but honestly, the thought never crossed his mind the 100th time he wakes up from night sweats from having bad dreams of his childhood? Seemed odd to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word: </b>Wonderful. Amazing. I was so blown away by the way this lady manages to tell a hundred stories in the space of a HQN super romance. I mean... yeah. That's it.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-58499576581594969802013-08-19T16:22:00.000-07:002013-08-19T16:22:12.800-07:00Kiss the Girl by Susan Sey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://dearauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/179479824-200x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://dearauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/179479824-200x300.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The cover of this book really threw me for a loop. It suggests that the story would be one of those cutesy rom coms featuring a strong silent hero, a chattery but adorable heroine, a strict father figure with a heart of gold, a gay best friend and an eternally single and hilariously bitter bff. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>And I was wrong because despite what the cutie-patootie cover suggests, this story is the total opposite of that.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Heart surgeon who volunteers his time with the poor and downtrodden of D.C.'s rougher neighborhoods. Along with his best friend Mary Jane, he helps run a clinic to help the poor get access to healthcare.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> A famous trust fund-rich do-gooder from a family of famous do-gooders who has spent her whole life in the poorest parts of the world trying to bring attention to the plight of the people there. Her mother is described as an Angelina Jolie-type of character with an almost brutal beauty and the ability to turn everyone who beholds her into a whimpering fool. Our heroine on the other hand is more of a Princess Di sort with a sweetness and charm that ingratiates her to anyone she meets. Her life has </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> been charmed in terms of wealth and public adoration, but she's a lonely girl at the heart of it. Plus she has a nasty and dysfunctional family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> The hero's mother is a senator and he always resented the fact that she was never there for him and his father. He is determined never to marry someone who was so much in the public eye that it would preclude any sort of true private life. So when H meets h, although there is some attraction, he feels like her intensely public profile means that he can never really get into a relationship with her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Liked:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Interesting premise and probably not too far off the mark as far as how the media affects people's private lives. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) The story wasn't as "soft" as your typical chick-lit novel. There were some rather serious issues being dealt with here - poverty in America, the abominable state of the healthcare system, the responsibility of the rich to lend the poor some of their luck, how the media both manipulates and is manipulated by people in the spotlight - among others.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) The writing was snappy and many times funny, and the characters were really nicely drawn. They were all complicated and tricky and not at all the regular characters who usually pop up in chick-lit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What was sort of meh:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) I thought the hero was an ass. The big stick up his heinie was that his mommy was too busy for him (um hello, she was a senator, his dad could have moved <i>his</i> saggy butt to where his mom worked instead of insisting she leave her job and ambitions to come work on his farm). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a result of this feeling of abandonment, his whole problem with the heroine is that she's "too famous" to be a suitable wife and partner. Why? As a thinking adult, could he not open his eyes and see that being famous and busy isn't the real issue - the issue is what that person <i>does </i>with their fame and work. And once he gets to know her and realizes that she ISN'T a spoiled brat, <i>then</i> what is his issue with her? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really just didn't get why he let his dislike for the fact that he felt like his mom didn't bake him cookies when he was little color his whole entire perspective on Every Famous Female in the World.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) There is a scene where he forces her to eat meat even though she says she's a vegetarian because he doesn't believe she's a vegetarian for "the right reasons". Say what now!!?? Who the heck is HE to tell her what the "right" reasons are. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her reasons were actually pretty sound - she thinks the meat industry is extremely energy intensive and thought she would do her little part in cutting back on the waste. That isn't the worst reasoning I've ever heard. But he insists that she eat a burger. Turns out she likes it and he feels all vindicated and smug. <i>Well</i>... the fact that burgers are DELICIOUS is not really in dispute here - it's just that even though they are delicious a person has a right to choose not to eat them if they feel like they are doing something to cut back a little on the general excess. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) He asks his best friend to marry him even though he doesn't really love her <i>that way</i> two SECONDS after he finishes making out with the girl that he <i>does</i> like that way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word:</b> Ok - it occurs to me that everything I dislike about this book has to do with the hero. So I guess that's that then. If you don't mind douche-y, bitter, antagonistic heroes then this is the book for you! I do like Ms. Sey as a writer though so I will try something else of hers to get the taste of this silliness out of my mouth.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-85130235046177488492013-08-17T14:39:00.000-07:002013-08-19T16:25:03.824-07:00Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<a href="http://romancenovels.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/goddessofthehunt200x328.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://romancenovels.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/goddessofthehunt200x328.jpg" height="320" style="cursor: move;" width="195" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lovely, beautifully written and so, so sweet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Lucy loves Toby. Toby loves Sophia. And Jeremy loves Lucy. Love is so complicated, n'est pas?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This could have turned into a hilarious romp in the vein of The Importance of Being Ernest (one of the most wonderful books I have ever read), but it was just too sincere and well, <i>earnest</i>, to be anything other than a darling story about love growing between friends. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> Lucy is the younger sister of a slightly distracted, but loving brother who has practically grown up with her brother's two best friends Toby and Jeremy. She has formed a <i>tendre</i> for dashing and handsome Toby who had playfully crowned her Diana, Goddess of the Hunt once when he was in a particularly flirtatious mood. She is convinced that he's the man for her even though everyone else disagrees and sets out to seduce him in order to prove her point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Jeremy is the serious one of the three friends and has been the self-appointed look-out for Lucy and her various scrapes with disaster. He has always known she is special but doesn't really let himself go for it with her because she is his best friends sister and there are Rules against that kind of thing. Plus he's an Earl and has to marry someone suitable - Lucy, for all her charms, hardly fits the mold for his perfect countess.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> First of all there is a whole love triangle. That one is solved in the first 50% of the book. The last 50% deals with a whole series of misunderstandings that keep the two apart. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Loved:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) The words. I LOVED all the WORDS. I cannot say enough about romance writers who treat this genre like it's "proper" literature. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) The heroine is a bit of a dummy (she's young), but she's a ball of unstoppable energy that just made me smile. She does a lot of dumb things but she's pretty funny doing them, so I didn't mind too much. And despite her youth, she doesn't really need anyone to take care of her which is also a departure as far as young-girl-weds-older-man tropes go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) The female friendships in the story. I liked that the ladies were complicated and wanted different things but still found a way to bond. I liked that there was honestly between friends and that the women showed true regard and sympathy for one other.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What wasn't as awesome:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) I think the "Series of Misunderstandings" conflict is a bit overdone. I realize this book was written years ago, but I just think when all the tension between the hero and heroine can be instantly dissolved with a single honest discussion between the characters, then it's all a bit silly that it <i>isn't</i> being instantly solved with that conversation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Favorite lines:</b></span><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Goddess he may have dubbed her, but the worship was all on Lucy's side"</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"He employed six-and-twenty footmen - in London alone - to heed to his every command. Now he catered to the whims of a despot in dotted muslin.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"This wasn't a blind, mindless craving for anything woman and willing. This was needing with a name."</i></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-41155263298206184832013-08-17T13:34:00.000-07:002013-09-01T10:13:16.365-07:00Hot For Him by Sarah Mayberry<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1180346086l/1028828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1180346086l/1028828.jpg" height="320" width="202" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a cute little hate-becomes-love themed story about a couple of rival TV producers who manage competing daytime soaps. He's her nemesis because they're fierce competitors but otherwise we see that they would actually be great together - they're both fantastic at their jobs, both love what they do, they're both from large Greek families and have a similar sense of humor. Plus<b><i> they're both attracted to each other, in a way that only people in Romancelandia can be - you know that intense groinal aching and swelling that seems to grip people in romance novels?</i></b> Actually it makes it sound like they have Chlamydia when I say it like that... but you know what I mean, right? They're hot and heaving for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, the conflict is that he's attracted to her wants to go for it. In fact, he is ready to start a family and really wants to continue in the footsteps of his own happy My Big Fat Greek-style family. She, on the other hand grew up facing the dark side of what can sometimes happen in large, enmeshed families. She never wants to have kids because she's convinced she needs to break the cycle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I liked:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) I liked how aggressive the heroine is. Not aggressive as in rude and bitchy - just aggressive in her attitudes towards sex, her relationships and her job - just going for it when she wants something. Fierce and awesome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Ms. Mayberry painted the hero as totally alpha but not really in the King of His Job way. He likes his job and is good at it, but he's perfectly happy admitting that his job is just work and what really matters to him is family. I feel like in most romances, the hero comes to that conclusion right at the end after being "convinced" of this by his love for the heroine. In this case, the dude manages to come up with it all by himself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) The complications didn't all get solved after she finds her Big Love. My eyes always hurt from all the eye-rolling I do whenever I see writers just tie everything up with a pink ribbon at the end of the story. Give me some messiness, dang-it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) The Epilogue. I LOVE Sarah Mayberry's epilogues. She's so creative and awesome about them I wonder why EVERYONE doesn't just do epilogues like hers. I am so sick of the happily married couple + mini me (or bun in the oven) scene where everyone is laughing and its all gooey romantic looks and sunshine and no actual furthering of the plot at all. In Sarah Mayberry's books, the Epilogue actually finishes the story, helps further her characters and let's you create a whole vision of how you think the rest of the character's lives will go. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I didn't like so much:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) There was this somewhat contrived event that occurred that throws the H & h together - I see why the author wrote it that way - how else to get producers of rival tv shows together? But it was a bit over the top to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) The way they conflict was resolved meant that one of the characters moved all the way over to where the other character was - instead of more of a case of BOTH characters being willing to change and then maybe one actually having to change their position. I guess it's ok for one person to change their opinion in a couple - that happens all the time in real life. But it's <i>so</i> much nicer when BOTH change a little bit.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-63074785053546676582013-08-17T12:32:00.000-07:002013-08-17T12:32:34.084-07:00All Out of Love by Lori Wilde<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780062218964_p0_v4_s260x420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780062218964_p0_v4_s260x420.JPG" width="198" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Look at this cover. No, you're not listening - LOOK AT IT. I actually think you don't need to read this or any other review at all to enjoy this book. You may not even have to read the book when it comes down to it... </i></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Skinny</b> -</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
He:</b> The Most Popular Guy in school - football jock, gorgeous, cool AND nice - fulfills his youthful potential by becoming the QB for the Dallas Cowboys but then when everything goes horribly wrong - with his own health as well as his father's - he returns to his hometown and finds that the girl who had had a crush on him all through school is still around and has become pretty, darn hot.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> Chubby, awkward high school teen gets her deepest secret - an unrequited crush on the school's most popular and out-of-her-league guy - outed in the most mortifying way possible. She spends a lot of the next 10 years or so getting past that and becomes a confident, fun, fulfilled person. But then The Crush rolls back into town and she has to deal with all the small town's commentary as well as his totally of arrogant assumption she would still be into him.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> Leftover effects of the trauma of teenage embarrassment on her part, and a probable end of his sterling football career mean that they both have a bunch of issues. Plus the fact that even though she's a pretty confident person, she still feels the twinge of insecurity watching all the ladies in town throw themselves at him.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Liked:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Both characters were fun and confident and pretty happy with themselves. No one needed "fixing" and both were able to deal with their own emotional lives without acting like asses.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) The chick was described as cute and hot and a size 14. I am given to understand this is the US average size for a woman, so although the point that she wasn't exactly skinny was made, it wasn't belabored to the point of being annoying. In fact the hero doesn't really remark upon it at all. Nice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) The female character had a passion - plant biology of all things! I love it when characters have interests and passions outside of their romantic lives. It just makes me feel like they are people with the capacity for fulfilling their OWN happiness and the fact that they found a partner with whom to share that happiness is just a wonderful bonus. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Didn't like:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Not that I disliked this exactly, but I do find the corn-fed, salt-of-the-earth, good old boy Texas jock a bit of a tired hero archetype. I guess there's nothing <i>not</i> to like about this hero - he was a nice guy along with being a hot, successful athlete - but I guess I would have liked to see a "twist" in the character somewhere. Something unusual about him that would make him be something more that the other jock heroes I read. Apart from his predisposition to like average-sized woman, that is.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-15107108071201077762013-08-11T11:17:00.003-07:002013-09-04T08:24:22.325-07:00Here Comes the Groom by Karina Bliss<a href="http://everythingivereadthisyear.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/here-comes-the-groom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://everythingivereadthisyear.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/here-comes-the-groom.jpg" height="320" width="202" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been on a Australasia binge lately! A lot of Karina Bliss and Sarah Mayberry. Fun stuff. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So... I liked this one <i>okay</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was something about the friends-to-lovers thing that didn't really strike me as believable in this one. I know friends-to-lovers is a popular theme for many romance readers, but I don't really like them because I feel like it gives more ammunition to the side of the world that believes that girls and boys can't be friends - something I absolutely do not accept and do not believe at all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this case, H & h have been friends since childhood and there has been no hint of a romantic interest between the two of them that whole time. Well, except for this one tiny kiss they share when she's drunk and lonely. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then he comes back from a traumatic experience while fighting in Afghanistan and announces he wants to marry her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Ex-soldier, insists that 'everything is fine' but we sense that he's going through some terrible stress. And even though he's always been a good friend to her, he's kept himself apart. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> She's a strong, independent, competent lady. She's always been capable of taking care of her own affairs and has never played the damsel in distress with him - something that he has said he truly appreciates. But then when she goes through this terrible stressful situation, she feels like she shouldn't really burden him with her crap, especially since he's clearly been affected by the war and she doesn't want to add to that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> This is the part that felt a bit "off kilter" to me. I see why the would be a good match, but how come they never saw it all those years they were friends. And then, I wasn't quite sure how they each SUDDENLY knew this was the right decision? I guess in life, people don't necessarily have a seminal moment that explains everything they do, but surely they had hints? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway so the story conflict is that when she <i>does</i> realize she loves him, she wants them to marry for the right reasons, not because they are both too scared of life. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is some weird stuff right at the end where he goes through this whole "Grand Gesture" that is supposed to prove that they are meant to be together - that they are both facing their fears and taking real risks to be with one another. But honestly, I really didn't get it. The main trouble for me was that the gesture didn't really seem to be tied to their actual fears - except maybe in a distantly symbolic way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word: </b>So. All in all, a decent read, but I thought the "falling in love" stuff was really rather abrupt and there was none of the regular tension built up between them that would convince me that they really <i>wanted</i> each other. I came away feeling like they were both kind of just "settling" for their best friend. Not a terrible way to begin a relationship, of course, just not really the way you'd hope.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-70334017315852777062013-08-11T10:46:00.000-07:002013-08-11T10:46:16.354-07:00What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://www.harlequin.com/media/images/books/0310-9780373716227-bigw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.harlequin.com/media/images/books/0310-9780373716227-bigw.jpg" width="202" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Vintage-clad librarian gets it on with jaded, alpha-hole, ex-rocker dude. I thought I would totally hate it. But I totally, TOTALLY loved it. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Earring wearing, ex-rocker </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and basically a stuck up jerk for most of his famous life.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> He had been a substance abuser and a womanizer and a wearer of purple boots. He's in New Zealand, in retirement and to escape from his rollicking LA life of dissipation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> A goody two shoes librarian who's got a big secret. Ohhh. I WISH I could tell you the secret. But I CAN'T because it's such a good one and I want everyone to read this book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict</b>: They do NOT get along well. She thinks he's stuck up and he thinks she's lame. They're both right, of course. But then they spend some time together and it's sparky and hot, and super fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I loved:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) SO funny. The characters play off each other wonderfully. And it's not the cheesy way you'd expect with all the jokes at her expense (school-marmish, dowdily dressed librarian?) with him coming across as a rakish tease. The insults fly both ways and it's awesome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And honestly even though the H is described as arrogant, he is actually hilarious about it. Supremely confident but aware of his shortcomings the way we wish all our men would be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) There are some intense themes (feelings of abandonment, self-discovery, family struggles) but it's all dealt with a light hand and great humor so you don't feel mopey and sad the whole time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) I love that the h's focus wasn't ALL about the H. She had this other secret thing she's dealing with and for more than half the book she's pretty focused on that. She recognizes the attraction between them but that doesn't overshadow her own stuff. I really don't like it when authors describe how the heroine is going through this whole life changing thing and then all of a sudden the hero swoops in and all she does is stress over HIM. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>My favorite line: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"I'll just get my cardigan"</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Cardigan? He may not be a hell-raiser anymore but Devin valued his reputation. "Haven't you got anything sexy?"</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Yes," said Rachel. "My mind." </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You said it, sister.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-67799633306975896262013-08-08T22:18:00.001-07:002013-09-01T10:18:19.632-07:00All He Ever Needed by Shannon Stacey<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1341945292l/14714484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1341945292l/14714484.jpg" height="320" width="202" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Famous last words: It's just sex, we're not serious or anything.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do people even say stuff like that? If I've learned anything from romance novels (and believe me, I've learned PLENTY) saying dumb sh!t like that is like waving a baby mouse in front of a irate cobra. Pretty obvious how <i>that</i> story ends.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, obvious-sauce aside, I really enjoyed this story. To think I almost gave up on this series! After 3-hearting <a href="http://theromanticalskeptic.blogspot.com/2013/03/yours-to-keep-shannon-stacey-she.html" target="_blank">Yours to Keep</a>, I almost threw in the towel with the Kowalski brothers because it was getting rather same-y same-y. But I guess all I needed was a break because this story, as "standard" as it was, was pretty darn fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Mitch, the town's favorite bad-boy panty-charmer rides back into town after a long absence and seems to immediately inflame the female population of the small town like a match on dry kindling. The ladies of the town chatter unceasingly about his many feats of sexual prowess so we quickly learn that the man is kind of a big deal bedroom-wise.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> The owner of the main diner in town who is taking a break from men. She has some history and doesn't want to be the kind of woman her mom turned into - the kind of twists herself into uncomfortable shapes to please a man. Not bedroom-wise, but <i>life</i>-wise.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> He's just in town for a quick stint to help his brother out, she doesn't want to get into anything to wreck the careful peace she's put together for herself so they agree to just be casual. <i>Yeaaaaah.</i> Then one of them decides that maybe they <i>could</i> have something serious. But then they get their heart broken because the other one hasn't gotten there (yet). I won't say who moved faster in this case because that would be giving it away. But I'll give you a hint. 99.9% of the time it's the chick who moves too fast. And this book wasn't really that original. So...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know why I'm being so mean to this book! I really liked it! It was funny, hot and even managed to be realistic in parts. It was just so <i>regular</i> that I actually amazed myself by <i>not</i> getting annoyed by all the cliches.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word: </b>At the end of the day the question I ask myself whenever I read a romance was answered: why the heck do these guys like each other? Ms. Stacey showed us clearly why these two characters liked and then loved each other and why we the readers should find them lovable, and ultimately that was all that mattered.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-42295411927356897122013-08-05T17:18:00.001-07:002013-09-01T10:20:41.974-07:00The Return of Rafe McKade by Nora Roberts<a href="http://i43.tower.com/images/mm120938980/return-rafe-mackade-nora-roberts-paperback-cover-art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i43.tower.com/images/mm120938980/return-rafe-mackade-nora-roberts-paperback-cover-art.jpg" height="320" width="193" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was literally JUST <a href="http://theromanticalskeptic.blogspot.com/2013/08/old-school-alpha-heroes-get-even-hotter.html" target="_blank">talking about the change in the alpha hero landscape from the Old School variety to this 2.0 modified alpha version</a>. I had this whole argument for the new, more sensitive, nice-guy version and then I re-read this book! I am feeling all nostalgic for the Old School types again...sigh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway - quick run down of the salient plot points.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> One of 4 bad-boy brothers in a small town who blazed out of town years ago because he was restless and felt like he needed to get out (or punch something, which he incidentally does, a LOT). Now he's back - still too hot to handle, but also successful and wealthy and too pretty for his own good. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He takes one look at her and like a roaming African boy wildebeest who sees the glistening hindquarters of his perfect girl wildebeest, he goes - <i>her</i>, I'll take <i>her</i>. And it's on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> A recent import to the small town so she didn't know his bad boy self when he was growing up and gets to see it all fresh for the first time when he comes rolling back to his hometown after his self-imposed exile. Lucky ducky. She's running an antique store and he hires her to furnish the property he's restoring now that he's back in town. She's determined not to become her mother (traditional, husband-serving, personality-less) so she's not keen to have him overwhelm her better judgement and tries to keep aloof.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> He blows hot and strong and it's all a bit much for her so she tells him to dial it back a bit. He obviously does the opposite (because dude, he's a MAN) and pretty soon they're humping like bunnies in the old haunted property he's trying to restore. He spends a lot of time announcing his wicked intentions to her. And warning everyone else to back off of HIS woman. She does an admirable job of keeping him er, <i>civilized</i>, but his manliness and need to protect her finally overwhelms her better sense and she gracefully succumbs. Good old fashioned romance, in other words.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word:</b> I mean... this is an OLD book (1995s, I think) - but still manages to be a hoot to read. The is PLENTY of sillysauce in the book (he seems to prefer resolving conflict like a hormonal 16 year old - bar fights and gorilla chest-thumping - and channels all sexual frustration into some black, black moods.) But somehow, I didn't mind at all. Nora Roberts entertained and charmed and it was all just a sweet, sometimes hot experience. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It made me miss the Old School alphas of yore. "Yore" being 1995 apparently. Good times.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-49994830520077357472013-08-04T15:10:00.002-07:002013-08-04T15:10:40.664-07:00The Other Side of Us by Sarah Mayberry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://romanticnovels.ca/images/the%20other%20side%20of%20us.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="The Other Side of Us by Sarah Mayberry" border="0" height="320" src="http://romanticnovels.ca/images/the%20other%20side%20of%20us.png" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loved this! This was my first Sarah Mayberry and I am SOLD. I have just picked up another few of hers and shall begin work on the backlist post haste!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>This story was set in Australia. I recommend you read everything in an 'Strailian accent to maximize on your enjoyment.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> N ice, sweet, ex-rock star/current music producer who's come to a little seaside town to lick his wounds after a particularly sucky divorce from his wife of 6 years. His divorce is still warm from the oven, having happened only a few months before, so he's not exactly in a place to be starting up with anyone else. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> A high powered tv producer who is recovering from a horrendous car accident. She is having a tough time physically with her recovery but worse than that is that her spirits are also in tatters when she realizes there is the chance that she may not be able to get back to the job into which she had poured prior to her accident.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict: </b>The H moves into the cottage next door to hers and things don't begin well for the two of them. She's depressed and anxious about her future prospects and behaves like a cow whenever he tries to extend any neighborly goodwill. But then, as they spend more time interacting, they discover an attraction between them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The trouble is that as much as they like each other, they are each in such a complicated situation personally (he is still sort of sore with all the issues surrounding his divorce, she is still trying to figure out how she wants to spend the rest of her life without her work) that the timing just feels all wrong.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I liked:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>H & h each have a dog.</u> The pooches are <i>much</i> less slow than their owners about developing </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">their</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> doggy affection for one another.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> This could have been SO corny, but Ms. Mayberry dealt with these side characters with the respect due to their species. Awesome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) <u>The Epilogue.</u> OMG. Wait, before I oversell this I should say that I usually roll my eyes and feel annoyed at epilogues (mainly because they are ALL THE SAME - H&h still behaving like passionate honeymooners, baby/mini-me-in-the-making, perfect life, perfect friends, perfect perfect perfect (blech)). This one was still perfect, but it actually helped tie the story together and was a way of actually progressing the characters themselves and not just a way to show how the characters had achieved some sort of baby-house-perfection milestone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) <u>The conflict was entirely believable and there were no unnecessary "misunderstandings".</u> Everything was just laid out on the table and both characters behaved like sensible adults instead of loony, oversexed adolescents. I think I really like "the timing is off" books. It just feels like one of those conflicts I can really understand and find believable. I mean, we all have had those types of situations or know others who have. And I just find myself really getting drawn in because I can so easily see that happening in real life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) <u>The writing was really fun!</u> Witty and fast paced, and totally readable. I wanted to pick another one of Ms. Mayberry's up AS SOON as I finished with this one!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I wondered about:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) The h apparently did have family but I was a bit confused about why she was convalescing all by herself. Where were all her friends and family? No phone calls? No visits? I guess she was trying to grit her teeth and be independent and to power through all by herself. But it was still strange. I always get weirded out when a person is described as being so all alone. Does she even LIKE people? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the end, not a big deal because she likes him and he likes her and that's that.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-17843455275468671812013-08-02T08:28:00.000-07:002013-08-04T14:28:29.884-07:00Old School Alpha Heroes Get Even Hotter. Thank You, World.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to talk about heroes for a minute. Oh, who am I kidding, I want to talk about heroes ALL the time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my early romance reading days, I think I only read books with<b> <span style="color: #cc0000;">alpha heroes</span>.</b> I was kind of convinced that every hero was basically the same dude. He was:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivHEBlfPino2cdWmMvf5MtdNoaWtSKSLTILyHdIdZ2rN_gFd06kO27jbngFucXP7p48z4jlEKlHauAoaL0Ahr9h19MCFs5nCEWz7DAmwfzlue01pPD8rmr1A4kEQ_AzOQL-w7YQ_EHlGY/s1600/OldSchoolAlphas.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivHEBlfPino2cdWmMvf5MtdNoaWtSKSLTILyHdIdZ2rN_gFd06kO27jbngFucXP7p48z4jlEKlHauAoaL0Ahr9h19MCFs5nCEWz7DAmwfzlue01pPD8rmr1A4kEQ_AzOQL-w7YQ_EHlGY/s1600/OldSchoolAlphas.png" height="320" width="303" /></a></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hot</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Smart</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rich/successful</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of a privileged class</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sort of a bad boy (or at least <i>had</i> been in his unruly youth, but now the bad-ness lurks tantalizingly just under his skin; he's a saint in a leather jacket) - some of his "badness" is the spicy whiff of him just not giving a crap</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Uber confident - this man has life by the bollocks.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Has a superhero complex - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he has a biological imperative to protect his lovely lady with his money, prestige and powerful personality, and if necessary, his fists. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suffering some sort of internal anguish that causes him pain, a situation that is alleviated by of the heroine in his life</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These, as we know, are some of the features of the classic romantic hero archetype from the <b><span style="color: blue;">mad, bad and dangerous-to-know</span></b> Mr. Rochester to our main man F.W. Darcy. This incarnation of the romantic hero is sometimes called the<i> Byronic hero</i> archetype, and is thought to have caught on with the ladies after he published his narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (More on this and Byron and the poem below).</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://19thcentury.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/eyecandyheathcliff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://19thcentury.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/eyecandyheathcliff.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to all these qualities, the<span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> Old School alphas</b></span> were also, alas:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arrogant</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bossy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moody and </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Terrible at communicating their feelings in a logical and sensible manner, preferring instead to indulge in fits of gross misunderstanding and scowly-ness.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of the 1980s and 90s romantic alpha heroes on whom I nursed continued this tradition. Think Clayton Westmoreland the Duke of Claymore from Whitney, My Love, or actually, any of Judith McNaught's heroes. The</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> heroes in Susan Elizabeth Phillips' books who are always these alpha dog jocks and men with incredible success in the bed/boardroom. Every single one of the Scots/highland hero stories where our hero has such a surfeit of testosterone that he manages to make a skirt look as manly as a sweaty jockstrap.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And cheesy squeezy as all this was, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved it. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Listen, I KNEW those alpha dudes were fantasy and totally impossible characterizations of any actual man, even when I was 16, I KNEW.<Shakes head and makes Garfield eyes>.<span style="color: magenta;"> <b>But by the Wings of Pegasus,</b></span></span><span style="color: magenta;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">loved </i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>those arrogant douches</b>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But <i>why</i> did I love them? Sensing, as I did, that these men were totally unrealistic portrayals of Real Men, cringing as I often would at the rape-y sex scenes and heavy-handedness with which the heroine was often treated -<b> <span style="color: orange;">why on earth were these men so attractive to me</span></b>?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Weeeeelll....I guess one big reason was that as a young sapling, <b><span style="color: purple;">those guys made me feel like someone <i>else, </i>someone big, brawny and capable, would make everything ok in my tiny little world.</span></b> In my little fantasy universe, unlike in my real un-fantastic life, I didn't have to take charge of anything. <b><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">I could just hang out and wait to get my ass saved by some mighty highlander with piercing eyes who could see through to my very soul who was possessed of thighs of steel.</span></b> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't know precisely <i>why</i> steely thighs were useful in a man (I was 16, and those were more innocent times), but there was no doubt in my mind that it was a plus. In return, I would be able to remove the tortured pain that he felt with my cheeriness and indefatigable niceness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, I have matured, dear Skeptics. I am happy to report that <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>I am kind of over it with douchey heroes</b></span>. Maybe because now I'm awesome enough to figure out my own cr@p and don't necessarily need a brawny dude to manage stuff, although it <i>would</i> be nice if one would deal with the laundry from time to time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now. I am definitely not saying I like BETA beta heroes. At least not the way they are sometimes written in contemporary romances (you almost NEVER see a beta in historical romances so I don't have a whole lot to reference). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What do I mean by the traditional beta?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main characteristic I see exist in the beta hero is that he's <i>passive</i> and let's<i> things happen to him</i> instead of reaching out and controlling his own destiny. This is sometimes, but not always, because he is in a position of low power - he's poor, he's in a lower social strata, he has experienced certain things that have left him with poor self-esteem. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't have a ton of examples, but I guess Mr. Bingley would be a beta in my mind. Would you read a whole book about Bingley? Meh. Mr. Knightly was also kinda passive but I guess that book wasn't so much about the romance between Emma and Knightly, it was more about Emma's own personal growth.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, over the past hmmmm 10 years or so, I have had a sort of come-to-Jesus event with the <b><span style="color: blue;">New, Improved Alpha</span></b> who's been showing up all over Romancelandia. I call him the <b><span style="color: magenta;">Modified Alpha</span></b>. And he's the Man.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Alpha hero 2.0: The Modified Alpha</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQYtaKA7GX9Es2pAVzfEVpU4BKNjclmanC-l-x0cr1j28EhS6CKnc4YdcIdySSQzPKoFolGFS-Scr26DWLxTYrAKYWD0dv_7UQOxJBgZk54WiUhPoOSxBgr48PRyE9dsUr7BKacjIrZw/s1600/Alpha2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQYtaKA7GX9Es2pAVzfEVpU4BKNjclmanC-l-x0cr1j28EhS6CKnc4YdcIdySSQzPKoFolGFS-Scr26DWLxTYrAKYWD0dv_7UQOxJBgZk54WiUhPoOSxBgr48PRyE9dsUr7BKacjIrZw/s1600/Alpha2.png" height="320" width="268" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This new generation of heroes have many of the same positive characteristics as the traditional alphas (they're still tall, dark and tortured) but they seem to have shed many of their awful characteristics (moodiness and arrogance), and have become simply<i> swoon-worthy</i>. In a way they are even <i>less</i> realistic than the old school alphas - I mean, those guys had faults, at least. These ones are just<b><span style="color: #990000;"> decent, communicative (relatively) and sensitive guys who are ALSO awesomely hot, sexual athletes who respect women. </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mean, what's not to like?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway. The whole point of my ramblings is to say that there's a sea change happening in our dreamtastic fantasy men, Ladies, and I like it. I like it a lot. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What do you guys think? Do you desperately pine for the return of the broody swashbuckler who could pick you up with one hand and crush your problems to fine dust with his square jaw and meat hook hands while he ravishes you on his powerful steed? Or are you in favor of this new trend towards nicer guys with amazing pecs and ability to communicate their feelings AND fights fires for a living?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Do tell!</b> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<ul>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Childe Harold's Pilgrimage</u></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I gotta be honest. I tried reading the poem and it was terrible. The hero is just a whiny little brat the whole time, but the</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> interesting </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">thing was how Byron introduced the idea that the hero was something quite different than those strapping Greek boys with their brawn and brutishness, or even those gallant knights who saved fainting damsels every Sunday and Tuesday. Byron's hero had some inner pain that followed him no matter where he journeyed. He may have reached the pinnacle of society in terms of money and prestige, but he would still be burdened by a torment impossible to convert into happiness until he found his true angel. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harold doesn't actually find an angel - if I understood the poem correctly, he ends with some ramblings about nature and the sublime, but to be fair Byron was probably high when he wrote this. And it <i>really</i> didn't end well for Byron himself. He left England after a series of scandals and bankruptcy and then after engaging some political intrigues against the Ottomans, he died ignominiously of fever in Greece. Anyway.</span></span><br />
<ul>
</ul>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-10892404307981835132013-08-01T11:14:00.000-07:002013-09-01T10:27:13.865-07:00The Flame and the Flower by Katherine Woodiwiss<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥ </span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Queen of Bodice Rippers</b><br />
<div>
<a href="http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/6501594-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/6501594-M.jpg" height="320" width="189" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's hard to talk about this book without mentioning its context in the history of the genre. Especially since it was the <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>book that actually helped <i>define</i> the genre.</b></span> It must have been so thrilling/shocking to have picked this book up in 1972. Imagine being a young Skeptic, having never before read an explicit sex scene in a romance novel, picking this little piece of goodness up and being faced with a rather full-on rape scene in the first 40 pages! </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's stupid to try and "judge" the material in today's context, but let me just say this thing reads ... interestingly... this second time around, after having read all the generations of historical romance that have been written since. It's hyperbolic (sex scene: stars, heaven, bursting, shattering), and expansive (poor orphan, horrible abuse at the hands of men, journey across the high seas, introduction to an untamed new world) and if it wasn't the Classic it is,<b><span style="color: #93c47d;"> it's a pretty horrendous read.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't mean any disrespect to the Duenna of the grand tradition of the historical romance as we know it, so I'll doff my hat and drop a curtsy to her right now before I begin outlining the wtfs that had me rolling my eyes in my journey.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1) The Hero and heroine were <i>tres idiotique</i> and never, ever COMMUNICATE like adults:</b> Granted that the heroine was 18 when they meet, but having been 18 myself, I would have bloody well said something like, hey dude - I'm not a prostitute, I'm actually just lost, so you should probably not try to have sex with me. <b><span style="color: magenta;">And I get that he's horny and not thinking clearly, but surely he had the company of his right hand for all those months at sea</span></b>, and unlike a lion or a horse or a wombat who <i>couldn't possibly</i> take care of matters by themselves, this dude could have behaved a little less like a ravening beast and more like a dude who just wanted a little female company. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And worse than the actual rape (ACK!) was the hero's rather amused reaction when he realizes his mistake. I mean, <i>what the WHAT THE WHAT</i>???? I get that times may have been "rougher" then, but surely he might have spared a moment's regret at having basically hurt and ruined this chick! What a dummy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2) Fake tension: </b>After the weird rape scene, there is about 80% of the book where the hero behaves like a chaste little choirboy. A moody, irritable little sh!t in other words. God, that guy was the WORST. He's mean and silly and seems unable to communicate like an adult man. And then, when they eventually DO get it on after this torturous almost-year of frustrated chastity, he's kinda nice. <b><span style="color: blue;">So all the aggression and black humor was just a case of extreme sexual frustration?? </span></b>Again, something that could have been solved in about 100 seconds of him getting cozy with his hand. C'mon bro.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wonder if their not sleeping together while she is pregnant had more to do with some sort of squeamishness from the audience at the time than something the author necessarily wanted to show? These days, romances seem to have gone the opposite direction with couples going at it like bunnies while she's preggers. Which I don't know if I'm <i>totally</i> into either...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3) The heroine has zero personality:</b><span style="color: #c27ba0;"><b> Unless you call being young and hot a personality. </b></span>She's a scaredy puss in her every interaction with "danger" or intimidation. Fine, she's young. She shows the occasional flash of temper but then it subsides at the first sign of conflict. Ok, she's young and has had a hard life that have left her gun shy. She doesn't seem to have any interests (except taking baths - there are like 25 bath scenes in this book - I appreciate the nod to <a href="http://theromanticalskeptic.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-rogue-pirates-bride-by-shana-galen.html" target="_blank">cleanliness</a>, but c'mon.) People either hate or like her because of her beauty. Her husband basically falls for her because of her ravishing figure and pretty face. But apart from the beauty thing and the youth thing, there doesn't seem to be much going for her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe this is a way to make the heroine's character more of a "vessel" into which the reader can pour in her own personality and feel all the events with more sympathy? I dunno. I just thought she was lame.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>4) Two-dimensional characters: </b>The baddies are BAD. <b><span style="color: #f1c232;">And there are SO MANY BADDIES</span></b>. Her abusive aunt. Her aunt's lecherous brother. The rapey villain. The hero's jealous lover. The hero for most of the book. The hero's horse was kinda of a d!ck too, come to think of it. I'd have enjoyed a 3rd dimension on some of this stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, I'll stop there. Would I read this book again? Never. Should you read it? Obvi, sisters. Obvi. It's part of the canon. And when you read a romance novel with the passion that many of us do, you need to know where the genre has come from. Think of it like reading Othello or Moby Dick or some other tedious read that you somehow convince yourself is "art" and clever and enriching.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word:</b> My recommendation would be to read it aloud, in the company of other Skeptics. <b><span style="color: #e06666;">In fact, I wish I had read this aloud with my husband and watched his reactions.</span></b> It would have been a great experience to be able to explain my way through some of the riduculosity that was going on. Ooh. Maybe I WILL read it again, after all!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-16528701697931553572013-07-26T09:57:00.004-07:002013-08-17T15:05:04.766-07:00A Lady By Midnight by Tessa Dare<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥</span><br />
<div>
<a href="http://tessadare.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ALBM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://tessadare.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ALBM.jpg" height="320" width="198" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book started at a 4-5 </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥ </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for me and sort of held there for the first 2/3rds of the book. I was thrilled and prepared to settle in for a nice Sunday Funday of just me, Tessa and a bottle of something cheap and red! But THEN. Oooooh then. Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you that the last third just stretched my patience a LITTLE too far and just brought the whole thing down to an average of 3 </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Sigh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the lowdown.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Corporal Thorne's militia unit is stationed in Spindle Cove, a quaint little seaside town inhabited by an abundance of unusual and interesting ladies. He's quiet and surly and not much of a conversationalist. We find out that he's had a wretched childhood and his taciturnity is partly a result of a lifetime of getting kicked in the cojones by Life. He's also just a reserved guy.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> Kate is the village piano teacher. She is sweet and kind, a well-liked member of the village. Underneath her sweetness, she is masking her loneliness and an almost desperate need to find her family. She is an orphan who had the good fortune to be left at a school for girls where she was relatively well treated but she still pines to discover what she can about her own roots.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> He is wildly attracted to her, but feels so beneath her that he can't allow himself to touch her. She always feels intimidated by his dark scowls and moodiness. The main reason he won't allow himself to be near her is because he knows something about where she comes from, something bad, and that information could potentially destroy the nice little life she has built for herself. And he likes her <i>so</i> much he just can't bring himself to ruin everything for her no matter how much she <i>thinks</i> she wants to find out about her past.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>So...</b>The first bit starts out really nicely - classic Tessa Dare. Witty, sweet, fun. All the elements of a cozy love story all lined up like a bunch of yellow duckies toddling along behind their mom. The right amount of <i>longing</i> and <i>lusting</i> and <i>broody staring</i>. All great stuff and I was all set to 5 heart this puppy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>But THEN...</b> there is a series of what I shall call Hysterical Events (including an idiotic sword fight / impromptu duel at a house party, a marriage proposal from someone who is a good guy but basically needs to marry her because he needs her inheritance, the constant self-denial of the hero because he just Wants Her to Be Happy even though she keeps telling him she will be Happy Only With Him). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And as much as I dislike hysteria perpetrated by the heroine, I equally don't like it when it's perpetrated by the hero. The hero's problem is that because of his painful childhood he feels alone and unlovable and has experienced all sorts of terrible violence. But the way he tries to do what's best for her is always this overly dramatic, operatic nonsense that leaves me feeling like "huh?" Is this a full grown man? Because he's kind of acting like a 16 year old girl...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm being very harsh. I know that. I did like the H. He was a really decent dude who was only trying to do what's best for her. But I feel like his insecurity just made him behave in ways that I didn't find rational or even sensible. So I didn't fall for him and that just made believing the whole HEA that much harder for me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Anyway.</b> Having said that, I think this was a sweet story with all the hallmarks of a good Tessa Dare read - humor, wit, some spiciness - so it wasn't a total loss. I just wished I connected with the H more.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-19330213507329535742013-07-26T09:27:00.001-07:002013-07-26T09:34:54.576-07:00Dudes in England Will Now Deal With Our Main Girl Jane Austen on a Daily Basis, And They'll LIKE IT<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is why I love the UK so much. My girl Jane Austen is going to be on MONEY now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can you see what else is printed on this mock up 10 pound bank note? "I declare after all there is no employment like reading." Who puts that on MONEY?? The <i>les Anglais</i> do, that's who. I salute you, you crazy geniuses. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I will love money even more than I already do. Ausome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the cool <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23424289" target="_blank">article from the BBC</a> which talks about the campaign to get more women on banknotes.</span><br />
<br />
<img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68928000/jpg/_68928386_461janeaustenconceptimage.jpg" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-3146275203685898742013-07-25T14:02:00.003-07:002013-07-25T14:02:48.932-07:00Moonlight Road by Robyn Carr<a href="http://www.robyncarr.com/MoonlightRoad_med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.robyncarr.com/MoonlightRoad_med.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's how it went down - H & h meet under less than auspicious circumstances, then for 20% of the book they don't appear on the same page together. Then they meet again and decide they like each other. Then they meet some more and REALLY like each other. Then there's this whole drama with his ex-wife that goes on until the last 10 pages and <i>then</i> H & h live happily ever after. The end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Aiden is a retired ex-navy doctor who is hanging out in the small town of Virgin River while he tries to figure out what he wants to do next in his life. He's a nice guy who's just happy tooling around in the garden and hanging in the great outdoors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> Erin is a somewhat uptight lady who's come to "relax" in the isolated town - her first vacation in 25 years. She's an extremely hardworking lawyer who's been responsible for her younger siblings from a really young age. Now that her brother and sister are out of the house and don't really need her anymore, she's suffering a bit of empty nest syndrome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict: </b>The romance between the Erin and Aiden is actually fairly uncomplicated but there is this whole other story of Aiden's ex-wife who creates a bunch of drama that interferes with the two of them and lends to some of the tension between Erin and Aiden.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I liked:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Robyn Carr writes really NICE people. Her heroes are decent, upstanding, no-games-playing lads, and her ladies are mature and sensible so you never feel like hitting your head against the wall because of some totally stoopid thing either the H or h does. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What was only "meh":</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) SO slow. So so so slow. I just couldn't keep my mind on the story because it just moved along like molasses in January.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Just too much going on at once. This is a weird thing for me to say given my point above about the SLOWNESS with which the story moved. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because the main romantic story of Aiden and Erin didn't really have any built-in conflict (except for the psycho stalker ex-wife) it seemed like the author sort of just piled in a bunch of side stories and entanglements that made the whole thing seem a bit too busy and scattered.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For example, one character was dealing with the inability to have more children and she and her husband were trying to work through her difficulty fully coping with that stress. Then there was the H's mother who was in a new relationship and was rediscovering herself and her interests. Then there was some story about a man with Down's syndrome and how he forms a special bond with a lady with some other disabilities. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carr deals with each of these relationships really sympathetically and sweetly, but honestly, I didn't see how any of it contributed to the MAIN story, which is why I was reading the book in the first place. Personal preference, I guess, but it felt like a lot of sound and fury.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word:</b> It was a sweet story, I guess. Just way too slow and I think I prefer Robyn Carr's other stories.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-87001700586546664052013-07-23T09:38:00.003-07:002013-07-24T14:48:31.054-07:00Redwood Bend by Robyn Carr<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSE48khKPP4zAJQACvub6W87-albDsd-WxSTfFyf6ucStCBdpWptw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSE48khKPP4zAJQACvub6W87-albDsd-WxSTfFyf6ucStCBdpWptw" width="201" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What would it look like if two<b> really sensible</b> people met and fell in love? Also, what if they <b>communicated all there feelings and hopes properly</b> and made sure they <b>avoided gross misunderstanding</b> at every turn in their relationship? </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, what <i>would</i> happen is what <i>did</i> happen in Redwood Bend. A nice, sweet romance between two people who fall in love despite not having it All Figured Out in their own lives and who still find a way to make it work. Winner.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> Ex-movie star, current owner and operator of a small struggling airport</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> A widowed single mother of twin boys who, after </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">suffering through a few tough situations</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in the last few years, just wants a nice, stable life for her sons.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict:</b> His life is the very <i>definition</i> of unstable, his business is on the brink, he's from a horribly unstable family and was kind of a wild-child super star in his youth - not exactly the best resume for someone she might pick to be with. Also, he doesn't even live in the same state as she does. He even admits (actually, he insists) that he's a terrible bet and that they definitely shouldn't take their fling any further.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I liked:</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Both characters were rational, "with-it" folks. I don't have another good word to describe what I mean. I don't mean that they were tweedy and boring. More that they just communicated properly, both were mature and genuinely nice people whose only real trouble was that they seemed all wrong for one another at first glance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) I am a big fan of characters having to overcome a big source of tension before giving in to their Big Love. Often authors will create this weird, contrived source of tension (evil villain, stalkers, crazy exes, Big Misunderstanding) as if readers won't be able to feel any urgency unless there's a crazysauce baddie to overcome. Here though, there is a great deal of tension and all of it feels totally relatable and REAL. It comes from the fact that both H & h need to decide how they want to create their lives and how they can fit the other person into it. Both end up giving something and getting something (wow! like Real Life, mom!) and it's all really nicely done.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I thought was meh:</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1)<b> *Spoiler!* </b>So it was all nipping along nicely, I was feeling some heart strings being played like a fiddle, everything was nice and realistic and then...dum dum dum daaaaaah! The Ruh-roh Baby Plot emerged. <i>How</i>, in this day and age of birth control technology, are there so many ineffective prophylactics out there!!!?? And I thought we left the Ruh-roh Baby Plot behind in the 90s!! I thought it was actually a totally unnecessary lever to pull to create urgency and tension between the characters - there was enough already without this little excursion down 90s Plot Nostalgia Avenue! Anyway, I thought it was dumb, but the book went on fine and in the end we got our little HEA Epilogue with the bouncing mini-me and Happy Family scenario. <b>*End of Spoiler*</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word:</b> I really liked Robyn Carr's style. It felt natural and easy to read. The plot wasn't really new or anything but sometimes you just want some easy-readin'.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-78699681837103745462013-07-22T08:56:00.004-07:002013-07-22T08:56:45.489-07:00Dating Mr. December by Phillipa Ashley<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREHUb-9S6Fzgd5anFUdow7tWYo_cUBqv_R4WJdVZrGPY8Yj0w7EA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREHUb-9S6Fzgd5anFUdow7tWYo_cUBqv_R4WJdVZrGPY8Yj0w7EA" width="228" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good time read. It was light and fun and did the trick for a few hours. It was well written for the most part but there was a lot of inner monologue going on in the girl's head (very little from the male POV) so it got a little noisy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Question to self - WHY do writers like to write out every lame thought that goes through the chick's mind - Is he into me? Weally, weally, weeeallly?? What about his sordid sexual past? What about the ex-wife/girlfriend on whom he may still be hung up? Will he choose me over his career/ex/past?? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then there are cliches of the dude's inevitable issues...commitment phobia due to a) difficult childhood and daddy issues, b) difficult past relationship or c) he's just not a settlin' down kinda guy. But wait! what's this? This incredibly hot woman (competent and classy, but vulnerable in a way that inspires his thus far dormant protective instincts) somehow burrows her way into his hardened heart in a matter of 10 pages? what the what...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm being harsh and somewhat unfair to heap this criticism on this book. All the above points make their inevitable appearance of course, but Phillipa Ashley writes a decent sentence so it elevates the story safely above the sludge pile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway here's the 2 minute summary.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He: </b>Volunteer on the local mountain rescue team (Read: burley and capable, with shoulders as wide as Russia). He's also a property developer so you know he's got some cheese.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She:</b> City girl PR consultant who is somewhat out of her element in the rugged outdoorness in which she finds herself. But with a nice hunk of burnin' love by her side...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict: </b>Mainly the tension drew from the fact that each has relationship hang ups due to past disasters and neither wants a repeat performance of what they have previously experienced. There is some head-butting initially because in her PR work with the mountain rescue team she makes some proposals that he totally hates (having all the men pose for a Mr. December calendar), but that stuff is all for show. The real tension is the backstory stuff about their pasts. Nothing new here. We get it. He doesn't want commitment, she doesn't want to get cheated on again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word: </b>All in all a decent read. I like brit romances. There is something a little different about the tone that I do like to read once in a while so I'd recommend this if you just wanted some time-pass fun for a few hours and didn't feel inspired by your existing To Read list.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-45837395007863824152013-07-19T14:42:00.000-07:002013-07-19T14:42:44.050-07:00Mr. Unforgettable by Karina Bliss<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">♥♥♥♥</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/9781426812965_p0_v1_s260x420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/9781426812965_p0_v1_s260x420.jpg" height="320" width="201" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was a CLASSIC romance. Like one of those that I used to read and sigh dreamily over when I was 16: Handsome, ex-champion swimmer dude, lovely (but sad) lady who are thrown together for some contrived reason, and then wham! they're doing it. And whoosh! it's love. If I read one of those early 90s romances today, I'd be all "sistuh, please" and act like I was too good for that crap now. But then <i>this</i> little gem, WONDERFULLY executed, brings back the classic formula is this awesome, modern way (well 2000s, anyway).</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>She: </b>The mayor of a beach town in New Zealand. She's the widow of an older man, the love of her life, who was the mayor before her. Her deceased husband was also the favorite son of the town so she's kind of living a little in his shadow.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>He:</b> A property developer who is fighting with the city council to get all the permits for his beachfront property so that he can finally get his camp for underprivileged youths started. He's gun shy about getting into a relationship because of a rather traumatic childhood and then an ugly divorce so even though he's attracted to the h, he tries to keep it casual.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Conflict: </b>They are both attracted to one another but there are a zillion issues keeping them apart - not least of which is that she's the mayor running in a highly contested re-election race and his property development is a hotbed issue for her campaign. They both also have a ton of difficult issues in their pasts that they need to overcome before really letting go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What I really loved:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) She's in a position of "power" and is awesome at it. She's the mayor and she's been a good mayor. Even though she's lived under her husband's shadow and even though she's been grieving for the loss of a man she loved. She's tireless, she works hard, and she's focused. But she's not a Hot Bitch. Which is what a lot of career women in romance are portrayed to be. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When she's vulnerable, she's not pathetic. She is still able to manage her life and you figure even if he was not around, she'd figure it out. Yeah! <First pump in the air.></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) The dialogue was so non-cheesy I had to do a double-take once in a while. I mean, this story is as old as the worm living in Eve's apple, and Karina Bliss manages to make it all sound NEW and FUN. My hat off to you, Madam!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) SO much going on. The book is packed. In a short amount of time we learn about their respective childhoods, their past relationships, their past lives, their current friendships, their likes and dislikes and their vision for their future. I mean, that is hella good storytelling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) Their romance is so sweet. He was a darling. Not <i>beta</i> exactly. But a <i>dignified alpha</i> - one who is confident of himself and gentle with others and just totally owns being a MAN. <Shivers>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Skeptic's last word:</b> This was awesome. Apparently, Karina Bliss has written a whole bunch of other HQN Super Romances which I shall be digging up NOW! </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672851887645361955.post-76586590565786574812013-07-19T14:41:00.002-07:002013-07-19T14:41:58.620-07:00Picture Perfect by Lucie Simone<a href="http://chicklitplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/picture-perfect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://chicklitplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/picture-perfect.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptic scale: Unf </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't hate it. Writing was good. I kind of liked the h. She is a big shot Hollywood producer who has a roller coaster of scandal going on in her private life. In the midst of an Hollywood-style divorce with her husband, she meets this nice, up and coming star who she needs to cast in the latest big time movie.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My main problem with this (and granted I only read a third of the way in) was that I found the H just too weird. He's supposed to be a rising It Man in Hollywood. He is quirky and offbeat and waaaaaay too young. He behaves like a little boy in love for the first time.<b><i> And call me a tard for getting too "real" with my involvement in what is essentially a fantasy, but I just don't buy the HEA when anyone from Hollywood is involved. I mean, you're essentially asking me to suspend disbelief in the (heavily botoxed) face of OVERWHELMING evidence that there IS no such thing as HEA in Hollywood. Skeptical much?</i></b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't think I'll be finishing it. Not really because it was a terrible book, I'm sure if I stuck with it it would be sweet. But I can't do it. Hollywood theme is a no-no for me. It was my own fault for not reading the blurb before picking this up.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11724193064663953480noreply@blogger.com0