Love Romance Passion » Greece http://www.loveromancepassion.com Because Books Don't Fall Asleep Afterwards! Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Review: The Highest Stakes of All by Sara Craven http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-highest-stakes-of-all-by-sara-craven/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-highest-stakes-of-all-by-sara-craven/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:28:54 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=12209

Heroine: Joanna Veron is somewhere around 19. In her father’s world she plays at being a high maintenance vapid beauty, but inside she’s really just a sweetheart looking for a way out of her father’s lifestyle (without having to go to her perfectly nice uncle) ever since a particularly bad incident when they were living in Australia where they swindled a youngish man named Peter out of a lot of money. She extracts a promise from her father to never use her in such a manner again, but of course Denys doesn’t hold to it for long.

Hero: Vassos Gordanis (I see his name and think vaseline) is somewhere in his 30s. He’s out for revenge against Denys and Joanna (though of course she’s clueless.) When he wins Joanna in a high stakes poker game he believes he has the chance to accomplish both punishments as he believes Joanna is Denys mistress. Obviously he’s not buying the “she’s my niece” they both claimed ever since Joanna joined her father on his jaunts around the gambling dens of the world. (Why does Joanna allow this? Gross.)

Favorite Moment: The first and second time they make love when he learns of her innocence (read virginity surprise!) and then tries to teach her about lovemaking which she tries so hard to hate ... There’s flavors of Stockholm Syndrome in this, but honestly it worked for me because there’s also the play on the Persephone myth.

Missed Opportunity:
If I remember right they were talking about her real relationship to Denys, but it could also have easily alluded to her virgin state.

Vassos: Why didn't you tell me?
Joanna’s answer should have been: Would you have believed me?

It seems like a perfectly standard response, but it never came up.

TSTL Ending: Why did the HEA have to include a flowery all is forgiven resolution between Joanna and Denys? What a crappy way to tie it off. Sometimes splitting family units is okay and in this case her dad is such a scumbag there’s really no way I’d buy his remorse and sudden “Oh shut up” speech to his new wife (whom he married right after Joanna was taken by Vassos to avoid his debts and to get the hell out of dodge, the bastard didn’t even look for her to get her back.)

Rating: ★★★★☆ - I know the rating seems incongruent with the story's flaws, but I'm also factoring in the *guilty pleasure* I got out of it, because what worked, worked really well for me.

Buy: The Highest Stakes of All (Harlequin Presents)

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Wow, another movie that was totally trashed by reviewers is yet another one I really enjoyed watching. I think My Life in Ruins is a smash. It uses stereotypes to make everything appear awful at first and then slowly unravels the truth beneath the façade. You have obnoxious American tourists, an old lady that steals everything that isn’t nailed down, a gentleman who thinks he’s the life of the party, Australians you can’t understand even though they speak English, a married couple at each other’s throats, a moody teenager, divorced woman on a man hunt, etc.

Georgia, played by Nia Vardalos, must take this ragtag group of tourists through Greece. She knows everything there is to know about the ruins and monuments, but she’s disillusioned. Nobody cares about history or the treasures right before their eyes. Georgia has lost her kaffee.

georgiaandirv

Richard Dreyfuss plays Irv, the tourist who thinks he’s hilarious. Irv is rude, makes terrible jokes, and wears down Georgia’s every last nerve until she snaps. To her horror she finds out this is the worse trip for him ever not because she’s a terrible tour guide, but because his wife is dead and this is his first time abroad without her.

Poupi, a terrible name if there ever was one and one of the few things that was just this side of ridiculous in the movie, is the bus driver. Alexis Georgoulis is quite handsome under his beard and long hair. Poupi crushes on Georgia and helps her rediscover her love of Greece and love of life during this trip.

The romance is cute, the bad guy gets his dues, and you get to enjoy the fabulous scenery of Greece. Having been, I’m so glad they showed the Parthenon in Athens at night. It truly is an amazing sight to see. It looked magical in person and on screen.

My one major irk, and my mother’s too, who saw this with me, was Nia’s shoes. How on earth could that woman traipse around Greece’s ruins in high heels, tall platform shoes, etc.? It just isn’t possible. Delphi for instance, was repaved by the Romans in old marble monuments. The road is slippery and sweats in the summer months and it tricky to navigate in tennis shoes! The Parthenon has gravel and chunks of rocks everywhere, no way! She would twist an ankle and fall.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Buy: My Life in Ruins

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/movie-review-my-life-in-ruins-starring-nia-vardalos-richard-dreyfuss-and-alexis-georgoulis/feed/ 2 Review: The Heart of War by Lisa Beth Darling http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-heart-of-war-by-lisa-beth-darling/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-heart-of-war-by-lisa-beth-darling/#comments Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:17:19 +0000 Sharon S. http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=10243

by Sharon S., guest reviewer

It doesn’t take long to realize Ares is an ass. He is definitely the spoiled, self-important brat that the gods of Olympus think he is. Lots of stories like to romanticize the Greek gods, but in reality they were a petty and mean bunch of beings. As a fan of dark paranormal stories, telling a story about the Greek gods as a dark erotic story only makes sense.

There are lots of reviewers out there that loved this book. I was impressed with how Darling took the Greek mythology and made it her own in The Heart of War. It is a damn fine saga with lots of twists, betrayal, brutality and sex (we are talking about the Greek gods here). But in the end I just wasn’t moved by Ares and Alena’s love story. The only character I felt sorry for was Eros.

The story is complex, with a lot of meat to it (yes, pun intended <G>). I did get a little confused by the shifting in POV sometimes. This is an erotic read, but not overly so. There is a good deal of rape, some of it brutal, but once again, we are talking Greek gods.

If you are a fan of Greek mythology then you will find this story fascinating. From a romance stand point, it didn’t move me.

The second book in this series "Child of War" releases Dec. 31, 2011.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Buy: The Heart of War

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-heart-of-war-by-lisa-beth-darling/feed/ 2 Marriage and Courtship in Ancient Greece http://www.loveromancepassion.com/marriage-and-courtship-in-ancient-greece/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/marriage-and-courtship-in-ancient-greece/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:13:32 +0000 Guest Blogger http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=8906

by Leslie Soule, guest blogger and author of Fallenwood

So I got a wild itch the other day and it made me want to write a retelling of the Bellerophon myth - you know, the one where Prince Bellerophon slays a fierce monster called the chimera.

The chimera is supposed to have the body of a lion, a goat's head that sprouts from its back, and a tail that is a serpent/dragon. This creature lives in a volcano and breathes fire. It's the stuff that great adventure stories are made of.

But in the middle of researching the various versions of the myth itself, I hit a snag. At one point, Prince Bellerophon resists the temptations of the (presumably beautiful) Queen Anteiea. Besides that she is someone else's wife, we are not given a reason as to why Bellerophon rejects her advances.

I wondered if maybe Bellerophon had a wife - and then I realized that I knew very little about what ancient Greek marriages would have been like. A bit of research was clearly in order.

According to Cyril Edward Robinson's book Everyday Life In Ancient Greece, "[...] When the two sexes saw so little of each other, love matches were out of the question; and the betrothal was arranged by the parents as a strictly business contract." My reaction to this was, "Aw, man! I was SO hoping for some romance. Tell me that it isn't just a notion invented by writers in order to keep the world going 'round! And yet I recalled reading about the love of Odysseus and his Penelope - its intensity despite twenty years of separation and longing.

As I read and thought a little further, I began to realize that ancient Greece was perhaps not so loveless after all. Robinson confirmed this by writing that, "There is much...to show that marriages begun as a business contract developed into a bond of lifelong and heart-felt devotion."   So I ended up finding what I was looking for - a reason why Bellerophon would resist temptation. Long live romance!


Coming soon to Decadent Publishing...

Blurb: Fallenwood is the story of a girl named Ash who, running away after the death of her stepfather, finds her way to a strange and magical world. But the world she now finds herself in - a world that was once called Terra Illumina but now is known as "Fallenwood" - is a world threatening to tear itself apart. Magic is the life force of Fallenwood, and if it keeps being used up, everything will die. But magic is a weapon, and weapons are owned for the sake of power. Now Ash must find a way to destroy the Great Crystal - the catalyst through which all magic in Fallenwood is channelled - and meanwhile, the kingdoms are going to war. Can she save Fallenwood before it's too late?

Visit my website: http://www.lesliesoule.com/

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bookreview2

This category romance would make a great farcical romantic comedy movie. Just keep reading and you’ll know what I mean.

The Bryants – Jane (heroine), Guy (brother)
The Dysons – Stuart (fiancé), Pauline (future sister-in-law)

Two pairs of brother and sister pretend to be married to each other in order to land a job on an archaeological site in Greece. The heroine is engaged to the brother of the other pair. Her future sister-in-law crushes hard on the site’s leading archaeologist. The dig boss and hero fights falling in love with the heroine. The only supposedly single man on the site falls hard for the future sister-in-law. The only one not romantically inclined is the brother of the heroine.

Sounds crazy? It was!

The hero, Dr. Nikolas Vallas, hates adulterers. He rides hard on the heroine, Jane Bryant, who he sees as the worse of the lot. Guy is either clueless to his wife’s behavior or doesn’t have the masculinity to reign her in or divorce her. Pauline is a creature to pity as she’s utterly clueless to her husband and best friend’s deception. Stuart is a cheating bastard. But Jane--- she takes the cake. She cheats on her husband, with her best friend’s husband, and the son of his long time friend, Tim.

Tim figures out the deception and what Nikolas perceives as more acts of adultery is in fact very innocent. Tim is using Jane as a sounding board for his attempts to win Pauline’s affections. Pauline however is mooning over Nikolas and doesn’t like Tim’s attention one bit. Jane meanwhile is reeling from something Tim said about love. He said something along the lines of “If you’re really in love, you couldn’t wait to be married.” Jane finds herself falling in love with a man who hates everything about her and seems to be falling in love with Pauline.

Petals Drifting is a very erroneous title for the plot. They’re there in the off season for tourists. It’s not fall. It’s more like spring. Anyway, the story is very tense, very quick, and solid. I devoured it.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Petals Drifting

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-petals-drifting-by-anne-hampson/feed/ 0 Review: The Moon That Night by Helen Brenna http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-moon-that-night-by-helen-brenna/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-moon-that-night-by-helen-brenna/#comments Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:54:41 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=8589

Q: When can a good guy commit a crime and still be a good guy?
A: When his family is threatened.

Which is just what happens to soldier James Riley while on a routine rotation out of Afghanistan.

David March, a man who blames Riley for his brother’s death, kidnapped Riley’s sister-in-law and his young daughter Ally and was using them as leverage to get Riley on board with his elaborate plans of art theft.

When stealing the first of ten Greek statues, Kate Dillon is kidnapped as well. It makes her spitting mad and clouds her judgment, but not the irrational emotions of her heart.

Riley’s fouled up rescue plan gets Kate, Riley, and Ally away from the compound and on the road to freedom. But with Jenny, his sister-in-law still trapped, the trio have no choice but to pursue the 5 statues on their list and steal them for March.

I worried throughout the book that Jenny was part of the bad guy team because it was so convenient for her to get recaptured. She also wasn’t putting up much fight when held captive before and wasn’t helpful in Kate’s own rescue attempt. She was just too calm for me, standing around agreeably and I don’t know. It was weird and like I said I worried about it a lot.

There’s a bit of a May/December theme to the romance. I couldn’t quite catch the actually age difference. I think it’s somewhere along ten years, maybe more since Riley is a widower and has Ally.

If you’re ready for a high stakes adventure that crisscrosses the globe, you should pick up Helen Brenna’s The Moon That Night.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Buy: The Moon That Night (Harlequin Superromance)

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-moon-that-night-by-helen-brenna/feed/ 0 Review: Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-oh-my-gods-by-tera-lynn-childs/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-oh-my-gods-by-tera-lynn-childs/#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:52:53 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=3624

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Oh. My. Gods. is a pretty decent young adult novel. As an older reader, I wish it provided me with more… more everything. I would recommend this book for young preteens up to age fourteen or fifteen. It’s clean, it’s cute, and it’s got fun paranormal elements.

The majority of the work is set in Greece, where Phoebe must live with her mother, her new stepfather, and her ‘evil’ stepsister. It’s her senior year of high school and all Phoebe wants is to be home, taking her classes, and running for track so she can go to USC on full scholarship.

Her new school is crazy tough on academics (don’t all teenagers think that?), the cliques are impossible to break into, and she doesn’t fit in (who does?) because she’s not a descendant of a god. Say what? That’s right Phoebe’s biggest problem is that she’s normal, has no ‘superpowers,’ and most importantly can’t trace her ancestry to one of the Greek gods.

Her stepsister is a part of the Hera entourage, whose closest affiliation is the Zeus gang… aka part of the most popular set on campus. The boy she crushes on is part of Ares, who is not only the god of war but also the patron of athletes. His girlfriend is a member of the Aphrodite group… and a cheerleader. She just can’t compete! Or can she?

Spoiler.... Phoebe and her crush, Griffin, wind up together after some traditional teenage drama and conflict. It works even though it’s rushed. The book is under 265 pages, making it a fast read.

Rating: 3 Stars

Buy: Oh. My. Gods.

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