REVIEW: Guilty by Karen Robards
May 12, 2008
LauraD’s review of Guilty by Karen Robards
Romantic Suspense released by Putnam 1 Apr 08
I’ve got more than one Karen Robards title on my keeper shelf, but Guilty got tossed into the UBS box so hard and fast it scared my cat. I’m guessing others will disagree with me, but I just can’t identify with a hypocritical heroine. (Possible slight spoilers in review)
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Review: Mistress Menage by Jenesi Ash
May 10, 2008
Limecello’s review of Mistress Ménage (Mistress Diaries, Book 3) by Jenesi Ash
Erotic romance short story eBook released by Harlequin Spice 1 May 08
I think I need to preface my review with the statement that I like Harlequin as a publisher. A lot. In fact, I probably spend twice as much on Harlequin books as I do on groceries. [And I buy from the site with discount codes - so imagine. Scary.]
Tags: 2008, eBook, Erotic, Grade F, Harlequin, Harlequin Spice, Janesi Ash, limecello, May 2008, Mistress Diaries series, Mistress Menage, Review, romance, shortstoryReview: Satisfaction Guaranteed by Isabel Drake
April 17, 2008
Shannon C.’s review of Satisfaction Guaranteed by Isabel Drake
Contemporary romance eBook released by Cerridwen Press Jan 08
I knew going into this book that I wasn’t going to like it. After about paragraph two, I had to stop, remove my jaw from the floor, sigh and shake my head. After all, the e-mail I got from Sybil with the review copy of this book said, “It’s probably more Laura’s taste than yours.” Did I listen to Sybil? Of course not. That will teach me! So, naturally, I only had myself to blame for continuing to read.
Tags: 2008, Cerridwen Press, Contemporary, eBook, Grade F, Isabel Drake, January 2008, Review, romance, Satisfaction Guaranteed, ShannonCReview: A Beautiful Surrender by Brenda Williamson
March 6, 2008
Sandy M’s review of A Beautiful Surrender by Brenda Williamson
Historical romance print released by Samhain on 27 Nov 07 (ebook release 13 Feb 07)
I nearly surrendered myself and put this book aside, but I slugged along until I finished it. It never got any better, though. The negativity in this book is overwhelming and even though there are a couple of unfettered scenes here and there, that’s just not enough to save it. Not even close.
Tags: 2007, A Beautiful Surrender, Brenda Williamson, February 2007, Grade F, Historical, Review, romance, Samhain, Sandy MReview: Death By Ploot Ploot by Dara Joy
February 19, 2008
Teddypig’s review of Death by Ploot Ploot by Dara Joy
Sci-Fi erotic romance ebook novella released 2 Feb 08 by the author
First about the cover… Ugh-Gah-Lee!
Have you ever felt like no matter how hard you tried you just could not get the joke? Like when you read a book where you knew you were reading something out of a preexisting series and you probably should have read the first book and that the author is going ahead and making absolutely no attempt to clue you in on the characters or what they are supposed to be doing? Well, I am here to tell you that just freaking sucks. How can anyone care about a story if you are never introduced to the world and the people who inhabit it in the first place?
Tags: 2008, Dara Joy, Death by Ploot Ploot, eBook, Erotic, Grade F, Review, Sci-Fi, TeddypigReview: Five eBook “Lightning Reviews”
February 5, 2008
These are reviews of five short, erotic titles from various publishers, in various flavors. They are a bit too short to review on their own without the review being almost as long as the story, so I have put together five “Lightning Reviews.”
Read on if you’re wearing rubber soled shoes…
Tags: 2005, 2006, 2008, Come Sweet Creature, Contemporary, Donelle Carroll, eBook, Erotic, Grade B, Grade D, Grade F, Her Wicked Warrior, LooseID, March 2006, Melissa Schroeder, Mr. Fix-It, Nikki, October 2006, Rachel Carrington, Review, The Good Lawyer, The Seduction of Sean Nolan, Tilly Greene, Timetravel, Treva Harte, Whiskey Creek Press, Whispers Publishing, Wild Rose PressF Off…
January 26, 2008
A while back I discovered many of you see C grades differently than we do here. I thought it was a very interesting discussion and was reminded of it while reading the 60+ comments (from mostly authors) on that thread over there.
As normal most of the authors say they don’t mind ‘reviews’ and as much as they dislike the ‘bad’ ones they understand them. They hate the ‘mean’ ones, the ‘personal’ ones, the ones with ‘agendas’ or where the reviewer is ‘out to get the author’. And many a person say they didn’t do ‘bad’ reviews because why bother.
I have often said I end up buying more books off ‘bad’ grades than A++++ ones. I tend to like many a plot that is played out for tons of romance readers because really I have only been reading romance for about 3 or 4 years. So I for one WANT all reviews, even the ones I don’t agree with. And that lead me to thinking of a book I reviewed once a upon a time, which got me wondering if I see “C” grades in a way many don’t…. what about the “F”s?
What makes a book an “F” for you? If you are an author, do you see “F” differently in your work than you do a book you read for pleasure? If you are a reviewers (be it a website, blog, amazon, newspaper or whatever), is your ‘reviewer F’ ever different than your ‘personal F’?
Is there anything that causes an auto F effect for you in a book but you would forgive if a favorite author did it? What is it? Who would it be? I admit I go into a Diana Palmer novel expecting and forgiving plot points or character traits I wouldn’t in most other authors. Elizabeth Lowell can use nicknames, really silly ones, over and over in her older (amazing) novels and I love them. I don’t expect Julie Garwood to be historically accurate (who knew she did) so I go with the flow.
Things that could be book killers in new to me authors are nothing by those I love. Is that style, voice or a literary comfort blankie?
So tell us…. what F’s you of?
Tags: Book Killer, F Effect, Grade F, reviews on reviewsReview: Forbidden Fantasy by Cheryl Holt
August 27, 2007
Forbidden Fantasy by Cheryl Holt
Forbidden Fantasy picks up six months after Complete Abandon ends. Ian Clayton and Lady Caroline Foster were two secondary character in Complete Abandon. And well I liked them! Ian was a bastard, in more way than one and Caro was in a really hard spot that could bring out the bitch in anyone.
So when I saw the summary for this book I got all happy, happy, joy, joy. I tossed out my ‘read no more Holt’ rule and WANTED this book.
SHE SOUGHT LESSONS IN DESIRE…
From girlhood, Lady Caroline Foster knew what her future held: marriage to an esteemed viscount, followed by a dignified high-society life. A sedate existence perhaps, but certainly preferable to her current state - jilted, humiliated, and then hastily bartered off to a man old enough to be her grandfather. Dreading the marriage, Caroline seeks advice from her ex-finance’s illegitimate brother, whose potent sexuality has always intrigued her…
AND HE WAS THE CONSUMMATE TEACHER
Ian Clayton can scarcely believe that the woman he’s coveted from afar is boldly seeking sexual instruction. A true gentleman would turn her away, but the yearning he feels for Caroline surpasses anything he’s ever known. Soon their encounters become more heated, more daring… and more dangerous. For someone will stop at nothing to end their illicit affair and destroy a fantasy that is coming blissfully, brazenly to life…
And I couldn’t have been more disappointed. It is like Cheryl Holt is channeling really bad Thea Devine historicals (Gwen said to explain… Devine has a gift for icky, soapy, sordid family secrets) Where did Ian and Caro go? Who were these people?
Every character… felt like a paper character, they never get a pulse or become more than words on a page. It is like you are reading a very badly thrown together play. Ian, who I loved before when I met him, even if he was a sneaky, bastard who was lying to everyone was suddenly an icky bastard. Caro was something out of a bad book. She is showing up unannounced at a man’s home, staying out all night, asking to be ruined, than saying no to Ian and her family was so bad Thea Devine. And I am not even talking about the father telling the mother he was divorcing her so he can marry his mistress. Hell I don’t know if there was a sane person in the bunch.
I didn’t care if they got their HEA. In fact I rather didn’t want them too. And these are people who I had wondered about for years. So really the only person at fault here is me because I soooooooo should have known better. I keep saying no more Cheryl Holt so I will not have to be disappointed again. But I never ever learn my lesson.
It could be St Martin’s is evol and has me sooooooooo pegged (because it is of course all about me) and they know just the cover and blub to throw at me to make me toss out my promises to myself. Or Cheryl Holt has such yummy summaries but her writing no longer work for me. Or her writing has changed. Maybe it is a ‘it’s not you it’s me’ (tm kristiej). I think this is a good possiblity because Mrs G made the Devine comment with the first book and I liked it! Or maybe it was just a bad book.
Anyone read it yet? I saw it is already out at walmart. I really think this book and the four new reissues are going to do well. So what gives. Why don’t I like her anymore?
Grade: F
oh but saying all that…. I sort of want this which is a reissue of an old holt
Tags: Cheryl Holt, Forbidden Fantasy, Grade F, Historical, Review, St. Martin's, SybilAllison Masters is depressed. All she ever wanted to do with her life was please her father. As the only child of a wealthy hotel magnate, she’s spent years learning the business and trying to succeed at his side so that she could one day take over at the helm of the massive international corporation. So desperate was she to win his approval that she even became engaged to the man he thought she should marry.
But, after catching her fiancee in bed with her secretary, her life is in a shambles. She raised such a ruckus over the discovery that her father decided she needed some time to cool down. He’s banished her to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to run the family’s exclusive mountain resort for six months.
She hates everything about the famous cowboy community, especially country western singer, Harley “Beau” Beaudine, who has come out of retirement to play nightly shows at their small inn. To Allison’s ultimate dismay, he’s the most handsome, most sexy man she’s ever encountered, but he’s also the most rude, egotistical, obnoxious, and overbearing. And a disgusting womanizer to boot — one who hits on every female he sees.
Review: To the Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Lowell
March 29, 2005
Sybil’s Review: To the Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Lowell
Contemporary Romance by Avon
Posted 1/30/5 in live journal (I don’t have too many book posts in my lj but there are a few I want to move over)
I read my first Elizabeth Lowell book that I didn’t like. le sigh, that makes me sad. I haven’t read any of her newer books since I am not much into romantic suspense novels but her historical novels are just about the best evah. Her Only Series is the reason I fell in love with westerns.
To the Ends of the Earth was just bad. Bad, bad, bad and made no sense what so ever. Cat is working herself to death to put two teens (her twin sister and brother) through med school and because her grown mother can’t balance a checkbook. ::blink:: take the fucking thing away from her and make the kids take out a few loans. The whole idea is, if she can just make it to January when her mother marries some rich dumbass, all will be fine. I understand the book was written in the 80’s and updated and re-released in the 90’s but please.
And the hero… he is scarred and wounded from his first marriage (as all hero’s are that have been married before) so he has sworn off women. Well other than to fuck them. So whores and mistresses he gets but mutual sex based on pleasure or feelings isn’t something he understands. I am sorry, after you have mind-blowing sex with someone you think you have feelings for and they offer to pay you - find the door. Quick. She didn’t - and he offered AGAIN. He pretty much spent the book pissed off she had to work and waiting for her to ask him for help money wise. And omg -the end of the book is awful, how EL got a HEA in this is beyond me. The whole thing is like a car wreck you can’t understand you are watching. So back to the UBS with this book.
Then again Elizabeth Lowell has made an art form out of hero’s treating their heroines like shit and then somehow making it work. At least for me, she crossed that line in this book and I just couldn’t see it. But that can’t be said for everyone since AAR gave it a DIK review.
Grade: F
Tags: Avon, Contemporary Romance, Elizabeth Lowell, Grade F, Review, Sybil, To the Ends of the EarthA WOMAN OF THE WORLD: Photographer Cat Cochran has been to exotic places most people only dream about — but all she wants to do is settle down and get her life in order. One last assignment and she can put her past behind her — forgetting about her heart’s disastrous misadventures as she loses herself in the natural beauty she has so far only glimpsed through a camera’s lens. But first she must photograph the mysterious and elusive ship designer T.H. Danvers and his awesome creations.
A MAN IN A MILLION: Travis Danvers is dangerous — a millionaire with an athlete’s body; an enigmatic charmer capable of breaking down Cat’s well-constructed defenses with a buccaneer’s arrogance and flourish. She knows she must resist him, for experience has taught her that pain is the eventual price of the pleasure to be found in the arms of such a man. But caught in the waves of a sensual sea, Cat hears sirens whisper seductively, telling her to abandon all caution; to trust and love Travis with all her soul, and to ride with him on the winds of forever.
