What are you reading this week? - week of July 2nd

Posting's been kind of quiet lately - I wonder if a bunch of the group is on vacation away from the computer this week... I wish I was on vacation...

Anyway, I needed a quick pick-me-up, tried n true romance over the weekend, so I re-read It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas. I just love Westcliff's story!

Now I've plunged into re-reading the 5th & 6th Harry Potter books in anticipation of the new book coming out later this month.

What are yall reading this week?

I finished Hidden Agendas, Book 4 in Lora Leigh's Tempting SEALS book series. It was better than the last one, but not great. I actually got tired of reading the sex scenes.

Next up for me is The Duke's Indiscretion by Adele Ashworth. So far, so good.

CC

I'm reading Simply sinful by Carly Phillips.

Three more days and I've got 3 weeks vacation. Can you see me dancing?

Julia

I picked up a quick book at The Strand here in NYC called Lucy Gets Her Life Back by Stef Ann Holm. It was okay but wasn't really a romance. It kind of reminded me of chicklit or something by Adriana Trigiani. I'm putting it up on PaperBackSwap.

Julia, 3 weeks?!? I am SO envious! Enjoy!

I read Runaway Mistress by Robyn Carr over the weekend. I wanted something that I wasn't all that interested in because we had a huge family re-union going on; knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to read & I was right. Anyway, it was pretty good; probably classify it as mainstream fiction rather than romance.

I started Kiss Me Deadly by Susan Kearney yesterday. It's her first romantic suspense & pretty good so far. I've never read her before.

Katybear I am rereading the last two Harry Potter books also. It is amazing how much I have forgotten and I want to be prepared for the new one out in a couple of weeks.
I am also reading Julia Quinn's new book The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever.

I really liked Miranda Cheever. I just finished The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes. I expected an anthology but it isn't. I could hardly put it down, but I was a little disappointed at the ending. And I'm also re-reading Harry Potter. I just finished listening to HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

I finished Kiss Me Deadly by Susan Kearney this morning; it was pretty good, not the best I've ever read, but I would recommend it.

Next up for me, Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong. I haven't read her before because I'm not into the paranormal genre so much anymore, but this is a suspense with I'm hoping a little romance thrown in.

Well I am still on Betrayal in Death nearing the end now, but just had no time to read and not been on the bus to work a few times (which means prime reading time has gone out the window!) But I got a call from the library to say there are another 5 In Death books to pick up. hehe

Yup, I've got 6 weeks of vacation each year. *g*

Julia

Lucky you, Julia! And here I thought my 5-day weekend was a treat!

I read Vanquished by Hope Tarr last night. It had an interesting premise. The hero was born in the slums of London and was rescued by then-PM William Gladstone. He goes to a good orphanage and makes a name for himself as a portrait photographer. The heroine is a full-figured spinster and leader of the women's suffragist movement. The political battles are really heating up and a Member of Parliament wants to destroy the movement by discrediting the heroine. He hires the hero to take an incriminating photograph of her, basically paying him to seduce and destroy her. I thought it was worth the read, but not a keeper. There are a couple of disturbing scenes, if you're squeamish.

Yesterday I read The Captain of all Pleasures by Kresley Cole which I really enjoyed a lot. Today I read Sex, Lies and Online Dating by Rachel Gibson and will be moving right on to the sequel I'm In No Mood For Love.

>11 gracer: Vanquished is in the stack of library books I have out. I think I might read that one next. It sounds interesting from your description.

I read Heart Dance by Robin D. Owens. Very disappointed in this one---I felt like the heroine was selfish and unpleasant.

I also read Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh. Thanks to whoever mentioned it months ago. I wasn't interested in the plot premise (thus not reading it months ago), but was hooked after the first two or three chapters. I immediately ordered the next one...which hopefully amazon ships soon!

And, I read A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer. That is also an excellent book. Though it is by no means a traditional romance, the romance is integral to the story and a major force in plot development.

Other than that, lots of family and social events, plus the unpacking from our recent move---thus little reading and no posting!

Also, thanks to all you bookmoochers. I never would have tried it without your suggestions.

Started and finished The Viscount in Her Bedroom last night. It was good!

I hope we get to see what happens to Georgiana. Maybe in a future book?

>13 rianoel: I mooched A Brother's Price it is in my tbr pile of books. It's nice to know you enjoyed it!

I finished I'm in No Mood For Love and decided to take a break from romances. Right now I'm reading The Fire Thief by Terry Deary. After this I'm not sure if I want to read Sebastian by Anne Bishop or Vanquished by Hope Tarr. Both books sound very good.

Demon, does that mean you didn't care for I'm in no mood for love either?

Julia

I am reading A Gallant Waif by Anne Gracie and Heartbreaker by Julie Garwood. (Heartbreaker is a hardback so I needed a paperback to haul around. :D) And I am listening to my first Jasper Fforde, an author highly recommended at the Green Dragon group.

An audio Fforde? Does the humour work as well that way? I love the books I've been able to find by him.

I don't know if the audio is as good as the print version. I am enjoying it, but so far I am only part way into disk one. I read some reviews before deciding which book to read first and this one was recommended. I have also checked out The Eyre Affair in print form, but haven't started it yet.

And you do have to listen to catch all the characters and plot twists.

Tell Me Lies and Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie. I enjoy Crusie's characters' goofiness, and there's always a dog.

I just started Hunter's Salvation by Shiloh Walker I'm glad Vax is getting his own story-I hope Jess isn't going to be as stupid as she seems.

Read Beverly Barton's Raintree: Sanctuary yesterday. Wow...really disappointed. Quite a few ways and I can go on about them should anyone like a critique. Trying to reread Amanda Quick's Second Sight and having a hard time. Maybe I'm overloaded with books. Read Ill Wind by someone I can't remember where people control the weather...it was mediocre and struggled through Charlie All Night. I must be having a bad week or two...summer reading program at the library is killing me.

About Raintree:Inferno, Raintree:haunted and Raintree: sanctuary I've got to agree I was massively disappointed (well, I got so disgusted I was just skimming) with the last one. I really liked the Linda Howard one and the Linda Winstead Jones one was tolerable, but the last one - ick.

I found the ending saccharine, annoying and dumb. I wish they wouldn't do that, it's very rare that those things work and I think it's a disservice to fans of any of the authors.

There are exceptions The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes is perfectly fabulous, but it is that rare case where they actually have three excellent authors in a collaboration. But that was different because it was one integral story. Every so often I'd spot bits where I'd think "ah, that's a Crusie" bit or a "Dreyer bit" or a "Stuart bit" but mostly it was very seamless.

I had to stay home and defrost the freezer today. In between I read Pleasure Control by Cathryn Fox and Dinner First, Me Later? by Candy Halliday. Sorry the touchstones aren't working.

Pleasure, was good, first in a trilogy I think, but a little short on plot. It is part of Avon's Red Line which I think is supposed to be contemporary romance with more of a steamy bent. Anyway, it was about two scientists working together to find a formula for a libido suppressant. Basically, anti-Viagra. They can't get the formula right up until now and their grant is up for approval. So, they test it on themselves, only it turns out to be tampered with and is actually an enhancer. So the two scientists get it on and try to find the right formula. Enjoyable, but not memorable and certainly not believable. I posted it on PBS and it's already been requested!

Dinner first, was cute, I had a few problems with it as well, but overall it was a good read. It is a fairly recent release and in the vein of the ex-athlete owning up to fatherhood trying to settle down when bam! he meets the hot neighbor. I seem to be reading a lot of these lately. Could be a trend...

I've been having a so-so reading week. I've been trying some mid-level or new authors and haven't been impressed so far. I read Susan Mallery's In Bed With the Devil. I've liked other books by her, and this one started out promising, but I didn't care for the female character at all. Then I picked up Sweet Revenge by Katherine Allred, who I've also really enjoyed in the past. I gave up on it after the female lead taped condoms all over the male lead's office front (sheriff's department)--in a small town, no less--for something he had done wrong that wasn't really that terrible.

I also read Cade's Challenge by Becky Barker, again an author whose books are normally a good read, and once again the female character was just unbelievable. I followed that up with Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian, hoping that it really would be at least similar to the J.R. Ward series. It was all right, but pretty wooden.

Sigh...at least I did read Simon Says by Lori Foster and really enjoyed that!

(Can someone tell me what to do when I try to put a touchstone on for a book's title, and it shows up as the wrong book? I tried it for all the titles here but it only worked for Kiss of Midnight so I took it off the others.)

Ana, you can change the touchstone in the sidebar menu that comes up when you put a book title in . You'll be shown all the books registered on LT which have the same words in their titles, and you scroll down and click on the right one. However, if it is older book, I sometimes can't find the touchstone, either, even if I go through 250 choices.

I didn't realize Simon Says was out yet. I'll have to get that one, even though I did not like Causing Havoc, the first one in Foster's newest series. She is a wonderfully gifted writer. Have you read any of her other books?

CC

Thanks for the info on the Touchstones, CC.

Re Lori Foster, I've read most of her other books and really like her writing. I didn't think Simon Says (or Causing Havoc) were quite as good as the others, but I can't really put my finger on why. Still, compared to the others I read this week, Simon Says was a pleasure to read. I've really enjoyed the other books I've read by Katherine Allred and Becky Barker. They generally write very satisfying, somewhat emotional stories. They're not books I'd usually reread or even remember much once I've finished them, but I have a good time reading them. Not so with the two I read this week. I'm thinking that perhaps some authors are being pushed to add a bit of 'zaniness' to their female characters when it's not their natural writing style, and it just didn't work for me.

Ana, interesting point! Do you like historicals or mainly contemporaries? I haven't ready either Katherine Allred or Becky Barker, so I don't know anything about their books. I could recommend some authors of historical romance who write wonderfully tender, emotional stories. I'll try to think of some contemporary writers who fit that catagory, too.

CC

I read Simon Says last weekend and it was just ok - maybe 3 stars. I thought Causing Havoc was great until the Cam and Roger thing. That ruined the whole book for me.

Richard

These days I seem to like mostly contemporaries. I used to read mainly Regencies, but then tried a couple of contemporaries and now I only read historicals if it's an author who I particularly like or who is highly recommended. (I saw someone commenting on hackneyed plots and she asked if all Regency heros had to be spies. I think that's what killed it for me with Regencies.)

I do like the "zany" books (I think Jennifer Crusie is amazing), but I've read too many lately where an author who doesn't normally write that kind of book seems to feel the need to make her heroine a little over the top, and it so often just doesn't work. I think Linda Howard was able to make that switch in some of her recent books (Drop Dead Gorgeous) but then I don't think I've ever read a Linda Howard book I didn't like!

Some of my auto-buy authors are Linda Howard, Anne Stuart, Nora Roberts, J.R. Ward, Jennifer Crusie, Elizabeth Lowell, Susan Sizemore (paranormal only), Christine Feehan, Elizabeth Vaughn, Madeline Hunter, Lori Foster, Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Susan Andersen. But there are other no-so-famous authors whose works I really enjoy: Laura Leone, Eve Asbury, Patricia McLinn, Susan Napier, Lisa Plumley, Kay Layton Sisk. I can count on them for a good, satisfying reading experience, even if I don't end up saying 'wow' afterwards.

I read Susan Napier's Lesson in Seduction last night. It's an old Harlequin that I got online recently because I've been trying to collect her backlist. Interesting characters, unusual plot, sensual love scenes in an exotic location -- lots of fun!

Hey Ana, we have a lot of favorite authors in common. Did you know Laura Leone writes fantasies as Laura Resnick? I haven't read any yet but I hear Disappearing Nightly is good.

I had read that Laura Leone writes as Laura Resnick but I haven't read any of those. Laura Leone kind of snuck up on me. I read one, then another, then another, and before I knew it, I had all of hers (I think). Have you read Kay Layton Sisk? She did a series on members of a rock band that I really liked. (Jemma's Heart and Lyla's Song were my favorites of those.)

I haven't read Sisk. Are her books trade size? I know they were on my list before but for some reason I gave up on them. I guess I'll put them back on,thanks

>16 Julia1605: Sorry I'm a bit behind here! I'm in No Mood was okay, but parts of it kind of dragged a little. I know this is odd, but anything that has the hero's name as Sebastian is a plus for me LOL I actually liked Sex, Lies and Online Dating a bit better. I like books with high drama and exciting things happening.

Read Darker Than Midnight by Maggie Shayne today and it was good. I'm kind of struggling again through Kay Hooper and her Fear trilogy. I have to say the evil trilogy where we first met Bishop were the best of the bunch. Also read and enjoyed Catherine Anderson's Summer Breeze yesterday and quite enjoyed it. It was that story within a story plot but it quite worked to set up the last Coulter book.

Callady, I have Sisk's books as e-books so I'm not sure if they're trade size. I don't remember ever seeing them in a bookstore, come to think of it.