Longhorn Humor

No question about it--Katie Lane understands Texas and Texans, especially their sense of humor.  My review of her Catch Me a Cowboy is posted on the Booklist website as of February 27.  Unfortunately, in order to read the 175 word review, users have to be subscribers to Booklist.

To quote myself:
"Lane gives readers a rip-roaring good time while making what could feel like a farce insightful and real, just like the characters themselves."

I recommend that readers who enjoy Texas humor read Lane's Bramble, Texas, series.  And, I might add, the cover is another that is nice, but doesn't quite reflect what comes in between.

So That You Don't Have To

My husband and I were talking about books and reviewing the other night.  I was reading a review book that I really, really wanted to like, but the author was making it so hard for me that it was essentially a losing proposition.

"Why do I read these things?" I asked in disgust.

"So that others don't have to," he replied, and his response struck me as the truth. 

It's also helping me get through books that I know I'll be panning.  Often this happens halfway through and there seems to be no way for the author to recoup from all the losses to either the characters or the plot, or both.

A case in point is The Last Cowboy by Lyndsay McKenna.  McKenna probably heard how rugged, testosterone-driven men are the staples of Western romances.  So she piled on macho posturing, troubles galore, and manly spirit.  It's as if a cook says she likes chocolate, so she mixex every kind of chocolate she can find--liquid and solid--into a cake pan combined with powered cocoa and calls it a cake.  Not only does it look awful but it tastes worse. 

McKenna's novel is all the tropes about cowboy romances written to their maximum.  Only a reviewer would read the first hundred pages about a mean-spirited cowboy and keep reading and hoping for him to become the hero.

The good news about this book, however, is maybe now that McKenna has written about the Last Cowboy, she'll write about something, anything else in the future.

Sadly, this is the best Western romance cover I've seen in quite a while.  I only wish the inside were as wonderful as the outside.

Beautiful Disaster

One of the joys of reviewing for AAR is finding others who enjoy the same books as I do.  A case in point is Louise VanderVliet (aka Aimee) whose review of a book that I too loved runs today.

Even better than sharing a reaction to a book is finding a reviewer who puts what I feel about the book into exactly the right words.  Aimee does that in the review of Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire.  This book was so controversial on the in-house message board that I decided to read it even though at first glance it didn't seem like something I'd enjoy.

What I found, however, was a contemporary romance like Sarah Mayberry's She's Got It Bad, another book that I read on the recommendation of an AAR reviewer, Katie Mack.  Both show a grittier side of life than is usually explored by romance writers, yet both highlight why romance and the promise of love are so pervasive and enduring.

(NOTE: Word has it that McGuire's next book will be the Beautiful Disaster story as seen from the guy's point of view.  Considering that so much is left out of Disaster because the woman isn't involved, this should also be a terrific book.  Can't wait to read it!)

Past Love Emerges

My review of On Lavender Lane by JoAnn Ross is posted on AAR today.  My husband and I just got back from a mini-vacation to the northern California redwoods and coast, and I was reminded of the rugged coastal conditions when I read this book.

I was also reminded of the proliferation of cooks and upscale eateries.  We stayed at Raymond's Bakery which not only is an eating place but also has a few cabins on the grounds.  Mark and Elizabeth, we hear, are wonderful hosts, but I don't think they were expecting us.

A redwood branch had just fallen on the bakery, so it was closed until the beginning of March 2012.  Consequently, Mark was really focused on getting it back on its feet.  This was fine with us since we'd gotten away not to make new friends but to be alone.

All of this--the redwood damage and the wind-swept loneliness of the beach--reminded me of On Lavender Lane, not because of anything overt, but just because of the mood of the book.  If long stretches of beach and time to reflect are your cup of tea (and the fantastic Mr. Trumbleys Tea Shop is near Raymond's), then give On Lavender Lane a try.

Off on a Tangent

One of the nice things (among many nice things) about reviewing for AAR is the ability to go off on a tangent now and again with the daily blog or the daily After Hours blog.  Today I roll with the lie I used to tell myself about what kind of romances I prefer.

I do read a lot of Western romances, both historical and contemporary, as well as series and contemporary romances.  On my personal Top 100 book list are a smattering of everything as the top 10 books illustrate:

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: classic
2. Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh: Regency
3. The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh: Regency
4. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: time-travel / fantasy
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: classic
6. Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas: Regency
7. The More I See You by Lynn Kurland: time-travel / Medieval
8. The Older Woman by Cheryl Reavis: contemporary
9. She's Got It Bad by Sarah Mayberry: contemporary
10. A Reason to Live by Maureen McKade: Post Civil War America

So no one type of romance really rules, which I hadn't realized until I sat down and looked at my list.

Just in Time for Valentine's Day

My review of Emma Cane's A Town Called Valentine was posted on the AAR site yesterday, and is there today as well.

Shortly after my husband I got married in Texas, we moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado, near the town of Loveland, which is where the Valentines cancellation stamp originates each year.  Cane's fictional Valentine, Colorado, sounds like it could partly be Loveland, but moved into the mountains close to Aspen instead of on the Front Range like Loveland is.

This is a light, happy romance with a minimal amount of angst.  I didn't appreciate that fully at the time I read it, but I do now that I've just finished reading Sasha Campbell's Scandals and Jamie McGuire's Beautiful Disaster, both of which are so angst-ridden.  I'll definitely be more appreciative of light romances in the future.

Dancing on Buried Treasure

My review of Ellen O'Connell's newest, Dancing on Coals, was posted on AAR today.  O'Connell is one of those really good writers who doesn't pull her punches.  Dancing is no different from her previous two books.  If nothing else, O'Connell always makes me happy that I'm not living in the late 19th century.  Now if O'Connell could only come up with better covers!  Even a half-naked Apache would be better and more telling of the book's contents than the rodeo couple.

Also up on the AAR board today is the list of 2011 Buried Treasure books, books that were very good and which seemed to get no publicity or discussion, and dropped like stones in the glut of romances published.  Speaking of not for the faint of heart (like Dancing on Coals is), one of my buried treasure picks is an erotic romance between two gay males--definitely outside my comfort zone, but an outstanding read nonetheless.  Go figure!

Feeling Cheated

At AAR reviewers pick what they'd like to review from a huge list mailed out by the editor-in-chief on a sporadic basis.  She gives the title, author, and subgenre which doesn't leave much to go on if the author's name isn't familiar within a subgenre.  Typically, I go through the list looking for subgenres I haven't burnt out on (paranormals and Regencies are definitely out for me these days), then take out the titles I've already reviewed for Booklist which has an earlier publication schedule.

Then with the ones left, I go to Amazon or the author's web page or blog, and read about the title.  This works well as long as the finished book does what she (or sometimes he) posts that the book is about.

In the case of Cowboy Father by Linda Ford, the book that's reviewed on AAR today, I chose to review the book even though it sounded a little on the heavy-handed side of Christian because it was set in Alberta, Canada, during the Depression.  Since I've never read anything else with that time and place setting, I thought I'd get an insight into what it was like there during the time period.

Alas, that was not to be.  Ford's book could have been set anywhere in the North America.  Maybe Canada wasn't too different than the United States during that time period, but at least Ford could have given some feel for Alberta since I'm sure not all Canadian provinces aren't alike.  I'd like to know how they differed then.

So I was cheated.  Ford didn't hold up her end of the promise with this book.

A Home by the C

My review of Christina Skye's confusing Home by the Sea was posted on the AAR site today.  Every once in a while I have to wonder what authors are thinking as they finish a book that is 180 degrees different than the book they started writing.  Do they not care that their readers will be confused?  Or do they think their readers are essentially clueless and won't notice that the premises at the beginning of the book crumble and a substitution is made?

I guess it's the reviewer's job to point out the confusion.  But you would think that the agent or editor would have not only caught the problem, but suggested ways to fix or alter it.  I've got to wonder why that didn't happen in the case of this book.  It's sad since Skye is a good writer, but obviously weak plotter.