October 14th, 2009 — 3 Stars, Book Review, Clumsy Heroine, Comedy of Manners, Entrepreneur, Foster/Orphan, G-I, Marriage of Convenience, United States of America, Western
I won a copy of Dear Penelope over at Kristie’s Ramblings on Romance blog during The Great Western Drive. Thanks Kristie!!!
This Western is a very sweet romance with a lot going on. You’ll find robberies and fisticuffs alongside chocolate stars and a marriage of convenience. It’s very lighthearted all the way along. There are a few things that keep it from being a truly great story and one for me was the lovemaking scene. I wanted a little more description in the bedroom as it was kind of sparse.
The novel setting is a small town called Emancipation in Colorado, near Wyoming. It serves as a backdrop for the suffragist movement. The woman of Emancipation run it and you’ll find them in positions of mayoress, sheriff, city council, newspaper owner, etc.
The heroine is partially clumsy. She’s always tripping or spilling things. It happens when she gets flustered. The hero is sort of an orphan. His mother left home and his father drank himself to death. He’s grown up now and runs a few saloons in Denver and Emancipation.
Sebastian Cole first meets Lucy when she arrives in Emancipation off of the train. He rescues her from a mishap. Later he rescues her from humiliation and financial desperation by offering her a job as a waitress in his saloon.
The humiliation that Lucy faces is finding out that her much anticipated arrival in Emancipation is unwelcome. Charlie, her fiancé, sent her a letter warning her not to come but it never made it to her. Charlie has a new fiancée and her name is Cherry. Disgraced and feeling miserable Lucy turns to Sebastian for help and there’s one thing Sebastian has never been able to resist and that’s a damsel in distress…
Rating: 3 Stars
Buy: Dear Penelope
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June 24th, 2009 — 1 Star, Blind, Book Review, Contemporary, Cursed Lead, J-L, Older Woman/Younger Man, Paranormal, Supernatural, Teacher, United States of America, Writer
So far as a romance novel goes, Lucy Burns has the very broad requirements and none of the nuances. It ends happy. There is a guy. She ends up with him. The romance was nonexistent as no emotions or depth came across when I read it. The story primarily focuses on Lucy Burns finding salvation.
As a heroine, I wasn't particularly enchanted with her. I was unable to sympathize with Lucy past her little girl stage. She came across exactly as she thought of herself: shallow, empty, and not particularly kind or nice beyond the relationship with her neighbor, her neighbor's child, and Luke Marshall.
I suppose Lucy redeemed herself in the end, but I didn't really connect to those inner changes. She was obviously disenchanted with herself, her job working for the devil, and with people and life in general. There was no growth to her character.
Luke Marshall was vague as a hero. We learn he teaches creative writing at a university, is writing a manuscript based on his perception of Lucy Burns, and sings off key when drunk... oh and he's blind, which means he can't see the gorgeousness that is Lucy at all.
Things in the book that I didn't like at all:
- Lucy getting so wasted she urinated on herself in her hall closet during a Tupperware party. What romance novel could happen without that?
- Her pretty blasé attitude over an innocent man accidentally going to hell by walking down into her basement. If there was regret, it was a twinge and nothing more.
- Her blasé attitude over the coffee shop goth-girl (admittedly not the friendliest of people) finding herself going to hell by trying to escape the some unrobed KKK members by running down into the basement...
- Reading the lyrics/song titles of Teddy Nightingale and random excerpts from Luke's novel. One or the other happened in every chapter. It was overkill.
- The backdrop of two movies duking it out in theaters that also appeared every other chapter or so. The movies were Adoring JC (Jesus Christ) and Absolutely Adolf: What were you thinking?
Rating: 1 Stars
Buy: The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns
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August 5th, 2008 — Contemporary, Features, News, Paranormal, Stephenie Meyer, United States of America, Vampire, Werewolf, Young Adult
Friday night of last week, fans of the teenage vampire romance by Stephenie Meyer gathered at bookstores for the release of Breaking Dawn, the fourth installment of the Twilight Saga. They were dressed as characters in the books, as vampires in general and in particular as Edward and Bella. Several went on dates to the midnight release parties, the theme of the prom being a great backdrop for such an evening.
Depending on your bookstore, there were many events set up to participate in. The one I liked best was bobbing for apples with the grand prize being your placement in the line come midnight. Many fans wore their Team Edward and Team Jacob shirts, the iron-ons having been provided in the newer release edition of Eclipse. The crowds were just as large from what I could tell as any Harry Potter release, for there were boys and girls, youths and adults in attendance.
I joined in even though I didn’t have a book held on hold at the bookstore. I chose Amazon thinking I would get the book at midnight or on the 2nd, but Amazon didn’t release Breaking Dawn like they released Deathly Hallows. I won’t get my copy until the end of the week. Very upsetting! I’m avoiding Facebook because people are discussing the novel left and right across the board and I don’t want to get spoiled. I hate knowing endings before I get to them of my own accord.
If you could access Twitter in your area, last Friday, you would have seen several posts from those at the parties talking about the books, their thoughts, projections, and wishes for the fourth book. I found that just as fun to read as any forum, newspaper article, or discussion because Twitter is kind of like eavesdropping. Jacob fans said they’d be mad if he didn’t get someone in this novel, Bella or his bond-mate. Edward fans wanted to make sure Bella didn’t chicken out of the wedding and hurt Edward. And mothers were hoping the book didn’t get more elaborate in the sexually charged scenes as the bedroom scene in Eclipse. I for one will feel cheated if Meyer fades to black should the scene come up.
What were your experiences at the midnight release parties?
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