Catherine Coulter is what I call a “best of times, worst of times” kind of author. You never know what you are going to get when reading one of her books; it is like a tale of two authors. One book can be absolutely wonderful and the next wretched. Readers tend to either love her…
Sometimes it’s hard to predict whether any single element in a story is going to be a deal-breaker or a deal-maker; you just have to read the book to find out. The intense, almost violent, nature of the sexual relationship between the hero and heroine almost ruined this one for me, but Kinsale managed to…
I enjoyed reading Shady Lady by Elizabeth Thornton; it has likable characters and is written in a style that keeps the pages turning nicely. But once I closed it and thought back on the plot, all I could see were the book’s shortcomings. In the prologue, a woman named Chloe is about to be attacked…
I have to admit, I chose Gone To The Dogs because the premise sounded so ridiculous that at least I would have plenty to write about, even if it were only to complain. But what I actually found was a rather pleasant book with likable characters and amusing side commentary by none other than a…
I like Cathy Maxwell’s books. I liked 2002’s The Wedding Wager, in spite of its all-too-obvious flaws. With all the appeal and fewer flaws, I like The Seduction of an English Lady even more. Lady Rosalyn Wellborne lost her parents when she was a young girl; afterwards, she was shuttled around from one uncaring relative…
Readers of romantic suspense often complain that books tend to have either a believable romance or a good suspense plot, but not both. Though it has its flaws (especially in the second half), Jessica Hall’s latest thriller offers some of both. While the mystery plot is stronger than the romance here, the book’s hero and…
Drive Me Crazy did. I love auto racing, and figured a romance set during a classic car auto rally featuring a woman mechanic as the heroine would be fun and different. If only the story had made sense and the characters had been halfway sensible, this would have been a lot of fun. But they…
My first book by Dee Davis was, regretfully, not a successful experiment. Part time travel, part Scots medieval, part mystery – this novel seems like an ambitious attempt by the author to do something a little different from the norm. Unfortunately, throwing away the character clichés would have been a less ambitious and probably more…
It’s hard to know what to say about a book that’s only 170 pages long. There’s not much room for character development and only minimal plotting – which effectively describes Putting Boys On The Ledge. With its “After School Special” feel, and its unconvincingly teenaged narrative voice, the book has little to recommend it. Blue…
The Love of a Stranger is one of those books with a small town setting that baffled me; I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to believe small towns are good places to live, and yet the author portrays Callister, Idaho, as hell on earth. All the locals are mean, corrupt, or too weak to stand up…
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