Summer Reading Books: Likes and Dislikes

Warning: If you don't like romance novels and/or aren't interested in what I have to say about them, I suggest coming back tomorrow.   

Yesterday, I updated you on my summer reading progress.  To date, I've read 39 books and am in the process of reading Dream Man by Linda Howard and listening to It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips in the car.  As I mentioned yesterday, the books are beginning to run together, so I thought, in a very (very) brief way, I would list which ones I liked, didn't like, and which ones I'm neutral on. 

Liked (the ones I loved are in bold): 

Dreaming of You

Pride and Prejudice 

Outlander

Devil in Winter

Welcome to Temptation

The Viscount Who Loved Me

Lover Awakened

Mr. Impossible

The Duke and I

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton 

Naked in Death

Dark Lover

The Secret

Lover Eternal

Devil's Bride

Sea Swept

When He Was Wicked

It Happened One Autumn

Born in Fire

Lady Sophia's Lover

Worth Any Price

Rising Tides

Born in Ice

Ransom

Slave to Sensation

Didn't Like (Didn't finish are in bold):

Lord of Scoundrels (It's been over a year since I read this and my feelings may have changed so I'm going to reread it)

Flowers From the Storm

The Serpent Prince

Morning Glory 

Something Borrowed

Neutral:

Bet Me

Slightly Dangerous

Lord Perfect

The Bride

Mr. Perfect

Then Came You 

Saving Grace

Dragon Fly in Amber

Voyager

I'm not going to go through each and every book because that would take forever.  I will however, tell you why I didn't like the ones I didn't.  

Lord of Scoundrels:  Someone told me I should turn in my romance reader card for not liking this book.  Admittedly, I didn't finish it.  In fact, I didn't make it very far in.  I couldn't even skip through to find a better scene.  This book is on everyone's top ten list of favorite romances of all time, and frankly I don't see why.  However, I may have been in bad mood when I started this book or I may have been looking for something different, so I'm willing to give it another chance. 

Flowers From the Storm: This book was just too much for me.  Too long, too much emotion, too many plot lines, just too much.  I can't handle a Quaker herione, a hero whose had a stoke and now in a mental institution, and the angst (oh the angst) associated with the herione trying to heal him and keep him from being declared legally insane.  Oh, and did I mention the math?  Too too much.  I got about a quarter of the way through this, then started skimming.  I got the gist, but I just wasn't caught up in the emotion as AAR's reviewer obviously was. 

The Serpent Prince: Honestly I don't remember what I didn't like about this book.  But I didn't because I only read about half of it before I started skimming.  I think I was bored.  There really isn't anything special about this book that sets it apart from other regencies.  I like the hero, but if I want to read about a lavishly dressed nobleman, I think I'll stick with the Duke of Villiers and Eloisa James. 

Morning Glory: I read this book years ago, but it's stuck in my head of one of the few romances I truly didn't like.  LaVyrle Spencer is incredible popular, especially among women who started reading romance in the late 80s, but this is the only book I've ever read by her.  I didn't like it, therefore, I didn't read her anymore.  I can't remember many of the details, but I remember being frustrated by the characters and found the story boring.  I like some action in my plots, and I think that this one is more character-based.  Unlike Nora Roberts, who can excel at this type of book, I found this one to be a disappointment. 

Something Borrowed: This was recommended to me by several people and I was really looking forward to it.  I'm not sure if a lot of my dislike came from listening to this book rather than reading it, but I thought that Rachel was one the wimpiest, wishy-washy, spineless characters to ever enter fiction.  (I know that's a little harsh).  Towards the end of the book, I was mentally screaming from Rachel to put on her big girl panties and deal with it.  I think at some point I may have actually yelled out loud at her while driving (it had been a long week).  All that said, I didn't turn the book off; I needed to know what happened.  It's why I'll still read Something Blue because I really need to know if Darcy gets what's coming (I doubt it).  But overall, I didn't like this one.

I'm afraid to ask if people agree with me or not.  I'm sure I stepped a few toes with Lord of Scoundrels and Flowers from the Storm.  But, I'm going to grin and bear it.  Do you agree with my lists?  What are your thoughts?

Summer Reading Stall Out

Do you have a drop-everything-to read author?  I have several.  Julia Quinn, Lisa Kleypas, J.K. Rowling (back with Harry Potter was being published), and Nora Roberts are my drop-everything-stop-reading-everything-else authors.  This week this concept became abundantly clear.  I usually don't pay any attention to the idea of stopping a book in the middle to read something else, but this week I did.  This summer has been big as far as new releases by my favorite authors and I've spent a considerable amount of money on new books (new releases and books for my Summer Reading Project).  Julia Quinn released Ten Things I Love About You in May, and Lisa Kleypas released Married by Morning in May and Love in the Afternoon came out last week.  Nora Roberts published the 3rd book in her Vows Quartet, Savor the Moment, in May and her latest single title The Search was released on Tuesday.  With the exception of Love in the Afternoon, all of these were purchased and read on their release date.  I'm holding on to Love in the Afternoon as a treat to myself when I'm having a bad day.  I didn't want to rush through The Search because I love love love Nora and I like to savor her books since she only releases one single title a year.  It took me three wonderful nights of reading and the book was amazing.  Unfortunately, I'm way behind on my summer reading.

All these new releases, along with SB Sarah's Sizzling Summer Book Club, has made it a little harder to read all the books on my reading list.  I've already read 39 of them which is huge progress of course, but I'm accepting the fact that I won't be able to finish the list before Labor Day.  It's an impossible goal to read 8 books a week.  That's more than a book a day, and something I just can't accomplish while working full time.  Now if this was my full time job (how awesome would that be?), it would be no problem.  But it's not and I can only hope to read 2-4 books a week and hopefully will accomplish my goal before Christmas.

I'm not complaining.  This is an awesome project and I look forward to reading all these books.  It's been a little exhausting though.  I usually read a lot of romance, but I've never pushed myself through so many.  I'm a little burned out on alpha males and HEAs.  I'm also forming some very strong judgments about what does and what does not make a good romance.  I haven't liked all the books on the list, and some of those didn't get finished or I skimmed through because there was something about it I didn't like.  I'm thinking I should make a list of those I liked and those I didn't, because I'm starting to get them mixed up. 

So that's what new with me on my summer reading project.  Are you reading anything special this summer?  How's it going?

Update on Summer Reading

Have you noticed my new tabs? I put them in a few weeks ago, but haven't said anything about them. I don't really like the look of them, but I know next to nothing about web design so I don't know how to fix them. Anyway, one is a "Summer Reading" tab where you can keep track of my progress as I move through my list. I'm doing well, not moving quite as quickly as I had anticipated, but moving along nonetheless. Total I've read 31 books. I'm close to being finished with Dark Lover by J.R. Ward and have Mr. Perfect, Slightly Dangerous, and The Serpent Prince ready to go.

I'm really enjoying this project; I'm reading things I never thought I would. For example, I hadn't really ventured into paranormal romance any (other than what Nora Roberts has written) but J.R. Ward has taken me (and the rest of the romance world) by storm and I really enjoyed Nalini Singh's Slave to Sensation a lot. I'm looking forward to reading more of her when this challenge is over. J.R. Ward shows up multiple times on this list, which is why I started with the first Black Dagger Brotherhood book instead of following the list.

Obviously I'm not going according to the list. At first, I wasn't going off the list because I didn't want to, but now I'm realizing it's necessary. I'm having a very hard time finding these books at the library and on PaperBackSwap without waiting around. When I remember, I request books via my county's excellent interlibrary loan system, but for very popular books, that hasn't been the most convenient. I'm ordering them when I can as well, but, again, the popular ones are hard to find. I've had to go to the bookstore some, which I like and dislike at the same time. On one hand, I love bookstores so much and can spend hours in them; on the other hand, it's becoming very expensive to buy these books outright. I've thought about ordering them on half.com or Amazon, but I don't want to pay for shipping. My local used paperback store is decent, but you can't predict what they are going to have in stock. I like having a non-library edition, because some of these have become keepers; books I know I'm going to read again at some point. I love a stocked bookshelf, and at some point, I'll thank myself for keeping so many books around.

I'm also thinking of listening to some of these books in the car. I do that on and off and this might be a good way to cross a few off my list. My library provides some in an MP3 format, so I can put it on my ipod and listen to it driving to and from work. I have about at 20-30 minute commute each way with traffic, so that might turn out to be helpful.

As far as summer reading projects go, this has been the most fun. I'm enjoying reading new authors and discovering new keepers. I'm looking forward to crossing one off the list and picking up a new book! 

My fairly impressive stack of books that I've read and that are in currently in my TBR pile.  Clearly, I love the library!

Book Review: One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare

This is my first time reviewing a book, so forgive me for any faux pas! One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare is the first selection in Smart Bitch Sarah's Sizzling Summer Bookclub.  Tessa Dare is a relatively new historical romance author and one I haven't read before.  I was excited to read this book because the reviews were really good and it's a series.  I love series; especially concerning heroes involved in mysterious clubs, as Spencer, our hero from One Dance with a Duke is.  I was also very excited to read this because Tessa Dare is a librarian! How exciting! Anyway...

I'm not going to do the usual review and start with a synopsis; if you want a synopsis and summary of what other reviewers have said, check out Tessa's site.  For a more comprehensive review, check out All About Romance's review. 

The highest compliment I can give a book is to say that I finished this in one night.  That almost never happens.  I started it yesterday afternoon when I got home from work and didn't turn out the light until I was done.  Yes, I read fast, but honestly, I couldn't put it down.  It takes a whole lot to keep me entertained for that long and I would like commend Ms. Dare for doing so.  I found the characters to be compelling and real and I was into the book enough by the end of the first chapter to know that I wanted to get to know Amelia (our heroine) and Spencer more and find out what happens.  I enjoyed the secondary characters too and look forward to reading their stories in the future.   

No book is without it's faults, however.  This book, and I'm assuming the series, has a murder-mystery plot line, which I always find fascinating.  We are introduced to this plot almost right away and for a good portion of the book we are kept apprised of the situation.  However, as soon as Amelia and the duke quit London, we stop hearing about the murder investigation.  Then it comes bounding back in a hurry near the end.  During this middle part, I kept going "but what about the murder?".  I also didn't really understand Amelia's constant faith in and overwhelming urge to help her brother, who obviously has a gambling problem.  I don't have any siblings, so maybe this is just me personally, but I didn't sympathize with Amelia's plight to rescue her brother.  That said, I looked past it and chalked it up to her nurturing personality.  The last bit I didn't care for was the ending concerning Spencer's ward.  I'm not going to share it since it's a spoiler, but it came out of left field (for me) and left me reeling.  I was not thrilled with that.

Despite this, I loved this book.  It's a keeper for me.  I'm looking forward to the next books in the series and more work by Tessa Dare.  I strongly recommend this book!  

Grade: A-

Have you read this book?  What did you think?

Summer Reading Update and Finalized Book List

Back in early May I started thinking about what I was going to read this summer.  I had intended to make it like my list from last year, which covered a variety of genres from romance to biography.  I created last year's list based on book recommendations and books I had always wanted to read, but never did.  I've been keeping a running list of books I want to read over the past year, but being unemployed for four months helped me read through my list pretty quickly, and now I'm facing the summer without a set list.  

A few weeks ago, I came across Smart Bitches, Trashy Books's Sizzling Summer Book Club and I decided to join the fun.  The first book, One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare, is going to be talked about in a few weeks.  I'm reading it now, and hopefully I'll share my thoughts here.  

The book club gave me an idea of trying to branch out a little in romance reading as I've always stuck to historicals, mostly of the regency variety, and Nora Roberts.  I rarely read much beyond that.  In looking for more books to read, I came across All About Romance.  They have a great blog, but what I got most excited about was their poll, done in 2007 of the Top 100 Romances.  I started looking over the list and realized I've read 24 of them already.  I think that almost a quarter isn't too bad, and that I could easily read (or at least make a huge dent) in reading the rest.  So that became the focus of my summer reading list.  Since finding the list early last week, I've read 3 and ordered a bunch from PaperBackSwap and the library.  I read pretty quickly, so I have no worries about plowing through a good bit of the list.  I have very strong opinions on what makes a good romance novel, but I'm interested to see what other people think are the best.  As the summer progresses, I'll share my thoughts and my progress. 

Other than tackling 75 romances plus the book club selections I'm also hoping to read the following books:

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England

Something Borrowed

Something Blue

Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life (which I started last summer and never finished)

I think that's plenty! It's a good thing I love to read! Check out my new Summer Reading page to keep track of what I've read!

Sizzling Summer Book Club

A few weeks ago I asked for book recommendations for my summer reading list.  I'm still poking around and looking for books to add to my official summer reading list and I will be posting my list as soon as I make my decisions.  However, I have also decided to join a summer book club!  I will be participating in Smart Bitch Sarah's Sizzling Summer Book Club on Smart Bitches, Trash Books, one of my favorite websites.  If you are not familiar with SBTB, it's a website run by two brilliant women who just happen to love reading romance novels.  They review books, conduct interviews with authors, have contests and giveaways, and basically share their love of all things romance.  They are also the authors of Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels, which is a hilarious look at the romance genre as a whole.  

One book will be selected every two weeks and there will be a live chat discussion on each book.  The club is being sponsored by AllRomanceEbooks and they are offering a 50% discount if you purchase the ebook through them.  I've never read a book on my computer, and since I don't have an ereader that's the way it's going to have to work for me.  I'm willing to try it though to take advantage of the great price.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to get the book from paperbackswap.com or the library in time to read it and participate.  So I will be looking for the best price and it looks like the ebook version is my best bet.  

The first book of the summer is Tessa Dare's new release One Dance with a Duke.  I've never read anything by her, but I'm excited and I love historical romance! 

So if you love romance or even if you would just like to try out the genre while taking advantage of a cheap book, stop AllRomaceEbooks bookclub page for more information.  If you are thinking of participating, let me know!

Summer Reading

Summer is rapidly approaching. Well, it is here in Alabama (otherwise known as the most humid place on earth). For most of you, there's still another month left of school and the weather really won't be getting hot for another few weeks. But around here, school is wrapping up and it's expected to hit 90° this week.

Since it feels so summery outside, it makes me think of summer reading. Last summer I set out to make myself more well-rounded as far as reading goes, and I think I did a pretty good job. This summer, I'm looking to do the same as well as read some really good books. Unfortunately, I don't know what I want to read this summer! Therefore, I'm asking you, dear readers, for book suggestions. Please email me or leave a book suggestion (and author if you can remember) in the comments. I am looking forward to seeing your suggestions!

To give you a better idea of what I like to read, here are some of the books I've read most recently:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts

It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather Armstrong

The first 4 Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan (I'm planning on reading more this summer)

Captain Jack's Woman by Stephanie Laurens

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn

The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond

Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne

These are the books that I read last summer. As you can tell, I have fairly eclectic taste in books. I adore romance, like reading fantasy and some young adult, I will read the occasional non-fiction title if I find it interesting.

Please share your favorite books! I'll be posting a list of the books I decide to read this summer soon! Thanks in advance!