Where Have All the Editors Gone?

Reading Robin Kaye's Back to You was quite a challenge since it was written with so many gaping holes in the storyline and with protagonists whose illogical actions begged for more than the suspension of disbelief.

What bothered me?  Let me list some puzzles:

• The first third of the book is a vicious and stupid tennis match of insults between the love interests where the reader doesn't learn anything except that they had a thwarted sexual encounter many years before.
• After this, readers learn that purportedly an adult, Storm (yup, that's his name, folks) designs luxury yachts and maintains a home and business in New Zealand, yet thinks it's appropriate to teach a ten-year-old child to drive a car--even when he realizes her feet don't touch the pedals.
• Bree, the heroine he nearly had sex with before he ran yelling and screaming from her room (okay, a slight exaggeration there), refuses to have sex with him years later when he returns, but when he takes her out on a yacht he's designed, she's not only ready but willing to have a night of sex.
• After their night of sex, Bree is ready to become friends with benefits, but Storm doesn't think that's such a good idea.

At this point my reaction was "huh?".  Is this supposed to make sense to anyone?

Kaye's Bad Boys of Red Hook series is one in a long line that I'll skip.

Gay Ghosts Trigger Romance

As I say in the review of Z. A. Maxfield's Rhapsody for Piano and Ghost that went live today at AAR, I love the St. Nacho novels, so wanted to see what Maxfield would do with a paranormal theme.

While I enjoyed Rhapsody, it didn't leave the satisfied "aaahhhh" feeling that a good romance usually does.  I think this is because the character of Ari, the older former boy-band member who's often a mentor to Fitz, the classically-trained piano virtuoso, is a little harder to like than the other characters in the book.

Added to that, the ghost couple who bring Fitz and Ari together seem to be an author invention that doesn't quite work.  Don't get me wrong, however.  The novel is enjoyable to read and laugh-out-loud funny at times, and equally heart-breaking at others, but still there's a manipulative feeling about it that leaves me a little off.

I applaud Maxfield for writing outside her comfort zone.  But I'd really rather she get back to the brilliance of St. Nacho and give readers (okay, yes, me!) another addition to that series.

Jo Goodman Shines in the Old West

Jo Goodman has always been a good writer, but she's outdone even herself in True to the Law the review of which went live today at AAR.

The previous book in this series concerned a legendary gunman who is hired to protect a woman in Bitter Springs, Wyoming.  When a train passenger, the author of the novels starring the gunman, witnesses the death of the man proclaiming to be the legend, the author decides to go to Bitter Springs and check out why someone would hire the retired gunman in the first place.

That book, The Last Renegade, was charming and funny, so I was looking forward to reading True to the Law, the next book in the series.  I definitely wasn't expecting what I got: an even better book than the first one.

Schoolteacher Tru and reluctant sheriff Cobb are the couple of dreams.  And now, knowing that Goodman can surpass herself, I can't wait to read the next one in the series,  Nat Church and the Runaway Bride.

In London, Mouses Rule

My review of Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov's City Mouse, an offshoot of their Country Mouse novel, is typical of Amy Lane's wonderful character building and clever plotting.  For me, the unknown quantity was Voinov whose work I'd not read before.

Together, however, they've created an interesting mix with a carefree American on tour and a staid British banker, a couple no one but Lane would think to bring together.

While I'm not certain these two will remain together much longer than the fling they've started in the book, the story of how they bridge the huge gap between their lifestyles is not only readable but enjoyable.

Now I'm wondering what Lane is working on next, hopefully one of the gay-for-pay novels like Dex in Blue or Chase in Shadows.  And I'm putting Voinov on my "catch up with" reading pile.

Review Ran during My Vacation--I Didn't (Run that is!)

I read Meljean Brook's A-rated Riveted during the summer, wrote a review of it, turned it in, and then as I do with most reviews, forgot about it, presuming that it would run at AAR whenever the editor put it up on the site.  Wrong, so wrong.  Somewhere in between the pushing of the "send" button and the review getting to AAR, the cyber gremlins ate the review.

The story gets even worse.  In the fall, my computer glitched, choked, and rumbled to a stuttering near-halt.  I bit the computing bullet and got a new machine with more memory and (gasp!) Win 7.  I tried to transfer my files, but being impatient with file transfer (and thinking that most documents on the old machine weren't needed, especially reviews that had already run), I didn't fill the new machine with the old machine's content.

A second gasp!  Meljean Brook's Riveted fell through so many cracks.  But fortunately, not was all lost as you can see from the review that ran while I was away on a Southern California vacation.

(It seems that another book fell through the same crack, but it's not as big a loss since it's a D grade romance and the author would probably not be as excited to see the review.  But watch AAR and you'll see when it appears.)