November 2009 Reads & Minis

November is done! I can't believe it... I read almost half the books I read last month, and didn't like some of them as much as I did my last month's reads, but those months/weeks/days don't come around too often. I did, however, find a few wonderful surprises along the way.

I got hooked on the paranormal Guardian series by Meljean Brook and that's great for me. I've had some disappointments this year and my PNR list of authors has dwindled down to three must-read authors -- this is an excellent addition to my list. I also have a new-to-me author whose backlist I'm going to explore, Cheryl St. John writes historical romances set in the west. I love the genre and can't wait to read more books by her. And, I was very happy to read Lisa Dale's latest book and hope to read more. I'm thinking maybe I found a new contemporary romance writer I'll be following in the future. So, a productive reading month, if not in quantity, for the most part in quality. :)

1) Demon Angel by Meljean Brook

2) Joe's Wife by Cheryl St. John

3) Demon Moon by Meljean Brook

4) Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts - Upcoming Review

5) It Happened One Night by Lisa Dale

6) The Cowboy (Bitter Creek Series #1) by Joan Johnston

The Cowboy by Joan Johnston was a DNF for me. I read as far as the end of the 3rd Chapter and closed the book. There's a feud going on between the H/h's families and while at college, these two young people meet and fall in love. In the opening scene, while the two are in bed together, she receives a phone call telling her that her brother was tragically paralyzed in a football game accident. The person who made the unlucky play and hurt her brother is the hero's brother. She decides right there and then that she has to end their relationship. He begs her to go with him and marry him, to confront their families and end this feud. She won't do it even though she secretly knows she's pregnant. Yes, pregnant. *sigh

Eleven years pass and the hero finally returns home. When they meet again, (by Chapter 3) she accuses him of LEAVING HER! All of the sudden it's HIS FAULT! All of this while she is still trying to hide the fact that the child belongs to him. See, she married another man 1 month after he left and is now a widow. I have no patience for this type of storyline and that was the end for me. I actually thought of reading the trilogy by Ms. Johnston... the other two are The Texan and The Loner, but decided against it. Frustrating, just frustrating.

7) One Good Man by Alison Kent

A Blaze category romance. I was actually enjoying this book. It was a pretty fast read and it had really hot moments between the H/h, a Texas Ranger and the victim of a crime. The romance was one of those fast, "I think I have feelings for him/her" within the first 24 hours (insta-love), but okay... it was HOT. But, but BUT, their whole story was entrenched with the crime. You couldn't really separate the two. After the climax to the story where the villain is caught at the end? The how, who and why were NOT answered... Can you believe that? I read this WHOLE book and it felt incomplete. I cannot describe my frustration...to read all the way to the end only to get no answers. Frustrating! However, this is a Blaze, the H/h had their hot HEA and if you don't find not finding out these details frustrating, then you might enjoy this book. I have one more book by Ms. Kent on my TBR pile that I'll be reading.

8) He's No Prince Charming by LuAnne McClaine

Okay... this book is hmm... I don't even know how to describe it! I started it, put it away and started to read it again. The heroine is an ex-teen star singer and the hero is a has-been bull rider. The hero is bitter, lonesome and he comes off as okay, but the heroine in this book just killed me! This girl/woman.. I'm not sure how old she is in the book (I might have missed that), acts like a bubble head, air-head, child/girl/woman... and I just did not KNOW what this man saw in her. She might have been just a wee bit too superficial for my taste. The woman in the secondary romance was more appealing than the heroine, at least to me she was. Maybe I just didn't quite appreciate the "Three Stooges" style of romantic comedy in this book. The book does have a very nice Southern atmosphere to it that I enjoyed and I'll try one of her other books with this same theme to see if it works for me.

9) Almost Like Being In Love by Steve Kluger (M/M)- Upcoming Mini

10) Slow Burn by Tori Temple (M/M)

This is a very short Sip by Torquere that covers one very hot encounter. I love Tori Temple, so it was worth the read for me. :)

11) Cowgirl Up and Ride by Lorelei James - Upcoming Mini

12) Long Hard Ride by Lorelei James (Re-read)

I re-read A Long Hard Ride in preparation for Rough Raw and Ready since two of the main characters in that book are introduced in this installment. (Not that I minded too much re-reading this book *g*) Lorelei James style, this is the story of Colby McKay & Channing Kincaid. -- how they meet on the rodeo circuit and their sexual adventures before they fall in love and reach their happily ever after. This is a hot installment with lots of M/F/M, M/F, & M/M & one M/M/F/M scene included. A Long Hard Ride is the perfect title for this book. It's not really my favorite in the series, but that's mainly due to the short time it takes for Colby and Channing to realize they're in love and I had other issues. As for the erotic part of the book, there's no question that it was hot and I enjoyed that part of it plenty!

13) Rough Raw and Ready by Lorelei James - Upcoming Mini

How was your reading month? Any good ones?

Review: My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy

A wild west heiress, Summer Wine Lee knows that she's not an acceptable bride for her fiance's knickerbocker family. She grew up in an Arizona mining town, cares more for critters than people, carries a knife under her skirts, and, worst of all, she has a highly improper secret from her past. But she also has high hopes that a real English Duke can teach her how to be a lady...

Were it not for his father's gambling debts, the Duke of Monchester would never have stooped to civilize Summer. But the more time he spends with her, and the more social scrapes he has to rescue her from, the more he finds it impossible to change her into a proper lady. How could he, when he's falling in love with her just the way she is?

This is my first book by Ms. Kennedy and one I chose to read because of my love of Pygmalion and My Fair Lady. I really wanted to see how this story would develop.

You can find my review of My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy at Musings of a Bibliophile.

My Unfair Lady releasing today December 1, 2009

Review based on an ARC received from Sourcebooks.

Mini-Impressions: Demon Angel & Demon Moon by Meljean Brook

Demon Angel by Meljean Brook (The Guardian Series)

For two thousand years, Lilith wrought vengeance upon the evil and the damned, gathering souls for her father’s armies Below and proving her fealty to her Underworld liege. Bound by a bargain with the devil and forbidden to feel pleasure, she draws upon her dark powers and serpentine grace to lead men into temptation. That is, until she faces her greatest temptation Heaven’s own Sir Hugh Castleford…

Once a knight and now a Guardian, Hugh spent centuries battling demons—and the cursed, blood-drinking nosferatu. His purpose has always been to thwart the demon Lilith, even as he battles his treacherous hunger for her. But when a deadly alliance unleashes a threat to both humans and Guardians in modern-day San Francisco, angel and demon must fight together against unholy evil—and against a desire that has been too long denied…

Who will be the first to succumb?

Interesting and complex world building -- Guardians (half angels/half human), nosferatu, vampires (made by nosferatu or other vampires), demons and humans. Demon Angel started back in the 1200s and ended in modern times San Francisco. The first part of the book felt disjointed and a bit confusing with Lilith and Hugh meeting each other throughout time, making references to people and places that hopefully will be addressed later.

This story of Hugh the Guardian and Lilith the Demon, turned out to be quite the complex and touching romance. I fell in love with Lilith's character who turned out to be a tough, wicked and sexy heroine with a vulnerable side I quite enjoyed. There were so many twists and turns in Demon Angel I couldn't put it down until it was finished. I enjoyed it to the end and it definitely hooked me on the series.

Demon Moon by Meljean Brook (The Guardian Series)

No one would call vampire Colin Ames-Beaumont kind, but they would call him unnaturally beautiful. For two centuries his tainted blood has kept him isolated from other vampires, sustained only by his beauty and vanity—bitter comforts, since a curse has erased his mirror reflection, replacing it with a terrifying glimpse of Chaos.

Savi Murray’s insatiable curiosity had gotten her into trouble before, but she’d always escaped unscathed. Then came Colin. In the midst of Heaven, he gave her a taste of ecstasy—and of Chaos. Deadly creatures from that realm herald the return of an imprisoned nosferatu horde, and Colin and Savi’s bond is their only protection—and their only passion…

In some ways I liked Demon Moon more than Demon Angel. I thought this book was better in that the worldbuilding was tighter and it didn't have that disjointed feel to it. The plot was just as complex as in the first book with twists and turns at every corner keeping my interest, while the romance and sexual tension with its almost "mission impossible" outcome made it a nail-biter.

I loved the hero, Colin, a vampire who was super hot and I fell for him hook, line and sinker. I liked Savi, the heroine too, although I didn't love her the way I did Lilith (Demon Angel). As a couple Savi and Colin had great chemistry and that made the romance part of the book just as good as the rest of the story. Demon Moon had a good balance between the growing worldbuilding, the plot and the romance.

I already have the next book in this series and I can't wait to keep reading! Hooked! I'm hooked! :)

You can visit the author here.

Giving Thanks...

for a loving & supporting family,

for old friends,

for new friends,

for love, romance & all it brings to my daily life.

My cup (in this case horn-of-plenty & it's a BIG one) runneth over!

Wishing all those celebrating this weekend a

Happy, Loving & Plentiful Thanksgiving!

Mini-Review: Joe's Wife by Cheryl St. John

Memories...

Tye Hatcher returned to Aspen Grove to find that life in the sleepy Western town hadn't changed much. The townspeople stubbornly refused to see the man he had become. That is, everybody but Meg Telford. Meg definitely took notice of the reticent rancher and gave him a chance in life when no one else would. Still, Meg clung to the memories of her late husband, afraid of the feelings Tye aroused in her heart. And though Tye vowed to proved his worth to the town, could he ever prove to Meg that he was worthy of her love?

Joe's Wife is my first book by Cheryl St. John. I saw a beautiful review for this Harlequin Historical romance at Leslie's Psyche and I just had to read it. This is an older book, 10 years old, but in my opinion worth searching out to read. I'm so glad I read it.

Tye Hatcher recently returned to Aspen Grove from the war. The same war that took the life of Meg Telford's husband Joe. As a bastard and the son of a saloon girl, Tye had a tough time growing up in a small town where its people always treated him like a pariah. He is a good man who is not judged by his character, but by the circumstances of his birth. Joe has dreams and something to prove to the people of Aspen Grove.

Meg Telford is a sweet, beautiful young woman who loved her husband. She wants nothing more than to continue the dream she and Joe began when they bought their ranch together. Even though the ranch now belongs to her, she's a woman and alone. This fact makes it tough for her to continue what Joe started. Meg finds herself fighting Joe's family and the bank to fulfill their dream. But Meg's sweetness hides a spine of steel, she'll do what it takes to keep Joe's ranch and what is hers. Meg's answer is to take a husband and Tye Hatcher is the perfect man.

I loved the way Cheryl St. John developed this story and the characters. The slow, tentative way in which these two people get to know each other and their love blooms. I fell in love with Tye and the subtle way in which he showed his love, as well as his passion for Meg. And, I couldn't help but admire Meg. Their guilts, self-doubts, jealousies, sexual tension and needs are realistic and understandable. Both Meg and Tye have issues and baggage that they bring to this unexpected marriage and the way they handle them, themselves and the town's reactions make the story in Joe's Wife.

This was a quick read for me and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Cheryl St. John has an extensive backlist and recent releases and you can be sure I'll be reading more of them.

You can visit the author here.