Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Tuesday Review: NO GOOD DUKE GOES UNPUNISHED

Reasons you should go find a copy of NO GOOD DUKE GOES UNPUNISHED by Sarah Maclean right this second. THIS SECOND. Ignore your family over the holiday and just read this. You will wish these people were your family.

1.) Because you'll stay up late to read it. You'll read it in the bathroom. You'll read it in the car. You'll read it while standing in line. People will think that a little green romance novel is just a natural part of your hand because you won't be able to PUT. IT. DOWN.

2.) The hero is known as the Killer Duke for killing his father's fiancé.

3.) The dead fiancé shows up to offer the Killer Duke absolution in exchange for letting go of her brother's debts. I mean, that right there, how can you not want to read that? He's been condemned for a murder he never committed--he can't remember either way--and she wants him to do her a favor? Is she kidding?

4.) The dead fiancé has a powerful right hook.

5.) The Killer Duke has powerful everything--in fact, he teaches her how to fight. Good man.

6.) The love scene in the boxing ring. SEXIEST SCENE EVER! I mean it was just fantastic. I want to read it another dozen times at least. I don't know how Sarah Maclean is able to make all her love scenes different, yet sensual and breathtaking, but kudos to her and her Muse!

7.) The Black Moment. Seriously people, stop screwing with me and hook these people up! They NEED each other!

8.) The orphans. How can you not adore a group of orphans? You just can't.

9.) The last sentence of the book. Seriously, the last sentence. I read it and went, "WHAT THE F--" and nearly sent stalking emails to Sarah Maclean demanding to see an advanced copy of the fourth book. When the hell is that book coming out anyway? It's not soon enough, I can tell you.

10.) Did I mention the love scene? Yes, the one in the boxing ring, but the other was very fantastic too...still...oh, the book was just magnificent.

Go find this book. It is why you'll be thankful this holiday season. Oh, sure, there's your health and your family and your job...whatever. This book just rounds out a glorious reasons to be thankful!

I'll wait while you read it so we can discuss. Do hurry.

What did you love about it? And if you haven't read it yet, maybe you can tempt me with another...but if you have read it, please let's discuss. Wasn't the last sentence magnificent? YES!

Monday, November 18, 2013

No Book Review This Week--Look! A Parital Quilt Top!

Sorry, but I don't have a book review this week. I've been reading all over the place. I did finally get to read and finish Terri's book and it's still awesome.

In the meantime, look here--






It's loud. It's gaudy. It's really a self-statement now that I think on it.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tuesday Review: STYXX (Sherrilyn Kenyon)

OMG, I loved this book! The Dark-Hunter series is so freaking awesome--and I think I even love Styxx's story even more than Ash's and--

Let me back up a second. This book isn't for everyone. I'm the second willing to say that (I imagine Sherrilyn is first). One, it's a paranormal/fantasy setting--and if you get tired of mythology rather quickly, it won't be your gig; two, if you love Ash and you cannot bear to see him as anything less than a perfect god, you should stop reading the series...probably a couple books back; and three, boy is it graphic.

Rape. Torture. Brutality. Gods that play in the lives of humans to devastating effect. Brothers who hate each other. And like ingredients in a stew, those that are listed first are in greater amounts than the others. So the reviews on Amazon don't surprise me, having the hero raped repeatedly by a god and tortured by other gods, hardly seems the stuff of romantic novels.

But it's so good. The story, obviously, not the rape.

This is like my version of the Game of Thrones series--complex, action packed, people betraying each other all the time, but whereas George likes to kill characters willfully, Sherrilyn kills them very judiciously, so eventually you know, despite how awful the situation is, eventually, eventually, these characters will have a happily ever after of some kind because by God, they deserve it. This isn't to say she hasn't sacrificed a Dark-Hunter or two to show just how perilous these guys live. BUT it's logged as a romance, so hey, you have a trump card that says, "These two people work out SOMEHOW." No matter what.

This is not to say you won't question the happy ending over and over during your time reading the book. You'll be reading along, realizing you have about 50 pages left, and everyone is in extreme mortal danger. Hell, the main character has just been killed. How are they going to resurrect the guy anyway? Somehow Sherrilyn makes it work out without you ever thinking, "Oh, that was so easy." It's never easy. It's an earned HEA.

Who will love this: those of us who love dark, emotional dramas.

Who will hate this: those of us who read to escape dark, emotional dramas.

Whichever one of these you are, that's my recommendation.

What are you reading?

Monday, November 4, 2013

Tuesday Review: THE WICKED WALLFLOWER (Maya Rodale)

I will admit this up front: this one came in a pile of potential review books from Avon. I think they know the authors in the pile were hits and misses for me, so they just gave me a handful and hoped for the best. But I was out of things to read and the titles were really good.

This one drew my particular attention: THE WICKED WALLFLOWER by Maya Rodale. Because I love wallflowers, especially wicked ones. Except I had read a Maya Rodale book before and had gotten annoyed with the anachronisms piled in the pages. It's fiction we're reading, but my limit of suspended belief can be quite small when it comes to the Regency period. Especially when the dialogue between characters is very much like the dialogue from the Vampire Diaries...it's just not...effective setting for me. And setting is very important to me in historicals. I need to believe my setting and the people who are living in it.

So I wasn't sure if I would like this book, from past experience. Then I read the back blurb and I knew I would at least have to try to read it. It sounded hilarious.

Aside from a few Vampire Diaries contemporary-esque dialogue exchanges, I was sucked into a fun romp between the heroine and her friends, all wallflowers. They were getting a little tipsy on sherry; and they were trying to figure out how to make the heroine's beau come up to scratch--and goofing around, one of them wrote up an announcement for the heroine to the Duke of Ashbrooke, who is everything opposite of her beau. Then by some mysterious horrible mistake: the announcement is put in the NEWSPAPER. The Duke of Ashbrooke catches wind of this and decides to use it for his own purposes. His reputation is so shot, his own beloved aunt won't invite him to partake in the Fortune Games this year--so he thinks bringing a suitable fiance will go about fixing his kinship.

It was the aunt and the Fortune Games where I really fell in love with this book. Clearly a hilarious montage of Survivor and the Hunger Games, relatives and friends that the aunt invites are allowed to participate to try to win her favor--and be named in the will for that year. If she dies that year, they win everything. These games have been going on for years. There are plenty of desperate and slightly dangerous relatives competing in this. The Duke is rather desperate for it himself, even though he's not destitute. He wants to make...well, it's the Regency version of a computer--and I have to hand it to Ms. Rodale for the historical part of this because this was very believable and well written. To make his version of the "computer", he needs 50,000 pounds...which he'd get if he won the games and his aunt died (though he doesn't really want her to die, just so we're clear.)

The romance and growing tension between the hero and heroine was very well done--I enjoyed their growth as a couple; and I loved Ashbrooke as a hero, who while yes self-serving, did adore his aunt greatly...and came to adore the heroine just as much if not more so. Emma, the heroine, was feisty and fun and clever. And the aunt--she's Betty White/Maggie Smith a la Regency period. Hysterical.

I'm very glad I put aside my experience with the previous book, because I enjoyed this one thoroughly! Well worth a read. (Though, yes, if contemporary dialogue irks you in historicals, there will be FEW problems here and there for you. If it doesn't, you'll probably enjoy the romp outright! The Fortune Games! So hilarious!)

What are you reading?