Music Video of 2009

I'm such a copycat.

Above all else I love to read good romances. This music-vid. The song is nothing special. But the video is utterly something else. 1 guy...involves 4 beautiful females...one of them the singer. Mesmerizing. His eyes at the end! What is that all about. And yes. That is the only way to have a row with your partner. (Pouring too much sugar into your coffee. tee hee)

The blurring of the images and the skipping of the track are all part of the original video.

The Hobbit...The movie

It's not that its that bad. And I hardly noticed the long running time because I usually like a good story. What I absolutely hated were the endless animations. This is not a film for adults.

Just some of the animations; The trolls. The wargs. Goblins, orcs. The Pale Orc King. The flabby goblin King. The animals of the Green Wood. The proto-Ringwraith. The pathetic scenes with the Storm Giants. And yes. Because he's one of them, Gollum. I'm sick of his schtick.

I hated them all. Because they are so dated. Because they are so obviously people in plastic prosthetics.

But more more than that, I hated the way Jackson badly ripped off so many scenes from his own LOTR trilogy for this piece of tripe. A few of the offending scenes being; the dwarves chased by the wargs over scrubland is a pale ripoff of Gimli and co meeting Eomer in the Riddermark, the completely ludicrous chase through the orc kingdom with the dwarfs slaying hundreds of orcs without even one of the dwarfs being injured is a complete and totally second rate ripoff of the chase through Moria in LOTR.

Also no new music. The score from the original LOTR trilogy is basically regurgitated for The Hobbit. wtf!! Yes the music is Exactly The Same!!!

And finally. I looked at the titular lead actor. I could not see how the morose Freeman Bilbo Baggins could ever become the happy giggly Ian Holm Bilbo. The Freeman Bilbo Baggins is a miserable nonentity. The Holm Bilbo Baggins exuded personality. I think that is called miscasting. But you know what. I don't actually believe that was Ian Holm's voice in The Hobbit. It sounded completely different in many scenes.

Such a disappointment. Along with Prometheus and TDKR. But at least they were movies for grown-ups. The Hobbit is just infantile poop.

Well. That needed to be said.

Into The Crossfire by Lisa Marie Rice

Warning! Unlike many other reviewers I am going to give this book a totally glowing review! That is because (unfortunatley) I seem to be the only reader in the whole universe who appreciates its brilliance. So there.

A relatively short book with big print. All the action and the whole romance takes place over about 3 amazing days. Like. 3 days that changed Sam and Nicole's lives forever. Basically beautiful classy Nicole becomes the target for some chillingly ruthless tangos and uber-protector Sam rescues her. That's the plot.

When I first got the book I was so happy to be reading a Lisa Marie novel again (despite the fact that I hated the last one 'Desperate Drake') that I guess I was just too excited to read the story properly. And basically missed all the detail and subtleties that make, particularly, the romance work.

So 2 weeks after the first read, just as I was typing out another indifferent review I picked it up again...

Despite the story being quite short many pages are used to reinforce the notion that the hero, Sam, a big overwhelming type of guy would never never, under any circumstances harm or coerce a female in any kind of way. So all the info about Sam running some kind of Underground Network for survivors of spousal abuse has a purpose to convince the reader that the heroine, Nicole, never comes under any kind of pressure to sleep with Sam, apart from the call of her raging hormones.

In a way it didn't really matter for me because it was made clear throughout the novel that Sam was getting as much from being with Nicole as she was from being with him. If in the future they go their separate ways that's ok because they both made each other very happy for the time they were together. (I hope they don't break up though.) The reason I say this is because Sam and Nicole have completely different backstories.

Remember Jack from Dangerous Boiler? Well, Sam has some of his characteristics. In that he basically fell for Nicole from the first time he saw her. And engineered his entry and exit from his office to coincide with Nicole going into her office across the hall for the whole month after she rented it. And. He calls her 10/20 times after their one night stand together.(ie discretely obsessive.)

However Nicole is also totally effectively characterised. A reader is left in no doubt that she is capable of off-loading any guy she doesn't like. And having told Sam she has no time for romance in her life she then agrees to a one-night stand for no other reason than strong mutual attraction. Her hesitation at Sam's office door the following day is probably an indication that she would have come round to being with Sam in the future. Even without the cataclysmic events that happened next. Then of course there's the fact that although she was grateful to 'low-life' looking Sam she wouldn't have dreamt of going on a date with him if he hadn't told her he owned the successful security company across the hall from her office...AND had the Mayor of San Diego give him a character reference. (And what a standout scene that was!)

Absolutely without Sam there would be no more Nicole. She is riding a total cockamamie speeding juggernaut to oblivion. Not that she seems aware of it. First. She's about to be shot dead by tangos. Second. She's in danger of being brutalised by real low-lifes living in the rooming house across the street from her. Third. Her father's illness would probably have bankrupted her in the end. Sam rescues her from all three. But just so the average reader doesn't think that beautiful classy privileged Nicole gets off too easy, she gets physically thrown across a room by one of the bad guys. Which I thought was a horrible thing to happen to a romance heroine.

Again. All the bad guys, although somewhat cartoonish in a first read turn out to be very capable and horribly efficient people. Although I knew from the very beginning that everything would be all right I really felt Nicole's terror in the deserted warehouse. Mr Paul Preston had better meet a nasty painful death in the final Protectors novel.

Being me. I just totally loved the richness of the incidental details in the book. The references to Geneva, Lebanon, philosophy professors, Louis XV Philippe Starck consoles (huh?)...and Thuraya satellite cell phones. Thank you for sharing.

There's even an insignificant thread running from the beginning to the end of the book. I missed it on the first read. When Sam first saw Nicole he noticed her bare ring finger and thought that if she was his girl he'd buy her a huge stone to show other guys she was spoken for. In the final chapter, yup, he's the guy that's bought her the egg-sized diamond. This so-called short book even has space for a happy little epilogue.

Presumably Mike and Harry will be getting their own Protectors novels. I struggled on the first read with Sam calling them his 'brothers' when they clearly were not and the three guys didn't even serve together when they enlisted. I think the brotherhood idea is supposed to explain why Mike and Harry are willing to drop everything to help Sam rescue Nicole before she gets shot. Their presence allowed Sam to loose his cool a little without compromising the race to find Nicole. Most writers wouldn't bother with details like that.

There's also just the right amount of technology in the story and just the right amount of weapon use. There's 3 big love scenes and they are par for the course for the author. One of Sam's more unusual idiosyncracies is that he has quite good visualisation skills...along the lines of...what if this or that terrible thing happened to Nicole...Make of that what you will.

Lastly. Nicole can sometimes read as being too helpless. But what else could she do with her father's life at stake? I'm not a big fan of romance heroines being slaves to their parents but in this case the construct worked. Mainly because it was made clear that Nicole had already had a good life of her own and that caring for her father was a time-limited activity seeing how he was terminally ill. And she could think under pressure. It was she who discovered the file with the info about the tango target. Bless.

Of course, now, I keep reading my favorite pages over and over again.

It'll be 2011 before the next Protectors novel comes out. Shame! I absolutely loved this one. Hope you do too.

More DNFs

Two ridiculous books. Both of which received good reviews on other sites. So readers might still enjoy them.

First. Untamed Rogue, Scandalous Mistress by Bronwyn Scott. Which means girl-friend and boy-friend are sleeping together almost from the beginning. I didn't really like it almost from the start. Perhaps because the hero, Crispin, is at a cross-roads in his life and doesn't know what to do with himself. Except he is absolutely sure he doesn't want to settle down with a wife and kids. But we all know he is going to be wedded by the end of this short novel. And the heroine, Aurora, declares ' I don't need a man.' Again. The whole novel is completely about her and a man, Crispin. What's more. Her attitude stems from the fact that she had been 'let down' by a guy (guys) in the past. Rather than from any sense of self-empowerment. She makes a living giving riding lessons to young women. And as far as I could tell was completely dependent on guys giving permission for their daughters and wives to have those lessons. Her name is Aurora but she is known as Rory to most people. So she's sort of pretending to be a guy. I lost interest in all her hypocritical posturing. The previous novel in this series had a wonderful background story of conniving murderous Russian tsarists. Nothing like that here.

Second. The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen. A servant girl has to masquerade as a member of the aristocracy in order to discover if the hero, Luc, is a spy for France during the Napoleonic Wars. Utterly ridiculous. The heroine, Sarah, lives in the hero's house and spends her time searching through the rooms for evidence of his treason. Very early there's a scene where she pukes into a vase. Does she go to clean herself up? No. She drinks a cup of tea, offered by the hero who at the same time notices her full soft lips. Only in a novel could that happen. Any person with an ounce of sense would have been suspicious of a woman who had lived in Italy but couldn't speak Italian, couldn't dance, couldn't remember what was going on with her parents, Not the hero, Luc, though. Which made him more of a twit than her. I didn't really understand who Sarah's employer was. Northrup or the Mertons. Nor did she ever ask how the Widow had come to be shot. But it was the relentless snooping around in someone else's house and lying that eventually antagonised me. Why would Luc want to wed someone who behaved like that? Plus. Add in the plebian names of Luc's friends and the whole story seemed to be like reproduction of a Hogarth cartoon...full of fugly people doing fugly things. Not really helped by all the work that went into describing the heroine as borderline ugly at the start of the story. I just lost the motivation to read further than about page 122.

However. This story provides an interesting insight into the mind of a servant who believes she has no choice but to obey her employer in his wishes. Spying...betrayal...theft. She seemed to have no sense of right and wrong and was only worried about being made destitute. That was the power that the Church gave to ordinary men and women of those days. And that is partly why it became so powerful. It gave them morals and the power to say no to unreasonable requests. That's what I thought anyway.

Secrets of a Scandalous Bride by Sophie Nash

I absolutely did not like this story. Of the heroine, Elizabeth, making preparations to marry a man she hated all the whilst doing the deed with 'her one true love.' It didn't help that the bad guy, Pymm, was a national hero second only to Wellington at Waterloo. And the lover, Rowland Manning, seemed to have been a baddie in a previous novel written by the author.

Elizabeth was being blackmailed by Pymm because she received letters from her uncle, Napoleon's commander at Waterloo. Are you telling me that no-one else knew she was related to this soldier? And you know what? I myself might feel suspicious of Elizabeth in such circumstances. Elizabeth also believed that Pymm had used the cover of battle to murder her father. But there was very little development of that plot throughout the book. I have no idea why Pymm was so obsessed with Elizabeth. Nor was it explained why Elizabeth believed it was her fault that her father and Pierce Winters had been killed. Nor could I understand what on earth Sarah was doing in the plot, apart from maybe being prepared to be the heroine of the next book by the author. Why would anyone be interested in the plodding romance between granny Ata and Brownie. None of these side plots were ever developed in any way. Mysteries were dangled in front of the reader...and just left...to be continued elsewhere. Was I supposed to care?

Sarah was going to pimp herself out to Pymm so that Rowland would get the money owed to him by the Cavalry. Why would she do that? She's met him about a week ago. It's not as though he saved her life or anything like that. Basically she just felt sorry for him for various reasons. There were too many references to Rowland's previous nasty deeds to his brother and the brother's fiance for a reader to feel that he deserved such a sacrifice. And just a thought. Maybe Pymm himself had also had a difficult upbringing. The reader was given no choice to decide who was the better person between him and Rowland.

It was good that Elizabeth understood all Rowland's strange habits and that he fell in love with her. But what they should have done is just eloped and then sailed to the colonies in the New World to start a life away from from the stultifying expectations of titled friends and relatives.

In the end it became increasingly painful to read of Elizabeth's deceptions to both Pymm and Rowland. For the sake of a lot of money? And as I said before, the reader basically had to take Elizabeth's word about the murder of her father. What was the evidence for that belief?

The characters in the book kept each other in the dark about their various motivations, the reader was kept in the dark about the many on-going threads in the book and in the end I was just exasperated with the whole story.

The big mistake in the plot is to make the friend of a national hero into a baddie. While the main couple seemed to be of no better character than him...a novel with no cultural heart.

Masked by Moonlight by Nancy Gideon

I skim-read this story after about chapter 3. Which is why I almost missed the part where the heroine, Charlotte, pistol-whips her guy, the hero Max. Because she thought her good friend, the conniving nun, had died. The next day he forgives her.

Yes it is so much that type of relationship between Max and Charlotte. They hump and declare their love for each other. A few pages later they lie and hide the truth from one another. Max, in particular, seems to have emerged from an abusive relationship with Jimmy, his common-law adoptive father, only to start another with Charlotte, who is basically wacko. Mind you, Max's servility to Jimmy is also pretty cringeing to read. An image of Norman Bates and his mom kept creeping into my mind.

Oh, and Charlotte is also a serving police detective. Unable to solve any crime until someone anonymous hands her a brown envelope full of incriminating evidence against some poor schmuck. I struggled to get over the construct of an officer of the law sleeping with a major hoodlum, her colleagues know and she is not suspended from work and is even allowed to investigate alleged crimes committed by her lover, Max.

The novel is set in New Orleans. Which almost explains the totally bonkers plot. A mash-up of grand-guignol and southern gothic. Featuring off page grisly murders, gang-rape and arson. Plus a few ick factors. Fairly entertaining if you like that sort of thing. But for me...less is more.

What went wrong...

Charlotte is called different names by the different people in her life. The author calls her Charlotte or CeCe completely interchangeably. Like she couldn't make up her mind about her character. She also got called Lottie and Ceece.

For a moment. I actually thought tough brainy police detective Charlotte was going to allow herself to be raped despite the fact she had a weapon and her attackers did not. Thank goodness Max saved her. Like she was some kind of simpering miss.

For the first half of the novel the reader can get the impression that Charlotte became a cop to pay back Legere for her brutalisation. I thought psych tests prevented that sort of person from being a cop. (Thankfully.) Anyway that thread was dumped when Jimmy got shot by his relative. (A complete anti-climax.) And it made the heroine look demented.

Why would a working police detective even want to dress 'almost like a hooker.'

For most of the novel Max is a tearful weenie. He's a grown man who has chosen servility. Yuk. And that part about how Max's mom started hooking to buy him shoes is utter bilge.

I hate to defend slime but spousal abuse is not a capital offense. And could be said to be a whole lot less serious than racketeering. Which is what Jimmy and Max were involved in.

Some scenes were just ludicrous...Max introducing Charlotte to all the gangsters. Charlotte stopping a fellow detective from questioning Max, in the police station, when they all knew she was sleeping with him. The woman had no shame.

Towards the end of the novel, Charlotte suddenly had a realisation of the conflict of interest between her job and her relationship with Max. Lasted about a microsecond.

The love scenes weren't very hot...or descriptive. They were more about athleticism than emotion. And Max seems to have developed a pash for Charlotte when he rescued her from the gang-rape. Ick!

I absolutely didn't get who killed Ben Spratt or why. Or why Mary-Kate felt she should also die. I realise that that was all sequel bait. But that wasn't really made clear either. Just so annoying.

Why did so many characters have french names? Was some insult intended upon cajuns?

...but as a big positive. A whole lot happens in quite a short book. And for readers who like unlikeable (cod) serial victim heroes and heroines it was actually an interesting story. A variation on the theme of 'its so bad its probably a best-seller.'

Eye of the Beholder by Jackie Weger

I've been re-reading some of the older romances on my faves list.

Arctic Enemy by Linda Harell has lost its lustre. The journalist heroine now seems media-standard selfish and self-serving. Although the setting itself and the story is very exciting.

However Eye of the Beholder is still just absolutely wonderful. It's basically the story of how stick thin, itinerant Phoebe gets her man, Gage Morgan. This novel is just so much full of love and family. If only real-life were this happy and straightforward. Phoebe and her folks have absolutely nothing. They have all lost their jobs at the cotton mill. So what does Phoebe do. No, she does not let her mom pimp her into an arranged marriage. Phoebe packs her younger brother and sister into a pickup and goes to look for work. Bless her. And bumps into miserable Gage Morgan, the hero. Although basically, the story is 80% per cent about Phoebe.

Jackie Weger wrote an even better romance. On a Wing and a Prayer. Also on my list. The hero of that story actually lived in a trailer. And he was still wonderful. One of the few romances where both the hero and the heroine had minimal material possessions. But the characters in both stories were pretty similar. Crochety hero. Optimistic heroine with a heart full of love for children. And of course the sassy granny.

I don't know why the media prefers to portray the american under-class as being scarey (Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw, Deliverance) or immoral (Bens Wildflower).

Most of Jackie's other romances were bog-standard middle-class stuff. As was she herself. But those two mentioned above are a couple of 22-carat gems. And the best way to view both Eye and Wing is as sublime Works of Art. Cos there's no way they were an easy write.

The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne

An absolutely astoundingly well-written romance novel. With some quite emotional bits. Not much bump and grind though. But that didn't matter so much. What there is is a lot of stress and tension. Because the story is set in the times of the French Revolution. And the reader often feels like bad karma is on the verge of steam-rolling over all the protagonists. So much so that as always in such cases I needed some reasurance that there would be a HEA for the main couple. So I skipped to the final chapter, particularly once William was imprisoned. You know what. I couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on in the final chapter when I first read it out of sequence. It doesn't really help that the main couple modify their names. So William morphs to Guillaume and Marguerite becomes Maggie. But in the final chapter she assumes the name Martine, and Suzette.

Be aware that this is a resolutely (cod) literary novel. Complete with full descriptions of the characters of a couple of donkeys. And frequent views into the head of the female lead. Which often come across as inane witterings. And the love scenes feature corny purple prose. Sometimes the plot momentum just comes to a grinding halt whilst the heroine gives herself up to her imaginery world. The opening chapter where she has a conversation with a rabbit is completely characteristic of who she is. Actually I did buy into the characters and considered Marguerite as the person who moves the plot along.

The villain, Victor is totally horrible. Really. He should have had his head chopped off. Presumably he didn't because the main couple had to be so wonderfully wonderful.In fact. Absolutely no-one dies. Baddie or goodie. And sometimes a reader could feel the hard work that went into making it so. So why put in a thirteen year old former hooker?

A couple of things made me squee. Too many of the secondary characters are minors who have had difficult lives. In particular there seems to be a thirteen year old former hooker (probably coerced). Although she is portrayed as thoroughly heroic I just thought her back-story was just too much of an ick-factor for me to appreciate her presence in the story. And I didn't like that she gave up her four-year old sister into the hands of strangers, even though they were the completely decent main couple who swore to love the child as their own. Just all too sad.

I didn't really understand Madame who was supposed to be French secret police. And quite menacing toward Justine with her stupid gifts of food and clothes. Who did she report to? Why did her boss not get at all involved in the plot. I also had no idea why William's father had treated him so badly when he was a chid. Even at the end of the novel I had no idea why finding Marguerite's father (and his list) would stop the assassinations. But that part of the plot certainly seemed very clever.

So. What is so good about the novel. Because it is very very good. The sense of impending doom. The fact that the hero places himself in danger to safe-guard the heroine. Some scenes are totally derivative of the Scarlet Pimpernel. As is the writing style. But that is a positive comment. Both the main couple will always plot and plan to lead innocent civilians away from an unjust certain death ie the guillotine...even at risk to their own lives. Bless them both. And yes. I believed Marguerite was capable of setting up and maintaining an organisation called La Fleche (The arrow)...after all..she had lots of money. Just observe how loyal people were to her. Going back to the first chapter. The fact that Marguerite was very very hungry and still let the trapped rabbit go free told me everything I wanted to know about her character...and that I would love it. But that's just me.

And of course I absolutely loved the relationship between Marguerite and William. Which was never abusive or domineering or disrespectful. But always mutually supportive. I especially loved it when William told Marguerite that he owed her every breath he breathed. (After she saved him from the guillotine.) Although his own idea of a forger adding powerful names onto Robspierre's list was probably as instrumental in saving his life as Marguerite's efforts.

btw I have read the Spymasters Lady where William made his first appearance. And long since forgotten it.

Absolutely fantastic. But probably not suitable for those with a short attention span.

Branded As Trouble by Lorelei James

First. Who is Buck McKay? In AJ's novel, Cowgirl Up, Kade's twin is named Kane. But in this story Kade's twin is named Buck. Or am I wrong?

This is one of the longer Rough Rider novels. And it is all all all Colt and India. Bickering, making up and humping, on and on for twenty-six chapters. The ending is good though.

Colt is a recovering alcholic and India is his sponsor in the program. So what the reader gets is a blow by blow account about how they change that relationship to a lasting romantic partnership. For the first 2 weeks they agree to just date platonically. That's very nice. But does a reader buy an erotic to read about the main couple watching movies together. tbh Not enough temptation to fall off the wagon was placed before either Colt or India to make the story gripping.

What exactly was his problem? He's probably the richest of the McKay brothers and completely independent of the family ranch if he wants to be. Yet for some reason he was resentful of the fact his birth family didn't show him enough love and appreciation...or so he thought. How come in the end his brothers and his Dad came around to say they had misjudged him but poor ol' Cam had to grovel in the grass in his novel?

I also struggled with India's back story. All her memories of her younger years were tied up in drugs and drug-guys and exchanging sex for drugs or to pay the rent. But compared to the difficulties Domini faced or even AJ it seemed India just made some bad life-style choices. I didn't really understand why she seemed ashamed of her tatts and piercings at various community events. At times her anxieties about her relationship with Colt made her read like doormat material. In fact choice of guys seemed more her problem than drink or drugs. The tattoing business was sometimes poor and it might have been more interesting to see what India would do if she couldn't pay the rent on her shop nowadays.

22-year old Macie wouldn't have dreamt of humping Carter without a condom. Sometimes she had to peel him off her body and order him to put one on. But the much more experienced India gets herself knocked up by Colt. She was such a chaotic personality. No wonder she couldn't handle her 3 adorable nieces.

For me this novel was just too middle class to be as enjoyable as some of the other Rough Rider stories.

btw I didn't read Colt offering to help Cam get that technologically advanced prosthetic. With all his gas money. So what's he got to bellyache about?

A Kiss to Kill by Nina Bruhns

Thoroughly awful. Total rubbish.

The back blurb says the story is about Gina and Gregg. However equal, if not more space is given to Rebel and Alex. And there's yet another couple Sarah and Wade.

This guy Wade deserves a special mention. All the female leads have either slept with him or want to sleep with him. Yes they all work together. And I thought. Eww. So Gina and Gregg, and Rebel and Alex is not about romance. It's about just moving onto the next guy. What's more all the characters work for agencies dedicated to keeping the US safe from tangos. But how can they be doing that effectively when they seem to be on some kind of carnal merry-go-round.

So now we come to the main flaw. The character of Gina. She was kidnapped, tortured and rescued. She blames her more current lover Gregg because he handed her over to the bad guys, in ignorance. So now she hates him and is dedicating her life to drawing him out of hiding so she can kill him. But what does she do when she meets him. She doesn't make any effort to harm him. She listens to him deny any part in her abuse...and then she totally believes him...because he was her lover and wouldn't betray her. Ok. Not particuarly smart but understandable. Never mind that she has trained for months to knife him dead. Gregg says he's innocent so it must be true. No other evidence required.

Of course the agency Gregg used to work for isn't quite so gullible, so he's still in hiding. Gregg stashes Gina in a hotel and advises her not to leave because the bad guys are probably looking to harm her still. So what does she do? She leaves the hotel room to get some ice for her freakin' house champagne. From that moment on I hated the stupid woman. Who by the way is supposed to have a doctorate. But there's more to come...and worse.

There's a traitor in the agencies that all the characters work for. A traitor who's feeding intel to the tango cell. At some point suspicion falls on Wade. And in an official briefing Gregg, Alex, Rebel, Alex's boss and Gina all discuss the evidence against Wade. So what happens. Wade calls on Gina. Who instead of behaving normally. This stupid woman blabs to Wade all about how the others suspect him of treason. Why? Why? Because he was her lover and can't possibly be guilty. Although there is a lot of circumstantial evidence against him. Praise be that the nation's security doesn't depend on half-wits like her. The thing is. As far as I could tell. Gina wasn't part of any black-ops team during the course of this book. So why was she there during the briefing? Because she used to be attached to the team before she was kidnapped, because Gregg was her lover, because Rebel is her good friend. See. There was no reason for Gina to be present at all.

In the end the author wants the reader to believe that Wade isn't a traitor. Except that he's being blackmailed to give out classified information. But he's giving it to another american so that makes it right. Wade is actually a case study of a traitor. It could be argued that the reason the prez was in any danger at all was because of Wade passing on info...about Gina...about STORM. Of course Gina forgives him. (Save me from this eejut.) Another thing about Gina is that she is so needy in the novel. Always on the verge of tears despite talking tough. I could completely understand why given what she suffered. But then she should have been in therapy. Not back with her old team getting stressed out on a daily basis.

Rebel and Alex have more pages in the first half of the story. Unfortunatley Alex is an agent with a tendency to get PTSD flashbacks in tight situations. I know it's supposed to make him loveable...but as a reader I thought he was one liability too many for an ongoing operation. There is a briefing that takes place between Rebel, Alex and their boss, Quinn. And without asking, the two guys expect Rebel, a perfectly competent agent, to make them coffee and sandwiches. Rebel actually fetches a ziploc bag for Quinn to put his sandwiches in. Yup. That's what happens when guys in the workplace start serially sharing the women around. Gross.

I hardly read any of the pages involving Sarah and Wade. He came across as just too slimey.

I did read the book to the end. If only in the hope of seeing Wade charged and jailed. Or even fired. No such luck. The final wtf moment involved the identity of the traitor. Where did this guy Tommy come from?? Was he mentioned at the start of the story? No way am I reading the book again.But in a way it doesn't matter. Because for the reader, Wade is the person who gave up classified info. He is the bad guy. It is a serious mistake to expect the reader not to hate his guts and not get angry that he faces absolutely no consequences for his actions.

On a minor note. Poor little me struggled for a while with all the obscure abbreviations in the novel. I can handle CIA, FBI and NSA. I'm ok on POTUS, CONUS, CSI. Trouble was. This novel had all those plus PMC, STORM, AFIS, NCVIC, SAC, ZU-NE, TOD, LT, BCD,...and still more. Mainly in the first half of the book. It just seemed like technical overload.

The love scenes were few and far between and seemed out of place generally. In fact the story worked better as a spy adventure than rom-sus. The relationships on view were just so icky.

btw. The first clue to the general stupidity of this novel comes early on. The tango cell are based on a yacht moored in Chesapeake Bay. The name of the yacht? Allah's Paradise. As if. Why not just put up a sign that reads 'Raid Me.' Just such a freaking stupid (and embarrassing) story. Don't even think of reading it if you are even the slightest bit patriotic.

Rode Hard and Put Up Wet by Lorelei James

Basically quite a sweet erotic romance featuring an older couple, Cash and Gemma, and a younger couple, Macie and Carter. All four live on Gemma's ranch; Cash and Gemma in the big house, Carter in a trailer and Macie in a camper. The boundaries between the two couples are strictly observed.

The best relationship in the novel is between Cash and his daughter Macie. These two are making an effort to get to know each other because Cash just wasn't around for any of Macie's growing up years. Actually Macie is a wonderful person. Beautiful, hard-working, completely unresentful about Cash's absence during her childhood, but somewhat conflicted about what she wants from life. She's probably too good for moody, self-centred, callous, exploitative Carter. Jack Donohue (the guy who will be Keely's husband) makes an appearance because he is basically Carter's best friend. He tells Macie that Carter is capably of causing Macie unintentional emotional pain...and that is exactly what he does when he shows Macie his portraits of her naked body. Carter offers Macie a threesome (with Jack) because she told him she had a fantasy about it (a gay fantasy). But she refuses because she says it was just a fantasy and she didn't want to make it real. A couple of times Carter really shows that he doesn't understand Macie at all. She's wasted on him. Macie had an irrational fear of thunderstorms which was somewhat trying at times. She and Carter have a huge amount of energy and go at it all over everywhere, in the open, in the car...repeatedly.

Gemma is quite happy when Cash provides her with another guy for a threesome. I loved it when Gemma actually asked Cash about his relationship with Macie's mom. And she did it to show that she cared about the relationship Cash was trying to build with Macie. Gemma could be an assertive lover with Cash.

I want to mention that both Cash and Macie have a Native-American heritage. In addition Cash is an ageing rodeo-rider who never quite made it to the big time. With all that implies. Cash, in particular, seems not to have had much luck in life before Gemma came along. Both Cash and Macie are portrayed very sympathetically. And if any reader takes offense I'd love to know the reason. For me it was exactly that background that made the story so poignant at times.

By the time Keely's story takes place both 48-year old Gemma and 22-year old Macie have a couple of kids with their guys.

Like I said. Very nice.

Cowgirl Up and Ride by Lorelei James

The story of 22-year old AJ and the oldest McKay son, 35-year old Cord.

AJ must be the only McKay wife who's had only one lover, Cord. And don't tell me former crack ho India, and Keely, who's had half the county don't gossip about that fact. Yes. It so much is that kind of town.

Cord and AJ's story is pretty straightforward. She propositions him. He accepts. They have 7 weeks to discover they love each other too. Before the return of Cord's little boy Ky who's staying with his mom. Somewhere. Cord's special nookie treat is that AJ is a massage therapy student, and he gets given the kind of 'therapy with extras' that most guys can only fantasize about. Hot hot hot.

Almost immediately alongside the main romance runs a side-story that charts another McKay brother, Colt's, descent into a sordid drink and carnal hell. With a gay orgy scene thrown in the mix. For Dag, the cousin. Who winds up dead. Imagine! And it is a very bleak picture of 3 macho guys sharing a house and just being so nihilistic. It turns out Cord had some Daddy issues that needed airing...

But the person I felt the most sympathy for was AJ. She turns out to be one of those heroines whose family use her like a servant. From the time she was about 13 to 22 years old, she basically did all the work on the family ranch. When her mom hurts her leg AJ postpones college to become a full-time carer. When her sister's marriage breaks up AJ is expected to share baby-sitting duties. And suddenly her mom is going to sell the ranch.

The reader really gets a feel for the saddness and insecurity AJ feels about losing her home. If anyone deserved a carefree fling with a guy her own age it was AJ. But what happens? She fixates on divorced 35 year old rancher and lone parent, Cord. Yes. In the end he gives her the wedding ring she thinks she wants. And how he wooed her was really sweet and all that. But. It might have been better for AJ if she got away from Sundance for a few years. Having kids straight aways and being stuck forever in a teeny-tiny 2-horse town is not easy for a lively young girl. In fact. AJ had more reason to become addicted to drink and drugs than Colt. But of course that doesn't happen.

Notwithstanding the fact that AJ and Cord get happily married. And Colt gets himself checked into rehab by the end of the novel. This is a much bleaker story than that of Cam and Domini. Still spellbinding though.

Shoulda Been a Cowboy by Lorelei James

I obsessed about this story from the moment I started reading it until about a week afterwards.

The heroine is Domini. A Ukranian immigrant who works as a short order cook in the local diner. (Think Carmen Kass.) Domini comes with some baggage. She had her uterus removed when she was a teenager. And that was after being attacked by a dog which resulted in some scarring when she was about 5 years old. And I thought, 'Why? Why does she have to have scars as well?' And the answer is of course to make her a believable love interest for maimed veteran Cam. It also gives her a reason for saying she's quite shy. Well maybe she is but when once she gets going with Cam, she ain't timid that's for sure.

The first 100 pages or so of the e-novel is about Cam and Domini overcoming some relationship difficulties whilst doing lots of smokin' hotness. And no. I did not skim read the hotness. (Unlike some weenies...who actually dare confess in public they read an erotic for the plot!!) There's even an experimental threesome that doesn't quite work out. But each of the Rough Rider stories features edgy nookie of some sort.

And then about half way through the novel the fostering side-plot is introduced. And Cam and Domini get married to give little Anton a home. The reader already knows they're in love but they just haven't spoken their feelings out loud to each other. This is where Domini shows the iron in her character because there is no doubt that she would have run with Anton if social services tried to place him with another couple.

Anyway. For a little while it did look as though the main couple would split up because Cam wasn't really committed and struggled to cope with a not very likeable Anton making kiddy messes and noises around his previously quiet and tidy home. Then comes this extraordinary scene where 7 year old Anton tries to attack Cam because he thinks he sees Cam hurting Domini when all he's doing is having a full body back cuddle with her. I thought. This is it. No way back for Cam and Anton. But the scene was handled so beautifully. None of the adults got angry or argued or had hysterics. Domini totally let Cam handle the situation so sensibly. It showed that neither Cam nor Dom had any trust issues between themselves. After that scene the reader knew everything was going to be ok for this little family. In fact by the end of Keely's story, All Jacked Up, Cam and Domini have 5 more young children all adopted from Romanian orphanages including lovely Liesl who has a physical impairment just like Cam's and for the same reason. Imagine!

However. I didn't really appreciate the fact that Cam had to eat all that humble pie at the family picnic. I mean. He's lost a limb, got other scarring. Wouldn't that make anyone a little withdrawn from his family and friends. He doesn't have PTSD. Instead of him apologising for being nervous and insecure about their reaction to his limb-loss they should be thanking the Good Lord that Cam came back ready to love. After all he'd been subtley eyeing Domini for over 2 years at the diner. The scene where Cam made it up with his family just went on too long. And was just too sentimental.

But again. That's the Rough Rider series. Dark, light and gooey. Absolutely fantastic.

I wikied Sundance, Wyoming. It really exists. With a population of around 800. You think if I go there for a vacation I might get to meet Cam and Dom and the kids? ;)

Skin Tight by Ava Gray

Credit where it's due. A brilliant job was done of explaining why Foster was so detached when he was with the hooker in the previous book Skin Game.

And it looks as though the series is devoloping into a Breed-lite clone. Except that Kyra from the first book, Skin Game, was not a product of Micor labs...as far as I remember.

Despite two name changes for the hero I just couldn't get emotionally involved in the plot. A big part of the problem was Foster's characterisation. In Skin Game for the most part he was the big manipulator...unafraid of even his mafia-connected boss, Serrano. Here he is more a conflicted victim of circumstance and his own guilt trip. There was no reason for his hatred of Micor labs since Foster was never inside them. Micor had nothing to do with the fact that his daughter Alexis lay brain dead for so many years. In the end Foster had nothing to do with the destruction of Micor...that was down to Taye and Gillie. Also. It took awhile for me to understand Foster's paranormal trait. I remember asking myself. 'Why would Foster expect Mia not to recognise him. I don't get it.'

And no way would an organisation like Micor hire an outside embezzlement consultant to chase down a few million bucks. When what they were doing was an outrage against humanity...kidnapping, serial murder, human experimentation without consent.

Nor did the character of the heroine make much sense. Why did she suddenly become so lacking in confidence about her own feminity? Plus. When Mia is captured by the bad guy, well, she just gives in too easy in colluding with his fantasy world where all his prisoners are his 'guests.' Even some token resitance would have been appreciated by this reader.

The trouble was. No matter how long those two would have been at Micor they were never going to get close to the labs.

In Skin Game, Kyra nicely resolved her own problems by killing Serrano. Foster and Mia are completely tangential to the destruction of the silo-lab. Skin Tight is basically over-written. Foster doesn't read like a romance hero at all. More the main guy in an angsty piece of womens fiction. I never got emotionally involved because I was never sure of who the characters were or where they were going.

But it is a perfectly acceptable read. And I will be buying the next in the series.

All Jacked Up by Lorelei James

I'm not saying this is a good write. But I loved this erotic e-read.

For much of the story it's pretty standard stuff. Jack and Keely think they don't like each other but they need each other for their respective careers so they shack up for a while, pretend to get engaged and become attracted to each other. But even then I loved Keely's huge family. The brothers, their wives, their kids. Adopted crippled kids from Romania, one-armed brothers, brothers who sculpt. All set in Wyoming. With some good but not particularly hot bump-and-grind. I really enjoyed the sex-toy scene though. But that was because the girl uses the toy on the guy for a change. And. Keely and Jack talk to each other. Sometimes not so nice but they communicate well. Which is why they do have a future together.

But once Jack took Keely into his 'architectural' world, well that's when I really started to get involved. Wow! That Martine. She was so nasty. And I was surprised how quietly Keely took her barbs. Like she was truely intimidated by the slick city bitch. What a curve-ball it was when Jack didn't get the project he wanted. While I didn't really like how he straight blamed Keely there was no doubt he was genuinely sorry afterwards.

This is a story with some themes. Country versus city. Family versus independence. Career versus happiness. None of which were resolved btw. But then why should they be. That's what life is about. No? There's a really bizarre scene at Jack and Keely's engagement party where about 4 of Keely's older brothers each in turn threaten to 'gut' Jack if he hurts Keely. Which is laughable really since Keely has had about half the county. And. Jack is best friends with Carter, the youngest of Keely's brother's. So the reader knows nothings gonna happen....unless you count trussing Jack up, heaving him into a pick-up bed to deliver to Keely. But that happens much later. Ha!

I hope the next story in the series shows that Jack's business thrives despite him losing the Milford project. And I hope he and Keely have lots of happiness together because they are very different people. Yup. I'll be reading the earlier stories too.

Basically. Unpretentious. Grounded. Very likeable.

His At Night by Sherry Thomas

At the heart of this story is a completely malignant marital relationship. Between Edmund and Rachel Douglas. What I didn't understand or like is how Rachel comes out smelling of roses. Edmund basically terrorised the heroine, Elissande, for years. But it was Rachel who took away Elisande's identity. By telling her she was Edmund's daughter not his niece. One is as bad as the other. But somehow Rachel gets a happy ending. And it was Rachel who made Elisande feel so desperate that she basically pimped herself out. By the end of the book I absolutely hated Rachel. With her sudden recovery from her laudanum addiction. After placing her daughter in the position of a stool-counting servant for countless years. Yuk. Vere should have banished Rachel from his many homes.

For me. There was just too much underlying misery in the story. The way Vere treats Elissande is often very harsh. It sometimes seemed that Elissande had exchanged one tyrant for another. But that's what can happen when you just latch on to a complete stranger to be your protector. The book also contains a really miserable drunk consumation scene. Something that shouldn't really appear in a so-called romance nowadays. I liked the scenes when they were both pretending to be idiots. But there were just too few pages where they brought each other happiness. Especially very few happy nookie scenes. Even not many nice kissing scenes.

Basically the putrid relationship between uncle and aunt just took up too much of the book. I especially didn't appreciate the scenes where Edmund punched Elissande in the face. The two of them contributed to the enslavement of Elissande. And she should have been able to see that. Instead the reader gets an 'I love you Mommy - always and forever' scene. Charles Dickens always allowed the reader to recognise an evil emotionally manipulative parent. In this book we're supposed to empathise with her. It spoiled the story for me.

And. After spending about three quarters of the book (rightfully) despising Elissande, suddenly Vere had a change of heart. (coldly narrated in the third person)

Well-written. And heartless. Not that the reader will realise this until well over half-way into the book. Took me just 6 hours to read. That's because the writing style sucks the reader in. Only towards the final chapters does the reader realise that actually the story really isn't very nice...or romantic.

Reading Speeds

I've gone through a little spell where I've been reading whole books in about 2 days. Really. That's too fast to appreciate a novel properly. (But it certainly cuts down on the DNFs.)

So. I'm going back to a book a week. Except for e-books.

Her Last Chance by Michele Albert

Well. I will finish this book. But only because I was brought up to have good manners.

I just think the story, about minor art-thefts, is non-involving. And the characterisation of the main couple is very flat. Very little emotional content. The heroine, Claudia, chases after the hero, Vincent, almost desperately. Often he seems uninterested in what she's offering. And then when she's done the deed with him a number of times, Claudia isn't sure about having a real relationship with him, which he wants because he's portrayed as a totally decent sort of guy. There's no way these two can have more than a passing relationship because she has a job which takes her all over the US and even all over the world and he's an FBI guy. So what's the point?

Add to that. The fact that a number of chapters are devoted to the main bad guy (who within this story actually does nothing that merits him being called referenced as a 'bad -guy' and why on earth have him schleping around Vanessa who has all the appeal of a dead fish), the main couple from the previous book in the story arc( they do nothing in this story), and an ongoing story arc featuring Claudia's boss (who also does nothing). And I found I couldn't really stir up much interest in any of them.

Definitely not a romance. Sort of Suzanne Brockman...lite. And no. I wasn't hooked in to buy the preceding book in the series nor the sequel.

Wild Card: Reread

News Flash. I still love it to pieces. Can't belive Wild Card was published over a year ago. Who do I read it for? Probably for Nathan. His demons are more compulsive. And the plot has become something of a hot topic. Strangely. But mainly I read it for Nathan and Bella. My eyes still get all watery when I read the final two chapters. Imagine Grant's pain for so many years when he couldn't love his sons. I just loved how despite all the emotion, Nathan still used the opportunity to re-negotiate his marriage contract.

Wild Card is just so good. And. I don't think it contains one single typo. That bears repeating. Not one single incorrect edit. Or even one superfluous character. Consistent plotting. The bad guys stay bad. Just so brilliant to make the Sherrif's wife the mole.

Something else I really appreciated. Yes. Nathan has been through hell. And still bears mental and physical scars. But he knows (and the reader quickly comes to know) he is never going to hurt or disrespect Bella. In fact. She runs rings around him. There is absolutely no chance of Nathan 'going postal.' I loved that.

I remember gushing about Wild Card after my first read. Here.

Other stuff I like. Sabella remembers that Nathan, who for the remainder of the story completely fulfills his role as an alpha-hero was in the habit of 'pouting' when he was annoyed with her. That was such a cool description. I loved how Bella felt when she found out she was expecting. Because at that time she didn't know if Nathan would stay with her. Patrick was found 'gutted like a fish.' Now I wonder who did that? All thankfully done out of story. I also appreciated that the other members of Elite Ops treated Nathan with respect...and did not make light of the problems that he had due to that drug with that totally stupid name.

Why did Nathan stay away for 6 years? I have no idea. Other than what he says is the reason. And I completely believe him. Why did Sabella take 6 years to come out of mourning. Again I don't know. She never explained that. She must have loved Nathan deeply. Too much bump and grind? Actually I thought it was great. The angst it produced in Sabella was astounding. But doing it with him is how she showed Nathan he could trust her with all that he had become and that he was wrong to hide his new nature from her. And in the end there was no doubt in my mind that Noah was just as gentle to Sabella as Nathan had been. That's how I saw it anyway.

I'm so glad I placed Wild Card above Lover Awakened. Not least because Wild Card is all about Nathan and Sabella...not just a few chapters.

And as we all know. Their son is called Nate. Ahh.

I wish more people would give this type of novel good reviews...

I'm waiting for one more book to arrive. Then it's back to making more choices. Actually although sometimes I get a bit fed up with reading romances that I don't like I will always keep going because I know that there will be a writer out there who produces something that is going to be that extra bit special.

Letters from a Scarlett Lady by Emma Wildes

Phew. For a moment there I got quite hot under the collar while reading about Brianna's efforts to spice up her marriage to Colton. Phew. I got especially hot when Colton actually discusses what Brianna's doing to him in the bedroom with his brother Robert! Phew! And suddenly I realised exactly why the vanilla romance between Brianna's friend Rebecca and the aforementioned Robert is inserted with boring regularity between the chapters detailing the marital shenanigans of Brianna and Colton.

Because otherwise readers might have been lead to believe that a menage between the two brothers and Brianna was on the cards. And really. This just isn't that sort of book. At all!

Phew. After that so nauti flight of fancy my imagination settled down. To enjoy the story for what it was. Apart from about two-thirds through the book. When Brianna is expecting. Basically. In those times of No Birth Control, I reckon most wives would have been more than grateful for every nookie-less night their husbands gave them unless they wanted to a) considerably shorten their life-spans by b) having a child every 2 years...until they died.

So you see. An historical romance written entirely for the 21st century female.

Actually. Brianna was such a nice female. Yes. She was young and naive. But she had good friends and a very lovely life. Apart from Colton. I got the impression that no matter how he justified his actions, this guy was never going to change his behaviour. And good luck to Brianna with that. He stopped her from visiting her parents! She should have brained him! Not acquiesed. What she really wanted was her husband to talk to her, with her, about the weather, about his work, about his likes, about her likes...anything. Imagine. On a carriage trip he actually hardly even looked at her once. If Brianna had had any pride she would have been insulted. But what did she do? Got down to some more dirty bump and grind. Ho hum.

The romance between Rebecca and Robert was just not interesting enough to hold my attention. I wondered what else could have been inserted in its place. Maybe the reader could have been given some episodes of Colton and his tenant farmers or Colton and his factory workers and how they (and their children) depended on him being so involved in estate business so much. To the extent that he didn't understand that personal relationships are very important. Just a thought.

The novel is full of Lords and Ladies talking endlessly about nookie between one house party and the next ballroom dance. It was incredibly socially exclusive. And. Nothing. Happens.

However. It is an excellent thoroughly decent erotic read. By which I mean the main couple don't do anywhere near as much as a Lora Leigh couple but actually I thought the story was smokin' hot.