Monday, April 14, 2008

The Weekly Read 4/14: Ten Second Reviews

Ebooks rule. They fit my multitasking personality so well. Especially since I had to rip out half the blanket I’m working on. Sadly, I discovered www.ebooks.com this week. Yes, you can get many print books here in electronic format, but not at a discount. JMo talked me into reading Howling at the Moon, and since I didn’t want to go to the bookstore, I looked it up and found it electronically. And while I was looking around I found a few more interesting looking titles, so, off to the races, this is what I read this past week:



Howling at the Moon by Karen MacInerney. Jmo is right, this book was a pleasure to devour and I’m howling because book two won’t be out until NOVEMBER. Grrrr. I don’t read were books easily. I like Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Doreen Orsini got me to read her vampires, but I’m very reluctant to pick up a vampire or were-type book. I’m so glad JMo pushed me on this one. From the first sentence I loved her voice. Fresh, fun, lighthearted and insightful, if you’re reluctant about the shifters like me, you may very well like this one. So the paragraph below bears repeating from last week. Find this book. It went into a second printing before its release just a couple months ago. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it was in a third printing by now.




Sophie Garou is your normal everyday auditor, well if you think werewolves are your normal everyday definition of auditors. When her mom is arrested for murder, Sophie goes into Nancy Drew mode to find the real killer. Things would be easier if the full moon wasn’t days away, her boyfriend knew she was a werewolf and if the sexiest werewolf she’s even seen would just co-operate and let her find the killer.




Next, I picked up a Lori Foster Bundle. Four books in one, these are the stories of four brothers who live in Buckhorn County. Three different fathers, these four men, and one nephew, stick together and are considered upstanding citizens in their small town. Doctor, sheriff, vet, and handyman, they live in the family home, each one doing their best to avoid matrimony. And of course, they all get caught. First up is Sawyer, already disillusioned by one failed marriage, he’s the doctor raising his son with the help of his brothers. A car careening through the fence he’s mending and into the lake brings his country doctor instincts to life, and the sick and injured female inside awakens those slumbering feelings of protectiveness. Of course the brothers love her and harass him. I love the closeness of the brothers. Next is Morgan’s story, followed by Gabe, the youngest. Last of all is Jordan the vet. I loved these books and feel four was about all I could handle in a couple days. Casey, Sawyer’s son, is due up for his story and I’ll look for it as soon as I pay off the AMEX bill.



Pride and a Pregnancy Secret by Tessa Radley, published by Silhouette Desire. I didn’t mean to buy this one (be careful about what you store in the cart or the wish list), but found it enjoyable all the same. I’m not big on the line romances in general and feel you read nine mediocre ones to find the one gem, but when you find it, it makes up for the others. This one falls somewhere in between. Love the Australian setting. Some of the twists were a bit squicky, but I won’t reveal them here to spoil the surprise. A little heavy on the Peyton Place everybody sleeping around theme. I did enjoy the chemistry between the two leads. Fine for a Saturday afternoon when you don’t want to think too much.


If you’re into trilogies, I’m two thirds through one and am itching, just dying, to get to the third book. By JoAnn Ross, set in SW Louisiana, Blue Bayou is the first book of the Callahan Brothers series. What is it with those groups of brothers? Sigh. Love the men. I always get into the men more. My husband likes that… most of the time. Anyhow, young love is interrupted and lovers are torn apart by scheming parents. Thirteen years later, and a whole lot of heartache in between, the two return to their small home town and reconnect. Jack, the middle brother, is now a writer and Danielle, the former belle of the county, is a discarded and humiliated congressman’s widow. Love that the bastard died when his lover’s piano dropped on his head. Bet that one felt good to write. Again, I won’t spoil the ending, but the heartache doesn’t end when they meet again. They have thirteen long years of secrets and deceit to work through. Not the least of which, Jack is living in and renovating her former home, the antebellum mansion Beau Soliel while she contends with the burned out apartment over the library she was supposed to move into upon arrival.


Book two of the series, River Road, takes a fun flip when eldest brother Finn is suspended from the FBI. With nowhere else to go, he heads back to Blue Bayou and is talked into playing body guard to the star of a Hollywood soap opera. Younger brother Nate is mayor of the town and he doesn’t have a sheriff, so Finn reluctantly steps into protect the bad girl of the show, Julia. Their backgrounds couldn’t have been more different and yet they share a love of James Bond. In fact, Julia is the next Bond Girl and only has to get through filming the season finale of the show River Road. But someone is threatening her and the serial killer Finn caught gets loose. The two butt heads until they tire of fighting. A crazy every changing script keeps them all on their toes until the very last shooting. Fun, funny, sexy and, well, just plain fun. I’m looking forward to book three, Magnolia Moon which I’ll start reading just as soon as I finish writing a blog entry and critting some work. (You can read the blog entry this Wednesday over at http://midnightseductionsauthors.blogspot.com/)


Jmo, your turn, what did you get into this past week?

Sorry, but I'm forcing my way through Dune. Between that and nasty pollen, I haven't been able to read anything without falling to sleep five seconds after I start. Feel free to shoot me, or do something about the yellow stuff falling like snow outside my door.


As for Dune, ‘cause MorganO is making me say something, it’s a fantastic book, a treasured old reread that brings back memories of a youth spent hiding in my room imagining new worlds just a transmat beam away.

1 comment:

Lori Foster aka L. L. Foster said...

Hey, thanks for the nice review of the Buckhorn Brothers!
:-)
You have a very nice blog site.

Lori