 exclusive school, because she had the kids write letters to Santa. She gets a letter saying Santa's bought her a weekend getaway at the Timberline Lodge and that's where everything starts happening and by everything I mean, running into a guy she went to school with.
He's not big on Christmas, but he turns into her Christmas present. There's more to this story than just hot sex too, but I won't give that away, you'll just have to read it for yourself.
Catherine George almost had a winner with Consolation Prize. The story is cute enough with Hillary Mason and Rhodri Lloyd-Ellis who just can't seem to get together properly.  From there on, the relationship that they try to get started is plagued by insecurities and stupidity.
There is one thing that bugs me about this book and a few others. Since when is kissing, making love? Huh? What?
The story really seems to focus on Hillary's having some self-esteem issues. She doesn't think a wealthy man could possibly like her when compared to her sister, Candida, who is now dating a famous actor, who is on the rebound from a friend.
For awhile her finding excuses and arguing with Rhordi was cute, but it never really stopped even when it became apparent that they both liked each other. It was always he's much older, he's an aristocrat, he drives a fancy car. Its always something. And granted all those reasons really make it unlikely for a 35 year old to fall for a 20 year, it happens. I just wish some of the filler would have been left behind.
When Rhordi uses his influence to have Hillary sacked from her second job at the hotel, I think I would have washed my hands of him. His behavior was too controlling. I don't care how much I thought I was in love with him at that point, I would have washed my hands of him then and there.
The story was cute at times but there was too much of it that was a bit hard to believe.
I discovered this book by Zoa Sherburne while cleaning. I hate getting rid of books when I'm unsure of whether or not I've read them. I'm glad I read this one.
This book was released sometime in the late 1950s or very early 60s, but oddly enough it really stands the test of time.
Karen is a 17 year old girl who is moving across the country to be with her father and his wife. Her mother died a few years previously (of cancer, we presume) and she's been living with her grandmother, who is very crotchety.
When she arrives in Oregen, Karen isn't sure how to behave. Its part of what makes the story relevant now. Karen is out of her element in her new surroundings. She's not sure how to act, or how she wants to act. She's a little resentful of Jan, her father's new wife, who is having the baby that her own mother longed for.
I love Karen's determination when she meets the town bad boy, Nels and later his mother. This young woman has strength and she shows her love for the people in her life so well, even when she is being stubborn.
I only wish Zoa would have spent some time telling us a bit more about Karen's mother and her illness and the reason for her mom's divorce from Thad Hale. It might have made it easier to understand the characters more.
All in all, this was a great book. It was written very well and was better than a lot of the young adult fiction that I read when I was growing up. I was going to pass this book on to Goodwill but now I'm not sure if I will. I may keep it, to revisit later.
The way this book was written, you would have sworn that it took place in the 1960s rather than the mid 80s.
This was not a book that I could really get into. It seemed more like a Presents rather than a regular Harlequin Romance. The hero had that overly arrogant manner and the heroine was more than a little bit wussy.
In a story where two former "lovers" reunite, there are so many things that could happen that could bring about a happy ending, but that's not the case here. Arabella finds it hard to tell the truth because she believes Rudi left her after a bitter fight 5 years before. She's cold, catty and quite often unlikable. I found myself wanting to smack or shake her several times in the story.
She told lies and created innuendo that were meant to keep Rudi away. It would have been better if she screamed and shouted at him. It might have saved the author a few dozen pages.
The only thing about her that I did like was her loyalty to her father, who has run about on hard times. I shook my head at how she was a struggling model, yet she was working for a top designer. Even in the 80s if that were the case, she could have helped get her father out of his financial difficulties. Its not as if she was a catalog model.
Rudi was a bit more likable, but again, the two characters just had way too many secrets and very little trust in one another. It almost made the happy ending a bit unbelievable. Neither one of them wanted to come out and confess their true feelings. The whole book felt like a power struggle and that didn't make for good reading. In a line where most stories are lighthearted this one was a bit to dramatic.
Always a Bridesmaid is a lovely book by Patricia Knoll that will appeal to young and old readers with a taste for the romantic.
Shelby Featherstone is trying to open a bridal store in a fancy mall run and owned by one A.J. Court, who keeps denying her applications. When she storms in on his business lunch, things get hilarious.
She becomes his fiancee for the moment.
But even after the charade is up, the two of them keep ending up together.
This book would make a perfect romantic comedy. It has all the right elements; a wacky female character that's a little bumbling and her crazy/ditzy family. A well to do hero that really has a heart of gold.
With the plot twists of having him become engaged to Shelby's best friend and then that best friend's former boyfriend wanting her back...really...this book should be on the big screen!
This was an all around super fun read that I didn't want to end.
I love Carly Phillips. She's one of my favorite authors, but for some reason, this book just did nothing for me.
It wasn't a bad story, I just couldn't get into it. Jake Lowell and Brianne Nelson were likable enough characters, the storyline was fast-paced and exciting, but maybe that was it. It was too exciting and not hot enough.
There was sexual tension galore between the two lead characters, but it didn't get acted upon until the story was at the halfway point.
This read more like an Intrigue or a Romantic Suspense novel than a Blaze Temptation, at least for me. That has to be my main problem with the book. I wanted more heat and Carly was giving out more cops and drug dealers only not as exciting.
It just felt very middle of the road for whichever genre you placed it in for me. I wanted more. I also would have liked to have met Brianne's brother, since she speaks of him so much, and considering that it is summer, its hard to understand why he was in school.
It took me 4 days to make it through this 250 page book. That's something I could usually do in about a day. So something didn't grab me. I wish I could gush about this one, but it just wasn't for me.
Every month I try to drift away from my norm of reading romance novels and I delve into something that will make me think. I have dubbed these "Brain Books." I try to read 1 "Brain Book" a month.
The question is, what book should I choose this month.
I'm thinking I may try Janice Y.K. Lee's The Piano Teacher or Anne Rice's Angel Time.
So which book do you think it should be? Let me know in the comments. Or if you have any other suggestions of books let me know.
One of my favorite Blaze author's Hope Tarr is going to have a book out in July. That's just in time for my birthday! Woo hoo!
Its another Historical for the Blaze line which makes me doubly excited. I love historical romances and with the red hot spice of the Blaze line it makes things twice as nice.
If you want to read an excerpt from The Tutor, you can click the link here and go to Hope's site and read more.
There have been a lot of great Blaze novels lately but this book really has me excited.
First let me say I loved Midnight Resolutions by Kathleen O'Reilly, but that said, it took til the story was almost over before I didn't want to kill Rose. The heroine was so, snotty and pretentious that it was impossible to really warm to her until she started to see the error of her ways. In fact, this was one novel where the hero seemed to be more of a front and center character. Ian's life and struggles seemed far more important than Rose's. Maybe its because I have a bias against blondes named Rose, because of my dislike for the Doctor Who character, of that name.
Even the secondary characters were