Nicole Reads A Lot

so many books, so little time

Jul 26

Learning Curves by Elyse Mady

by Nicole
Title:Learning Curves
Author:Elyse Mady
Publication Date:June 2011
Publisher's DescriptionLeanne Galloway has no time for dating; her focus is on launching her academic career. Dragged along to her childhood frenemy Gillian's bachelorette party at a male strip club, she just wants to get through the evening-but she can't help interfering when Gillian sends a note to a sexy dancer proposing a hot hookup.

Brandon Myles is working backstage at the Foxe's Den to fund his post-graduate studies in dance, but he's forced onstage when the headliner fails to show up. He feels a surprisingly strong connection with a quiet woman watching from a table full of tipsy bridesmaids, and he's delighted when she appears backstage after his set.

After a scorching spontaneous encounter, Leanne and Brandon agree to go their separate ways. But they're both grad students on a small campus, and avoiding each other and denying their attraction won't work for long, especially when a jealous rival appears, determined to ruin both their academic careers.
My rating:***.5

I really liked Leanne and Brandon’s story, although it felt more like a novella than a novel, despite its length. Ms. Mady has a way of crafting relatable and entertaining scenes, although I have to say that Gillian was such a total bitch that she was almost unbelievable. Can anybody really be that vile? Possibly, but as a villain, such an unlikeable character was too over-the-top. Likewise, while her comuppence was pretty entertaining, it didn’t ring true at all.

There were a lot of unresolved issues, such as why Leanne’s mom would be so down on her daughter, or blind to how everybody else treated Leanne. What kind of parent would stand for that? The ending was very “love conquers all,” but if you stopped for a moment to think where these two are in their lives, you can see that they have some rough times ahead. I wouldn’t have minded learning more about how Brandon and Leeanne are able to weather the events and situations in their immediate futures. Professionally, they’re both at adrift. Do go they go elsewhere? Do they fight for their positions at Wellington?

This book provided me with at least as many questions as answers, but it was entertaining and the sexy, and didn’t disappointment at all. I think that fans of erotic/contemporary romance will really enjoy this title.

3.5 Star Books Book Reviews Romance

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Jul 22

Love Script by Tiffany Ashley

by Nicole
Title:Love Script
Author:Tiffany Ashley
Publication Date:December, 2010
Publisher's DescriptionTo get the deal … he’ll need her help.

Determined to land a huge advertising account for his company, Nicolas Sinclair gets a LITTLE carried away and tells the potential client he’s married and about to celebrate his first anniversary. Now, Nick has a serious problem—he has agreed to a high-stakes cruise with this important client and must find a willing “wife” to join him.

Laney Parks is either in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the right place at the right time—She isn’t sure which. She isn’t even entirely sure how she got roped into posing as her hunky boss’s wife. She finds “sticking to the script” SERIOUSLY unnerving, especially when it involves cuddling up and kissing in public—and sharing the close confines of a cabin, and its single bed, with him.
My rating:**

Maybe I went into this book with my expectations too high, or maybe I’m just over the Harlequin Presents-type asshole hero who woos his woman with his jerky behavior and low opinion of her, and then completely wins her over with his terrible behavior. So Nick was just like that, but worse, because I didn’t know that this was going to be that type of book and hadn’t braced myself. This book wasn’t terrible, but I just couldn’t really connect very well with either of the two main characters or invest too much in their story.

*Spoilers, I guess*
Laney was too nice for Nick. I really hope that he does spend the rest of his life apologizing to her, preferably every hour on the hour, for her agreeing to put up with him. He’s just an awful person, in a way that no amount of sex appeal or skills can make up for.

3 Star Books Book Reviews Romance

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Jul 21

Paradise 21 by Aubrie Dionne

by Nicole
Title:Paradise 21
Author:Aubrie Dionne
Publication Date:August 2, 2011
Publisher's DescriptionAries has lived her entire life aboard mankind’s last hope, the New Dawn, a spaceship traveling toward a planet where humanity can begin anew—a planet that won’t be reached in Aries’ lifetime. As one of the last genetically desirable women in the universe, she must marry her designated genetic match and produce the next generation for this centuries-long voyage.But Aries has other plans.

When her desperate escape from the New Dawn strands her on a desert planet, Aries discovers the rumors about pirates—humans who escaped Earth before its demise—are true. Handsome, genetically imperfect Striker possesses the freedom Aries envies, and the two connect on a level she never thought possible. But pursued by her match from above and hunted by the planet’s native inhabitants, Aries quickly learns her freedom will come at a hefty price.

The life of the man she loves.
My rating:****

I was really impressed with this book. The premise drew me in, which I found surprising, since I don’t usually care too much for space operas. Aries was a fascinating lead character, one whose struggle for autonomy in her incredibly regimented life was easy to identify with. In the hands of a lesser author, Aries could have been a kind of Mary Sue, but Ms. Dionne managed to give Aries’s naivete resonance and keep her interesting regardless of the situation she was in.  The world she inhabited was basically Space Communism, right down to the type of covert rule-breaking  that was endemic to those who were in charge and above public scrutiny. I liked the way the book ended, with everybody set up to get more or less their just desserts, in a way that maybe not even they understood. I look forward to the next book in this series.

I highly recommend this book not only to science fiction fans, but also to people like me, who never thought that they’d be into science fiction, but are always up for a good story.

4 Star Books Book Reviews Romance Science Fiction

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Jul 11

The Gauntlet Thrown by Cheryl Dyson

by Nicole
Title:Gauntlet Thrown
Author:Cheryl Dyson & Xina Marie Uhl
Publication Date:April 2010
Publisher's DescriptionBrydon's quest was simple. Borrow the fabled Gauntlet of Ven-Kerrick, bring it home to prove his worth, marry the princess, and ascend the throne.

He had planned for the dangerous terrain and Redolian assassins, but he did not expect the Gauntlet to be missing, nor to find the Kerrick royal family murdered.

Luckily, his worst enemy was there to help him out.
My rating:****

 

Although I was initially dismayed when I saw that this book was 1128 pages (!!!), I got over that quickly and enjoyed the story tremendously. Be warned: there are a lot of characters to keep track of, and this is very obviously only an introduction to this world. If 1100+ pages are all you’d devote to this universe, you might as well skip this book, because there’s a lot that Dyson and Uhl didn’t cover in Gauntlet Thrown. I liked Brydon as a character, but he really needs to toughen up; all it takes to distract him is an attractive female face. Every time a pretty woman was in his orbit, he became noticeably dumber. One of these days, the fair maiden is not going to have his best interests at heart. Oh wait, that already happened. I loved that the friendship that blossomed between Brydon and Toryn ended up being the best-written and most fulfilling relationship in this book.

4 Star Books Book Reviews

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Apr 20

The Welcome Home Garden Club by Lori Wilde

by Nicole
Title:Welcome Home Garden Club
Author:Lori Wilde
Publication Date:April 2011
Publisher's DescriptionCaitlyn Marsh stopped believingin happily-ever-after when high-school sweetheart, Gideon Garza, left for Iraq. Now she raises her small son whjile her matchmaking gardening club members drive her crazy. Then Caitlyn's world turns upside-down when Gideon swaggers back to Twilight.

Gideon had left town in the middle of the night with threats ringing in his ears. A lot of things have changed since then. This bad-boy-turned-Green-Beret bears scars from the war, the timid girl he loved is an independent mother, and the father who refused to recognize his son in life has, in death, left him a vast cattle ranch.

He still aches for Caitlyn, and now there's a dark-haired boy who looks exactly like Gideon did at that age. Could the child be his? And can this war-weary soldier overcome the scars of the past to claim the family he so richly deserves?
My rating:***

I really wanted to like this book, but the characters seemed pretty clueless and I never could get into it. Caitlyn and Gideon came into the book with a lot of baggage, which is something that I normally love, by the way that Ms. Wilde resolved things never felt quite right to me. Honestly, for such otherwise  capable people (one is raising a child and running a business, and the other stayed in a war zone for several years and lived to tell about it), they made a lot of silly assumptions about their friends, families, and neighbors. All the things they are good at seem to be detail-oriented, but they seem to miss important information left and right, almost to the detriment of their son. The protagonists’ somewhat willful cluelessness meant that, for me, the potentially rewarding premise never really paid off; I can only really become emotionally invested in characters if I find them realistic.

This book could be a nice, fast read, but I wouldn’t recommend it to somebody looking for a romantic homecoming story that really rises above the rest of the books in this genre. Maybe I’m just a heartless Grinch, though, because pretty much everybody else seems to love this book.

 

3 Star Books Book Reviews

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