dear isobel

I’ve had this idea in my head for ages but I finally decided to give it ago. I’m really pleased with how this blog worked out as I’ve never customized a Wordpress theme to this extent. I took the basic coding and css and rewrote it so it worked a little more. I still have to get it to validate but that’s another project for another day. But the layout used to be in a table, so I took it and put it into divs and then I played with it to make it widget ready. I’m so happy I was able to make that work.

It’s a blog for romance novels — for release dates, fanlistings, and reviews and whatever else I can think of to add to the site. There isn’t a lot there yet, it’s a work in progress but I’ll continue to add entries over the next few days.

RomanceFan.Org

Title: Agnes and the Hitman Author(s): Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer Purchase: Amazon Grade: A+

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I bought this. I love everything that Jennifer Crusie has ever written, no matter how long ago it was but I didn’t enjoy Don’t Look Down very much. A little too much action, underdeveloped secondary characters and a plot that just didn’t feel right. Plus a couple that didn’t really inspire me to root for them. The writing was good and I certainly enjoyed portions of it as it’s still lightyears ahead of some of the things I’ve read in the past.

But about a page into Agnes and I was sold. This is a heroine that I thoroughly enjoyed. She’s not perfect, she’s not sweet and special and considerate. This is a woman who has a temper and loses it on occasion. She’s got some rage and the portions where it comes out…that’s just god damn funny to read. Agnes does the things we only dream about. For example, if you came in and found your boyfriend having sex on your table, you’d certainly want to hit him with a frying pain or threaten him with a meat fork, right?

The hero was a little harder to pin down much but it’s refreshing to read about a hero that’s written by a guy. I’m not saying women authors don’t generally hit the nail on the head with their guys, but sometimes there are just things even we can’t explain and that’s when it’s nice to have a guy involved. Shane was definitely a little mysterious but it was a pleasure to watch him to try to keep up with Agnes all week. By the book’s end, he knew her better than anyone else and it’s mostly because he paid attention. Something we can dream about right?

The romance might have felt like it was all about sex to other readers, but I liked when Shane grabbed Agnes’ To Do List so he could help her with it and that he was pretty laid back about her violent tendencies (well, he is a hitman). There were no huge moments, no misunderstandings. With Shane and Agnes, it was all in the details and they were some great details.

The secondary characters were there this time around. Lisa Livia, who is f*cking fabulous. I don’t know if I could handle her as the lead in any book, but she was an outstanding supporting character as were Carpenter, Maria, Garth, Doyle and Joey.

Brenda Fortunato has to be, hands down, the most enjoyable bad guy I’ve read in a romance novel. I’ve liked the villains before. I’ve indentified with them, sympathized and loved to hate them. (Sometimes, I’ve just hated them), but I don’t think I’ve laughed as hard as I have with Brenda. She was a tour de force and just fabulous. I enjoyed every single moment she was on the page. I don’t think this book would have been as marvelous without her.

I liked that the plot didn’t feel like it was wrapped up tightly. At first, there felt like there were a lot of coincidences and catastrophes happening the same week, but when they finally realize that not only are they all connected but they lead back to the same person, I never felt like it was the convienent ending. I could only think Of course! It makes sense now! It felt right and that’s always an accomplishment when you have a complicated plot with many little threads that wraps up tightly, but not too neatly.

A fabulous effort by my favorite author and I look forward to their next project.

Title: The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes Author(s): Anne Stuart, Jennifer Crusie and Eileen Dreyer Purchase: Amazon Grade: A -

I love and adore Jennifer Crusie and I’m usually in line to purchase her books on the day they come out but I waited to buy this and I’ll tell you why: I’m not a fan of books that are written by more than one author and I’m not a huge fan of anthologies. I had never read anything by Anne Stuart and I had never even heard of Eileen Dreyer, so I decided to wait a while until I had some extra money.

I’m sorry that I was so quick to judge — this is a very fun and fast-paced novel, one of the hallmarks of a fabulous Crusie novel. At first, I wasn’t able to tell which author wrote each character but as soon as Mare’s story got going, I could pick out Crusie’s voice very easily. That didn’t mean that Lizzie and Dee were not as fun or well-written, but after reading everything I can get my hands Crusie-wise and then reading it again, it was easy to pick out her contributions.

The reason that I gave it an A- is simply that I felt in some ways the stories were just a little too fast. It takes place over a weekend and usually, I can overlook that sort of thing. A great number of romance novels take place over a short amount of time and the mark of a really fabulous author is to make you forget that everything you just read happened in a matter of days. I wasn’t able to get there. Mare’s story was easier to believe because her true love was a man from her past and I could believe her story having a resolution in about forty-eight hours.

But it was hard to buy Lizzie and Elric and Dee and Danny in particular. I just didn’t feel it. I could feel they were very attracted to each other but I just couldn’t see their resolution as neatly. The authors were trying to submerge you into this entire world and I just never quite had a handle on it.

In the end though, it was well-written, the characters were fun and easy to read and I would not have minded longer books (or even a trilogy with a different book from a different author). Even if some aspects of the book were not exactly what I wanted, I still enjoyed it thoroughly and now I have two new authors to track down.

Title: My Lord Conqueror Author: Samantha James Purchase: Amazon Grade: B-

I just want to preface this by saying that I enjoy Samantha James. I don’t worship her, I don’t hate her, I find her books generally entertaining and readable. I don’t rush out and buy her books when they come out but if I’ve got the extra money to spend and I see something new (or a reprint I didn’t already own) I always pick it up.

My Lord Conqueror is a book I’ve read a few times. It’s a run of the mill Norman invasion where the hero (Merrick) is a Norman lord who’s conquered some Saxon stronghold, and in this case, the heroine (Alana) is the bastard daughter of the keep’s former lord. It has all the earmarks of this type of romance — an unwilling heroine and a patient hero. She has visions and from the beginning of the book, she has a vision of Merrick standing over her with a sword as if he’s going to kill her. Since her visions usually come true, obviously this causes some anxiety on her part.

The story is tried and true, but no less fun to read. There’s a lot going on aside from the main romance (Alana’s legitimate half-sister, a few odd murders and occurences, a very minor secondary romance and more invasions) but I never felt like they distracted me from the main romance, which despite the predictibility, still flowed and seemed believable. By the inevitable declaring of one’s love, I did feel that the characters had earned that and felt it, which is nice.

For the first read through, I enjoyed the book. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it but I didn’t feel like I’d wasted my time reading it, which I think really determines a book’s value. It’s a book I put on my shelf and take down time to time when I’m in the mood to read a romance but I don’t want to have to concentrate on something I haven’t read yet. However, by the third read through, a few things do tend to jump out. Merrick calls Alana ‘Saxon’ no less than six times in the span of two pages and while you don’t notice it right away, once you notice it, you can’t stop. Which means I’ve probably ruined it for a few people, lol.

It’s not on the level of a Nora Roberts or a Jennifer Crusie read for me, but it’s also not a book I shoved back on my shelf to forget it (Catherine Coulter or Johanna Lindsey.) I do recommend it