Thursday, September 22, 2016

That Mistletoe Moment --Anthology

A Boyfriend by Christmas by Cat Johnson
Noelle has been dating the boy next door, George, for the past five years. This Thanksgiving, she's sure that he's going to propose. Probably at Christmas. But that doesn't stop her from checking out the cute guy who has the last two bags of cranberries and offers her one. And then her boyfriend announces that he really doesn't ever see them getting married. So she breaks up with him. Too bad her family is pressuring her so much to get married. Good news, her sister has gotten her a trial for this new app that lets you pretend that you have a boyfriend. You can great photos, get texts, and just go along your merry way. Except that Noelle accidentally texted  cute grocery guy instead of the app.
Nathan is totally fine with that. He's not even weirded out that a woman he met once is inviting her to her family's Christmas Eve party. They figure out the mistake pretty fast and then hop into bed. And then into love.

Two and a half stars

All I Want for Christmas... by Kate Angell
Daniel Hayes is a super-rich guy who employs a personal shopper. Well, he used to but she fell in love with him and it ended up being an issue. So now he's down to three interviewees.  And because of the last gal, he only wants women who are in a relationship. So Riley uses the app. Then she finds out each of the candidates is going to buy him a gift and the one who chooses best will be the woman he hires. Okay. What is this premise? Then pile a snowstorm where they get caught together... Oh, and Riley is all "Christmas, Yay!" and melts his frozen heart. yay.

Two stars

Her Favorite Present by Allyson Charles
Oh. And then there's the owner of the app. The one who thinks that all of his clients are losers. The one whose best friend and other employees dare him to meet one of their clients and see if he still thinks they're losers. So he meets this girl, under false pretenses, has whiplash changing his mind but then has to convince her that he's in love.
Ick.
This might have been a better story if we had seen more character development that just isn't available in an anthology.

Two stars.

Overall Two stars
This book comes out September 27

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Christmas at Designers’ Homes Across America by Katharine Kaye McMillan & Patricia Hart McMillan

Christmas at Designers' Homes Across America by Katharine McMillanDo NOT buy this as an ebook. The font is small and the pictures are often hard to see on a small screen. I have a feeling that this is stunning as a coffee-table book though, of course, I can't judge it that way at the moment.
Was this book good? It was interesting. I really enjoyed voyeur-ing into peoples Christmas homes. And these homes were beautiful. Just perfectly prepped for the holidays.
What are the other reasons for only three stars? There are a lot of adjectives in this book. A lot. A LOT. And I get that a design book needs adjectives but it feels like someone sat down with a thesaurus and then regurgitated it. Also, not all of the pics are Christmas-y. There's a small percentage that are just home pictures. Is that to show that not every inch of a designer's home is decorated? I'm just not sure.

This book comes out September 28
Three and a half stars

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis

Okay, the first book in this series, though by one of my favorite authors, just wasn't up to Ms. Shalvis' usual level of snuffiness. And I have to admit, the preview for this book wasn't making me any less nervous about the series. In the preview, we learned that Willa Davis, pet shop owner, was to be the next heroine. And her hero? A guy who had stood her up in high school (duh duh duh duh) and doesn't remember her now (duh duh DUH!) Too bad he needs her help. She'd refuse but she's nicer than me and has a soft heart for the kitty that Keane is watching for his sick great-aunt.
The Trouble with Mistletoe (Heartbreaker Bay, #2)The dance between these two was fantastic. And when Keane told Willa that he didn't want to save her <swoon>.
And then.
And then.
One last Big Misunderstanding. I am NOT understanding this misstep by Shalvis. It is just so ham-handed and one of the characters seems to completely step off the path that s/he had been moving in. And then there was ANOTHER little misunderstanding. Like, why? why? So disappointing. It immediately dropped the book down from 4 1/2 to 3 1/2 stars. There's a lot of time before this book hits the shelves and I'm hoping a good editor will fix this before the book actually comes out (I read the book in May).

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 27

Monday, September 19, 2016

Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare

Do You Want to Start a Scandal (Spindle Cove, #5)Oh God. This book was mostly fabulous. The wit and charm of A Week to be Wicked was very evident in this book and Dare ties together two of her series with the sister of Minerva from AWTBW and the brother from Say Yes to the Marquess. But then. There is the Incident. About three quarters of the way through the book. I hated it. Other readers may, may find it charming but I found it out of character for Piers. And I didn't think that the description of trying to figure out "who did whom in the library" really came through in this book. Loved the characters. Loved the plot (mostly) and I think regular Dare readers will feel the same.
Charlotte Highwood is the youngest of three sisters whose mother was desperate to marry them off. One of her sisters married a viscount amid great scandal and her other sister married a blacksmith. Charlotte has seen from both that the true measure of a marriage isn't from how much a woman can get, but how much she can be loved. Which is why she's so vexed that she's caught alone in the library with Lord Granville, especially since she was trying to warn him about her mother's matchmaking.
For his part, Piers is instantly captivated. Yes, he's supposed to be at this house party to discover whether his host is fit for a government position but Charlotte is more important. How can he win her to be his own when she's so obsessed with finding the lovers and thus freeing herself of their engagement?
I wish we had seen the bratty Frances get her comeuppance (or will we discover in future books that she was just protecting her sister, Delia?) and I'm hoping that we also get to see Delia, Charlotte's best friend, find true love.
Four stars
This book comes out September 27

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The Unromantic Lady by Lucy Gordon

I generally enjoyed this re-issue of a 1996 book (I like the new cover much better) but the ending really killed it for me. It was a book with fairly low-level drama until the end when it suddenly got ramped up rather needlessly. I feel like this was rather typical of historical categories but I honestly wasn't really reading those at the time so it's a vague sort of notion.
The Unromantic LadyDiantha is a major heiress who has all sorts of fortune hunters who are after her money, even though she's only <gulp> one generation removed from having earned it. But her mother's family is posh so the most needy gentleman are willing to overlook her background. Too bad she can't be tricked into marriage because she doesn't believe in love. In fact, the man who finally manages to convince her is Rex, the one man who also doesn't believe in love. Rather, he puts the marriage to her as a sort of business deal. And those are terms she can accept. They deal rather well together, even her mild flirtations cause no Big Misunderstandings (so refreshing!). There are some rather nice subplots with marriages of love that start to have both characters questioning their earlier stance and then... Big Misunderstanding! Drama! And... le sigh. This may not be a deal breaker for others but it dropped the book a full star for me.

Three stars
This book came out September 5

Radical Beauty by Deepak Chopra, Kimberly Snyder

Radical Beauty by Deepak ChopraThis was a really well-written book and a nice collaboration. The thoughts about setting up beauty as pillars is very reminiscent of yogic principles and made a lot of sense. I really enjoyed the in-depth discussion of GMOs and the break out sections were fairly useful. An easy read that was well-edited. I liked the mention of moving in ways that weren't forward and the inclusion of some mantras.
But. There was a lot of repetition from other books (including a lot of references to said previously written books; it was really irritating, why add ads for your other publications?), and not a ton of new information if you know anything about Ayurveda, enjoy reading about yoga and healthy living in general, or have read either of these two authors other materials. Other irritations included the sheer number of ways they told us that veggies were super important (repetition within the book!). I got it the first 56 times. Did we really need it again? And, quite frankly, it sent me running for some chocolate. There were a few points that contradicted themselves like telling us naps were bad and then recommending naps in the grass. And there were just so. many. things to follow. I just to see how the average person is supposed to do them all.

Three stars
This book comes out September 20

Monday, September 12, 2016

A Proposal to Die For by Vivian Conroy

A Proposal to Die For by Vivian ConroyLady Alkmene Callender is a bit ahead of her time. She's wanting to do more with her life than just sit at home while her father travels the world searching for rare plants. And she gets her chance when she overhears a man proposing to someone but being told that the woman's uncle would never approve. There is a joke that she could marry whomever she pleases when the old man passes away. Lady Alkmene then meets the woman, American actress Evelyn Steinbeck. But, she doesn't meet her for very long. instead, she spends some time talking to her hostess, the Countess of Vivienne, and learns that Evelyn and her uncle were at the theater when a young man came and caused a scene.
It will come as no surprise to mystery readers that the uncle is killed two days later. Alkmene immediately jumps to the conclusion that it was murder and decides to head out and discover if anyone else feels the same. She encounters the countess sitting with a young man who ends up being a reporter. Or a private detective. Either way, he has a lot of contempt for the aristocracy. But he allows Alkmene to tag along because he thinks there something to this issue as well. It's an adventure that's going to take Alkmene out of London and out of her everyday life.
This was definitely a first book. The characters felt fuzzy around the edges, like she was still trying to figure out who they were. And the story is also a bit scattered with story threads not really weaving in smoothly. The author mentions that she did a lot of online research to get clothes and cars, etc. right but the tone... I just finished a mystery actually written in the '20s and the language was SO different. There were so many words and phrases that were just too modern and kept pulling me out of the story.
An okay story but I probably won't keep reading the series.

Three stars
This book comes out September 19
Followed by Diamonds of Death