Yet more books on my romance binge...
Two of these are rereads, so clearly I love 'em.
Loretta Chase, Lord of Scoundrels - this one is a reread, but I read it so long ago, I barely remember details, other than the fact that it is the only Chase book I ever truly liked. And on this reread, it's as fun as ever! Set in the late 1820s France and England, the book's heroine, Jessica Trent, sets out to rescue her idiot brother from the bad company he keeps. The bad company being our hero, the Marquis of Dain. Let's get this out of the way first, because it's the most important thing - I love Jessica! Love her! A more common-sense, unflappable heroine never drew breath in the pages of a romance novel. But this book also features the rare instance of a hero starting out the book as a jerk where I still like him and buy his eventual gradual change. In part because it is gradual, in part because Chase explains why he is the way he is, and also in part because Jessica deals with him so well, in part because she gets that he has the emotional maturity of an 8-yr-old boy and is totally high-strung into the bargain. It's adorable how befuddled by her he is. Anyway, this book is a total total darling.
Grace Burrowes, The Heir - this is an incredibly low-key 1820s romance between an aristocrat and his housekeeper (who is not exactly who she appears) which has incredibly well-adjusted hero and heroine who are good, kind, duty-bound, and low drama. Nothing particularly exciting happens but I adored the leads and it's just such a lovely lovely book - it made me think of a warm summer day when I was reading it, and in the middle of winter, that's a quite wonderful thing to be.
Kresley Cole, Dreams of a Dark Warrior - I might rant about Cole's Immortals After Dark series, but the joke is on me, as I keep reading every single one with unholy fascination. This said, DoaDW is only the second one of all the books in the series that I genuinely like. I've noticed a clear correlation between 'lack of instantenous soulmate crap' and 'if one of the parties treats each other badly, the other doesn't overlook it' and 'I like.' This one is deliciously twisted and angsty, but in all the right ways. Regin the Radiant is a 1000-year old Valkyrie who is doomed to relive her tragic love affair with a Viking berserker over and over. The berserker died back in the Dark Ages but loved her so much, he keeps being reborn over and over, but every time, shortly after finding her and falling for her, he gets killed, over and over and over. So this time, Regin is staying away from the latest reincarnation, for his own good. One problem, the latest reincarnation is Declan Chase, a scarred, drug-dependent, screwed up fanatic in a secret order dedicated to elimitating immortals. And his latest mission results in capturing Regin and bringing her to the secret facility for interrogation and other less pleasant things. I loved it! First of all, Regin does not break and also takes no nonsense from anyone and doesn't do the whole 'oh, he mistreats me but woobie!' crap, not until Declan does show he changes and earns her forgiveness. Second of all, Cole for once doesn't posit that hero's actions are OK, but does explain them - if you saw your whole family tortured to death and than got tortured for days by the same supernatural creatures when you were a kid, and then got saved and literally brainwashed by an order bent on offing supernatural, you'd be utterly fucked up too. Anyway, this was fun. I can't say I am going to keep this close to me all the days of my life, but a fun, angsty read it was.
Jennifer Ashley, The Madness of Lord Ian McKenzie - another reread. Ashley is an odd duck for me because this book is the only one of hers I love, the others bored me stiff. Still, fluke or not, this one is totally and utterly beyond awesome. It's set in Victorian era, and involves a widow and a hero who has (obviously undiagnosed, since it's Victorian era) Asperger's. Normally it would have never caught my attention, but flisties recced it, I read it and loved it. And now I am rereading it, and it's every bit as good. Beth is completely fabulous, but Ian is what makes this book - he is pretty unique as far as romance novels go but it so so so very much works! It's on my Top 10 Romance Novels list.
Loretta Chase, Lord of Scoundrels - this one is a reread, but I read it so long ago, I barely remember details, other than the fact that it is the only Chase book I ever truly liked. And on this reread, it's as fun as ever! Set in the late 1820s France and England, the book's heroine, Jessica Trent, sets out to rescue her idiot brother from the bad company he keeps. The bad company being our hero, the Marquis of Dain. Let's get this out of the way first, because it's the most important thing - I love Jessica! Love her! A more common-sense, unflappable heroine never drew breath in the pages of a romance novel. But this book also features the rare instance of a hero starting out the book as a jerk where I still like him and buy his eventual gradual change. In part because it is gradual, in part because Chase explains why he is the way he is, and also in part because Jessica deals with him so well, in part because she gets that he has the emotional maturity of an 8-yr-old boy and is totally high-strung into the bargain. It's adorable how befuddled by her he is. Anyway, this book is a total total darling.
Grace Burrowes, The Heir - this is an incredibly low-key 1820s romance between an aristocrat and his housekeeper (who is not exactly who she appears) which has incredibly well-adjusted hero and heroine who are good, kind, duty-bound, and low drama. Nothing particularly exciting happens but I adored the leads and it's just such a lovely lovely book - it made me think of a warm summer day when I was reading it, and in the middle of winter, that's a quite wonderful thing to be.
Kresley Cole, Dreams of a Dark Warrior - I might rant about Cole's Immortals After Dark series, but the joke is on me, as I keep reading every single one with unholy fascination. This said, DoaDW is only the second one of all the books in the series that I genuinely like. I've noticed a clear correlation between 'lack of instantenous soulmate crap' and 'if one of the parties treats each other badly, the other doesn't overlook it' and 'I like.' This one is deliciously twisted and angsty, but in all the right ways. Regin the Radiant is a 1000-year old Valkyrie who is doomed to relive her tragic love affair with a Viking berserker over and over. The berserker died back in the Dark Ages but loved her so much, he keeps being reborn over and over, but every time, shortly after finding her and falling for her, he gets killed, over and over and over. So this time, Regin is staying away from the latest reincarnation, for his own good. One problem, the latest reincarnation is Declan Chase, a scarred, drug-dependent, screwed up fanatic in a secret order dedicated to elimitating immortals. And his latest mission results in capturing Regin and bringing her to the secret facility for interrogation and other less pleasant things. I loved it! First of all, Regin does not break and also takes no nonsense from anyone and doesn't do the whole 'oh, he mistreats me but woobie!' crap, not until Declan does show he changes and earns her forgiveness. Second of all, Cole for once doesn't posit that hero's actions are OK, but does explain them - if you saw your whole family tortured to death and than got tortured for days by the same supernatural creatures when you were a kid, and then got saved and literally brainwashed by an order bent on offing supernatural, you'd be utterly fucked up too. Anyway, this was fun. I can't say I am going to keep this close to me all the days of my life, but a fun, angsty read it was.
Jennifer Ashley, The Madness of Lord Ian McKenzie - another reread. Ashley is an odd duck for me because this book is the only one of hers I love, the others bored me stiff. Still, fluke or not, this one is totally and utterly beyond awesome. It's set in Victorian era, and involves a widow and a hero who has (obviously undiagnosed, since it's Victorian era) Asperger's. Normally it would have never caught my attention, but flisties recced it, I read it and loved it. And now I am rereading it, and it's every bit as good. Beth is completely fabulous, but Ian is what makes this book - he is pretty unique as far as romance novels go but it so so so very much works! It's on my Top 10 Romance Novels list.