Friday Book Trailer

Today I am posting a book trailer for a book I have not read yet.  But the video is absolutely hilarious.  It's Ellen "auditioning" for the Fifty Shades of Grey audiobook.  Everywhere I go, I am hearing about this book.  Everyone is talking about it, some reviews are great, others not so much.  I haven't decided if I am going to read it.  But that seems to be my MO with really popular books for some reason.  I waited until about 2000 before finally reading the Harry Potter series - and loved it.  Same with Diana Gabaldon, kept seeing her books at the store and would read the back cover.  But I would always put the book back and think I would get it next time.  Once I finally picked one of her books up, I was hooked.  Although the opposite happened with the Twilight series.  Everyone was telling me to read it, when I finally did I was disappointed.  So I am still on the fence about this book, but still find this video highly entertaining.



You might also want to check out the first 3 chapters of a parody, apparently this guy also has a book deal now http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13548945-fifty-one-shades.

Review - Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas

Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington.  She is stunned and blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal:  her fiancé Kevin has left her.  His new lover is Lucy’s own sister.   Lucy's bitterness over being dumped is multiplied by the fact that she has constantly made the wrong choices in her romantic life.   Facing the severe disapproval of Lucy's parents, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, a local vineyard owner on San Juan Island, to "romance" Lucy and hopefully loosen her up and get her over her anger. Complications ensue when Sam and Lucy begin to fall in love, Kevin has second thoughts, and Lucy discovers that the new relationship in her life began under false pretenses. Questions about love, loyalty, old patterns, mistakes, and new beginnings are explored as Lucy learns that some things in life—even after being broken—can be made into something new and beautiful (Amazon).

For the most part I would say that I liked this book, but I didn't love it, and at points I was cringing.  What I liked about the book:  Lucy and Sam were enjoyable characters that had chemistry together.  Although the Amazon blurb leads one to believe that there is a "big misunderstanding" with how they start dating, in actuality Sam tells Lucy right away about Kevin setting them up.  I found this a refreshing way to deal with the plot rather than Kleypas relying on a hidden secret only to bring it out later for drama.

What I didn't like: the book seemed to waffle between being a contemporary romance and chick lit.  When it read as romance I found the story flowed more and had more chemistry.  When it read as chick lit, I lost interest and skimmed the pages.  Although Lucy and Sam had chemistry, I would characterize the romance in this book as subtle.  I much prefer Kleypas' books that have steamier love scenes.  There is also a paranormal element to the story involving Lucy's ability to change glass into butterflies and Sam's ability to grow plants.  I didn't really see a need for the magic.  It felt like it was placed in the book as an after thought.  Overall, not one of Lisa Kleypas' best efforts.  If you are looking for a meatier romance try one of her historicals or the contemporary Texas trilogy.