What Are You Reading the Week of September 15th?

Gosh, another week gone.

I finished with After the Kiss and started Before the Scandal both by Suzanne Enoch.

Julia

I just finishedWedded Bliss by Barbara Metzger. It was a light romance and very funny in places! I love her sense of humor. I will have to look for others by her.

I'm reading the YA fantasy, The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. Not sure if there is any romance in this or not although the other books I've read by her all seemed to contain at least a smidge of it.

>1 Julia1605: I know-- I swear, September is just rushing past!

Well, I'm still on our all time favorite Demon King, Noah by Jacquelyn Frank. Loving it-- I've cried, I've laughed, and I've had to turn on the fan many times, as any reader of her work will know! Perfect, as always, JF!

Also, I'm reading a YA novel by James Patterson *great author!*, which is not romance, but is still pretty good, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X.

I finally read The Serpent Prince. It was good, but it hit a huge pet peeve of mine when the hero has the same last name as his title. It especially irks me when an otherwise excellent writer commits such an error. But overall I liked it. I like a dark, tortured hero.

I read Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh, and loved it. I think I liked it better than Slave to Sensation. I'm excited about having three more books in the series to read.

Just finished Slightly Wicked by Mary Balogh. I am loving all the Bedwyns but cannot seem to find the next book in the series in the pile. So now I am reading Hot Six by Janet Evanovich.

I'm in a bit of a lull right now, which is how I discovered LT - otherwise I'd be reading!

Just finished Sea Witch and Sea Fever back-to-back - by Virginia Kantra, who can be a bit spotty - but I enjoyed both, esp. the first, and am looking forward to the third.

And I read Lora Leigh's newest, Wild Card - bleh. Better than the others in that series, these characters actually had more depth, but still SO predictable. I really admire her prolific output, but that is balanced by it being all the same. If I read of one more older, self-involved pseudo-warrior man falling for a barely legal (if that) teenager, I'm going to have to call CPS! And all the 'ooo, baby, I'm gonna get so nasty, just you wait' - bleh - all talk and no action - like she had to tone it way down for her mainstream pub and just couldn't lose the allusion to all her favorite 'dark acts.'

I also finished Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh, who's getting way off target in my opinion with her formulaic couples and calling-it-in romance. I still love spending time in the fascinating world she created, but I think she's just cranking these out way too fast to have any depth (nothing touches her phenomenal first, Slave to Sensation IMO - glad to see someone's enjoying it, though!) I'm also pleased to see she will be coming out with another series next year, as well as continuing the first.

And then I reread Shana Abé's The Dream Thief, just because I love it so much!

Oh, DL - I can't wait to hear what you think of The Hero and the Crown!! Have you read The Blue Sword which is linked to it? LOVE Robin McKinley - THERE'S one of my faves!! -rosa

I'm rereading some old Johanna Lindsey novels as I anxiously await the Quinn and Kleypas releases at the end of the month. I just finished A Pirate's Love - it's amazing what passed as "romance" in the 1970s. I'm currently rereading Defy Not the Heart which is one of my favorites, except for the Fabio cover!

>8 rosamenz: I was assigned The Robin McKinley Collection on the Go Review that Book! group a few months back. The Blue Sword was my first and I did enjoy it, but I've been horribly lax in finishing up my assignment. After this one I still have to read Spindle's End to complete the set. I think of McKinley's works so far that I've read I like Sunshine the best, but I read that years ago.

Finished The Dangerous Days of Daniel X last night. It was a very good book, funny and interesting like all of his books, but it wasn't my favorite book that he's written. (That award goes to his Maximum Ride Series and When the Wind Blows/The Lake House books, which will always be my all time favorite!!). Still, when the other two books come out for this series, I will still pick them up and read them, and I will recommend it to people, thought maybe not as my 'number one you've-got-to-read-this pick'.

Besides still reading Noah (almost through, loving it of course) I am also starting The Divide.

I'm reading His Expectant Ex by Catherine Mann. Not a book I would normally choose but ereader.com was giving away three free Harlequin books last week and I grabbed them all. I just finished Blood Calls by Caridad Pineiro which had a strangely abrupt ending.

I have a couple of Caridad Pineiro's vampire romances in my tbr pile. I think they're part of a series although I'm hoping they work as stand alones as well.

I'm currently reading Forged in the Fire a ya romance about a pair of Quakers eager to be married but kept apart by Plague. Plus we're about to get to the Great Fire. I smell adventure on the horizon!

I haven't read any of the other calling books and I didn't have problem with getting into Blood Calls. This one did okay as stand alone. I really liked her short story from Holiday with a Vampire which I would recommend. I think I'll go back though and start with book one in the series.

I've enjoyed many of Robin McKinley's books, The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword being my favorites.

Today I finished Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie. I had read it before, but it was a long time ago and I was already several chapters into it before I recognized it.

Has anyone seen the Airborne commercials with "Sebastian"? What a gorgeous kid, and a really funny commercial. Let me know what you think of it when you see it!

arrr > I saw the Airborne commercial and thought it was hilarious. Very attention getting. Hmm, I wonder if Sebastian will deliver the Airborne in person...

I picked up Faefever by Karen Marie Moning this morning. I'm trying very hard not to finish it in one sitting.

I finished Before the scandal which I liked very much. I hope William is getting his own book. Beth and Bram seem to be the next couple but I don't want to get my hopes up.

I'm undecided about what I read next.

Julia

I just finished At the Bride Hunt Ball by debut author Olivia Parker. It was a light, fun Regency with a little influence from the reality show “the Bachelor.” I really liked the heroine she was her own woman and fought conforming to society.

19, juliakranz> I'm looking forward to the next book in the Notorious Gentlemen series as well! You should check out Suzanne Enoch's website if you want a sneak peak of the next couple!

http://www.suzanneenoch.com/

Just finished Much Ado About You by Eloisa James just so-so, I was a bit disappointed in it. Sort of a weird romance with lots of horse racing and a lacklustre hero and confusion. Not an overly romantic book, nor was it funny, and it ended very abruptly, scraped together at the end as if it was tacked on. I'm not so sure whether I'll continue with this series or not.

Just finished Noah. LOOOOOVED IT! Cannot wait for her new series, coming out next year. Noah might just be my new all time favorite alpha male from her series! :)

Now I am reading Highland Vampire, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Divide

scurry326, At the Bride Hunt Ball has been on my ebook wish list for a few months. Thanks for the reminder that I need to purchase it soon!

I finished Jane Ashford's The Three Graces earlier this week. While it was a bit longer than most of Ashford's Silhouette Regency Romance categories, with three separate couples to follow (the heroines are three beautiful and unexpectedly impoverished orphaned sisters), it felt like the romances got short shrift. Just as I'd start to really develop an interest in one sister and her hero, begin to identify with their plight and their emotions, Ashford would have to cut their romance short and introduce the next. Had this story been written now, I imagine it would have been pitched as a series and would have worked well that way (each couple was intriguing and different enough to have a whole category-length book devoted just to them) but, as it stands, I found it a bit disappointing and lacking in the individuation and emotional growth that I look for in Ashford's works.

Currently, I'm reading Lynn Collum's Regency The Captain. I'm about 80 pages in and liking the author's voice (she's new to me) fairly well but feel there are too many unlikely happenings in the first third, too much suspension of disbelief required early on, to make this an outstanding book. We'll see...

I'm beginning Captain Sinister's Lady by Darlene Marshall.

Just finished the anthology Highland Vampire by Hannah Howell and two other authors (cannot think of their names right now and it's getting late, making me lazy. Lol.). It was good, not my favorite book, and all three stories felt rushed, reminding you that you were reading an anthology (Personally, I like it when you're reading an anthology, but they write the story so well and tie up all the loose ends, et cetera, in a nice, orderly way, and you actually forget that you are reading short stories instead of full length ones!) and the vampire story lines were not very strongly written. I think, no offense, but all three authors should probably stick with regular historical romance instead of trying to add in some 'paranormal' theme. I've read one other Hannah Howell book, Only for You, which I absolutely loved, but this one fell a little bit flat... Also, the 'fake' Scottish accent all three authors gave the characters was kind of annoying. I mean, I love a good Scottish accent on a man, but I like it when they use words and description to tell you, show you, that they have the rough sexy Scottish burr, not when they have to keep writting 'mon' as 'man', et cetera. I like a 'aye' and 'nay' and 'verra' , et cetera, in their conversations, I can handle those, but the 'mon' and other thick accented words got kind of annyoing after a while. Still, I'll probably pick up another Hannah Howell book or two in the future, and hopefully they will be more like the quality of Only for You instead of the slight lack of it from this book. 4/5 stars over all, if anyone is interested in knowing what I rated it...

I just received my ARC of Any Given Doomsday late this afternoon, and that is what I am starting next, putting my other potential reads on the back burner until I finish it and get my review in. I can't stand having an ARC sitting on my pile for days waiting to be read and reviewed...

Ack, I hate the phonetically written Scottish accents. It just yanks me right out of the story. Speaking of vampires, I just got an ARC of Zen and the Art of Vampires. Can't wait to read it as I'm a fan of Katie MacAlister.

I finished Nalini Singh's Caressed By Ice. I enjoyed it but not as much as the first two.

I just finished Captain Sinister's Lady which is third in a pirate romance trilogy recommended by Diana Gabaldon. They're not really that great (but the 2nd was very good though). Now I'm reading The Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning.

I finished Cutting Loose by Susan Andersen and will start next Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie.

Julia

I finished The Hero and the Crown and started Simply Sensual (wrong touchstone!) by Carly Phillips. I've also pulled out Spindle's End to start soon.

I read Leaves on the Wind by Carol Townend. It was a very good medieval, though the heroine got a little annoying at times. I've been buying up her backlist and am really enjoying them.

Just finished my ARC of Any Given Doomsday. Loved it! 4.5 stars, cannot wait for the next book in the series, out early next year. :( Too long, but I guess I'll just have to wait!

Now I'm starting The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter. I've had the book *and the sequel, The Darkest Kiss* in my TBR pile for a while, I'm ashamed to say, but I've finally got down the bottom of the pile (there are still 3 more stacks in another part of my room....) where they were sitting. I'll have to buy the third one when I go to the bookstore again, because I know that I'll be devouring the first two quickly and loving them!

Just finished The Kiss of the Highlander and loved it! Her books get better and better as the series goes on. I'm eager to read the next one now!

I just finished Any Given Doomsday too, and I can't say I loved it. The ideas were good, and i enjoyed the beginning, but the second half bogged down for me with too much sex, not enough romance to go along with it.

Well, yes there was a lot of sex, and I cant' say I loved most of it, but you also have to remember that the book is labeled more as an 'urban fantasy' than a 'romance' novel, and I have a feeling that Jimmy and Lizzy will still be able to re-kindle their love in the next book or so. Would it have been better with more true romance in it? Yes, but I still really enjoyed it. But I respect the fact that each person has their own opinion. :)