Sandy M’s review of Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
Contemporary Romance audiobook published by Hachette Audio 1 Jul 08

I was well into listening to this audiobook when I learned that Nicholas Sparks doesn’t hold romance novelists in very high esteem and without any qualms whatsoever says he’s not a romance writer in any sense of the word. Well, Mr. Sparks, I have only one thing to say to that. Bullshit.

While this author’s books can certainly be labeled as love stories versus romances, they’re filled with love and romance, and that’s why women read them. I’m willing to bet there’s very few men out there who read Nicholas Sparks, all that mushy nonsense with no action scenes, car chases, or murders.

John is on leave from the Army when he meets Savannah. She’s a sweet, open southern girl and he’s immediately attracted to her. She’s volunteering with Habitat for Humanity during her school break,and they end up spending all their time together until he has to return to Germany where he’s stationed. It takes very few days to fall in love with Savannah.

They try to make a go of their budding relationship very long distance with letters and phone calls here and there. John has another leave within the year, and they each count down the days. All doesn’t go well this time around, however, and they end up fighting. But things are worked out before he has to head back to Germany again.

The relationship goes back to letter writing and John notices a change of tone in Savannah’s missives. He realizes he has to make more of an effort to keep everything on an even keel. The distance between them, though, is too much and his final Dear John letter strikes a blow straight to his heart. Savannah has fallen in love with someone else.

Over a number of following years John continues to re-up his tour of duty. The Army is all he knows now. He does visit his father during his leaves, which brings them closer together, something he thanks Savannah for. But then the unexpected call comes that his dad is ill. Doing what he thinks is best to take care of his father, John tries to go back to Germany with a clear conscience, but within weeks he’s back home, only this time he’s burying his father.

Amid his grief and need to talk to someone, he hunts down the love he lost so many years ago. Seeing Savannah again is wonderful…and heartbreaking at the same time. She’s married. To Tim, the man who John met at the same time he originally met Savannah, the man who’s been in love with her since they were kids. Fate is laughing at them, however, putting them in an impossible situation that John knows will lead to further heartbreak, regret, and recrimination. So he does the right and honorable thing. He walks away.

These characters are all simply wonderful. Their story is joyous as well as heart wrenching. And the end. Oh, my gosh, the end of this book had me in tears. I listen to my audiobooks in my car, and the tears wouldn’t stop as I drove along listening to the sacrifice that only love can bring about in someone. Of course, with an audiobook, the narrator makes a huge difference, and in this case Holter Graham’s whiskey-smooth voice held me nearly as spellbound as the story itself.

I defy anyone to tell me this story is not a romance. It can be argued it is a love story and I wouldn’t disagree with that. This book is a little bit of both, but it definitely is a romance.

And anyone who writes a book like this is a romance writer, I don’t care what argument you use to the contrary. Mr. Sparks may write other genres, a love story versus a romance, whatever, but in my mind he’s also a romance writer. No doubt whatsoever. Even if the man himself disagrees.

Grade: A

Summary:

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life–until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who has captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. “Dear John,” the letter read…and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love—and face the hardest decision of his life.

Listen to an excerpt. (click link)

Sandy M’s review of Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas
Contemporary Romance Audiobook released by Brilliance Audio on 25 Mar 08

I wasn’t sure I was going to continue to like Hardy Cates because of some of his behavior in Sugar Daddy where we first meet the man. However, I knew I would like him because, well, he is the hero of this book and I know he will be redeemed. I never dreamed, though, I would like love him as much as I do after listening to the audio version of his book. Its narrator, Renée Raudman, does a brilliant job of bringing this book to life, including making Hardy one damn fine sexy hero.

First things first, though. This book is also about Haven Travis, the only daughter of millionaire Churchill Travis who has better relationships with his sons than he’ll ever have with Haven. It’s her father who thinks he trying to save her when he really pushes her into a marriage that turns horrifying with realistic scenes of domestic abuse. Haven loves Nick and is ready to marry him, but when her father refuses to give his blessing because he knows Nick is only after Haven’s money, instead of sitting down and talking with his daughter adult to adult so Haven might look at the situation differently, she jumps in with both feet despite Churchill’s threat of cutting her off from the Travis wealth. Things go well between the newlyweds only for a little while, until Nick begins to show his true colors and takes his rage out on Haven because they’re getting none of the Travis money to make his life easier. Haven does her best to make the bastard happy, and it’s when he literally throws her out on their doorstep for the night that she calls her brother Gage to help her get out of her living nightmare.

By this time Haven’s memory of her one and only meeting with Hardy is the furthest thing from her mind while she’s going through therapy, but when she runs into him again, that memory hits her full force, wondering what her life would have been like if she’d gone with the man who made her burn with passion and lust in a dark wine cellar at her brother’s wedding. And let me tell you, that scene is as sexy as hell. Between Ms. Kleypas’ writing and Ms. Raudman’s narration, a reader does’t have a snowball’s chance of getting through that scene with wanting Hardy’s hands and mouth on her.

And things only get better. Even though Haven doesn’t want anything to do with men at this certain point in her life, she’s still drawn to Hardy. Her father and brothers have nothing good to say about the man, but that doesn’t stop her. This time she knows she’s got a good man because of the way he patiently goes through her emotional roller coaster ride with her of wanting to get closer to him but still being afraid to let a man that close again. They take things slow and easy, learn about one another, and when that final trust is put in place by Haven, the long and winding road to get there is definitely worth it. For me, Hardy’s redemption comes in the many different ways he stands by Haven. Yeah, he’s sexy in the bedroom, but he’s even sexier because of the man he is.

Haven’s triumph over one of the most degrading things a man can do to a woman, Hardy finding the one woman he can share all of himself with to show the reader how he’s changed, and a cast of characters from a controlling father and later a controlling boss, a scum of man who deserves every little thing he gets, to brothers who only want their sister to be happy make for a very compelling book brought to life through audio. Ms. Raudman does an excellent job throughout the entire book, but it is those scenes with Hardy I found myself anticipating. This is one time that the hero in my head truly came to life just how I imagined him.

Grade: A+

Summary:

     MEET THE BLUE-EYED DEVIL

     His name is Hardy Cates. He’s a self-made millionaire who comes from the wrong side of the tracks. He’s made enemies in the rough-and-tumble ride to the top of Houston’s oil industry. He’s got hot blood in his veins. And vengeance on his mind.

     MEET THE HEIRESS

     She’s Haven Travis. Despite her family’s money, she refuses to set out on the path they’ve chosen for her. But when Haven marries a man her family disapproves of, her life is set on a new and dangerous course. Two years later, Haven comes home, determined to guard her heart. And Hardy Cates, a family enemy, is the last person she needs darkening her door or setting her soul on fire.

     WATCH THE SPARKS FLY….

     Filled with Lisa Kleypas’s trademark sensuality, filled with characters you love to hate and men you love to love, Blue-Eyed Devil will hold you captive in its storytelling power as the destiny of two people unfolds with every magical word.

     Listen to an excerpt.

Sandy M’s review of Natural Born Charmer (Chicago Stars, Book 7) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Contemporary Romance Audiobook published by HarperAudio on 6 Feb 07

I’m glad I listened to the audio of this book instead of sitting down and reading it. The characters are simply wonderful, so full of depth, and hearing them coming to life was so much better than anything I could have come up with in my head. The humor and the emotion of those characters deserved to be spoken, to be appreciated. In putting this review together, I found out the woman who narrated the book, Anna Fields (her real name was Kate Fleming) has passed away since her perfectly read narration. What a loss for those of us who enjoy audiobooks. She was one of the best.

The humor starts in right away, all at the expense of Blue Bailey, who is down on her luck at this point in time. She’s wearing a beaver suit, carrying her head, trying to earn some money after being dumped by her boyfriend who she moved across the country to be with, and then the most handsomest of men pulls up alongside her and offers her a lift. The ensuing scene between Dean and Blue bantering back and forth as they coast down the road is definitely laugh-out-loud funny. Not knowing Blue’s name initially, Dean calls her “the Beav” throughout their conversation, and it’s all inflection of voice with a little laughter thrown in that makes it one of the best scenes of the book. Blue ends up sticking with Dean on his trip to Tennessee to take a look at some property he owns. There’s attraction right away between them, but they both deny it; Dean only wanting to get in Blue’s pants, needing nothing more, or so he thinks.

Dean is estranged from both his parents, his father is rock ‘n roll star Jack Patriot, who turned his back on Dean before his birth, and his mother is a now-sober ex-groupie of Jack’s. He’s happy without them in his life, but when he gets to his destination he finds it’s been his mother who’s been remodeling his house, something that rockets Dean’s temper sky high, even though April is now a productive citizen and only wants to make up for the years she wasn’t a mother at all to Dean. He’s having none of it. But suddenly he has a houseful of family to deal with. First his mother, and now his eleven-year-old sister has made her way into his life, which also brings his father along, and Dean is not anywhere close to being able to deal with all of them. All he wants is to have Blue to himself to find a way past her irrational behavior — she’s attracted to him but she won’t admit it and he loves a good challenge. Blue doesn’t even realize she’s thrown the gauntlet down to this competitive man who turns her to jelly with just a touch.

Blue has her own family problems. Her mother is one of those people who takes up causes for others while leaving her daughter behind and cleaning out her bank account to pay for the release of a young girl being held by fanatics in another country. Blue has no choice but to tag along with Dean. Even though he never introduces himself as a football star, Blue knows who he is and also knows that anything that develops between them would be a disaster, so she holds him at bay as much as possible. She goes along with his schemes where his family is concerned, but she eventually winds up loving them as much as she loves Dean. She knows, however, he’ll never return her feelings. She’s only a challenge to him and the day is coming when she’ll have to leave him.

I enjoyed the majority of this book. The interactions between Dean and his family, the slow rehashing of their lives and the eventual forgiveness for all of them is well done. However, I don’t think Dean deserved Blue’s forgiveness for his treatment of her when his football buddies and their girlfriends, including one who thinks she’s Dean’s girl, come for a visit. He should have shown more care for Blue’s feelings when he didn’t correct their misconceptions about her place in his life. He’s come to terms with his feelings for Blue by this time, so it just didn’t feel right when he acted as he did. I really liked the scenes with his young sister. She’s a catalyst for the repair of a lot of hurt in their family. The intricacies of these characters’ lives is laid bare for them to come to grips with their mistakes, forgive, and move on with one another as a family should and it’s done with wit, laughter, and raw emotion.

Grade: B+

Summary:

     Chicago Stars quarterback Dean Robillard is the luckiest man in the world. But life in the glory lane has started to pale, and Dean has set off on a trip to figure out what’s gone wrong. When he hits a lonely stretch of Colorado highway, he spies something that will shake up his gilded life in ways he can’t imagine. A young woman . . . dressed in a beaver suit.

     Blue Bailey is on a mission. As for the beaver suit she’s wearing . . . Is it her fault that life keeps throwing her curve balls? Witness the expensive black sports car pulling up next to her on the highway and the Greek god stepping out of it.

     They’re soon heading for his summer home, where their already complicated lives and inconvenient attraction to each other will become entangled with a charismatic but aging rock star; a beautiful, fifty-two-year-old woman trying to make peace with her rock and roll past; an eleven-year-old who desperately needs a family; and a bitter old woman who hates them all.

Listen to an excerpt.