Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

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 »

RITA Reader Challenge Review: Breaking the Sheikh’s Rules by Abby Green

Runswithscissors reviewed this book for the RITA® Reader Challenge. It finaled in the Contemporary Series romance category. 

Plot Summary: The huge imposing castle and the barren terrain of Merkazad are a far cry from the modest farm and the emerald fields that horsewoman Iseult calls home. Or used to, until Sheikh Nadim bought her family’s stud farm. As part of the deal, she must work at his royal stables.

Nadim enrages Iseultbut he also inspires a more unwelcome, unfamiliar feeling: desire. Drawn into Nadim’s sensual world, Iseult feels like a beautiful, confident woman for the first time.

But she must remember the sheikh’s cast-iron rule.

And here is runswithscissors’ review:

RITA Reader Challenge Review: “Mountain Rose” by Cheryl St. John

This RITA® Reader Challenge review was written by Courtney, and this story finaled in the Best Novella category.

Plot Summary: Teacher Olivia Rose knows what it’s like to grow up alone and unwanted. But convincing reserved rancher Jules Parrish he can give his orphaned niece a real home won’t be easy—unless Olivia seizes the chance of love and motherhood she never expected….

And here is Courtney’s review:

RITA Reader Challenge Review: Meltdown by Gail Barrett

Lindlee wanted to apologize for the length of this RITA® Reader Challenge review, but I wouldn’t let her. When a book sets you off, the angry reactions often make the best reviews. This book was a finalist for Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure.

Plot Summary: “I’m in this thing until I decide I’m out. You got that?”

With terrorists hot on her heels, nuclear chemist Zoe Wilkinson races to elude capture. The last person she expects help from is her ex-boyfriend Cooper Kennedy. But when their plane crashes, stranding them in the desert, the stifling heat pales in comparison to the scorching desire Zoe still feels.

On undercover assignment for the navy, Coop can’t believe the woman who ruined his life is back. Zoe’s always been trouble. And nothing’s changed—not even the consuming lust she sets off in him. But when Zoe’s kidnapped, Coop must race against the clock to protect the woman he loves.

Here’s… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge Review: A Cop in Her Stocking by Ann Voss Peterson

Linsalot challenged herself to read one book from every category for the RITA® Reader Challenge. She’s a badass, that Linsalot.

Plot Summary: Tyler Davis comes from a long line of cops, and he’s learned the hard way that police work and families don’t mix. But his solitary life is about to be called into question with the return of Megan Garvey, the woman he once loved…and lost.

Now, Megan is determined to keep her emotional distance— though it’s clear that she and the rugged lawman still share something special. But a predator has come to Lake Hubbard for Christmas. And when Megan’s young son disappears, there’s only one cop to believe in. This holiday, Ty has been given a second chance to be the hero Megan needs…if he can bring her boy home alive.

RITA Reader Challenge Review: Perfect Partners? By C.J. Carmichael

Wylykat reviewed this novel for the RITA® Reader Challenge, but had a very difficult time outlining what she didn’t like about it without giving away what she thought were spoilers to the story. I’ve included them, so you can highlight to read if you’d like to do so.

Plot Summary: Lindsay Fox and Nathan Fisher couldn’t be more different. In fact, she knew after her one-year stint with the NYPD, she’d driven her former partner as crazy as he’d driven her. He was even part of the reason she left the force, although she’d never admit that to him! So she’s more than a little surprised when Nathan answers her ad for a new investigator.

Working together now they discover a delicious chemistry beneath their differences. Could they actually become more than partners? Then they take on the challenge of an unusual case—one that reminds Lindsay of her own painful past. Her instinct is to push… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge Review: Finding Her Way Home by Linda Goodnight

Lisa reviewed this book for the RITA® Reader Challenge, and unfortunately found it to be a difficult review to write in some respects.

Plot Summary: Welcome To Redemption, Oklahoma

The idyllic little town Cheyenne Rhodes has chosen for her fresh start is almost too welcoming. After all, she’s come here to hide from her past—not to make new friends.

But single dad Trace Bowman isn’t about to let Cheyenne hide away her heart. He can’t ignore the special way she has with his daughter, Zoey—or how she’s reminded him of the power of real love. Now he needs to convince Cheyenne that Redemption is more than a place to hide—it’s also a way to be found….

NB: I think we need to start keeping track of all these unbelievably cute and eerie small town names for posterity’s sake. They’re like plot moppets (™RedHeadedGirl) only town names. In fact, I bet Prosperity is the name of… read more »

A Covert Affair:  Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS by Jennet Conant - Guest Review by CarrieS

Taking a slight break from our steady diet of high-fiber romance (what? Sure it is. If you’re reading paper books, that’s fiber. And if you’re reading digitally, you’re eating air. Either way, healthy!) Carrie S. has a review of a nonfiction book.

And now for something - completely different:

I was at the library when I saw this book, A Covert Affair:  Julia and Paul Child in the OSS.  Well, who doesn’t love Julia Child?  I was so excited that I got little heart shapes in my eyes, like a cartoon animal in love.  Paul and Julia had such an amazing real life romance, and here was a tale of their war years as secret intelligence agents and, later, the pursuit of alleged communists by McCarthy. Then, I thought to myself, “Spies!  Spies are geeky!” and I knew you wonderful geeky Bitches must hear all about this book even though it is a biography and not a romance novel.  In some ways, I was deeply disappointed.  The book lacked depth and context, and its primary focus was on characters other than Paul and Julia, which was a surprise given the… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge: When Harry Met Molly by Kieran Kramer

DonnaM picked this historical novel for the RITA® Reader Challenge. This book has been nominated for best Regency Historical and for Best First Book.

The plot summary: Dashing Lord Harry Traemore is perfectly content to live out his days in the pursuit of pleasure. But when he’s named by the Prince Regent as one of society’s “Impossible Bachelors,” Harry is drafted into a ribald romantic wager. The rules of engagement are scandalously simple: The bachelor whose mistress wins the title of “Most Delectable Companion” gets to remain unmarried. Harry is utterly unconcerned about his status…until his latest lightskirt abandons him.

Enter Lady Molly Fairbanks. Harry’s childhood friend—actually, “foe” is more like it—is the most unlikely companion of all. She’s attractive but hot-headed, and in no mood for games. Besides, what could the self-indulgent Harry possibly know about what makes a woman delectable? It’s time for Molly to teach him a lesson once and for all…but will… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge Review: An Unexpected Father by Lisa Ruff

Avoriana chose this book for the RITA® Reader Challenge, and assigning the grade was the hardest part for her.

Ahoy (really, ahoy, get a load of that cover): plot summary! After a decade on the road, single mom Mimi Green gives up her rock star dreams and goes home to Crab Creek, Maryland. Her troubled son needs stability. Grandparents. A good school and friends his own age. She’s not looking for a new father for Jack—but when she meets Ian Berzani she may need the handsome sailor for herself!

When Ian nabs a nine-year-old trespasser in the family boatyard, he thinks, miniature rebel without a clue. One look at the kid’s mother and Ian’s thoughts veer into dangerous, uncharted territory. Mimi was tempting him to stay. The timing couldn’t be worse for a man three months, seven days and eleven hours… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge Review: Open Country by Kaki Warner

Yes, yes, there was a word-count limit to the RITA® Reader Challenge reviews, but sometimes they’re so funny I have to include the whole thing. Behold, K. Smith’s review of Kaki Warner’s Open Country.

I’m not a very discriminating reader.  I average 6 romances a week, and my reaction to pretty much all of them is ‘Lovely. Next?’  But I adore the reviews on this site, which have led me to a great many fantastic authors, so I shall try to be a bit more helpful.

Kaki Warner’s Open Country starts off in 1871 in Georgia.  Our Heroine Molly has come to see her sister.  The sister’s weak, abusive husband has kept her from sending for Molly, and now the sister is dying.  Before she does, she begs Molly to take her children (fruit of a previous union with a more satisfactory sperm donor).  This features such charmingly underwritten prose as:

“Keep babies…safe.  Promise me…Sister.”

Weeping… read more »

RITA Reader Challenge Review: Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

Another YA RITA® Reader Challenge review, this time written by me. Please note: there are spoilers in the review below, but I’ve whited them out. You have to highlight to read them, but consider yourself warned.

Synopsis (sort of): Sometimes I still wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean that summer, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish. But I’m jumping ahead, and to tell the story right I have to go back to the very beginning. To a place called Indigo Beach. To a boy with pale skin that glowed against the dark waves. To the start of something neither of us could have predicted, and which would mark us forever, making everything that came after and before seem like it belonged to another life.

My name is Mia Gordon: I was sixteen… read more »

Just Surrender by Kathleen O’Reilly

I usually love O’Reilly’s heroes, and this one was no exception, but my disappointment rested on the heroine’s character, and the unfinished business between them, and of the hero’s past as well. Despite my disappointment in this story, I so love O’Reilly’s characters that I’ll pick up her next book without hesitation.

Edie is moonlighting for a night as a cab driver when she picks up Tyler at the airport. He’s a highly-trained surgeon who specializes in cardiology and is in New York City for a short stay while he competes for a fellowship at a local hospital. He’s competing against a pile of other doctors, but there’s one in particular that he really loathes, and of course he’s ready to show up and show off at every opportunity. Edie takes him for a wild cab ride through most of the five boroughs, since the fare from the airport to the city is a fixed rate, and somewhere along the ride they begin to fascinate each other. The night culminates in a rather naked and explosive fashion at the hotel where Tyler is staying, the sex-drenched Belvedere.

The heroine, Edie, was… read more »

Dark Prince: Uncut Edition by Christine Feehan

Recently, I was sent a giant hardcover book. A book I had already read. And I read it. AGAIN.

I am as amazed as you.

Such is the power of the crack, and specifically the crack that is Dark Prince. I’ve written before about the Carpathian series, which I gobbled until I began to see the “psychic chick makes dude see color commence doggy style” pattern and had to stop. Dark Prince, however, rocked my world when I read it, and when people talk about Christine Feehan as the author whose work established the paranormal vampire romance genre, I nod and agree.

The edition that arrived (THUNK) on my doorstep is bigger than the original edition. Touted as an “Author’s Cut”, it has 100 extra pages of material, and that frilly deckled pages thing, and new cover art. And it’s a hardback. So it’s huger than big - or, at least, bigger than I’m used to (snort).

Ahoy, plot summary, if you’ve never read the first of the Carpathian series: Mikhail Dubrinsky is on the verge of ending is very, very long existence when he is contacted telepathically by… read more »

The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton - A Guest Review by Carrie S.

It could have been worse.

When people ask me if I’m “Into Star Wars”, I say, “Yes, absolutely”.  But when I say “Star Wars”, I mean, “Star Wars:  A New Hope”, “The Empire Strikes Back”, and “Return of the Jedi”.  I saw the first two prequels but am convinced they were a hallucination brought on by bad popcorn.  I’ve never seen the Clone Wars.  And I’ve never read a Star Wars novel.  But for you, dear bitches, I braved the novelization world to review The Courtship of Princess Leia.  I figured a novel about Han and Leia’s romance would either be the best thing since hyperdrive or the worst thing since Jabba the Hut’s personal appearance.  Turns out I was wrong on both counts.  This novel wasn’t irredeemable.  It had good action sequences, a fast pace, and a few hilarious moments.  But, as a romance novel, it was a big fail, because the most critical component – believable, well-developed, exciting romance - was absent.

To be honest, I’m grading this novel pretty harshly, mostly because it dangled so much potential in front of me and then whisked it away.  At the… read more »