REVIEW: First Lady by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

First Lady by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Did you ever reread a book and go “Wow! This was so much better than I remembered?”



That has been happening to me lately; especially with Susan Elizabeth Phillips books. I think when your perspective changes, your opinions do as well. ;)



First Lady was not really a memorable novel for me the first time around. I probably read it in my fury to get my hands on all things SEP. Rereading it years later, I did quite enjoy it.



Overall, I really liked the main cast. Mat was wonderful. I loved Nealy. Lucy was probably my favorite character. Button was so funny.



The book was filled with both clever humor and clichés. I was pretty chocked up near the end of the book when Nealy went back to the Washington. I loved the light political commentary that Nealy gave throughout the book. Also, the interesting facts about the former first ladies were pretty cool, too. I thought it was interesting that the book talked about Hillary Clinton running for senator; First Lady was originally published in 2000 – the year Clinton made her decision. I am not sure what month.



I want to say that Mat was my favorite SEP hero, but honestly, as far as he wasn’t that memorable (though, frankly, when it comes to SEP heroes that is probably a good thing). I did not mind that Mat lied about his career, but I did not understand the steelworker idea. Did he just come up with it off the top of his head?



SEP writes children incredibly unrealistically and humorously. Lucy and Button were adorable. I have not read SEP’s newest novel, but I hear Lucy reappears. Is there any chance she will get a novel of her own? (also, I was wondering how old she was in that novel – and if Neal was still president? Because the last few pages of First Lady – if you do the math – took place in 2009, (so, if her inauguration was in 2009, then she would be president to the first month of 2013, assuming she did not run and win again.). That being said, little Luce deserve a happy ending!



Overall: 4 stars



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REVIEW: Backstage Pass by Olivia Cunning

Backstage Pass by Olivia Cunning

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I finally finished!

My apologies to the author (and her fans!) for my harsh words earlier. This book deserved much more of a chance. I am glad I finally gave it one.



You know what? Between all the sex there was a plot. It wasn’t great but it was there. Brian was a cool guy – actually all the members of the Sinners were pretty cool. Myrna was okay. She was a bit of a fan girl, though she wouldn’t admit that to herself.

The ending was nice, I especially liked the last few lines.



Things that were interesting: Malcolm O’Neil. Food Shopping. Jeremy. Florida. Claire Sinclair.

I liked the external and internal issues that Brian and Myrna had as a couple – and that doesn’t always happen.



Overall: 2.5 stars



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REVIEW: Money, Honey by Susan Sey

Money, Honey by Susan Sey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Could the hero be any more of a girl?



That was seriously what I was thinking throughout the whole novel. During action scenes (not that there were many), Patrick was alpha – ever other moment, not so much. But I will give credit where it was due. Patrick was a clever hero.



Liz was really interesting. I felt for her. I think Patrick was an ass when he evaluated her life the way he did. I didn’t understand the connection to dresses in her closet, given her past. The clothing thing made no sense.



I think Liz and Patrick’s take on Liz’s childhood photo was really interesting. That actually gave me a lot to consider in real life. Very intuitive, Ms. Sey.



The ending was a little too clean. There was a lot of setup for not a lot of ending. *shrugs*



I will be looking forward to Money, Shot though. (I didn’t read the teaser yet)



Overall: 2.5 stars



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REVIEW: Fair Games, Inc by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

Fair Game, Inc. by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime




Another boring read from Wild Rose Press. *shrugs* This publishing company really let me down! (Actually, that’s not fair – some of the stuff I picked up was okay.)

Fair Games, Inc. was another book that was so boring. The characters were incredibly bland. I was not into it one bit.



Overall: DNF



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REVIEW: The Truth About Roxy by Jenny Gilliam

The Truth About Roxy by Jenny Gilliam




To be honest, there was nothing really wrong with this book – it was just boring. It didn’t keep my interest. The author had an interesting layout approach with the advice column before every chapter. That was cool. But, yeah, completely not memorable.

I do plan on going back to finish one day, though.



Overall: DNF



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REVIEW: Tangled Up In Love by Heidi Betts

Tangled Up In Love by Heidi Betts

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Tangled Up in You was kind of boring.

The plot was that two people who public hated eachother began sleeping together and fell in love. The end. Well, there were some funny lines in between, but overall I really did not care much about this book.

Dylan kept calling Ronnie prickly and fierce. His friends referred to her as the ice queen. *shrugs* Was that supposed to make me feel bad for her? Was the reader supposed to relate to her? I couldn’t. This was a poor, poor example of an author telling instead of showing.

Dylan was an okay hero – just not very memorable. But the model of him on the cover is certainly good-looking. :)

What annoyed me the most, though, were the cover comments on the book. Were they actually talking about this book? I am not really convinced. “I loved it!” (Lori Foster) “Fantastic!” (Carly Phillips) “The most entertaining romance of the year.” (Lisa Kleypas) Well, this book was published in 2009. I can think of at least five more entertaining romance novels published that year without even walking back to my bookshelf. Hmm . . .

Anyway, telling instead of showing, plain characters and lack of plot led me to give this book a low score.



Overall: 2 stars





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Kira, Kira, Kira (LOVE that Name)

So I have read a bunch of great reviews for Kira Sinclair's new Blaze. I am going to have to go back and read her older ones. I found one for August 2008 and May 2009. I am looking forward to re-reading them. Yay!
And I left a message on the Harlequin GoodReads site. I was my bundles back. Please?!?

Heartbroken.

I am heartbroken.

My life of soaps is officially over.

One Life to Live and All My Children have been canceled. I am so pissed. Ugh.

Even worse, they are being replaced by reality television – a cooking show and a weight loss show (aren’t those contradictory?).

Fuck. There is really nothing left to say.

REVIEW: Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl

Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So I was going to save this for tomorrow, but I just finished Lead Me On.

Oh, wow. For a while it felt kind of boring, but man-oh-man did I end up loving it. With about fifty pages left, I kind of spaced out and wanted to give up. I am so glad I didn’t.

I want to marry Chase. I love this man.

The last two pages of the novel made up for every thing that was wrong with it (not that I can think of anything right now, because I am on a last two page high). It was so beautiful.

Jane could have easily been really annoying because she was a major snob. I thought it was funny, mostly because Chase kept calling her one. Her family was a mess. I really liked Mac, but not really her Grandma Olive, Jessie or her mom. *shrugs*

Chase was, well, he was perfect. Read the book. Discover him for yourself. If you don’t love him . . .

Plot was okay. There is a bit of suspense in each of the books in the Tumble Creek series. I didn’t really care for the suspense in this one. I did not care if Jessie went to jail. Greg was so creepy from the very beginning. Mitch was kind of strange, too.

The women that Victoria Dahl writes about must be pretty amazing in bed. They always have some previous lover lusting after them (well, at least I think Lori did. Molly definitely did. And given as I just finished Lead Me On moments ago, I can tell you Jane did).

I am really, really looking forward to the next series. Yay!



Overall: 4 Stars



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REVIEW: Playing Hardball by Madison Hayes

Playing Hardball by Madison Hayes

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This was obviously a continuation of another story that I did not read. Not knowing the back story, I was so frustrated that I just finally put it down. I was so disappointed.

The finally straw was when the hero claimed that he did not spend time with his wife because he did not like other women?!? Um, what?!? You make sacrifices in relationships, especially marriages.

Additionally, the brothers being names Colt, Cord and Bolt was damn annoying. I kept forgetting who the hero was.



Overall: 1 Star



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REVIEW: His Voice, His Command: Naughty Nooners by Vonna Harper

His Voice, His Command: Naughty Nooners by Vonna Harper

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Not only was this incredibly boring (28 pages, and it LITERALLY put me to sleep) but it was really poorly formatted – and I bought the epub straight from the publisher.

Not memorable, not interesting, not hot. Just lame and disappointing.



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REVIEW: Start Me Up by Victoria Dahl

Start Me Up by Victoria Dahl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really ended up enjoying this book.

I thought that Quinn’s problem of ignoring people was actually really funny. I loved that fact that when he concentrated on something he really did it well. And he LOVED to concentrated on Lori.

Lori was a great heroine. I liked her quite a bit. She was funny and understanding, but in no way was she a pushover. She was a bit of a snob though, but I thought it was funny.

Molly was 100% more likable in this book. She is definitely meant to be a supporting character. In this book she was still driving Ben crazy – I loved it!

One thing that kind of put me off – the hero and heroine never ended up exchanging I Love Yous. The book ended with Quinn telling Lori that he liked her a lot more than he liked buildings (for him that is practically I Love You). I am kind of on the fence about how I feel about this.

I finished this book with a smile on my face; I just wish there was more.

Overall: 4 stars.







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REVIEW: Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl

Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Hmm . . .

I never really connected why Molly was so insistent about keeping her career a secret. She also lied about Cameron. That was really annoying.

I think it made sense at first, but once she started receiving threats and feeling watched she needed to tell the police who were investigating the distress – even if the police was her partner in “not dating” Ben.

I really loved Ben. He might be one of my most favorite heroes ever – definitely in at least a while! He was sexy and protective and funny. He trusted Molly and pushed her when he knew she wasn’t being honest. Ben is definitely the type of man I could fall in love with.

Just a heads up to those who are reading – this is definitely not a happy ending story; it was a happy for now book. Nothing against those kinds of books, sometime they even work a lot better. I thought the ending worked for Ben and Molly.

Next up in Lori and Quinn’s book. Weird. After re-reading Talk Me Down and being introduced to both characters, I would not have thought they would work. I am looking forward to checking that book out.

And for a bit of gripe: There was a very brief mention of a townsperson named Nick Larsen. Consider the hero's name was Ben Lawson, why were their names so close without actually meaning anything. I was so curious about that . . .



Overall: 3.5 stars



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REVIEW: Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery

Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, to start off I am going to review Almost Perfect as a stand alone book. I was originally thinking about it terms of the whole series, but really that isn’t fair to the book (or any book).

The hero of the story is kind of an idiot, and Susan Mallery does him no favors. Every time he makes a mistake or gets angry it is magnified. Meanwhile, unless it is disastrous, all his quiet good moments are “off screen.” Ethan finds out about Tyler, but the heroine (I suppose rightly) demands that he forgive her. She tried to tell him – twice! I understand that the situations were very complicated – Ethan turned his back on Liz; Liz found him “in bed” with Pia and later told his wife about Tyler, and Rayanne kept it all a secret; Ethan has a very difficult time blaming the dead. And he would also not freely throw his wife under the bus. Liz was a decent heroine. She saved her nieces from foster care. She had a lucrative career and survived a single mom. She is more or less someone to admire.

And I really enjoyed Liz’s relationship with Montana (my favorite of the triplets – though knowing they are triplets I imagine them all exactly the same and frequently confuse them).

That all being said – do any of your feel we actually read a romance? I felt that Almost Perfect was more about the reuniting of Ethan and Tyler, and how Liz must cope with that. I know that I did not read about Ethan and Liz falling in love (though, they may have still been in love from high school).

My absolute favorite part of this book was when Ethan and Liz first reunited and his mentioned how the characters she kills off in her novels have more than a passing resemblance to him – and he thinks it’s funny. What a charming moment!

After a number of disastrous Susan Mallery books, this one (actually this series) was a welcome surprise. I loved it.



Overall: 4 stars.



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Poor Shane! (And the rest of the OLTL and AMC Casts)

So as you may have noticed, I have more or less given up on commenting on soaps. To be honest, all this talk about One Life to Live and/or All My Children being canceled is really stressing me out. I really enjoy these two shows. I used to like As the World Turns and Guiding Light – that being said, I love the ABC soaps more.

If they were to be canceled I am not sure what I would do. I am also not sure which one I would save over the other. I love them both.

I do kind of (selfishly) wish that soaps would more to a half hour format and work with smaller, more focused casts. Even in a three hour block – that would be six soaps with six much smaller casts! I think that I might enjoy that a lot more.

Anyway, until comments are solidly made by ABC – either saving or *gasp* canceling OLTL or AMC – I am not going to think about it any more.

Maybe it’s me.

I am reading Olivia Cunning’s Backstage Pass. One of the readers I follow on GoodReads gave it a great rating, so I thought I would check out reviews. The first review I read said that it was free earlier this week. I immediately checked out the price from my distributor, and it was still free (to celebrate the release of her second book). Anyway . . .
This book is ALL sex. I can’t even think of a single moment that was not about having sex – and it is not just between the hero and heroine. It is just a little much for me.
That being said, it was a mass market book for average price originally. I really was not expecting this.
GoodReads readers rated this book really high.
I am sorry . . . but to me this does not compare to authors like Pamela Clare or Julie James. That being said, I have no finished and I will continuing reading it.

Romantic Notes

I hate spending more than $8.00 on a book. What can I say, I am cheap.

I hate when a book is advertised as "276 pages" and it is really "139 pages." I am talking to you, Wild Rose Press.

For someone who wants to be an indie author and who admires indie authors, I am very hesitant to step into that world.

Ebook publishers need to work harder on their covers. I mean, the future is in computer graphics. Please, step up to the plate here!

I do not want to waste my time reading a poorly edited book. Ever.

Don’t you hate when you read a summary and the book sounds amazing? I am talking about those times when the potential novel is only 13 pages long.

One of my biggest pet peeves (literally!): Animals playing an integral part in a romance.

I hate cougar novels. I don't want to see an older woman with a younger man. (The vice-versa is equally true.)

One time I took a chick lit book out of the library and thought it was a romance novel. It was early in the century and I was young and impressionable. To say that I was scarred for life is a bit of an understatement.

I have been known to detest a book based solely on the hero or heroine’s name.

I hate when people claim that a romance novel is predictable. I mean, you do know what the genre implies, right?

It took me three years to figure out what HEA actually meant. I knew it referred to the end of the book, but still . . .

An author should not be allowed to tease an upcoming book or specific storyline if they are not planning on writing it. It is 100% worse when the author takes a year off and then changes her name just to get away from having to follow through with the original plan. :::cough::: Geralyn Dawson/Emily March! :::cough:::

I like a series that has cohesive covers. I am not a fan when publishers change them midway through. (even when the change them for the better, like Rachel Gibson’s Writer Friends)

Shirtless men make me blush.

REVIEW: Body Check by Elle Kennedy

Body Check by Elle Kennedy

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


While not a bad story, I am just not sure the plot was meaty enough to keep my interest or for another re-read. It was a simple story with charming characters. I enjoyed Elle Kennedy’s writing and will probably read other work by her.

I really enjoyed how we were able to read about what the couple did on their dates (in terms of skating, museum, etc.). I thought it was a nice touch and showed how both characters were (though, not admitting to) willing to compromise.

And poor Hayden – I had the hardest time remembering her name. I kept wanting to call her Peyton. I thought that both the name and character of Brody Croft were far more memorable. What a sexy hockey player!

Re-thinking this story: Was Presley’s problems ever rectified? Who did Shelia end up with? Hmm . . . And there was an epilogue, too!

Overall: 3.5 Stars



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Carr, Carr, Carr, Lunch!

Work went super well today. I am really happy so far.
Today I am going out to lunch and so SO so excited. I am getting cheese fries, or else!

I was on GoodReads and I am going to cave in. I am going to get Robyn Carr's Virginia Creek series. I know some of you might think I am crazy (okay, I might be), but I really want to do this. Hopefully I end up loving it!

:::FINGERS CROSSED:::

Best Duo on Soaps - PERIOD.

Ciara Brady and Theo Carver. <333

Other actors and characters should look at these two to see how to captivate and audience and create magic. Love them!

Why are they so cute:

This is ME:

Right?!?

Arthur, say what?!?

Oh… I am kind of excited for the movie Arthur. I am not a Russell Brand fan AT ALL. And I generally do not like man-led comedies, but I feel like this movie will be good. I told my mom about wanting to see it, and she told me that the original was one of my grandmother’s favorites. Sometimes the strangest things make me feel close to a woman who means so much to me. <333

Work, work, work

So I had my first official day of work today – I AM EXHAUSTED. I spent the whole day stressing about work and when I finally got there I spent seven hours on my feet. I guess that would have been fine (though, probably not) if I had more supported shoes. But we need to look fashion forward . . .
Remember the good old days when I used to go on eight hour shifts and spend the whole time standing. Back then I was sixty pounds lighter. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
Overall the day wasn’t completely awful. I rather like my co-workers, though I do wish that more than two people worked at once so that I could meet more people. And I liked working with most of the customers. I did not like the mindless junk. And I did not like the tag gun – ouch! And I hated my shoes. So, I would give today a 5.5 out of 10.
Tomorrow I am going out with some of my old friends. I am so grateful to still have them in my life. I love them so, so much.
:::yawn:::

Write me.

Hey cuties –
I have been writing a bunch and completely loving it. Also, I got a job!!! It was not the ideal job, but hey! Work is work. Thank goodness.
I, of course, am crazy about my writing. I love, love, love linked stories. Series are my favorites – so of course I am going to write linked stories. Now I have a town that I am going to write for. I am looking forward to really getting into. I love create characters and plots. Awesome!

Just a bit addicted. . .

So I am LOVING GoodReads.com

You know how some people are addicted to facebook? Well, I have not been on facebook since I joined GoodReads - FIVE MONTHS ago. I love it. I am constantly finding new books. I have not really interacted to the full extent, but I have been reading like crazy. I hope to get some new reviews up shortly.

I am not sure how authors live with this site. I am not published yet, and I am on this site for hours each day. It is incredibly distracting.

LOVE LOVE LOVE. :)