Recent Reads - A Thumbnail Sketch Of Some of The Books I've Recently Read - Books - http://maxpages.com/readersplace/Authors_M_to

- Classic
- One Of The Best
- Very Enjoyable
- Okay But Have Read Better
- Should I Say Don't Bother?

= January 2002

WANTED: PERFECT PARTNER - Debbie Macomber
This Yours Truly title had a promising beginning: teen places a personal ad hoping to find a man for her mom. Mom doesn't know this until a man answers. Meanwhile, the man who "answered" the ad doesn't know he answered a personal ad. Seems like his kid sister wants him to settle down and answered the ad for him. When our couple meets they are upfront, honest, and decide to retaliate against the would-be cupids. Hero acts like he's just gotten out of jail in front of her daughter; she acts like a bimbo when she meets his sister. It begins to fall apart for me about this point. At the end of the book the daughter and sister are toasting each other, proud that their plan worked. Did I miss something? It would have been nice to know how this 15-year old and 19-year old met and came up with the plot to get the H/H together. Not nearly the best Macomber has done. l: 3/9/99 Annie/AOL

THE ACCIDENTAL ROMANCE - Elizabeth Mansfield
I really enjoyed this book. It was slow to start and you absolutely can't stand the heroine, Lucy, in the beginning. She's far too spoiled and rude, but when she starts to develop feelings for Lord Perry she begins to see her shortcomings and it quite unhappy with herself.I'm not about to give anything of the story away so I'll close by saying that Elizabeth Mansfield has a talent to get you to feel as miserable as her characters. I cried right along with Miss Lucy, and enjoyed every minute. Joelle BryrRoze@aol.com

TREACHEROUS LONGINGS - Anne Mather
HP #1759. Another story with a child the hero doesn't know about. This time the heroine is 9 years older than the hero. At the height of her movie career, Julia Stewart disappears from the limelight. For 10 years she's safely secluded on an island in the Bahamas; then she is tracked down by Quinn Marriott, the father of her child, who is doing a TV documentary on "Where Are They Now?". I love stories with the older woman/younger man plot and I've always enjoyed Mather's stories, but this one wasn't *quite* up to her usual quality. Enjoyable but not fantastic. 4/19/99

THE VIKING - Margaret Moore
HH #200. In a reading slump, I picked up THE VIKING on a whim. Einar, a Viking, raids an English village, kidnaps Meradyce and two children whom he believes to her hers and brings them to his homeland. Through her widwifery she becomes a help to the Viking women in his village but his late wife was unfaithful to him many times over and he cannot bring himself to desire the beautiful Saxon woman. Through a series of happenings he weds Meradyce, they come to love each other, he becomes reconciled with his young daughter - all of which happens in the midst of much sorrow in the village. A raid, another mass kidnapping, an escape, a small reconciliation all conclude with Einar and Meradyce being reunited. A fast-paced, very enjoyable read. I'm off to glom Ms. Moore's backlist and she will definitely be an auto-buy for me. 2/19/99

THE CRUELLEST LIE by Susan Napier
HP #1674. Pregnant Claudia's first meeting with forceful Morgan Stone, father of her friend Mark, results in her having a miscarriage. Morgan believes it to be his son's child and Claudia, in her anger and grief, blames the trauma on Morgan. Two years later they meet accidentally at the hotel where she is working. Morgan is determined to have Claudia and spares no effort in staying in her life, much to her dismay. She's wildly attracted to him but the feelings she had for him at their last meeting clash with the sensual feelings she has now. The tension between Claudia and Morgan was thick enough to cut with a knife and while the plot may be a bit too unrealistic, their sensual/sexual relationship singed the eges of the pages. I found this to be an excellent read! Hot!! 2/7/99

PHANTOM LOVER by Susan Napier
HP #1707. Honor is penfriends with Adam; his letters turn passionate and she writes in kind but soon realizes that the letters were really meant for her sister, Helen. In attempting to return his letters, retrieve her own and explain the terrible mixup, she's detained by the authorities as a possible accessory to an extortion scheme. In order to keep an eye on her, Adam brings Honor to his home where she meets his mother, 12-year old daughter, and ravishing sister-in-law. While the letter situation seemed a bit way-out, I've always loved Napier's writing style and her characters are well-drawn and her prose imminently readable but this hero blew hot/cold too randomly for me. I liked the fact that the heroine wasn't the tall, slender, beautiful woman her sister was - she was shorter, very well-rounded, and actually had cleavage! Not Napier's best work but still very good, and the love scenes towards the end of the book were worth the wait.

ALL THAT GLITTERS - Diana Palmer
This contemporary from 1995 is a yawner. No, wait a minute! Not a yawner because it's so bad you have to keep reading it just to see how bad it CAN be. I used to be a major Diana Palmer fan, oh about 15-20 years ago, but in the last years her plots and characters have not grown or evolved with the times. She seems stuck with the same mold: same kind of heroine, same kind of hero and worst, same kind of stuck-in-the-1950s mentality. ALL THAT GLITTERS is riddled with cliches - bad cliches at that - and the fascination Palmer had with her heroine's childhood of poverty, grinding poverty, rub your face in the mud kind of poverty, had me wanting to cuff the author upside the head and tell her I don't need a chronic, irritating and aggravating reminder in virtually each and every chapter that the heroine was poor. A poverty which, I feel, was no reason for her to lie to everyone she met on her way to fame, fortune and success. More cliches? I don't have enough space here to list everything I found offensive in this book.

LADY BE GOOD - Susan E. Phillips
I've been a Phillips fan for quite a while, but HEAVEN, TEXAS still remains my favorite SEP - I love Gracie with all her insecurities. LADY BE GOOD blew hot, then cold, then hot again for me and this up and down feeling I had reduced this potential 4+ read to a 3+ for me. I missed the thoroughly American feel to Phillips' novels; Lady Emma didn't hit me with the same impact as Gracie and Daisy did. Kenny Traveler was an interesting character but I know nothing about golf so that didn't interest me though the golf theme was a nice change from the football books. I enjoyed Torie & Dex and their relationship, and I'd love to see a book about Ted sometime down the road. I haven't read FANCY PANTS yet but I don't think reading LADY BE GOOD ruined FP for me. 2/15/99

SALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS - Sheila Rabe
This is one of the best books I've read in 2000. Susan Carpenter, known as "Suzi Christmas", began a tradition of decorating her home for the holidays when her husband was alive; now that's she's widowed, she keeps up the tradition but her curmudgeon of a neighbor, along with his Scrooge-like godson, are taking her to court to stop her. This is a book sans sex - imagine! a book that doesn't have to contain sex to be a winner, what a concept - but our heroine and hero, along with the secondary characters, are some of the most endearing and likeable I've read about in a long, long time. I don't want to give away anything so shall refrain from going into details about the story - but be prepared for more than one romantic story, interesting secondary characters, some very dry, funny oneliners; be prepared to laugh and cry and come away from the book with feeling really good about the world. This one shot to the top of my Keeper Shelf and will be a yearly holiday read. 12/18/00

PASSION BECOMES YOU - Michelle Reid
HP #1752. Michelle Reid is fast becoming one of my favorite Presents authors with her likeable characters, plausible stories, and sensual scenes. In this story, Jemma meets wealthy Leon Stephanades and falls instantly into deep liking with him. He proposes a no-strings affair and she agrees. A secondary plot line deals with Jemma's boss' girlfriend who becomes pregnant by him and he reacts badly - she trapped him, she should get an abortion, etc. Jemma's affair with the sexy Leon produces a pregnancy; while she's fearful Leon will think she did it deliberately, Leon surprisingly proposes marriage and sweeps her off to a honeymoon cruise to his family home in the Greek isles. But the relationship is rocky and she plans to escape from him, but the HEA comes into being. This hero is yum, yum, yum. Only in romantic fiction would you find this kind of guy. Sigh. 4/19/99

I DO, I DO...FOR NOW - JoAnn Ross
L&L #1. Love & Laughter is known for its humorous line; I've been a JoAnn Ross fan for many years, her HT's are among some of my favorite keepers, however this title falls short of the quality I expect from her. Perhaps it's the shorter format or the humor requirements of the line but this was a disappointment. Lots of silliness in the heroine's attempts at cooking which more than once started a fire. Hero was a fireman. Too cliched for words. 6/01/99

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