Banned Books

I know, I know, Banned Book Week was September 26 - October 3 and I'm a bit late to the game, but at least I got here. I was checking blogs this morning, and I saw that one of my favorite authors, Richelle Mead (I know, I should change the name of this blog to the I (heart) Richelle Mead Blog), has been banned at a school in Texas. Which got me to thinking about banned books all over again.

I don't just read banned books during Banned Book Week, I read them all year. Feel free to take one (or more) for yourself!

It's going to be a Happy Halloween!

Charlaine Harris is coming to New Orleans for a book signing!!!! (She's also coming for the Tru Blood and Gold Ball the night before but I don't see myself going to that.) I was thinking about going to VooDoo with my husband but no, I'm going to see Charlaine! Yayyyyyyyy!!!!!

*Diligently working on lining up a babysitter........*

Looking for Contemporary Recommendations

Usually, I read Paranormal or Historical Romance (Love me some vamps, weres, and highlanders!), but recently I read Julie James' Practice Makes Perfect and loved it.

I'm looking for Contemporary Romance suggestions, I just want to dip my toe in and see if I like it. The only limitation is that for whatever reason I can't bring myself to read any Cowboy stories.

Does anyone have any author or title suggestions?

Highland Obsession by Dawn Halliday

I had previously read some really good reviews on this book, so when I saw it at Borders AND I had a coupon, I grabbed it! I have to tell you, while it was sort of what I expected, it was also NOT what I expected. The storyline was good, Sorcha, a highland lass, marries Alan, the Laird who has returned home from being away for many years. The conflict in this story was that Sorcha had been having "relations" with Alan's best friend, the Earl of Camden (Cam) before Alan returned, and that Alan thought she was still a virgin. The other problem is that Cam couldn't seem to give Sorcha up. The book opens with Sorcha and Alan on their wedding night, and Cam swoops in and kidnaps her! She manages to escape and return to Alan, but by then he's figured it out and doesn't know if he still wants her.

I was not prepared for the level of eroticism in this book. It was a pleasant surprise; Ms. Halliday went places I've not seen many authors go in my (limited) romance reading experience. I guess this book would be considered erotica? I'm still a bit unclear about where the boundaries lie in the different categories.

The only thing I didn't get was Alan's actions on the night before he went off to battle. He was very jealous of Sorcha and Cam's previous relationship and his actions didn't make any sense to me, nor did his reasons for going off to battle without saying goodbye - I thought he'd exorcised his demons and was accepting of the relationship.

I don't know why, but I liked Cam the best, and am hoping for a HEA for him in the next book. I'd like to get more of a backstory on why the healer hates men, and possibly a story for Sorcha's sister, Moira too.

Red and Scarlett by Jordan Summers

Red is set in the year 2160, 150 years after the last world war. This war apparently decimated almost everything, leaving the earth pretty barren and desolate. It also left the Others, genetically-enhanced humans who were created as "super soldiers" (from what I can tell, vampires and shapeshifters). After the war the government was not able to dispose of them all and they live in secret. This future society is very Big-Brotherish, with videocoms and traffic control cameras and people having to be registered to live in "pureblood" society.

Our heroine, Gina, has been having weird dreams where she wakes up with blood on her clothes but doesn't remember going out. Gina is an international police-type who comes upon a murder scene that her department writes off as an animal attack but she knows it's not. She takes a few days off to travel to a border town to investigate. She ends up asking the Sheriff, Morgan, for help questioning the citizens of the town and an attraction builds, which they both fight. Another woman's body is found, and Gina doesn't know it but a 3rd body has been found. Morgan knows something about Gina she doesn't know about herself, and he is having a hard time controlling his increasing lust for her. As they investigate the murders, they realize there's more going on than meets the eye.

Scarlett starts out with Morgan and Gina together, working on her powers, and it's not going well. He tells her to be patient but she's frustrated because she can't control them. Then, Morgan sees an add on television for a clone woman and child - his wife and child who died many years ago. He's got to leave Gina in town to go find this clone lab and destroy the samples - he doesn't want his wife cloned to be used as a whore. While Morgan is gone, weird things are going on in town. Gina is being framed for murders and the townspeople are accusing her of cheating on Morgan. The only people who are standing by her side are a few members of her new tactical team and a vampire. Meanwhile, Morgan is not having any luck obtaining the clone samples and is realizing there are some weird things going on at the company.

I have to say, truthfully, I was not thrilled with these books. In the first book I found Gina to be an inconsistent character - tough as nails but she cries in Morgan's arms when she has a nightmare? I found myself having to read sentences twice and scratching my head, and the foreshadowing felt forced. I enjoyed Scarlet more, the characters were rounded out a bit better, and the story flowed well. I will say that I'm not a big fan of future stories, so that could be part of my problem. I wish I would have checked them out at the library instead of buying them.

Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

I think this is probably only the 2nd Contemporary I've read that didn't involve some sort of paranormal-ness to it. I must say I really liked it!

Payton Kendal and J.D. Jameson are 8th year lawyers at the same firm, both are up for Partner in a month. Payton and J.D. have had a mutual distaste for each other almost from day one of working with the firm. Then, they're assigned to partner together to pull in a huge new client. They decide they can try to get over their animosity and work together because they found out that this year the firm is trying to curb claims of ageism and will only pick one new partner instead of two. J.D. thinks they will pick Payton because she's a woman, and Payton thinks they'll pick J.D. because of the "good ol' boy" cronyism. Ms. James did a good job of showing the two of them learning about each other in bits and pieces. I also enjoyed their interaction with the secondary characters.

This book had me laughing so hard tears were coming out of my eyes. The relationship between these two was fascinating to read - and when they found out why they had hated each other all those years - wow! I enjoyed the whole book - there were no slow, boring spots - and rooted so hard for these two. And the end, while a bit far-fetched, was great!

In the Highlander's Bed by Cathy Maxwell

I first came across Cathy Maxwell's work in Four Dukes and a Devil, and I liked her story, so when I stumbled across In the Highlander's Bed, I said to myself, "why not?" I'm definitely going to check out more of her stuff!

In the Highlander's Bed starts out with Gordon Lachlan, traveling to Madame Lavaliere's Academy for Young Women with the intent of kidnapping Miss Constance Cameron. His plan is to trade her back to her brother-in-law for the Sword of MacKenna, a sword believed to give the holder power to lead his army to victory. Gordon is a rebel, fighting the English advancement into Scotland, avenging his father's death.

Little does Gordon know, Constance is planning to run away that very night. She is unhappy in England and wants to go back home to America. She plans to sneak away and ride to a ship that's sailing for America, but Gordon catches her and takes her back to his rebel camp.

It's a long, hard ride, and Constance rides with Gordon. She is upset that she finds herself attracted to the Scotsman, and tries that much harder to escape. She knows if she is ransomed back to her brother-in-law her sister will continue trying to marry her off to a nobleman - all she wants is to go home to America.

When the reach the camp, Constance sees it is in disrepair. No one is working together and it's a disaster. After trying to escape, she talks to Gordon and comes to understand his motives and decides she wants to join his cause. She rallies the women and improves the camp, and falls in love with Gordon in the process. He falls in love with her too, and the elephant in the room is what they're going to do when it comes time to trade her for the sword. When the time for the trade came, I was holding my breath!

This was a very enjoyable book. It is actually the third or fourth book in a series, Constance's sisters had the previous books I believe. I liked Constance and Gordon and wanted them to be happy. As each obstacle presented itself, I read on, hoping they would overcome it. I liked the ending and will definitely check out the rest of the series.