The Summer He Came Home, by Juliana Stone

The warm weather is influencing my reading this week — I’m sticking with light and fun beach reads.  Next up is a contemporary romance I devoured in one day.

Cain Black left home 10 years ago to pursue his dream of becoming a musician. His career is finally on the upswing, but marriage to a movie star and a glitzy lifestyle left something to be desired.  He is called home to attend a funeral for one of his childhood buddies.  Reconnecting with his mom and his close friends shows Cain that real feelings have been missing in his life.  And his attraction to Maggie O’Rourke makes it easy to stick around his hometown for the summer.

As for Maggie, who wouldn’t be attracted to the hot lead singer of BlackRock?  But she’s worked too hard to create a safe place for herself and her son to risk it on what is sure to be a brief fling with Cain.

You knew the main characters were going to give in to the attraction, but the buildup was nicely paced.  And the relationship came with complications that needed to be resolved before they could have their happily ever after.

It was a fun read.  The characters were a little over the top, but not unbelievable.  I liked that Cain didn’t have all the answers.  He didn’t know what to say to make Maggie jump into bed with him — or to ease her concerns when the paparazzi invaded their privacy.   There was enough tension in the resolution of Cain and Maggie’s different lifestyles that while I knew the story would have a happy ending, I didn’t feel like the author got lazy with the plot.

The secondary characters who needed a comeuppance got one.

The men who grew up with Cain in Crystal Lake were given some interesting backstories — this is clearly the first in what is likely a trio of stories about them and how they find love.  Enough was setup in Cain and Maggie’s story to make me jot down a note to watch for the next story in October.

Check the WRL catalog for The Summer He Came Home

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I’ve Got Your Number, by Sophie Kinsella

Days before her wedding, Poppy Wyatt loses her engagement ring.  Sometime between her girlfriends admiring the ring and passing it around.. and the luncheon programmers finishing up the raffle drawings.. and the hotel staff requiring everyone to evacuate the room for a fire drill… the heirloom ring disappeared.  Not only that, but when she goes outside to get a better cell signal, someone steals her phone.  Desperate to figure out what to do next, Poppy paces the hotel lobby and spies a cell phone in a trash can.  What luck–the phone works!  One problem solved.  Sort of.

The phone belongs to Sam Roxton’s personal assistant who quit without giving notice, so when Sam calls the number and reaches Poppy, she is able to convince Sam to let her keep the phone until she finds her ring  and she’ll forward all his messages.

The crazy plan works, but of course, Poppy reads all the texts that come to Sam and gets a pretty good idea of what’s going on behind the scenes in his office.  Sometimes she understands what’s going on better than Sam, who is too busy to read, much less return, most texts.

And because this is a Chick Lit with romantic elements, Poppy and Sam gain insight into each other through this odd arrangement.  And they like what they find!

I listened to most of this book on CD.  Jayne Entwistle is the reader. I loved listening to her perky British accent–she was perfect for Poppy!  It was easy to follow the narrative even with the texts and footnotes read aloud.  (Yes, there are footnotes in the book.  Why? Because Poppy’s self-important fiance is a scholar, and Poppy was impressed with the number of footnotes in his book.)

Personally, I never thought texts could be romantic, but I changed my mind after listening to the incredibly touching scene where Poppy and Sam are texting each other in the dark woods.

This is a light, fun, satisfying book.  I highly recommend it for poolside entertainment this summer.  I even enjoyed the secondary characters, even the snarky ones.  And rooted for Poppy’s happily ever after with Sam right from the beginning.

Check the WRL catalog for I’ve Got Your Number

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Ocean Beach, by Wendy Wax

I typically choose beach reads in the fall or wintertime.  As temperatures drop below 50°F, cover images with hammocks and cerulean blue seas become irresistible and I pick them up for escape purposes, to tide me over until I can reach a beach in a warmer clime. It’s like a chocolate indulgence or an extravagant café selection — a little me-time fantasy.  Ocean Beach fit the bill this time.

The author’s work caught my eye months ago when this sequel to Ten Beach Road came out so I’ve had it on my to-read list ever since (and enjoyed Ocean Beach without having read the first book in the Beach series).  Since then, I’ve learned that Wax was once honored with the Virginia Romance Writers Holt Medallion Award for her debut romance 7 Days and 7 Nights in 2003. Now I’ve just learned that Wendy Wax has joined the Downton Abbey craze — using her fandom as the source of inspiration for her latest novel, While We Were Watching Downton Abbey

The scenario of Ocean Beach made me recall the 80′s television sitcom Designing Women.  A group of women friends, assembled in Wax’s typical ensemble-cast style, are collaborating on the renovation of an historic Art Deco home in the dreamy vicinity of Miami’s South Beach.  This project shows the promise of promoting the future success of their fledgling enterprise owing to the fact that their remodeling project is to be featured on a reality television show called Do Over.  However, they had not anticipated that such notoriety might stem from a camera focused much more on their private lives than their skills with refinishing and refurbishing old houses so they are soon wishing their dirty laundry wasn’t about to be broadcast for all to see.

Ocean Beach readers will find a little romance, troubling pasts and deeply hidden secrets, a bit of amateur detective work, and more than a few strained domestic relationships in this lively, dramatic novel. Fans of chick lit and romance are sure to enjoy turning its pages, preferably while relaxing on a sun-kissed beach.

Check the WRL catalog for Ocean Beach

If you’re interested in starting with Wendy Wax’s earlier books, try The Accidental Bestseller.

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Celebrating Pride and Prejudice: 200 Years of Jane Austen’s Masterpiece, by Susannah Fullerton

Approximately five years ago, I read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as well as her other five novels after receiving an all-in-one collection as a gift. Having only truly read Pride and Prejudice once (I can’t count the Cliff Notes I used in high school), it’s a wonder that I am reviewing this festive micro-history which delightfully illustrates why Jane Austen’s perfect Regency romance has remained so untouchable since its publication in 1813, even as her style and subject matter are profusely imitated, now more than ever!  

Reading Susannah Fullerton’s pleasant homage to the timeless novel upon its 200-year anniversary provided me with all sorts of intriguing details, historical background, and gossipy tidbits about its creation and legacy that enhance my appreciation of the novel.  Fullerton, president of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, effectively demonstrates the reasons for the novel’s perfection and its ever-increasing appeal for readers of either sex, of all ages, in nearly every community worldwide. She cheerfully describes her analysis of individual characters, Austen’s style, and the famous opening sentence on which an entire chapter is devoted.

It was especially amusing to learn of all the various editions, versions, translations, sequels, retellings, mash-ups, adaptations, film interpretations, and other assorted Austen-inspired endeavors that have fueled a sort of Pride-and-Prejudice mania. Darcy-mania culture took off on the tails of the sexy 1995 BBC film version, starring Colin Firth (of the infamous lake scene), and kindled much new interest in the reading of the novel.

Fullerton pretty much concludes that no sequel author or film producer has ever really matched Jane Austen’s masterful style and that what lovers of the novel should really ever do is just keep reading and re-reading Pride and Prejudice. I agree that the masterpiece stands alone, but Austen did very effectively infect most of her readers with a desire to continue knowing Elizabeth and Darcy and to learn ever more about each well-drawn character’s future. Imagine if she’d lived long enough to write her own sequels, or to taste the fame her novels eventually gave her!

Check the WRL catalog for Celebrating Pride and Prejudice : 200 years of Jane Austen’s Masterpiece

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Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

A vicious intergalactic war rages on in this epic fantasy vs. sci-fi standoff. The inhabitants of Landfall, the largest planet in the galaxy, bear vestigial wings and are technologically advanced. They have forever been in conflict with the population of Wreath, Landfall’s moon, who have horns like sheep and a mastery of magic. Each side recruits other planets and races to join their side in the battle, constantly expanding the battlefield throughout the universe.

Alana was a Landfall soldier, sent to guard prisoners on the distant planet of Cleave. Marko was a foot solider for Wreath, but surrendered as a conscientious objector and was sent to Cleave. Within twelve hours of meeting each other, Alana and Marko flee together. Their union produces a daughter named Hazel, who serves as occasional narrator to the story, and has both wings and horns.

Treachery such as theirs can’t go unpunished, and soon both sides are tracking the new parents, who want nothing more than a peaceful place to raise their child. The fragility of the new life they have created strengthens their resolve to, somehow, survive. Landfall sends Prince Robot IV, a humanoid with a television set for a head, to bring them to justice while the Wreath military hires a freelance bounty hunter named The Will. For reasons yet unknown, the Wreath side wants Hazel brought back alive. Another bounty hunter, a former lover of The Will, is also sent by the Wreath forces to track down Alana and Marco. Prince Robot IV and The Will are soon at odds, with The Will swearing to destroy his blue-blooded nemesis.

The writing and the artwork for this series successfully contrast the tenderness and intimacy between the parents against the violence of the worlds around them. There are a lot of ideas introduced in this first volume, which can be tricky to maintain, but Brian K. Vaughan is an experienced writer and this volume is a promising beginning. Fiona Staples’s artwork is simple yet striking, and she manages to make several different, distinct alien worlds, bathing the images in contrasting teals and oranges and greens. Recommended for fantasy and science fiction readers, and anyone who enjoys an against-the-odds romance.

Check the WRL catalog for Saga.

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ABBC: Romance Fiction

A week of posts about results from WRL’s ABBC continues today with a look at the romance category. ABBC stands for All-the-Best-Books Compilation, and it’s a spreadsheet that compiles the results from many best-of-the-year lists and awards for the books published in the previous year. We count the number of mentions each book receives and document which sources mentioned each title. You’re welcome to download the spreadsheet and use it for yourself or to help other readers find great books. We do ask is that you cite Williamsburg Regional Library and Blogging for a Good Book if you republish any part of the results.

Romance fiction doesn’t get much attention in the end-of-the-year lists, and sometimes the groups that do give out romance awards can be so inclusive that almost every author published by a major house gets some form of recognition. Others don’t publish their results until after our compilation is typically finished, so it’s harder to identify clear favorites in this genre. Finding more votes for the books in this category requires digging into romance-focused blogs, and I haven’t drilled quite that deep into the list in this year’s compilation yet. I’ll annotate the top four so far, but you may want to check back with later editions of the ABBC, which won’t be fully compiled until the end of the month. Still, the four books mentioned here should offer something to most romance fans, as they come from four different corners of the genre.

Tops so far with four mentions is one of romance writing’s most familiar names, Nora Roberts. Her 200th (!) book, The Witness, was reviewed here at BFGB by Christine back in May. This time she sets her story in the Arkansas Ozarks, and follows Abigail, a woman who runs a computer security firm and tries to maintain the lowest profile she can, as she’s created a new identity after a run-in with the Russian mafia. A well-meaning sheriff named Brooks tries to draw her out of her shell, and part of her wants to give in to his pursuit, but he doesn’t understand that becoming part of the community will endanger her life. Christine praised the book’s creation of community, sense of place, and the clever interaction of the central couple, and it appears that other reviewers agree with her judgment.

To date there’s a three-way tie for second with books of three mentions each. Kresley Cole’s Lothaire is the latest in her paranormal romance series, Immortals after Dark. As usual, this tale pits different factions and powers among the creatures of The Lore against each other, and this book focuses on the ruthless and half-mad Lothaire.  Lothaire captures Ellie Pierce, an Appalachian girl  possessed by an evil spirit. He intends to sacrifice her to gain power for himself, but instead finds that something about her soothes his tormented soul. What’s a vampire to do? This is the 12th in a series that started back with The Warlord Wants Forever, part of a compilation, Playing Easy to Get, published back in 2006. Lothaire has figured into the stories before, so you might want to gobble down some of the earlier titles before you launch into Cole’s latest.

Tessa Dare brings us A Week to Be Wicked, the follow up to A Night to Surrender in her Spindle Cove series. This is a historical romance in which a rake, Colin,  and a scientist spinster, Minerva, fake an elopement. He wants to escape financial difficulties by marrying Minerva’s more vulnerable sister, so she makes a deal with him. If he’ll accompany her to Scotland so she can collect a prize from the Royal Geographic Society, she’ll give him the prize money, as long as he leaves little sister alone. She’s cerebral, but awkward; he’s the ultimate ladies man. But as the novel progresses, both begin to unlock hidden sides. Opposites proceed to attract as they have many adventures on their 400-mile road trip, and the differences between the two lead to humorous situations and lots of fun banter.

The final member of the second-place tie is Sophie Kinsella’s latest bit of contemporary chicklit fun, I’ve Got Your Number. The setup is that Poppy Wyatt loses her engagement ring and her phone in a hotel fire drill and its aftermath. The ring is an heirloom of her fiancee Magnus Tavish’s snobby family, and since they’re already trying to stop the marriage, Poppy can’t really confess that she lost it. When she finds another phone in the chaos, she takes it, with the intention of having the hotel call her when the ring is located. Businessman Sam Roxton isn’t thrilled to find out that his phone has been appropriated, and the two wage a comic battle through email, text messages, and other means, upending each others’ lives at every turn. In the process of leading each other on a merry chase, a relationship begins to form between the two, and soon Poppy has to decide between the man she once thought was the perfect catch and the one who came into her life by surprise.

I’ll be back with one more post about the ABBC results tomorrow here at BFGB. Watch here afterwards for the final editions of this year’s compilation to get the final vote totals as we search for the best books of 2012. I’ll also be sharing results from some of the other categories at my other blogging home, Book Group Buzz, such as in this post about the results among short story collections.

Click on the individual book title links to go to the WRL catalog.

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Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal’s debut fantasy novel paints an alternate setting à la Jane Austen’s Regency England (though this is definitely not a P & P spin-off), in which young accomplished ladies coming of age and out into society must not only develop skills with such things as music, proper deportment, and polite conversation. They also have access to the mystical ether with which they create glamour to enhance their domestic environment with scenic illusions. Young ladies learn how to design, form, and shape the ether’s strands into natural scenes such as a forest glen complete with a bubbling brook, fluttering birds with their songs, and scented flowers in bloom. Jane, the main character, happens to possess a rather advanced talent as a glamourist. Despite her plain-Jane looks, her intellect and skill with the ether as well as other visual arts attracts the attention of famed professional glamourist David Vincent, who is hired by Jane’s wealthy neighbor to create glamour as a means for impressing her prominent guests. Jane’s family is fortunate that she can use glamour to give their home a far better appearance than they could normally afford.

Adventure and intrigue enter the plots of Kowal’s fantasy series (yes, the first sequel, Glamour in Glass, is already in with two more titles coming in 2013-2014) when Vincent and Jane combine their talents, ordinarily reserved for domestic arts and the enhancement of one’s social status, to outwit criminals and defeat armed bandits. Romance is in the picture as well, but the relationship between Jane and Vincent builds gradually as their respect for each other is hard-earned; romance doesn’t dominate the story but infuses it with enough tenderness to appeal to romantic suspense fans.

Other than Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, I’ve not read very much fantasy fiction. This is the first series that has really captured my interest, and I’m quite taken with the characters, the adventure, and the fact that its setting and atmosphere are well-grounded in historical realism. Kowal causes the magic to seem a rather natural element of that time, changing very little else about the culture.

Even though Shades of Milk and Honey is her first novel, Mary Robinette Kowal is no beginning writer, having won the 2008 Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the 2011 Hugo Award for her short story titled “For Want of a Nail.”  I think it’s neat that she also happens to be an accomplished professional puppeteer!

Look for Shades of Milk and Honey and Glamour in Glass in the WRL catalog.

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Christmas in the Clouds

I remember one of our library users recommending Christmas in the Clouds to me last year.  She said it wasn’t a typical feel-good holiday movie, but in a good way.  It was a movie she would check out to watch again and again.  I’m sorry it took me a whole year to get around to watching this – it is delightful!

Sky Mountain Resort is located on an American Indian reservation and is in desperate need of some publicity.  The resort manager, Ray Clouds on Fire, receives a letter that a travel magazine is sending a reviewer to check out the resort over the Christmas holiday week.  A good review would be just what they need to get more guests to the resort.  The staff doesn’t know who this reviewer will be — so of course, they assume it’s the wrong guest.

One of the many quirky characters at the resort is the chef played by Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves, Twilight).  He’s a vegetarian, reluctantly fixing dishes with meat to appease his boss.  But when he comes out to the dining room to greet the guests during dinner, well, you just have to watch what happens.

And there’s romance!  Ray’s dad has been corresponding with a widow who decides to surprise him with a visit to the resort.  Again, a mistaken identity worthy of a Shakespearean play ensues.  But with the attraction, flirtation, tongue-in-cheek silliness… the movie delivered more than what I was expecting.

Christmas in the Clouds was featured in the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.  It also competed in the 2001 editions of the Austin Film Festival and the Santa Fe Film Festival, winning the Best Competition Feature Film Award and the Best Native American-Themed Film Award, respectively.

While the mistaken identity theme isn’t new, it is treated well.  It’s not zany; it’s amusing.  You won’t guffaw; but you’ll have a smile on your face.  If you’re looking for a sweet romance with a touch of Christmas cheer – snuggle up with Christmas in the Clouds (94 minutes, rated PG).

Check the WRL catalog for Christmas in the Clouds

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Between the Lines, by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

This is another fairy tale romance, though with a different twist.

Mother/daughter team Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer explore what it might be like for characters when the book closes. Do they just stand around and wait for the reader to pick up where he or she left off, or do the characters have their own lives between the pages? In this story, the answer is that the characters live out their own lives until the book opens and they play their parts.

Delilah’s “real life” isn’t that great. She is in high school now, but still doesn’t have many friends—and her mom is always busy with work. Her main pleasure is reading. She particularly loves the story of Oliver and his quest to save Seraphima from a wicked magician. Even though the fairy tale is really meant for younger readers, Delilah reads the book again and again. It makes her happy to read how Oliver overcomes various challenges by using his wits. What she finds particularly appealing is that Oliver had to grow up without a father and so did she.

One day she is more than surprised when she notices a change in one of the illustrations.  She’s certain she would have remembered that design in the sand in the hundreds of times she read the book before…

When Oliver realizes that Delilah noticed the chess board he accidentally left in the sand during a break in the reading of the story, he is determined to make a connection to her. He shouts out—and Delilah hears him! At last he has a chance to leave the story and make his own adventures.

The rest of the story is Delilah and Oliver building a relationship despite coming from such different backgrounds (he is a prince, after all) and exploring ways for Oliver to leave the confines of the story. Can the magic of the story be altered to let a character escape to live his own life—or, once something is written, is it always the same?

I admired the story for not making a simple solution to the problem. Oliver can’t just write himself out of the book. And it doesn’t work out so well when Oliver tries to write Delilah into the story. On top of all that, Delilah is talking to a character in her book like he’s a real person—is she going crazy?

Between the Lines is an original, entertaining story about young friendship/love and a quest to be together. The story is cleverly split three ways: the original fairy tale story, Oliver’s point of view, and Delilah’s point of view. It is obvious when you’re reading the book which person’s perspective is being told. I also listened to this on audiobook and was easily able to follow the different voices. I hope to see more collaborative efforts from this team of writers!

Check the WRL catalog for Between the Lines.

Check the WRL catalog for the audiobook of Between the Lines.

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Charming Blue, by Kristine Grayson

This is the third fractured fairy tale by Kristine Grayson that I have read and enjoyed. Grayson takes well-known fairy tale characters, mixes stories, introduces modern situations, and creates unique and sometimes humorous scenes. She also adds a touch of gentle romance which makes it even more appealing to me.

I wasn’t sure I would like Charming Blue as much as I enjoyed my favorite, Wickedly Charming, which is about Cinderella’s ex-husband (Prince Charming) and the wicked stepmother from Snow White (Mellie) falling in love. I just wasn’t sure how the main male character, Bluebeard, could be likeable. After all, his track record for killing eight wives and keeping their heads seemed a big hurdle to overcome. But Grayson pulls it off. Charming Blue is now my favorite fairy tale mashup!

Jodi Walters is an agent for many of the fairy tale characters in the Greater World, which is what residents of the various Kingdoms call our modern world. She is kept busy finding studio work for the many trolls, fairies, selkies, dwarves, mermaids, etc. that have made California their home.

She is called from an important meeting one afternoon by Cantankerous Belle, the unpleasant cousin of Tinker Belle. Tank, as she is known, is concerned about a serial stalker who is claiming to be Bluebeard. She’s certain that the stalking will soon move to killing unless Jodi does something about it. And besides, she knows “Blue” and doesn’t think he was really capable of the awful murders he was accused of committing many years ago. She’s worried that he’s being connected to this other stalker unjustly.  Why ask Jodi to help and not the police? Because it’s a fairy tale problem that needs fixing, and that’s Jodi’s special magic.

Jodi reluctantly agrees to talk to Blue about the stalker and see if he has any insight into the case. She goes to the rehab center where he is staying for detox and is surprised by his appearance. The last time she had seen him he had smurf-blue hair, hadn’t bathed in weeks, and was so drunk he could hardly stand. Now he was across the room from her clean, sober, and gorgeous.  After that brief meeting, Jodi can’t stop thinking about Blue. And while part of her feels it must be his charm magic affecting her judgment, she wonders if Tank was right, there may be more to his story than everyone thought. Unfortunately, Blue has also not stopped thinking about Jodi, and that has put her life in danger. They both now have a very personal interest in finding the Fairy Tale Stalker and solving the case.

Pick up this quick read to find out what really happened to Bluebeard’s wives—and find out if Jodi gets her happily-ever-after.

Check the WRL catalog for Charming Blue.

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The Fireman who Loved Me, by Jennifer Bernard

Despite the corniness of the title, I picked up this contemporary romance and breezed through the story in one sitting.

After a successful fund-raising bachelor auction in which a grandmother places the winning bid on a rookie firefighter, the captain feels sorry for his crewman and offers to fill in on the date with the little old lady.  Only the little old lady is actually playing matchmaker for her granddaughter, and Captain Brody spends an enjoyable evening with the attractive, talented, local TV news producer Melissa.

Neither have time or interest in starting a relationship, but of course, that doesn’t matter.  They fall in lust pretty quickly.  There’s a hot scene at the firehouse where Brody and Melissa sneak off to steal a few kisses.  It’s a taste of the steamy combustion they have when they do finally manage to get some time together.

I read a couple of other reviews that criticized the misunderstanding that keeps them apart midway through the book as being flimsy.  But I think people jump to the wrong conclusion all the time. This didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the story.

There are some great secondary characters—Melissa’s grandmother, Nelly, is a hoot.  The conflict with her dad brings a nice depth to the mix.  Brody’s ex and the news anchors are a little predictable.  Sometimes predictable is comfortable— I got exactly what I was looking for out of this story— interesting characters, contemporary setting, resolved conflicts.  Like I said, an enjoyable afternoon of reading.

Jennifer Bernard starts her “Bachelor Firemen” series with this book.

Check the WRL catalog for The Fireman who Loved Me

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On the Island, by Tracey Garvis Graves

Every summer, I gravitate toward at least one light beach read, but I don’t typically select Romance novels. On the Island caught my attention when a library user asked for it at the reference desk months before the print edition became available; the e-book had already become a bestseller.

Initially, I suspected it as a controversial storyline with a potentially inappropriate romance between an attractive female teacher and the sixteen-year old boy she is to tutor at his wealthy family’s vacation home on a Maldives island.  My verdict is that the romantic relationship is handled tastefully and might even be considered a soft read (although I haven’t read enough in the Romance genre to judge authoritatively).  There are interesting details about the characters and the plot that make this page-turner far more than a teenage boy’s “hot-for-teacher” fantasies come true.  T.J. recently survived cancer, Anna is not a sexual predator, and the two develop their strong friendship and survival bond long before any romance ensues.  You’ll have to read the book to find out how long they are on the island and whether or not they act on the attraction as mutually consenting adults.

The student and his tutor leave Chicago together, flying later than the rest of the family, and experience delays that result in a last-minute chance to fly on an unscheduled chartered seaplane.  They are the sole survivors washed up on an uninhabited island after their obese pilot dies of a heart attack and crashes in the Indian Ocean.  Some unbelievable coincidences seemed contrived to conveniently benefit the stranded castaways’ chances of survival, but I enjoyed the book without worrying over them too much.

On the Island is safely a fun novel that can be read in a single beach day or weekend.  Reading about this novel helped me learn a new word: robinsonade, a genre label for desert-island fiction named after Robinson Crusoe, of course.

Check the WRL catalog for On the Island.

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Ravishing the Heiress, by Sherry Thomas

At sixteen, Millicent Graves has always known that she’s merely a cog in her father’s machine of Marrying Well. The only daughter of nouveau riche parents, whose family had the temerity to make a fortune from–wait for it–canned goods, she has known practically from birth that she must marry a peer with an exalted title, or frankly, any title at all.  Enter the Earl of Fitzhugh, only nineteen, and the sudden recipient of a title accompanied by overwhelming debt, who needs to marry an heiress in order to save his estate from bankruptcy.  Cue the marriage of convenience.  But unfortunately for Fitz, he’s already in love with someone else.  And unfortunately for Millie, who’s been raised to be “sensible” about love and marriage, she falls in love with Fitz almost at first sight.

Knowing how unhappy Fitz is to be selling himself on the marriage mart and losing all hope of being with his beloved, Millie makes a bold proposition. Partly to protect her heart and partly due to her youth, she suggests they wait a few years before consummating the marriage. Neither one is eager for children, and so the heartbroken Fitz readily agrees to her proposal. As the years pass, the work of saving a failing estate and reviving a stagnating business unites them, and the marriage, the greatest challenge either has known, begins to define them both.  To their surprise, a deep and considerate friendship develops.  But can their friendship ever turn to love?

Ravishing the Heiress is the second book in Sherry Thomas’ new series, which began with Beguiling the Beauty, featuring Fitz’s elder sister.  (This novel is definitely worth a read too–not only because it is our first introduction to Millie and Fitz, but also because the story takes place in the unusual setting of a transatlantic liner crossing from New York to Southampton.)  While at first glance, this book may just seem like another a marriage of convenience story, it is also a coming-of-age story for Millie and Fitz.  It is about the importance of friendship in building the foundation for a meaningful relationship–a welcome antidote to books like the Fifty Shades series. And most importantly, it’s about the old adage that life is what happens when you are making other plans.

Thanks to Thomas’ skill, Millie is kept from being a milksop–by her quiet strength, her sensible nature, and her sincere, patient love for Fitz.  Whilst Millie certainly longs for Fitz to reciprocate her feelings, she realizes how unlikely this is and chooses instead to focus on other things, such as her affectionate relationships with her sisters-in-law, her thriving business, and the genuine friendship she and Fitz share.  She is a character you can admire.  And since this is a romance, it’s no great spoiler for me to say that at the triumphant end, we finally see Millie’s patience and faithfulness rewarded as it should be.  And boy, is the ending worth the wait!

Even though I stayed up late to reach the end, I wasn’t quite ready to let Millie and Fitz go and am now waiting impatiently for the next installment in the series, Tempting the Bride, in which they are sure to make an appearance.

Check the WRL catalog for Ravishing the Heiress

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Zen

You just can’t help feeling sorry for Aurelio Zen.  A Venetian by birth, living and working in Rome as a homicide detective, he has always put honesty before advancement.  While this may be an admirable trait, it hasn’t exactly done wonders for his career in the Roman police force.  As a government minister aptly puts it, “Your scruples do you credit, Detective, but really, it’s no way to get ahead, is it?”

Zen is a three-part mini-series, based on the celebrated mysteries by Michael Dibdin.  Originally produced by the BBC in 2010, it was broadcast as part of Masterpiece Mystery over here in the U.S.  Each hour and a half episode is based on one book and features a different mystery.  Vendetta begins with the cold-blooded murder of a judge on a country road outside Milan.  Back in Rome, Zen, played by the enigmatic and exceptional Rufus Sewell, finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Thanks to his “reputation for scrupulous integrity,” he’s been tapped by a government minister to prove the “innocence” of a businessman with friends in high places, who has been indicted for a triple homicide.  But at the same time, his gruff, no-nonsense boss at the Questura demands he close up the holes in the case and prove the police have arrested the right man.  What’s a detective to do?

Cabal, the second episode in the series, feature the apparent suicide of an Italian nobleman.  This time, both the Questura and the Ministry are happy for this death to be neatly wrapped up as such, but, unfortunately for Zen, he’s convinced the man was murdered.  In the third episode, Rat King, Zen is tasked with rescuing a wealthy industrialist, who has been kidnapped, and finding out why the man sent to pay the ransom was inexplicably shot dead in the street.

All career problems aside, things aren’t exactly going well for Aurelio Zen at home either.  His marriage has failed, his wife wants a divorce, and he’s back living at home with his mamma, even though he’s almost forty.  But somehow, Zen manages to juggle the competing demands of his conscience, the Questura, and the Ministry.  Each time he finds himself in an impossible situation, up against systemic bureaucratic corruption and civil servants who give new meaning to the word “oblique,” he manages to land on his feet, like a cat with nine lives.  But is it skill or sheer dumb luck?  For me, the jury is still out.  Sewell plays Zen with just the right dose of cynicism and wry humor, even as he finds himself entangled in a web of deceit, politics, and corruption.

The series was shot entirely in Rome and the city is as much a character in the story as Zen, his colleagues, or the criminals.  But this isn’t meant to be a tourist promotional video of Rome and the directors made a point to film in areas that are not so familiar to British and American audiences.  One such place is the EUR – a residential and business district just south of the city center, begun by Mussolini and famous for its fascist architecture.  This is the Rome where pedestrians block traffic, that is crowded, infuriating, and crumbling around the edges.  But don’t worry; there are still plenty of sporty little Fiats racing around the city and men in slick, stylish suits with the requisite skinny ties and snazzy sunglasses.

Zen is a very stylish, compelling and intelligent drama – it feels like a Hitchcock adventure, but with a modern noir feel, where the stakes are high, but the story is still delivered with a great deal of wit and wry humor.

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Angels’ Blood, by Nalini Singh

In 2009 author Anne Rice was quoted in The Guardian as saying, “Angels are the new vampires of the literary world.” Maybe author Nalini Singh thought so as well, because that’s when she wrote the first of the Guild Hunter series, Angels’ Blood.

In Elena Deveraux’s world, humans can petition Angels to turn them into Vampires. In accepting the deal, the human becomes semi-immortal and agrees to serve the angel for a hundred years. Sometimes the vampires want out of their contract and try to escape. That’s where Elena comes in. She’s a vampire hunter. She’s good at her job. In fact, she may be the best.

When the archangel Raphael needs someone to track a renegade, he requests Elena’s help. It’s an offer she can’t refuse, even when it becomes obvious that she’s tracking a renegade angel. And not just any angel, one of the most powerful Archangels.

In addition to the engaging personality conflicts of the two, strong-willed main characters, the story has a page-turning, fast-paced chase through Manhattan to stop the insane angel from killing humans in a blood-thirsty frenzy.

This book has lots of action and plenty of vampires. Powerful, sexy, dangerous vampires—but the baddest of the bad are the Angels.

It took me a while to warm up to Raphael. But like Elena, I did eventually find qualities to admire. There are some fresh ideas here that raised this novel above the “same old, same old,” and it has me hooked.  The characters are well-developed and the backstory of the Angels,  their powers, and the hierarchy was interesting. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the Guild Hunter series.

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Serendipity, by Carly Phillips

Carly Phillips has written over 30 contemporary romance novels.  I’ve read her Lucky series, which starts with Lucky Charm.  I was expecting Serendipity to be similarly breezy and fun, and was pleasantly surprised there was more depth to the story.

Ethan Barron was the town bad-boy.  He has returned home after making a fortune to mend his relationship with his younger brothers whom he abandoned to foster care when their parents died.  He bought the biggest house in town as a way to show them he was planning on sticking around.

Faith Harrington has also returned home.  She has divorced her cheating husband and is looking for a new start.  Unfortunately she has more to worry about than finding herself and establishing a career.  Her father was recently convicted of running a Ponzi scheme and many in the town were caught up in the financial disaster.  She’s never sure how she’ll be greeted when she runs into people from her past.

Ethan unexpectedly sees Faith, the privileged princess who tied him up in knots as a teen, staring at her former home (the home Ethan now owns).  And from that simple meeting they both realize there’s still a powerful attraction.

I liked that there was more to the story than that attraction, including the arrival of Ethan’s half-sister, a misguided teen who needs a stable family.  Both Ethan and Faith have some tough challenges to face from their past.  Not everyone accepts the extended olive branch.  Even the romantic relationship has ups and downs, though I must admit I’m pleased with the “happily ever after” ending.

The story is set up for two sequels, Destiny and Karma, featuring Ethan’s brothers.

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Wife for Hire, by Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich is well known for her Stephanie Plum mysteries (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc.).  Did you know that before she created the best-selling bounty hunter mysteries, Evanovich wrote romance novels?

Maggie Toone wants to take some time away from her regular teaching job to write a novel based on her Aunt Kitty’s diaries.  Hank Mallone needs a loan to expand his apple orchard business.  Seems pretty straight-forward.

But the twists (and laughs) come when Maggie reveals her Aunt Kitty was a madame.  The diary talks about all the details for running a successful… house of ill repute.  And Hank needs to show he is a respectable member of the community in order to get the loan, so he goes through a temp agency to hire a wife.  Too bad he didn’t ask about the diary before the deal was struck!

Hank is attracted to Maggie from the start, which should have disqualified her for the job.  He doesn’t want any emotional entanglements in this business arrangement.  But with a lack of candidates to choose from, he is desperate.  Maggie is uncertain of the arrangement as well, but she wants to start over in a place that doesn’t know every detail of her “crazy Maggie” history.  If she hears the story about how she wouldn’t eat green beans as a child one more time… she’ll scream.

Their first dinner together is a disaster with Hank’s ex-girlfriends showing up and the tablecloth catching fire.  And at their first dance together, Maggie is kidnapped.  Add a pistol-toting housekeeper, a wacky best friend… it’s a recipe for a quick, diverting read.

I listened to this book in my car and looked forward to each new calamity, I mean, each new chapter, knowing that it would all work out in the end!  C.J. Critt reads the book, which I found very enjoyable.  She kept it lively.

No big mystery to solve, no steamy sex scenes – just breezy, lighthearted fun.  Wife for Hire is perfect for a day at the beach.

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Check the WRL catalog for the audiobook of Wife for Hire

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The Ladies’ Room, by Carolyn Brown

This gently paced book has a sweet story about someone changing her life around after overhearing a conversation in the ladies’ room.

Trudy’s Great-aunt Gert has passed away.  Trudy remembers spending pleasant summers with her cousins, Marty and Betsy, at her aunt’s house.  In more recent times, she recalls a few obligatory visits to the house now stuffed with knick knacks and a critical old woman.

Nature calls during Gert’s funeral.  While in one of the bathroom stalls, Trudy overhears Marty and Betsy talking about how Trudy is such a good, dependable person, “bless her heart,” — and how gullible she is in believing all is as it appears on the surface with her own family.  Trudy is shocked by the revelations and the fact that her cousins have done nothing to help her see the truth.

After the reading of the will, Trudy realizes it’s time for a change.

One of my favorite parts of the novel was when Trudy tells her new neighbor Billy Lee that she’s done with being nice.  “I’d rather have honest than nice,” she says.  And then she follows through without being mean.

I kept turning pages to see what would happen next — Trudy receives some good news, exacts some righteous revenge, makes a good friend, and finds a purpose in life.  The book will keep you entertained for a pleasant afternoon.

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