Outback After Dark

As some of you may recall, last year I reviewed Bronwyn Parry's debut romantic suspense novel, As Darkness Falls. The catch being that it was published in Australia and wasn't available in the States at the time. Naturally, since I enjoyed that first book quite a bit, the publisher was keen to send me the second book in the series, Dark Country. Again, only available in Australia. But take heart curious readers! Read my review, and then see the end of this post.

Morgan "Gil" Gillespie left the bush town of Dungirri with no intention of ever returning. Half the town thinks he's trash. The other half thinks he's a murderer. But after selling his successful pub in Sydney, he comes home to see local cafe owner, Jeanie Menotti, about some unfinished business. Instead he's confronted by townspeople who aren't happy to see him, his life in Sydney following him out to the middle of nowhere, and the body of a dead prostitute stuffed in the trunk of his car.

Kris Matthews is the local police sergeant in Dungirri. The town has seen it's fair share of troubles, ranging from drought, to unemployment, to the hunt for a child killer (see As Darkness Falls). When Gil rolls into town, bringing a whole host of trouble with him, she goes with her gut. And her gut tells her that while some people in town think he's bad news, she knows that he's not guilty of anything they've accused him of. Even with a dead body found in the trunk of his car, there isn't much evidence to speak of. So she doesn't lock him up, instead getting him to talk. That's when she knows that real trouble has once again landed in Dungirri. Because the child killer may be gone, but now organized crime has rolled into town.

One of the things I really loved about As Darkness Falls was how "dark" the story was. That tends to be a common complaint I have against some romantic suspense fare. The author pussy-foots around the suspense, and doesn't explore the scary corners. Parry doesn't shy away from tough subjects, although the "dark" isn't nearly as pervasive and oppressive in Dark Country. On that score, I suspect it will work better for those romance readers who shy away from heavier reads.

That said, on the flip side of that coin we have Gil. There is definitely a segment of the romance reading population who want their heroes to be above reproach. I wouldn't call Gil an "anti-hero," but he is guilty of getting in bed with the wrong people. Because of his connections, good, innocent people do get hurt over the course of the story. As he tells Kris, in order to make a good life for himself after his stint in prison (naturally, he was wrongly convicted), he made a deal with the devil. Should he have? Probably not. But at the time, he saw it as his only option, and he took it. I bought into this, and did think of him as a "good man." But if you're a reader who wants your heroes to be squeaky-clean? Yeah, Gil isn't your guy.

The highlight of this story for me was Kris. So often in romantic suspense novels, with cop heroines, the author downplays her assertiveness and makes her "weak" somehow. Either by putting her in danger or having her lose her brain in a too stupid to live moment. Kris is just a flat-out good cop. She's good at her job. She has good instincts. And the best part? She's not a ball-buster. She commands respect because she's a damn good person and damn good at what she does for a living. Yet, she's still feminine. She's still a woman. And she's smart. Heaven help me how I love smart heroines! She thinks logically, and uses her brain. So while some people want to string Gil up by his toe-nails, she looks at (get this!) the evidence.

Parry does have a lot going on in this book, and at times she has to throw one ball in the corner while she's juggling the others. She does get around to tying up the threads, but it does require some patience on the part of the reader. Also, while the suspense is really good here, the romance takes a bit more of a backseat in this story. Oh, don't get me wrong - it's there. That said, it helped tremendously that the author ends this story perfectly. There's a short time-table for Dark Country, with Gil and Kris knowing each other for about a week. Them walking down the aisle and her pregnant with triplets in the final chapter would not have worked, and I'm glad Parry went with the ending that she did.

This was another fine romantic suspense read from an Australian writer that really needs to get published here in the States. Yes, there are Australian-isms in this story, but nothing so mind-altering that this ignorant American couldn't follow along. Also, the town of Dungirri isn't that far off from some of the economically depressed areas in the United States (this story could easily have been set in my home state of Michigan). Parry's in the process of writing the third book in this series and I, for one, can't wait.

Final Grade = B-

Contest Alert! Bronwyn Parry has agreed to give away a copy of As Darkness Falls and Dark Country to one lucky commenter on this blog post. Wahooey! Contest open to international readers (obviously, since Parry lives in Australia!) and a winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday, October 21.

For those of you who don't want to enter, or don't win? As Darkness Falls (UK edition), the first book, is now available via The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping!). Dark Country is only available in Australia right now, although the author has heard it should be published in the UK sometime around March-ish.

What's Old Is New

Before the proliferation of blogs, romance readers congregated on message boards. I was mostly a lurker on the AAR Boards, but inevitably the same debate would crop up every few months. Some reader(s) whining about how historical romance "ain't what it used to be." I'll admit, most of the time I rolled my eyes and moved on. I didn't agree with about 90% of their whining. That said, 10% of their whining was spot on. Historical romance in the 1970s, 1980s and the first half of the 1990s definitely had more meat on the bone. There was a real "saga" quality to the stories. They were bigger in scope, and there was ::gasp:: actual history to be found. The stories felt less interchangeable. Now, was all historical romance back in the day great fiction? ::Snort::, that's a big "Hell no." Some of it sucked ass. But my theory has always been that it's not the purple prose and "forced seduction" readers miss, so much as that "saga" feel.

First with Broken Wing, and now with Highland Rebel, Judith James seems determined to resurrect historical romance as we once knew it. The best part? She's reminding all of us how great those "big" stories can be, without drowning her tales in mind-numbing purple prose and having her hero rape the heroine until she falls in love with him. She's taken the best of the "old" and the "new" and melded it into a winning combination.

Jamie Sinclair has no use for religion. Protestant or Catholic, it doesn't much matter to him. That said, a man has to pick a side, and he's most likely to pick the side that will make sure his bread is buttered. With James II now sitting on the thrown, Jamie has thrown his lot in with the Catholics. It's on the battlefield that he spies Catherine Drummond, daughter of a now dead laird who has ridden into battle to rescue her foolish baby brother. Naturally it goes awry, and she's captured by a rather large group of hardened soldiers. Yeah, this will not end well for her. But riding to her rescue is Jamie, who immediately plucks her from their clutches and in a bid to save her, marries her on the spot.

The rest of the book essentially follows their marriage. It's a very inconvenient one for Jamie, who was promised a wealthy Catholic heiress by King James II to restore his coffers. It's very convenient for Catherine, who as a wealthy Highland heiress, is an inconvenience to her uncle, cousin and brother. They're determined to marry her off to have her out of their hair and secure a valuable alliance. She wants no part of it - so naturally being already married is quite beneficial to her. However with so much political unrest surrounding them, their marriage will be anything but easy. Jamie plays a very dangerous game, and Catherine's beloved Highlands will soon be choosing sides.

Some of you might recall that I was one of about three readers who didn't want to have babies with Broken Wing. I had a lot of issues with that story, uppermost being the writing style. So I can say with absolutely certainty (and you won't be able to convince me otherwise) that Highland Rebel is flat-out a better written book.

Jamie is one of my favorite types of heroes. Yes, he has a tragic past and plenty of baggage, but he doesn't wallow too much. He knows the way of the world, and how quickly fortunes can change. In fact, his fortunes change several times over the course of this story. He's a charmer, a rogue, and a bit of a scoundrel. He'll sell his loyalty to the highest bidder, just so long as that bidder actually has a shot in Hell at winning. Jamie's main mission in life is to look out for Jamie.

I'll be honest, Catherine annoyed me considerably for the first 50 pages. If you're going to ride into battle, at least cut your damn hair to disguise yourself better. Also, she's rather combative with Jamie when it's rather blatantly obvious that he's just saved her from being raped to death by a gang of soldiers. She struck me as rather dense. All that being said, readers need to stick with her past page 50, because that's right around the time the author fills in her back story, which I found interesting and it really helped to flesh out her character. Also, she stops acting so dense, and that certainly helps.

The Restoration period of English history is largely neglected in historical romance, and is one ripe with possibilities, if only for all the political maneuverings and court intrigue. It provides the author with plenty of fodder, and gives the romantic couple plenty of conflict to overcome. That said, the ending of this story is rather, well, open-ended. Make no mistake, the characters get their happily ever after, but the author doesn't lay it all out at the reader's feet. It actually reminded me a bit of the ending of All Through The Night by Connie Brockway. There's no epilogue showing Jamie and Catherine 10 years down the road with children running wild around them. It's up to the reader to imagine what shall happen to them next. What adventures they'll encounter. I rather liked it, although I'll admit I would have loved more closure for some of the secondary characters.

It took me a week to read the first 50 pages of this book, and one evening to plow through the last 400. Once I got sucked in, I couldn't seem to stop myself from reading all the way to the finish line. If you're a reader who digs stories with that Big, Sweeping Saga feel to them, you really have to read this book. There's really nothing quite like it out there, except for maybe James' debut novel Broken Wing. That being said, Broken Wing was the kind of story that I was selectively recommending, where Highland Rebel is one I think historical romance lovers everywhere need to consider giving a shot. It's got great history, interesting characters, and a wonderful sense of adventure. It misses an 'A' because I've no burning desire to reread it, but that doesn't make it any less "good."

Final Grade = B+

There's Got To Be A Morning After

Yes, it even happens to me. A cynical librarian who literally reads book reviews for a living. Yes, even I can get suckered into reading a book because my eye catches an advertisement somewhere. I clicked on a banner ad, read what this story was about, saw the very positive reviews in the trade journals, and figured I had to read it. If only to see how the author handled what has got to be the most difficult subject matter I have ever read about in a novel. It's really true what they say. Sometimes the biggest risk taking can be found in Young Adult fiction.

After by Amy Efaw is a story about a young woman who conceals her pregnancy, gives birth in her bathroom, and dumps the baby girl in a trash can in an alley behind her apartment building. Yeah, not exactly a sunshine happy book. The baby is discovered (still alive) and while canvassing the neighborhood the cops discover Devon Davenport, a 15-year-old girl who has stayed home from school because she's hemorrhaging all over her mother's crappy couch. Naturally Devon is arrested, taken to the hospital, and dumped in a juvenile detention facility awaiting a court hearing to determine if she should be tried as an adult. It's also the unfolding of her story. How a girl more mature than her own mother, a talented athlete, a star student, found herself pregnant, alone and completely in denial. How a girl who had never done anything wrong in her entire life could throw her newborn baby away in a garbage bag.

This is not an easy subject to think about, let alone write a novel about. I'll admit, when I saw that the author was a West Point graduate, former Army officer and the mother of five children, my immediate concern was that this book was going to be a non-stop preach-fest. Gotta say, the author does a very good job handling the subject matter without stepping on a soapbox. I never felt like she was pushing any sort of agenda, or opinion. She was telling me a story. A story about a teenage girl who does the unthinkable.

I did find that I had to look at this novel through what I call my Librarian Filter. From a personal standpoint, while I was certainly engaged in the story, as an adult woman, by the halfway point I was ready to reach through the pages and shake Devon senseless. The author explores Devon's denial throughout the story, and after a while I wanted to smack the girl and scream "Wake up! Look at what you did!" I also found myself suspending my disbelief a few times. Namely when it came to Devon's court-appointed attorney, think Perry Mason with boobs, and the staff at the detention center. I couldn't help thinking that Devon, a girl who literally threw her baby in a garbage can, was getting some fairly decent treatment. The adult secondary characters were all so understanding and patient when dealing with her. Would that treatment have been "less than" if she weren't a star athlete, exemplary student and....yes, I'm going to say it....a white girl? A white girl with a trashy single mom who grew up raising herself in seedy apartments - but still.

So yeah, I dropped the ol' Librarian Filter into place.

What it boils down to for me is that the author writes a "good" story about a subject matter that isn't easy to write about. If I was the type of librarian to court controversy, this seems like an ideal candidate for a mother/daughter book club (seriously) and I loved that the author included some background on the "dumpster baby" phenomenon in her end notes. This isn't a modern problem folks. It's been happening pretty much since the dawn of time.

I did think the ending was a little abrupt, but the author does conclude the story at a natural "ending" spot. The genre fiction reader in me though really wanted to know how everything turns out in the end. Basically I wanted a giant epilogue.

At the end of the day? If I had a teenage daughter, I would want her to read this book. I would want us to read it together and discuss it. Which is probably the highest praise I can give. It's not an easy story, and the author doesn't want it to be. She spent years researching it, and undoubtedly many long hours (years) slaving over the text. And honestly, who could blame her? Giving birth to this story could not have been easy.

Final Grade = B

(ISBN 9780670011834, $17.99, Viking, Young Adult)

Someday My Prince...

Portia Da Costa is one of those writers whose "voice" just seems to work for me. Even when I'm not madly enthralled with a story she's written, it still tends to work for me on that basic, fundamental level. It also doesn't hurt that she really seems to have a knack for writing female characters. On these fronts, Kiss It Better worked extremely well for me. I didn't madly love it and want to have babies with it like last year's In Too Deep - but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. That all being said, I can see this story not working for some readers, and I'm here to tell you why.

Jay Bentley is mostly recovered now from a terrible car accident that not only smashed up a beautiful Aston Martin, but also his beautiful body. It's on his long road to recovery that he comes across a newspaper article and accompanying photograph of Sandy Jackson, who runs a small cafe in Kissley, England. He's floored. Sandy Jackson, owner of The Little Teapot Cafe, is the same woman he had a very brief interlude with fifteen years ago. He came to her rescue while on holiday, they never exchanged names, but he never forgot her.

Sandy's divorced, with a non-existent love life, and small thriving cafe that is now being threatened. A developer famous for a chain of "fun pubs" has purchased the vacant property across the way. She's at a rather dull chamber of commerce shindig hoping to score some gossip on the matter when she spies Jay, a man she has seen popping up all over town. He's dark, mysterious, and so sexy it sends her pulse racing. He also seems to have the knack for turning her into a sex maniac. While Jay had every intention of playing it smooth, being around Sandy has positively revitalized him. The car accident left him with certain lingering side-effects that he was beginning to fear were permanent.

Da Costa's early work is what I would very much classify as erotica. It hasn't been until more recently that she's firmly started planting herself in erotic romance territory. I found Kiss It Better an interesting mix of her two identities. There is a whopping load of shagging in this book. Seriously. Every. Single. Chapter. But in true Da Costa fashion, I never felt like she was trying to "out-do" herself or any other writer. This woman still somehow manages to write the hottest "vanilla" sex around without making it over-the-top kinky, weird or bizarre.

With all the sex that is literally plastered throughout this story, you're probably wondering about the plot. All good erotic stories have to have some sort of plot to hang the sex on to - and this one revolves around that old romance trope.....The Big Secret. Jay knows right off that Sandy is his mystery girl from fifteen years ago, but thanks to the car accident, surgeries and scarring, it takes Sandy longer to realize that he is "Prince Charming." Also, Jay's real life job is going to impact Sandy, and when she finds that out he knows it will not go over well.

If I didn't find Da Costa's writing so engaging, I could poke holes in this story all day long. Sandy probably should be asking questions about who Jay really is, but having led a fairly conventional life, and knowing he's only in town on business, she's determined to have a fun, sexy, no-strings fling. She's never had one, and damn, she wants one with Jay. (Seriously, I couldn't blame the girl. I'm surprised her panties didn't burst into flames at one point.)

Now Jay, he does tend to throw off Creepy Stalker Vibes. I mean, the story opens with him, ummmmm, having an inspirational moment with Sandy's photograph. Also, tracking down a mystery girl from fifteen years ago, even if discovering the newspaper article was pure coincidence, is sorta kinda creepy. But Da Costa does something very smart here - she gives the reader Jay's point of view quite a bit. Her last several stories have been firmly planted in first person from the heroine's perspective. With Kiss It Better, she gives us both hero and heroine point of view and it really helps to de-creepify Jay. It also doesn't hurt that he's very sexy, dark, mysterious, and wounded. All characteristics that generally make romance readers go weak in the knees. Hubba, hubba.

This story takes place over an extremely short time period, and relies quite heavily on the instant "connection" that Jay and Sandy experience. Sandy wants a fun, sexy, no-strings fling, and that's exactly what she gets for the majority of this novel. However there is a happy ending, and while Da Costa doesn't dress it up in traditional romance frippery, the reader is left with the very real impression that Sandy and Jay are together and that they are going to make it work. Hell, they have to. Their insatiable sexual appetites for each other pretty much have ruined them for any other romantic relationship.

Final Grade = B

(ISBN 9780352345219, $12.95, August 4, 2009, Erotic Romance, In Print)

Stopping To Smell The Roses

Passionate by Anthea Lawson is a debut novel by a husband and wife writing team, and it just so happens it's up for the Best First Book RITA award at the RWA conference next week. How timely then that I wrapped it up this evening!

Lily Strathmore comes from a very fine Victorian family. Her father is a Marquis and a very influential man in Parliament. You know what that means right? Yep, her mama is determined to make her a fabulous match and drag her down the altar by her hair. Sigh. All poor Lily wants is to paint and travel, preferably with her uncle Edward's family. A lovely and adventurous family. Sadly though, mama has other ideas, and Lily finds herself agreeing to consider the very proper Lord Buckley's hand. In exchange, she gets to travel one last time with her uncle's family and continue to paint. Then James Huntington shows up.

James and his sister, Caroline, were poor relations taken in by their uncle after their parents died. Their uncle is a kindly sort though, and is hoping to see them both settled before he departs the earthly plain....mostly because his son, their cousin Reggie, the heir, is a vile, jealous creature. Lord Denby tells James that one of the country estate is up for grabs. The catch? He has to find his grandfather's long lost journals, which were hidden somewhere in Tunisia, North Africa. Grandfather was a enthusiastic botanist, and the journals were hidden/lost during his last expedition. Lord Denby suggests James hook up with Uncle Edward, since he was a friend of his grandfather's, and can aid him in an expedition.

What follows is James, Lily, and Uncle Edward's family trooping through the wilds of Africa looking for a fabled blossom and the lost journals. Naturally James doesn't know everything about Lily (oh, like her mama's plans for her) and Lily doesn't know everything about James (the real reason behind his desire to go to Tunisia). There's also the small matter of cousin Reggie, who serves the roll of villain and crops up to throw a wrench in the works.

I'll be honest, this was a second-half book for me. Part of me suspects that it's because I've been reading a butt-load of Harlequins lately, and any book longer than 250 pages is going to seem "slow" to me. The other part of me thinks that it was a simple matter of pacing. The author has a number of secondary characters to address, along with the stage to set, so the first part of this story, while quite charming, did drag a bit for me. That said, once we get to Africa (about the halfway point), that's when it starts to cook. The adventure begins, the sexual tension kicks into hyper-drive, and the conflict begins to boil.

Lily is one of my favorite types of characters. An independent-minded young woman who bristles at what society expects of her. The fact that her mother is desperate for her to toe the line only adds to her frustration. James is charming, with a hint of roguishness, and finds himself out of sorts when he realizes just how "important" Lily's family is. He's a man with few prospects, and Lily is way above his station.

This was a nice, charming read, with a light tone and style. I know a number of readers who enjoy these types of historicals that feature adventure-seeking characters, and Passionate certainly fits that moldy nicely. It didn't knock my socks off, but it was a pleasant diversion, and as far as first books go? Pretty darn good.

Final Grade = B-

If They Could See Me Now

Picture it. Another wild Friday night at the Bat Cave. I'm lying in bed, with a copy of Killer Cruise by Laura Levine on my night stand. Entering, stage left, My Man.

My Man: Why is Garfield on your book?

Me: That's not Garfield, that's Prozac.

My Man: ::gives girlfriend funny look, starts laughing:: Not a romance novel, eh?

I've been trying to kick-start my flagging reading mojo, and I figured spending the weekend with the latest Jaine Austen (no relation) mystery from Levine was the perfect way to do it. The best way to describe this series, of which this is book eight? They're like a sitcom in book format. A really good, very funny sitcom. Poor Jaine is unlucky in love, always flat broke, has two borderline insane parents and a pet cat, Prozac, who runs her life.

Killer Cruise finds Jaine taking a job on a cruise ship, as one of their lecturers. She teaches a writing class, and in exchange she gets to spend a week cruising around Mexico. Soaking up the sun. Relaxing. Working on crossword puzzles. Diving into the 24-hour all-you-can-eat buffet. However the whole thing gets off to a bad start when she discovers a stowaway. Yep, her kitty Prozac was not willing to be left at home. So Jaine has no choice but to smuggle him on-board, and hope that no one spots the little guy. Or else it's a week in quarantine. Kitty prison.

As often happens to Jaine, it all heads south. One of the ship's stewards spots Prozac and blackmails Jaine into editing his 900-page, grammatically incorrect, and massively misspelled opus about a ship steward turned secret agent. Her writing class isn't much of a hit, with few students, one of whom keeps comparing Jaine (and not favorably) to Mary Higgins Clark. Then there is the fact that her nightly dinner companions have all the charm of the Manson family.

The Pritchard clan includes Aunt Emily, a spinster with oodles of money and a penchant for cruises; her "companion," the sour-faced Ms. Nesbitt; her money-grubbing nephew, Kyle, along with his dowdy wife, Maggie; and lastly, another nephew, Robbie, a drop-dead gorgeous hunk who seems interested in Jaine....romantically! Will wonders never cease?

Unfortunately it all goes to hell when Graham Palmer III sets his sights on Emily. He's a cruise employee whose job it is to dance with the single ladies. He starts dancing with Emily, and the next thing you know, the two are engaged! A bit of a shock to everyone, including Graham's girlfriend, Cookie, who is suspect numero uno when Graham is found dead with an ice pick rammed in his chest. Cookie may have been mighty pissed off, but Jaine has a hard time believing the woman capable of murder. And so the snooping begins!

Several things I like about this series is that Levine keeps the action light and fun, while still providing a good mystery. Eliminating Cookie, the author gives us six viable suspects in the murder. Some of them have more motive than others, but they all have some motive. It gives the author a lot of wiggle room, and keeps the reader guessing. I can also usually count on one genuinely funny moment, and it comes here when Jaine goes snooping and finds herself temporarily hiding out in a closet. I literally laughed out loud, making unlady-like snorting noises - which prompted My Man to say, "Something funny?" Um, yeah, actually. Now that you mention it...

The author wraps up everything, from the murder to Jaine's editing the manuscript from Hell, to the fact that her parents are staying in her apartment for the week (Oy!). As I've come to expect, this latest entry in one of my favorite series was a lot of fun, and I particularly liked the resolution of the mystery (OK, so it strains a bit - but still, I found it inspired). And now I'm back at the same spot I find myself in every June. Waiting for next year, and the next Jaine Austen mystery, in order to get my fix. Bugger.

Final Grade = B

Back On Track

I finally plowed through the rest of Entangled (no, it doesn't get better) and zipped through another book yesterday while waiting for the DirecTV assholes (and I'm back to waiting for them today. Long story, patience wearing thin, it's today or I'm done). Anyway, here it is:

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning - it's a hardcover folks and not a romance, so brace yourselves.

Count me as one of those readers who never "got" the appeal of Moning's romances. I mean, I hated The Dark Highlander. Really loathed it. A one-dimensional hero and a too-stupid-to-live heroine. No thank you. I enjoyed The Immortal Highlander, but it was the kind of book that one forgets instantly. I mean, I can't recall a darn thing about that story except the hero was named Adam. Anyway, Darkfever is a departure for Moning, and since I never "got" her romances, this one worked very well for me.

MacKayla "Mac" Lane is a bubbly 22-year-old Southern girl who is in no hurry to grow up. She still lives at home, attends just enough community college courses to keep her parents' nagging at bay, loves pink nail polish and tends bar at night. Then her older sister, Alina, is murdered while studying abroad at Dublin's Trinity College and Mac's world shifts.

When the Dublin police declare the investigation a lost cause, Mac hops a flight to Dublin against her parents' wishes. Her sister left her cryptic voice mail message before her death, and Mac is determined to sway the Dublin cops to not abandon the investigation. Instead, Mac comes into contact with a mysterious bookstore owner named Jericho Barrons, and discovers a whole other world in Ireland. A world where Fae (or Faery) exist and have taken to randomly killing humans. And worse still? Mac is a sidhe-seer, a person who can see past Fae glamour for what they truly are - monsters. This makes her an enemy of the Fae, and according to her sister she must find a dark book called the Sinsar Dubh, a book that a lot of bad guys are looking for.

I really liked this story a lot (I mean, I did read it in a day). Told entirely in first person (which I love), Mac is a plucky heroine who acts like a 22-year-old lacking focus. I think I might have gone to college with this girl. Barrons serves as a mentor of sorts, but questions surround him. Can Mac really trust him? And what is he exactly? The atmosphere is wonderful - gothic underworld if you will.

The only quibble here is that this book doesn't really end. There are a lot of unanswered questions, which normally pisses the hell out of me - but it works here. Moning is planning more books about Mac - so readers should expect these unanswered questions and that the happily-ever-after isn't in the cards just yet.

As someone who never saw the appeal of Moning's romances, this new direction excites me. Even still, I have a hard time categorizing it - which means it has crossover appeal written all over it. Although that cover succeeds in scaring off "non-romance" readers me thinks.

Final Grade = B.

Mission Accomplished!

I've just completed AngieW's February TBR Challenge.

Title: Lady X's Cowboy

Author: Zoe Archer

Year published: 2006

Why did you get this book? Well it was on my TBB list, but I ended up getting it in my latest shipment of review books for TRR.

Do you like the cover? This was published under Dorchester's Leisure imprint - a house that likes to slap crappy covers on books. Archer being a debut author, she sort of dodged a bullet here. This cover isn't too bad. I do think it looks a bit amateurish though - sort of like the art department just discovered how "neat" Photoshop could be.

Did you enjoy the book? Yes. The hero is an American cowboy who comes to London looking for his long lost family. The heroine is a widow who runs her own brewery. The hero saves her when thugs accost her on the street. The villain is the fourth son of an earl who wants the heroine's brewery for himself, and is going at great lengths to force her out of business. The heroine proposes to the hero that if he helps her with the villain, she'll help him find his family.

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again?
Well she's new to everybody, as she's a debut author. And yes, I would read something else by her.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? I'll be donating this one to my library's collection. It was a good read, but I have extremely high standards when it comes to keepers.

Anything else? I liked that for once it was the American hero who was the fish out of water in London. I also loved that the heroine was a grown-up, not a bumbling society miss with no clue. The hero does talk western a lot ("bushwhacked", "fandango" etc.), which might get old for some, but generally speaking didn't bother me. I also really appreciated how the author ended the "long lost family" sub plot. Quite refreshing.