Review: Trust Me on This by Jennifer Crusie

Trust Me on This by Jennifer Crusie
Published by Bantam Books, 2010 re-issue

Dennie Banks is an investigative reporter chasing down the biggest story of her career.  Alec Prentice is a government agent working undercover to catch an elusive grifter.  When they meet by accident, it's a case of mistaken identities at first sight.  What they don't mistake is the instant attraction they have for each other, an attraction they'll do everything in their power to resist--because Dennie thinks Alec is running interference for her interview subject, and Alec suspects that Dennis is linked to his swindler.  As the confusion grows, so do their feelings for each other, and what begins as a romantic comedy of errors may just end in the love affair of a lifetime.



Oh my word!! This book was fantastic!  I saw it at my local library and was excited as I love Jennifer Crusie and hadn't yet read this book.  I checked it out and then...well...it sat on my end table.  Over the holidays my mom came to visit and was excited because she had discovered a Jennifer Crusie she hadn't read yet...three guesses which one.  My excitement re-engaged, I pulled Trust Me on This from the bottom of the pile and put it on top and then...well...it sat there.  This past weekend my mom asked what I thought of the Jenn Crusie book and I admitted I hadn't read it yet.  She highly recommended that I get my rear in gear and read it--NOW.  So I did.  And I kicked myself for not reading it sooner.  This book is a hoot!  It is funny and clever and witty and sly.  It is a book where there are so many relationships between the various characters that if you were to create a picture of how each character knows each other as well as what each character believes about the other it would be a big, fat mess.  But this book is not a mess - big, fat, or otherwise.  It is smart. 

The main characters, Alec and Dennie, have great conversations with some zippy one-liners that had me in stitches.  Harry, Alec's boss and Victoria, Alec's aunt, have a secondary relationship that was just as fun to read about as Alec and Dennie.  It was wonderful to read a romance story line about a mature couple who are established in their careers and are very content with who and what they are but know that there could be something more for the taking and who have honest conversations about compromise knowing there isn't an easy answer.  Between Alec, Dennie, Victoria, and Harry there is a wonderful story full of zip and zing...add in a shyster by the name of Brian Bond, his sometimes-sidekick Sheree, Victoria's friend (and Dennie's possible big-break) Janice, and Donald who is vying for Victoria's affections, put this book into over-the-top-craziness territory and yet it never gets out of hand.  This book is a keeper and will definitely be a comfort re-read--guess I better get my own copy as soon as I can!

This book rates a 5/5.  

Review: Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood

Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood
Published by Penguin August 2012

When FBI agent Grayson Kincaid first encounters Olivia MacKenzie, she makes quite an impression.  

The beautiful, tough young attorney has stumbled into the middle of an FBI sting operation and reduced it to chaos.  Months of surveillance and careful planning down the drain, Kincaid's partner is furious and lets Olivia know that she's ticked off the wrong guy.  After all, he's FBI.

But Olivia isn't intimidated by his partner's bullying because she's something even scarier...she's IRS.

And working for the IRS is no picnic.  She's on the trail of an elaborate Ponzi scheme, one that threatens to ruin the lives of naive and unsuspecting victims, and one she has personal reasons to be angry about.  But after she asks the wrong people questions, her life is suddenly endangered.  She's accustomed to looking out for others who are weak, but being vulnerable herself makes her realize she needs help.  In desperation, she calls Grayson Kinkaid.  

Together they join forces to fight corruption, but Olivia is also fighting the immediate and intense attraction she feels for Agent Kincaid, and that may be a battle she is bound to lose.  

Olivia MacKenzie has come through a lot, childhood cancer with an experimental cocktail of drugs that put her in remission but at a great cost.  Three friends, a kind oncologist,and her Aunt Emily got her through as her parents and sister were, literally and figuratively, distant.  Now, the job she loves with the IRS is rumored to be on the chopping block in the next round of layoffs.  This leads her to an interview which does not go well...to say the least.  After a torn blouse, throwing a punch at the man interviewing her, and being punched herself, she is rudely informed by a disgruntled agent that she has ruined an FBI sting operation and to watch her back as the FBI is not an enemy she wants to make.  Olivia is not easily cowed to the amusement and admiration of the other agent on sight, Grayson Kinkaid.  

Grayson Kinkaid was a harder character to connect with at first.  He made it clear that he found Olivia attractive and he was not above using his need to question her in connection with his case to finagle more face-to-face time with her but then he would disappear for days, weeks, and at one point for months at a time.  Yes, he is busy and we find out that he has some compelling reasons for being out of reach and yet I didn't buy why he couldn't call, text, or e-mail.  It just did not make sense for him to be completely incommunicado.  

Meanwhile, Olivia is battling a lot of family issues that seemed pretty extreme.  She is convinced her father is cheating a lot of innocent people who trust him with their investments, her mother is devoted to her father to the exclusion of all else, and her sister is completely consumed with, well, making Olivia's life miserable through annoying phone calls, but beyond that, I am not sure what her sister does.  Supposedly she runs a successful internet business with her husband, George, but she never came across as particularly responsible or businesslike.  Oh, and George?  He has problems of his own to deal with.  

I liked both Olivia and Grayson.  Grayson takes care of Olivia in many ways, from hiring bodyguards to carrying around an extra inhaler for Olivia's asthma.  Olivia, for her part, does not insist on putting herself in TSTL situations but instead, listens to Grayson's concerns and does her part to stay safe and protected...at least most of the time.  And the few times she skirted the edges of his "rules" she did so after thinking through the consequences and evaluating the dangers to herself and others.  

The situation with her family complicates Grayson's need to keep her safe as it only increases the number of people who might be willing to put Olivia in harm's way.  Another plot involving the increasing illness of one of Olivia's childhood friends added to the tension as all of the various threads of the story twisted together in a way that the last third of the book just flew by.  While this is not my favorite book by Julia Garwood, it was enjoyable and I am hoping that the other three "pipsqueaks" get their own stories.  One of them seemed to be setting off some sparks with Grayson's partner Ronin who I very much enjoyed.  

This book rates a 3.5/5.

Review: Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh

Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh
Published by Penguin (part of Berkley) May 2012

Adria, wolf changeling and resilient soldier, has made a break with the past--one as unpredictable in love as it was in war.  Now comes a new territory and a devastating new complication: Riaz, a SnowDancer lieutenant already sworn to a desperate woman who belongs to another.

For Riaz, the primal attraction he feels for Adria is a staggering betrayal.  For Adria, his dangerous lone-wolf appeal is beyond sexual: It consumes her.  It terrifies her.  It threatens to undermine everything she has built of her new life.  But fighting their wild compulsion toward each other proves a losing battle.

Their coming together is an inferno...and a melding of two wounded souls who promise each other no commitment, no ties, no bonds.  Only pleasure.  Too late, they realize that they have more to lose than they ever imagined.  Drawn into a cataclysmic Psy war that may alter the fate of the world itself, they must make a decision that might just break them both.

Wow!! That was my reaction when I finished the last page of Tangle of Need late last night.  I should have known better than to start this book in the evening--the books in the Psy/Changling world have proven time and again to be un-put-downable and Tangle of Need was no exception.  I have to be honest--I was very hesitant going into this book.  The idea of Riaz already having a mate, who he would have chosen to be with if she were not already married, just screamed "other woman/love triangle" story line which I am not usually a fan of.  Shame, shame on me for doubting Nalini Singh.  Yes, when Riaz met his mate it tore something out of his very soul to know that she belonged to another.  Being a lone wolf anyway, he really isolated himself by hiding his pain even when back in the heart of the SnowDancer den.  Knowing that she was out there but could not be his did not change the fact that she was his mate and Riaz held himself away from the pack, especially the females because to do otherwise would be a betrayal of his mating bond.  

Adria is equally emotionally damaged.  She has ended a relationship that turned toxic but that had, once upon a time, been beautiful, supportive, and nurturing.  Adria, from the very start, proved to be a caring, but dominant woman who knew her worth and demanded respect, while still knowing her own responsibility and culpability in the relationship that had taken so much out of her.  Adria was a wonderful combination of level-headed and emotionally driven.  There were times when her emotions ruled her actions, but when she cooled off she would take the necessary steps to make amends where they were needed.  Other times, she would hold her emotions in, even when they threatened to overwhelm her.  It all depended on the circumstances surrounding her; Adria is very aware of her responsibilities to the pack as a senior soldier and a trainer of the younger submissives.  When "on-duty" she held it together and did what needed doing until she was in a safe place to deal with her emotions.  

The first few encounters between these two strong characters are pretty rough as they are both overcoming a lot of emotional baggage.  There are missteps on the part of both Riaz and Adria as they try to navigate the rocky path to a relationship in which they can both find some level of fulfillment.   Over time, they open up more and more finding in each other a true partner...however, always on the periphery is Lisette, Riaz's true mate.  When events pull her into Riaz and Adria's sphere, events and emotions come to a head.  Nalini Singh's strength (or at least one of them) is that she never short changes her characters.  It would be so easy to fall back on a stereotype, but she doesn't.  Lisette is a nice woman, smart and accomplished, who loves her husband but who is also pulled to Riaz due to the mating bond.  She doesn't know what it is or why it is, but she knows that something is there.  The way this is handled by all of the characters felt natural and true to both who they are and how they have been changed by their experiences.  I was definitely satisfied with the way this was resolved for all of those involved.

As with all of the books, the main relationship is playing out concurrently with events in the larger Psy/Changling/Human world.  In this book, Hawke and Sienna have an extensive amount of time "on-screen" and I really enjoyed seeing these two continuing to evolve within their relationship.  The Human Alliance and Pure-Psy are both working to forward their respective agendas and we get page time with most of the Counselors in the fracturing Psy-Net.  I also am very much enjoying the increased time spent with Kaleb Krychek as well as the Arrows, Aden and Vasic.  The little threads that Nalini Singh weaves in here and there about the arrows are slowing forming into a very intriguing history and I just want more and more and more!  I would highly recommend that anyone who has not read this yet, do so right away, but only if they have read the rest of the series.  This is not a stand alone title as events are too dependent upon earlier books for clarity, but that is okay because the entire series is FANTASTIC.  

This book rates a 4.5/5.  

What I've Been Reading (Jan. 1-Jan. 11)

I love knowing what other people are reading, so I thought I would share my weekly reads for anyone of like mind.  I read a lot and while I would love to review every single thing that I read, I am not going to put that pressure on myself at this point (or heck, probably ever) and I am totally fine with that.  My goal at this point is to have fun and I will figure out over time what that looks like as far as reviews per week go.  So without further ado, here is what I have read since 2013 began:

I began 2013 with Nalini Singh's Psy/Changling series.  I had read the first five books previously but knew that in order to get caught up with the series, a re-read of the early titles was probably in order.  I love Slave to Sensation and can remember sitting with my mouth hanging open when I finished reading it for the first time.  This book was a game-changer in my reading life and I re-visit it often...I am utterly incapable of caring if there are any flaws in this book--to me it is the ultimate in comfort reads.  In addition to Slave to Sensation, I re-read Visions of Heat, Mine to Possess, and Hostage to Pleasure.  (I did not re-read Caress of Ice because while I enjoy it, I had re-read it more recently than the other titles.)  I also re-read the short stories "Stroke of Enticement" from The Magical Christmas Cat and "Whisper of Sin" from the Burning Up anthology.  This concluded the titles that I had read before.

I continued the Psy/Changling series with the new-to-me titles Branded by Fire, Blaze of Memory, Bonds of Justice, Play of Passion, and Kiss of Snow.  I loved all of these titles, especially Branded by Fire and Bonds of Justice.  I really worried when I began Kiss of Snow.  I am not a fan of angst due to "the other woman" or "the other man" and I really worried that Hawke was going to do something that I would have a hard time forgiving him for.   I still have Tangle of Need to read and hope to get to it this weekend;  I am having a hard time beginning it because it is about two characters who have a lot of emotional baggage (with good reason) and the whole "Riaz has a mate and it's not Adria" just screams emotional angst of "the other woman" type.  However, I saw somewhere (although, I cannot remember where) that the next book in the series will be about/reveal the identity of the Ghost.  In fact, the cover was blacked out and the title wasn't revealed so as to not give anything away.  I want to catch up on the series before then, and while I have time, if I put of Tangle of Need, I may not get back to it until very last minute.  So, better to read it now and be ready for number 12.  

Rescue My Heart was up next by Jill Shalvis, the third in the Animal Magnetism series.  I really enjoyed it, although I wasn't sure I was going to for the first third of the book.  I really liked Adam and Holly although I didn't really connect to either of them early on but even more than that, I wasn't sure that I believed in their ability to connect to each other.  There were so many tentative steps forward in their relationship followed by very definite steps back which got frustrating.  However, I should have trusted because by the end of the book I believed that they could and would compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses.  A small niggle I had was with the ex-husband.  He was off-page for so much of the book and when he did appear, I wasn't sure that his presence (and by default, his storyline) was necessary.  

After catching up with the Animal Magnetism series, I ventured into my TBR "pile" (which is not a pile, but a five shelf bookshelf in my master bedroom's closet which overflows into piles on the floor) and found several more Jill Shalvis books, all from the Lucky Harbor series.  I had read the first book in the series, Simply Irresistible, before but wanted to re-read it as it had been awhile.  I loved it...I laughed out loud multiple times and fell in love with Jax.  He is a favorite of mine and I felt that Maddie was a perfect fit for him.  She grew into her potential in a way that it was believable that Jax would be attracted to her and want to spend the rest of his life being her "knight in shining armor" knowing that she was letting him do so, not needing him to.  

I followed up with the next two titles in the Lucky Harbor series: The Sweetest Thing and Head Over Heels.  I enjoyed both quite a bit.  The Sweetest Thing was all set to have a love triangle (of which I am rarely a fan) but the way it was dealt with was a pleasant surprise.  Jill Shalvis's writing reminds me of Nora Robert's in the way that she fleshes out even the most minor of characters and the way she writes men and their thinking and actions with and among each other.  Head Over Heels also caused me to laugh out loud at several points (the paint handprints!!) and I really appreciated the growth that Chloe experienced between her appearance in Simply Irresistible and her taking the starring role in Head Over Heels.  

Mandi at Smexy Books mentioned that she was reading Desire Untamed by Pamela Palmer.  I remembered reading this book a while back and thought, "what the heck" and pulled it out for a quick re-read.  It was just as over-the-top as I remembered it being the first time.  I might read more in the series.  I think I have read the second book before, but it would definitely need to be read again as I can't remember much from it.  

Lastly, I read Bearing All (which I had downloaded for free from Amazon on my Kindle) and Moosed Up, which I purchased after reading the free sample.  I had seen several reviews for Bearing All floating around Romancelandia so I decided to see for myself.  I had the same issue for both books--there were parts of the story that I felt were really strong and could have been expanded upon and there were parts that I felt could have been tightened up considering the shorter page counts being worked within.  However, I am thinking about downloading the other two books available in the Wild Men of Alaska series based on my overall enjoyment of my first two forays into the series.

Note: All books mentioned are either owned by me or were checked out from my public library.

My First Week at Series-ously Addicted

This past week has been a blast!  I finally took the plunge to start my own blog about the books I am reading and what I think about them.  I have been thinking about starting a blog for a couple of years now (in fact, I set this blog up in 2011) but have never posted.  I finally realized that nothing should hold me back if this is what I want to do.  From following so many wonderful blogs over the years, I know that the community of book bloggers is a warm and welcoming one.  

While I did not write any book reviews this week, I did sign up for some great challenges which I am really excited about.  There are some that will challenge me to read outside my known comfort zone (hello, horror and gothic challenges), some that will allow me to dig deeper into genres I have only dabbled in (talking to you, New Adult Challenge), others that will help me focus on my goal of reading through some of the books on my very extensive TBR pile (embarrassment of riches, book bingo, overstuffed bookshelf, why buy the cow) and others that will allow me to reconnect with some of my "loves" in reading (paranormal reading challenge, seriously series, YA reading challenge).   I look forward to all of the challenges I have signed up for and to all of the wonderful titles and authors discovered, re-visited, and/or glommed this year.

2013 New Adult Reading Challenge

New Adult is a genre that I have not read a lot but definitely want to read more of...the couple of books I have tried, I loved.  Luckily for me, A Tapestry of Words, Confessions of a Twenty Something Fiction Writer, Tater's Tall Tails, and Basia's Bookshelf have the perfect challenge for that!  And, there is also a great reference list (here) of title suggestions just in case help is needed in decided if a book qualifies as "new adult." (That link will also take you to the official rules and sign-up.) I am going to challenge myself to meet the "Moving Out" level by reading 10 New Adult books.

New Authors Challenge

The idea behind this is to find new authors that you have never tried before, not necessarily ones that are debuting. They can be in your genre of choice or be brave and try something new. You never know what you’re going to like until you try it. If you’re looking for some suggestions, you can check out the Author page at Literary Escapism or the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 Challenge pages. With over 1000 reviews posted, I’m sure there will be something there for everyone.

Here are the guidelines:

1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013.
2. Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels. Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors can be from anthologies.
3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so you can pick to do either 15, 25 or 50 new authors. It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be.  If you reach your goal halfway through the year, don’t stop. Any new author you try can be added to Mr. Linky. We all want to know about your new experience.
4. After reading your new author, write your review and then add your link to the Mr. Linky. Make sure you include your name and the author, but adding the title is completely up to you.
5. Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome. You don’t have to have a site to participate. You can link up via Facebook, GoodReads or even Amazon if you’d like.

Once you reach your goal, you don’t have to stop. Any new author you try, go ahead and add it to the list. Introduce us all to whoever you find. After all, there’s no reason to stop trying new authors, right?

Grab the Button!
Disclaimer: Artwork used (with permission) for the button is Anglerfish by Vlad Gerasimov. Please be sure to post a link to the artist when using the button – thanks!

My goal will be 50 new authors which should not be too difficult, especially with the number of e-books that I have on my Kindle (for whatever reason, I am more likely to purchase an unknown author as an e-book than I am in print--print books I wait and check out from the library and then I purchase them if I like them--am I the only one who does this?).