Friday Booktalk On a Saturday
Sep
1
2007

Yesterday was just, ugh, such a day! I wasn’t much up to getting online but I wanted to do my Friday booktalk because it’s one of my favorite things to do (I love books and I want people to read the fab things I come across)

In no particular order, on my vacation I read:

Marianne Mancusi’s Moongazer: Kudos to Dorchester for all the risks it lets its authors take with lines like Shomi. It gives me hope.

Moongazer is the second book released from the manga-esque line Shomi and it’s just as good as Liz Maverick’s Wired.

In this story, Mancusi gives us Skye, but is she Mariah? And a dimension flipping world of Terra, devastated by war and famine and those rich enough leave through Moongazing to live on Earth.

Skye gets pulled to Terra where people there think she’s a revolutionary named Mariah, including the very sexy blond who whisks her away on his hoverbike.

Mancusi delivers lots of taut action, steamy romance and excellent storytelling and I can’t say enough wonderful stuff about Moongazing so I’ll close by urging you all to get out and grab this one for yourselves.

Michelle Pillow’s Bit By the Bug: Folks if you haven’t read any of Michelle’s books you’re missing out. She writes across several genres and kicks ass at all of them. Bit By The Bug is a contemporary erotic romance.

Pillow gives us a fabulously intellectual hero (oh how I love smart men) who’s geeky and sexy all at once (not done enough and geeks are so sexy) and a smart, silly and warm heroine. Their chemistry is wonderful and tangible and the story is heartwarming as well as funny.

I loved the interactions between Kat and her sisters and also, the reality of what it’s like to be a working person who’s trying to make her dreams come true.

Kelley Armstrong’s No Humans Allowed:In this latest installment in Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series, we finally get Jamie’s story! I’ve been waiting for this one for some time and that it features Jeremy is just icing.

The overall storyline was very interesting. Jamie can see and communicate with ghosts and she’s off to Hollywood to star in a reality TV show. Jamie has issues with her mom and with her fame. She doesn’t know if she’s doing things for herself or to prove things to others. It’s a great example of Armstrong’s ability to write wonderfully three dimensional characters.

I thought the scenes between Jamie and Jeremy were wonderful and sexy and it was great to see Jeremy come out of his reserved shell in those times.

I can’t wait to see what Armstrong has for us next, I can only hope it includes a wee bit more romance (I know they’re not technically romance novels but I think her writing is so fabulous I’d love to see it!)

Sasha White’s Trouble: I’m telling you, Sasha needs to send me an ARC of Karl’s story or I’m gonna have to tackle her at RT and I know what she looks and sounds like so she can’t hide from me.

Trouble is the story of Samair and Valentine – two very unlikely people in a very unlikely romance and yet, White has the hand to make it work and she does most ably.

Her characters are vivid and three dimensional, the sex (as always) is smoking hot and Trouble is just an all around fabulously fun read. White gives us real people with jobs, real people working through personal stuff, real people trying to figure out where someone else can fit in their life when they have goals and dreams that take a lot of time and dedication. I love that. Samair is not some withering heroine who gives up everything for her man but she’s smart enough to recognize the fact that true love isn’t something that rolls up every day.

Nicely done, Sasha! (now, about that ARC…)

Kate Pearce’s Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?: I went on a bit of a Cheek binge and Kate Pearce is someone I’ve read before so I picked this one up and I’m glad I did. Keeping with the theme of working women pursuing their dreams (and this wasn’t planned it just worked out that way, LOL) – Pearce gives us the story of a man who believes strongly in marriage and the woman who is surprised to find herself married to him.

I’m wary of quickie marriage books, firstly because I’m sort of old school about marriage and also because I wonder who these feeble minded women are who marry some dude they just met are and why I’d want to read about them. I did have a bit of trouble overcoming that opening but truly, Pearce gave me two really compelling characters with Lauren and Grayson and I was able to get past my initial disbelief rather quickly.

Grayson is a fabulous hero. A man of conviction. A very old school dude without being a caveman. A man with values without being preachy or condescending. Lauren is smart and trying to overcome some heavy handed parenting to be her own person.

Together, they’re an unlikely match but one that Pearce makes convincing. I enjoyed the book a lot and I’ll definitely be back to read more of her stuff.

Charlene Teglia’s Wild Wild West: Charli’s NY debut and she’s making a big splash all over the place with fabulous reviews! Charli is one of the hardest working, dedicated authors I know so it’s nice to see her getting the kudos she’s worked so hard for.

Is it just me or does the woman on the cover look like Six from BSG? It works for me, LOL! Anyway, three steamy novellas, three hot and sexy cowboys, the american west in a modern setting – how can you lose?

I’m about 1/3 into The Midnight Hour by Patti O’Shea and loving it! I can’t wait to finish it. I’m also in the beginning of Richard Morgan’s Thirteen and it’s beautiful and arresting but it’s a slower read for me because I have to pay very close attention to everything and there’s so much intensity of detail. There’s a lot more on my TBR pile including a huge passel of ebooks. I’ll talk about those next week!

4 comments to “Friday Booktalk On a Saturday”

  1. Michelle M Pillow
    September 2nd, 2007 at 11:05 am · Link

    Ah! Thanks! What a nice blog hopping surprise this morning to find.

    😀



  2. Charlene
    September 2nd, 2007 at 11:51 am · Link

    I have Michelle’s Along For The Ride. Whee! No Humans Allowed is on my TBR shelf, too, and I can’t believe I’ve left it untouched so long. And Shomi? I am so thrilled with what this line is doing.

    I’m so glad you enjoyed Wild Wild West! And now I’m going to look at the cover again to see if she *does* look like Six…



  3. Cathy
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:05 pm · Link

    A couple I have read and totally agree with and a couple new books I can add to my wish list. thanks lauren



  4. Kate Pearce
    September 5th, 2007 at 9:28 pm · Link

    Cool!
    so glad I googled myself today and found your comments on ‘Cowboys’! I agree with you about the hasty marriage plot -I just really wanted to see if I could make one work-and have an old-fashioned hero in a very erotic romance!
    I have another book out later this year about Grayson’s brother, Jay called ‘Roping the Wind’
    Thank you and have a great day!
    Kate