April TBR Challenge---Urban fantasy, fantasy or SFR
After years of war the United Coalition and the Triad have signed a peace accord and are working together. As a result UC Captain Tasha “Sass” Sebastian finds herself serving under her former nemesis, Admiral Branden Kel-Paten on his ship the Vaxxar. Sass has things in her past that she needs to keep secret and she worries that Kel-Paten will discover them. Fortunately for Sass she has the support of her best friend Dr. Eden Fynnn, who is serving as the Vaxxar's ship's doctor.
Kel-Paten has secrets of his own. He is a biocyb and his implants are supposed to suppress his emotions. In spite of this he has strong feelings for Sass and he has been taking steps to hide them from both Sass and his bosses. He's thrilled to have Sass on his ship because it allows him to spend precious time with her, but it also places him at risk. Eden's skill has a doctor comes partially from her empathic abilities. Kel-Paten may not be able to hide his feelings from her when he's in such close proximity to Sass. If Eden discovers that the implants aren't working she will be duty-bound to report it and that will be the end of Kel-Paten's career and possibly his life.
The situation is further complicated by the capture of rebel Jace Serafino. He not only knows Sass' secrets, but he may also carry information that will split the Alliance and change all their lives.
I really enjoyed this book. The plot was complex enough to hold my attention and avoid being totally predictable without seeming unnecessarily convoluted. More importantly, I enjoyed all the main characters. All four were fleshed out enough to be interesting on their own and their interactions kept me involved with the story. The one thing that didn't really work for me was the psychic cats, but other readers would probably love them and they certainly didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the story.
Grade: A-
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Shaken and Stirred by Kathleen O'Reilly
After a bad break up Tessa Hart left Florida to take New York City by storm. Four years later things still aren't going the way she hoped. She's working part-time as a bartender while going to school to become an accountant. Money is tight so she has had a succession of roommates and the latest living arrangement has just fallen apart. Tessa longs to have her own place so that she can feel truly independent, but she just can't afford it. When her friend and boss, Gabe O'Sullivan, offers to let her crash at his apartment until she finds another place Tessa is hesitant to accept. She has never lived with a guy before and Gabe is much too sexy to fit comfortably into the role of platonic roommate. Tessa doesn't have time for men and can't afford to mess things up with the guy who has been her rock since she moved to New York, but she doesn't have any other options. Once she moves in it's only a matter of time before she and Gabe will have to deal with the attraction that's growing between them.
This is the first in the Sexy O'Sullivans trilogy about Gabe and his brothers Daniel and Sean. Gabe certainly lives up to the billing. He's good looking, kind and generous. Unfortunately, he was pretty much the only thing that I liked about the book. I felt that it had two major problems: a weakness in the writing and the character of Tessa.
The writing problem was that there was far too much tell and not enough show. This is a friends to lovers story and I never felt the friendship. There were several conversations about how Tessa and Gabe have been close for four years, but I never saw that closeness in their interactions. For example, Gabe seemed to be totally in the dark about Tessa's control issues. If they're such good friends I would expect him to know something about them.
I could probably have overlooked that, but I couldn't get past my issues with Tessa. I wanted to root for her. I can understand her desire to find herself and stand on her own two feet and I can certainly relate to her wish for a place of her own. However, I ended up feeling like Tessa was an illogical, self-involved mess and instead rooting for her I was just glad that I don't know her.
Where to begin? Tess has so many bad ideas that it's hard to list them all. Who told her that most women have their lives all figured out by the time they're 22? Why did she decide she had to be an accountant? She doesn't like it and she's bad at it. Daniel is an accountant and she sees him every week at the bar, but she's never spoken to him about his work or asked him for any insight or advice.
Then there's her attitude toward having roommates. Living with strangers is difficult and not ideal, but it's not a sign of weakness. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive because I'm living with roommates while going to grad school, but that's the thing. School is expensive and money is not infinite, so students have roommates. Most of them don't love it, but it doesn't make them losers. Where did Tessa get such a fixation on having her own apartment right now as the only way to prove that she can take care of herself?
She has a job that she's good at and she's paying her bills and keeping a roof over her head. She's independent. The fact that she doesn't see that at all was very frustrating. I kept thinking that, like so many heroines in Romancelandia, Tessa desperately needed at least one real girlfriend. Any girlfriend worth the salt on the rim of a nice big margarita would have helped Tessa sort this out long ago. That's what girlfriends are for. She needed to listen to an appropriate country song and get a clue. Instead Gabe is apparently her only friend. Why?
Then there's Tessa's dream apartment. I've never lived in New York City, but I have friends who do and I've lived in other difficult real estate markets. The idea that there is only one apartment building in all of New York where Tessa can live happily is just insane. This made the constant focus on that building a serious annoyance throughout the book.
Those were all trivial problems though compared to her approach to friendship. When you're friends with a guy and then you start sleeping with him it's good if you can remember to treat him as a friend and not some random piece of ass. I understood why she wanted to try to keep the friendship separate from the sex, but fantasy games are only fun if both people want to play. Once Gabe said that the game wasn't fun for him Tessa's insistence on continuing it was not okay. Of course, part of the blame goes to Gabe for rolling over for Tessa against his better judgment, but that lessened my respect for him far more than it excused her. Still, Gabe is an adult and he's responsible for himself so I might have been able to let that go, but there is no way that I could accept her pimping Gabe out in order to get her apartment.
If you're really good platonic friends with someone it might be acceptable to ask him to do you a favor and go out with a real estate agent to help you get your dream apartment. Once you're sleeping with the guy that really doesn't work though and, in my opinion it is never OK to go behind a friend's back to set up something like that. Worse, even after Gabe figures out what she did and tells her that it hurt him she doesn't feel bad about it and she doesn't apologize. She wouldn't do it again, but that's because she decided she wants Gabe for herself, not because she realized that decent people don't pimp out their friends and then lie about it. There is no way I can be OK with that. I also noticed that all the talk about their friendship was about what Gabe had done for Tessa. What did Tessa do for Gabe? A friendship is mutual and I never saw that between these two characters. Instead, Tessa tells Gabe that wanting him makes her feel weak and that he'll just have to suck it up and wait for her, then turns around and uses him for a booty call. I couldn't help but think that if the genders were reversed the attitude toward the situation would have been totally different.
Pimping Gabe out wasn't Tessa's only lapse in ethics. The way she manipulated her first real estate client made it seem to me that as far Tessa is concerned the ends justify the means when it comes to getting what she thinks she needs. That's not a quality that I admire. Being nice to patrons in the bar doesn't exactly make up for that. After all, they're not standing between her and something she wants. As I said, I could understand at least some of why Tessa felt she needed so much control, but she took it too far. In the end I just couldn't see Gabe ending up with her as a good thing, so as a romance this was a failure for me.
There were also a couple of annoying errors that should have been caught in editing. First, there is a reference to an al fresco painting in a building lobby. A fresco is a painting, al fresco means outdoors. Second, there is a point where Tessa is talking to her brother about the fact that her ex is getting married. He expresses surprise that she's not "balling and sniveling." Um, bawling means crying. Balling is a totally different thing. And strictly speaking Tessa actually did spend most of the book balling and sniveling, so that really needed to be corrected.
Grade: D
The next book in the trilogy is Daniel's story. His wife of less than a year was killed on 9/11 and he thinks he lost his only shot at love. This is the kind of story that requires a deft touch and I'm concerned that I won't find Ms. O'Reilly's writing up to the task. I have similar concerns about Sean's story. He comes off in this book as a bit of a skanky man ho and turning him into a worthy hero will take some effort. Still, lots of other people have enjoyed these books and it's possible that the fact that Tessa rubbed me so wrong was an isolated thing. I'll most likely try Sex, Straight Up before making up my mind how I feel about Ms. O'Reilly's writing.
This is the first in the Sexy O'Sullivans trilogy about Gabe and his brothers Daniel and Sean. Gabe certainly lives up to the billing. He's good looking, kind and generous. Unfortunately, he was pretty much the only thing that I liked about the book. I felt that it had two major problems: a weakness in the writing and the character of Tessa.
The writing problem was that there was far too much tell and not enough show. This is a friends to lovers story and I never felt the friendship. There were several conversations about how Tessa and Gabe have been close for four years, but I never saw that closeness in their interactions. For example, Gabe seemed to be totally in the dark about Tessa's control issues. If they're such good friends I would expect him to know something about them.
I could probably have overlooked that, but I couldn't get past my issues with Tessa. I wanted to root for her. I can understand her desire to find herself and stand on her own two feet and I can certainly relate to her wish for a place of her own. However, I ended up feeling like Tessa was an illogical, self-involved mess and instead rooting for her I was just glad that I don't know her.
Where to begin? Tess has so many bad ideas that it's hard to list them all. Who told her that most women have their lives all figured out by the time they're 22? Why did she decide she had to be an accountant? She doesn't like it and she's bad at it. Daniel is an accountant and she sees him every week at the bar, but she's never spoken to him about his work or asked him for any insight or advice.
Then there's her attitude toward having roommates. Living with strangers is difficult and not ideal, but it's not a sign of weakness. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive because I'm living with roommates while going to grad school, but that's the thing. School is expensive and money is not infinite, so students have roommates. Most of them don't love it, but it doesn't make them losers. Where did Tessa get such a fixation on having her own apartment right now as the only way to prove that she can take care of herself?
She has a job that she's good at and she's paying her bills and keeping a roof over her head. She's independent. The fact that she doesn't see that at all was very frustrating. I kept thinking that, like so many heroines in Romancelandia, Tessa desperately needed at least one real girlfriend. Any girlfriend worth the salt on the rim of a nice big margarita would have helped Tessa sort this out long ago. That's what girlfriends are for. She needed to listen to an appropriate country song and get a clue. Instead Gabe is apparently her only friend. Why?
Then there's Tessa's dream apartment. I've never lived in New York City, but I have friends who do and I've lived in other difficult real estate markets. The idea that there is only one apartment building in all of New York where Tessa can live happily is just insane. This made the constant focus on that building a serious annoyance throughout the book.
Those were all trivial problems though compared to her approach to friendship. When you're friends with a guy and then you start sleeping with him it's good if you can remember to treat him as a friend and not some random piece of ass. I understood why she wanted to try to keep the friendship separate from the sex, but fantasy games are only fun if both people want to play. Once Gabe said that the game wasn't fun for him Tessa's insistence on continuing it was not okay. Of course, part of the blame goes to Gabe for rolling over for Tessa against his better judgment, but that lessened my respect for him far more than it excused her. Still, Gabe is an adult and he's responsible for himself so I might have been able to let that go, but there is no way that I could accept her pimping Gabe out in order to get her apartment.
If you're really good platonic friends with someone it might be acceptable to ask him to do you a favor and go out with a real estate agent to help you get your dream apartment. Once you're sleeping with the guy that really doesn't work though and, in my opinion it is never OK to go behind a friend's back to set up something like that. Worse, even after Gabe figures out what she did and tells her that it hurt him she doesn't feel bad about it and she doesn't apologize. She wouldn't do it again, but that's because she decided she wants Gabe for herself, not because she realized that decent people don't pimp out their friends and then lie about it. There is no way I can be OK with that. I also noticed that all the talk about their friendship was about what Gabe had done for Tessa. What did Tessa do for Gabe? A friendship is mutual and I never saw that between these two characters. Instead, Tessa tells Gabe that wanting him makes her feel weak and that he'll just have to suck it up and wait for her, then turns around and uses him for a booty call. I couldn't help but think that if the genders were reversed the attitude toward the situation would have been totally different.
Pimping Gabe out wasn't Tessa's only lapse in ethics. The way she manipulated her first real estate client made it seem to me that as far Tessa is concerned the ends justify the means when it comes to getting what she thinks she needs. That's not a quality that I admire. Being nice to patrons in the bar doesn't exactly make up for that. After all, they're not standing between her and something she wants. As I said, I could understand at least some of why Tessa felt she needed so much control, but she took it too far. In the end I just couldn't see Gabe ending up with her as a good thing, so as a romance this was a failure for me.
There were also a couple of annoying errors that should have been caught in editing. First, there is a reference to an al fresco painting in a building lobby. A fresco is a painting, al fresco means outdoors. Second, there is a point where Tessa is talking to her brother about the fact that her ex is getting married. He expresses surprise that she's not "balling and sniveling." Um, bawling means crying. Balling is a totally different thing. And strictly speaking Tessa actually did spend most of the book balling and sniveling, so that really needed to be corrected.
Grade: D
The next book in the trilogy is Daniel's story. His wife of less than a year was killed on 9/11 and he thinks he lost his only shot at love. This is the kind of story that requires a deft touch and I'm concerned that I won't find Ms. O'Reilly's writing up to the task. I have similar concerns about Sean's story. He comes off in this book as a bit of a skanky man ho and turning him into a worthy hero will take some effort. Still, lots of other people have enjoyed these books and it's possible that the fact that Tessa rubbed me so wrong was an isolated thing. I'll most likely try Sex, Straight Up before making up my mind how I feel about Ms. O'Reilly's writing.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Mustang Wild by Stacey Kayne
Skylar Daines has spent most of her life in a man's world. Her mother died when she was young and Sky and her younger brother Garrett were raised by their father, who trained horses and worked cattle drives. At her father's instruction Sky went as far as dressing as a boy in order to work on the stock drives. Now she has gotten too mature to pass as a boy and longs to settle down and have a real home. When her father is murdered he leaves nothing but the deed to a ranch in Wyoming and instructions to contact his partner, Chance Morgan, for help. Skyler knows that the ranch is the only chance she and Garrett have for a safe future, so they go in search of Chance. They find his twin brother Tucker instead.
Tucker is very drunk and he and Sky end up married. Sky is anxious to annul the marriage until Chance shows up and tells her that her father lied to her. He was never partners with the Morgans, he was only an employee, and the deed was simply collateral for their business deal. This is disastrous news and Sky refuses to believe it without seeing the contract her father signed, which is on the Morgan's ranch. She refuses to agree to the annulment until they reach Wyoming. The already difficult situation gets even more complicated when Sky and Tucker find themselves attracted to each other in spite of the fact that neither one trusts the other.
First point, the circumstances that lead to Skyler and Tucker getting married didn't make much sense to me. The whole scene struck me as totally unrealistic on several levels. I liked the rest of the book well enough that I just waved it off, but if I had liked it less I'd be writing a whole paragraph's worth of snarky comments about it.
Drunken marriage aside, I did like this one. I could sympathize with Skyler's situation. Her upbringing leaves her with little reason to trust men and few options for taking care of herself and her brother. Tucker's distrust of women, at least when it comes to marriage, also seemed believable to me. When the only marriage a man has seen up close was so bad it drove his father to go to war instead of remaining at home it's understandable that the guy would want to avoid matrimony.
I liked that there wasn't a simple answer to Sky and Tucker's problems and having sex didn't magically cure everything. Instead they had to work out their issues by compromising and adapting. That level of realism sort of made up for the drunken marriage.
Grade: B-
Tucker is very drunk and he and Sky end up married. Sky is anxious to annul the marriage until Chance shows up and tells her that her father lied to her. He was never partners with the Morgans, he was only an employee, and the deed was simply collateral for their business deal. This is disastrous news and Sky refuses to believe it without seeing the contract her father signed, which is on the Morgan's ranch. She refuses to agree to the annulment until they reach Wyoming. The already difficult situation gets even more complicated when Sky and Tucker find themselves attracted to each other in spite of the fact that neither one trusts the other.
First point, the circumstances that lead to Skyler and Tucker getting married didn't make much sense to me. The whole scene struck me as totally unrealistic on several levels. I liked the rest of the book well enough that I just waved it off, but if I had liked it less I'd be writing a whole paragraph's worth of snarky comments about it.
Drunken marriage aside, I did like this one. I could sympathize with Skyler's situation. Her upbringing leaves her with little reason to trust men and few options for taking care of herself and her brother. Tucker's distrust of women, at least when it comes to marriage, also seemed believable to me. When the only marriage a man has seen up close was so bad it drove his father to go to war instead of remaining at home it's understandable that the guy would want to avoid matrimony.
I liked that there wasn't a simple answer to Sky and Tucker's problems and having sex didn't magically cure everything. Instead they had to work out their issues by compromising and adapting. That level of realism sort of made up for the drunken marriage.
Grade: B-
Power Play by Joseph Finder
Jake Landry works as the chief assistant to the Executive Vice President of Hammond Air. Jake's job is to maintain order and facilitate communications between all the groups working to produce Hammond's latest plane, the H-880. His knowledge of planes and his problem-solving abilities make him a valuable employee, but he's still very low in the corporate pecking order. That suits Jake fine and he's happy to keep his head down and just do his job.
That all changes when Jake's boss has to make an emergency sales pitch to a key client and is unable to attend a critical executive off-site. Someone has to be available to answer questions about the H-880 and much to his chagrin Jake is that someone.
The prospect of spending four days doing team-building exercises with self-satisfied executives fills Jake with dread, but dealing with a group of men who each want to be the Alpha dog is soon the least of his problems. A group of armed men break into their isolated retreat and take them all hostage, demanding a half billion dollars in ransom. Jake knows that if the gunman get their money they'll have no further use for the hostages, so he draws on skills he learned before joining the corporate world to save himself and his coworkers.
I think is book would be classified as a corporate thriller. Books like this tend to follow a certain pattern. An "every man" gets caught up in a dangerous situation and has to use hidden talents to save the day. For me the success of this type of book depends on the overall quality of the writing, the likability of the hero and whether or not the details of the story are interesting and authentic. On that basis I thought Power Play was a solid effort.
Finder's writing is crisp and the plot moves along at a good pace. I liked Jake and was interested in his story. There was enough information about airplane construction to lend authenticity and interest, but not so much that the story bogged down. And the characterization of corporate executives was certainly spot on. I admit that, as a former corporate employee, I was entertained by the idea of an off-site turning into an actual life or death situation.
Grade: B
That all changes when Jake's boss has to make an emergency sales pitch to a key client and is unable to attend a critical executive off-site. Someone has to be available to answer questions about the H-880 and much to his chagrin Jake is that someone.
The prospect of spending four days doing team-building exercises with self-satisfied executives fills Jake with dread, but dealing with a group of men who each want to be the Alpha dog is soon the least of his problems. A group of armed men break into their isolated retreat and take them all hostage, demanding a half billion dollars in ransom. Jake knows that if the gunman get their money they'll have no further use for the hostages, so he draws on skills he learned before joining the corporate world to save himself and his coworkers.
I think is book would be classified as a corporate thriller. Books like this tend to follow a certain pattern. An "every man" gets caught up in a dangerous situation and has to use hidden talents to save the day. For me the success of this type of book depends on the overall quality of the writing, the likability of the hero and whether or not the details of the story are interesting and authentic. On that basis I thought Power Play was a solid effort.
Finder's writing is crisp and the plot moves along at a good pace. I liked Jake and was interested in his story. There was enough information about airplane construction to lend authenticity and interest, but not so much that the story bogged down. And the characterization of corporate executives was certainly spot on. I admit that, as a former corporate employee, I was entertained by the idea of an off-site turning into an actual life or death situation.
Grade: B
Friday, April 3, 2009
Wicked Burn by Beth Kery
Niall Chandler suffered the kind of tragedy that no one should ever have to live through and since then she's been struggling to rebuild her life. Her attempt to reenter the dating scene ends badly when her date won't take "no" for an answer. When her neighbor Vic Savian comes to her aid she ends up spending the night with him. Neither Niall or Vic intend for it to be more than a one night stand, but they're drawn to each other in a ways that neither can deny. Their relationship is still new and unsteady when the problems from Niall's past intervene and they're forced to figure out if what they have together is enough to build a future on.
This book went onto my TBR pile because it generated a lot of positive buzz when it was released. Then it was nominated for DABWAHA and did very well, making it to the Field of 16. This is further proof that tastes vary and one man's meat is another man's poison, because I really didn't like this book. The sex scenes were hot and well written, but the rest of the book didn't work for me. I spent large chunks of it annoyed with one or both of the main characters. Being annoyed with a character who suffered the way Niall did made me feel mean, which in turn made me wish I had never heard of this book. Worse, Niall's extreme suffering was part of what I found so frustrating.
The tragedy wasn't enough. Her husband's subsequent issues weren't enough either. No, she also had parents who are relentlessly selfish, awful and unsupportive. And of course it turns out that her husband was always sort of a self-centered jerk while Niall was wonderful and loving and good. Add in the fact that all the good people in the story love Niall and want to protect her and all the bad people are mean to her and you have a character that's more than a bit of a Mary Sue.
There were problems with Vic too. He has one of my least favorite Romance Hero Issues---one woman done me wrong so now I hate all of her kind. This almost always comes across as fairly ridiculous and this was no exception. Years have gone by but Vic still doesn't see his previous relationship clearly. Apparently the therapist he saw for a year after the break up wasn't exactly a credit to the profession.
I had even bigger problems with Vic & Niall's fight and their reconciliation. When Vic finds out that Niall is married and didn't tell him he gets upset. Niall's response to this is to comment that she didn't realize that he was religious. What? His former fiancee cheated on him in a very nasty way and Niall knows that. Why in the world would she think that his objection to being an unwitting party to infidelity must be based on religion?
I could understand why Niall needed some time to herself after the big blow up. However, I couldn't understand the plan she comes up with when, months later, she decides she wants Vic back. There were several times when I thought Vic behaved like an ass, but apparently he's still a nicer person than I am. If my sister had gone behind my back and cooked up a scheme with my ex to have her move onto my property for months without my permission the situation would not have turned out well.
The explanation that Niall gives Vic for both staying away and then scheming with his sister is that she wasn't ready before but she is now. When Vic points out that it isn't all about her and now he isn't ready she seems stunned. I'm not even going to go into everything I hated about the scene. Suffice to say that Vic soon realizes the error of his ways and grovels for Niall's forgiveness. Because of course she could not have been wrong because she has suffered so much.
I'm apparently the only person in the world who didn't like this book, but I'm still giving it---
Grade: D
This book went onto my TBR pile because it generated a lot of positive buzz when it was released. Then it was nominated for DABWAHA and did very well, making it to the Field of 16. This is further proof that tastes vary and one man's meat is another man's poison, because I really didn't like this book. The sex scenes were hot and well written, but the rest of the book didn't work for me. I spent large chunks of it annoyed with one or both of the main characters. Being annoyed with a character who suffered the way Niall did made me feel mean, which in turn made me wish I had never heard of this book. Worse, Niall's extreme suffering was part of what I found so frustrating.
The tragedy wasn't enough. Her husband's subsequent issues weren't enough either. No, she also had parents who are relentlessly selfish, awful and unsupportive. And of course it turns out that her husband was always sort of a self-centered jerk while Niall was wonderful and loving and good. Add in the fact that all the good people in the story love Niall and want to protect her and all the bad people are mean to her and you have a character that's more than a bit of a Mary Sue.
There were problems with Vic too. He has one of my least favorite Romance Hero Issues---one woman done me wrong so now I hate all of her kind. This almost always comes across as fairly ridiculous and this was no exception. Years have gone by but Vic still doesn't see his previous relationship clearly. Apparently the therapist he saw for a year after the break up wasn't exactly a credit to the profession.
I had even bigger problems with Vic & Niall's fight and their reconciliation. When Vic finds out that Niall is married and didn't tell him he gets upset. Niall's response to this is to comment that she didn't realize that he was religious. What? His former fiancee cheated on him in a very nasty way and Niall knows that. Why in the world would she think that his objection to being an unwitting party to infidelity must be based on religion?
I could understand why Niall needed some time to herself after the big blow up. However, I couldn't understand the plan she comes up with when, months later, she decides she wants Vic back. There were several times when I thought Vic behaved like an ass, but apparently he's still a nicer person than I am. If my sister had gone behind my back and cooked up a scheme with my ex to have her move onto my property for months without my permission the situation would not have turned out well.
The explanation that Niall gives Vic for both staying away and then scheming with his sister is that she wasn't ready before but she is now. When Vic points out that it isn't all about her and now he isn't ready she seems stunned. I'm not even going to go into everything I hated about the scene. Suffice to say that Vic soon realizes the error of his ways and grovels for Niall's forgiveness. Because of course she could not have been wrong because she has suffered so much.
I'm apparently the only person in the world who didn't like this book, but I'm still giving it---
Grade: D
Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas
Life hands Liberty Jones a lot of hard knocks from a very young age. Her father dies when she's still small, leaving her mother Diana to raise Liberty alone. Diana knows the value of independence and tries to instill it in Liberty, but unfortunately Diana is ultimately one of those women who can't live without a man. Liberty grows up feeling lonely as an only child and a bit confused by her mother's need for the string of unemployed losers she dates.
When Liberty is 13 Diana decides to live with the latest loser and the family ends up in a trailer park in Welcome, Texas. The family is poor and life is hard. When Diana finds herself pregnant shortly after kicking the loser to the curb Liberty is the only one who is excited by the news. After the baby arrives Diana is depressed and overwhelmed. She leaves most of Carrington's care to Liberty, who is happy to sacrifice her childhood for her sister. Aside from the baby Liberty's only real interest is their neighbor, Hardy Cates. Hardy is a few years older and Liberty is smitten with him at first sight. He initially treats her like a younger sister, but by the time Liberty turns 16 Hardy returns her interest. However, he refuses to act on it. He needs to get out of Welcome as soon as his younger siblings are old enough for his family to manage without him. As he tells Liberty; he can't stay, he can't take Liberty with him and if he gets involved with her he won't be able to leave her, so he refuses to get involved.
Liberty is heartbroken after Hardy leaves, but soon has far bigger things to worry about. Diana is killed in a car accident leaving her to raise Carrington with nothing but a high school diploma and no job skills. She ends up going to cosmetology school and then getting a job in a high end salon in Houston. While working there she meets wealthy older man Churchill Travis. He takes an interest in her and eventually convinces her to work as his personal assistant and move with Carrington into his mansion. Liberty gets along with everyone in the household except Churchill's oldest son, Gage. Hostility eventually gives way to passion, but just as it seems that Liberty has found happiness Hardy comes back into her life and offers her the chance to have the love she thought was lost forever. This sets up a love triangle that forces Liberty to decide which man, and which future, is really right for her.
This is my first time reading a Lisa Kleypas novel. I've heard good things about her for years, but her previous books were all historicals and since I read very few of those she never made it onto my TBR. When I heard she had written a contemporary I thought I would give it a try. In the end this book struck me as more woman's fiction than romances and served mostly to remind me why I don't read woman's fiction. The writing wasn't bad, but the book was a joyless experience for me.
There were several things about the book that bothered me. It's written in first person, which I generally don't like. I also felt that most of the plot and characterizations are very cliched. Those things aren't deal breakers though and I've certainly enjoyed other books that had the same issues. Unfortunately there were other things I couldn't get past. My main problems were with the way the "sugar daddy" concept played out, the justification for the way the triangle was resolved and the epilogue.
While Liberty is working at the salon she gets to know several coworkers who have sugar daddys and she realizes that the relationship is uncomfortably close to prostitution. Later Liberty not only ends up with a sugar daddy of her own, she discovers that her mother had one too. Instead of dealing with the implications of that Ms Kleypas makes both of the relationships chaste. The wealthy man gives gifts out of unselfish love and therefore the women can accept them without being labeled gold diggers or whores. I thought that was basically a cop out. If you don't want to deal with the moral ambiguity inherent in that type of relationship then don't name your book Sugar Daddy.
As for the triangle, I have to admit that as a rule I hate them. I root for the underdog almost reflexively, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to be disappointed by the outcome. That said, I thought there were a couple of things about the way the Liberty-Gage-Hardy triangle played out that were especially problematic.
Hardy comes back into Liberty's life as a ruthless businessman who is willing to do anything, including use her, to get ahead. I think Gage was correct in his assessment that Hardy is a man going down a rather ugly road and clinging to the idea of Liberty as the one person who can save him from his fate. I also think he's right that Liberty can't actually save Hardy. I think it was good that Liberty was finally able to see Hardy in a realistic way, instead of idolizing him. The problem is that she simply idolizes Gage instead. She asserts very confidently that Gage would never use her the way that Hardy did. When Hardy points out that Gage's life of privilege means that he would never feel that he needed to take similar action, Liberty brushes him off.
Hardy is wrong to try to use his background as an excuse for his bad behavior, but he's correct that Gage's behavior isn't necessarily a sign that he's the better man. That's especially true considering that Gage was having Liberty followed even as he claimed that he trusted her. I consider his "trust but verify" attitude at least as big a deal as what Hardy did, but Liberty forgives Gage with no hesitation. I think Liberty reacts this way less because Gage is the better man for her and more because she needs to have a perfect hero and she can't really forgive Hardy for leaving her in the first place.
When they were young and Hardy refused to sleep with her Liberty got very angry with him. When he said that he was trying not to hurt her she responded that he was really just trying not to get hurt himself. That was at least partially true, but it was a perfectly reasonable position for him to take. He had very good reasons for needing to get out of Welcome. Liberty knew that and still acted as if he was being unconscionably selfish or cowardly for not wanting to start a relationship that at best would make leaving more painful and at worst would actually make it impossible for him to go. That's an understandable attitude for a young girl in the throws of first love. It's much less understandable coming from someone who is supposed to be a mature adult. Because the book is written in first person the fact that Liberty's views aren't realistic or accurate never gets addressed. This made the resolution very unsatisfying for me.
Even with all of these issues I still planned to read Hardy's story, Blue-eyed Devil. I wanted to see him find his way back to the kind, caring person he once was and get his HEA. Then I went and looked at the description and realized that he ends up with Gage's half sister. I have no interest in Hardy remaining tangled up in Liberty's world and I have no interest in reading any more about the Travis family. I wanted Hardy to get a totally separate life of his own. Since that's not what happens I think I'm going to pass. Hardy's story will just be one of the ones that I write in my head instead of reading in a book.
That brings me to the issue of the epilogue. I know that there are many readers who consider a romance incomplete unless it ends with marriage and babies. I'm not one of those people. I think it's the right ending for some characters, but not for others. Liberty has basically been a mom since she was 14 and a single mom since she was 17 or 18. She and Gage haven't really known each other for that long and marrying him is going to change Liberty's life in major ways. Being the live-in employee of a wealthy man is very different from being a member of the family, so she's facing yet another round of huge life adjustments. Even positive changes require some effort to work through. In light of that, the idea that a pre-wedding unplanned pregnancy is her HEA just doesn't work for me. The fact that Ms. Kleypas thought this was the happiest outcome for Liberty makes me think that her idea of an HEA and mine are different enough that I probably won't be reading any more of her books.
Grade: C-
When Liberty is 13 Diana decides to live with the latest loser and the family ends up in a trailer park in Welcome, Texas. The family is poor and life is hard. When Diana finds herself pregnant shortly after kicking the loser to the curb Liberty is the only one who is excited by the news. After the baby arrives Diana is depressed and overwhelmed. She leaves most of Carrington's care to Liberty, who is happy to sacrifice her childhood for her sister. Aside from the baby Liberty's only real interest is their neighbor, Hardy Cates. Hardy is a few years older and Liberty is smitten with him at first sight. He initially treats her like a younger sister, but by the time Liberty turns 16 Hardy returns her interest. However, he refuses to act on it. He needs to get out of Welcome as soon as his younger siblings are old enough for his family to manage without him. As he tells Liberty; he can't stay, he can't take Liberty with him and if he gets involved with her he won't be able to leave her, so he refuses to get involved.
Liberty is heartbroken after Hardy leaves, but soon has far bigger things to worry about. Diana is killed in a car accident leaving her to raise Carrington with nothing but a high school diploma and no job skills. She ends up going to cosmetology school and then getting a job in a high end salon in Houston. While working there she meets wealthy older man Churchill Travis. He takes an interest in her and eventually convinces her to work as his personal assistant and move with Carrington into his mansion. Liberty gets along with everyone in the household except Churchill's oldest son, Gage. Hostility eventually gives way to passion, but just as it seems that Liberty has found happiness Hardy comes back into her life and offers her the chance to have the love she thought was lost forever. This sets up a love triangle that forces Liberty to decide which man, and which future, is really right for her.
This is my first time reading a Lisa Kleypas novel. I've heard good things about her for years, but her previous books were all historicals and since I read very few of those she never made it onto my TBR. When I heard she had written a contemporary I thought I would give it a try. In the end this book struck me as more woman's fiction than romances and served mostly to remind me why I don't read woman's fiction. The writing wasn't bad, but the book was a joyless experience for me.
There were several things about the book that bothered me. It's written in first person, which I generally don't like. I also felt that most of the plot and characterizations are very cliched. Those things aren't deal breakers though and I've certainly enjoyed other books that had the same issues. Unfortunately there were other things I couldn't get past. My main problems were with the way the "sugar daddy" concept played out, the justification for the way the triangle was resolved and the epilogue.
While Liberty is working at the salon she gets to know several coworkers who have sugar daddys and she realizes that the relationship is uncomfortably close to prostitution. Later Liberty not only ends up with a sugar daddy of her own, she discovers that her mother had one too. Instead of dealing with the implications of that Ms Kleypas makes both of the relationships chaste. The wealthy man gives gifts out of unselfish love and therefore the women can accept them without being labeled gold diggers or whores. I thought that was basically a cop out. If you don't want to deal with the moral ambiguity inherent in that type of relationship then don't name your book Sugar Daddy.
As for the triangle, I have to admit that as a rule I hate them. I root for the underdog almost reflexively, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to be disappointed by the outcome. That said, I thought there were a couple of things about the way the Liberty-Gage-Hardy triangle played out that were especially problematic.
Hardy comes back into Liberty's life as a ruthless businessman who is willing to do anything, including use her, to get ahead. I think Gage was correct in his assessment that Hardy is a man going down a rather ugly road and clinging to the idea of Liberty as the one person who can save him from his fate. I also think he's right that Liberty can't actually save Hardy. I think it was good that Liberty was finally able to see Hardy in a realistic way, instead of idolizing him. The problem is that she simply idolizes Gage instead. She asserts very confidently that Gage would never use her the way that Hardy did. When Hardy points out that Gage's life of privilege means that he would never feel that he needed to take similar action, Liberty brushes him off.
Hardy is wrong to try to use his background as an excuse for his bad behavior, but he's correct that Gage's behavior isn't necessarily a sign that he's the better man. That's especially true considering that Gage was having Liberty followed even as he claimed that he trusted her. I consider his "trust but verify" attitude at least as big a deal as what Hardy did, but Liberty forgives Gage with no hesitation. I think Liberty reacts this way less because Gage is the better man for her and more because she needs to have a perfect hero and she can't really forgive Hardy for leaving her in the first place.
When they were young and Hardy refused to sleep with her Liberty got very angry with him. When he said that he was trying not to hurt her she responded that he was really just trying not to get hurt himself. That was at least partially true, but it was a perfectly reasonable position for him to take. He had very good reasons for needing to get out of Welcome. Liberty knew that and still acted as if he was being unconscionably selfish or cowardly for not wanting to start a relationship that at best would make leaving more painful and at worst would actually make it impossible for him to go. That's an understandable attitude for a young girl in the throws of first love. It's much less understandable coming from someone who is supposed to be a mature adult. Because the book is written in first person the fact that Liberty's views aren't realistic or accurate never gets addressed. This made the resolution very unsatisfying for me.
Even with all of these issues I still planned to read Hardy's story, Blue-eyed Devil. I wanted to see him find his way back to the kind, caring person he once was and get his HEA. Then I went and looked at the description and realized that he ends up with Gage's half sister. I have no interest in Hardy remaining tangled up in Liberty's world and I have no interest in reading any more about the Travis family. I wanted Hardy to get a totally separate life of his own. Since that's not what happens I think I'm going to pass. Hardy's story will just be one of the ones that I write in my head instead of reading in a book.
That brings me to the issue of the epilogue. I know that there are many readers who consider a romance incomplete unless it ends with marriage and babies. I'm not one of those people. I think it's the right ending for some characters, but not for others. Liberty has basically been a mom since she was 14 and a single mom since she was 17 or 18. She and Gage haven't really known each other for that long and marrying him is going to change Liberty's life in major ways. Being the live-in employee of a wealthy man is very different from being a member of the family, so she's facing yet another round of huge life adjustments. Even positive changes require some effort to work through. In light of that, the idea that a pre-wedding unplanned pregnancy is her HEA just doesn't work for me. The fact that Ms. Kleypas thought this was the happiest outcome for Liberty makes me think that her idea of an HEA and mine are different enough that I probably won't be reading any more of her books.
Grade: C-
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The Dreaded DNF
Last week Ramblings on Romance had a post about DNFs, asking why people do or don't finish books that they aren't enjoying. This made me think about my own DNF's and I realized that I have what would probably be considered a high proportion of them. I don't blog about most of them because it seems sort of depressing. I absolutely don't believe in the idea that women reading romance have to be positive and "nice" all the time. At the same time I don't want to create the impression that I feel negatively about genre books, because I really do love them.
That said, there are quite a few standard tropes, especially in romance, that I dislike. I try to remember that tastes vary and every trope I hate has plenty of fans or it wouldn't exist. However, there are still a few I dislike enough that they tend to make me sort of angry. I try to avoid them when I'm choosing books, but sometimes they're not obvious from the description or back cover blurb.
There are also authors whose writing style just doesn't mesh with my personal taste. The books aren't bad, I just don't like them. Because I have very little time to read for pleasure I want to maximize my enjoyment. That means I move on if a book isn't working for me. Theoretically a book could get better and I've probably given up too soon on some books that I would have ended up enjoying. However, in my experience that doesn't happen all that often. I'm willing to miss a few good reads in order to save myself from wasting time on lots of books I don't like.
Because I have so many DNFs I've come up with informal rules about which books I review and count toward challenges.
In short, when I give a book a snarky DNF review it's not because I'm a bitter shrew who hates romance. It's just that I'm upset that I missed out on using my precious time reading something better.
That said, there are quite a few standard tropes, especially in romance, that I dislike. I try to remember that tastes vary and every trope I hate has plenty of fans or it wouldn't exist. However, there are still a few I dislike enough that they tend to make me sort of angry. I try to avoid them when I'm choosing books, but sometimes they're not obvious from the description or back cover blurb.
There are also authors whose writing style just doesn't mesh with my personal taste. The books aren't bad, I just don't like them. Because I have very little time to read for pleasure I want to maximize my enjoyment. That means I move on if a book isn't working for me. Theoretically a book could get better and I've probably given up too soon on some books that I would have ended up enjoying. However, in my experience that doesn't happen all that often. I'm willing to miss a few good reads in order to save myself from wasting time on lots of books I don't like.
Because I have so many DNFs I've come up with informal rules about which books I review and count toward challenges.
- If I don't make it at least a quarter of the way through the book I don't write about it. I feel like it's sort of unfair to write a review based on so little. Also, I find that if I drop a book that early it's generally not that the book is objectively bad, it's just not my thing. I don't think "meh" is a very useful review and if it's not useful then writing it is a waste of time that could be spent reading.
- If I get between a quarter and half the way through I'll write a DNF review. Said review will most likely be full of snark. This is because if I gave up after making it that far it's because the book really irritated me in some way. Plus I'm annoyed about having wasted my time on it when I could have been reading something else.
- If I make it more than half way through a book I generally just finish it, even if I'm not loving it. In that case I'll write a review and give it a low grade.
In short, when I give a book a snarky DNF review it's not because I'm a bitter shrew who hates romance. It's just that I'm upset that I missed out on using my precious time reading something better.
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