Book Binge

Rowena: We're running a little late today but that's because I've been much too busy doing absolutely NOTHING at work, haha. While everyone is already starting their weekends, I had to stay at work and man the front desk so I'm not too happy right now but anyway....right now, I'm reading The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland. It's a YA book and I'm only about six pages in so I can't say if I love it or not. I'm hopeful though.

Holly's busy getting ready to move so it's just me this week.

What are you guys reading?

Tracy's review of My Lady Rival by Ashley March.

When the wealthy middle-class Laurie family purchases a home in exclusive Belgrave Square, London Society is aghast. After all, the consensus is that they're nothing but lowborn commoners-a family of nouveau riche daring to marry into the aristocracy. Others believe it's an attempt to prove that their wealth makes them equal to nobility. Only one thing is certain: Belgrave Square will never be the same again.

Upon his father's death, Alexander Laurie feels the best way to provide his family with the privileges they deserve and secure their business is to establish ties with the London ton. And the best way to do it is by marrying an aristocratic bride. But when his business rival's beautiful daughter—the one person who can destroy his plans—appears in London, Alex must defeat her attempts at sabotage, even if that means stealing kisses from the enemy.

Alex Laurie is attempting to move his family firmly into the ton. He's not sure it possible because they were raised in the lower classes and he's not sure his family is ready for it. Even though the family now has wealth he knows the one thing that will make his dye company the best in the world is the acquisition of the Madonna Dye which is a dye that was created for the Queen. Unfortunately the man who created the dye has disappeared and no knows where.

Alex's rival is a company from America. The man's daughter, Willa Stratton, wants the Madonna Dye. Willa wants it for her future because if she gets the dye she believes she won't have to cave to her father's wishes and marry a man she doesn't love. She'll do almost anything to get the dye recipe and that includes spying on Alex.

Alex and Willa have a history as competitors. Willa has been ruthless in the past getting investors for her fathers company and therefore Alex doesn't trust Willa. That doesn't stop him, however, from wanting her desperately. Willa, despite how she lies to herself, wants Alex too. Unfortunately they both realize that they can never be together.

I've read novels by March before but this one is definitely my favorite. This a charming novel with some great characters and some very humorous parts. I loved seeing Alex and Willa fight their attraction to each other and make their plays to find the creator of the dye for very different reasons.

I loved the conversations between Willa and Alex. They just weren't afraid to say anything – well, except for those about their feelings for each other. One great part was when Willa was having a salon with many gentleman callers and Alex decides to invade in order to drive her out of town. He purposely tries to embarrass her by telling everyone she'll play the pianoforte for them. The problem is that Willa can only play Three Blind Mice and even then, not well, or, in its entirety. lol Willa then tries to embarrass Alex by telling him to play. He proceeds to then beautifully play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Willa was frustrated, to say the least.

“I do not like repeating myself,” she said slowly, “but it seems appropriate to say it again.” She paused, attempting to summon the entirety of her disdain to resonate with each syllable. “I find you—”

“Delightful. Glorious. Amazingly talented.”

“— trying. Extremely trying. God should have sent you to Pharaoh instead of frogs or locusts. It would have been much more effective.”

I did feel that the end was rushed a bit. The timeline didn't seem correct to me – from the time that Alex talked to Willa about an invention he had developed to Alex supposedly getting letters from investors about said invention. It had only been about 5 days – absolutely no way for Willa to get info to America and get replies. Kind of hard for me to explain it without giving spoilers but it was just off enough for me to question it. Also, though Alex knew he loved Willa the end just appeared too fast for how long things had been drawn out.

Even with those niggles I still very much liked the book. I wish that there would be more stories regarding the Laurie family and friends in the future as I really liked some of the secondary characters: Alex's friend Mr. Lunsford, Alex's sister, Jo and a friend of Jo's named Thea. These were all characters that were intriguing and I just want more! lol. Unfortunately, Ms. March is now self-publishing under a new name and I don't think we'll ever get to hear about those characters. Bummer.

Rating: 4 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy's Place.

This book is available from Signet. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Judith's review of The Last Boyfriend (Inn BoonsBoro #2) by Nora Roberts.

Owen is the organizer of the Montgomery clan, running the family's construction business with an iron fist - and an even less flexible spreadsheet. And though his brothers bust on his compulsive list-making, the Inn BoonsBoro is about to open right on schedule. The only thing Owen didn't plan for was Avery McTavish... Avery's popular pizza place is right across the street from the inn, giving her a first-hand look at its amazing renovation - and a newfound appreciation for Owen. Since he was her first boyfriend when they were kids, Owen has never been far from Avery's thoughts. But the attraction she's feeling for him now is far from innocent. As Avery and Owen cautiously take their relationship to another level, the opening of the inn gives the whole town of Boonsboro a reason to celebrate. But Owen's hard work has only begun. Getting Avery to let down her guard is going to take longer than he expected - and so will getting her to realize that her first boyfriend is going to be her last.

No matter how many authors come and go, when it comes to romance fiction, Nora Roberts still revs the readers' engines. Her characters are unfailing in their connection to reality, the personalities and situations are always brilliantly crafted and never failing in their call to our imaginations. Most of us can relate with a happening or two out of our own lives that connect us with just about every one of her stories.

This trilogy is based on the brothers Montgomery, a family who have made their mark in the construction business as they have carried on the dream of their now deceased dad and the on-going energy and enthusiasm of their mom. This second book features brother Owen Montgomery, the kind of man who is organized to a fault and the kind of man any construction company needs to keep them on schedule. Owen is good at what he does, even to the point of organizing his own life in exactly the same fashion. The people who form the ensemble in which the Montgomery family functions are unique and each plays an important role in the life of one or more of the brothers. Avery McTavish is a beautiful young woman who has known the family since her earliest days, and Owen was her very first boyfriend, a boy of six she declared she would one day marry and he even gave her a plastic valentine ring out of a gumball machine. Now Owen and Avery are best friends, work together as business colleagues. They also both communicate in their own individual way with the resident ghost in the Inn Boonsboro, and it is through the machinations of that ghost they all call Lizzy or Elizabeth that Owen and Avery now begin to notice each other in a completely adult way.

There are some wonderful heroes in Ms Roberts' books, but few are as sensible, patient, caring, and sensitive as Owen Montgomery. What a really great guy!! His appreciation of Avery and her business acumen, her wonderful culinary creations, and her openness to just being herself and accepting others as they are sets her apart, and Owen begins to realize that he wants her in his life romantically as well as in his bed. Their affair is fun and romantic and full of the kind of love that most people long to experience. That is not to say that their affair is without it's difficulties because it has some serious problems. Yet Owen again displays the maturity that characterizes most of his life. He has insecurities like everyone and they get him in trouble just a bit. But both he and Avery are the kind of people who give each other forgiveness for being human.

This is just a wonderful book, full of family, kindness and gentle caring, authentic loving that can withstand some very hefty challenges, and built around the experiences of two people who are not afraid to be very open about their attraction to one another as well as their willingness to be open about their sexual involvement. The interaction among friends and members of the Montgomery family have moments of hilarity that kept me laughing for an extended amount of time. I was deeply touched at the support and sharing the friends and family extended to their older brother and his bride--a widow with three children and a person who was herself a business owner in their town. The Inn Boonsboro sounds like a wonderful place--just the kind of inn filled with history and literary ambiance I would love to experience.

So, when all is said and done, this is a marvelous book and one I think romance fans will not want to miss. It's a really terrific story and I am looking forward to the final book in the trilogy.

I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5

The series:



You can read more from Judith at Dr J's Book Place.

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

When the story broke about Kristi of The Story Siren being a plagiarist, we all watched - completely dumbfounded - as she made non-apologies and refused to accept responsibility for her actions. Here's what I wanted to see happen:

Dear Beautifully Invisible and Grit and Glamour,

I'm sorry I plagiarized your posts. I did it intentionally and then made it worse by lying about it/trying to cover it up. I apologize deeply and sincerely for what I did. I hope you can forgive me someday.

Signed,

Kristi

What happened instead? She apologized without actually owning her actions. She continually made things worse by retracting and changing her statements. And she never once, not in all this time, reached out to her victims to either apologize directly or to ask her scary rabid fangirls to stop harassing her victims.

That was bad enough. But then she did one better. She launched a Week of Awareness on her site, where she asked authors, librarians and readers to talk about plagiarism (Link to Smart Bitches site where you can find info. I'm not linking to TSS direct, sorry). I am..deeply disturbed by the tone of the posts going up over there this week. A lot of what I'm reading is "Plagiarism isn't that bad" or "This isn't really plagiarism". W.T.F. No wait, I think this deserves a full What.The.Fuck. I'm sickened and saddened by her behavior and that of the authors/guest posters on her website. Like Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of The Bro-Magnet, a book I really enjoyed but will no longer recommend to my friends.

Thinking about this today, and feeling sad and disturbed, I tweeted about what I like to call "The MM Apology" (MM being my husband).

Tweets start from bottom up

If you'd like more information about Kristi's non-apologies, you can read Beautifully Invisible's The Art of the (Non) Apology.

I probably would have left it at that, and not written this post, but then Kristi did something amusing and I felt the need to share. She blocked me on Twitter.


*insert sad face here* That's right, folks, I can no longer see Kristi's tweets and she will no longer get my @replies to her. Please wait while I take a minute to compose myself and dry my tears.

...

Ok, we're back.

Apparently I'm not the only one she blocked, either.


That's right. She actually blocked one of the people she plagiarized from. I think we need to say it again.

What.The.Fuck.

I gotta tell you, I'm not feeling the love.

Stay classy, Kristi.

Tracy's review of A Gentleman Says “I Do” (The Rogue's Dynasty #5) by Amelia Grey.

Iverson Brentwood has finally met his match. Catalina Crisp heats his blood like no other lady. Her alluring countenance has stopped him dead in his tracks. But no matter how attracted he is to her, he can't give into his desire to possess her in every way...she is the daughter of the man he's sworn to destroy.

Catalina's father is a well-known writer, but wastrel whose disappearances continuously put them close to destitution. Something drastic must change, so it is with quill in hand, that Catalina completes her father's latest parody of Iverson and Matson Brentwood's spectacular arrival in London. When the story hits the newsprint, a darkly handsome man is at her door, looking for her father.

Seeing the dashing rogue in the flesh, for a bewildering moment dallying with the rake seems like the perfect fictional escape—and it's all she can do not to give into the madness of the intriguing man.

Iverson Brentwood doesn't care for a parody that is written about him and his twin in a London newspaper and plans to let the author of the story know how he feels about the situation. When he gets to the man's home however he is confronted not by the man but the man's daughter, Catalina Crisp. She is calm in the face of Iverson's ire and actually ends up battling with him verbally.

Iverson isn't giving up on his search for Sir Phillip Crisp, who has apparently left town, but in the meantime he can't stop thinking about Ms. Crisp. She was intelligent, witty, forthright and not afraid to stand up to Iverson, or what she believed in. He starts to head to her house on a regular basis under the guise of looking for the father – which he is – but at the same time he gets the pleasure of Catalina's company. He ends up kissing her and once he starts he doesn't want to stop.

Catalina is thrilled with Iverson and his witty banter. She's definitely worried about her father and what Iverson plans on doing with him when he does return home but that doesn't stop her from thinking romantic thoughts about the rake that keeps showing up in her life. She's also not being completely honest with Iverson about the parody's that he's upset about. There are actually two more installments, which she is afraid to mention in the hopes that she can find her father and get him to recall them from the paper. Eventually the truth comes out and Iverson is none too pleased with the information.

This is my first read by Grey and it was a good one. The story started off pretty slow for me even though I liked the banter between Iverson and Catalina quite a lot. There just seemed to be quite a bit of description or inner thought when I needed something more to happen. As the book went on though things picked up and there was a bit of fun, a bit of humor and some good ole romance.

I really liked the conversations between Iverson and Catalina. They were interesting and clever and I loved that the author had them getting along so well despite their differences – you know...him wanting to hurt the father and the daughter defending the father.

There wasn't a whole ton of angst in this one and it was always nicely resolved and didn't involve the romance itself. It was nice to read a novel where the people fell in love and didn't have great angst over the fact that they liked and eventually loved each other.

I will definitely be reading more of Ms. Grey in the future.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Series:



You can read more from Tracy at Tracy's Place

This book is available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy it here or here in e-format.