just a breeze
So Liz Carlyle.
I honestly read the books faster than I could write down my thoughts, they were that addictive. But here goes.
I began with The Devil To Pay cos jesus, gorgeous cover and I was in a reckless mood even though the premise didn't sound particularly appealing.
Oh man, it was so much Fun! Not particularly serious, very discreet on the darkness, blisteringly hot, and totally awesome play of whore/madonna. Best of all, I loved how hilariously undignified she made the hero. Just adorable and instantly converted me into a fan.
And in the back was a snippet of One Little Sin which totally hooked me so I ordered that in and devoured it in one night. What I wrote on Visual Bookshelf: My goodness, such an excellent book. So dark and constructed so very well, the clues laid along but still mysterious enough that the touch of ickiness and guilt lingered right until the final reveal. Actually, then I was a little disappointed that she did rescue them from the icky situation. I had almost made my peace with it, darkly delighted with the messy reality of it. Absolutely marvellous book with such great true emotion and quite fascinating characters.
While I was waiting for the rest of the number trilogy, I went back to the Devil trilogy and got A Deal With The Devil next. From VB: I'm beginning to think Liz Carlyle can do no wrong. This was a bloody marvellous book, slightly gothic and quite complex and provocative in its exploration of master/domestic servant power play. She totally did not flinch at going to those unsettling emotional places and my god, I cannot admire her enough for it. I would have liked a little more humour to the heroine but perhaps that would have been totally incongruous and trivialising of her pretty damned awful situation. God, Liz Carlyle does darkness so well! And this was still so hot, our hero wonderfully sensitive and bewildered by his own feelings, refreshingly honest about his emotions. I so felt for these two but then I've felt for all the Carlyle couples I've read so far.
I still have to get the final in the Devil trilogy so I veered a little farther and went to what looked like another trilogy.
No True Gentleman I couldn't resist cos of the hero. And ohhh, absolutely amazing last quarter but that's not to say I didn't love the rest of the book. She writes such great characters. Not quite as incendiarily brilliant as Duran but nearly as awesome. And god, the sex. Scorchingly awesome. The moments of tenderness and particularly the male vulnerability just makes my heart pulse. So very good with an almost exquisite epilogue.
There were a couple of phrases I could have done without, the 'ah's during sex and the eyes rolling back in heads. I never like that shit, it's so gross. But oh, mere specks on the excellence of the shining orb. Ain't that right, Helen Burns?
Back to the numbers trilogy, Two Little Lies didn't impress me quite as much. From Visual Bookshelf: I never could warm up to the hero in this one and I'm really not sure why. Was even a little uncertain about the heroine but she totally and utterly won me over. And my god, what a story. What starts out quite simply and almost fluffily uncovers such complexity and darkness from the past that man, I have no idea how Liz Carlyle does it. Brilliant sex scenes, totally real emotion and a very authentic tangle of family relationships.
The final in that trilogy, Three Little Secrets, impressed me even less. From VB: My biggest problem with this novel was the persistent and almost wilful stupidity of our heroine. I really couldn't respect her at all and I liked her only a little. Enormous sympathy, of course, but still it really irked me how long she took to see and then accept the obvious reality of the situation. Other than that and a little too many spelling mistakes, wonderful sensuality and excellent angst as always from Liz Carlyle. Possibly could have done without the BDSM-phobic disgust. *rolls eyes*
See, the fascinating and almost frustrating thing is all of Liz Carlyle's books seem to be interconnected. Almost every book has at least one character making a cameo from another book, or a supporting character getting his or her own book later. It's enormously rewarding and enormously maddening at the same time. Cos I still haven't been able to locate the book of the couple that seem to have started it all. *lol*
Intriguingly though, this interconnectedness leads to a slightly unfortunate flaw. I'm gonna forgive it because I love everything else about Liz Carlyle's writing so much but it is there. The reappearing characters are all serious and dark when in their own books but they're almost out of character in the other books, too often comic relief and buffoonish. I regret that deeply. Hopefully someone's pointed it out to Liz Carlyle and she doesn't do it any more cos I'm pretty sure I'm still in her back catalogue rather than the recent stuff.
She does have her favourite phrases which make me smile wryly cos sloppy as that repetition is, I can understand it. I mean, Lisa Kleypas had a lot of 'vaulted ribs' for a while. Liz Carlyle has a lot of 'breath ratcheting up' and 'hair scrubbing against pillows' and 'dragged his weight over her'. Slightly irritating when you read five of her books back to back but tiny flaw. Hell, I do it too across my writing and have to constantly monitor myself. It's a difficult thing but doable.
I just want everything she's written. Thank god there's so much and nicely spread between my two bookstores. Plus there are the new Connie Brockway and Elizabeth Hoyt novels but I'm biding my time with those cos I need to order them in from Canberra. Oof, I hope they're good.
I honestly read the books faster than I could write down my thoughts, they were that addictive. But here goes.
I began with The Devil To Pay cos jesus, gorgeous cover and I was in a reckless mood even though the premise didn't sound particularly appealing.
Oh man, it was so much Fun! Not particularly serious, very discreet on the darkness, blisteringly hot, and totally awesome play of whore/madonna. Best of all, I loved how hilariously undignified she made the hero. Just adorable and instantly converted me into a fan.
And in the back was a snippet of One Little Sin which totally hooked me so I ordered that in and devoured it in one night. What I wrote on Visual Bookshelf: My goodness, such an excellent book. So dark and constructed so very well, the clues laid along but still mysterious enough that the touch of ickiness and guilt lingered right until the final reveal. Actually, then I was a little disappointed that she did rescue them from the icky situation. I had almost made my peace with it, darkly delighted with the messy reality of it. Absolutely marvellous book with such great true emotion and quite fascinating characters.
While I was waiting for the rest of the number trilogy, I went back to the Devil trilogy and got A Deal With The Devil next. From VB: I'm beginning to think Liz Carlyle can do no wrong. This was a bloody marvellous book, slightly gothic and quite complex and provocative in its exploration of master/domestic servant power play. She totally did not flinch at going to those unsettling emotional places and my god, I cannot admire her enough for it. I would have liked a little more humour to the heroine but perhaps that would have been totally incongruous and trivialising of her pretty damned awful situation. God, Liz Carlyle does darkness so well! And this was still so hot, our hero wonderfully sensitive and bewildered by his own feelings, refreshingly honest about his emotions. I so felt for these two but then I've felt for all the Carlyle couples I've read so far.
I still have to get the final in the Devil trilogy so I veered a little farther and went to what looked like another trilogy.
No True Gentleman I couldn't resist cos of the hero. And ohhh, absolutely amazing last quarter but that's not to say I didn't love the rest of the book. She writes such great characters. Not quite as incendiarily brilliant as Duran but nearly as awesome. And god, the sex. Scorchingly awesome. The moments of tenderness and particularly the male vulnerability just makes my heart pulse. So very good with an almost exquisite epilogue.
There were a couple of phrases I could have done without, the 'ah's during sex and the eyes rolling back in heads. I never like that shit, it's so gross. But oh, mere specks on the excellence of the shining orb. Ain't that right, Helen Burns?
Back to the numbers trilogy, Two Little Lies didn't impress me quite as much. From Visual Bookshelf: I never could warm up to the hero in this one and I'm really not sure why. Was even a little uncertain about the heroine but she totally and utterly won me over. And my god, what a story. What starts out quite simply and almost fluffily uncovers such complexity and darkness from the past that man, I have no idea how Liz Carlyle does it. Brilliant sex scenes, totally real emotion and a very authentic tangle of family relationships.
The final in that trilogy, Three Little Secrets, impressed me even less. From VB: My biggest problem with this novel was the persistent and almost wilful stupidity of our heroine. I really couldn't respect her at all and I liked her only a little. Enormous sympathy, of course, but still it really irked me how long she took to see and then accept the obvious reality of the situation. Other than that and a little too many spelling mistakes, wonderful sensuality and excellent angst as always from Liz Carlyle. Possibly could have done without the BDSM-phobic disgust. *rolls eyes*
See, the fascinating and almost frustrating thing is all of Liz Carlyle's books seem to be interconnected. Almost every book has at least one character making a cameo from another book, or a supporting character getting his or her own book later. It's enormously rewarding and enormously maddening at the same time. Cos I still haven't been able to locate the book of the couple that seem to have started it all. *lol*
Intriguingly though, this interconnectedness leads to a slightly unfortunate flaw. I'm gonna forgive it because I love everything else about Liz Carlyle's writing so much but it is there. The reappearing characters are all serious and dark when in their own books but they're almost out of character in the other books, too often comic relief and buffoonish. I regret that deeply. Hopefully someone's pointed it out to Liz Carlyle and she doesn't do it any more cos I'm pretty sure I'm still in her back catalogue rather than the recent stuff.
She does have her favourite phrases which make me smile wryly cos sloppy as that repetition is, I can understand it. I mean, Lisa Kleypas had a lot of 'vaulted ribs' for a while. Liz Carlyle has a lot of 'breath ratcheting up' and 'hair scrubbing against pillows' and 'dragged his weight over her'. Slightly irritating when you read five of her books back to back but tiny flaw. Hell, I do it too across my writing and have to constantly monitor myself. It's a difficult thing but doable.
I just want everything she's written. Thank god there's so much and nicely spread between my two bookstores. Plus there are the new Connie Brockway and Elizabeth Hoyt novels but I'm biding my time with those cos I need to order them in from Canberra. Oof, I hope they're good.