Title: The Unwritten Rule

Author: Elizabeth Scott

Genre: YA / Romance

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: March 17 2010
Hardcover: 224 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Everyone knows the unwritten rule: You don’t like you best friend’s boyfriend.

Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He’s easy to talk to, supersmart, and totally gets her. Lately it even seems like he’s paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except for two things: Ryan is Brianna’s boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah’s best friend.

Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her best friend. But when she’s thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens. It’s wonderful…and awful.

Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can’t stop herself from wanting more…

Why did I read the book: I have seen great reviews of Elizabeth Scott’s books and I thought this was a good place to start to reading her books.

How did I get the book: I requested a review copy from the publisher.

Review: (Warning: a few spoilers)

“There are a million rules for being a girl. There are a million things you have to do to get through each day. High school has things that can trip you up, ruin you, people smile and say one thing and mean another, and you have to know all the rules, you have to know what you can and can’t do. And one of them is this: You don’t kiss your best friend’s boyfriend. You don’t do it once. You certainly don’t do it twice.”

The unwritten rule: you don’t fall for your best friend’s boyfriend. Even if you liked him first. Even if you have liked him for years. Even if he likes you back. Except that we are all human beings and therefore flawed and there are some things that one simply cannot avoid: like irrevocably being in love with your best friend’s boyfriend.

A simple love story complicated by unfortunate circumstances: Sarah has loved Ryan forever but never acted on it for a series of reasons. But now, he is dating her best friend Brianna and being that much closer to him is making things even worse. It does not help that things don’t seem to be working that well between Ryan and Brianna and that Ryan and Sarah have so many things in common. And then one night, they kiss. And oh boy, it is everything she always wanted and more but what about Brianna, her best friend since kindergarten? She seems to love Ryan too – what can Sarah do?

I read The Unwritten Rule in one sitting and thought it was lovely although not without its problems. On the positive side, Sarah is a relatable character with a quirky voice, real emotions including the love for her cool parents, her love for art which she shared with Ryan and her friendship with Brianna which is a mixture of co-dependency and love. And Ryan is an absolutely a-do-ra-ble dork who so obviously liked Sarah as well.

On the not so positive side, even though the book is on the short side with just over 200 pages, there was still a feeling that the story was being unnecessarily dragged. As much as I had sympathy for Sarah and Ryan’ plight (if we can be so dramatic) and I felt the author did really get the psychological aspects to leap from the pages (I felt Sarah’s guilt as much as I felt her need to be with Ryan and his to be with her, you just can’t help but to root for the two of them) , it was also very clear that all was a matter of a simple conversation to be had. It was very, very frustrating to see that Ryan was so obviously not interested in Brianna at all and yet, why was he with her in the first place? It just didn’t compute with the fact that he was clearly a nice guy.

One of the most interesting things about the novel is how it is narrated by Sarah (first person, present tense with a few flashbacks) and how her narrative is tempered by her own view of things which are so evidently biased: not only by her own self esteem issues but also by her love for Brianna. For the reader though, who is not biased, and can see the other characters for who they really are, Sarah’s emotional journey is undermined by the fact that the reader absolutely knows where it is leading. And that is the greatest shortcoming of the novel: Sarah might have been blind to Brianna’s manipulative ways but the reader is not; and that removes from the equation what could have been the novel greatest strength: a true sense of friendship and guilt. Because the author takes the easy way out, by making Brianna the friend who is not really the good friend, therefore making it easier for the reader to side with Sarah and for Sarah to make a stand. Had it not been that way, the book might have been a great book, a fantastic book, with a real earth-shattering ending for all involved including the reader. As it stands it is a great coming of age for Sarah because Sarah does go through all the uncertainty of not knowing, of having to make a choice, of knowing that what she feels is both wrong and right but in the end I was left disappointed and with a sour taste in my mouth. At the beginning of the novel Sarah makes an astute observation that the sidekick best friend is always referred to in movies and novels as the loser or the funny friend. It is ironic how in the end the roles were reversed and the other best friend ended up with the role of the Bitch so that the sidekick could come up on top. Surely, we can have two good girls in one book, none of them stereotypes, both deserving happiness?

Rant aside, overall I actually enjoyed the novel, the chemistry between Ryan and Sarah and I thought the writing was first rate:

“Thanks,” I said, although I’m betting it sounded more like “Geratyuhrh,” and then I reached for the book and he gave it to me, his hands touching mine for a moment.
And then he said, “Sarah,” and touched my hand again. I looked down. My fingers were spotted with the dark green my father had wanted the garage painted, and his hands were spotted too, white and yellow, and the book slid to the floor as he did more than touch my hand. He held it, he slid his fingers into mine.
Our palms pressed together, and all I could think of was a line I’d read somewhere, about palms pressed together like a kiss, and he was still looking at me and then we were standing up, still holding hands, and he was close, so close and he was leaning in and I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, could only watch and wait, hoping and breathless as he moved close and closer and –

I definitely want to read more by Elizabeth Scott.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

I am caught in a huge tangle I don’t know how to get out of. I want Ryan, but I don’t want to lose Brianna.

I open the door. Maybe it really can all work out. People have been to the moon and cured diseases and found ways to inject cream into snack cakes.

But that stuff doesn’t involve love. Or how you have to open the door to your crying best friend and know that you love her, you want to be there for her – but that you’ve done something that would make her cry too.

Additional Thoughts: Elizabeth Scott seems to have an interesting backlist – a mixture of light romance novels and more hardcore dramatic ones:

Everyone thinks their parents are embarrassing, but Hannah knows she’s got them all beat. Her dad made a fortune showing pretty girls–and his “party” lifestyle–all over the Internet, and her mom, who was once one of her dad’s girlfriends, is now the star of her own website. After getting the wrong kind of attention for far too long, Hannah has learned how to stay out of sight…and that’s how she likes it.

Of course, being unknown isn’t helping her get noticed by gorgeous, confident Josh, who Hannah knows is her soul mate. Between trying to figure out a way to get him to notice her, dealing with her parents, and wondering why she can’t stop thinking about another guy, Finn, Hannah feels like she’s going crazy. She’s determined to make things work out the way she wants….only what she wants may not be what she needs.

Lauren has a good life: decent grades, great friends, and a boyfriend every girl wants. So why is she so unhappy?

It takes the arrival of Evan Kirkland for Lauren to figure out the answer: she’s been holding back. She’s been denying herself a bunch of things (like sex) because staying with her loyal and gorgeous boyfriend, Dave, is the “right” thing to do. After all, who would give up the perfect guy?

But as Dave starts talking more and more about their life together, planning a future Lauren simply can’t see herself in– and as Lauren’s craving for Evan, and moreover, who she is with Evan becomes all the more fierce–Lauren realizes she needs to make a choice…before one is made for her.

Have you read any of Elizabeth Scott’s books? Do you like them? Which should I read next?

Verdict: This book has some lovely writing and a sympathetic protagonist and a couple with real chemistry to root for. It is a shame that the tension of the main plot is moot and undermined by a cop-out.

Rating: 6 – Good

Reading Next: Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson

Title: The Sky Is Everywhere

Author: Jandy Nelson

Genre YA / Contemporary

Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: March 9 2010
Hardcover: 288 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

How did I get this book: ARC from publisher

Why did I read this book: When we were contacted by the publisher offering a copy of the book and I read the blurb and saw the AMAZING cover, I immediately said yes: it does have Ana-Crack spelt all over it.

Review:

Lennie’s sister is dead. Without as much as a presage, Bailey simply collapses one day at school and just like that, puff, she is gone. Left behind are those who love her the most and who must deal with her sudden absence: her sister Lennie, her boyfriend Toby, her grandmother, the one who raised her.

The Sky is Everywhere is narrated by Lennie whose first person narrative takes the reader into a journey – an exploration of grief and of sadness (at least to begin with). As the story starts Lennie has recently lost her sister and is preparing to get back to school. She has effectively shut herself to the world and won’t talk to anybody about her sister. Bailey was her closest family member (their hippy mother abandoned them when they were children and they never knew their father) and she won’t talk to her grandmother or to her best friend ; the only way she communicates with the world around her about the immense sense of hurt, confusion and loss she feels is by writing pieces of poetry that are scattered around town and which open almost every chapter:

The morning of the day Bailey died,
she woke me up
by putting her finger in my ear.
I hated when she did this.
She then started trying on shirts, asking me:
Which do you like better, the green or the blue?
The blue.
You didn’t even look up, Lennie.
Okay, the green. Really, I don’t care what shirt you wear…
Then I rolled over in bed and fell back asleep.
I found out later
she wore the blue
and those were the last words I ever spoke to her.

(Found written on a lollipop wrapper on the trail to the Rain River)

And then there is Toby, Bailey’s beloved boyfriend. Before her death, Lennie never got along with him but after her sister is gone something happens and Toby and Lennie grow closer together. What brings them together is a mixture of grief and being able to understand one another in their shared memory of Bailey. Their relationship evolves though, to something else and in this something else, there is also guilt and shame.

At the same time at school, Joe Fontaine, a new student, recently arrived from France, is a breath of fresh air, a welcome relief from the sadness, someone who is interested in her, and who shares her passion for music (he plays guitar, she plays clarinet).

It is in this between world of being at one times relentlessly sombre and at others recklessly happy that most of The Sky is Everywhere takes place. And it is such an extraordinary book!

It takes an honest look at the process of grieving and it says: here, not two people in the world grieve in the same manner. This is Lennie’s story and this is how it goes. And it is raw and painful at times, especially at those moments when Lennie is with Toby because of the guilty involved and because everybody knows that it is a mistake: Lennie, Toby, the reader. But the pull is there, even if it is senseless and illogical and difficult to understand and accept . But being with Toby reminds her and him of Bailey. It makes them not forget. And this is what matters to them – that they have such an intense love for Bailey that they would do anything to not let go.

At the same time, being with Joe is the direct opposite. He is able to pull her off her musical shelf, he wants to know about her and her alone. There is nothing about Bailey when she is with Joe and that and the joy she feels when with him, makes her forget, and that forgetfulness when hits homes, is also cause for guilt and grief.

And the absolutely wonderful thing about the book is that the writing conveys a sense of intimacy in which all of those feelings are mirrored in the reader. Many times, I found myself laughing and falling in love with Joe Fontaine, only to catch myself in middle of the act along with Lennie, to remember: Bailey died. And it was hard.

Hardest of all to Lennie because more than a book about death and grief, this a book about love and life and really, a coming of age story. She gets to be her own woman, to get under the shadow of her older sister, to do her own things, to make several (many, and horrible) and fix them. Because the one thing that happens as soon as Bailey dies, is how alive, awakened Lennie feels (and yes, horny ) and it makes it all the more powerful and raw because she is aware that she is awakening when her sister is sleeping forever. The book might sound like a downer or dark but it is not really. In fact, the story is replete with humorous passages and adorable sequences especially between (the awesome) Joe Fontaine (who kept being a fool around Lennie just so she could say to him “quel dork” ) and beautiful turn of phrases.

Jandy Nelson’s Debut is incredible, I loved it and I can’t recommend it enough.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

“Thank you,” I say, for the hundredth time that day. Sarah and Joe are both looking at me too, Sarah with concern and Joe with a grin the size of the continental United States. Does he look at everyone like this, I wonder. Is he a wingnut? Well, whatever he is, or has, it’s catching. Before I know it, I’ve matched his continental U.S. and raised him Puerto Rico and Hawaii. I must look like The Merry Mourner. Sheesh. And that’s not all, because now I’m thinking what it might be like to kiss him, to really kiss him—uh-oh. This is a problem, an entirely new un-Lennie-like problem that began (WTF-edly?!) at the funeral: I was drowning in darkness and suddenly all these boys in the room were glowing. Guy friends of Bailey’s from work or college, most of whom I didn’t know, kept coming up to me saying how sorry they were, and I don’t know if it’s because they thought I looked like Bailey, or because they felt bad for me, but later on, I’d catch some of them staring at me in this charged, urgent way, and I’d find myself staring back at them, like I was someone else, thinking things I hardly ever had before, things I’m mortified to have been thinking in a church, let alone at my sister’s funeral.

This boy beaming before me, however, seems to glow in a class all his own. He must be from a very friendly part of the Milky Way, I’m thinking as I try to tone down this nutso smile on my face, but instead almost blurt out to Sarah, “He looks like Heathcliff,” because I just realized he does, well, except for the happy smiling part—but then all of a sudden the breath is kicked out of me and I’m shoved onto the cold hard concrete floor of my life now, because I remember I can’t run home after school and tell Bails about a new boy in band.

My sister dies over and over again, all day long.

Additional Thoughts: I think book trailers are getting better and better. The one for this book is simple and yet, effective. And I love the music because the music is such a big part of the book.

Verdict: A highly emotional, deeply beautiful look at what it feels like to lose someone you love whilst at the same time learning to love someone new. Sad and funny, always charming and with great sympathetic characters, The Sky is Everywhere is a wonderful debut.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: It’s Steampunk week ahead!

Today we bring you another very special author spotlight on The Book Smugglers – this time with the delightful paranormal/sexy/urban fantasy author Stacia Kane!

Stacia is the author of the Megan Chase books, which follows radio call show host and psychologist Megan Crew as she promises to slay callers’ personal demons. This series encompasses three titles, Personal Demons, Demon Inside, and the newest novel, Demon Possessed. Check out her books:

Megan promises listeners to her new radio call-in show that she’ll “slay their personal demons,” and they believe her. So do the personal demons… although she doesn’t know it, Megan is the only human without a demon on her shoulder! Megan and her allies – a demon lover who both protects and seduces her with devilish intensity, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons – have to deal not only with the personal demons, but a soul-sucker, ghosts of Megan’s past, and a reporter who threatens to destroy Megan’s career!

Hanging out with demons can be hell….

It’s been three months since psychologist Megan Chase made the stunning discovery that the world is filled with demons, and once more the situation is too hot to handle. Ironically, Megan — the only person in the world without a little personal demon sitting on her shoulder — has become the leader of a demon “family,” but now some unknown arcane power is offing her demons in a particularly unpleasant fashion. And while her demon lover Greyson Dante is still driving her wild with desire, he’s also acting strangely evasive. Then there’s the truth about Megan’s past — the truth she’s never known. Caught between personal problems and personal demons, Megan is having one hell of a hard time. Will the help of her Cockney guard demons and her witch friend Tera be enough so that Megan can finally resolve the past, survive the present, and face the future?

Excerpt online HERE.

Psychologist and psychic Megan Chase has grown remarkably comfortable hanging out with demons. The demon “family” she leads is happy, her solo practice is stabilizing, and she and her steamy demon lover, Greyson Dante, are closer than ever. But when the couple books a week at a luxury hotel to attend a meeting of demon leaders, some unanticipated problems appear. An FBI agent with an unhealthy interest in less-than-legitimate demon business practices shows up; the demon community is urging Megan to undergo the rite that will make her a real demon; and a slightly shady minister is holding one of his wildly popular “weekend exorcisms” just down the road. And oh, yes, someone with scary magical abilities is attempting to kill her. Then, just when it seems as if things couldn’t possibly get any worse, a secret comes to light that could jeopardize Megan and Greyson’s future — if Megan manages to live that long. With things heating up, it’s becoming difficult for her to keep a cool head…

Excerpt online HERE.

To celebrate the release of Demon Possessed, we are having the lovely Stacia Kane over for an interactive Q&A and a chance to win her books! We have TWO sets of Megan Chase books (Personal Demons, Demon Inside, and Demon Possessed) up for grabs. Entry is easy and simple, per usual – just leave a comment here asking Stacia a question (about her series, her writing process, her favorite demons, etc). The contest is open to all, and will run until Saturday, March 6th at 11:59PM (PST). Good luck, and let the questions begin.

Please and give it up for Stacia Kane!

Thanks so much for having me as a guest here at The Book Smugglers! Hanging out with readers is one of the best things about writing. I write the Megan Chase “Demons” series for Juno/Pocket books, and the upcoming Downside series as well. I’m happy to talk about both of them, or about anything else you can possibly imagine, so please ask as many questions as you like! (Just give me a little extra time if you want to talk about math, because that’s not my best subject.) Fire away!

Stacia Kane has been a phone psychic, a customer service representative, a bartender, and a movie theatre usher. Writing is more fun than all of them combined. She wears a lot of black, still makes great cocktails, likes to play music loud in the car, and thinks Die Hard is one of the greatest movies ever made. She believes in dragons and the divine right of kings, and is a fervent Ricardian. She lives outside Atlanta with her husband and their two little girls.

You can read more about Stacia online at her website HERE, her blog HERE, and on occasion over at The League of Reluctant Adults.

Title Something About You

Author: Julie James

Genre: Romance / Contemporary Suspense

Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date 2 March 2010
MMP 336 Pages

Stand alone or series Stand alone novel

FATE HAS THROWN TWO SWORN ENEMIES. . .

Of all the hotel rooms rented by all the adulterous politicians in Chicago, female Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde had to choose the one next to 1308, where some hot-and-heavy lovemaking ends in bloodshed. And of all the FBI agents in Illinois, it had to be Special Agent Jack Pallas who gets assigned to this high-profile homicide. The same Jack Pallas who still blames Cameron for a botched crackdown three years ago—and nearly ruining his career…

. . .INTO EACH OTHER’S ARMS

Work with Cameron Lynde? Are they kidding? Maybe, Jack thinks, this is some kind of welcome-back prank after his stint away from Chicago. But it’s no joke: the pair is going to have to put their rocky past behind them and focus on the case at hand. That is, if they can cut back on the razor-sharp jibes—and smother the flame of their sizzling-hot sexual tension…

How did I get this book: ARC from Author

Why did I read this book: I am a huge fan of Julie James’ books, especially Practice Makes Perfect which was my favorite Contemporary Romance last year.

Review:

I don’t read a lot of Contemporary Romance and read even less Romance of the Suspense variety. If there is someone who can make me not only wait anxiously to read one and end up enjoying it so much as to ask for an encore!, that person would be: Julie James. Boy, can this woman write fan-tas-tic dialogue and captivating characters. Her previous two books Just the Sexiest Man Alive and Practice Makes Perfect are nearly pitch perfect romantic comedies and I love, love, loooooove them.

So what about this one then?

Of all hotels in the world, Cameron Lynde, Assistant District Attorney, had to pick the one where a murder would be committed, to spend the night whilst her newly finished flooring is drying. Of all the FBI agents in the world, it had to be Jack Pallas, the one to take the case. The same Jack Pallas who three years ago was the head of an investigation she was about to prosecute and which ended up never going ahead – and life-changer case whose fall out was jack being transferred to Nebraska all the while blaming Cameron for the failure. The tension, the animosity they feel for each other needs to be put aside so they can work together on the case as Cameron is both Witness and soon, a victim under protective detail. But all the anger and hostility in the world cannot hide the fact that once, Cameron and Jack were moving towards building something and the attraction is back with a bang (there is one particular scene in a motorcycle that whoa baby, holy guacamoles). And spending time together can prove what they need to bring the past to rest and start again.

This book is excellent when it comes to the romance between Cameron and Jack. The two talk when they have to talk and behave like level-headed adults and professionals who respect each other’s profession. She listens when he tells her what to do and he listens to her opinions as well. The secondary characters are interesting and show the two characters have a life outside work and their budding relationship. Also, Cameron’s best friend Colin is gay and I have to give major kudos to the author for not writing him as the usual stereotypical flamboyant gay –friend.

On the down side, if we can even say that, I have to admit not being a fan of the suspense plot. Which sounds silly since this is after all, a romantic suspense . But seeing as how the culprit is revealed early on to the reader and we are privy to this point of view, it sort of removed the suspense from the suspense; However it made it more interesting from a character’s development point of view because the reader gets to know why the killer committed the act and understand that it was not because he was an Evil!Vilain! and being able to follow the steps he took to ensure he was not found was intriguing to say the least. But in all honesty, I could have skipped all that so that I could read more of Jack and Cameron, Cameron and Jack. I am, it turns out, a bigger fan of her romantic comedies and I thoroughly missed The Funny and the screwball comedy elements present in the previous books –which is of course, a matter of preferential taste.

That is not to say that Something About You is not funny. It is – it has funny moments, and the dialogue sparkles as ever however the tone is more contained because of not only the murder investigation going on, the sense of danger surrounding Cameron but also because Jack is a damaged character with a past. Of all Julie James’ heroes, he is the one with more baggage and the one I end up loving the most. For all that, it could not, should not be any different – a difference in tone would have ruined the book.

One last word: I mentioned screwball comedy elements and this is a known influence in the writing of the author and in her previous books who make a homage and have shout outs to those old Hollywood movies . In an interview with the author, she mentioned that there would be a homage to It Happened One Night by Frank Capra in Something About You . Now, It Happened One Night happens to one my all time favourite movies and one of the reasons why I waited for this book so anxiously. I bet that that the homage would be to the famous Walls of Jericho scene and I was right! Without spoiling it too much, Julie James, takes that scene, makes it funnier and oh boy, sexier and appropriate for this book. Clark Gable/ Peter Warne would approve.

And I lied about the last word. I have something else to say about the book: this is also the hottest of her books– if you have read her previous books you know all sex scenes were fade to black. Not this time. We knew that Julie James can write sexual tension very, very well. We finally learn she can also write sex scenes – they are not very graphic or extremely long but phew do they deliver.

So as Ellie from It Happened One Night would say: Oh, it’s been a lot of fun.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: I loved this scene when Jack was doing protective detail at Cameron’s house and unbeknownst to her, as to not scare her, slept inside her bedroom :

He waited thirty minutes from the time he heard the noises stop, just to be safe.
He got up and walked down the hall. He entered Cameron’s bedroom quietly, pausing just outside the doorway to listen to the soft, steady sounds of her breahting. Satisfied she was sleeing, he moved to the corner of the room and took a seat on the floor next to the boarded-up doors that led out to the balcony and fire escpae. He rested his head against the wall.
He sat there in the darkness and watched.
He knew that sleep would eventually overtake him – he’d certainly slept in more uncomfortable places – but it would be a light, dreamless sleep. He would be ready in an instant, if necessary.
God help the man who tried to get past him.

Additional Thoughts: We have one copy of Something About You to giveaway to one lucky winner. To enter, simply leave a comment here. Contest is open to residents of US, Canada and UK ONLY and runs till Saturday 6th March 11:59 (PST). Only ONE comment per person! Multiple entries will be automatically disqualified. Good luck!

Verdict: Another great Contemporary novel by Julie James, a book which carries her signature: great dialogue and captivating characters. This one is more on the serious (and steamy) side than her previous novels.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

This is our brand new segment in which our delightful buddy Harry, from Temple Library Reviews will be joining us once a month to review paranormal romance from a guy’s perspective. But we will let him introduce himself, please let’s give a warm welcome to Harry!

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Harry: I’m the newest honorary addition to the Book Smugglers team [honest to God, I smuggle books home and then lie straight to my family's face about it]. I get the chance to play here at their blog once a month and my small spot will be called ‘A Dude Reads PNR’. The idea came to be in December, when I posted my Sherilyn Kenyon review and people were interested to see the male POV about Paranormal Romance. The public demands, the attention whore (that’s me) begs, and the smugglers comply.

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Title: The Battle Sylph
Author: L.J. McDonald
Genre: Romantic Fantasy / PNR

Publisher: Dorchester Publishing
Publishing Date: 23.02.2010
MMP: 323 pages [in the ARC]

Stand Alone or series: First book in a new series

He is one of many: a creature of magic, unrelentingly male. He is lured through the portal by pure female beauty, a virgin sacrifice. When she is killed, he is silenced and enslaved.

Such a dark ritual is necessary, you see. Unlike their elemental cousins-those gentler sylphs of wind and fire-Battlers find no joy in everyday labor. Their magic can destroy an army or demolish a castle, and each has but one goal: find a Queen, then protect and pleasure her at all costs. What would a woman do if she were given such a servant, and what would befall any kingdom foolish enough to allow a Battler to escape?

Young Solie and the people of Eferem are about to find out.

Why did I read the book: The premise sounded intriguing. Ana sounded ecstatic and when her reader-sense is tingling, it means something good will happen. The cover is also mucho impressive with those glowing eyes and the woman sprawled below the title. Certainly a looker that one.

How did I get the book: Ana [book-pimp extraordinaire] tied it to a balloon and asked a flock of geese to deliver it to me. That is a lie, but it would have taken less than with snail mail post.

Review:

My christening review for this mighty feature has not been the funny and good-feel bang I hoped for. To be quite honest ‘Circle of Fire’ shoved me outside in a blizzard. I needed a book to turn the heat up, burn down the house and fire me up. Thankfully ‘The Battle Sylph’ is just the right novel to help you lower your heating bills and is way better than the hot-water bottle you bring to bed. Every page is soaked with either adrenaline or naughty kerosene for the nether regions… of your imagination [naturally, what did you guys think I was going to say?]

Did I hook you? I hope so. Because, there’s much to enjoy in ‘The Battle Sylph’. As the genre suggests this is romantic fantasy, so no leather boots, guns, mean SUVs and vampires or any other standard magical race. Instead, we have swords, sturdy warriors, a queen and a race of spirits, who can become corporal and incorporeal, whenever they please. While it is true that fantasy hosts a romantic subplot almost always, the way the sex scene is mandatory for every single major Hollywood, the relationship usually remains in the background and is not central for the conflict. And it is not steamy, either.

‘The Battle Sylph’ offers the best from the medieval traditional fantasy with its quests, parties of brave heroes with a noble cause and a dastardly nemesis figure, while merging it with quite the liberated sexual attitude and a central relationship, which triggered the events in the book. The balance is solid and achieved by integrating sex into the worldbuilding, which evades the hazard of this becoming a book, where sex randomly flies around and is neither relevant, nor of any use to the plot. As the reader [you, because you have to have this book] discovers, the sylphs are spirits from a different plain, which live together in hives and divide into several subspecies, according to their status and function in the hive. There are elemental sylphs. Fire, water, earth, air. There are healing sylphs and there are also battle sylphs otherwise called the battlers. Every subspecies, excluding the battle sylphs, are female. The battlers are the soldiers in the hive and exist for war and sex, since they are the only males. The sole female to receive their affections is the queen of the hive, which makes them highly competitive and aggressive towards each other. The mythos in ‘The Battle Sylph’ helps the reader identify the mutual traits and the justification behind the behavior of all the battlers in the novel such as Heyou, the youngest battler and main protagonist, Ril and Mace. The dynamics and the hierarchy are fascinating to rediscover, because sylphs in general have no known mythological and popular role attached to them and this rendition steals the show, so to say.

Because sylphs in general require a connection with a human master in order to exist in the human world, the novel is rich in diverse relationship dynamics and scenarios. Beyond the usual human-human interaction with all the classic elements and tropes, such as friendship, betrayal, loyalty, subordination and defilement, readers are also treated to mandatory master-sylph episodes, which are as diverse as the individual characters. McDonald features cold hearted masters with a sadistic streak towards their sylphs, benign masters with a liberal mind, who break some rules and grant some freedoms to their sylphs and masters, who stray away from established models and allow their sylphs to act as they wish, relying on cooperation rather than servitude.

Although Solie and Heyou are the central couple, a queen with her battle sylph, their roles and the story attached to them would ring a bell. Solie is the first woman to break a monopolized by men tradition, by being bound to a battle sylph. Heyou is the young inexperienced battler, who must stand against many a challenge. That aside, the chemistry between these two feels very much real and volatile. However, the real emotional intensity lies in the human-sylph interactions between Leon, the king’s head of security and a dirty trick man, and his battler Ril and Jasar, member of the spoiled elite with many connections and an insufferable ego, and his battler Mace. Leon and Ril walk on the path of guilt, redemption and forgiveness, after it becomes clear that the female sacrifice used in the summoning ritual was actually the reason the battlers crossed plains and her death results in madness for the sylph and hatred towards the master, who remains clueless. Leon’s devastation upon learning the truth is raw and heartfelt, while Ril’s hatred and painful denial is also powerful to read. Mace is less fortunate with his master Jasar, whom you would love to hate and kill, if you were a character in the story. Mace has to endure his master’s depravations, toxic and demanding personality and amoral orders in silence; a bond from which he cannot escape and threatens to add a horrific twist in the resolution.

As you see, ‘The Battle Sylph’ is the Horn of Plenty. From page one you are assaulted with so many flavors, excitement and adventures that you may need some time to adjust. This is my issue with the book. It is taking a non-stop staccato story and playing it double time. There are almost no natural pauses for the reader to rest and by the end of the journey, I was as exhausted as the characters and mind you, I never even had to raise a sword or survive almost certain annihilation. This unnatural speed to dash to the finish line coupled with the lightning quick POV changes might result in some confusion, but overall these two issues do not steal from the quality of the storytelling, prose or creative prowess.

Verdict: I wanted to be sassy, humorous and witty, but quite frankly writing this review sapped completely. There are at least a few thousand words more I wanted to say, but this is a review and not a thesis. In a few words though, ‘The Battle Sylph’ is a winner for sure. A power exercise for your brain’s endurance, but the benefits outweigh the minor inconveniences along the way.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading next: Demonkeepers by Jessica Andersen

Welcome to guest dare! For those new to the feature, our Guest Dare is a monthly endeavor in which we invite an unsuspecting victim to read a book totally outside of their comfort zone. You can read all previous Dare posts HERE.

This month’s victim is Jeff – one of the minds behind the awesomeness that is Alert Nerd and the dude who talks about geeky things at Jefferson Stolarship. When we invited Jeff for the dare, we just knew he would be reading a Romance Novel. So please, ladies and gents, give it up for Jeff!

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Title:The Duke of Shadows

Author: Meredith Duran

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Pocket
Publication Date: March 2008
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Sick of tragedy, done with rebellion, Emmaline Martin has no interest in courting trouble. But when violence seizes the British colonies, she must turn for help to the one man whom she should not trust, but cannot resist: Julian Sinclair, the dangerous and dazzling heir to the Duke of Auburn. In London, they toast Sinclair with champagne. In India, they call him a traitor. When Emma’s life falls into his hands, Julian cannot imagine the lengths he will go to keep her safe — or how love itself will become their greatest danger. A lifetime later, in a cold London spring, Emma and Julian will finally confront the truth: no matter how hard one tries to deny it, some pasts cannot be disowned . . . and some passions may never die.

Why did we recommend this book: : This is one of Ana’s favorite Romance novels by one of Ana’s favorite romance novel writers.

Jeff’s Review:

When I was younger and more inclined to be glib and cynical, I opined that I could write a historical romance novel pretty easily. I was in college, and I’d just found a bodice-ripper half-hidden under a friend’s bed; of course, wrapped up in my haughty, self-important English major-dom, I mocked her terribly. Romance novels were nothing but insubstantial and overly florid frivolity, I said, and even I could just churn one out if so inclined. My outline involved a chaste yet listless Spanish noblewoman abducted by fierce privateers whose harsh and demanding captain taught her about love and adventure…not in that order. I didn’t dissuade Anna from reading her book, and I ignored the hypocrisy carefully when I cracked open a Star Wars novel later that day. And though I talk a good game, I never did get around to writing that book. Go figure.

It was that incident that I had in mind when Ana and Thea dared me to tackle Meredith Duran’s The Duke of Shadows. Though I’d broadened my horizons since my all-genre-fiction-all-the-time period, I wasn’t sure that my forays into ‘chick lit’ had really prepared me for what I was about to read. I’m not one to back down from a dare, but I kind of dreaded the promise of purple prose and quivering members. I forgot for a moment that I’m an unabashed consumer of melodrama.

I couldn’t put The Duke of Shadows down. I devoured it greedily and in large, uncouth bites. Like its heroine, it seems unassuming at first blush, but has something incredibly compelling hidden underneath its exterior. So compelling that I found myself talking to the book in the way that some people shout at the victims in slasher flicks. You know, “Don’t run UP THE STAIRS!” It hit me when heroine Emma was reunited with the titular shadowy duke after a four year absence and they both overreacted in the exact wrong way. I sat bolt upright in my comfy reading chair and informed Emma and Julian both that Marcus – the evil Viscount – had deceived them both.

Does The Duke of Shadows adhere to the conceits of the genre? Well, of course it does. The romance between the headstrong, artistic Emma and brooding, conflicted Julian is so unrealistic that it might as well be supernatural. Julian is practically perfect in every way – breathtakingly beautiful, absurdly wealthy, erudite, compassionate and a master marksman. Emma is a rich, headstrong tragic heiress who is herself unconventionally beautiful and a superbly talented artist. I realize that that’s like complaining that water is wet; we’re dealing with romantic melodrama, so I accept that it’s par for the course. Despite that, their mutual attraction seems real, and their banter organic. The romantic in me roots for them almost immediately, especially in contrast to Marcus, Emma’s racist womanizing bastard of a fiance.

Would I have enjoyed this book if it weren’t for Meredith Duran? I’m not sure. She makes the book move quickly, makes the dialogue not only pop but sound real, and despite being inside her characters’ heads frequently, the voice of the book is efficient and not overburdened with filler adverbs the way this post is. The inside-back-cover bio of Duke describes Duran as a lifelong history buff, and that’s something that definitely shows in the life she’s able to breathe into the setting of the book – colonial India.

The British Raj is the perfect backdrop for exotic romance, especially set as it is against the backdrop of Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. I know the tendency can be to correlate India with outsourced call center reps and their longtime feud with Pakistan and move along, but it is a breathtakingly beautiful country with an exotic mix of old and new, even at the time when The Duke of Shadows takes place; in fact, the division between and admixture of tradition and modernity is a bit sharper because it’s fresher. As a result, the book also has some things to say about nationalism and cultural identity that gave it added depth. Emma, steeped in British court society but too independent to let it govern her thinking, is the perfect point of view character for the story.

I thought that The Duke of Shadows was a great read, and I’m glad that Ana and Thea urged me to step outside my comfort zone and try something new. Am I going to have to clear out room for a ‘Harlequin Shelf’ in my library? I doubt it, honestly, but I’m certainly not going to steer away from a great book that just happens to be a romance again.

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Yay, Jeff! We are most delighted that you enjoyed your dare!

Next on the Guest Dare: Peter from Bitterly Books reads Scalped Volume 1

Until next month!

“Inspirations and Influences” is a new series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Today’s guest is debut author Rose Lerner, whose Historical Romance novel In For A Penny is about to be released next week. The book, about a marriage of convenience based on companioship and mutual respect between a ruined lordling and a rich Cit, shook Ana’s world and brought back her love for the genre with a vengeance. And we are delighted to have the author here today to talk about her Inspirations and Influences behind the book:

Please give it up for Rose Lerner:

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There are plenty of things that show up in In for a Penny that I love wholeheartedly: making lists, men who speak foreign languages, and ballads about girls who run away to sea, for example. But the influences at the heart of the book are all things that make me angry, and matter to me a lot.

1. A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer.

I adore Georgette Heyer. I envy her prose style to the soles of my shoes. And A Civil Contract makes me want to throw it at the wall every time I read it.

It’s about a penniless lord who marries the daughter of a self-made man for her money. Jenny is “too commonplace and matter-of-fact to inspire…passionate adoration,” unlike the woman Adam loves, a high-strung aristocratic girl with beautiful eyes. So far, so good. Except at the end of the book, Jenny’s in love with Adam and he is still not in love with her. Instead, they discover that a marriage of quiet content can be more enduring than passion.

I’m not opposed to that sentiment, and I know a lot of readers love the book for that very reason. But why Jenny? Why is Jenny denied what every other Heyer heroine gets: the passionate adoration of her hero? What if , I thought, I wrote a marriage of convenience between a penniless lord and the daughter of a self-made man where he’s the one who feels inadequate, and she’s the one with the ex-boyfriend?

Until his father’s death, my hero Nev has never had to deal with either responsibility or business management. And my heroine, Penelope, grew up helping with the books in her father’s brewery. Nev is impressed and a little turned on by her accounting skills, but he can’t shake the lingering fear that she’d be better off with sensible, ultra-competent Edward…

2. Jane Austen, especially Sense and Sensibility.

Jane Austen is another writer who remains a huge influence not just on me, but on the entire romance genre. She writes the best comedy of manners ever. She does amazing banter. She writes strong female characters (mostly) and charming heroes (mostly).

And yet, Sense and Sensibility makes me angry. Jane Austen sets up her world so that a girl can be an Elinor, and be sensible and level-headed and live up to her responsibilities, or be a Marianne and be enthusiastic and talkative and willing to take emotional risks. By dividing those traits up into two characters and then making Marianne silly and kind of obnoxious, Austen says that you can’t be both.

I don’t want to choose between being a girl worthy of respect and being a girl who says out loud how she feels. In order to become an Elinor, I’d have to lop off entire parts of myself, lock them away and be ashamed of them and never look at them again. Which is, I think, a thing that people do to themselves. It’s something my heroine Penelope, who wants desperately to be an Elinor, has done to herself. (Luckily, Nev comes along to help her find those bits of herself again…) This brings me to Influence #3:

3. Trying to be taken seriously.

I think we’ve all had the experience of not being taken seriously, of being treated like someone whose thoughts don’t actually count for whatever reason. It’s an awful feeling.

Penelope’s whole life has been shaped by that feeling. Her nouveau-riche parents started out as working-class Londoners, but they sent their daughter to a finishing school for young ladies. The other girls all made fun of her–for the way she ate, the way she talked, the way she dressed. So she watched everything she did, trying to prove that she wasn’t vulgar, that a working-class girl could be just as good as the daughters of lords. That’s something I haven’t experienced personally, of course. But I drew on personal experiences and family history to help me figure out how to write about it.

As a teenager I struggled to present my opinions in a level-headed manner, so that my dad would take me seriously. (Alas, I frequently ended up crying in the bathroom and/or yelling…) As a girl majoring in math in college, I tried to seem confident and smart, and always wore my most serious clothes to seminar. There were whole years of my life when I wouldn’t wear pink. And I love pink!

My grandmother (whose parents came to the U.S. from Poland) made the transition from being very poor as a child to being middle-class as an adult. She remembered showing up to her first day of school speaking only Yiddish, so she didn’t teach her children Yiddish at all. She was very proud of her education. She tried not to speak with a Brooklyn accent. She wanted my mother to be a doctor even though my mother was one of the most squeamish people I’ve ever met.

Don’t get me wrong, my grandmother loved her family and was proud of where she came from. And she really did like opera, it wasn’t just an affectation. But she also censored herself and her kids, and had some bizarre blind spots. For example, she believed that she had a more classy taste in clothes than her own mother, and was always complaining that my mother looked schleppy and giving her fashion advice. Let’s look at some family photos.

My great-grandmother (in the middle):

My grandmother with her mother, and one of my grandparents together (making a joke with their Old-Timey Married People pose):

My mother. On the left she’s in a dress my grandmother bought for her (with her two brothers), and in the right she’s in a dress she bought for herself (with her youngest brother):

To find out if the trend continues into my generation, all you have to do is look at my author photo:

Clearly bright, busy patterns run in the family. Is that because we’re peasants at heart? Maybe, maybe not–but who cares? Of course, I can say that. I can really not care, because I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. My grandmother did.

I tried to show that with Penelope. I tried to show that she’s playing a losing game, but at the same time I didn’t want to criticize her for playing. Because in her situation, I think it’s impossible not to want approval, and not to feel like you should be a credit to where you came from.

So there you have it, three of my inspirations and influences! Thanks Book Smugglers for having me!

About the author: I discovered Georgette Heyer when I was thirteen, and wrote my first historical romance a few years later. My writing has improved since then, but my fascination with all things Regency hasn’t changed. When not reading, writing, or researching, I enjoy cooking and marathoning old TV shows. I live in Seattle with two roommates, four cats, and too many books and DVDs to count. You can learn more about the author on her website, where you can find an awesome excerpt of the book, cool characters’ interviews and a contest to win not only her book but also a package of 10 of her favorite Regency-themed books.

Thank you, Rose!!!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

IN FOR A PENNY

No more drinking. No more gambling. And definitely no more mistress. Now that he’s inherited a mountain of debts and responsibility, Lord Nevinstoke has no choice but to start acting respectable. Especially if he wants to find a wife-better yet, a rich wife. Penelope Brown, a manufacturing heiress, seems the perfect choice. She’s pretty, rational, ladylike, and looking for a marriage based on companionship and mutual esteem.

IN FOR A POUND

But when they actually get to Nev’s family estate, all the respectability and reason in the world won’t be enough to deal with tenants on the edge of revolt, a menacing neighbor, and Nev’s family’s propensity for scandal. Overwhelmed but determined to set things right, Nev and Penelope have no one to turn to but each other. And to their surprise, that just might be enough.

We have one signed copy of In For A Penny to giveaway. In order to enter, leave a comment on this post. Contest is open for residents of US and Canada ONLY and will run till Saturday February 20th 11:59pm (PST). We will announce the winner next Sunday in our weekly stash! Good luck!

Title In For A Penny

Author: Rose Lerner

Genre: Romance / Historical

Publisher: Leisure Books
Publication Date: February 23, 2010
Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

IN FOR A PENNY

No more drinking. No more gambling. And definitely no more mistress. Now that he’s inherited a mountain of debts and responsibility, Lord Nevinstoke has no choice but to start acting respectable. Especially if he wants to find a wife-better yet, a rich wife. Penelope Brown, a manufacturing heiress, seems the perfect choice. She’s pretty, rational, ladylike, and looking for a marriage based on companionship and mutual esteem.

IN FOR A POUND

But when they actually get to Nev’s family estate, all the respectability and reason in the world won’t be enough to deal with tenants on the edge of revolt, a menacing neighbor, and Nev’s family’s propensity for scandal. Overwhelmed but determined to set things right, Nev and Penelope have no one to turn to but each other. And to their surprise, that just might be enough.

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher.

Why did I read this book: I was offered a copy of the book and I thought it sounded good. I never, in a million years, would have thought it would be SO good, it basically restored my faith in Historical Romance.

Review:

If you follow this blog closely you know that I love me some romance. You will also know then that I haven’t read one that I absolutely LOVED in months. Until I read In For a Penny. As soon as I sat down to write this review I realised I was going to do something different. This is going to be long, so brace yourselves.

Come closer. I will tell you why I loved this book so much I have been gushing about it to everybody I know.

The beginning is delightful. Many a romance novel starts with a rakish hero either being bored with his rakish life or with us being told how much of a scoundrel the hero is. We hardly ever see it. However, in this book, the first few pages show me that the hero, Nev is well and truly a scoundrel – but not a cad. He is young and restless and how could he not be? He is 23, living in London, enjoying life with his friends. He will inherit one day but has no responsibilities yet so he can just go to parties, gamble and keep a mistress, Amy whom he genuinely likes. He enjoys music and reading – what strikes me the most when I read these first pages is how happy and how joyous he is and how young he sounds. He attends a formal party with his two rascal best friends where he meets the heroine Penelope (who is a Cit – ie.not an aristocrat but someone who makes money). He thinks she is pretty and invites her to dance and because she is rather straight forward, he thinks he can get away with other things:

“Would you like to step out on the terrace?” he asked hopefully.

She laughed outright. “I hope I’m not such a green girl as that. But I will allow you to select some hors d’oeuvres for me.”

“A task! My lady has set me a task! But first I beg a token of your favor.”

“I’m afraid my red sleeve embroidered with great pearls is pinned to my other evening gown, my lord,” she said with ironic courtesy.
His eyes lit up. “You like Malory!”

She flushed, as if it were something to be ashamed of. “I’ve always been fond of the Morte d’Arthur. I hope my taste in modern literature is rather more elevated.”

Nev grinned. “Says you! I’ll wager a pony you’re hiding The Mysteries of Udolpho in your reticule even as we speak!”

He teases Penelope but he is the one who loves Gothic novels, she is the one who looks down on them. By then I am already half way in love and it’s still the first chapter. Before much else happens, he learns his mother is at the party and he is terrified of her because he should have dined with her and guess what – he runs away in terror of his mother through the streets of London. How novel.

A couple of weeks later and his father is dead. Nev inherits the title, responsibilities that he is not at all prepared to handle, he needs to take care of his mother and sister and worst of all, debts he has no way of settling. He does he best to – he sells property, jewels, his horses. He talks to his solicitor. Never once it crosses his mind to sell his sister in marriage – instead he sells himself. He remembers the girl he met at the party, Penelope. She is rich. He thinks they would do well together. He goes to her, he explains the situation and asks for her help and hand in marriage.

Penelope, whose family comes from nothing and became rich with her father’s acumen for business, decides to say yes. Even though she has harbored the hope of marrying her friend Edward, she and her family always hoped she would be a lady and then there is something about Nev. But mind you, Nev is not one of those impossibly handsome, hot, rich dudes from romance. Oh no. He is poor and common.

There was to be sure, nothing out of the common way about him. A perfectly ordinary-looking young man, Penelope insisted to herself. He was of middling height, his shoulders neither slim nor broad. His hands were not aristocratically slender – there was nothing to set them apart from the hands of any other gentleman of her acquaintance.

His hair was a little too long, and she thought its tousled appearance more the result of inattention than any attempt at fashion; it was neither dark nor fair, but merely brown – utterly nondescript save for a hint of cinnamon. His face too would have been unmemorable if it were not for a slight crookedness in his nose, suggesting it had been broken. His eyes were an ordinary blue, of an ordinary shape and size.
So why could she picture him so clearly, and why did the memory of his smile still make her feel – hot, and strange inside?

What makes it for Penelope is his cinnamon hair, his smile and then there was his voice. His voice. And the fact that he is so earnest. And that is what leaps from the page of this book:

This couple’s earnestness to make this marriage work. When Penelope says yes, she makes a list of things she expects from him, amongst them: respect, that he doesn’t keep a mistress and that he doesn’t resent her for the money she brings to the marriage. Nev is prepared to say yes to all of these things and yet they are not easy: and of course they are not. He even breaks apart from his two best friends – he is so determined to shift his life around he thinks he can’t do it with his friends around.

And then there is Amy – at one point in the novel he thinks about her and he misses her and their camaraderie. Although this is usually a big no-no to me (I mean, come on, a hero thinking about a former mistress? How dares he?) it actually made Nev a much better man to my eyes. It means he wasn’t an user – and better yet. When he thought of Amy and their camaraderie he realized that he didn’t know her and he didn’t care to know – and that realization made him see how much he wanted to get to know Penelope . This is not the only novelty, Amy comes back into the scene and she is not the bitch ex-mistress that comes as the Big Misunderstanding – she is actually a rather nice young lady whose presence move the two of them to talk to each other.

Another novelty? Nev decides to get to know Penelope better before they have sex. And the first time they fool around for real and he pleasures her and brings her to climax, the next day she is all smiles and all dressed up for him. And this is what he thinks:

She was radiant and happy because she never experienced the peak of pleasure before. When Nev had discovered he could do it to himself the summer he turned twelve, he had spent nearly three days in his room with the door locked. But poor, innocent Penelope didn’t realize that’s all it was. She thought there was something special about him.

Nev knew perfectly well that there wasn’t. If she had married Edward, she would be looking at him right now as if he had hung the moon. The thought made him queasy. He had taken everything from her and given her only this one thing she could get from any man who took her fancy, and she was smiling gratefully at him and doing her hair up pretty.

I don’t think I ever saw a hero thinking around these lines. There is usually pride and jealousy or lust.

But enough about Nev. Because Penelope is a great heroine – strong and capable. A little bit cold to begin with, thinking that’s what it took to be a lady: to be in control. She never jumps to conclusions about Nev and she is prepared to help him becoming a man. They are so young the two of them – I hardly ever get this sense of a couple growing together, working together. This is what they have to do – to get their marriage on the tracks, their lives too.

And Nev’s estate – let’s not forget that. Dealing with poachers, tenants and riots- they have real problems to deal with. And it is interesting – all the more when I learnt about the author’s research about hardships of the English working class in the era and agrarian riots in East Anglia in 1816. To the Historian in me, it is like Christmas in July.

This book is so good, I can almost forgive the unnecessary villain and his subsequent villainous, melodramatic act towards the end. The bane of my existence when it comes to Romance Novels – why this when so much awesome secondary and primary internal and external conflicts already exist?

I already said too much, and didn’t even mention Nev’s family, the cute secondary romance, the few and very good sex scenes. But I shall leave you with one last quote, my favorite in the whole book:

“Nev?” she asked, and he would have given her anything.” Will you read to me?”

He blinked. “You want me to read to you?”

She nodded.”You – you’re good at it.”

She had only heard him read aloud once – Byron, at her parent’s house. She didn’t even like Byron. He had supposed she was thinking him the most frivolous fellow alive, and instead she had liked it. For the first time in days, Nev felt that life was full of pleasant surprises. He grinned at her. “Let me dig up our copy of Malory.”

When he had found it, he returned to the window seat. He glanced at her to see where she wanted to sit; to his surprise she crawled between his legs again and settled there. So he rested the book on her lap and his chin on her shoulder and began to read. She was soft and warm and laughed in all the right places, and when he bent and kissed her hair she made a contented humming sound in the back of her throat.

This is the sort of quiet affection that makes me sigh in contentment and finally, finally I found myself hugging a book after months of drought. That, fellow romance readers is why I love Romance.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: You need another? I will give you another one:

She sighed and tilted up her face. He felt a flash of something – Penelope seemed haloed for an instant in perfect beauty, and he felt a sharp, unsettling pang as if someone had plucked one of his heartstrings, hard, and found it out of tune. It wasn’t like affection or lust – those he knew; it was something entirely unfamiliar.

“Is something wrong?”

He realized he had stopped moving, his thumb at the corner of her mouth.”Not at all”. He tried to smile. The feeling was gone now, but it had left something in its wake – a sort of lifting up, a yearning toward something undefined. He had sometimes felt like this when he had heard the opening chords of a favorite piece of music. He had read a poem, once, that almost described it: a shaping and a sense of thing beyond us .

That was how he felt when he looked at Penelope just now. As if something were happening to the two of them, just beyond the reach of his understanding.

Additional Thoughts : Stick around as the author will be here later talking about her inspirations and influences for writing the book. Plus, we will be giving away a signed copy of the book.

Verdict: I loved this novel so much and can’t wait to read more from Rose Lerner -I welcome the author to the genre with open arms. More please!

Rating: 8 – Excellent leaning towards a 9

Reading Next: Something About You by Julie James

Hey, hey, hey folks! It’s time for another, really spiffy Flash Giveaway! This time, it’s the luuuuuuuuurve edition.

Today, we have a few prize packages up for grabs – three basic prize packages, and then ONE truly awesome Grand Prize!

In Batch 1: Historical Romance

This batch includes:
- Revenge Wears Rubies by Renee Bernard
- In Bed With the Duke by Christina Dodd
- Ladies Prefer Rogues anthology
- Promise Me Tonight by Sara Lindsey
- Most Eagerly Yours by Allison Chase
- The Irish Duke by Virginia Henley

In Batch 2: Contemporary Romance

This batch includes:
- Knock Me for a Loop by Heidi Betts
- Some Like it Kilted by Allie Mackay
- Mad, Bad and Blonde by Cathie Linz
- Divorced, Desperate and Decieved by Christie Craig
- Blonde with a Wand by Vicki Lewis Thompson
- Chick with a Charm by Vicki Lewis Thompson
- Johnny Be Good by Paige Toon

In Batch 3: Paranormal Romance

This batch includes:
- Warrior Ascended by Addison Fox
- Succubi Like it Hot by Jill Myles
- Naked Dragon by Annette Blair
- Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole
- Atlantis Redeemed by Alyssa Day
- Time for Eternity by Susan Squires

AND THE GRAND PRIZE:

As part of the marketing push behind the thirtieth book in J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts)’s “In Death” series, the good folks at Penguin have put together a truly AWESOME promotional package for the release of Fantasy In Death.

Bart Minnock, founder of the computer-gaming giant U-Play, enters his private playroom, and eagerly can’t wait to lose himself in an imaginary world, to play the role of a sword-wielding warrior king, in his company’s latest top-secret project, Fantastical.

The next morning, he is found in the same locked room, in a pool of blood, his head separated from his body. It is the most puzzling case Eve Dallas has ever faced, and it is not a game. . . .

NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is having as much trouble figuring out how Bart Minnock was murdered as who did the murdering. The victim’s girlfriend seems sincerely grief-stricken, and his quirky-but-brilliant partners at U-Play appear equally shocked. No one seemed to have a prob lem with the enthusiastic, high-spirited millionaire. Of course, success can attract jealousy, and gaming, like any business, has its fierce rivalries and dirty tricks-as Eve’s husband, Roarke, one of U- Play’s competitors, knows well. But Minnock was not naive, and quite capable of fighting back in the real world as well as the virtual one.

Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction-and the price of defeat is death. . . .

You may or may not have seen others (such as KB of Babbling About Books, and More! and the folks over at Dear Author) that have been posting about these wicked cool packages – and, with full permission from the publicity group at Penguin, we’ve decided to give put our own package up for grabs.

As the Grand Prize in our Valentine’s Day Giveaway, we are offering up a copy of Fantasy In Death and the wicked cool Evidence Bag that contains Vengeance in Death, a departmental memo from Eve, and a little token of evidence from the Vengeance in Death case.

You can find more about Fantasy In Death and all of the great evidence bags put together by the publisher at the official In Death website, HERE.

THE RULES:

In order to enter the contest, we have a few simple rules.

To enter the competition, you must leave a comment after this post, letting us know in order of preference which of the three prize packages you want (for example: 1. Historical Romance; 2. Paranormal Romance; 3. Contemporary Romance).

If you want to enter yourself in the GRAND PRIZE drawing (for Fantasy in Death and the Evidence Bag containing goodies and Vengeance in Death), in your comment make sure to tell us which In Death book is your favorite! (If you do not wish to be considered in the giveaway for the other prize packages, make sure to state that in your comment too) If you do not say which In Death book is your favorite, you will NOT be eligible to win the Grand Prize.

And this is an important one! ONLY ONE COMMENT PER PERSON. Any duplicate comments, clarification comments, multiple comments will be automatically disqualified.

The competition is open to residents of the United States and Canada ONLY.

Those are the rules! Make sure you adhere to them, or you might lose your chance at a truly awesome giveaway. The contest will run until Saturday February 13th at 11:59PM. Good luck!

And Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Title: The Bride and the Buccaneer

Author: Darlene Marshall

Genre: Romance, Historical

Publisher: Amber Quill Press
Publication Date: December 2009
Paperback : 254 pages

‘Lucky Jack’ Burrell’s quest for revenge against Sophia Deford will have to wait until he discharges a debt. He has to help her find the fabled pirate treasure Garvey’s Gold, then he can wring her dainty neck. Sophia has no intention of sharing anything with anyone. She will have all of Garvey’s Gold, no matter how much Jack’s lean-muscled body makes her want to get to know him just a little bit better before she gets rid of him. As the two adversaries squabble their way across Territorial Florida following the clues on their treasure map, they know that before they’re through they’re either going to kiss each other, kill each other, or both…

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the author

Why did I read this book: When the author offered me a copy of the book, I read an excerpt and I liked what I read so I said yes. Plus, I like High Seas adventures.

Review:

It’s been quite a while since I read a Historical Romance ( a few months actually) and The Bride and the Buccaneer was a good reminder of the things I love about the genre -the emotional punches and the character-driven stories- whilst at the same time cementing in my mind, in a very broad, sweeping generalisation, what I see as its weaknesses: the less than careful attention to some details and the reliance on contrivances and coincidences to further the plot.

It begins a few years in the past when Jack Burrell after losing some money to a Lord Whitfield decides to recuperate his losses by robbing his carriage and stealing his gold. He also happens to kidnap the man’s ward, Sophie Deford as a means to prevent being followed, a girl he thinks is a timid young lady. What he did not know is that Sophie is anything from timid and finds this is the perfect opportunity to get away from her lecherous guardian. She proceeds to dupe Jack, rob him of his gold and his clothes, leaving him tied and naked in a cave, fleeing with the money to open her own business.

Cue to five years later. A Captain friend of hers is about to leave on a journey and before he does, he leaves a letter on her hands to be delivered to, you guessed right, Jack (whom at that point, Sophie did not know was her highwayman) in Florida along with instructions to find a long lost pirate’s treasure in case something happens to him in this journey. Before I even have time to blink, the man is dead, Sophie cries for about one paragraph, then embarks to Florida. Just like that. Then, her ship is stopped by a privateer’s ship, captained by the …very same Jack Burrell, the man she met so many years ago, and the man she is actually looking for! Oh my, what are the odds? (One in a trillion?).

The overwhelming rapidity in which this all happens is mind-blowing. It felt as though the author wanted to get the pesky business of setting the plot in motion out of the way quickly, in order to get going. And for that it didn’t matter how it was done. In all honesty, I had to make myself to keep reading at this point but I am glad I did because once thing did get going, it cannot be denied that there was much fun to be had with the romance between Jack and Sophie.

Working together to find the treasure, disliking each other to begin with (well, given their past, given Sophie’s need not to be attached to anyone) and then falling in love, bickering all the way through.

Regardless of how things were engendered, the characterisation was pretty strong. Jack was a genuinely nice man, who loves his life a privateer and the one who falls in love first (one of my favorites tropes, by the way). Sophie, meanwhile is the hardened one who needs to be convinced to open up for an emotional connection. She is no silly girl, she is sexually aware and an overall strong female character and I liked her very much.

With regards to the setting: I don’t think I ever read a book set in early 19th century Florida and that was pretty interesting. Although, it called for some serious suspicion of disbelief when they went traipsing into the wild countryside and did not meet any really dangerous situation. I am no expert but really? Nothing? Fauna, flora, or Human? Nada? Instead, they happen to meet a friend who happened to be hiding in the same side of the woods. Okay.

Overall I did enjoy the book, and I finished it with a silly smile after the decidedly wonderful last lines of dialogue.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the excerpt:

Off the coast of Spanish Florida–1817

He held her gaze a moment longer, then his lips curled up. The smile made Sophia want to take a step back – all the way back to England – but she held her ground and donned the face that saw her through many a late-night game of cards.

“John Burrell, I presume? I have a letter for you.”

“What?”

“If you are John Burrell of St. Augustine, East Florida, I have a letter for you from England,” she repeated, speaking slowly and distinctly. “It is with my belongings, and I will fetch it.”

He stared at her, and she could see a host of expression in his green-tinged eye, none of it boding well for her.

“A letter,” he said softly. “You have a letter for me you have brought all the way from England. Do you know, Miss Deford, in all the many daydreams I had over what I would do to you if we ever met again, your acting as postmistress did not enter into a single scenario? But that is neither here nor there. Right now, I have a ship to plunder.”

“When you see the contents of your letter, you may feel more pleased about seeing me again,” Sophia brazened out.

“I doubt that. I doubt that very much, Miss Deford.”

“Crawford!” He called to a passing pirate. “Keep this woman under guard until I can deal with her. Do not let her out of your sight.”

The sailor looked startled by these orders, but only said, “Aye, sir,” and took up a stance next to Sophia as Burrell stalked off. When she started slipping closer to the passageway, Crawford said, “Please don’t do that, miss. I don’t want to hurt you, but I have my orders.” He looked regretful, but he also looked as if he was willing to do whatever he was ordered to, and Sophia stood still. The sun beat down on her, exposed on the deck, as she watched the busy activity of the ship’s cargo being stolen.

“May I at least go stand in the shade while your captain decides my fate? ”

Crawford nodded, and took her arm to lead her over to a coiled cable shaded by an awning where she sat down to watch the activity unfolding around her.

The privateers attached bumpers to their ship and brought the Jade alongside the Primrose, and Burrell and his crew removed boxes, crates, and parcels with the efficiency of men who had done this task many times in the past. The last item to be brought above was a strongbox from Captain Starke’s quarters, but when Starke protested, Jack Burrell only looked at him and said, “You have some of your cargo, Starke, and a ship. Do not push your luck.”

Starke’s protests subsided, but he still looked unhappy.

“There is one more piece of unfinished business I have to deal with, Captain Starke,” Burrell said. He walked over to Sophia and leaning down, took her by the arm, pulling her to her feet. “Let us fetch this mysterious letter, Miss Deford.”

“Here now,” Starke protested. “Unhand that lady, Burrell!”

“This lady is an old acquaintance of mine, Captain Starke,” Jack said, not taking his eye off of Sophia while he spoke.

Captain Starke started to protest again, but Sophia put her hand out.

“Let me go with him, Captain Starke. Burrell. . .”

“Captain. Burrell.”

Sophia looked at the pirate and then back at Captain Starke.

“Captain Burrell and I do know each other, Captain Starke. And as he says, we have unfinished business.”

Burrell manacled his hand around her upper arm and pulled her alongside him, but preceded her down the ladder to the lower decks.

Sophia wished her ankles weren’t on display before the pirate as she climbed down herself, but there was nothing for it. He waited at the bottom of the ladder, watching her.

And there was no patch over what appeared to be a perfectly fine eye.

“What happened to your eye?”

“My eye is none of your concern. Which cabin is yours?”

Sophia led him to her cabin and he followed her in, ducking his head beneath a deck that gave her plenty of clearance, but left him close to stooping.

“Where is this letter, Miss Deford?”

Sophia thought of stalling, but did not think it would accomplish much. She went to her small trunk, the one with her personal items, and under his watchful eye pulled out a document sealed with red wax. On its face was the same bold, black handwriting that covered her letter from Erasmus Tanner.

Burrell broke the seal, read the letter, ground out a string of words that would have earned him a clap on both ears from Annie Johnson, and then looked at Sophia.

“Give me the document Captain Tanner gave you, and I will let you go unharmed.”

Sophia took a deep breath. Now was the point where she leapt into the unknown.

“I cannot do that. You can meet with me in Florida and we will talk there.”

In a move so fast Sophia barely saw the gleam of metal, a knife whizzed past her ear and thudded into the bulkhead behind her. She locked her knees and hoped he was not carrying another knife.

Verdict: Despite some flaws, plot-wise, the romance is genuine and warm and the characters are interesting.

Rating: 6 – Good

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