TBR Challenge: February

This place needs sprucing up.  Or something.  I definitely need to do some updating on the sidebar, not to mention throwing a post or two up for something other than the TBR Challenge reviews I plan on sticking with.  I will do better, I will do better... 

But for now, I'll stick with smaller things -- keeping up-to-date with La Wendy's challenge.  February, our task or suggested reading was a book recommended by someone.  I chose The Taming of the Duke by Eloisa James, because I'm sure someone recommended it back in its heyday ('06) somewhere.  For those keeping score and absolutely MUST read in order, TTOTD is # 3 in the Essex Sisters series and the story of Imogen, a widow who has recently returned to her guardian's house in England.  The fact that aforementioned guardian, Rafe, the Duke of Holbrook, is nothing more than a drunkard does not derail him from his duty of keeping the Essex sisters in line.  His drunkenness has always bothered Imogen though, who can barely stand spirits, let alone dukes who live to drink. 

When she arrives at Holbrook Court however, she finds that Rafe has discovered that he has a half brother, Gabriel, and that they are in the beginning stages of planning a theatrical.  O_o  Of course there's some backstory for their reasons, but honestly they're lost in the deriding Imogen thrives in towards Rafe for wasting his life and physique to the bottle.  It's not long before Rafe gives up the booze for better living, and that's when the obscure theatrical becomes the vehicle for more than just luring Gabe's ex-lover (the mother of his child, and an up-and-coming actress in London) to Holbrook Court.  Honestly, I never did truly understand the reasons for Rafe and his guests desiring to put on a play, other than to lend credo to the weirdness of the aristocracy?

To wrap it all up in a nutshell, Imogen has decided to take a lover and fixates on Gabriel as the perfect candidate.  What Rafe lacks in manners, sex appeal and scintillating conversation, Gabe has in spades.  But that's before Rafe gives up liquor and poses as his brother for various liaisons with Imogen.  Even as Imogen continues seeing Gabe in secret - or so she thinks - it's not long before she starts seeing Rafe as something more than her tiresome guardian and looks at him through a woman's eyes.  Confused much?

And this is when I gave up on the rest of the story and started reading faster just to get it over with.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Rafe, especially the fact that Ms. James cast him as an alcoholic who gives booze up just for the sake of giving it up.  It wasn't so easy to like Imogen though.  She's almost cruel in some aspects, especially in her dealings with Rafe.  Or maybe it's because I look at alcoholism through different eyes.  My husband was an alcoholic, and he died from it.  It's easy to blame the alcoholic who cares nothing for his family and even mistreats them, but Rafe seemed to be a good guy.  He turned to the bottle after his beloved older brother died and didn't look back.  Of course, there is no good reason to drown yourself this way, and there's no excuse to became a boozehound.  Or maybe I have an injured view of the disease, and maybe that's what made me dislike Imogen so much.  Hell if I know.  And I didn't mean to drag all of this out in what's supposed to be a fun review, but it's still there in my opinion of the book.

All of that to say, The Taming of the Duke wasn't my most favorite book by Eloisa James, and that's hard to admit since I'm a fan.  Maybe in 10 years I can read it again and come up with a different opinion, but since I'm seriously needing to offload some books to make way for my mom moving in -- I don't see me doing that.                 

Tsk, Tsk! And a TBR Challenge Review

So, looking back over my posts of the past few months, they've been spotty in regularity -- at best.  I have reasons for that, obviously the biggest one being the biggest soul-sucking, devastating change in my life last summer.  The other being that while I've gotten back up on my reading high horse in a way that I haven't in many years, I've been remiss in tearing myself away from my books (and life and my job, unfortunately, that nasty beast) to get my arse to the computer and actually write about what I've been reading.  It looks like people still check in on me, which I thank them for, but I haven't been using this blog like I initially intended to -- accountability for my reading which will hopefully prompt me to astonish and amaze people with the volume of books I've been tearing through.  Ha!  I am happy to report though, that by the end of March 2012 I totaled 22 reads for the year.  Probably the most I've completed in at least 5 years in such a short time.  Hell, in March alone, I read 10 books, which is an amazing record for me.

That being said -- I mentioned in last month's challenge post that my problem has not been in completing the "assignments" for Wendy's TBR Challenge '12, it's been in posting reviews.  Yeah, I suck.  But at least credit me for getting the posts up at some point, albeit not on the right day.  Rules rules rules, yeah I feel the need to bend them to my whim sometimes.

April's challenge read, for me, was Pamela Callow's Indefensible, a January '11 Mira release, and apparently the second book in the author's ongoing Kate Lange Thriller series.  Lately it seems that reading books in a series in order hasn't been a problem, unless it's the JD Robb series which I swear with my hand on the Bible is best read that way.  Don't ask me where I stopped in that series, though, because it's embarrassing -- and I call myself a nearly devout fan of La Nora.

Indefensible begins with Kate Lange contemplating the long holiday weekend that's about to begin in which she'll get little to no relaxation time with all the work she's bringing home from her job as a laboring teeny tiny lawyer in a big firm of sharks.  She's still recovering, physically and emotionally, from a harrowing run-in with a serial killer on her last case (Damaged, Mira June '10).  Her weekend is wrecked even further by two unforeseeable events -- the tragic death of a vacationer in her neighborhood, and when Kate's boss, Randall Barrett, seeks her help in his own defense.  Seems that that poor woman who died by falling off the balcony of her rental home was his ex-wife, and no one makes a better suspect than the spouse himself, even if he is an ex.

That, in a nutshell, is Indefensible, and rather succinctly put, if I do say so myself.  It seems Kate and Randall have a bit of history, and it's drawn rather well with their hemming and hawing around each other before the weekend is about to start.  Kate had rather thought that their relationship might be a tenuous beginning to something more than boss and employee, but that is shut right down with Barrett's abrupt attitude and dismissive tone as he's about to leave for his extended vacation.  Of course, the vacation is cut short with his ex's death, Elise Vanderzill, and now Randall has to reverse roles and forces him in the role of murder suspect and client to Kate after he requests she take his case.  Kate is nowhere near the realm of criminal defense in her line of work, instead preferring tax law, but she can't see denying Randall's plea for help.

Maybe I missed out by not reading the first book, Damaged, but I never did quite connect with Randall and Kate.  Indefensible is a decent read all in all, but one that allowed me to pass the time instead of tearing through all the way to the end because I just had to find out how it all works out.  Or maybe I'm spoiled by the James Patterson bender I seem to be on and want to compare everything to that mastermind....*shrug*.  That said, the book was enough for me to go out and find Damaged and start over in time for Tattooed, the 3rd book in the series which comes out in June.

The big conflict in Indefensible is not the relationship between Randall and Kate, or even between her and the investigating detective, her ex-fiancé, Ethan Drake.  Instead it's the convoluted one between Randall and his own teenaged son, Nick.  Nick is hellbent on pushing his father away and punishing him.  Their relationship is rocky, to say the least, after Nick had stolen money from his dad and this vacation was to be spent crewing a yacht, where Nick could earn it -- and his dad's trust -- back to repay him.  But Nick doesn't want any part of it, and the death knell to Randall's freedom may be Nick's belief that he'd seen his father throw his mother over the railing that night.  Is the teenager keen on making his dad pay in the worst way, or is there something more at work here?  For me, that was the more suspenseful angle in Indefensible and what kept me coming back.

 

TBR Challenge: The Reluctant Surrender

I can now say that I've read a Harlequin Presents, but the jury's still out on whether or not this is a line for me to continue with.  When I realized that the deadline for June's TBR Challenge was looming and it featured a contemporary theme, I momentarily panicked.  Then I remembered that I'd finished reading The Reluctant Surrender by Penny Jordan just last week.  It's actually one of the books in the stash that a friend of mine at work gave me while I was on leave over the Christmas holidays, but since it sat on my TBR then I'm counting.  Again....my rules, I'll break 'em as I make 'em.  Heh.

The Reluctant Surrender is tagged as "Part One of the Parenti Dynasty", and it looks to be the first in a two-book series.  The second is Giselle's Choice, and I'm dithering about whether or not to hunt that one down.  Judging by the couple of reviews I've read, it's obviously a continuation of The Reluctant Surrender, but don't read them if you don't like spoilers and haven't read the first book.

Saul Parenti comes across to many as a man who takes what he wants and turns it into gold.  If that's their assessment of him, then so be it since it's true.  He's a successful businessman with a comfortable wealth, a member of the royal family of Arezzio, and has the knack to turn even the shakiest deals into raging successes.  His latest project will involve hiring an architectural company that will help in seeing his vision of a luxurious vacation destination become real.  That's what Saul does: brings fantasy to life, in the form of holidays.  He isn't prepared to work alongside the woman who had stolen his parking spot in the garage earlier that morning.

Giselle Freeman's day does not start off well when she nearly comes to blows with a domineering man who claims she's stolen his prime spot in the car park.  Since she was already late for an important meeting to meet the firm's latest client, the delay only makes her that much later.  And does nothing for her mood, to say the least.  When she finds out that the ass she'd had words with earlier is actually her new boss, things can only get worse from there.  Saul Parenti hires Giselle as his personal assistant during this project and expects her to report directly to him for every little thing.

Giselle's reputation as an ice queen at the office is about to be tested when her protective frost melts under Saul's fiery regard.  The tension between them can be cut with a knife, and before long their relationship goes from professional and lands headfirst in the bedroom.  Giselle figures it's safe to have an affair with Saul without messy emotional entanglements since she vows to never love anyone, and he vows to never have a family.  Yeah, there's baggage galore here, folks.   It'd be the perfect relationship if their attraction didn't turn into something deeper, nearing that L-l-love word.

For all intents and purposes, The Reluctant Surrender was an ok read but maybe I got too entangled in the soap opera-y feel that I think this line can dip into.  Seething CEOs, bold businessmen, and hot Arabian princes populate the Presents book, and I know many people enjoy the heck out of them; I'd love to find one that packs a punch so am open to suggestions.  But I just never could get too emotionally invested in Saul and Giselle.  Whether it's the page count, or the characterization itself, The Reluctant Surrender just ended up being an 'eh' read for me.

So, I'm up for any suggestions from this line from anyone out there.  Whose read a Presents book that just blew their socks off?