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.

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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.

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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.

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Star Bright: A Review

Star Bright by Catherine Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to give this more stars, but couldn't. I liked the beginning. It was gripping and interesting. I could feel her panic and anxiety throughout most of the book, but where it feel short with me was it moved too slow. I find with Catherine Anderson books that they are generally way too long for what she writes about.

Faking her own death to escape her murderous husband, Rainie Hall takes refuge in the rural community of Crystal Falls, where she finds work as a bookkeeper on a horse ranch run by dangerously good-looking Parker Harrigan. But as their initial attraction blossoms, Rainie fears she can never escape retribution from the man who has sworn to kill her—and that her mere presence could jeopardize everything the Harrigan family holds dear.

I liked Rainie and Parker. I thought they were sweet, but the characters seemed like they were two dimensional trying to be three dimensional. And not quite pulling it off. Towards the end I kept skipping pages hoping it would just end. I think I'm going to stop reading Catherine Anderson for a while. She seems to do this a lot with her characters.

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Morning Light: A Review

Morning Light by Catherine Anderson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I couldn't even finish it! It had a great plot and interesting characters, but it didn't need to be 300-400 pages long! Seriously! 200 pages and that would have been it. I liked Loni and thought she was very interesting, but Anderson took WAY too much time getting this guys together while trying to find the boy. Are you trying to find the boy or are you trying to hook up??

The story goes like this... a woman with the second sight has a vision about a boy lost in the woods and believes it is Clint's son. Only Clint tells her, he doesn't have a son. Turns out... maybe he does. Well the boy is lost in the woods with his trusty dog and Loni believes that only Clint can find him with her help.

Sounds it should be gripping and intense, right? But it's not. The beginning is rolling and then half way through I hit a dead end. Nothing was going on. I kept flipping through pages hoping that somewhere it'd pick up and get good again, but it didn't. So I put it down and let it go. I have to say when it comes to Catherine Anderson, she either hits it on the head and it's awesome or it's so horrible I can barely finish it.



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Annie's Song: A Review

Annie's Song by Catherine Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Everyone seems to think that Annie is a moron including the town's meanest drunk. After he rapes her and thinks nothing of it, his older brother steps in to offer his help. With Annie now pregnant and her parents more concerned about scandal than their own daughter's welfare Alex decides to marry her. Only after a few weeks he realizes she isn't an idiot, but deaf.

It was a hard read in the beginning just because there wasn't one character besides Annie and Maddy that I liked. I thought everyone in this book was horribly selfish. After Alex finally realizes that he can help her, things improve and Annie grows to love and trust him.

It was a quick read and one of Catherine Anderson's better books.

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Lily and the Major: A Review

Lily and the Major by Linda Lael Miller
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book, but Lily was kind of a combination of my favorite kind of character and my least favorite character and I just couldn't like it. I did finish it. I was getting literary whiplash from the two of them going Yes-No-Yes-Yes-No and so on and so forth. One minute she is proud and ambitious and then next he is using her. I did not like this male lead whatsoever! He was far too commanding and not in the sexy way.

I hated how everyone was saying "Marry him" when all he was offering was her to be his mistress. For real!!! I wanted to see a stronger female lead and she had all the potential to be one, but she just didn't get there. I had read Emma and the Outlaw before this and thought that was slightly better. I don't mind a touch of indecisive in characters, but it can't be the whole fecking book.

If you need to finish the series then fine read it, but if you want enjoyable characters skip this and go to the other two. I plan on reading Caroline and the Raider and hope that those two are better written than these two.

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