Title: By Arrangement
Author: Madeline Hunter
Published: 2000, Dell
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 6.5/10

I've never read Madeline Hunter before, but she's been talked about a lot lately because her newest book, The Rules of Seduction, is getting very good reviews. I heard several people mention that they thought Rules is her best work since her early medieval series. And I thought, ooh a good medieval! Haven't read one of those in a long time. So here we are.

Lady Christiana Fitzwaryn is in luuurve with a noble knight, so she is devastated when King Edward (she is a ward of the crown) tells her she is to marry David de Abyndon, a merchant who is plenty wealthy but (oh horror!) a commoner. Christiana goes to David, tells him that she is in love with another, and asks him to release her from the engagement. David suspects that her paramour is a little more interested in getting her into the sack than in actually following through with a wedding, so he tells her that he won't give up the betrothal, but that if the man returns, then he will release her. Meanwhile, he sets out to show Christiana that the puppy love she felt for Sir Knight is nothing compared to the Real Thing.

Oh, I'm feeling lazy tonight. A bunch of other stuff happens--there's a little political subplot and a mistaken identity subplot. Rather typical romance novel stuff, but I enjoyed it very much. It didn't light my life on fire, but it was good. The setting was sadly a little nondescript, but it worked and the characters were lovely.

Like I say, I'm feeling lazy. Suffice it to say that I will be reading more Madeline Hunter. The edition I got is actually a two-in-one--it has By Possession in it too, so I'll be reading that soon. I do like the value of two-in-ones, definitely more bang for your buck, but they're pretty unwieldy. Kind of hard to read (and hard to carry around). And as I was reading the first novel, I was continually annoyed that I couldn't see how much of the book I still had left to go. Silly, I know, but I kept flipping forward to see how much longer before the resolution. I ended up putting a Post-it note in between the two books. :P

Dear Borders,

I would like to rant about my unsatisfactory visit to one of your stores tonight. Your Borders Rewards email included a note about your 4-for-3 Mysteries and Romance promotion. I saw the small print--"Least expensive item is free. Selected titles only." But I didn't think that by "selected titles" you would mean such a very limited selection: 18 books at the store I was in. And I was in a big store--the one at Madison Square Garden.

How likely is it that I'm going to actually want 4 books out of the 18 available in this offer? Um, very small. Which I guess is the point, eh? It got me into your store and I didn't get ANYTHING for free. I wish I could say I left without buying anything, but I can't. I'm a sucker apparently.

But your plan has backfired, Borders. Because I really went out of my way to go to your store. I broke my "never-go-above-14th-St" rule. I battled the crowds around Penn Station. Do you think that I am going to do that again after feeling so completely ripped off? Not any time soon, that's for sure.

So you just lost one customer. Pfft!

I bought two books: Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair. (I've never read anything by her. Can someone tell me if they are a series or can I read this one first? I wanted Gabriel's Ghost, but they didn't have it.) And Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh, and that's a huge compliment to Singh because if I was willing to wait a few weeks, I could get this book free at work. But I wanted it now and paid full price for it.

And can I just say TGIF?! It's been one of those weeks where I felt like this:




I will surely be more cheerful tomorrow. :)

Title: Jackdaws
Author: Ken Follett
Published: 2001, NAL
Category: General Fiction
Rating: 7/10
I'm trying to branch out and read more books by men, so I picked up this book, my first by Ken Follett. (NOT that I think books by men are more intelligent- Argh! Go Jane, go!--I'm just trying to broaden my horizons a bit.) I was thinking I could claim extra points because Jackdaws set in a war, but then I realized that the main characters are women, so maybe not. :)

Felicity (Flick) Clairet is an intelligence agent for the SOE during WWII. She's managed to stay alive longer than any other agent, mainly because she's really smart, ruthless, and relies heavily on her good instincts. Right before D-Day she's sent to France with a team of French resistance organizers to blow up a German telephone exchange. They are not successful--most of their group is killed, and Flick barely escapes back to England. Flick is determined to return to finish the job, as destroying the exchange would seriously cripple the enemy's ability to communicate during the coming invasion. She decides to put together a team of women to pose as the cleaning staff. The trouble is there are very few female agents, and those few are all assigned elsewhere. So she's forced to make do with the "rejects," women who were considered at one point for secret work, but passed over for some reason. She ends up with a very motley crew: an aristocratic snob, a pathological liar, an elderly engineer, a convicted murderer, and a male transvestite. They undergo a whirlwind 2-day training session and head to France for the dangerous mission.

The reason I picked this book up was the intriguing plot, and it surely delivers. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading--very exciting and suspenseful. The violence was upsetting to me, but then this is a book about war, so that's to be expected. "This is war, Peacock! You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, every cook will tell you." (Does anyone else love the movie Clue?) There are some truly unsettling torture scenes that I had to skim--they're not horribly graphic, but they were tough on me.

The characters are more interesting and complex than you often find in an adventure-type story. There's a German officer named Dieter Franck who is trying to stop the French resistance and who is determined to catch Flick. He is fascinating--you want to really hate him, because he's the bad guy and he tortures people. But he's not a sadist, he doesn't get off on it--he's disgusted by it and does feel remorse afterward. He just sees it as a necessary tool to get what he needs, and he is able to shut off his emotions and be completely cold to get it done. Flick is just as ruthless at times, though her motivations come off as more virtuous. She is a great heroine though--very brave and clever.

There's a little side love story that's very nice. Wartime romances are so dramatic!

So, I was entertained. And it was a nice break from my usual fare. :)

I have nothing much to say, but I'm going say it anyway.

I haven't had much time for reading lately! This makes me slightly tetchy, but what can you do? Life gets hectic sometimes. Usually I'm a few books ahead reading-wise that I haven't blogged about, but I'm all caught up. And I'm trying to be more frequent with posts, because two posts a week is just sad. Surely I can do better. Soooo, what should I talk about?

Ummm, how about when to give up on an author? I don't mean an old favorite that falls off the auto-buy list. I'm talking about new authors that you're trying out. I'm generally willing to give new-to-me authors two shots. Because every author is bound to have a dud or two. Even some of my favorites--Chase's Miss Wonderful (yawn!), L.M. Montgomery's Kilmeny of the Orchard (the mute girl just annoyed me), Georgette Heyer's Lady of Quality (zzzzzzz), even my beloved Mary Stewart had a miss with Rose Cottage (hello, can we have a plot, please?). So I don't feel like I can dismiss an author completely if they fail to impress me on the first book. But after two, I'm moving on. Too many other authors to try.

A couple I've pretty much decided aren't for me: Linda Howard. I know, she's solid gold to a lot of people, but I did Duncan's Bride (meh) and After the Night (DNF--too much testosterone). And Laura Kinsale--I respect her as a good writer, but her books seem to just annoy me. I read Flowers from the Storm (the heroine's sanctimoniousness grated) and Midsummer Moon (the heroine's naivete grated).

Both of those authors are ones some people go orgasmic over, but I guess we all have our quirks. ;)

And now I'm off to actually try to finish a book! Miracle of miracles.

I'm in syndication!

Heh, heh. Actually not really. But my first column is up over at Romancing the Blog. I'm one of a few "reader" columnists they've added in an effort to make the site a little less writer-centric. Go read and comment if so moved. :)

In other linkage, Twin has opened her own Etsy shop! (Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade crafts.) She is selling her truly beautiful handprinted stationery sets. (And I'm not just saying that because she's my sister.) She's sold out of some of the designs already, but she's just posted a couple new ones. I especially love the magnolia cards. I'm so proud of her it makes up for having masses of printed cards constantly littering our (very small) apartment.

Title: Reforming Lord Ragsdale
Author: Carla Kelly
Published: 1995, Signet
Category: Regency Romance
Rating: 8/10

Last week, JMC blogged that she'd gotten her copy of Carla Kelly's newest book, Beau Crusoe, shipped to her early from eHarlequin. I was very jealous and went to my Borders to see if they had it out yet. No luck. I was all mad until I realized that I still had three older Kellys in the TBR. Just sitting there waiting to be read. (I tell you, the greed. Why must I have the NEW, SHINY, NOW?! Good thing it's only about books or I'd be in trouble.)

Emma Costello's very respectable family was torn apart during an attempted Irish rebellion in 1803 and in the aftermath, she was shipped off to become an indentured servant. John Staples, Lord Ragsdale, ends up winning her indenture in a hand of cards. Ragsdale is your typical dissipated, nearly useless English aristocrat (this is Emma's opinion at first, anyway). Ten years ago he lost his father and one of his eyes in a military snafu, and since then he's been floating along aimlessly, drinking too much and not doing anything with his life. One night, in a drunken haze, he tells Emma that if she can reform him, he'll release her from her indenture. So Emma begins to sort out all his confused finances and to persuade him, or guilt him, into becoming more involved with his estate. She's surprisingly successful at the reformation--and suddenly she realizes that he is someone who might just be worthy of her friendship.

This is one of those love stories that start out with the protagonists disliking each other completely. Ragsdale has prejudices against the Irish, and Emma against the English. Ragsdale is pretty distgustingly useless, selfish, and, at times, cruel to Emma. I love romances where you see the couple go from dislike to love--the characters obviously must undergo a lot of change, which makes for an interesting story.

At first I thought that Ragsdale's reformation was too easy. Surely someone who was a rake for 10 years would be less willing to change. But we see from the very beginning that he is a kind man--his faults are really due to boredom, guilt over his father's death, and a snobby sense of entitlement. Emma's not afraid to call him on it when he acts like an ass, something no one has really done for him before. So his eyes are opened, and he gains a sense of purpose and confidence in himself.

All-in-all, one of my favorite Kellys so far. And btw, I was able to pick up a copy of Beau Crusoe last weekend. Woo hoo! I'm glad she has a new book out, it's been a few years since she's had a book published, I think.

Title: Forever in Blue
Author: Ann Brashares
Published: 2007, Delacorte
Category: Young Adult
Rating: 7/10

The fourth Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book. Because teen fiction is for grown-ups sometimes too.

Bridget, Lena, Tibby, and Carmen are now in the summer after their first year in college. Like always, they're scattered about for the summer, with the magical traveling pants being mailed back and forth among them. Lena is in art school in Rhode Island, painting portraits of a hottie classmate and trying to forget about Kostos, the love of her life who got away. Tibby is at NYU having some serious ups and downs in her relationship with her boyfriend, Brian. Bridget heads to Turkey on an archaeological dig (woohoo!) and has yet another inappropriate relationship with an authority figure (I think I see a pattern here). And Carmen goes to a drama program, where she means to do behind-the-scenes work, but ends up showcasing all her innate star power.

I love this series (the first two books I think are especially lovely), so even though this book frustrated me a little, I still enjoyed it. The teen angst, it was just so . . . angsty! I know that teens do feel these emotional roller coasters (and these girls have a lot happening in their lives to be angsty over), but this one felt just the littlest bit over-the-top. These books are always poignant, but this one seemed to go overboard. Too many characters spouting too much spontaneous pithiness. Can a book be too poignant? If so, then this one definitely approaches that line.

The girls make some really stupid decisions, and while we all can probably remember things we did in our teens and wonder what on earth we were thinking, I still wanted to shake them and scream, "What is your problem?!! Grow up!" But in the end, growing up is exactly what they are doing and they eventually sort themselves out.

Each of the four girls are so different, and yet each seems very real and genuine. Everyone can have someone to relate with. Me? I'm a bit like Lena (without the gorgeousness, of course!). In each book, Lena thinks or does something that I totally understand and it resonates with me. "There were people who lived in the moment, Lena knew, while she lived at a delay of hours or even years. And with that knowledge came the familiar frustration of wanting to club herself over the head with a combat boot if only to be sure of experiencing and feeling something in unison for once." I get that, I really do.

This is the last book in the series. The pants are no more. It is a bit sad, though I've heard that Brashares is writing an adult novel, which could be very good.

Who's the big winner??

Kristie J!!! Your name was drawn out of the hat by my impartial assistant (Twin)--so congrats! Send your snail mail address to me at jenniesbooklog(at)gmail and I'll send your books off.

Sorry to those who didn't win. So sad. But maybe I'll do another giveaway soon. Must spread on the love of deliciously yummy books. ;)

Free books! Win free books here!

Have I got your attention? I think so. Today's my blogiversary! Happy birthday little blog. Who knew you'd be so much fun?

So in honor of this momentous occasion (hyperbole), I'm going to give away some books to one lucky reader. I tend to collect multiple copies of some of my favorite books--does anyone else do this? I see them on the shelf and think, surely it would be a good idea to have backup copy. You know, in case of emergency. But these extra copies would obviously be doing much more good if I sent them out into the world to be introduced to new people.

READ THIS PART!
The deal: Here's a list of books. You look them over and decide which FOUR books you would like to call your very own. Leave a comment listing those four books. On Wednesday night, I will put all the names in a hat and pull one out. Completely random. I promise. Then I will mail that person the four books they chose.
Disclaimers:
*These are all used books. I'm trying to survive on a publishing salary here people. But I take very fine care of my books, so they are all in good shape.
*International peeps, feel free to enter. But know that I will send them the slowest delivery method. So you would have to be patient, but these books are totally worth it.

So here are your options. They're all books I can recommend completely without reservation:


From top of stack to bottom:
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly. This author was new to me last year and is now one of my favorites. Regency romance. Really good regency romance. Sweet and lovely. *Warning: Contains a healthy dose of cute children. (for Cindy)*
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart. Stewart did romantic suspense before romantic suspense was cool. She is a goddess, she should be knighted, she is my favorite author. If you've never read one of her books, you are missing out on something special.
Touch not the Cat by Mary Stewart. Because you can never have too much Stewart. Telepathic heroine, crumbling castle, evil lurking nearby. Need I say more?
Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase. This isn't actually my favorite Chase, but it's the only one I have an extra copy of. But it is excellent.
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery. Favorite book of all time. Perfectly perfect in every way.
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. A mystery to mix things up. Post-WWI London. Maisie is a psychologist/detective. Whodunit mixed with war story mixed with upstairs/downstairs story.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. A book to be loved by all bibliophiles. Fforde is probably the most imaginative author I've ever read.
The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgeson Burnett. Classic childhood favorite. Everyone knows the story, but have you read the book? It is so, so lovely.
Montana Sky by Nora Roberts. One of my favorite Noras. If you saw the movie--the book is much better.
The Complete Novels of Jane Austen. A beautiful edition of all five novels. I don't really have to say anything else here, do I?
Pompeii by Robert Harris. (Ex-library copy!) I adore this book. Young Roman engineer is sent to Pompeii days before the eruption because the aqueducts have stopped up. So, so fascinating. And not so tragic as you might fear.

So do you see four you want? Leave a comment!

Title: See Delphi and Die
Author: Lindsey Davis
Published: 2005, St. Martin's Minotaur
Category: Mystery
Rating: 8/10

This is the 17th in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery series. I've been slightly disappointed by the last few of these, but this one was tops! That's the Falco I know and love.

Roman informer Falco and his wife Helena head to Greece in this one. Helena's brother Aulus is studying there to be a lawyer and has stumbled across a mystery (of course!). Seems like two young female tourists have died under suspicious circumstances. Falco decides to meet up with Aulus and do some digging. Both the victims were on tours set up by the same Roman tourist agency. All their fellow tourists, as well as the agency owners are suspects.

I can't quite put my finger on why this one was so much more interesting to me than the last few. Possibly the setting, which was fantastic. Falco's never been to Greece before, I don't think. They go to several cities and since Falco and Helena are behaving as tourists, we get a lot more description of the sights. Greek myths, oracles--so interesting. And I found the mystery particularly good. It's sort of like the old dinner-party plotline--a group of near-strangers who are all stuck together and one of them is the murderer. But who, who?!

This is Davis's first book with her new publisher. New jacket design, which I like. But they didn't Americanize the text, which I find distracting. And they did not provide site maps of the places Falco visits. I love looking at site maps, so I was disappointed.

I won't hold this against them though, because they did reissue the first Falco mystery, Silver Pigs. This is excellent news, as it's been out of print for a while. I need to buy a copy--my old one is falling apart!

Title: Burning Bright
Author: Tracy Chevalier
Published: 2007, Dutton
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 6.5/10

This is Tracy Chevalier of Girl with a Pearl Earring fame. That book was the story of an ordinary girl whose life brushed with the famous painter Vermeer. Burning Bright is similar--it's the story of two children whose lives are affected by a different kind of artist: the poet William Blake.

Burning Bright is set in London in 1972, right at the beginning of the French Revolution. 13-year-old Jem Halloway has just moved with his family from rural Dorsetshire so that his father can accept a job as a carpenter for Philip Astley, of Astley's Amphitheater (the one often mentioned in romance novels!). Jem is very intimidated by the city at first and is happy to make friends with Maggie, a London-bred girl who delights in showing Jem the ropes. Jem and Maggie soon become acquainted with William Blake, who lives next door to the Halloways. Blake is rather an outcast in the neighborhood, so he takes the time to help the children and read his poetry to them (he says that his poems are best understood by children). Blake is also a supporter of the revolution in France, which gets him into trouble--trouble the children help him out of.

I enjoyed this solely as a historical piece--Chevalier does a wonderful job of describing what life was like in London at that time. All the characters are of the working class, so you see how hard life was for them. Poor Maggie working 12 hours a day in a factory when she's still so young! It makes me very happy I live in comfortable 21st century America.

But overall, I have to say meh. The plot is a bit meandering. I liked the characters but I kept waiting for the real action to start. And then the book ended. It seemed like Chevalier was trying to make some great point about innocence vs. experience, but it never quite gelled for me.

Still, an interesting read. And the jacket is very pretty. :p

Title: The Windflower
Author: Laura London
Published: 1984, Dell
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 10/10

Yes, you read that right. I'm giving this book a 10/10. I never give 10s! But then this just might be the best romance I've ever read. I've heard about this book ever since I started reading romance--it always comes up as a classic old favorite. And now I know why.

Merry Wilding is an 18-year-old living in rural Virginia during the War of 1812. She's a bit sheltered and a little naive. Her brother is a spy for the Americans and he asks Merry to come with him to a tavern so that she can draw sketches (she's a very good artist) of a few men--men who turn out to be pirates. Merry and one of the pirates--the extremely handsome, godlike Devon--have a little interlude, though Devon lets her go without too much bother. Several months later, Merry is setting out on a trip to England with her aunt, when she is abducted by the same pirates (for reasons that are too complicated to go into here). Merry is held on the ship for months, has many adventures, befriends a crew of pirates, grows up a lot, and of course falls in love with one of her captors.

[sidenote] Isn't there a condition where victims fall in love with their captors? And I've just been to Wiki--it's called the Stockholm Syndrome. Like Patty Hearst! There are definite shades of that here. She hates the pirates/she loves the pirates. She wants to go home/she wants to adventure. She is never really beaten or molested, though the pirates are quite cruel to her at times. And surprisingly kind at other times. [/sidenote]

And now I will gush like a rabid fangirl.

This really is classic romance. The 1980s were sort of the glory days of the big historical romance novel. Everything was big in the 1980s--LOL. The story is big and complicated, the characters are complex and interesting. People may complain that Merry is naive and annoying, but I thought her reactions to her situation was spot-on and fabulous. You would be scared and confused and resentful, but she gets over it. She learns and you really can see her grow up. I liked Devon too, though he was a little bland compared with some of the other characters. Um, like Cat?! Yeah! I've heard people calling for Cat's story and I will join them because he's f*ing FANTASTIC. He's so clever--I think he and Morgan definitely have some of the best lines in the book. And lovable Raven!

The prose is lush, florid, slightly overblown, with adjectives dripping from every sentence--just the kind of writing that usually drives me nuts. An example: "The kindly fates, after separating Merry and Devon in experience and temperament, had looked back with regretful sighs and cast camelia garlands of warm conversation on the ill-omened pair." Ah! It's so over-the-top, and yet it's original and so part-and-parcel with the whole epic, ultra-romantic feeling of the novel that it's perfect. My general preference may be for spare, straightforward writing, but that would never have worked here.

There's so much to this book that I can see myself re-reading it many times and finding something new every time. A joke I missed, an aspect of a character that I hadn't seen before. And to be honest, (though I love romance, don't get me wrong) subtlety and complexity are the two things I find most annoyingly lacking in romance novels. So when I find a book like this, it makes me all the more appreciative.

Have I gushed enough? I will just end by saying that this was 450 pages of a helluva good time. Must-read for anyone who likes romance!

Why is Harlequin Harlequin?

It struck me today that I didn't know what a Harlequin is. That little guy on the spine of Harlequin books? Merriam-Webster says, "a. a character in comedy and pantomime with a shaved head, masked face, variegated tights, and wooden sword b. Buffoon." Wiki has a bit more information. Harlequin, the anglicized version of Arlecchino, was the name of a stock character in the Commedia dell'arte, which was an improvisational form of theater popular in Italy in the 16th century. Harlequin is a jokester, described as stupid and glutinous. He carried a baton, with which he beat other characters, and that's where we get our term "slapstick." His distinctive diamond costume was a stylized representation of ragged, patchwork clothing, as he was a pauper.

So why is a romance publisher named after that? It would make sense if Harlequin was a romantic hero, but a jester? Well, Harlequin's website has no company history at all. Very disappointing. But Mills & Boon, the UK arm of Harlequin came through with a history. And I found more history here. Apparently Harlequin was founded by Richard Bonnycastle (great name!) in 1949. At first they didn't even publish romances--they did paperback reprints of mysteries and westerns. They started doing romance in the mid-1950s.

Okay, so all that is quite interesting, but I couldn't find any information on why the company was named Harlequin. I guess Mr. Bonnycastle equated Harlequin, the funniest character from a form of popular theater, with reasonably priced (cheap) paperback fiction. Sort of high-brow, but not stuffy. Popular entertainment, but classy. If there's another connection, I'm not seeing it.

I don't think Harlequin actually uses the figure as a logo anymore, do they? Just the diamond from his costume. And that's my history lesson for today. :o)

Title: Home to Big Stone Gap
Author: Adriana Trigiani
Published: 2006, Random House
Category: General Fiction
Rating: 5/10

This is the 4th in Trigiani's Big Stone Gap series. The first book in the series, Big Stone Gap, is a favorite of mine--it's really charming and lovely. Quirky characters, great small-town setting in my home state of VA, and a really nice story. I've read all the sequels and I've enjoyed them, but they've never quite recaptured the magic of the first one. And I'm sorry to say I think this is the weakest yet.

Ave Maria and Jack have just arrived home from their daughter's wedding in Italy. Ave is of course having a tough time dealing with an empty nest. Jack's having health problems. Iva Lou has a big secret that comes out. Fleeta gets married.

It was nice to see all these characters again, but not that much really happens and the whole thing just felt sort of flat. A lot of it seemed to be a rehashing of plot that had gone on in earlier books. And I was a little bored. Ave Maria is an older lady now, with a grown child, and this may be part of the reason the book didn't do much for me. It's the same reason I don't really get "Mom lit"--I'm just not there yet! Give me a few years and maybe I'll be able to relate better. Though a good book should be able to engage even a reader who has no similar life experience.

The author bio on the flap says that Trigiani has already written the screenplay for the movie version of Big Stone Gap and will also direct it. That could be really good. I hope they actually film it in the Appalachian mountains. There's no where that's prettier. (Okay, maybe there is. I'm biased. But it is beautiful. And now I'm homesick a little bit.)

Squee! Squee! Squeeeeeeeee!!!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is on sale July 21, 2007!!!!

I was beginning to worry it wasn't going to come out this summer. I've already marked out that whole weekend on my calendar. :)

Title: Gladiator's Honor
Author: Michelle Styles
Published: 2006, Harlequin
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7/10

I bought this book last year when it came out because I was really excited by the idea of a romance novel set in Ancient Rome. You just don't see that. And I have been interested in all things Roman ever since I took Latin in high school. (It's not just a dead language, people. It's awesome.) Anyway, Gladiator's Honor has been languishing in the TBR for ages. Then Smart Bitch Sarah reviewed it and gave it an A-, and they don't give out good grades like that to just anything. And the second season of Rome on HBO started. (I love that show, though it's been a bit depressing and way bloody this year.) So I was inspired to get me some Roman lovin'.

Julia Antonia is a young divorced Roman matron. She's living with her father again after leaving an abusive husband. Valens the Thracian is a famous gladiator in Rome for a lavish set of games put on by Caesar. The Senate has decided that it's dangerous for the gladiators to be housed together (they don't want anymore slave revolts), so Caesar asks his supportors to lodge a gladiator in their homes. Valens gets housed with Julia's family. He is hoping to win a wooden sword--the highest honor for a gladiator, and a symbol to show that he is freed from slavery. Valens was actually born to the patrician class, but was captured by pirates and sold into slavery. No matter what his family was or how great a fighter he is, the stigma of being a gladiator is insurmountable. This obviously causes some problems for Valens and the very respectable Julia as they fall in love.

While I didn't think this was as great as Sarah did, I did enjoy it. Mostly because of the setting, which is done quite well. There's a lot of interesting information about Roman life. And I liked the way the plot played out true to the customs of the period--there were a couple times when I was worried the author was going to take the easy way out by allowing the characters to disregard Roman customs, but she didn't and the book is much the better for it.

One thing that did bother me was how lightly the violence was all taken. Valens was a gladiator and the Romans were seriously bloodthirsty folks--you know any successful gladiator must have had scores of kills under his belt. I never felt like Valens could be that person. Even the final scene when he kills the baddie, he's forced into it by the villain's cheating. Not that I really want to read about a hardened killer. I guess my point is that a true Roman gladiator might not be the best sort of hero for our modern-day sensibilities (especially my very non-violent self).

jmc did post a few weeks ago that Harlequin is doing another Roman book--but it's another gladiator story! AHH! I've been searching on eHarlequin but I can't find any mention of the book now. It was called Gladiatorix, or something like. Why can't we have a nice story about a . . . mosaic-layer?

Another book meme! Yay.

Life is still hectic, but I miss my bloggy. So I'll do something easy. Like a meme!

Contemporary, Historical, or Paranormal?
Historicals are my first love. Books are just more interesting set in the past. But I like a good contemporary to mix things up. I really just don't get the whole paranormal craze.

Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback?
If it's a book I adore, I want a hardcover. Otherwise mass markets are easiest to carry and my young eyes still have no problems. And they're cheaper. I like cheaper.

Heyer or Austen? Okay, I love Heyer, but come on. Austen, obviously.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar? Brick and mortar=instant gratification. Yes.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Whatever is closest.

Woodiwiss or Lindsay? Shame on me, but I've never read either. (And I call myself a romance reader.) I bought The Flame and the Flower a while ago, but haven't gotten to it yet.

First romance novel you ever remember reading? A Julie Garwood highlander historical. I've just spent 10 minutes on Amazon trying to figure out which one, but the memory is too fuzzy. Maybe Ransom.

Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or random? Alphabetizing my books by author makes me shiver with delight. (No really, I'm serious.)

Keep, Throw Away or Sell? Everyone seems a bit disturbed by this question and I agree. Who throws away books?? I keep everything I didn't dislike and the rest I either swap on PBS or give to the library.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? Remove. Unless the caseside is white or cream because then it gets fingerprinty and that's gross.

Sookie Stackhouse or Anita Blake? I've read and enjoyed Sookie. Anita's too bad-girl for me.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I generally stop reading when the guilt about how groggy I'll be at work the next day overpowers my desire to keep reading.

It was a dark and stormy night or Once upon a time? I like fairy tales. Cuz life is dark enough, yeah?

Crusie or SEP? Love them both. But Crusie is better.

Buy or Borrow? I'd buy everything I read if I had enough money. As I don't, I buy some and get a lot from the library.

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse? Browsing is nearly pointless for me. Cover copy is often too misleading. Most everything I buy is on recommendation from friends (real-life and internet).

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger? Must have closure!

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading? What is this question? I don't understand. I read whenever I have time.

Series or standalone? I like a good series. I like them even more when they're all already pub'd and I don't have to wait for them. And I like a good standalone.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
Kathryn in the Court of Six Queens by Anne Merton Abbey. Kathryn is lady-in-waiting to all the wives of Henry VIII. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. I learn history from my romances. Maybe boiled-down, simplistic history, but still. Can you name all 6 wives?

When life goes kaplooey

Why is it that my life goes quietly along for months at a time and then five things happen all at once and I go into OVERLOAD!! Really, I can't take all this stress. :)

But I have good news to share. I got a new job today! Actually it's at the same company, doing the same kind of work. Really kind of just a promotion but also dealing with a different imprint (mass market books this time--ooh!). More money and an office! An office! With a door! A door that shuts! After 4 years of working in a tiny, overflowing cubicle this is a big deal.

The bad news is that now I have to 1)train on new job 2)start new job 3)keep doing old job until they hire a new person 4)catch up on all the work that I've let slide so poor new person doesn't hate me 5)train new person on old job. So if my web presence is a bit spotty here for a while, I hope you'll all forgive me.

Title: Ceremony in Death
Author: J.D. Robb
Published: 1997, Berkley
Category: Romantic Suspense
Rating: 6/10

In Death #5: The one with the kinky witches.

What's going on: A retired cop dies, apparently from a heart attack. But Eve gets suspicious when the cop's granddaughter confesses to being involved in a satanic cult. When the granddaughter dies under suspicious circumstances too, Eve is convinced that something's going on.

What's yay: We get to see the way that Eve is letting herself depend on Roarke more and more. For a character that started out completely isolated and independent, this is a big deal. We also see more development of Eve and Feeney's relationship.

What's blah: A bit too much violence in this one for me. You all should know that I'm a complete wimp about violence. I can't watch horror movies or any TV with graphic violence. It just makes me sick to my stomach. So while the violence in this one would probably not bother most people, it was off-putting to me.

Title: As You Desire
Author: Connie Brockway
Published: 1997, Dell
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7/10

I have been looking forward to this book for a while. It seems to be on a lot of people's favorites list. Brockway is a recent find for me, and this one's set in Egypt. Yay!

Desdemona Carlisle is a young woman living in Egypt with her grandfather. Since she was a very small child, she has been incredibly gifted with languages--so now she can translate a dozen languages, but she's never had a normal social life. She's also in love with Harry Braxton, the handsome, swaggering Englishman who has made a career of dealing in ancient antiquities. Desdemona threw herself at Harry a few years previously, but Harry rejected her (he thinks he's not worthy--he has a BIG SECRET). Now Harry's cousin, Blake Ravenscroft [wasn't there a Blake Ravenscroft in a Julia Quinn book?] has come to stay and he's tall, dark, and handsome. Desdemona's romantic sensibilities are awoken and she tries to convince herself that she could love Blake.

I really enjoyed this, but it didn't quite make "keeper" status for me. I think part of the problem is the conditions I read it under--in the twenty-minute lulls during my jury duty. Trapped for hours in a dank room with 22 strangers is not really conducive to reading, ya know? What with Smoker's Cough on my right and Chatty Cellphone on my left, it's not really surprising that I couldn't quite get into it.

I always enjoy Brockway's sense of humor. In this book, she pokes fun at melodramatic romance a bit. An example is the very first scene in which Desdemona is kidnapped by Arabs, but when Harry comes to "rescue" her, it turns out that they're paying him to get her out of their hair because she's been such a bother. Desdemona is at heart a very practical person, but at the same time she sort of yearns for drama. A lot of the book is really about her realizing that the ideas she has about men (Blake and Harry) are just romantic illusions that she's created in her own head. So much of the book is light and funny that when I came to the serious bits, I found it hard to take them seriously.

That said, it was really romantic. I loved when Harry's trying to outdo Blake's trite compliments to Desdemona. Harry comes up with something much better: "You are my country, Desdemona. . . My Egypt. My hot, harrowing desert and my cool, verdant Nile, infinitely lovely and unfathomable and sustaining." Um, yeah, that's a little better than being called an English rose. :)

Big sigh of relief

Today I finished a two-week stint on Brooklyn's Grand Jury. Two weeks! Yeah, sure I'll put my life on hold for two weeks, no problem. It was a learning experience though. I had no idea that in New York people who are arrested have to be indicted by a jury. My naive little self had almost no knowledge of the criminal justice system. I don't even watch Law & Order.

I kept reminding myself, "Civic duty. Civic duty. Democracy in action. This is a good thing."

So, yes, it was mind-numbingly repetitive and boring sometimes (I never want to hear the phrase "legally sufficient evidence and reasonable cause to believe" ever again), but now I'm free of jury duty for six years. So that's something. And I got quite a lot of reading in between cases.

Title: Beguilement
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Published: 2006, Eos
Category: Fantasy
Rating: 8/10

This is Volume 1 of The Sharing Knife, which I believe is to be a duology. (Does anyone else think the word duology is kind of dumb? Trilogy, I get. Duology? Meh.) I have read a few Bujolds and really enjoyed them all, and I liked this one too, even though it seemed quite different in some ways.

Fawn Bluefield runs away from home because she's pregnant after an ill-advised and regretted tumble in the haystacks with a boy from her hometown. Her family has never really understood her, and she knows that they will be disappointed in her. She's heading for the nearest town when she's set upon by a bandit and a mud-man. These mud-men are fantastical beasts which are created by a malice, some sort of strange embodiment of evil that sprouts up occasionally. Malices are hunted and killed by a group of people called the Lakewalkers. Dag, a Lakewalker patroller, catches up to the mudman who has attacked Fawn and together they must fight the monster.

That action only covers maybe the first half of the book. The second half really centers on the romance between Dag and Fawn (which is lovely!). They are from different worlds (she from a farmer family, he from the Lakewalkers) and they must try to figure out if a relationship between the two of them would ever work. I loved the romance--it was so sweet. Bujold does sweet without the sap, which always makes me happy. The characters are great and Dag reminded me of the hero in The Curse of Chalion--older, wiser, self-sacrificing.

People who are put off by age differences should be warned--major May/December thing going on here. It usually bothers me, but it doesn't in this case, I think because it's fantasy.

I mentioned earlier that this seemed different from the other Bujolds I've read. And the difference I think is just the simplicity of this book. And I don't mean that in a bad way. The other Bujolds I've read had lots and lots of layers of plot--the romance, political intrigue, adventure. This one has a smaller cast characters and the majority of the plot simply revolves around Fawn and Dag's relationship. Great for romance readers like me, though other Fantasy readers may be disappointed. Even though it did seem simpler, it definitely was not boring to me. The characters were interesting enough to hold up the book on their own.

The second installment, Legacy, is due out in July, I think.

Ooooh! Pretty!

Amazon says on sale 3/1. Must preorder.

Title: Season of Storms
Author: Susanna Kearsley
Published: 2001, Jove
Category: General Fiction
Rating: 8/10

I read Kearsley's The Shadowy Horses recently and loved it so that I jumped right on my library's website to see what they had by Kearsley. Season of the Storms is the only one they currently have in circulation. Bad Brooklyn Public Library! They don't disappoint me very often. Well, at least they had this one.

Celia Sands is a young actress living in London, struggling to get her career off the ground. She was named after a very famous actress who lived in the early 1900s. This first Celia had a tragic love affair with a well-known playwright named Galeazzo D'Ascanio. D'Ascanio wrote his most famous play for Celia, but on the night the show was to open Celia disappeared. Now, Galeazzo's grandson has decided to put on a production of the same play and he wants Celia Sands (the second, our heroine) to play the leading role. It's the chance of a lifetime, but Celia is hesitant to take the part because she thinks that she's only wanted because her name will be a good publicity trick. Her friend, Rupert, who has always been as good as a father to her and will be directing the play, talks her into accepting the role. So she and Rupert head out for northern Italy to the palatial home of Galeazzo D'Ascanio. But the bad luck attached to the play seems to be still present and things quickly become dangerous.

I really enjoy Kearsley's writing style--sort of elegant and moody, and very full of description and setting. A lovely Italian setting too. The ghostly elements serve to give you just a little delicious shiver and add to the mood. And Celia is a great character--very young and maybe inexperienced, but sensible and practical. Her relationship with her two father-figures was fantastic.

The plot was good. Suspenseful and cleverly entwined with the story of the first Celia and what happened to her. The book takes place over the few weeks that they are putting the play together and I found that process very interesting.

Only two complaints: one, that the romance didn't quite get off the ground for me. I liked Alex (the playwright's grandson) but we saw very little of him. I would have liked to see more interaction between him and Celia. And the second complaint is a major spoiler, so I'll white it out: WHY oh WHY did Rupert have to die?! I always hate it when characters I like die, but I can usually handle it when their death is necessary for the plot or the development of another character. But Rupert's death did not seem to serve any purpose other than to make me SAD! SO SAD!! I loved Roo and I don't care if he had that disease, he still shouldn't have died.

I got two Kearsley books for Christmas--Mariana and The Splendour Falls. Mariana has actually been held captive by my mother since Christmas. She's read it twice and says it's fantastic, so I think I'll read it next.

Stolen from C2 cuz it's wicked cool...

Spell your own words with flickr here.

Title: White Lies
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Published: 2007, Putnam
Category: Contemporary/Paranormal Romance
Rating: 7/10

This is my first Jayne Ann Krentz novel. Surprising, since she has about a million books out. I had read a historical (she publishes her historicals under the name Amanda Quick) by her years ago and remember being not at all impressed. But then recently I ran across Quick's Second Sight and was sucked right on in. Enjoyed it quite a lot. Second Sight introduced a new series--the Arcane Society, which is a secret society of paranormal "sensitives." She's going to be doing both historicals and contemporaries in the series, and White Lies is the first contemp Arcane book.

Clare Lancaster is a very powerful sensitive--her particular power is being able to tell when people are lying. She's always absolutely sure and is a sort of human lie detector. It's caused her a lot of trouble in the past, as she can't really have a normal social life. But it comes in handy sometimes, too, like when her estranged half-sister, Elizabeth, is being manipulated and abused by her husband. Clare is the only one who believes that Elizabeth's seemingly perfect husband is actually quite a baddie. When the husband is then murdered, things get sticky. Jake Salter is an investigator brought in by the Arcane Society to figure out what's going on.

This was quite a page-turner for me. Very suspenseful. And the paranormal elements were interesting and original, and not so over-the-top as they sometimes are, which was refreshing for me. It's like paranormal-lite. I think I like her JAK contemps more than her historicals. Her writing style seems to fit a little more naturally for contemps.

I loved Clare's theory on lying: "Lying is a universal talent...When you look at it objectively it seems obvious that the ability to lie is part of everyone's kit of survival tools, a side effect of possessing language skills...The way I see it, if people couldn't lie, they probably wouldn't be able to lie together in groups, at least not for very long or with any degree of sociability." I'd never really thought about it, but it's true. People lie all the time, and often for good reason. I actually often wish I was a better liar. Really, I would be the worst Poker player ever.

I have an older JAK in the tbr--Trust Me. It's been sitting there a while, but it might just get bumped up now. :)

The year I became brave.

I forgot to say in my 2006 wrap-up that I tried 36 new-to-me authors last year. That's 36 out of 86, or 42%. YAY me! Really that is seriously amazing for someone who used to re-read books by the same four people over and over. I used to be scared. Now not so much.

New-to-me authors I discovered this year that I'm looking forward to glomming in 2007: Jo Beverley, Anne Stuart, Connie Brockway, Carla Kelly, and J.D. Robb. All with lovely big backlists.

Anyone else have any good author discoveries this year?

2006 in Review

Before I started blogging last February, I never kept any sort of record of what I read. That was actually one of the reasons I started blogging--to keep a reading log for myself. So I would never have to rack my brain over the name of that author I read six months ago and loved/hated/whatever. It's probably not the reason that I've actually kept it up for almost a year. (I can't believe it's been that long!) The reason I keep blogging is because I have so much fun reading other people's blogs and getting book recommendations. And I like being able to chat with other people who are as crazy about their books as I am about mine. Twin will only take so much blathering about the books I read before she'll just stop listening and start saying "mmm-hmmm" whenever I pause.

But now I'm really glad that I kept track because it is a lot of fun to look back on all the books you've read in a year. I've kept a spreadsheet too and it satisfies the compulsive geek in me to sort by all the categories and make some judgments about the year. I've read and blogged about 86 books. I thought this was a lot, but not compared to some. I don't know how all you people who read 200-300 books a year do it. You're making me feel insufficient in some way. :p I think I must be a slower reader than you. Ah, well. I can still feel better read and superior to the average person.

Here's how the ratings break down:
10: 1
9: 7
8: 14
7: 24
6: 23
5: 9
4: 5
3: 2
1-2: 0 (If I was hating a book that much, why on earth would I ever keep reading to the end? So I doubt you'll ever see me give a 1 or 2.)

Yes, only one 10. I think of a 10 as perfection. I'll probably only ever give 10s to re-reads of old beloved favorites. Because getting better with each subsequent reading is the ultimate test for books. The 10 for 2006 was The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. Probably my favorite book of all time. And my first blog post, which completely does not do it justice. But my writing, no matter how gushing, could never do it justice.

The seven books that got 9s are:
Civil Campaign, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Poison Study and Magic Study, by Maria V. Snyder
Lord of Danger, by Anne Stuart
Venetia, by Georgette Heyer
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand, by Carla Kelly
The Shadowy Horses, by Susanna Kearsley

Some 8s that I especially liked (and looking back, maybe deserve 9s)
Here Be Dragons, by Sharon Kay Penman
Lord of Scoundrels and Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase
Bridal Favors, by Connie Brockway

Oh, so many good discoveries this year. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :p Here's hoping 2007 will be even better.

Title: The Wedding Journey
Author: Carla Kelly
Published: 2002, Signet
Category: Regency Romance
Rating: 7/10

I got a few Carla Kelly books in my Christmas stash, including this one. These books are so sweet (without being at all sappy, which is quite a feat) that now whenever I'm feeling a little down, I reach for one.

Captain Jesse Randall is a surgeon attached to a corp of the British military stationed in Spain during the Napoleonic wars. He has been in love with Nell Mason for years, but has always been too shy and busy to do anything about it. Now Nell's good-for-nothing father has agreed to let a smarmy officer named Bones basically "have" her in exchange for voiding his gambling debts. Bones doesn't even say he'll marry her, and Jesse and Nell fear that Bones will just ruin her and then disappear. So Jesse decides to save Nell by marrying her himself. This makes quite an enemy of Bones, who then orders that the hospital be abandoned by the corp as they retreat. Jesse is left all alone, unprotected, with a bunch of sick men and his new bride, in the middle of war-torn Spain with the French bearing down on them.

What I love about Carla Kelly books are her lovely sensitive, intelligent characters. Shy Jesse who is so often second-guessing his medical decisions, working so hard to help his patients. It's quite a change from all the alpha males who dominate the romance genre. (Y'all know I like shy guys!)

My only complaint here is that it was just a tad gloomy for me. Not nearly as sad as Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind, but lacking a lot of the humor that I've liked so much in some of Kelly's earlier books.

Title: Sun Kissed
Author: Catherine Anderson
Published: 2006, Signet
Category: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 6/10

This is the most recent in Anderson's Coulter family series. I think I've read them all except the historical one (Summer Breeze, I think it's titled). I'm not exactly sure why I'm still reading them. I was getting sick of her disabled heroines. Parapalegic. Blind. Brain-damaged. But the heroine in this one is surprisingly disability-free. Working legs. Fully operating senses. Phew.

Samantha Harrigan is the owner of a ranch, where she raises quarter horses. When one of her most valuable horses becomes sick, she calls in hunky vet, Tucker Coulter. (He's the last unmarried Coulter sibling. What will Anderson do next?!) Tucker takes oh-so-good care of her horsies, and discovers that someone has been poisoning them. He also decides that he'd like to take oh-so-good care of Samantha. Forever and ever. Samantha, however, is afraid of falling in love because she had an abusive first husband, who she also suspects of being the one to poison her prize horses.

The Coulters are a family of good 'ol boys who made good on the American dream. The rich, strong, simple man who just wants to take care of the little lady. I'm trying to convince myself that's not the reason I've kept reading them. I am woman! I can take care of myself!

Ahem. This one is not my favorites of the series. They're all a little cheesy and overly sentimental and this one follows the trend. The ending was not exactly a surprise. And there's a healthy dose of Catholic guilt there at the end which I found off-putting, to say the least.

But with that said, I do keep reading. I guess the strong cowboy-type still holds a lot of appeal for me. And Anderson's writing is very fluid and well-constructed. She's a long-time romance writer, and I think she's got her formula down pat. Makes for very easy reading.