Romance_Bookclub's Romance Reading Challenge

Romance_bookclub at yahoogroups is sponsoring a reading challenge for members. I always like to see what the categories are and since I can participate pretty easily from my own shelves, I always jump aboard. Here is this year's challenge (and each category must be filled by a different book):

1. Read the first book in a romance series: Barely a Bride by Rebecca Hagan Lee

2. Read a romance originally published in 2007: Web of Love by Mary Balogh

3. Read a romance by an author whose LAST name starts with the same letter as YOUR FIRST name starts with: Romeo Romeo by Robin Kaye

4. Read a second chance at love romance (reunited lovers): Baby Don’t Go by Susan Andersen

Review: Barely a Bride by Rebecca Hagan Lee

A Regency-set historical romance featuring a marriage of convenience is nothing new. A hero who has sworn not to marry until duty forces it of him is also nothing new. A heroine who is unlike the other girls of the ton, wanting to have the freedom to pursue her own interests is, you guessed it, still nothing new. And yet Lee has managed to create a rather charming story with these common elements.

Griffin and his cronies at school formed the Free Fellows League vowing to not only stay unmarried as long as possible but to never let a wife interfere with their desire to serve their country or to worm her way into their hearts. To this effect, they drew up a contract and each signed it. Fast forward years to a short time after Griffin has accepted a commission in the Guard to go and fight Napoleon. His father, the Earl of Weymouth, demands that he marry and at least attempt to sire an heir before he goes off to be shot at. Griffin gives in to this request unwillingly but he eventually meets and appreciates Alyssa, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Carrington, who is completely uninterested in marriage and all its trappings. Alyssa just wants to be left in peace to design and care for gardens but her parents are determined to marry her off. She and Griffin have an immediate attraction. She has no objection to the idea of her new bridegroom heading off to war and he has a large neglected garden in need of rejuvenation. A match just waiting to be made. A large part of the book deals not only with the two of them getting to the altar, but also with them learning all about each other in the brief space of their two week marriage. They find that they have been serendipitous in their choice of each other both in terms of physical attraction but also in their similar thinking. And then Griffin goes off to war, experiences the horrors he never imagined, and realizes that he only wants to go home and love and be loved by his wife. But love was never in the bargain they made.

It was refreshing to read a story where the conflict between the characters was not an issue of misunderstanding or lack of communication. And although neither character wants to admit to their love for the other because of the Free Fellows' pledge (which Alyssa is not supposed to know about but does), their hearts are always obvious. The Free Fellows' League was a bit of a silly conceit but perhaps there's more substance to it in the following two books of the trilogy. Also, the charter itself was a bit sophisticated in understanding for boys of their age and would have been more likely to come from almost teens but that's a negligible complaint. I was pleased to see that the villain in this book was not a cut and dried villain and one who did not wish either the hero or heroine bodily or emotional harm and who actually turned out to be a decent guy. The fact that Lee neatly sidesteps many of the common plot devices found in Regency-set romances these days made this an enjoyable read.

Review: Romeo Romeo by Robin Kaye

Rosalie has just escaped from the family dinner where her Italian mama has been haranguing her to get married and have babies when she has a flat tire. She also has no spare. Furiously cursing her luck and her brother (who was supposed to have gotten her a spare), she is kicking the car when a wrecker pulls over to help her. Nick is gorgeous and charming and despite herself, Rosalie finds her hormones at attention. They spar all the way to her house and somehow end up with a date scheduled. What Nick doesn't tell Rosalie though, is that he is really Dominick Romeo, wealthy car dealer, not just Nick the mechanic.

And after their first date, it seems impossible to tell her who he really is. Not only is it refreshing to him to be wanted for himself rather than his money, but as a kid he was friends with Rosalie's older brother and the two of them were arrested together. The good news is that both Rosalie and Nick are completely against marriage, for different reasons, and they agree to keep their relationship monogamous but not serious. When it is no longer fun for one or the other, they will walk away with no hurt feelings. Of course, neither of them realize that real true love is creeping up on them. And it is complicated by Nick's subterfuge about who he is (although Rosalie knows) as well as by the fact that he is the person who had been dropping rumors about the uncertain financial position of the dealership Roaslie has just been retained to turn around and make successful again (Rosalie doesn't know this bombshell).

This contemporary romance has some pretty steamy sex scenes in it. It also has some pretty entertaining scenes in the bosom of Roaslie's nutjob family. The secondary characters really help to move the plot along and inject some levity into the story. Rosalie's reason for not wanting love and marriage is understandable but Nick's is rather sillier, highlighting a blind spot in his character that wasn't necessary. Watching Nick be stymied by a woman who is everything he purports to want (independent, casual, natural, and uninterested in anything more emotionally binding than sex) is pretty entertaining. Their chemistry is believable and with the exception of one stereotypical and unneccessary plot twist at the end, the storyline cooks along of its own accord. This is a fun romp of a romance and fans of contemporaries will thoroughly enjoy it.

Review: The Reluctant Bride by Leigh Greenwood

I don't generally gravitate towards western set historical romances. Cowboys do not make my little heart go pit-a-pat. But every now and again, I dip back into the sub-genre to see if things have changed for me at all. Unfortunately, the answer, as of this reading, is still no.

Tanzy escaped from her Kentucky mountain home after her whole family died feuding with neighbors. Once she was left defenseless, her uncle planned to marry her off to her horrible cousin. Instead she fled to St. Louis where the only work she could find was in a gambling hall, not the place for a respectable girl. And so on the advice of another girl, she becomes a mail order bride, traveling out to Colorado Territory to marry Russ Tibbolt. Her first sight of him is when he defends the stagecoach against bandits and she feels a frisson of something for him even then. So it is a shock to her to hear that he is persona non-grata in the small western town.

In his youth, he was convicted of murdering the town leader's younger brother and although the conviction was a set-up, he did his time and has come back to Boulder Gap to resume his life. Too bad the townsfolk, led by Stocker Pullet, won't let him, continuing to believe Stocker's assertion that Russ is a liar and a murderer. No matter what Tanzy thinks about the man she somehow knows is decent, she refuses to be caught up in another feud so she isn't willing to marry him. Staying in town and starting to work as the local teacher, she comes to see the best in Russ and in a young boy, Tardy, whose aunt continually degrades and demeans him. When Tanzy's background is called into question and she loses the teaching job, she ends up out on Russ's ranch where she falls farther and farther in love with him and determines to clear his name somehow.

While the plot is intriguing, there's a lot of wishy-washy bits where we hear Tanzy and Russ disagree about the nature of the "feud" and whether or not it should be an impediment to their marriage. Add to that Russ's ingrained distrust of women and lack of respect for their opinions and you have a recipe for disaster. Even worse, Tanzy seems to finally understand that it's not a feud but almost immediately does an about face and becomes stupid over the subject again and Russ realizes that Tanzy is an honorable adn trustworthy woman but then turns right around and completely discounts her opinion again. Argh! Both she and Russ are fairly sympathetic characters but there wasn't much of a spark to speak of between the two of them. They'd have done better to partner in opening a home for wayward boys. OK, not really, but this felt entirely too long and drawn out, especially since it was not only clear who was framing Russ for cattle rustling but also how right from the beginning (and this was not carelessness on the author's part as he tells the reader). And so there was no suspense to speak of, lackluster sexual tension, and ubiquitous misunderstandings between characters here. I might have been more forgiving if this had occurred in a romance set in a time and place for which I have more fondness, but perhaps not. As I understand it, fans of western romances really love Greenwood though I did not.

Review: Mastering the Marquess by Vanessa Kelly

In this Regency-set historical romance, Meredith's Burnley must take her sickly sister and flee her awful uncle's plans to marry her off to her cousin. But this plan is complicated. Meredith's sister is actually a half-sister and their reception at Annabel's grandparents' home is uncertain as her mother had been disowned for marrying Meredith's father. And no one knows how far their uncle will go to try and marry the nearly connectionless Meredith to his son while they wait to see if Annabel's grandfather will ever accept his granddaughter. Meanwhile, Annabel's grandmother has cooked up a scheme whereby her nephew, the Marquess of Silverton, will marry Annabel and mend the family rift. But Stephen is drawn to Meredith and vice versa. The evil uncle will not be denied and matters come to a head, in love and in war.

When I need a happily ever after, I turn to romances, knowing I will get my wish and this one delivered on that desire, as expected. The writing was fine but the plot was not terribly memorable, echoing so many other books in so many small and large ways. Most genre work has stock characters or situations and this one was no exception. I have to admit I am somewhat jaded by the "just in time" rescue from a kidnapping and of the one-dimensional evil character masquerading as a slightly off-putting generally upstanding person. But in asking for a certain outcome, I hav signed on to some of these cliches and I guess I should accept that. I can sacrifice unique for the desired predictability if I get a few hours of entertainment from the book and this one provided me with that. All in all, it was what I wanted.

Review: The Viscount's Bride by Ann Elizabeth Cree

A Regency-set historical romance, this book is fairly substantially different than the back cover copy describes. I only mention this because I think other readers, like me, expect books to have more than a passing resemblance to their jacket copy and this one comes perilously close to nto doing so. It is also a sequel, although that is not noted on the book and a lack of knowledge of the previous story did leave me at a bit of a disadvantage, although as is the case with most romances written today, it stood alone well enough aside from a few references to backstory. This is the story of Chloe, who is visiting her late brother's wife and her new husband at teh same time Brandt, Lord Salcombe, her chief nemesis. She spends much of her time during the visit either sparring a little peevishly with Brandt or trying to determine if the local lord, who is a safe and friendly sort, is the man for her. When Chloe's guardian writes to tell her of his plans to marry her off to a disgusting, old reprobate, Chloe decides that the time has come to force Sir Preston's hand and she manages to find herself in a compromising situation with him, not that any sparks fly or that anything untoward happens. At this point a whole comedy of errors ensues, leading to Chloe's engagement not to Sir Preston but to Brandt, Lord Salcombe, who might turn out to be the perfect man for her in the end. The story is a light and fluffy bit of fleeting entertainment that didn't turn out to be terribly memorable as I had to flip back through the book in order to write this review. I didn't love the immature heroine who went from self-involved to consciously caring of others' feelings in the space of a paragraph and I wondered at the chemistry between the main characters. Not the best romance I've read but not the worst either.