With all that free time I was able to finish four books in four days. You'd think I had my nose in a book the entire time but I managed to do some walking, shopping in town, and catching up on my naps :) It's amazing how much reading I can do if I don't have people bugging me.
Up Close and Dangerous by Linda Howard (2007 - romantic suspense)I liked UC&D better than LH's last two books (Cover of Night and Killing Time). The plot was more believable and more romantic. Bailey Wingate and Cam Justice are left stranded after the small plane he is piloting for her crash lands in the mountains of Idaho. The majority of the book reads like a survivalist how-to book and I found it fascinating. Cam and Bailey begin the book as antagonistic towards each other before the crash but afterwards they learn to rely on each other and their survival skills in order to make it off the mountain alive. And the sexual tension slowly heats up. Some of it was a bit unrealistic (would you want to have sex in those conditions?) but I didn't care. I loved Cam's sexy Texas drawl and Bailey's steady competent strength. My only complaint is the suspense was rather light and the too fast and quick ending. I want an epilogue! My grade: A-
Wild Wild West by Charlene Teglia (2007 - contemporary erotic romance)WWW was hot, sexy, steamy, sizzling and yummy. The book tells the story of three couples with about 1/3 of the book devoted to each couple. Three women and three cowboys meet in an espresso cafe in Missoula Montana. They pair up and each couple has an extremely erotic evening which leads to relationships and happy endings. The last story started going into that sub-dom crap I hate and I started to think I better skip it, but it was very lightly done and never got really heavy. If you like your erotica with romance and happy endings, then you'll love this one. My grade: B+
Arousing Suspicions by Marianne Stillings (2007 - romantic suspense)I read Stillings' first book and didn't like it that well but I decided to give her 4th book a try. And I am pleased to report that I enjoyed it very much. Tabitha March is a psychic "dream interpreter". Nate Darling is a police detective investigating a murder. Tabitha approaches him about a client who has dreamt of that murder and of course Nate doesn't believe her. Eventually, Nate goes back to her when the evidence points to that dream and Nate doesn't quite know if Tabitha may be a suspect. They begin working together to solve the crime. Tabitha and Nate are good characters and the book has quite a bit of humor that worked for me. I'll be trying Stillings again. My grade: B
Mad Dash by Patricia Gaffney (2007 - contemporary chick lit)I'm not that crazy about chick lit but DearAuthor's review made me want to give this book a try and I'm glad I did. I liked the fact that it wasn't all written in first person. Dash's POV was first person but we also get portions of the book with husband Andrew's POV written in third person. Dash Bateman is going through a mid-life crisis after her mother dies and her daughter leaves home for college. She walks out on her husband after he objects to her keeping an abandoned puppy. I have to admit this book came a little too close to home and I found myself identifying with how she is feeling. Although I thought she was way too impulsive (something I'm not). I also sympathized with Andrew who was completely bewildered and clueless. I loved their story though and the ending was great too. My grade: B+
10 comments:
The only one of those 4 that I've read is the Marianne Stillings book. I had issues with her first book too, but kept her on my radar since I thought she showed promise. And Arousing Suspicions proved to be the book where it came together. I really enjoyed it. I do want to read the Linda Howard and Charlene Teglia books though.
Mad Dash seems like I would be interested in it. Right now I am finishing The Sapphire Pendant The Sapphire Pendant is a powerful contemporary love story – I can't put the book down until I finish it, except to blog of course.
Thanks for the reviews.
I think I'll need to hear some serious squeeing for me to buy a Linda Howard book after the last two. I think I need to see 'scorching' in a review of her book before I buy ;)
You know puppies are cute in books but my puppy (very old dog) has gas that is almost killing us. I told Bob he couldn't light the gas fireplace up in case Cody got too close. To let you know how serious I am, our one cat who only goes from her food dish to the carpet in the living room has been found in every room in the house because Cody fell asleep on the carpet. Every time the dog goes near her she finds the farthest place in the house. Tonight we came home and the reak was unbelievable! Thus, I'm not sure I want to read about someone with a perfect little puppy right now ;)
CidnyS
I haven't read any of these ~ you've given me some more ideas for my TBR, that's for sure! Mad Dash sounds like the one I'd most likely read.
Kristie: You and I are on the same page about Stillings. She did show promise and I'm glad I waited until this book until her skills were a bit more solid. UC&D is not a keeper like Dream Man or After the Night but it was enjoyable to me. And the Teglia is purely a treat, a hot fudge sundae with cherry on top :)
Melissa: I hope you try Mad Dash if you are into chick lit. I haven't heard of The Sapphire Pendant, must look into it. Thanks.
Cindy: ROTFLMAO! You are so funny. I can relate with the puppy gas problem. Our old dog (who has since passed away) had horrible gas too. I still tell Bob to stay away from an open flame (if you get my meaning). You should probably pass on Mad Dash anyway since the sex is only subtle at best. As to the Linda Howard, not scorching but better than the last two. So maybe you should pass on that too. But WWW you would love. Scorching hot and 3 cute love stories.
Dev: Hope you find something here to like. Glad you're back blogging. I kept checking up on you. Hope ND was fun. :)
I haven't read any of these either but you make them sound pretty good!
Renee ~ ND was fun. It's still unbelievable that you and I barely missed each other. Would have been nice to have crossed over a little, hm?
I really enjoyed Howards' latest effort too. She's a great author and I'm glad that she revived that with this book.
Stacy: I enjoyed all of them. It was a great reading vacation.
Dev: It's a small world, isn't it? Every time we went past the sign for the turnoff to Tioga I would wonder about you.
Alie: She is an amazing author. But I long for those really scorching books she used to write. But this one was very good.
I know what you mean, Renee. I just reread Kill and Tell and I was literally fanning myself it was so hot! Same goes for After The Night :) Her sex scenes now seem so subdued and limited.
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