Tempt Me at Twilight: A Review

Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is one of lowest ratings I have given a Kleypas book that I have actually finished. It makes me sad to do so, but nothing within me could honestly give more than 2 stars.

The story's synopsis is Poppy Hathaway is the compassionate, almost to a fault, member of her unconventional family. After three seasons in London society, she is still unmarried, but she has a hope that Bayning will propose to her despite his father's objections. That is until Harry Rutledge catches her lurking about his hotel. In that moment the man who got everything he wanted set his sights on the sweet Poppy who wanted nothing more out of life but to be loved and live a life of peace. Ruthless and almost cruelly selfish he manipulates Bayning's father and Bayning himself so that Poppy will fall into his arms. And despite her family's objections, Poppy, for some unknown reason, accepts Harry's proposal.

There are several issues I have with this book. The first is that Harry is so cunning and manipulative he is almost disgusting. As striking and attractive Kleypas tried to make him, nothing can change how he used everything in his power to manipulate and bend her to his will. That kind of submissive/dominant behavior should be reserved for the bedroom only. The second issue I have is that Poppy in a desperate attempt to love her husband, as deeply as she loves her family has to sacrifice EVERYTHING she said she wanted out of life. She hates London, but lives in the hotel with Harry and acts happy about it. She can be shy and awkward, but suddenly after she's married she is popular and socialable. The third issue I have is that while Harry, admirably?, does want her to want intimacy, he arrogantly wants her to just bend to his will. He is such a man. He wants a willing warm woman, but wants her exactly how he wants her to be. That's not love! That's control. He cared very little for her pain, her loss of love, and being detached from her loving, affectionate family. She is so willing to be controlled it made me want to put the book down and not take another look at it. But since I paid money for it, I supposed I should get my couple bucks worth out of it. Bottom line, while I like the Hathaways (a lot), I didn't care for Poppy and Harry's love story. I liked them better in "Married by Morning". There Harry wasn't nearly as controlling and manipulative. Ruthless, yes, but not so selfishly cruel and demeaning.

View all my reviews

Sweetwood Bride: A Review

Sweetwood Bride by Pamela Morsi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Stuck inbetween a rock and a hard place trying to keep her family together after both her parents are gone, Eulie Toby, an innocent optimistic simpleton, concocts a brilliant plan. She leads the town to believe that Moss Collier has knocked her up and will not marry her. So in the first chapter, Moss is wed with a shotgun aimed at his back. Furious, as anyone would be, Moss has other plans. He dreams of Texas and herding cattle, not farming in the Tennessee hills. When her five siblings meet him, Moss quickly realizes why she lied. Determined with as much sunshine happy optimism as she can muster, Eulie is determined to be the wife Moss deserves.

The side characters were given an unusual but enjoyable amount of attention as Eulie learns that while she might have lied with good intentions, trying to control others isn't the way to earn family love. As Moss's dream of Texas is fading into a future with Eulie.

While I have a hard time getting into women (female leads) who lie, Morsi showed the reason for the lie. She does well writing the side characters and their back stories. I liked how the family's conflicts resolved themselves, but I do wish Moss had more closure with his dream of going to Texas. I didn't feel it as resolved as everyone else's conflicts.

It's a decent read. Eulie's character is a sweet simpleton that may annoy some, but I wasn't too bothered by it. What wouldn't some of us do for family.

View all my reviews

1984 meets 2012

This, I have to say, scares the crap out of me! Stop SOPA and PIPA. The voting begins January 24th so speak out against Internet censorship.

Google's Stand

Reddit's Stand

Wikipedia's Stand

What these media/information sites are all saying is that SOPA AND PIPA ARE A BAD IDEA! Speak out, contact your local congresspeople and tell them to vote it down. We do not want to end up like China, North Korea, or Iran where their information is controlled by the government. That's not America's way.

6010 Library Visit Final Presentation

This is a presentation I did for my LIS 6010 Introduction to the Profession. The assignment was to look at two libraries and compare/contrast their attributes. I focused most of my interview on the general attitudes and overall general approach/vision of each library rather than on technical bits of information.


Library Visit 6010
This is through GoogleDocs.

Maid to Match: Review

Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite Christian Historical Fiction writers for her historical accuracy and her light Christian ranting, but this one fell a little flat in the romance department. I really couldn't feel the romance between the two main characters. The side characters were wonderfully funny and light, but the two main ones were a touch half baked. I enjoyed the story but probably wouldn't re-read it. Great if you want a cute little romance with a Christian background and neat historical details.

View all my reviews

Smooth Talking Stranger: A Review

Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I find that I love this author. Witty and hot! But this book I had to force myself through the first three chapters because there was no one in the book I liked initially beside the protagonist. The Mother, boyfriend, cousin, and even the sister had me just wanting to put the book down and forget it, but patience paid off as the author moved away from those characters and on to very fun and enjoyable characters that sold me on the book. All in all, pretty good, but I think I will go back to her historical romances. They seem to be more my flavor.

View all my reviews

Suddenly You: A Review

Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I knew deep down I wasn't going to like this book, but thought what hey I'll try and and see if I like it. I found the romance a little bit stale while the action was steamy. I did not like Jack very much at all. I found his character to be manipulative and beyond arrogant. I could only read about 200 pages of it before I set it down and couldn't finish it. I liked Amanda alright. I found her an interesting roll of modern woman (not historically accurate, not by a long shot) and vulnerability. I think this could have been better if it was written in modern times, but I probably still wouldn't have finished it since I didn't care for Jack too much.

View all my reviews

The Admiral's Penniless Bride: A Review

The Admiral's Penniless Bride by Carla Kelly
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book left almost a sawdust taste in my mouth. Not so repugnant that I want to vomit, but it wasn't pleasant to say the least! The beginning had an interesting hook.

Sally Paul is sipping on her last penny when Admiral Sir Charles Bright notices her and hatches a plan. He needs a wife and his first choice has stood him up so when he notices that she is without means he proposes a marriage of convenience. At first she says no, but then realizes it's marriage to the one handed man (the other hand has a hook) or the workhouse.

It starts out sweet, but then kind of turns stale towards the middle. I was a little bit thrown by the book burning scene since I am an avid fan of books no matter how horrible they may seem, but I tried to take it into context. My main beef with this book is the love scenes. I know some authors struggle to write romantic love scenes, but she almost avoided them entirely. I have no problem with a shy writer, but I almost wanted to scream, "Man up! And write a decent love scene!"

The author struggled with the telling of the story. It almost felt as if she was trying to write it as a movie would show. I've read fanfiction writers who can pull this off better than she did! You have to write so the reader knows what the hell is going on. The story didn't start to get good until the last thirty pages. It felt rushed and poorly told at the end. Excellent beginning, but a stale middle and rushed end made it sit uneasy with me and so I gave it a 2 star rating.

It's a quick read so if you want to check it out, go ahead... it's an easy read. And there were some enjoyable bits to it. I think I would have enjoyed it more had the secondary characters been better developed, the story told better with smoother transitions, and not so rushed at the end.

View all my reviews