Entries Tagged 'Estranged' ↓
March 4th, 2010 — 3 Stars, A-C, Book Review, Comedy of Manners, Estranged, Gambling, Gentry, Gothic, Great Britain, Jane Austen, Regency
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Duty and Desire takes places during the majority of the silent period. It is the second book in the Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman Trilogy. The first is An Assembly Such as This which ended in London at the beginning to the silent period of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
Darcy is in quite a pickle. He's managed to successfully divert his friend from near disaster, but his mind won't stop resting on the delights of Elizabeth Bennet. Thinking Pemberley will help orient his mind, Darcy finishes his business in London and hies home. There he meets his sister, Georgiana much changed from her misfortunes of last summer. Bright sunny and remarkably mature, Darcy can hardly believe his eyes. He's worried that one wrong move on his part will ruin all of Georgiana's progress.
Christmas comes to Pemberley and Darcy is caught more than once daydreaming about Elizabeth's fine eyes. He knows he must do something about his wandering imagination and fast. Determined to erase her presence from his thoughts, Darcy decides to enter into the hunt for a wife. Leaving his sister in the care of family and his best friend Dy, Darcy goes to a reunion house party of old Cambridge and Oxford mates.
There he meets his cousin's fiancee and is at once charmed and disturbed by her flirtation. He finds solace in the dark beauty that is his host's half-sister. As his thoughts war between Sylvanie and Elizabeth, both gray eye beauties, a dark nearly Gothic mystery begins to unfold. His host is in dire need of funds, a piglet is slaughtered and made to look like a human baby, personal affects are stolen, and more. Fletcher, Darcy's valet, is the only one he can trust to help unwind the threads of this coil.
I guessed immediately who was behind everything, but had not guessed at the second mystery that was present in the writing. It took me by surprise at the end during the revelation. In hind-sight I can see the clues that I could not before. A masterful tale, if a little drawn out. Would have preferred more Bingley in this part of the story, as it was there was very little. I suspect Dy and/or Colonel Fitzwilliam love romantically the sixteen year old Georgiana. My suspicions will have to wait until the next and final chapter of Mr. Fitzwilliam, Darcy Gentleman Trilogy.
Review: 3 Stars
Buy: Duty and Desire
Find and buy more Pamela Aidan novels.
Originally posted 2009-07-02 03:04:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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February 26th, 2010 — 4 Stars, Artist, Contemporary, Doctor, Enemies, Estranged, Friends, Ghost, Movie Reviews, Rogues and Rakehells, Time Travel, United States of America
This is a fabulous contemporary update of the Christmas Carol
. Matthew McConaughey is Connor Mead. Connor is the new Mr. Scrooge, except he’s gorgeous, charming, and wealthy. So what’s wrong with the guy? Connor is a miser, just like Scrooge. How? Unlike Scrooge, Connor withholds love/feelings instead of money/possessions. Just like Scrooge, Connor gets visited by 3 ghosts and is forced to learn just what kind of man he really is.
The first ghost is the Ghost of Girlfriend Past. She is a 16 year old girl to whom Connor lost his virginity. Played by Emma Stone, she’s hardly recognizable in braces, frizzy red hair in pigtails and a crazy outfit. If it wasn’t for Stone’s distinctive voice I wouldn’t have been able to place her at all from her role in House Bunny.
Noureen DeWulf plays Melanie, the Ghost of Girlfriend Present. As Connor Mead’s overworked secretary she is the most consistent woman in his life. Melanie’s job includes scheduling everything from photo shoots to play dates. She draws the line at breaking up with his women (a firm believer in karma). DeWulf is fantastic and a sheer joy to watch on screen.
Nadja, Ghost of Girlfriend Future, is played by Emily Foxler. Beautiful and ethereal she leads Connor through the life he can expect if he doesn’t change his ways. Silent like the angel of death from Christmas Carol, she is nevertheless affective in communicating to the audience.
Daniel Sunjata is the wedding beefcake brought in to sex up Jenny Perotti’s love life. It bugged me the whole movie how gorgeous he was and how familiar his face and unable to place him. Ladies before you go to IMDB.com he’s James Holt from the Devil Wears Prada. He plays a sincere, sweet, and intelligent man, luckily for him when Jenny and Connor reunite he is not left out in the cold.
Jenny Perotti, played by Jennifer Garner, is the love of Connor Mead’s life. We watch them as youngsters, as teenagers, as just starting out in life adults and as established adults. Jenny is the girl next door, the one right under your nose. She’s been hurt by Connor in the past. If only being around him didn’t make her feel for him all over again she could move on with her life… will Connor learn his mistakes and if he does can he get her to believe in him again?
I predict Ghosts of Girlfriends past becoming a favorite among many. It certainly is one of mine!
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
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Originally posted 2009-05-13 05:17:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 31st, 2010 — 4 Stars, Book Review, Cinderella, Comedy of Manners, Counts, Marquis, Viscounts, Estranged, Gambling, Georgette Heyer, Great Britain, Heiress, Regency, Virgin Heroine
The second Georgette Heyer novel that I read was a lot easier to get through. It helped that there was few if any references to my lord or my lady in the narrative. The diction used is as exacting and up there as Devil’s Cub. This novel was longer but I read it in less time devouring it with enthusiasm. I do have one question, when did the term Tom, Dick, and Harry first get used? Heyer used it in the novel and I thought it was a modern term not one that dated back to the Regency period.
In a single sentence Friday’s Child is a fantastic tale of a poor besotted girl and a rich spoiled Viscount. Lord Anthony Sherington, Sherry to his friends, is in a pickle. He has a few years left on his trust until he can access his money in full. Worse, both of the two uncles managing his estate are not doing so in his best interest; one is negligent and the other is pulling money aside to feather his cap. Sherry has gambling debts to pay and refuses to get another loan from loan sharks. His idea is to marry.
Of course Sherry goes after the Incomparable Beauty of the season, a girl from his past that he has known all his life who also happens to be an heiress. Sherry is just one of the men that float around the Incomparable, others vying for her affections include a Duke, a nasty man who disguises his true face underneath a mask of charm, and a volatile soul who also happens to be Sherry’s friend George. (George for his part loves Isabella, the Incomparable Beauty and tries his hardest to gain her affections throughout the book.)
When the Incomparable turns him down flat, Sherry in a fit of pique vows to marry the first girl he sees. That girl is the penniless Miss Hero Wantage. Hero has also known Sherry all her life and when she was younger she used to follow Sherry around and be his fetch and go girl. They marry in London through a special license with Sherry’s friends as witnesses. Sherry nicknames Hero and everyone starts to call her Kitten by this point.
Well Kitten gets into scrape after scrape not meaning to do so but unable to stop herself. She doesn’t know the rules of society having been bred as the poor relation in her cousin’s home with the idea she would become a governess. All of Sherry’s friends are sympathetic and watch out for her the best they can – Sherry too when he pays attention. Unfortunately for Kitten one scrape gets to be one too many and Sherry explodes causing her to run away. Will spoiled Sherry realize his mistake? Will he realize he loves having her in his life? Will he find her? Will his friends help him or Kitten, whom they adore?
In short I find Heyer’s Regency set tales quite unique – we should start a Heyer Book Club! She after all has written over fifty novels, it could be fun!
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy: Friday's Child
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Originally posted 2008-09-08 05:07:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 24th, 2010 — 1.5 Stars, Book Review, Category, Contemporary, Estranged, Gentry, Italy, S-U, Science, Secret Baby, Tycoon, Working with Land
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Matteo De Luca is one prideful, stubborn man. He was stubborn at twenty-five and he still is at thirty-five. He’s very wealthy and comes from a blueblood Italian family but chooses not to share this with anyone, especially our heroine until after she is staring gobsmacked at his house in Tuscany.
Stephanie Leyland-Owen married Charles when Matteo broke it off with her 10 years ago and disappeared. She married Charles to protect her unborn child from her father, who is a very prejudice man. Her son, Simon Matthew Leyland-Owen, does not look like Matteo (he actually looks like Matteo’s grandmother) which is how she manages to keep Matteo from guessing the truth.
At twenty-nine, Stephanie would like to think she’s able to stand up to her father and not care about how ridiculous family dimensions are in her house. Her mother who has until midway through the novel been a doormat suddenly grows a spine and starts to talk back. Her one brother is a mimicry of their father. Her other is a nonentity, but is supposedly carefree and charming.
The novel is way to slow moving. The sex is rather pathetic, even the daring one out in the open. I didn’t really feel like the leads were connecting emotionally, let alone falling back in love. Matteo doesn’t believe Stephanie about her behavior from years ago. She never brings him to task not telling her about himself and for letting her father treat him like crap when by all rights he should be squishing her dad like a bug.
Overall it was just very meh.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
Buy: The Italian's Secret Child
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January 11th, 2010 — 1.5 Stars, Business, Cowboy, Crime and Protection, Estranged, Lawyer, Movie Reviews, Survival, United States of America
Meryl Morgan (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a TSTL heroine. The woman witnesses a murder, goes into protective custody and decides calling New York is a good idea. Is the woman crazy or does she just have a death wish? Seriously.
Jackie Drake, her assistant, is just as stupid because when the adoptive agency in New York calls her to get back to Meryl she takes the number and says everything over the phone. If your boss goes into protective custody under no circumstances should you try to get the number, say it out loud, or dial it from your cell or work phones or dial it at all.
Most of the funny stuff is in the trailer. Nothing else that’s truly funny shows up in the movie. I had a good enough time in the theater not to demand my money back but I won’t be buying the movie when it comes out on DVD.
Paul Morgan (Hugh Grant) is a cheating husband trying to make it right with his estranged wife. Why does he always pick the sleazy “good” guys? I just don’t get it. At least as Daniel Cleaver it was hilarious.
Clay Wheeler (Sam Elliott) and Emma Wheeler (Mary Steenburgen) are terrible custodians or guardians or whatever you want to call them. Internet and phone at their house has a code, but they leave Meryl and Paul alone way too much, give them too much latitude and freedom. Come on, you think if they go into town they won’t try to contact home? How stupid are you? I’m surprised Clay Wheeler keeps his job honestly.
I guess if stupidity wasn’t allowed in movies, there’d never be a storyline and without a storyline the film couldn’t be made.
Adam Feller, Paul’s assistant is fabulous. He’s adorable and dorky and truly shines.
The sweetest scene in my opinion is when Paul remembers and repeats his marriage vows to Meryl under the stars.
Major Spoilers….
There were some other inconsistencies too, especially with the ending and the adoptive agency. I know it is overtly wrong because one) it was pointed out to me in the movie while watching and two) based friend and family experiences it would never ever happen in that short of time or with Meryl being pregnant.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
Buy: Did You Hear About the Morgans?
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January 7th, 2010 — 3.5 Stars, Book Review, Estranged, G-I, Great Britain, Headaches, Historical Romance, Scarred Hero
Wolf at the Door is one of those stories that starts with a pebble falling off the side of a mountain and ends in an avalanche. The pebble is the little white lie Millicent Hyde tells her stepsister about being engaged. The snow drift starts when Sherry asks Captain Alec Wolferton if it is true, that he is engaged to Millicent. The avalanche is when Alec agrees in warm rich tones, that yes, he is Millicent’s fiancé.
Poor Millicent Hyde is in a pickle now. Always impulsive, she has been known to make one bad decision after the next – from running off with a poof who leaves her at the altar to telling the truth and creating scandal. Disowned by her father at her stepmother’s whim, it’s all she can do to watch the perfect Miss Sherry flutter her lashes and glide across the ballroom. Her own mouth gets her in trouble again and the noble Captain Alec Wolferton was just trying to help. Now his reputation is tangled with hers and Millicent is terrified the truth will come out and she’ll never reconcile with her father because of it.
For his part, Captain Alec Wolferton is quite pleased with this fake engagement. He’s on a mission for the London War Office to expose Sherry Hyde’s fiancé a corrupt and evil man. Colin Rafferty is also the man responsible for wounding Alec during the Crimean War leaving him scarred for life and doomed to endure forever constant throbbing headaches. It’s a personal vendetta for Alec to ruin Colin Rafferty as he had been ruined and not even the pretty, delectable Miss Millicent Hyde will get in his way.
The bedroom scenes are very steamy and enjoyable.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Originally posted 2008-11-28 11:08:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 1st, 2010 — 2 Stars, 5 Stars, ARC, Children, Contemporary, Crime and Protection, Estranged, Guest Reviews, J-L, Kidnapping, Police, Survival, Suspense/Thriller, United States of America
by Karin of Savvy Thinker, guest reviewer.
LRP gave me an arc copy to review.
The genre
Romantic Suspense
Shattered has plenty of suspense.
The sex
Hot, hot, hot, but not crude.
There is one scene of angry sex, but they are both equally angry, it is not one-sided.
Lots of twists and turns
This includes intertwined relationships which might seem contrived (and they are) but they don't read as contrived. In the context of marital separation, there is a hint of another romance, but it is never consummated.
Violence
Yes. Torture (off page but strongly hinted at.) Murders. Kidnapping. Children witnessing murder.
Heads up
Negatives to me
One of the children in the book is diagnosed with Leukemia. I'd rather have had this left out of the book. Is it a romance book or reality book?
There are a number of treatments discussed in the book.
The child survives and likely goes into remission in a relatively short time, which might not happen in RL.
All's well that ends well.
The ending is satisfying. Everything is settled in 423 pages and a pretty fast read, one you won't want to put down. If only life would follow suit!
Part of the Bitter Creek novel series
This book is part of the Bitter Creek series, one of seven other books. There is enough information given within the book that someone who has never read any of the other books, can get a sense of who is who and have a pretty good guess at what the other books contain.
My take
I liked this book a lot, but then romantic suspense is a genre I particularly like to read.
Rating: I'd rate it a 5 Stars for romantic suspense, and a 2 Stars because of the Leukemia thread.
Buy: Shattered (Bitter Creek Novels)
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December 31st, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, 4 Stars, ARC, Comedy of Manners, Contemporary, Estranged, Executive, Great Britain, M-O
What would constitute an offer you can't refuse?
Is it money, glory and fame, mercy for a loved one, promises of everlasting passion...
For Lauren (whose gone by Lola since she was little) it's the first and she has to give up the last to get it. Mrs. Tennant, her boyfriend's mother, corners her at work and offers an outrageous sum of money for Lola to break up with her son. Naturally, Lola is hurt, furious, and promptly refuses. She loves Dougie with all her heart! They've made plans to be together forever! Mrs. Tennant, cool as a cucumber, sits patiently while Lola rants and raves and promises to tell Dougie everything. It becomes clear she's not getting through to Dougie's mum, and so Lola hops out of the car and takes the bus home.
Rattled and in need of comfort she calls her friend, who offers some practical advice for a teen. This is advice Lola doesn't want to hear and tries to call Dougie up at his hotel where he's staying while sorting out his housing for university that year. The woman behind the desk says he's gone out with a guy and two girls confirming the friend's words from before. Still Lola is determined to wait until she sees Dougie again to do anything rash. She loves him, they can get through this... but then Lola runs into her Dad upstairs and everything changes in an instant. Lola must do the impossible and give up the love of her young life to accomplish it.
Ten years later, Lola runs into Doug and his family again through some bizarre happenstance. Doug is shocked and angry; immediately distancing himself from Lola. When he finds out about the money shortly thereafter he's beyond angry. Lola in his eyes is scum. All Lola wants is to win him back... if only she could tell him why, but her sense of honor refuses to allow her this easy escape. She made a promise and she's going to keep it, even if it means losing Doug all over again.
I found Lola at 27 to still retain most of the naive 17 year old girl she'd been. She should have been more grownup I felt. I know it wouldn't be the same book if she'd come right out and told Doug why she took the money, but this was a point of contention for me. She stalks him too, not in the 'I'm outside your window watching you shower type' of stalking, but in the 'whenever I found out where you are or will be going I try to be there too' way. The older Doug showed no signs of weakening his resolve to ignore/hate Lola until the very end of the book, making the reunion a bit too hasty for me. It wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped.
There were times in the beginning of the book I was hoping Lola would fall in love with the second love of her life... the next door neighbor Gabe. He showed signs of knowing how she thought, what motivated her, did things for her (like sit and watch awful chick flick movies) and keep her in the front of his thoughts. Lola was also devastated with the idea of never seeing him again when he after a girl in Australia (it ended poorly, he came right home). In the end he's just a great male friend for Lola.
Overall I'd give it 3.5 to 4 stars.
Originally posted 2009-03-27 05:47:09. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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December 13th, 2009 — 4 Stars, A-C, Book Review, Children, Contemporary, Crime and Protection, Estranged, Kidnapping, Mistaken Identity, Poor Eyesight, Secret Agent, Secret Baby, Survival, Suspense/Thriller, United States of America, Widow or Widower
Remember when I ran into Roxanne St. Claire at the bookstore? I asked her what her favorite books were that she wrote and Hunt Her Down was one of them. I was not disappointed in fact my socks were knocked off! I think I may just have to get back into reading lots and lots of romantic suspense because of this novel.
There’s this sexy shed scene where Dan masturbates that really did it. The scene is so hot you boil reading the pages. See, Dan has bad night vision and thought the heroine couldn’t see him. They were locked inside the shed (were they used to make love a lot when they knew each other years ago) by the bad guys and while they were waiting to be rescued they had a little trip down memory lane.
As Roxanne St. Claire said on twitter:
You know, every hero has to have a flaw. 
To which I said:
I'd take that flaw in a few more heroes haha
I so would! Whew!
Maggie Varcek believes in signs from the universe or at least her Baba (grandmother). When a fortune cookie fortune accurately acknowledges her pregnancy, Maggie is ecstatic and determined to go to the baby’s father to tell him the news. She knew he’d take care of her and they’d figure out what to do (e.g. how to get away and stay safe.) On that fateful night however, Maggie does not get the chance because Michael Scott dies when the FBI and DEA rush in to haul Ramon and Alonso Jimenez off to prison.
Flash forward a decade later. Ramon is released and back on the streets. Dan Gallagher, formerly Michael Scott, undercover Bullet Catcher, knows his ex-lover Maggie might be in danger if Ramon figured out she was the leak. His plans to protect her go awry when he finds out they had a kid. Now he’s racing to solve a case of missing millions, 100 million to be precise, and the mysteries of the heart, specifically his own.
Sizzling, suspenseful, and superb. As I said before, I think I may just have to get back into reading lots and lots of romantic suspense because of this novel. Can’t wait to read Make Her Pay
!
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy: Hunt Her Down (Bullet Catchers)
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November 28th, 2009 — 2.5 Stars, A-C, Australia/New Zealand, Book Review, Crime and Protection, Erotica, Estranged, Kidnapping, Mystery, Paranormal, Rape/Abuse, Supernatural, Survival, Travel, Vampire, Werewolf
The second book in the Riley Jenson series is a continuance of the first. It’s very important to read Full Moon Rising before starting this one because they are extremely tied in and you will be left confused if you don’t.
The urban futuristic world is expanded and more players are introduced. The plot thickens as Misha reveals clues to who is really behind everything. We find out more about the limbs of the organization while the head tries to save itself. The head is a mystery and is not resolved in Kissing Sin.
Keri Arthur is very good at staging fights, which is a good thing as there are a ton of them! The last stand off at the end is extremely creepy as in horror movie creepy. I’d give more details but I’m trying not to spoil anyone.
The things that bothered me in the last novel are back only this time without the excuse of a full moon inciting the werewolf lusties. Again it’s not the amount of sex in the novel, it is who the sex is with and how Riley reflects on her sexuality. Two new guys enter her sex circle: We meet Kade Williams, the horse-shifter (not a lycanthrope – his shifting is not tied to the moon) and Kellen an alpha male werewolf Riley can feel is important to her future. I didn’t mind Kade or Kellen or Quinn, who’s back in this book.
I did mind Riley sleeping with the enemy for information sake. In addition it read very bad when Riley grumbled mentally that she didn't like being forced to fuck a guy (which if she becomes a Guardian is a sure thing) even though she's positive the sex will be good. I guess what’s good for the gander isn’t sauce for the goose in my case. It’s sexy on James Bond and not so much with her. I also minded the raping of Riley which happened again in flashbacks as she’s trying to recall the week that’s missing. She doesn’t really deal with it and it’s excused because sex is practically nothing to a werewolf.
Quinn is back in part because he wants to solve the mystery and in part because he can’t leave Riley alone. She invades his dreams. The two go back and forth and Riley gives him an ultimatum: accept her sexcapades as a part of her werewolf charm or get the hell out of her life. Quinn agrees to a compromise of exclusivity when he’s in town, but makes it very clear he’s possessive and territorial when it comes to her.
I find I am Quinn in this series. I can’t accept Riley’s blasé attitude toward sex. It must be the human in me as Keri Arthur repeatedly says in the books it’s the werewolf way of life and it’s the problem of the humans, who are too prudish and morally uptight to really understand. And I don’t! I don’t understand walking into a club and having sex in public on the dance floor. I don’t understand going to a party with a guy you had sex with on the way there and then slipping off to fuck another guy – even if he’s a werewolf hottie you slept with the night before. It’s seedy and tacky.
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Buy: Kissing Sin (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 2)
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November 14th, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, A-C, ARC, Big Misunderstanding, Book Review, Comedy of Manners, Estranged, Gentry, Great Britain, Heiress, Jane Austen, Regency
Before I start this review, I would like to make it known I have never read the original Jane Austen novel Emma
. I’ve just seen different movie and mini-series renditions. I know from glancing through the Wikipedia article about Emma that Billington started the sequel with a very similar first sentence to set the mood.
Much of Emma and Knightley is graceful and lovely. The word choices and sentence structures are very poetic. Some of the passages on the other hand are fairly stuffy and take a bit of concentration to slog through. Part of this I must blame on my lack of character knowledge. It might be helpful to some readers to start this novel only after reading Emma or learning more about the characters through cliff notes.
The novel starts approximately one year from Emma and George Knightley’s marriage. They are returned from their honeymoon by the sea and are resettling at Hartfield. Knightley is everything magnanimous to Mr. Woodhouse, Emma’s father, even though Emma knows he would wish them both to be at his home, Donwell Abbey.
Sad news reaches them and the surrounding village town about Jane Churchill’s death in childbirth. Frank Churchill is rumored to be a very bad husband, having spent his time in London well away from his poor wife. When his return to Surrey and Highbury is discovered by Emma, Frank manages to convince her to keep her silence.
Meanwhile there’s trouble in paradise. John Knightley, George’s brother is in bad financial straights. Emma and Knightley are under severe strain to keep this unhappy news both from Mr. Woodhouse and Emma’s sister Isabella who is in confinement.
If that were not enough to worry about, Emma begins to notice more and more how Knightley takes himself off to Robert Martin’s home. At first she resents Robert, but as her insecurities mount she believes Harriet to have supplanted Knightley’s affections for her. A regular comedy of manners is taking place!
There is one character whose back story and later actions seem to be a bit over the top. I am fairly certain this character, Mrs. Philomena Tidmarsh, is new and not found within the original Emma. While I liked the friendship between Philomena and Emma, the rest took away some of my enjoyment for the story.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Buy: Emma & Knightley
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November 8th, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, 4 Stars, Asia, Big Misunderstanding, Book Review, Comedy of Manners, Contemporary, Crime and Protection, D-F, Estranged, Great Britain, Journalism, Lawyer, Plump/Endowed Heroine, Travel
There was a different reader for this book. It’s something that bugs me when it comes to series and sequels. Same reader please! Tracie Bennett was okay part of the time.
Sometimes I found her Bridget’s voice too harsh. I absolutely hated the mother’s voice; she sounded like she hated her daughter every time she saw her/spoke to her with the sharp hoarse, “HEh-LLooo DAH-ling.” Darcy sounded like a nancy boy instead of a sharp sexy lawyer.
There was more cursing in this book than the first.
The book and the movie are also very different:
- Plus – storyline is better than movie. Go Helen Fielding.
- Rebecca the Jellyfish is the woman after Mark not Rebecca Gilles. The Rebecca in the book is not a lesbian and is truly after Mark. Bridget is not crazy.
- No Daniel Cleaver, which is where the movie is better than the book. Hurrah for mixed up stories and sightings versus giving the wrong slip of paper. Grant and Firth are hot and dorky when they fight.
- I wasn’t a fan of the Gary the builder/fisher sideline. Seemed more like filler.
Bridget finds out not long after she quit her job with Sit Up Britain in September, that upper management loves her. She supplied 68% of the ideas for the year she worked there, that they produced and put on the show. Talk about awesome! Go Bridget. They want to give her a raise, pay her for the months she wasn’t working for them and call it paid leave, and rehire her as a manager something or other, forget the exact title, or as a consultant. Oh and Richard was fired due to personal reasons a month after she quit. Hurrah!
Rating: 3.5 because of reader, 4 otherwise.
Buy: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (paperback)
, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (audio)
Buy on Audible.com: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
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October 19th, 2009 — 4.5 Stars, Barons and Baronets, Book Review, Estranged, Great Britain, Historical Romance, P-R, Rogues and Rakehells, Virgin Heroine
I’ve recently started and stopped a few novels. I just couldn’t get into them past a few chapters and it wasn’t because the story itself wasn’t good it just wasn’t the storyline I was in the mood for at the time. Luckily I came across Julia Quinn’s It’s in His Kiss, a delightful tale that was just what I was in the mood for. It’s in His Kiss is a Bridgerton Family novel. I would assume since all the Bridgerton children were named A-H and that one child is mentioned to still be unmarried, that Hyacinth’s story is number seven in the set. Just don’t quote me on it! Grin.
Hyacinth is delightfully outspoken young miss of age twenty-two. She is good friends with the Countess Danbury, an elderly lady known for her sharp tongue and exuberant use of her walking stick on unsuspecting shins. Hyacinth meets Lady D, as she is known, every Tuesday to read the racy and seriously over the top shenanigans of the Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron and other works by the same author.
Mr. Mozart would die in disgust all over again if he had to hear the latest in the annual Smythe-Smith Musical. Four girls, tone-deaf with sausages for fingers attempt to play classical music. In truth they mutilate it beyond words which provide Hyacinth and Gareth St. Clair much amusement as they discuss their bleeding ears. Gareth is Lady D’s grandson and it is no surprise that he runs into Hyacinth again and again – or is it?
Gareth has been avoiding his grandmother’s home every Tuesday since Hyacinth began making her appearance. He knows his grandmother wants to make Hyacinth her new granddaughter and that’s precisely why he stayed away. He only consorted with women of a certain reputation and not wholesome girls with marriage-minded mamas. And now that he’s conversed with her, Gareth can’t seem to stay away from Hyacinth.
Add in awful poetry meetings, a search for lost diamonds, and Gareth’s secret and it’s a party in the making! Hot, steamy, and full of titillating midnight adventures It’s in His Kiss will entertain you to the very end; a fabulous tale that can’t be missed!
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Buy: It's In His Kiss
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Originally posted 2008-09-25 16:29:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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September 14th, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, Book Review, Category, Contemporary, Entrepreneur, Estranged, Friends, Mistaken Identity, Nerd, Older Woman/Younger Man, United States of America, V-Z
The cover of Feels Like the First Time is the reason readers hide the books that they read. I’m surprised Harlequin approved it frankly. It looks like the 70s on drugs. Disco pinks, blues, and purples swirl in a psychedelic mess surrounding two humping dancers that look like Sims characters. It’s just bizarre!
However the story between the covers is great; a very cute friends-to-lovers tale. The leads were best friends in high school but time and distance got between them. Not necessarily estranged, but close enough. At the ten year high school reunion they reconnect and have a magical weekend that leads to a HEA.
Zoe Gaston must find Gandolf, the video programmer who if persuaded could help her brother’s floundering company by writing an exclusive game for the new gaming system. Based on clues from Gandolf’s first ever video game Zoe knows he must have gone to her high school. Nothing less than love for her dear brother could get Zoe back to that small town and meet up with all of the people that made her high school years hell.
Dexter Drake is Zoe’s oldest friend and is in fact Gandolf, but since he left the company he was with he’s been under a confidentiality clause not to spill the beans. Of course, even if he could, he probably wouldn’t. Everybody from high school used him in some way or another except Zoe and he doesn’t want to give her a reason to start. Dexter wants Zoe to want him for himself… if only he had the courage to reveal that the man dressed as Aragon at the costume party was in fact him.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Buy: Feels Like the First Time
Buy on eHarlequin: Feels Like the First Time
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September 11th, 2009 — 1 Star, Africa, Book Review, Category, Contemporary, Estranged, Executive, Mistress or Courtesan, Rogues and Rakehells, S-U, Virgin Heroine
FYI: This is basically a rant review with spoilers.
Freya Addison once loved Zac Deverell with all her heart, but Zac was a billionaire playboy used to getting what he wanted when he wanted. After pursuing Freya, enticing her to first work as a stewardess on his yacht then seducing her into his bedroom he is both amused and bemused by how innocent she turned out to be. He persuades her to become his mistress and the little fool agrees. He breaks her heart three months later when she tells him that she's pregnant, by hotly denying it, calling her a two-timing gold digging whore and throwing her out of his penthouse.
Two years later Freya gets into a car wreck and her daughter Aimee is supposed to be in the care of Freya's grandmother. The grandmother is a heartless woman who only tolerated Freya in her life because of what the neighbors and little old bitties she hung out with would think. Freya's mother ran off years ago and hasn't been seen since and doesn't make an appearance in the book. The grandmother decides she's going on her world cruise, manages to find Zac Deverell at his London offices in the midst of a press conference and passes the baby along causing a scandal.
Zac is furious with Freya and the grandmother thinking they cooked this up on purpose. He doesn't blame the two year old baby and tries to temper his voice when he storms Freya's hospital room. He frogmarches Freya to do what he wants; which is to take her and Aimee to Monaco and getting a paternity test done so he can once and for all prove Freya the tramp that she is. Zac is highhanded, arrogant to the extreme, belligerent, and mean spirited. He takes great pleasure pursuing Freya for his pleasure while calling her names. Freya has no pride or self confidence and can't seem to ignore the passion he stirs in her blood. They have several intimate encounters, many leading to full blown sex.
When the child ends up being his he gives a two second apology and gets Freya to agree to marry him. We're about two thirds of the way through by now. This book is not that long... but of course he changes in the last like 3 pages, while appearing to exhibit no real changes.
From his side that we never see:
Doctors told him long ago he had 50% chance of holding the same gene. The disease wiped out his twin sisters before they were a year old. He vows never to have kids and gets a vasectomy. Then he finds out he's a daddy - is terrified but happy because his daughter hasn't shown signs of the disease his parents carried genes for. Goes to doctors and finds out there's a reliable test now to see if he carries the gene.
Meanwhile he wants to have sex with Freya all the time because he can't formulate his feelings and decides to show her by aggressively pursuing sex off and on (which she interprets as he wants me and now he doesn't all the while thinking in abject despair how is this ever going to work? and he's always intentionally hurtful and terse in his comments.)
Now we're at the end and he still hasn't got the results yet, but he suddenly can't go through with the wedding he insisted on. She thinks its because he doesn't want her and wants the woman who came up to her at a party and claimed to be his lover. Woman also said that whenever Zac told Freya he was working he was really with her playing.
When he hotly denies that Freya is all heartbroken AGAIN and tells him if he can't go through with until he tells her something she says she knows what it is and understands that he doesn't love her.
To which he then asks if she's an idiot (ok not really but still) and proceeds to finally open up and explain about the gene that he potentially was carrying and why he had a vasectomy in the first place yadda yadda and that he on some level knew he loved her which is why he was so furious when he thought she'd cheated on him two years ago with the street artist.
Kiss. Sex. Wedding. Epilogue. HEA.
I mean really what is this garbage? Don't read this.
Rating: 1 Star and only because sometimes the sex was decent.
Originally posted 2009-01-14 05:21:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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