Entries Tagged 'Gypsy' ↓
January 31st, 2010 — 1.5 Stars, Acting, Artist, Beauty and Fashion, Book Review, Comedy of Manners, Contemporary, G-I, Gypsy, Low Self Esteem/Confidence, United States of America
I picked this up from the library because it was recommended in the AAR forums as a book about heroines who have low self-confidence. The heroine in Sexiest Man Alive has panic attacks around men, especially good looking men. On the whole it’s a semi-cute read, but it’s very campy in a bad way, like it tries to hard. I show you what I mean…
Jasmine Burns really wants to be a costume designer, but she can’t even make it through the interview with Arturo because he’s handsome. Her sister Amy is a psychic gypsy who lost her powers. Amy gives Jasmine the name of her One True Love. Two thousand dollars poorer, Jasmine has a name, Josh Toby. The only Josh Toby she knows is the gorgeous Hollywood actor, which means she’s screwed because she’ll never leave New York to find him.
Through a quirk of fate, Arturo loves Jasmine’s work and hires her to be his assistant even with her bolt, barf, and run. She is sworn to secrecy and meets him at a restaurant to discuss the details. The secret she has to keep? Josh Toby is in town to do an off Broadway performance as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. She runs.
Her sister catches her in a taxi and drops her off at a library where another Josh Toby exists. He is a carrot top, extremely shy librarian. Jasmine is relieved. Josh thinks she is a homeless nutcase. One True Love indeed!
The actor Josh Toby pursues Jasmine. He needs her to disguise him from the paparazzi and of course he’s instantly attracted to her weird and quirky behavior. He figures it’s because he’s a famous actor. Josh finds himself spilling a bunch of secrets. How his Hollywood girlfriend, Cleo Chan, is really not his girlfriend. They pose that way for publicity and to keep the crazies away. Oh and how he’s terrified of onstage acting… so the two can bond over irrational fears, which of course they overcome without much difficulty at all later in the novel.
Cleo Chan meanwhile is in love with Josh Toby and is determined to get him back. It doesn’t help that Amy also tells her that Josh Toby is her One True Love. You can guess from here what hijinks end up happening. It’s totally predictable and very unsatisfying.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
Buy: Sexiest Man Alive
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January 9th, 2010 — 4.5 Stars, Book Review, Bride Stealing, Cursed Lead, Dukes and Earls, Farming, Foster/Orphan, France, Great Britain, Gypsy, Interracial, Invalid, Lisa Kleypas, Spinster, Victorian, Virgin Heroine, Warrior
Seduce Me at Sunrise is darkly passionate, sensual, and utterly devastating. Kev is the type of hero that is pure indulgence. He'll make your hips grow just looking at him... or should I say reading him. In summation he is fierce, broody, and desperately in love. Half Romany, half Irish, Kev was raised by his abusive uncle. The man turned him into a cruel heartless Romany warrior, hurting him emotionally and physically until everything soft inside him died... or so Kev thought. Left for dead by his clan and taken in by the Hathaways provides Kev with another chance. It's unclear his exact age when this happens, I would say sometime between his teens and early twenties. While recovering under the Hathaways' roof Kev notices Winnifred, young, delicate, and fragile. She is everything good and kind and gentle. In her presence the vicious side of him quietens. He decides to stay and in doing so changes his whole life.
Tragedy strikes the Hathaway a few short years later leaving the older siblings in charge of the younger ones. Fate takes a hand again when scarlet fever strikes two members of the family. One is Win. Both survive, but Win is left weakened. Two years of being weak and helpless watching others live life while she stays in bed incite Win to get herself better at all costs. She makes plans to go to France to a unorthodox clinic (they make you exercise gasp!) which Kev tries to stop from taking place. Win offers him a choice - tell her he loves her or she goes. He can not bring himself to say it, because if he did he could never refrain from claiming her... which he doesn't want to do because he doesn't think he's good enough for her. Lots of circular logic, but there you go.
Win is at the age of spinsterhood upon her return from the clinic. She's twenty-five if I remember correctly and more than ready to begin her life. She refuses to take anything for granted and plans to marry (Kev) and have children (his).
The emotional drive of this novel is completely fulfilling and can get you high on endorphins. For example:
When Win leaves to go to France she says to Kev:
"I am running after you, and life, in desperate pursuit. My dream is that someday you will both turn and let me catch you. That dream carries me through every night I long to tell you so many things, but I am not free yet I hope to be well enough someday to shock you again, with far more pleasing results."
Or Kev when he finally declares himself:
"All the fires of hell could burn for a thousand years and it wouldn't equal what I feel for you in one minute of the day. I love you so much there is no pleasure in it. Nothing but torment. Because if I could dilute what I feel for you to the millionth part, it would still be enough to kill you. And even if it drives me mad, I would rather see you live in the arms of that cold, soulless bastard than die in mine."
Edward Cullen eat your heart out. Blissed out sigh.
And while some of the motivation is a little hard to grasp, it's so good, you can't help but be drawn in by the magic spell Kleypas weaves.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
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Originally posted 2009-03-23 05:39:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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