A review of Playing Dirty by Susan Andersen

I was so excited when I saw that I had a new Susan Andersen to read.  There's really only one book of her's that I've gone back and re-read but she is definitely one that I'm never disappointed with.  Playing Dirty was not an exception.  In either sense.  I wasn't disappointed, really, but I'm not going to be reading it again.
It was all very expected.  This is the third book in a series and the last one came out in July of 09.  I'm glad she released the third because there were things left hanging that I needed a conclusion for.  I did not re-read the first two in the series before I read this one and I'm glad I didn't because it felt very much like the first book.  There were certain places that I felt like names, descriptions and jobs had been changed but the plot was the same.  Of course there are differences and this is often my complaint with a series but 1.  I felt like I had "been there, done that" and 2.  I want the fantasy of romance but I want it to be believable and I just have a hard time believing that these three friends really go through such similar experiences on the road to love.


What you might want to know:

Written in third person with his/hers points of view and also the POV of the "bad guy".
Contemporary romance with some mild adventure/suspense thrown in but that doesn't consume the plot of the book.


Good Parts / Bad Parts

• If this was the first one of the series I probably would have liked it a lot more, it just felt a little redundant.
• I liked that she was an average size for a real person and was gorgeous and guys loved her curves.  I liked, even, that she was so insecure about herself because it made her feel real.  I felt like it got old after a while.  OK, her Mom thinks she's fat, she went to fat camp, she was the "fat girl" in high school.  Can we move on?
• I had an issue with the language sometimes.  I want people to write like they talk and so phrases like "to make him see she in no way disregarded his declaration" would make sense for the character because she was so high brow but when she also used phrases like "that she would give her left boob to have..." it made the more verbose parts less believable.
• Best quote from the book:  (after a comment on her apartment's color choices)  "We have uteruses-- they give us magic color sense."
• If you've read the rest of the series you need to read this one because there is some closure.  I would recommend, at the very least the first book, so by default I would recommend this one.  **Don't read them all back to back!**

I love wine!

Wine enhances the romance novel experience.  And the TV experience.  And pretty much everything.  That is all.

These are a few of my favorite things....

I'm working on trying to find a good way to compile some sort of list of "if you like blank, then you will like blank".  I'm sure there's a great way to do it and I'm sure I'll be struck with devine intervention.  Until then I thought I'd do a quick run down of some of my current top 3 favorite authors.

Jennifer Crusie
Why:  She's smart.  She's hysterically funny in a dry sort of way.

What is her writing style:  Almost always a less than physically perfect woman and by that I mean a REAL person that most women can relate to and generally speaking a REAL man.  Are they all beefed up quite a bit?  Sure!  It is a romance novel, after all.
Favorite book:  By far and away Agnes and the Hitman.  (This was written with Bob Mayer.) Love, love, love it!  I don't know if I have one that I don't like although Fast Women depresses me a little because I want fantasy and that was just a little bit too real world for me.

Rachel Gibson
Why:  She's just fun and sexy.  Well written and the perfect example of contemporary romance.
What is her writing style:  Anything you think you'd find in a contemporary romance  you will find with Rachel Gibson.  She has a lot of connected books.  Even the books that don't directly have a connection with another may have a connection through someone who knows someone and are mentioned in the book somewhere.  Most books either involve a hockey player or a law enforcement person of some sort.  Her men are high testosterone uber males and her women are generally (though not always) above average, attractive and glamorous.
Favorite book:  Depends on the day but probably See Jane Score when I want a sports story or Lola Carlyle Reveals All when I want a lighter Romantic Suspense.

Victoria Dahl
She hasn't been around as long as the other two but I've loved every book she's ever written in the contemporary romance style.  She also writes historical romance and if I ever decide to read one of those, she will be my first.
Why:  Sexy!  Her books are about as sexy as they get before you start getting close to erotic romance.
What is her writing style:  Almost always some sort of suspense but it's really light suspense.  Funny and super sexy.  Her women are hot, her men are hot and when I read it I think I must be hot too!  The sex scenes are great.  I was lending books to my mom for a while but felt funny about giving her my first Victoria Dahl.  The pages around the "good parts" were a little dog eared and I felt like me and the book had a bit of a relationship.
Favorite Book:  Her first contemporary romance:  Talk Me Down.  I loved that there was a "sex scene" with her vibrator and that the main character was an erotica writer.  I really loved that she published The Wicked West under the name Holly Summers which was her main character, Molly's, pen name and was the book the Molly was writing throughout Talk Me Down.

Holy Guacamole! Where are my cigarettes? A review of Indulgent Pleasures by Karen Erickson

I think my face might be red but I'm smiling!  This was my first trip into erotic romance and I LIKED IT!
I'm a contemporary romance kind of girl.  My favorite authors are probably Jennifer Crusie and Rachel Gibson.  If those two are filet mignon and lobster then Karen Erickson is a giant piece of chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream and hot fudge and chocolate sprinkles.  And then maybe some more fudge.
I don't know what I expected from Indulgent Pleasures.  I have to admit that I stumbled upon it and probably would not have bought it except it was only 99 cents.  I think I assumed that I'd get some great sex scenes but that I would be sacrificing the story.  But I got the story too!
The basic idea is:  She is a reporter, he is a famous former baseball player that is media shy (of course).  She is researching women's sexual fantasies and wants to try some out and he is a willing participant.  I'm sure you can figure out where the sex scenes come in.
If you like contemporary romance should you read it:  Yes!  Obviously if the sex scenes in a Susan Andersen book make you uncomfortable then don't, but if every now and then you want a little more but don't want to sacrifice the story then this is what you want.
What I'm looking for:

• Written in third person with multiple points of view.  For most of the book it was written with his/hers POV but towards the end we get the POV of two lesser characters.  I understood why it happened but it threw me off a little to get that only at the end.
• OK... cover your ears (or eyes) if you don't want "language" but it was actually a little refreshing to see a phrase like "her pussy was wet" instead of "her womanly center was glistening with desire".
• I may have been too turned on to notice but I'm pretty sure I didn't see the word "throb" at all.
• My only real complaint, and it's not really a complaint, was that it was long.  756 pages on my nook. I am often disappointed at the end of a book because I wanted more but I think I, personally, want something longer than 400 pages but shorter than this.  I am a girl with a limited attention span!  I was anxious to find out what happened!

In short, I will be reading more Karen Erickson and probably more erotic romance in general. Can I live off chocolate cake?  No.  I still love steak and lobster but I know where to get dessert now!

A review of Just One Look by Joan Reeves

"What would you do if the gynecologist subbing for your regular doctor turned out to be your old high school crush?"

That was the first sentence on the website for Just One Look and I don't think I even finished reading the description before I downloaded the ebook.  I really wanted to like this book and there were parts that I did but there were some problems too.

The premise was funny and the anticipation was great but I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes at some of the situations.  Through about 75% of the book the build up and the chemistry were enough to overcome some of the less believable moments.  But I was so disappointed in the ending.  I know it's a romance novel and we all know what happens in the end but I just can't be happy about it's not believable enough.  I want to be able to put down the book believing that they really did live happily ever after.  

My biggest problem was that there were about 50-60 pages of extra material (about the author, etc...) at the end and I thought it was more of the book.  So when it said "The End" I wasn't ready.  I was confused and I kept flipping backwards to see if I skipped a chapter or two.  Deep Sigh.  I think I'm going to read one more of her books and see if it was just this one with the problem because parts of it were good.

• Written in third person with his/hers POV.  The POV sometimes switched back and forth too quickly making it a little confusing.
• Lots of good sexual tension and build up and I really wanted the two to get together.
• Needed another chapter or two to at the end to wrap things up more believably.  
• Used the word "besotted".  I'll let you judge what you think of that.

To read more about Joan Reeves click here.

Jane Graves: Please write more often!

I have been dying for a good romantic comedy.  I even started one about a cowboy/vampire.  I was desperate!  So I was looking through Barnes and Noble reviews of contemporary romance and stumbled upon a new Jane Graves:  Black Ties and Lullabies.  I've read all of her books and the one that came out right before this one:  Tall Tales and Wedding Veils is great.  But it was published in 2008!  I wasn't nearly as impressed with any of her previous books.

I started out a little wary of the book.  Call me a throw back, call me anti-feminist, I don't care but I didn't think I could get into the female lead, Bernie, when she was the bodyguard of her leading man.  I was wrong.  What started out as a read of desperation turned into something that I really enjoyed and I'm now looking forward to her next release which is coming in the fall.

So my problem with some book reviews revolves around the fact that some of them seem to be more about how witty the reviewer can be vs. giving me the information I need to make a decision for myself.  I could give this book an A- or 4 1/2 stars but that won't help you if you just can't get into a book that doesn't have at least 4 borderline erotica stories or if you prefer books written from one point of view.  So, here is the information I'm usually looking for:

• It is a contemporary romance but I wouldn't put it into any other major sub-genre.  She is a body guard but it is not a suspense.
• It is written in third person with two points of view (his/hers).
• She is a tom-boy but pretty with some self-esteem issues.  He is a rich womanizer who, obviously, changes his ways.
• Sex scenes weren't quite as plentiful or racy as I might prefer them but were present so I was OK with them.  They left me wanting a little more instead of wanting to jump my husband in the shower but he had just mowed the lawn so I didn't really want to anyway.  
• Overall I really enjoyed it and can't wait for the next one.  I hope Jane graves doesn't plan on another 3 years in between books!  
• My favorite parts (and just so you know it says she gets pregnant on the back cover so I'm not spoiling anything):  1.  The conversation about how to have pregnant sex.  Hysterical!  Made my husband listen to me read it to him.  2.  The comment made by her friend when discussing if she'll ever have a clean house again after the baby.  "I'm just telling you that cleaning isn't important.  No kid ever became a happy, healthy, well-adjusted adult because he grew up in a house with a spotless kitchen floor." Words to live by!

Click here if you want to see more of Jane Graves

Why can't I find the contemporary romance I'm looking for?

You know, you wouldn't think that finding the right contemporary romance would be rocket science.  Somehow, though, I seem to be able to understand Einstein's Theory of Relativity more easily than I can comprehend the difference in single title romance, series romance, romantic fiction, fiction with strong romantic elements....  I just want a book that makes me happy and if we are being honest, feel the need to break out a fresh pack of batteries!
I can stand in a book store and spend 45 minutes combing through the books in the romance section, reading the first paragraph of the first few chapters to make sure the book is from the man and woman's point of view (those are my favorites), that the guy isn't a wimp, that the girl isn't a wimp, that we are not dealing with pirates and that the word "throb" has been kept to a minimum only to get home and realize that this is the third book in a series and I don't know the background story.
I want to be able to say:  I like a book written in the third person with at least two points of view, there needs to be at least one sex scene, I don't like pirates, I'm not in the mood for vampires and what the hell, throw in an FBI agent, and a list of books will appear.
But I can't find that.  So I'm going to at least put in my two cents about the books I read.  Hopefully someone will find it useful or entertaining or maybe even both!  Maybe someone will introduce me to my next favorite author!  Either way, I look forward to what's to come!