Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Cowboy And The Lady


The Cowboy and the Lady
by Diane Palmer
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
This book was originally published in 1982. I just picked up a reprint at the used bookstore. I like almost all of Diane Palmer's Harlequin-length novels and this one was no different. Sometimes you just need a good 80's soap opera and Diane Palmer is perfect for that. All of anger and passion ping-ponging back and forth throughout the book. I love it.

A lot of Diane Palmer heroes are very hard, but Jace Whitehall was actually a nice guy and a lot of his dialogue was very sweet.

The virgin/whore dichotomy is alive and well in this novel - a tribute to the novel's age and the author's writing style. Any girl that flirts or shows interest means that she's loose and not worthy of respect, but as soon as the hero finds out that she's still "pure" he's so sorry for treating her that way and now he can loose his own passion in a marriage minded way. I can't read these books all the time because this issue is rather annoying to me, but when I feel like ignoring that and watching an 80's soap opera, this is the author I choose.

This wasn't one of my favorite Diana Palmer books but it was a nice couple hours spent reading.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Seven Sexy Sins

Seven Sexy Sins
by Serenity Woods
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I've read a few short stories by Serenity Woods. They didn't grip me all that much but I saw some good reviews/recommendations for this book so I decided to give it a try. It took a while for me to connect with the characters. It just seemed like they were trying to be hilarious even at serious moments and it didn't work for me. I'm glad I kept going though. This book got much better and by the end I was really rooting for Faith and Rusty. They ended up being nice solid characters that I enjoyed spending time with.

Introvert Power

Introvert Power
by Laurie Helgoe, PhD
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I forget why I found this book but I'm really glad I read it. I went through it a lot slower than I normally read, but I had so much to highlight and think about. Introverts naturally like to reflect and I think that's what the author encourages most in this book.

No matter what type of introvert you are or how introverted you are, you will benefit from stepping back and following your gut. If you don't want to go to the party, say "I don't feel like going", if there are things you've been wanting in your life, stop and think about them and let them emerge. If you give yourself the space you've been needing, you will ordinarily feel better about yourself.

I will have to refer back to this book often because the author has so many good quotes. I should probably make sticky notes and hang them around my house so I remember to keep these things in mind. I don't think I identified with everything in the book. I think I'm a bit more moderate. But if something didn't fit me I was often able to say "oh, that's probably why <this person> does that".

I would recommend this book for anyone who's trying to find a place to fit in or who doesn't know why they haven't found their spot yet. This book says "that's ok, it'll come eventually" but more importantly "doing something you don't like for the sake of fitting in, doesn't help you be true to yourself". Probably something most of us could use to be reminded of.

A Lady By Midnight

A Lady by Midnight
by Tessa Dare
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Review:
I've looked forward to this book for a while. From the first Spindle Cove book, you know something is coming between Kate and Corporal Thorne, but you just don't know what. I was hooked on this book from the very first page and had trouble putting it down. Sadly, I had to stop for things like dinner but I still finished it in one day.

Kate can't remember life before the boarding school where she was dropped off at the age of five. She really wants to know about her family and has some idea that someone loved her once.

Corporal Thorne and Kate rub each other wrong and have generally avoided each other for a year. Being in the right place at the right time, they get thrown together for a little while and at the same time, family gets thrown into Kate's lap. While they try to figure out the family front, Corporal Thorne insists on watching out for Kate and things progress from there. Unknown to Kate, Corporal Thorne has a connection to her past and doesn't want her putting the pieces together.

I would never have guessed the twists in this story. The emotional connection is intense and at times heart-breaking. At other times I laughed out loud. There aren't many authors who could have me crying for how vulnerable the characters are and on the same page have me hysterically laughing. I will probably read this book again soon just to read the line "You took a melon for me" over and over again. :]

Too Hot To Sleep

Too Hot to Sleep
by Stephanie Bond
Rating: 3 of 5 stars

My Review:
I love the premise of this book. Georgia calls the wrong number and ends up having phone sex with a stranger instead of her boyfriend. She doesn't know that she programmed her speed dial incorrectly, so she keeps calling the same number and the caller never clues her in.

Ken is a police officer and after the first call he meets Georgia by chance and really wants to know her more but doesn't know how to tell her about the phone calls.

This book is interesting enough that I've read it twice now. I like the interactions between Ken and Georgia although at some point it does get uncomfortable that Ken doesn't fess up and Georgia never looks into why her boyfriend doesn't sound right.

But the thing that really bothers me is right at the end of the book. Georgia's father had affairs while she was growing up and she thinks she's inherited his overly high, rampant sex drive. She doesn't want to commit to someone she feels passionate towards because if she lets that passion out it'll spill out everywhere and she'll start having sex with anyone she can. But when she finally mentions her father's affairs to her mother, her mother tells her "I never liked sex so it was inevitable that your father stray".

The light bulb goes off for Georgia then and now everything is ok because it wasn't her father's fault. That completely rubs me the wrong way. She even goes so far as to rationalize that her mom broke her vows first by not being interested enough in sex. Maybe that was an acceptable answer when this book was written but it just doesn't cut it for me. Mom was hurt, Dad didn't intend to do it but just couldn't help it, so that makes it ok. It just leaves me with a bad taste after reading the book. I like the writing and I like the story, but I just can't get over that.