Showing posts with label paranormal romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paranormal romance. Show all posts

Thursday, April 19, 2012

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 fiancĂ© 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.



Friday, August 26, 2011

Friday Book Trailer

Something a little different for today's book trailer.  It's a news clip about Harlequin romance novels, book covers and a little bit about the history of the romance genre.  With Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd (mmmm Paul Rudd!) reading from some books!



Friday, June 17, 2011

Friday Book Trailer

Today's book trailer is for one of my favourite books from the Midnight Breed series; Ashes of Midnight.  This series by Lara Adrian follows the vampires who are members of The Order.  Their main purpose is to protect humans and vampires from Rogue vampires - blood addicted vampires.  Lately, though, they are having to deal with one evil entity who's sole purpose is to rule the world.  The vampires are hot and the heroines are intelligent, independent, strong and willing to fight.  Ashes of Midnight follows the story of Claire Roth and Andreas Reichen.  One time lovers, Andreas now despises Claire and only wants revenge.  Can I just say that I love stories that have old lovers who despise each other come back together?  The newest book, Deeper Than Midnight, will be out at the end of this month.



Friday, June 10, 2011

Reading Slump


And I think my reading slump will continue on until I get Johanna Lindsey's newest book next week.  The books I picked up at the library last week just aren't holding my attention.

Against the Law by Kat Martin - I stopped reading at chapter 16 but left my bookmark in, so I might return and give it one more try.  So far Lark hired Dev Raines to help her find her niece that had been adopted a couple of years ago.  Within a couple of chapters they find her in her adoptive parents house, along with the dead parents and nanny.  They take the girl and leave.  Now Lark is raising her neice, but where are the CAS workers and anyone else you would think would be involved in this?  I'm pretty sure you can't just take a child, even if she is your niece.  The back cover leads the reader to think the story is about finding the child, but she is found even before the book is half way through.  It then begins to concentrate on the drug smuggling business the adoptive father was involved in.

Black Magic by Cherry Adair - I'm only on page ten, I don't think I am in the mood for a paranormal story right now, so I might come back to this book another time.

The Hellion and The Highlander by Lynsay Sands - A cute, readable historical set in England and Scotland during the Crusades.  History takes a back seat in this novel which is more character driven than plot.  I did finish reading it, there were a couple of humourous moments involving the heroine's inexperience in the bedroom.  However, after awhile, her lack of experience in certain acts became cringe-worthy rather than funny.  I lost interest in the story around chapter thirteen and skimmed through the rest of the book.

Conversations With The Fat Girl by Liza Palmer - This story is about two best friends, Maggie and Olivia, who grew up being the fat girls.  Olivia goes on to lose her weight through surgery, becomes engaged, and wants Maggie to be her maid of Honour.  I couldn't finish this book because I found the main character, Maggie, to be too immature for her age.  Although she is 27, I found her reactions to her "crush" at work to be similar to a fourteen year old.  Maybe it was because the author was trying to convey the sense that  Maggie did not have those experiences as a teenager.  I don't know, it just felt off.  I also found it unbelievable that Olivia, who is portrayed as being sweet and nice as a fat girl, suddenly becomes a raging bitch because she is thin.  I get that people change when their perceptions of themselves change, but I can't see someone suddenly treating everyone around them as insignificant and beneath them just because they have lost weight.  Perhaps if the author had kept Olivia's sweet character, but brought out her insecurities in a different way, I would have found it more believable.

Moonlight Road by Robyn Carr - Gah!  Why did I bother trying this author again???!!!  I obviously did not learn from the first time.  Once again, this book is chock full of previous characters, everyone is related to someone and practically all the female characters are pregnant.  Note to self - do not bother with this author again.

     

Monday, February 7, 2011

Hello!

Hi and welcome to my new blog.  I am a thirty-something teacher who loves to read romance novels, crochet, and eat chocolate.  My plan for this blog is to review and discuss everything related to romance novels - whether they are contemporary, historical, paranormal, or urban-fantasy.