Can Buy Me Love

I gave a starred review rating for Molly O'Keefe's latest Can't Buy Me Love in Booklist a while back.  Now LinnieGayle weighs in with her take on the book.  While she didn't agree with my A grade, she did give it a stellar B+ which makes us quibble just a hair.

LG does agree that when an author can turn an unlikeable character into a likable one that the author is doing quite a feat.  To turn two such characters like O'Keefe does into likable, sympathetic ones is the hallmark of a wonderful writer, someone readers should watch.

The cover, however, is another matter since that's definitely not the body of a 30-something ice hockey player who was fabulously talented but is at the end of his career.

In Today's News

My review of Jenna Kernan's Gold Rush Groom appears on AAR.  I love the kick-ass woman who saves the bumbling, know-it-all hero's life at practically every step of the journey into the interior of Alaska.  The trip over the mountains, however, sounds much too harrowing for me.  I'm thinking that seeing Alaska from a cruise ship sounds much more pleasant.  But then there weren't a lot of cruise ships trowling the coast during the 1800s gold rush!

Also my Booklist starred review of Baby, It's Cold Outside by Addison Fox is in the October 15 magazine and online.

Writing reviews for Tall, Dark and Cowboy by Joanne Kennedy and A Texas Christmas by Jodi Thomas, DeWanna Pace, Linda Broday, and Phyliss Miranda today to send to AAR.

And then I'm proofreading my vampire manuscript for two contests this week.  Reviewing will be on hold until I get the proofing done and the manuscript sent in.

Just Turned in

To AAR this morning, I sent a DIK review of Sweet as Sin by Inez Kelley.  I enjoyed it even on second and third reading.  What an uplifting romance between two people who to all intents and purposes should be immune to love.  He's been the whipping boy of an insane preacher stepfather who tries to beat the bastard out of him and who thinks the way to heaven is paved with pain and suffering.  She is the daughter of a philandering father.  She looks for love, marriage, and happily ever after; he doesn't think they exist.  Only a really skilled writer could bring them together believably, and Kelley shows she's really skilled by doing so.

To Booklist, I sent a review of But Remember Their Names and recommended it for a starred review.  I can't remember when I've read two excellent books in a row!  What a treat.  Remember is a mystery, not

In the Works

I recently finished reading Restless Heart by Emma Lang (yes, the same title as the Wynonna Judd book that I reviewed for AAR!), Heartbreak Trail by Shirley Kennedy, and His, Unexpectedly by Susan Fox and started writing reviews of them for AAR.  None is a DIK (Desert Island Keeper), and the best of the lot is hands down the Fox book.  I hope to send the reviews to my editor by the weekend.

I've also started reading Jodi Thomas' Texas Blue, also for an AAR review.  I've liked Thomas' Westerns in the past, so I have high hopes for this one.  So far it hasn't disappointed me.

One of the more unusual, yet enjoyable books I've read recently was Awaken the Highland Warrior by Anita Clenney.  I sent the review into my editor at Booklist last week and recommended the book for a starred review.  We'll see what happens.

To Read My Online Reviews

While I originally had at the left an alphabetical list of my online reviews, I'm now linking the reviews in the blog itself.  Clicking on the link will bring you to the review.