Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Heaven, Texas

Heaven, Texas is another timeless romantic comedy by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Like with all SEP’s novels, I found myself laughing, wincing, sighing, rooting, and ultimately loving the characters, the story and all the little crazy situations in between that add to the depth and warmth necessary for the creation of love, desire, and a little fearlessness. SEP is a master at taking a simple story and turning it into a fun adventure that leaves the reader happy, satisfied, and ready to read more.

I would recommend Heaven, Texas, as well as just about any other Susan Elizabeth Phillips novel, to romantics, people wanting a quick heartfelt read, someone needing a giggle, and anyone looking for a new author this summer. SEP is a must read for contemporary fiction and those who love to laugh and adore a romantic tale.

Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush

Hush Hush is riddled with teenage angst, conspiracy theories, and a weaving plot that that feels similar to the rest of today’s YA paranormal reads. I found myself surprised at the conclusions Nora, the main character jumps to and felt myself getting annoyed at her naïve and crazy biased thoughts. I do not remember, in High School, even having thoughts, let alone jumping to the conclusion, that someone might literally be stalking them, may have a felony, went to prison, beat up someone, etc ., and Nora appears to come from a regular middle class family.  However, in this book that’s the first thing the main Nora and her friend Vee do. Her friend Vee also bothered me. She seemed selfish and the way she was written all I could think of was that she will be a betrayer for a few books. All that said, it was hard to focus on Patch and Nora’s story… you know they will be get together and/or are fated to be together, however, at this point I feel like asking why? Why would Nora, with all her paranoid thoughts, and Patch with all his secrets and mysterious ways, even want to try to be together? What is the pull? Patch was continuously getting harassed or the worst case scenario thrown at him from Nora and every encounter they had, it was frustrating to think she has earned his time and patience. She has not earned mine. The novel is also slow to develop. The draw necessary to carry over the reader to book two in the series is not there for me, but I might have been expecting too much or just not believing in the characters. I need more information or puzzle pieces or better chemistry.

Hush Hush is a recommendation I would give to the YA aged readers. I think they will enjoy it, keep them reading (it is a series) and they can identify with it far better than my grumpy old self (apparently). I would also recommend it for YA aged parents to help them stay in touch with today’s readers.

The Small Book Blog Spotlight: July 10th!

Romancing the Book is hosting a Romancing the Blog event throughout July 2012! For the month of July Romancing the Book  is welcoming us fellow book bloggers for the Romancing the Blog event. Stop by daily to meet the participating bloggers (see list below) and learn more about each one. The Small Book Blog is pleased to announce our spotlight will be held on July 10th!

For more information visit: Romancing the Blog

Parajunkee (8th)
Arianne Cruz (9th)
The Small Book Blog (10th)
Ex Libris (11th)
Reading Romances (12th)
Once Upon a Book (14th)
Mrs Condit & Friends Read Books (15th)
Under the Covers (16th)
Harlie’s Book Blog (17th)
Simply Ali (18th)
Reviews by Molly (19th)
Cafe of Dreams (20th)
Love to Read Romances (21st)
Guilty Pleasures (22nd)
Froggarita’s Bookcase (23rd)
Romance Book Craze (24th)
My Secret Romance (25th)
Booked Up (26th)
The Attic Girl (28th)

Juliet Dark's The Demon Lover

I was drawn to The Demon Lover because of the name and the cover. I looked it up in Goodreads when I bought it and realized it is the first book in a series. I decided to save it to read at a time closer to the release of book two. The Demon Lover is a paranormal novel in a normal world, the world we live it. The main heroine in the novel, Callie, has been visited by the shadow man since she was a child. It started with him telling her folktales and later turned into ravishing sexual experiences. These experiences shape Callie’s life. Callie has finished school, has successfully published a book, The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers, accepted a job at Fairwick College, and then buys a cottage that was owned by a famous author. Callie is soon inducted into the Other world and she a card holding member. She finds out her shadow man is a dangerous incubus, she works with deamons, witches and fairies and that Callie is herself paranormal.

The Demon Lover is a fun read. It reminded me of Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches. I would definitely recommend it for people eagerly waiting for book two of Harkness’s series to be released. The Demon Lover does not have the depth and details that Harkness’s novel has, but it has a gothic flair to it that I enjoyed. There is mystery (and I was guessing between a handful of players of who-dun-it), romance (both the endearing kind and the hot and spicy kind), friendship, sadness, bravery and love. The Demon Lover is a well-written, enjoyable novel. It has some fun deviations from today’s paranormal/fantasy genre and re-introduces the gothic elements that made authors like Anne Radcliff beloved. I am giving it a four dragon rating as a recommendation for those fans of A Discovery of Witches, the paranormal, gothic novels and people looking for new authors infused with folklore.

Sandra Brown's Smoke Screen

Smoke Screen by Sandra Brown is a classic Brown novel of romantic suspense. I read this as an audio book driving to and from work. It was like listening to a Lifetime movie. I enjoyed it for the most part, felt some parts were forced and the plot was a little more complicated than it might have needed to be but it was a good novel for a quick romantic suspense novel. In general, I do not read many of Sandra Brown’s novels. This is mainly because when I read the dust jacket, all her novels sound the same and I cannot remember if I have already read that one or not. For all the books I read, there are few that happen with to me but Sandra Brown novels this issue always occurs. For a summer audio read or fans of Lifetime type movies I would recommend Smoke Screen.  

Nora Roberts' The Witness

The Witness is Nora Roberts’ newest stand-alone romantic suspense novel. It is a classic Nora Roberts novel (we meet girl and where the mystery will come from, we meet boy who will help save the day, they have a “cute-meet” and fall in love all while trying to save their future from some bad people and situations). The Witness has intrigue, suspense, romance, well researched professions for the main characters, and in this novel, some murder and mayhem. I thought this novel was better than some of Roberts’ more resent books published the last few years. It had that spark of her old writing that I loved even though it did ring a little hallow in parts. I would recommend this novel for other Nora fans and fans of this genre.

Reveal It Thursday!

Happy Reading Day! I hope everyone had a blessed memorial weekend. I know I stayed busy and enjoyed every moment of my three days from work. Over the weekend I was able to dive in and gobble up the rest of the Fifty Shades trilogy and start Nora Roberts’s new hardback, The Witness. Next on my reading list is a new author called Juliet Dark and her debut novel The Demon Lover.

If you enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey, I would definitely recommend reading Fifty Shades Darker. I struggled a bit with the third book, Fifty Shades Freed, but most of the struggle was me getting upset with the characters. I’m talking to the point I almost had to force myself to stop reading because I was clenching my muscles in my irritation. In the end, I figured out why the author was being so dramatic and it was worth it BUT the third book was a struggle for me to get through. Another aspect I’ve enjoyed after reading the Fifty Shades trilogy is the crazy conversations I have found myself having with my various girlfriends who are also (or have read) reading these novels. It’s been an adventure and definitely not conversations we would have had on any other day of the week. LMAO!

What’s on your book shelf and night stand these days?

E L James' Fifty Shades of Grey

I started reading Fifty Shades of Grey to find out if all the hub-bub swirling around about it was accurate. For me and this recommendation it was delightedly worth it. The 50 Shades trilogy (I am currently immersed in book two of the series) has already been added to my books I hold dear to my heart. Not for the erotic scenes it was fanned about all over the media but because it has that incandescent spark that a reader finds only so often in a truly beloved book (or series). Some of those for me, to name a few, would be Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, A Discovery of Witches, Outlander, The Hunger Games Trilogy, and The Harry Potter Series.

The characters have realness to them, mainly Ana and Christian, which puts the reader at ease. E L James has created great chemistry between these unlikely lovers. For me, I loved reading about what they saw in each other, Ana falling into Christian’s office, Ana and Christian stumbling over each other to find an anchor within each other. While Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey may not the new Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet or even Claire and Jamie, they are, for me at least and I hope for others, right up there. I have fallen into their world and am rooting for them, commiserating with them, laughing, sighing, and melting as their story and journey unfolds. They have that quality about them that has me rooting for them despite the odds, hang-ups, fun e-mailing, and S&M tendencies.

This book is classified as an erotic novel. I have read others and it was just soft core or hard core sex set in scenes, much like a porn flick. The 50 Shades trilogy (so far at least and definitely in this first book) is realistic and the situation Ana finds herself in with Christian’s offer, while unique, is believable. The sex is not “the story” but an important component of it. The sex is delicious and leaves one panting. James has an incredible sexual voice, giving the reader sensations, feelings, textures. James is able to give the reader “vanilla sex” and then sex with a “kinky f***ery” twist. For me I appreciated the full out rawness of it. An author either needs to get into the sex scenes or give you a beginning and then an “afterglow”, a rated PG-13 or rated R movie if you will allow that as a comparison.

Fifty Shades of Grey, for the mature audiences out there, is a must read. For many, including myself, this trilogy is a new adventure and I am definitely learning about things I never would have dreamed of (in a good way).  That said, pour yourself a glass of wine and curl up with this great book.

Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell  is a hard book to recommend. Not because it is a bad story or poorly written, but because I would really need to know a person to recommend it. I was convinced to read it after the Time’s commented that Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell “combines the dark mythology of fantasy with the delicious social comedy of Jane Austen into a masterpiece of the genre that rivals Tolkien.” After finishing the novel, I would say that most of that is true.

 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell definitely reminded me of a novel written in the 18^th/19^th century. I pictured Jane Austen and Wilkie Collins conspiring over many occasions to come up with The History of Magic as told through the perceptions of Mr Norrell and Mr Strange. The book has fantasy, mythology of fairies, magic in England (both theoretical and practical), as well as war and politics. All of these dripping with that delicious sarcastic and ironic undercurrent we find in and love in Austen and Collins various publications. However, this is not a book to just slip into. There are times I enjoyed reading it and times it was tiring. It took till the end of the book to figure out what direction the author might be going with her characters. All I could figure out was that the main goal was to bring practical magic back into England by why of Mr Norrell or by Mr Strange, beyond that I could hardly form any expectations or theories.

Susanna Clarke has created a detailed world that includes history, other languages and other worlds, much like with Tolkien. Clarke also included footnotes; some absurdly long, to further the enjoyment and knowledge of the reader. The footnotes either explained a theory; tell a story related to the subject matter in the book at that current moment; or finish a history of a reference with in the storyline the author will not have time to include later or that the author wanted us to know something about.  Some I read and some I did not. It was a creative writing tool since much of this book is also presented through an academic voice.

Ultimately I think this novel let me down (although I started it with very high expectations). It was long, it meanders, it was academic theoretical magic rather than practical, it was gossipy; there were few “happy endings” and it left me uninspired. However, Clarke has created a novel with a great voice to take you on your journey to bring magic back into England and for that I was glad to have read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.