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 ( Read more... )
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 ( Read more... )
Loretta Chase is awesome. I don't really like her new stuff (too cookie cutter, unrealistic and formulaic for my tastes) but many of her older books are great fun.
Devil's Delilah is one of her oldest books. It's a traditional regency (so shorter format than her novels) but it packs a good punch. Great hero, great heroine. It might be hard to find. i've got a digital copy if you like.
Mr Impossible is hilarious (although it does have some slow passages). It takes place in Egypt and I love that kind of setting.
The Last Hellion is a funny romp with a lot of heart. For some reason, it always reminds me a bit of Heyer's regencies. Perhaps it's the dynamics of the hero/heroine duo.
I don't think I've ever read Sherrylin Kenyon. Would you rec any books by her? I've been on a YA kick lately and I feel the need for some adult reading before diving back into my To Be Read YA pile. Acheron and Born of Silence sound pretty harsh but maybe there are other books by her worth reading?
Re-Brook, I'm thinking we might get a few flashbacks of Michael's time in Chaos in his book. That could be painful.
But, I agree with you about DoaW: all the gory stuff is up close and personal. I remember cringing at one scene. It didn't make we gag but I came pretty close when I tried to picture the scene.
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Kenyon is hit or miss but I like some of her stuff. She really goes for massively dark and angsty and h/c full. I wouldn't rec Acheron, if for no other reason that you'd need to read a 14 other books in that series to get the full impact but here are the ones I'd rec:
From her Dark Hunter series:
Fantasy Lover - utterly ridiculous and pretty much unangsty, this is just a fun romp with a lot of sex, which involves a woman who accidentally conjures an ancient Spartan general cursed to be a love slave (yes indeed) and boinking commenses. This is not a great book, but entertaining as hell.
Night Pleasures - I am just going to copy the amazon summary: " He is solitude. He is darkness. He is the ruler of the night. Yet Kyrian of Thrace has just woken up handcuffed to his worst nightmare: An accountant. Worse, she's being hunted by one of the most lethal vampires out there. And if Amanda Devereaux goes down, then he does too. But it's not just their lives that are hanging in the balance. Kyrian and Amanda are all that stands between humanity and oblivion. Let's hope they win." It's not super angsty either.
Dance with the Devil - aaaaaaangst alert! Kinda insane dark hunter and a supernatural justice lady who is supposed to judge him. Did I mention aaaaaaaaaaaangst? Dude did not have a happy childhood.
From her scifi romance series The League (set in some Galaxy far far away and in the future)
Born of Night - I am a sucker for deadly assassin/bodyguard with brutal past who's never loved before/seemingly fragile but spunky princess/accomplished dancer set up, and this one has lots of plot and romance and goodness. Also, while the hero has the requisite horrible past, by Kenyon standards, it's not toooooo horrible (OK, by any other romance author's it's probably be pretty horrible as far as pasts go, but a Kenyon scale is different).
Born of Silence - yup, it's ridiculously angsty, but for a h/c and angst junkie like me, it's pure heaven. Plus, once again, hero never loved anyone before the heroine, which is always good. Basically the hero is seemingly effete prince by day, a leader in the Resistance by night (courtesy of full body armor so nobody can see who he really is), and the heroine is another Resistance leader and his one link to sanity. At the start of the book, he's figured out how to keep his family safe from his monstrous Uncle (who usurped his place and runs the planet and has had the hero mistreated in pretty much every possible way) and finally overthrow the Government, but before he can implement it, he gets caught by the rebels who have no idea he is the Resistance hero, capture him and torture him for months (and he belives on heroine's orders). So once he finally gets free and takes over the planet, his tenuous hold on sanity is gone, and only the heroine can possibly save him. OK, this book is unabashedly OTT and the h/c is off the charts, but I love it anyway. It's my ultimate guilty pleasure and I totally reread it twice since my original reading. I love the heroine, it has a dense (for a romance novel) plot, and of course the hero rocks my socks. How could you not love a man who builds a tower of skulls of his enemies outside his palace? :P
ETA: She also wrote a bunch of period romances under the name Kinley McGregor, out of which my favorite is Born in Sin.
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Hmm, I think I might go for the sci-fi books. I love those but I don't often find any good ones.
I am a sucker for deadly assassin/bodyguard with brutal past who's never loved before/seemingly fragile but spunky princess/accomplished dancer set up
--> This sounds right up my alley.
his tenuous hold on sanity is gone, and only the heroine can possibly save him
--> And this as well.
Heh, Kinley McGregor rings a bell! I think I might have read something by her. I didn't know she was SK.
*off to look for The League series*
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I confess Kenyon is every bit as shameless (and possibly problematic, though in a different way) as I found Cole's IAD books to be, but she often hits my kinks so precisely, I don't mind. They are my very definition of a guilty pleasure.
I do wonder about what goes on in her head with her torture/etc fixation...I mean, I think the hero of Born of Silence only got things to get better and then a happy ending because she ran out of things she could do to him. :P
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You know, it's not the first time that I see (or hear about) authors who keep throwing the same things into their books. It almost seems like they're trying to get rid of a frustration.
I don't know if you've ever read Sherry Thomas but she almost always write about estranged couples. I don't know if she does it as therapy or just because she enjoys writing about it but it's weird. Another author (whose name I can't remember) used to always include the same activity (driving around the countryside for pleasure) book after book. Etc...
It's strange that Kenyon seems to get off on torturing her heroes. It's pretty clear that Kresley Cole purposefully includes the violence and gore to be over-the-top in a campy way but from what you said, I don't think it's the case with Kenyon.
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-Born of Night (convenient!)
-Time Untime (no clue what it is about)
So I'm all set to start on the League series just a soon as I finish the book I'm reading.
It wouldn't surprise me that some authors work out their issues in their books. And some have bigger issues than others. Kenyon's seem pretty traumatic from what you say.
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