Jodi Thomas
Contemporary Romance
Berkley Books - April 2009
As you may have guessed, I love romance novels, especially the latest Steeple Hill books and the historicals. I enjoy the historical romance novels because the environments in which they are set are generally real and there tends to be less explicit sex, especially when compared to the contemporary stories. I enjoy the Steeple Hill books because they weave Christian issues into the stories and characters just like they are woven in real life. And, of course, they all have happy endings!
But reading Jodi Thomas (Berkley Books) is an exceptional pleasure for me. She’s gooood! I know I’m in good hands when she’s at the story’s helm. They are beautifully written. Her characters are real. She sticks to telling the story, always making it a lean, compelling read. Not only is Rewriting Monday an intriguing title for a romance novel, but its female lead, Pepper Malone, sports a character name straight out of the popular pulp panoply. Can you see it? The New Adventures of Pepper Malone, Pepper Malone Strikes Back, Pepper Malone Goes to Hollywood, Pepper Malone and the McTeague Murders, Pepper Malone Packs A Wallop! Books, movies, radio, TV—Pepper Malone lives! (And loves: Pepper Malone Dares to Love) And who can forget that ubiquitous line from Editor Perry, “Where’s that Pepper when we need her?”
Pepper Malone lost her job as a reporter for a major Chicago publisher when she reported information about a prominent Chicago family. The family claimed she received the information by unethical means. The family had more power than she had. That’s what caused her to flee Chicago to find a good place to hide. She found it in Bailee, Texas, a quiet little town where her old aunt lived. It was a place to hide and heal. Of course, she needed to make a living. She went to the Bailee Bugle and told editor, Mike McCullock, that the weekly paper needed her. From there we get adventure, intrigue, mysterious accidents, and lots of action. And, Mike McCullock gets hope, which is something he hasn’t felt for a long time.
Jodi Thomas never lets me down and she’s done it again. Don’t miss this well written fast moving book!
Showing posts with label Contemporary Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contemporary Romance. Show all posts
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
A Ring and a Promise
Lois Richer
Love Inspired Contemporary Romance
Steeple Hill Books - June, 2009
A Ring and a Promise is another in Lois Richer’s Love Inspired “Weddings by Woodwards” series. Richer is a craftsman. The characters in A Ring and a Promise are real, but the events pressing in on them aren’t all that earth shaking. Nice little stories certainly have their place; but by the time I reached the last page, I felt that my investment in the read hadn’t yielded much.
The lead character in this outing is Abby Franklin who is a jewelry designer for Weddings by Woodward. It seems to me the company is too small to have a fulltime jewelry designer. (Or is it just me?) Too many romance novels ask their readers to indulge stretches in logic.
The male lead is Donovan Woodward, the man Abby planned to marry; but who, for no apparent reason, left her in the lurch five years before the story opens. Now he’s returned to the family business with a godchild in tow; and it is Abby’s growing feelings for this godchild that overcome her anger and disappointment over Donovan’s unexplained exit.
Where have I encountered this metric before?
Too many recent romance novels ask some unsuspecting kid to rekindle an earlier romance or spark a new one. By the same token, too many romance novels are populated by widows and widowers suffering from the flames and arrows of incomprehensible fate and failed relationships. Our romance novel landscape is overpopulated by “take-two” situations: “Maybe we’ll get it right this time.” I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that some author is now hard at work on a fifth-time-around romance between two octogenarians who have met in some picturesque seaside old folks home. “It’s never too late, baby. Pass the Levitra.”
In this second time around for me and Lois Richer, the Weddings by Woodwards premise for a series seems a bit wanting. However, with some 35 titles to her credit, Richer’s writing has clearly found an audience among Christian readers. With that kind of a track record, I obviously need to give the lady a take three or even a take four.
Love Inspired Contemporary Romance
Steeple Hill Books - June, 2009
A Ring and a Promise is another in Lois Richer’s Love Inspired “Weddings by Woodwards” series. Richer is a craftsman. The characters in A Ring and a Promise are real, but the events pressing in on them aren’t all that earth shaking. Nice little stories certainly have their place; but by the time I reached the last page, I felt that my investment in the read hadn’t yielded much.
The lead character in this outing is Abby Franklin who is a jewelry designer for Weddings by Woodward. It seems to me the company is too small to have a fulltime jewelry designer. (Or is it just me?) Too many romance novels ask their readers to indulge stretches in logic.
The male lead is Donovan Woodward, the man Abby planned to marry; but who, for no apparent reason, left her in the lurch five years before the story opens. Now he’s returned to the family business with a godchild in tow; and it is Abby’s growing feelings for this godchild that overcome her anger and disappointment over Donovan’s unexplained exit.
Where have I encountered this metric before?
Too many recent romance novels ask some unsuspecting kid to rekindle an earlier romance or spark a new one. By the same token, too many romance novels are populated by widows and widowers suffering from the flames and arrows of incomprehensible fate and failed relationships. Our romance novel landscape is overpopulated by “take-two” situations: “Maybe we’ll get it right this time.” I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that some author is now hard at work on a fifth-time-around romance between two octogenarians who have met in some picturesque seaside old folks home. “It’s never too late, baby. Pass the Levitra.”
In this second time around for me and Lois Richer, the Weddings by Woodwards premise for a series seems a bit wanting. However, with some 35 titles to her credit, Richer’s writing has clearly found an audience among Christian readers. With that kind of a track record, I obviously need to give the lady a take three or even a take four.
Small-Town Brides
Janet Tronstad and Debra Clopton
Love Inspired Contemporary Inspirational Romance
Steeple Hill Books – June, 2009
Small-Town Brides is a Steeple Hill coupling of two novellas, one by Janet Tronstad and the other by Debra Clopton. Both are fine writers and this coupling does nothing to harm either reputation.
Both stories begin in Mule Hollow; but the first story, Tronstad’s A Dry Creek Wedding, migrates to, you guessed it, Dry Creek, a small town in Montana. As the collection’s title suggests, both stories end in obligatory weddings and the ever-present happy ending; but the journeys for both pairs of characters offer good reads.
In the first story, Rene Mitchell, 32, is a waitress at the truck stop in Mule Hollow. She was a hopeless romantic. For her romance was everything; but her boyfriend, Trace, only offered a “practical” marriage. Romance, per se, was not on his plate. The marriage would be a practical one in which Rene’s primary responsibility would be to care for Trace’s young niece who had just arrived in town. Her parents had just died.
Rene went ballistic! In a fury, she shook Mule Hollow’s dust from her feet and packed her car for her aunt and uncle’s place in Dry Creek, Montana. She would have made it, too, except that the piece of junk broke down at the city limits. Enter Clay Preston, 41, and his trusty wrecker.
Clay liked to watch Rene when he ate at the local truck stop; but his foster home upbringing left him too shy for anything overt—until Rene’s sick vehicle offered him the hero’s mantel. Yes, he agreed to tow her all the way to Dry Creek. (A beautiful damsel in distress? Come on, gentlemen, what would you have done?) And what a tow it was, Rene dealing with her anger and disappointment and Clay dealing with his shyness. By the time the two made it to Dry Creek, Rene discovered the romance she craved and Clay set aside his shyness.
In the second story, A Mule Hollow Match by Debra Clopton, we meet Rene’s cousin, Paisley Norton. The two women had been close. When Rene left Trace and his offer in the dust, Trace tried it out on Paisley. She was angry at Trace because of how he treated Rene, but she did agree to care for the little girl, feeling that the child should not suffer because Trace was a jerk. Any relationship with Trace was out of the question, but Paisley’s care for the man’s niece brought her into Trace’s daily life much as the close quarters of the wrecker’s cab had brought Clay into Rene’s life.
Close quarters have a way of overcoming obstacles, especially in romance novels; and the more Paisley was around Trace, the more she liked him, especially the marvelous man she was now seeing through the eyes of his little niece.
Both novellas are fast reads by good writers. Their character’s problems are far from earth shaking, but they were important to the two sets of characters and they are true to life.
Love Inspired Contemporary Inspirational Romance
Steeple Hill Books – June, 2009
Small-Town Brides is a Steeple Hill coupling of two novellas, one by Janet Tronstad and the other by Debra Clopton. Both are fine writers and this coupling does nothing to harm either reputation.
Both stories begin in Mule Hollow; but the first story, Tronstad’s A Dry Creek Wedding, migrates to, you guessed it, Dry Creek, a small town in Montana. As the collection’s title suggests, both stories end in obligatory weddings and the ever-present happy ending; but the journeys for both pairs of characters offer good reads.
In the first story, Rene Mitchell, 32, is a waitress at the truck stop in Mule Hollow. She was a hopeless romantic. For her romance was everything; but her boyfriend, Trace, only offered a “practical” marriage. Romance, per se, was not on his plate. The marriage would be a practical one in which Rene’s primary responsibility would be to care for Trace’s young niece who had just arrived in town. Her parents had just died.
Rene went ballistic! In a fury, she shook Mule Hollow’s dust from her feet and packed her car for her aunt and uncle’s place in Dry Creek, Montana. She would have made it, too, except that the piece of junk broke down at the city limits. Enter Clay Preston, 41, and his trusty wrecker.
Clay liked to watch Rene when he ate at the local truck stop; but his foster home upbringing left him too shy for anything overt—until Rene’s sick vehicle offered him the hero’s mantel. Yes, he agreed to tow her all the way to Dry Creek. (A beautiful damsel in distress? Come on, gentlemen, what would you have done?) And what a tow it was, Rene dealing with her anger and disappointment and Clay dealing with his shyness. By the time the two made it to Dry Creek, Rene discovered the romance she craved and Clay set aside his shyness.
In the second story, A Mule Hollow Match by Debra Clopton, we meet Rene’s cousin, Paisley Norton. The two women had been close. When Rene left Trace and his offer in the dust, Trace tried it out on Paisley. She was angry at Trace because of how he treated Rene, but she did agree to care for the little girl, feeling that the child should not suffer because Trace was a jerk. Any relationship with Trace was out of the question, but Paisley’s care for the man’s niece brought her into Trace’s daily life much as the close quarters of the wrecker’s cab had brought Clay into Rene’s life.
Close quarters have a way of overcoming obstacles, especially in romance novels; and the more Paisley was around Trace, the more she liked him, especially the marvelous man she was now seeing through the eyes of his little niece.
Both novellas are fast reads by good writers. Their character’s problems are far from earth shaking, but they were important to the two sets of characters and they are true to life.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Fearless
Diana Palmer
Romance - Contemporary
HQN Books - 2008
I get scared easily when I read or watch TV. My husband laughs at me, but he’s always within hailing distance (or by my side) when it’s suspense, adventure, or mystery. I know it’s all just fiction and I can close the book or turn off the TV anytime I want, but it really affects me. He loves that stuff. I don’t.
Diana Palmer’s Fearless is packed with adventure and suspense, but I liked it. Hmmm. At first I thought my reaction was strange, but then I realized my usual fears were being cradled in the arms of a first class writer. Suspense lurks around every corner in Fearless but I knew I was safe with Palmer. The psychotherapist in me is going to have to spend more time thinking about this. Maybe, I believed the title. Suppose?
Since 1979, Diana Palmer has written 100+ novels. That averages more than one every four months. That’s phenomenal enough but when you read her biography, she’s living at least two other busy lives. My guess is that she lives 36 hour days (eight per week). Her 100+ novels are just a sideline.
This story takes place in Jacobsville, Texas. This town has an unusual mix of lawmen. Their backgrounds are varied and dangerous. Glory Barnes is staying on a Jacobsville farm for her protection. She’s an assistant DA in San Antonio who needs protection until she testifies in a dangerous case. Cash Grier, the police chief, will try to keep her protected but with that particular mix of lawmen in residence it’s hard to know the good guys from the bad.
Any of Diana Palmer’s books that take place in this location are always full of adventure and surprises. Glory Barnes is attracted to Rodrigo Ramirez, the ranch foreman, who seems like a nice guy, but, how can she know for sure? We know that someone isn’t just right, but who? A bad guess could cost a life, hers. Any of these professionals are apt to trust no one. This is a page turner you’re sure to enjoy!
Romance - Contemporary
HQN Books - 2008
I get scared easily when I read or watch TV. My husband laughs at me, but he’s always within hailing distance (or by my side) when it’s suspense, adventure, or mystery. I know it’s all just fiction and I can close the book or turn off the TV anytime I want, but it really affects me. He loves that stuff. I don’t.
Diana Palmer’s Fearless is packed with adventure and suspense, but I liked it. Hmmm. At first I thought my reaction was strange, but then I realized my usual fears were being cradled in the arms of a first class writer. Suspense lurks around every corner in Fearless but I knew I was safe with Palmer. The psychotherapist in me is going to have to spend more time thinking about this. Maybe, I believed the title. Suppose?
Since 1979, Diana Palmer has written 100+ novels. That averages more than one every four months. That’s phenomenal enough but when you read her biography, she’s living at least two other busy lives. My guess is that she lives 36 hour days (eight per week). Her 100+ novels are just a sideline.
This story takes place in Jacobsville, Texas. This town has an unusual mix of lawmen. Their backgrounds are varied and dangerous. Glory Barnes is staying on a Jacobsville farm for her protection. She’s an assistant DA in San Antonio who needs protection until she testifies in a dangerous case. Cash Grier, the police chief, will try to keep her protected but with that particular mix of lawmen in residence it’s hard to know the good guys from the bad.
Any of Diana Palmer’s books that take place in this location are always full of adventure and surprises. Glory Barnes is attracted to Rodrigo Ramirez, the ranch foreman, who seems like a nice guy, but, how can she know for sure? We know that someone isn’t just right, but who? A bad guess could cost a life, hers. Any of these professionals are apt to trust no one. This is a page turner you’re sure to enjoy!
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