Love Romance Passion » Teacher 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: Aefle and Gisela by Libby Malin http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-aefle-and-gisela-by-libby-malin/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-aefle-and-gisela-by-libby-malin/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:10:57 +0000 Carla F. http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13422

Reviewed by Carla F.

The heroine is DeeDee McGowan who is the owner of a car dealership in the very small town of Oyster Point. She is all ready to settle for and marry Buck Bewley, but the night before the wedding she finds out he is cheating on her.

The hero is Thomas Charlemagne, a Medieval Studies professor at a university in Baltimore whose special area of study is Aefle the Minuscule (a poet monk of the twelfth century). He is back in Oyster Point to attend the wedding of his cousin. At the bachelor party the guys dare Thomas to stand up at his cousin’s wedding and object to the marriage. He agrees in order to finally stop everyone from calling him his nickname since childhood, “Timid Tommy”. The next morning hung over and unable to find his glasses, he does stop the wedding. It is just that it is not his cousin’s but the one of his former lover DeeDee.

This is a satire of both higher education and small time life. There many laugh-out-loud moments most of which came from Thomas.  One happens when he and DeeDee are running from the wedding and a beating of Thomas by Buck. DeeDee tells him to get into her SUV.

“Oh, sorry, I don’t ride in SUVs,” he said. He’d signed a pledge at the university against the gas guzzlers. He was still working on what to do about the one he occasionally drove, his father’s big Jeep Cherokee. Megan had insisted he take over its care. At least he’d put a “Greed Kills” bumper sticker on it."

The titles of Thomas’s papers were all funny (and realistic). I especially liked:

“My Heart Is a Turnip in God’s Cellar: Platonic Romance in Aefle’s Monastery”

At first Thomas and DeeDee were a little bit over the top for me. Thomas is definitely a nerd. His social unawareness made me squirm at times, and I would have to put the book down for awhile. DeeDee took whatever Thomas said as a slight at her intellect/small town life. However, as the book went on and the characters grew and changed they both (especially Thomas) became very appealing. They were definitely characters who were better together than the sum of their parts.

Overall: A hilarious look at higher education, small town life, and of course, love.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Aefle and Gisela

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Reviewed by Carla F.

Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel and so I grabbed this one as soon as I saw it. The appeal of the story for me is the thought that no matter how much time has passed nor how large the mistake, it can be fixed.

Summary: In this adaptation Rick Wentworth lives in Australia and is a famous marine biologist who has spent his career studying sea dragons. He is now headed back to England to promote his book which his publishers have fortunately for him decided to name Sex in the Sea. Ever since Anna Elliot refused to marry him and broke his heart, Rick has lived by the motto, “Never forgive, never forgot”. But after ten years, Rick is thinking that once he returns from his book tour, that he needs to finally forget Anna, perhaps marry his supermodel girlfriend and get on with his life.

Anna’s life has been busy with her work as a professor of Russian Literature. She regrets that she let her mother’s friend Lady Russell (or Minty as she is known to her friends) talk her in to rejecting Rick’s proposal. She has kept up with Rick’s career, and she even has a ticket to his Bath book signing, but she doesn’t know if she will have the guts to approach him.

Review: Archer captures perfectly the style and tone of the origin. You see and feel the melancholy. (The advantage this one has over the original is that you get to see it both in Anna and Rick.) There is also the sly humor. (The total cluelessness and self-absorption of Anna’s father Walter Elliot and her sister Lisa is a frequent target.)

I liked how that even though this Rick and Anna had a more intimate relationship than their Austen counterparts, the sexual detail is somewhat vague and left for the most part at the bedroom door. It feels the way that Austen might have written it if she were to do so today.

The fun for me with any adaptation of Austen’s is the way the author fits in all the important plot points and characters. For example, the “Letter” scene is a convincing variation. However, one problem that I had with the overall story is that the keeping Rick and Anna apart felt a little forced. Societal rules in Austen’s time meant that there was a more “natural” barrier in the fact that a woman had to wait for the man to approach her.

Things that made me chuckle: The Forward in the book by Will Darcy who met Rick when he and his sister Georgie were on holiday in Australia.

Any mention of name Dottie Dalrymple.

The thing that creeped me out: William, who is Walter Elliot’s heir, bears enough of a physical resemblance to Walter to make Anna uncomfortable. Her sister Lisa doesn’t even seem to see this and is eager to marry him.

Overall: An excellent version of Persuasion. The author captures perfectly the mood and humor of the original while telling a modern story.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy: Persuade Me (Darcy & Friends)

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Reviewed by Lynn Reynolds

Bring Me Home for Christmas is book 16 of the “Virgin River” series.

Rich Timm and his sister Becca have just arrived in Virgin River to hunt and fish. Rich is there for a “guys” get-together and Becca has invited herself along. Robyn starts us off with a great interaction between brother and sister. If any of you have brothers, you can just picture them saying the same things that Rich says to Becca. This story will help you to laugh and reminisce at the same time. But Becca isn’t using this trip as a bonding excursion between siblings. She has an ulterior motive that Rich knows nothing about.

Denny Cutler is a farmer and Becca’s old boyfriend. He also works part time at a bar. Denny’s an ex-Marine and happy with the life he has in Virgin River. Or is he?

Robyn does a great job of giving her readers some good chuckles throughout her story. You have to love, and laugh, at some of the interactions that Becca has with the “guys”. I’ve always passed up reading books by Robyn Carr in the past. I didn’t think that I would like her work. Boy, did this book change my mind.

Robyn gives us characters that have gone through a lot, have ties to the military, and also know the meaning of helping your neighbors. She also gives her readers ideas on how to decorate for the holidays. I love her idea of getting the whole town together to decorate the town’s Christmas tree – what a lovely tradition.

Fate steps in and Becca’s days have suddenly changed. As the saying goes “when one door closes another one opens”. We get to see Becca mature and she also finally understands what Denny is about. Becca has also found her niche in Virgin River. Will she stay or will she go back to San Diego? You will have to read this story to find out.

Robyn will also pull at your “heart strings”. There’s a little girl named Megan. She has a lot going against her but she has a strong personality for one so young. If you’re a teacher – you will feel her pain. I’m glad that Robyn made Becca a teacher with a heart.

You will also love the military theme that runs through this book. Bring Me Home for Christmas is a great story that will have you smiling and eagerly awaiting for the next book in the series to come out. If you have never read another of her series before, this may change your mind – I know it did mine. It will also make you wonder if there are towns out there just like Virgin River.

Rating: ★★★★½

Buy: Bring Me Home for Christmas (Virgin River)

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by Carla F., guest reviewer

Summary: Sheikh Ashmit bin Sultan al Nashan is sent by his father the King to rescue an English schoolteacher, Russ Edwards, who is being held in the desert by terrorists. When Ashmit finds the chained Englishman in the terrorist camp, he is overcome with lust. This is unacceptable! He is stunned and appalled that he is attracted to a man. His duty has always been to marry the beautiful Ashwarya and have an heir for the throne. Until then, his father has said that he must remain a virgin. Purity “in mind and body is essential to maintain the authenticity of our bloodline.”

Russ cannot believe how beautiful his rescuer is, and he doesn’t understand why he is so cold one moment and definitely not cold at all in the next.

Review: It was fun reading a gay version of the typical Sheikh romance novel. Like those it has the intelligent, handsome, and sometimes arrogant leader/prince of a mythical non-Muslim country falling in love with a foreign commoner. At first I had trouble dealing with the idea that a King would send his heir to the throne out alone to save a foreigner from terrorists, but it fits into this type of story. (Later is it is revealed that the King had a very good reason for wanting his son to do this.)

Ashmit definitely has issues, but it is understandable considering how he was raised to believe in his duty to his father and country. I liked how his plan for dealing with his pending marriage allowed him to fulfill that duty.

Hot scene: There’s a temple in the desert that has some interesting carvings and an alter.

Overall: A quick fun read suited to those who like Sheikh and/or LGBT stories.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Desert Nights, Desert Nights (UK)

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Wes Murphy was the son of a conman and was raised to be one too. A con gone wrong when he was younger landed him in a halfway house and changed his life. There Wes discovered he loved to cook. Now he’s studying at a great school and working toward being the top of his rotation in hopes of landing the best externship. Unfortunately he’s flunking Food Chem. Why should he learn to take something as creative as cooking and turn it into something as lifeless as science?

Dr. Rosemary Wilkins was a child prodigy. She loved chemistry and hated germs. A bit of a hypochondriac and a total Star Trek dork there was nothing she loved better than the clean sterile environment of her lab. When Wes Murphy rescues her on her first day lecturing on Food Chemistry 101 and winds up in trouble with the dean, she can’t help but offer her support of his story… and somehow finds herself agreeing to supervise his project on of all things, aphrodisiacs.

There’s a side romance between two men, who both work at the restaurant where Wes does his externship. It’s pretty sweet how every one of their friends tries to get them back together and help fix what went wrong between them.

Rosemary is a lot of fun to read. She bounces all over the place, uses big words, over analyzes, curses in the language of Star Trek and Buffy, and finds her best friend in a dog.

Wes is a very sensitive hero. He’s determined to do right but winds up in a pile of lies and soon the mess is out of control. He wants Rose, Bunsen burners and all. If only he took his own relationship advice, he might just be able to keep her.

I especially loved the sex in Central Park, but the sex between them is always smoking hot. Edwards certainly knows how to set the mood!

Rating: ★★★★½

Buy: Just One Taste (Recipe for Love)

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by Sandra Scholes, guest reviewer

Andrew Wyndham gets the offer of a lifetime to tutor an unruly child at a huge mansion where its master, Duncan Stewart starts out as an imposing and brooding man of means who shows Andrew what life at Seacliff is like.

Duncan slowly warms to Andrew, his new tutor who just happens to be a virgin, and gay, tries to hide his sexual leanings from the others even though he gets plenty of attention from Duncan, Leo and other men he meets both in and out of the mansion. Duncan is extremely possessive of his new employee, and becomes jealous of the attention Leo gives to Andrew but Andrew is resisting this thinking he might be the murderer of his father, Gordon as all the clues he finds in the house seem to lead to him.

Andrew does not want his thoughts of him being the killer to be true as he has formed a bond with Duncan even the likes of the amorous Leo can't break.

For the most part sex scenes do not feature in this novel; love-making is left for the end, is touching and guaranteed to leave the reader with a warm fuzzy feeling. There is plenty of seductive dialogue, clues as to the real murderer, and comic moment’s readers will enjoy.

The novel's author manages to capture the atmosphere of a turn of the century Gothic romance novel with its depths, its dark remote setting, and the brooding character of Duncan and the lovable Andrew.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Buy: The Master of Seacliff

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bookreview1

If you’re in the mood for a cute, light, sweet, and fun read, Too Good to be True is for you. It’s a very chaste contemporary. There’s no sex. In fact the hero and heroine don’t begin to even get together until two thirds the way through the book. The book is full of witty dialogue and funny scenes.

Grace is in a no-win situation. Her ex-fiancé, Andrew, dumped her twenty days before their wedding. He’s now dating her youngest sister, Natalie. Ever the martyr, Grace puts up a good front. She is not over Andrew and she’s not going to get in the way of her sister’s happiness. It’s not like you can help when the big klabammy strikes. Still, it doesn’t mean she wouldn’t like to kick Andrew in the groin. He doesn’t deserve a gem like Natalie.

In the meantime to get everyone off her back and stop staring at her with pitying looks, Grace invents the perfect boyfriend. She’s done it in the past, but never was a situation more called for than right now. Enter Wyatt Dunn, feral cat rescuing pediatric surgeon.

A new neighbor arrives next door and his name is Callahan O’Shea. Of course their first meeting goes a little awry when she smacks him on the head with her hockey stick—what? He looked like a burglar! Turns out Callahan, sexy though he may be, is an ex-con. Definitely, not acceptable boyfriend material!

Higgins writes in a similar manner as Janet Evanovich with her Stephanie Plum novels. There are obviously some key differences besides series versus one-shot. Instead of a shockingly funny grandma, we get an appalling awful one. Instead of a long suffering mother dealing with her crazy daughter, we get a long suffering father who deals with his wife and her embarrassing nude art, etc.

There’s some weird drama at the end of the novel, which I feel was just thrown in to extend the book a few pages. Callahan gets all funny about Grace’s harmless little pastime of creating imaginary boyfriends. It was an over the top reaction to say the least.

Additionally, I got a little irritated by the dog, but dog lovers should be okay with Angus McFangus.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Buy: Too Good To Be True

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Couple 1: Soon after finding out her boyfriend was a married louse, Katherine Roberts makes contact with her favorite living Regency romance writer, Lorna Warwick. They become fast friends and Katherine hopes to meet her at an upcoming Jane Austen Convention, but Lorna Warwick is very reclusive; she doesn't even have an author photo and has said she won't be going. Why? Because she's really a man. Warwick Lawton attends the convention, keeping his real identity secret, hoping to make friends and hopefully more with his favorite fan, a woman he's certain he's falling head over heels for. Trouble is, he's not nearly as suave as the heroes he writes about.

Couple 2: A longtime fan of Jane Austen, Robyn Love can't wait to attend the convention and escape her staid life for the weekend. Unfortunately her long term boyfriend, Jace Collins, decides he's got to come too, just not the the convention. He hates Jane Austen and wants Robyn to give it all up which is why when Robyn meets a handsome horserider whose interested in her and in Austen she can't help but give her heart to him. Dan Harcourt can see how manipulative Jace is and can't understand why his sweet Robyn doesn't kick him to the curb.

Review: If you love Austen based fiction, you can't miss A Weekend with Mr. Darcy. It's in all ways wonderful! Many times Warwick's bumbling behavior reminded me of Mr. Bingley. I love a hero who knows his feelings for the heroine and yet makes a mess of things trying to get her attention. If I was Katherine, my reaction to the revelation that he was my favorite author would have been quite different! Hubba hubba. ;) I couldn't understand why it was so difficult for Robyn to let Jace go and grab onto Dan with both fists, but her storyline was equally cute. Jace and Mrs. Soames are characters whose behaviors, scenes, and attitudes, remind you of the unruly Bennets/Mr. Collins and even Lady Catherine de Bough at times in the story depending on what they are doing. I almost felt sorry for Mrs. Soames. She's so hard to please, and yet I have a feeling she just wants to make friends... maybe... underneath... way underneath... lol

Favorite Scenes: The Austen quiz which was fun, and when the horse is brought inside the house! OMGosh... wow... someone had their brain disconnected with that one. Haha.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy: A Weekend with Mr. Darcy

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Summary: Faith Aldridge goes to Bramble, Texas, looking to find her sister, Hope, the twin she never knew she had. Except that the backwards town only sees Hope and they’re determined to hook “Hope” up with her old high school flame, Slate Calhoun. Now Slate knows there’s something off about “Hope” and he doesn’t think it’s because Hollywood took away her personality and attitude. He actually likes sweet shy feminine Faith, who is a total contrast to loud, brash, tomboy Hope. A small town hides big secrets and Faith is about to learn one she never expected and now the real Hope is headed home and she wants Slate for herself.

Mistaken Identity: I don’t know how a whole town can just not “get it” when Slate gets it right away. Faith acts nothing like Hope and her style of dress and speech is galaxies away from Hope’s as well as her accent. It’s not Texan. Hello! Other than that they’re the epitome of small town characters who are nice, and sometimes rowdy, interfering busybodies. I wouldn't mind moving there.

Review: You know its love when the heroine and reader think the guy has a nicer truck than he has a trailer. Slate’s not poor, but he’s not rich either. He’s a high school football coach. The heroine likes dogs, but could easily kill one by looking at it wrong; she’s that bad with them. She’s a computer programmer but desires to be a teacher. The two had good chemistry.

Recommended: For readers who love cowboys, twin mistaken identity plots, and heroines older than the usual late teens/early twenties.

Rating: ★★★½☆

Buy: Going Cowboy Crazy (A Deep in the Heart of Texas novel)

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Summary: Writing professor, Andi Cutrone, first sees Devin at a cocktail party and learns he’s an escort. Months after their initial meeting, she calls him up and barters for his services. He will give her one-on-one love lessons and she will give him a one-on-one writing course. It’s a deal he doesn’t initially go for but in the end agrees to and the two sign contracts stating one thing very clearly… falling it love is out. But when does life and love ever adhere to a contract?

Review: Set up a bit like a diary, with the chapters being the month. There are a couple of things I could have done without – a reference to a shady school pediatric doctor for instance. Other things I loved – the emails between Andi and a special someone. Very cute.

Devin is an interesting character with a lot of emotional entanglement issues. He has a love/hate relationship with his father, who thinks he’s gay or a prostitute by turn.

Andi hates her body and is on the heavy side. This and several harsh memories have made her a thirty something virgin who wants to but can’t get intimate.

I was hoping for a little more Sex and the City when it came to their lessons, but that wasn’t the case. A little less literary short pieces would have been nice too as I didn’t feel they did much for the story. The art review at the end though was a good touch.

The story is on the serious side, but the focus on change and growth is nice. Andi falls in love twice and her final romantic relationship is very cute.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Buy: Faking It

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