Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

RITA Reader Challenge: The Danger of Desire by Elizabeth Essex

This review was written by Katherine This story was nominated in the Best Historical Romance category.

The summary: Captain Hugh McAlden is working on a top-secret mission to bring down enemy spies living in England. After seeing a young woman perform a brilliant bit of pick pocketing on the London streets, he impulsively decides to hire her to help him. The only name she'll give him is Meggs, and she refuses to tell him anything about her background or how she ended up on the streets. But as Hugh tries to unravel her secrets, he also finds her harder and harder to resist...

And here is Katherine's review:

This could have been a really good book, instead of just a better than average book.  It coulda been a...oh wait, it is a contender.  Who's responsible for making these nominations, anyway, and what are they drinking? Still, I liked Danger of Desire enough to read the previous book in the series, Pursuit of Pleasure, which as it happens was a… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge: Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier by Lisa Dale

This review was written by Karyn This story was nominated in the Best Contemporary Single Title Romance category.

The summary: Fifteen years ago, Garret Sorensen's family, trust, and heart were destroyed when Thea Celik betrayed him and married his brother. Now they are divorcing. Garret's ready to finally mend his relationship with his brother. But being back in Newport, Rhode Island, triggers a lot of memories-all leading back to Thea. Thea's not ready to let go of the Sorensens-even if it means being around Garret. As they cautiously circle around each other-finding themselves drawn together-they realize following their hearts could cast them adrift.  

And here is Karyn's review:

I wanted to love Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier, by Lisa Dale, or even like it a lot, I just couldn’t.

RITA Reader Challenge: Warped by Maurissa Guibord

This review was written by Sarah Elsewhere. This story was nominated in the Best First Book and the Best YA Romance category.

The summary: Tessa doesn't believe in magic. Or Fate. But there's something weird about the dusty unicorn tapestry she discovers in a box of old books. She finds the creature woven within it compelling and frightening. After the tapestry comes into her possession, Tessa experiences dreams of the past and scenes from a brutal hunt that she herself participated in. When she accidentally pulls a thread from the tapestry, Tessa releases a terrible centuries old secret. She also meets William de Chaucy, an irresistible 16th-century nobleman. His fate is as inextricably tied to the tapestry as Tessa's own. Together, they must correct the wrongs of the past. But then the Fates step in, making a tangled mess of Tessa's life. Now everyone she loves will be destroyed unless Tessa does their bidding and defeats a cruel and crafty ancient enemy.  

And here is Sarah Elsewhere's review:

… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge: The Christmas Child by Linda Goodnight

 Our first RITA Reader Challenge review is from Silver James. This book is nominated in the "Best Inspirational Romance" category for the RITAs this year. 

The summary: In Redemption, Oklahoma, a young boy is found huddled in a Dumpster, clutching a Christmas book. Scared and refusing to speak, he captures undercover agent Kade McKendrick's guarded heart. Kade brings the child home until he can track down his family—and his story. All Kade has is a name, Davey, and the boy's trust of sweet, pretty teacher Sophie Bartholomew. With her kindness and faith, Sophie helps both the boy and the battlescarred cop to smile again. And as they uncover the mystery of a very special child, a family is formed—just in time for Christmas.

And here is Silver's review: 

Sometimes, the hot sexxoring is too much. No. Really. Romance readers get headaches, too. Just sayin’. Sometimes, I just want some sweet romance—a slow build to a boil instead of insta-lust. This Linda Goodnight book is just the recipe. I’m a… read more »

The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer

The Dark Wife was recommended in the thread of f/f romance recommendations, and when I read the summary, I was really curious.

Then I started reading the book and before I knew it, I was more than a third of the way into the book, it was nearly midnight, and my brain had no idea where the past two and a half hours had  gone. This book swallows you whole. Be wary of picking it up if you only have a few minutes to read. The story moves so fast and the prose is so attentiongrabby that you'll keep going and you'll miss whatever it was you had to do. In my case, it was falling asleep. I woke up early the next morning to finish the book, because I had to find out what happened. I was exhausted, but I didn't want to stop reading. This book will sneak up on you, steal your loose change and run away with your afternoon if you let it. 

Her Lucky Catch by Amie Denman

This book was silly, light and very goofy, and I didn't believe any of it was remotely plausible. I didn't connect with the heroine because I didn't believe she was real. I didn't care much about the hero because I didn't think he was plausible either. Ultimately I read to the end to find out how the crazy plot was going to end, and even that was a bit of a letdown. I've been DNFing ("Did Not Finish") a lot of books in the past few weeks, and I'm surprised I made it through this one. The compulsion to find out how the plot mayhem was going to wind up was stronger than my confused disinterest in any of the characters.

Jasmine ("Jazz") Shepherd moved back to (wait for it) the tiny town of Bluegill after finding her husband (now ex-husband) cheating on her. She's a kindergarten teacher in the local Catholic school alongside a passel of nuns who are at times plot points and at other times freaking… read more »

Beloved Betrayal by Carol Finch - A Guest Review by RedHeadedGirl

It’s time to get back to my roots- a hot pink (HOT. PINK. With bonus rearing horse!) Zebra romance I picked up, oh, ages ago- somewhere between my high school heydays of romance, and coming back to the fold a couple years ago.  It was clearly from a free pile somewhere, and it’s everything you’d expect from a late 1980’s Zebra romance and MORE.  No Texan Viscount, though- I feel like that stays in it’s own category of crazysauce.

I think I picked this up something like seven years ago, and read it, and (apparently) liked it enough to keep it and cart it around to four different houses and three moves.  Now I'm wondering what the hell was in my head, except that I'd gone through a years long phase where I hadn't read any romance at all, because I was trying to be an adult (overrated).  So any water tastes good to the parched girl in the desert?  And it's been sitting on my shelf in all of its hot pink glory, and I remembered the disguises being awesome?  But… read more »

Lord and Lady Spy by Shana Galen

I found this book to be fun and fast paced and easy to jump in and out of, with a pretty good balance of emotion, drama, action, humor and tension between the main characters. I liked the heroine and the hero, I wanted them to figure out a way to be happy and together, and I loved their scenes together. In the larger context of the mystery they were trying to solve, I cared more about them than their progress in solving the case.

Adrian, Lord Smythe, is a spy known as Wolf. His wife, Sophia, is also a spy, known as Saint. Their identities are so secret, they have no idea about one another, and are pretty much strangers in their professional and personal lives. But when the war with France comes to an end, the secret agency in which they work is downsized and they are both laid off (my language, not the author's). Then, each receives a mysterious note to meet in some dark, drippy location at midnight where they discover they're both spies. Plus, there is a case that needs solving,… read more »

The Lion’s Lady by Julie Garwood: A Guest Review by RedHeadedGirl

Okay, so, this is a classic, right?  I hadn’t read it before.

I KNOW.

I snagged it from a free book pile AGES ago, thinking it was another book I had read back in my misspent youth, but figured out pretty quite that this was NOT The Black Lion by Jude Devereaux, given that we started out in the Black Hills, not in Medieval England.

You can’t put anything past me.

Okay, so this book.  THIS BOOK. 

This is everything I adore about the historical genre.  It’s SO ridonkulous.  Irritatingly perfect heroine?  Damaged, brooding hero?  A whole mess of plot involving a will, possibly crazy people, an evil king (or whatever) and, just for fun, Native Americans?

Making Waves by Tawna Fenske

I received the following guest review submission from Betty Fokker while I was working on my own review for the book. So I’ve included both here for your reading pleasure. No, no, don’t thank me. It’s that Fokker’s fault.

Making Waves is about a surly, pissed off guy named Alex who is screwed over by the company he’s worked at for years. Those pensions-worth-nothing, sorry-you’re-broke, nothing to show for decades of labor stories? He’s one of those, along with his crew of former coworkers who (a) also got screwed over and (b) know, much like Alex, that the big boss who made off like a bandit is up to international levels of no good. They decide to become pirates and intercept a shipment of nefarious but very valuable goods in order to take back what was taken from them - their financial security as they all get older.

Enter Juli, who is trying to charter a boat and cast her uncle’s ashes into the ocean, as per his last request. Alex and Juli meet at a bar one night, and zippy, funny attraction sparks fly as they pretend to be newlyweds… read more »

Moonstruck by Susan Grant, a Guest Review by Carrie S.

Carrie S. is back with another sci fi/fantasy romance that made her extremely happy. - SB Sarah I don't give A's lightly, but this grade snuck up on me. At first, I had a hard time getting into Moonstruck. It featured some tropes I'm not crazy about, and it was darker than I expected. But after reading it, I found myself thinking about the book a lot, and with great emotion and enjoyment. I realized that even though Moonstruck has some problems, and even though it might not be everyone's favorite due to dark themes, I couldn't possibly withhold an A- from a book that made me think and feel so much and which took on such complex emotional and political issues. This would be a great book to hand anyone who thinks that romance novels are “just about sex” - in this book, all the sex is just a framework for explorations of grief, guilt, love, trust, bigotry, reconciliation, healing, adventure, war, and personal and political peace. In case that sounds too dark, there's also plenty of humor and lovely messages of redemption and healing, and, oh yeah, tattooed space… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge Review: Case File: Canyon Creek, Wyoming by Paula Graves

This RITA® Reader Challenge was written by Sabrina from Cheeky Reads. This novel finaled in the Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure category.

Plot Summary: What was supposed to be a quiet vacation in scenic Wyoming turned deadly when Hannah Cooper became the target of a serial killer. Although she survived the attack, the ordeal was far from over. But she wasn’t alone. Not when Riley Patterson appointed himself her protector.

Beneath Riley’s strapping, solemn exterior hid a hard-driving sheriff who would stop at nothing to catch a killer. He promised Hannah safety, but it was the danger he posed that drew her in. Riley was as much a mystery as the man who sought to take her life. Trapped on his ranch, with no one but each other to trust, only justice could set them freeand possibly separate them forever.

And here is Sabrina’s review:

RITA Reader Challenge Review: Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

This RITA® Reader Challenge was written by Ren. English is not Ren’s first language, but Ren really wanted to review this book. Go Ren! This book finaled in the YA category.

Plot Summary: Carlos Fuentes doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him in Boulder, Colorado. He wants to keep living on the edge, and carve his own path—just like Alex did. Unfortunately, his ties to a Mexican gang aren’t easy to break, and he soon finds himself being set up by a drug lord.

When Alex arranges for Carlos to live with his former professor and his family to keep him from being sent to jail, Carlos feels completely out of place. He’s even more thrown by his strong feelings for the professor’s daughter, Kiara, who is nothing like the girls he’s usually drawn to. But Carlos and Kiara soon discover that in matters of the… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge Roundup: Water Bound by Christine Feehan

This is another book for which I did not receive a RITA® Reader Challenge review, so I’ve rounded up some strong reviews for the purposes of this collection. I have not, however, assigned a letter grade to this review. This book finaled in the Paranormal Romance category.

Plot Summary: Off the shores of Sea Haven, a beautiful diver rescues a man from drowning, a man with no memory of who he is-or why he seems to possess the violent instincts of a trained killer. But soon, he and his savior will be engulfed in a storm of dizzying passion and inescapable danger…

RITA Reader Challenge Review: A Little Bit Wild by Victoria Dahl

This RITA® Reader Challenge review was written by ReadinginAK, who, contrasted with the other review for this novel, didn’t enjoy the book entirely. This novel finaled in the Historical Romance category.

Plot Summary: Jude Bertrand is not an excellent dancer. Nor does he wear the most fashionable coats. But when Marissa York’s brother approaches him, desperate to preserve Marissa’s tenuous reputation, Jude does prove heroic enough to offer to marry the girl. In fact, the union should more than make up for his lack of social graces and his own scandalous past. . .

Marissa knows that betrothal to the son of a duke, even one as raw and masculine as Jude, will save her from ruin, but that doesn’t mean she’s happy about it. Soon, though, she finds that Jude has a surprisingly gentle touch and plans to use it to persuade Marissa that their wedding day cannot come soon enough. . .

And here… read more »