Fighting Back to My Groove, and that TBR Challenge

Yeah, I signed up for it again.  It seems I just totally disappeared off the face of Bloglandia last year.  Kinda just lost my touch for writing about anything and everything, and didn't have much to contribute.  But I did sign up for Wendy's TBR Challenge '13 again, and I'm going to do my best.

This month was an easy one -- short story, quickie, series, what-have-you.  It was so convenient that I was weeding my TBR last week and came across Bridget by Linda Lael Miller.  AND it just so happened to be the first in the Primrose Creek series, or at least that's what the front cover says.

Westerns aren't always the first era I gravitate to, but I'd almost forgotten what a word magician Miller is and why she was one of the authors that hooked me in the romance genre way back when.  Her husband, Mitch's, death in the Civil War had not only left Bridget McQuarry a widow, but now taxes have caused her to lose their home as well.  Having no choice but to move her son and sister to Primrose Creek and claim the land that was left to them by their grandfather.  It would be a hard battle: alone, in the middle of Indian territory, and with no solid roof over their head, but Bridget was determined to rebuild their future and make the land in Primrose Creek thrive.

Enter Trace Qualtrough, Bridget's childhood friend and the man she blames for her husband's death in the War.  He'd grown up with Mitch and Bridget and he'd promised Mitch he'd watch over Bridget and her son.  But she's not willing to capitulate and in less than agreeable to Trace's presence, although it's quite obvious that a man's strength and hard work is needed. But she can't ignore the softening of her heart as she watches Trace day in and day out, putting a roof on their small cabin, mentoring and teaching her son, and just stepping in where a man needed to.  Oh, it would be so easy to fall in love with him, but that'll never happen.

There's no tearing apart and critiquing a short story, or at least it's damned hard for me to do.  And, c'mon, it's Linda Lael Miller, an author I've respected for years.  What else is there to say that I loved this little quickie and am glad I came across it.  It kinda whet my appetite for some more westerns, and since I'm already in the midst of a reading binge -- we'll see what happens.  I still have Wendy's beloved Rock Creek Six to read.  Apparently I knew what I was doing when I bought it way back in 2000, but now I need to go TBR diving and see if I have the rest of the Primrose Creek series.  I think there's four.   

TBR Challenge Review, or One Day Amy Will Get It Right

Whoa.  Two months since I last participated in Le TBR Challenge?  Geez, time does fly when one is having fun, or sweltering in this godforsaken South Carolina heat.  Mother Nature missed the cue cards that it's not even summer yet and decided to dial it up -- spontaneous combustion weather.  Great for the tan, which I actually have this year from all the hours I sit out on the patio to read.  Huh, you think I'd actually go inside and frollic in the air conditioning, eh?  But where's the fun in that?

If I remember right, June was supposed to be the month of the western.  And did I actually read one of those?  Noooo.  Rules, I have to break them.  Of course, Wendy is very lenient in the guidelines and we can read whatever our lil' pea-pickin' hearts want to.  This month, The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen was my vino of choice.  It's been a while since I read a book by this author, one of my faves, but I thought it fitting with the return of the television series, Rizzoli & Isles on TNT, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander.

Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles latest case is a nightmare come true.  The dismembered body of a young woman is found in her apartment, and if that weren't hair-raising enough, the message on the wall, in blood, is enough to cause many sleepless nights: I Have Sinned.  The artwork along with it does not bode well either, three upside down crosses.  The case gets worse when the only lead is a hang-up call made to Joyce O'Donnell, a psychiatrist whose work makes Jane spit and her ire climb.  Joyce's life calling is working with serial killers and other losers to find out what makes them tick.  Yeah, let's just say that Jane does not care of Joyce at all.  It's surely not dumb luck that on the night of that murder, a quack who loves to talk to killers would get a hang up on her answering machine.  She goes right to Rizzoli's top ten list of persons of interest. 

It doesn't take long to find out that Joyce is a member of The Mephisto Club, a group of people who want to find out more about evil -- in an intellectual way.  They've know a lot about the symbology of various signs in religion and cultures across the world and see this murder for what it is -- evil, in all its glory.  But their beliefs go one step further than calling the Club a hobby, they truly believe there is evil in the world, not just people doing vicious things.  Jane rolls her eyes a lot during the various interviews with the club members, but she can't ignore the fact that they're an excellent resource in possibly finding out what goes on in this killer's head.
But as more bodies pile up, including one right in the backyard of the Club's leader, Jane must keep her opinions to herself and incorporate the Mephisto Club's research into her own investigation.  It's apparent that this killer is just getting started, and only he knows when and where he'll stop.  If ever...

Jane may love her work, but she'd give her left arm for a garden variety armed robbery or an open-and-shut gangbanger case.  It's a little daunting seeing what people can do to others and know that this is the world she's bringing her daughter up in.  What I loved about The Mephisto Club was that it wasn't all Jane, all the time.  We get to see more behind the scenes, if you will, with Maura, and realize that she isn't made of steel, despite what the cops she works with may think.  She is human, after all.

Now there's a lot of books in the Rizzoli and Isles series, and there was a day when I was anal retentive enough to have to read them in order.  If you've seen my TBR, you'd know that is impossible and quite harmful to my health to go spelunking for these books to be read as they should.  That said, The Mephisto Club stands well on its own, and I was able to get caught up in time.  It also helps that I read its predecessor, Vanish, sometime in the past 11 months.

I seriously could gush about this book, but why?  It's a given that I'll probably love everything Gerritsen writes, and the heat has zapped my brain enough that I'm useless in offering a more detailed and witty critique.  Let's just say -- another winner.

The Perfect Liar: TBR Challenge/February

Yeah, yeah, I'm late posting my TBR Challenge review again.  I have only my procrastination and ridiculously busy work thing to blame; that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  However, I did have the thing read well before the third Wednesday of the month -- does that count?

I mentioned over on Wendy's blog that the book I chose was one that would be more apt for next month's challenge, 'Catch Up On a Series', but I'm sure Brenda Novak's The Perfect Liar was recommended to me by someone, somewhere, along the way, so...thhhp!  Next month, I'll do the reverse and read a recommended book, possibly Broken Wing by Judith James (a book cherished by KristieJ), or jump on the bandwagon and read a Laura Lee Guhrke classic (what the what was up with that in February?  Like, everyone read Conor's Way!).

The Perfect Liar is the fifth book in the author's Last Stand series, and now that I've completed this one, I have one book left (The Perfect Murder) to finish up the six-book series!  In all honesty, it's been so long since I read the first three that details have fled my brain, but the books all center The Last Stand, a victims' advocate charity run by three friends.  The Perfect Liar features Ava Bixby, a victim's advocate for TLS, and starts off with her taking on victim, Kalyna Harter, after she's been assaulted by her commanding officer, Luke Trussell.  Luke answers his door late one night to two officers and a formal accusation of rape.  Luke might not have been using the right brain the night he slept with Kalyna, and it's something he's not proud of nor wants to relive in the limelight of formal police or military procedure.  'Thinking' and 'alcohol' are two words that do not jive in a sentence, let alone in the way of common sense.  Luke's always felt that Kalyna had more than a passing crush on him, but he could never put his finger on just what made him uneasy about her.  Now he's finding out just how far she'll go to get what she wants.

Cue Ava and her role as Kalyna's advocate as they begin to navigate the emotional devastation of rape in the first degree.  During their first meeting, Ava agrees to take Kalyna's case with the understanding that she'll assist as much as possible given that the Air Force is handling this in their own way, not making it a civilian police case.  Ava would love to take ever single case that walked into her office, and she's having a hard time remaining unbiased as Kalyna relives the night she was raped.  But in all honesty, this one is going to be a bear just for the single fact that she'd be advocating for one of the Air Force's own, and they'll do anything to keep a lid on this.  Things get even dicier once Ava starts investigating Kalyna and Luke and finds that all is not what it seems on the surface.

As a thriller, The Perfect Liar does just that.  I love sick, twisted baddies in my thrillers and romantic suspenses, and Brenda Novak concocted a doozey in this one.  It becomes obvious just how innocent Luke is in all of this pretty early on in the book, and from there a vivid picture of stalking and obsession is painted of just how much Kalyna wants him.  Disturbing, but page-turning.  I thought Ms. Novak had dreamed up sick-o's in The Perfect Couple, but she's a talent for writing deviant characters.  I would've been satisfied without the romance between Luke and Ava which, of course, builds during a time when one wouldn't be out searching for their One True Love.  But of course, that's the definition of romantic suspense (or even Lifetime suspense movies, for that matter), scare the snot out of the reader, and then make 'em feel better with a love story.  *shrug*

Will I chalk TPL up with with my favorite book of all times?  Eh, not so much.  I liked it enough to read it in two days, but it was honestly the suspense that drove this book.  It makes me think that Brenda Novak could easily turn to straight mystery thrillers and not skip a beat.  I could see her pulling a Tami Hoag or Linda Castillo, who both easily stepped from contemporary and category romance to straight suspense and are, in my opinion, better than ever, which is saying a lot since I've loved many of their earlier books.

So, if I were to be asked what stood out for me in this book besides the baddie, it would have to be Ava.  Her life hasn't been the easiest, given that her mother is in jail for attempted murder, but she's gone the distance to get where she is now and loves what she does.  I identified with Ava not for her less-than-picture-perfect family, but for her own self opinion.  Once her attraction for Luke begins to grow, it's her knee jerk reaction to immediately think that he'd never see anything more in her than a way out of his current situation, which, admittedly, sucks right now.  In other words, he's hot, and she's not - or so she thinks.

With Luke, well....he's hot.  And he's honestly a great guy who's lurved by everybodddyy.  He's the knight in shining armor, flies fighter jets, pays his bills on time, has a great relationship with his parents, and acts on most decisions after only heavily weighing the consequences (jury's still out on why he ended up in Kalyna's bed, but then we wouldn't have had a story).  And he's younger than Ava.  For me, that sums him up.  I recognized him as a character, the hero at that, but couldn't get too emotionally invested in him.  Ava rang more true to me, and of course we all now know how I felt about Kalyna.

I'd have to rate this book in two ways -- C+/B- for the romance, but a strong A for the thriller/baddie angle.                 

      

Mesmerizing Stranger: Better Late Than Never TBR Review

I got a little off-track with finishing up January's TBR Challenge book and meant to have this up on Friday, two days late.  Instead, it's Sunday, a lazy one at that, and I'm just now getting around to it.  If I wasn't a champion at procrastination, I don't know what I'd be. 

Mesmerizing Stranger, Jennifer Greene
New Man in Town series, book 2

Harm Connolly wants to leave his bad history with women on terra firma.  Two weeks of business on a cruise would help accomplish that.  First complication: the sexiest woman he's ever met is on board the vessel.  Second complicaiton: a dead body -- one of his associates.

Adventure chef Cate Campbell knows his type -- arrogant corporate hotshot, taking his guys out for some R & R.  No problem.  She'll have Harm eating out of her hand in seconds flat.  No problem ...until a killer on the loose forces her to find safety and comfort in his arms.  Will mayhem at sea throw any chance of romance overboard?

I'm not quite sure how I wound up picking this book, or even adding it to my TBR.  I'm not usually a follower of the formerly titled Silhouette Romantic Suspense (couched now as Harlequin RS) line, but I'm sure the back blurb's description of the heroine (adventure chef) had something to do with it.  I love anything to do with cooking, am a devout subscriber to Food Network and its magazine, and think Tyler Florence is a hottie, so there you go.

I don't have any huge plot dislikes when it comes to my reading, although I typically stay away from secret baby books.  Not sure why, I've never read any that I hated, but I've also not read any that I lurved.  I'm taking a quickie route with this review and, since I've included the back blurb that apparently piqued my interest, I won't even try a plot summary.  The back cover describes the plot succinctly, but I try and provide some filler.   

Mesmerizing Stranger is a neatly written romance, tied up with a pretty little bow.  Almost too neatly.  Maybe it was the length of the book, but I sometimes have a hard time buying into a HEA within just over 200 pages.  Sometimes it just never seems enough time for the hero and heroine to work out all the kinks in a new relationship.  I'm not sure that's the fault of the author, since I did like Harm and Cate - I just think it's one of my many quirks; I like to see fictional folks experience a little more angst and emotional uncertainty.  Harm was almost too froggy to fall head over heels in love with Cate, and she's a bit gun-shy.  Given that she and her sisters (the other two heroines with their own stories in the series, Secretive Stranger and Irresistible Stranger) had grown up in foster homes after their parent died in a fire, I can see why Cate carried her own Samsonite baggage.

The suspense in Mesmerizing Stranger is a bit lukewarm, but enough to have carried me through the end of the book.  There's a very small cast of secondary characters who could all fit the bill for the bad guy, mainly all employees in Harm's newly-inherited pharmaceutical/research company.  The cruise described above is not a pleasure cruise, per se, but a desperate attempt for Harm to reconnect with his employees.  Maybe they can put their heads together and figure out who has stolen and cashed in on the cure for pancreatic cancer Harm's uncle had been so close to before he'd died.  And on a ship, there's not many places the guilty party can hide.

As a whole, if I were going to rate the book, I'd say it's somewhere within B- territory.  What really kept me turning the pages was the sense of dark coziness on an Alaskan small vessel cruise and Cate's love for her work (I'm a culinary suck-up!).  Those both stood out for me almost more than the story and romance.  It's enough for me to look up the other two books in the series which I think in itself is an accomplishment for many authors.  If one book whet your appetite for others written by her, then that's success in and of itself.        

    

 

March TBR Challenge Review: First Date by Karen Kendall

Maybe it's the mood I'm in.  Or it might be because this week I didn't feel like I could take on the dark, stormy, history-drenched romance novels that I tend to gravitate towards, so I chose light and fluffy.  Or that's what I thought.  What I wound up getting was something that pleasantly surprised me and made me think that I'm missing out a lot by not reading a whole lot of straight contemporary romance.  What I'm talking about is First Dance by Karen Kendall, the 3rd book in the Bridesmaid Chronicles series.

Vivien Shelton, an Ivy League, ball-busting divorce attorney has earned the descriptor bitch with the number of cases she's won for her clients.  What she won't let many people see is her soft heart that's easily won over by dogs (particularly Greyhounds, but she'll take any puppy kisses) and her best friends, and she'll actively take on a battered woman's case to see that she's housed in a safe environment.  She's traveled to Texas to stop her best friend Julia's wedding (First Love by Julie Kenner, the 4th in the series) before it's too late and to hopefully talk some sense into her.  If she can't stop the wedding, then Viv will get Julia to sign a prenup if it's the last thing she does.  If all of that fails, she's still a bridesmaid and is prepared to hate the dress.   

The only problem with that is Julia's relationship with her fiancé, Roman, is a bona fide true thing, the real deal (after all, it's the fourth book in the series, right?).  Viv knows that she's running a risk of getting on Julia's bad side by bringing up a prenup, and if that isn't enough, her chances of running into Roman's best friend and attorney, J.B. Anglin, is a threat all on its own.  That wouldn't be a problem if Viv hadn't slept with J.B. a few years ago while he was in Manhattan representing his own client against Viv's in a divorce that was more daytime soap opera than courtroom status quo.  J.B.'s hot, sexy Texan twang did a lot more than just work her libido, so before he got underneath her skin and started becoming more than the scratch to her itch, Viv kicked him out.  Of the hotel room.  In his underwear.

Yeah, she was not at the top of her game that night.  But here in Texas, Viv starts to melt all over again when she sees J.B.  The heat is definitely clouding her judgment and before she knows it, she's doing her own Texas two-step with him.  God may have blessed Texas, but He's given Viv and J.B. a challenge of their own that only they can work out for themselves.

Maybe it's the fact that the book is set in Texas, and for some reason that always brings out the warm fuzzies in me.  Well, yeah, sure it's hot out there, but I've always loved the laid-back vibe I always get when I read a book that takes place there.  It's definitely a Bucket List vacation for me one day.  But Texas isn't the only star in First Dance.  There's not a whole lot that I didn't love about the book.  Vivien may sound like a stereotypical modern day heroine (ballsy lawyer by day...), but she really shines here.  I know I've read the first two in the series (First Date by Kendall and First Kiss by Kylie Adams), but they've kind of faded in the background now.  Viv almost takes the entire stage with her secret big heart and her many layers -- lawyer, dog rescue nut, philanthropist working for battered woman AND dogs, best friend, and a gold spoon baby who made her own way, not her Mummy's.  Now she's finding out that she may have been missing that extra spark by denying herself love.  J.B. is just the Texan to teach her what that's all about.

There's definitely a theme in the Bridesmaid Chronicles series, and it took me half the book to figure out why this title for this book.  It's definitely a Moment when J.B. shares his First Dance with Viv, and it's one that not only makes this a hot one, but melts your heart a lil'.

There is a 4th book, First Love by Julie Kenner, is Julia's book and the final installment in the Bridesmaid Chronicles and I'm challenging myself to Finish the Series this spring.  Can you imagine?  I have it on the TBR...

First Dance = definitely a B+/A- read.                   

TBR Challenge: Stealing Heaven

A bit of back story...

I started reading romance back in the mid-90s or so.  Historical romance was my drug of choice, especially after I read Julie Garwood's Castles.  Dude, for me that book did no wrong.  It was sweeping, highly romantic, dashing, and featured love scenes that just made me utterly melt (to this day, Princess Alesandra and Colin's day-after-the-wedding scene in his office is my most memorable).  Back in the early days of my reading fix, I focused on the bigwigs -- Garwood, Jayne Anne Krentz, Nora Roberts, Heather Graham (oh oh oh, I loved her Civil War series to pieces!), and even dabbled in Kay Hooper and gave Linda Howard a try.  Gah, I remember snatching up armfuls and armfuls of romance books at Walden's Bookstore (do they even exist anymore?).  We won't even go into the type of buying I continue to do these days.  I may be more picky, but there is so much more to choose from.  For every day in the week, there is probably a brand spanking new author whose book is being released.

To be frankly honest, I still have unread books on my shelves from the initial days of my romance buying frenzy.  This month's selection for the TBR Challenge, Stealing Heaven by Kimberly Cates, is just one of them.  It features just the sort of trope and atmosphere that rocked my socks back in my first days of romance fandom -- angsty, dramatic, saga-like historical romance with a brooding hero who absolutely does not want a wife but winds up with one anyway.  In this case, spinster Nora Linton answers a "want ad" of sorts when she starts sharing letters with an Irishman who seems as lonely as she.  The fact that the letters she responded to were written by his 15-year-old daughter, Cassandra, is revealed after she arrives in Ireland to begin what she hopes will be a short engagement and subsequent marriage.

From the tone of his missives, she senses a commiserating loneliness and depth of understanding.  But when she first meets Sir Aidan Kane, the aforementioned Irishman, it isn't hearts and stars, puppies and rainbow kisses she sees, but a living breathing irate man who feels as if he's been set up.  He's pissed.  And he's arrogant.  Norah's hopes are dashed almost immediately.  Despite the fact that Aidan will do anything for his daughter, he just cannot fathom marrying a woman desperate enough to travel to unknown lands to marry a man she's never met before.  Uh, desperation?

To make a long story short, Norah and Aidan thrust and parry and finally succumb to an attraction that defies either of their beliefs despite Norah's less than belle-of-the-ball looks.  While she considers herself plain, Aidan finally (hallelujah!) begins to see the beauty beneath her porcelain complexion.  It only takes approximately two-thirds of the book for that to happen.  He's been burned in the past from his first marriage to a ghee-ore-jous slut who may have posed as an innocent in society, but really was a whore at heart.  The only thing good out of that marriage is his daughter, Cassandra.  From page one we know that Aidan's lackluster image results not only from his drinking and gambling, but his reputation as a lady's man and the possible murderer of his wife as well.

If I remember correctly, Kimberly Cates had several Revolutionary War-set novels.  While I may have a handful of qualms about Stealing Heaven today (yeah, the fact that the 15-year-old daughter gets away with just about everything, after all she's just lonely and needs a mama -- gah!), it still reads very well and kept me flipping the pages at a pretty decent speed.  After all, it's angsty and, at times, tragic and is all that I embodied in romance back when I first started.  Back then I loved the saga feel to my historical romances, and there's enough meat to Stealing Heaven that translates well even among today's offerings.

The proof is in the pudding and this type of book is what made me fall in love with the genre...             

TBR Review #2: Santa, Baby

Once I'd finished reading Under the Boss's Mistletoe I figured, why not, I'm on a roll and I went for another category romance.  What I ended up choosing was Lisa Renee Jones's Santa, Baby, a Blaze from December 2009.  It's part of the Dressed to Thrill mini-series, and I don't honestly know if I have any of that series in the TBR or not.  It might be worth a look-see.

 
In Santa, Baby, Caron Avery, a owner of a small bookstore that caters to what women want to read, is asked to pose as Marilyn Monroe in a hoity toity charity ball's fashion show, but is late for the gig after her store's toilet goes heel's up.  (That's a conversation starter if I've ever heard of one -- "Hi, I'm Caron and I'm late because my shitter broke.")  Anyway, already late and in a hurry to have her car parked so she can get backstage so the wardrobe and makeup folks can do their magic, Caron meets Baxter Remington, owner of the mega-popular (and expensive) Remington coffee shops across the country.  Figuring he's definitely out of her league -- hello!  he's gorgeous and mega rich -- Caron can't ignore a few steamy mini-fantasies that pop into her head while the valet takes his sweet time dealing with her car.  She never once thought that she had a shot in hell at spending an evening alone with Baxter, let alone in his bed.

Baxter Remington likes what he sees when he comes up on a sexy brunette haggling with the valet parking guy to get her car at the front of the line.  Despite the less than sleek sweatsuit and haphazard hairstyle piled on top of her eye, even without makeup, she perks more than his interest.  When his mystery lady tells him to watch for Audrey Hepburn (Caron's assigned character for the charity) later on, Baxter can't help but hope for a better meet and greet session.  Maybe he'll get more than her number...

After her tardiness leads to a costume change up, Caron must take the stage as none other than Marilyn Monroe.  Being nothing like the blond bombshell, Caron allows herself enough to have some fun and enjoy the role.  That includes when she meets up with Baxter after the fashion show.  Neither one count on anything more than a one night stand, but it will be one to remember.  But their one shared night turns into something more when they begin getting to know each other.  Who ever thought that dressing up would be this fun?

Now, on the surface, Santa, Baby looks to be a holiday read, right?  Honestly, the book could've taken place at any time during the year.  But that wasn't my biggest problem with it.  I just never connected with Caron all that much, didn't feel like I got to know her hardly.  Her parents died when she was a kid and she was taken in by her grandmother, who fostered her love for books and reading.  Being the owner of a bookstore is a big dream for Caron, and she's living her fantasy of selling the types of books that many women want to read -- sexy, romantic fiction and other types that cater more to the female reading gene.  That was pretty much all I got out of Caron.  For some reason she just appeared to be too one dimensional for me.

But Baxter on the other hand, not only does he ooze sex appeal to me, but I loved the way Lisa Renee Jones wrote him as more than a rich business mogul who can get any woman he wants.  He doesn't know that he wants a more permanent partner in his life until he gets to know Caron better, and can see her in his future quite nicely.  There is an angle to the book that features Baxter's business partner off-stage, an apparent major crook who seems fairly intent on painting Baxter as the bad guy.  With all the bad press, it has not only caused Remington's stocks to take a dip, but also has the FBI interested in Baxter.   So, honestly the last thing Bax probably needs is a romance right now but Caron becomes a balm, and something more than a romp in bed.  Not that there's anything wrong with s-e-x.  These two hit it off like fireworks on the 4th of July.

That's another thing that Ms. Jones did well in Santa, Baby -- keeping the chemistry, both sexual and emotional, fresh from one page to another.  While Caron may not have been my favorite character ever and the bada-bing bada-boom (well, the first time) happens fairly early on, I never lost interest in seeing them work beyond just keeping their relationship as a sexual one and allowing it to turn into more.

On the whole, I enjoyed Santa, Baby, even with that minor quibble with Caron.  Maybe if I'd felt more connection with her I would've given it higher than a B reading, but I still feel overall that Baxter and the rest of the book somewhat made up for it for me.

(Oh, and I have to say, because I'm such a cover whore -- I loved this cover.  BUT the woman in it appears to be of Asian descent.  I don't remember anywhere in the book mentioning Caron's nationality or her family's origin.  Argh!)    



 

Starting the Year Off Right

In all the hoopla with the wedding, holidays, hospitalization and such, I forgot to mention that John and I became the proud parents of a new dog, Micah.  During the week of Thanksgiving, it hadn't been quite two months since Baron had passed and while we miss him (and still do!) desperately, John and I were lonely.  That's when we got on the web and started researching some of the local rescue places and set up an appointment to meet Miss Diva.  The rescue called her Abby, but we renamed her and she's taken to it quite well.  She fits right in around here and, maybe I'm biased, but I think she likes me more than John.  LOL  She's a bossy little thing, and since I've been home from the hospital she's started guarding me while I'm sleeping.   

Yesterday she was the perfect companion for an afternoon in the rocking chair while I finished my book, NOT ANOTHER NEW YEAR'S by Christie Ridgway.  Y'all, I actually finished a book in a day and a half!  This one can be counted as my first official 2011 read.

I hate Auld Lang Syne!

After all, this year brought Hannah Davis nothing but the memory of her wandering fiance marrying someone else behind her back.  Now, sitting alone at a bar in Coronado, California, on December 31, she decides to do something radical...and lets a brooding good-looker taker her to bed.  But when a hysterical woman bursts into their room much too early on New Year's Day, Hannah realizes this guy's more complicated than she thought...

Ex-Secret Service Agent Tanner Hart screwed up, big-time!  Hoping to temporarily boot some of the ghsts from his life, he hooked up wit this sexy stranger for a hot one-night stand -- only to discover she's the woman he's agreed to protect...from me just like him!

But a new year is a time for fresh beginnings.  Despite the danger, the hoopla, and the hangovers, if Hannha's brave enough to risk her heart again -- and Tanner's wise enough to realize he deserves it -- maybe this one will be different.

First off, it's always difficult for me to truly get into a straight contemporary romance because I abhor zany, unless I'm watching a sitcom (*sniff* Friends).  To do contemp. the right way, I think the author has to mix up the perfect blend of humor with warmth, all while keeping it sexy and fresh.  Christie Ridgway did just that in NOT ANOTHER NEW YEAR'S.  Despite the silly pink bubblegum cover with glitter and a tiara, this book is fun, sexy, and one that was done just right...or at least for my tastes.

There's a couple characters who were featured in a previous book (MUST LOVE MISTLETOE), which I'd read several years ago.  And while I couldn't quite recall specifics from that book, I remember thinking the cover was adorable and recalling that the heroine ran her family's year round Christmas store.  Those two characters, Finn and Bailey, factor into NANY because of Tanner and Finn's shared vocation, ex-Secret Service.

What the blurb doesn't touch on is how hard Tanner is on himself throughout most of the book.  The screw up mentioned is not of his fault, but being the responsible hero he is, he totally blames himself.  But that doesn't detract from the guy's ability of knowing just what to do to keep Hannah entertained and out of harm's way.  There is a mild adventure thread, and one I won't mention other than it lends itself to the secondary romance between Tanner's brother, Troy, and one of Tanner's past protection detail assignments, Desiree, the daughter of an Arab prince.  I have to say though that I would've liked to see Troy with his own book.  I could easily a whole book around him.  But it's a minor gripe.

Hannah is one of those girls who has never stepped outside her comfort zone, and the fact that she's wanting to spend the night in the arms of a stranger should scare her.  But what she doesn't know is that this 'stranger' is actually the man her uncle had set up to be her host while on vacation in Coronado.  Hannah comes with her own bit of emotional baggage, although the way her engagement had ended would mess anyone up, there's more than meets the eye in the emotional department.  We find out later on that for most of her life, Hannah has been trying to measure up to her sister's ghost, who had died in a traffic accident when Hannah was six years old.  That kind of history would mess anyone up, especially when you see that all of this time, Hannah has blamed herself and tried to be the perfect daughter for her parents since.  At first I was wanting to hate Hannah and her perfect goody two shoes self, but when I kept reading, it made me appreciate her that much more.

This year I'm going to try something new and think of grades or scores for the books I read.  Many of the blogs I read have their own little ratings scales with thumbs up, or stars, hearts, hugs or kisses.  I'm a plain kinda girl and will have to stick to the letter grades unless I can come up with something else in the future.  That being said, I'm going to give NOT ANOTHER NEW YEAR'S a solid B/B+ score.  It was a great start to what I hope will be a great reading year for me.