Clickbait by E.J. Russell

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Clickbait book coverClickbait is the sequel to Lost in Geeklandia, which I previously enjoyed (and reviewed). I loved Lost in Geeklandia for its heroine, Charlie, a super-smart but slightly awkward data geek. Gideon is her supportive roommate in that book, and Clicklandia is his own story.

In the first book, Gideon clearly has a lot of personality, though I admit I found him a little annoying. I continued to find him slightly annoying in Clickbait, but only a little and it didn’t keep me from enjoying the book. This is partially because the other hero, Alex, was very likable, a big contrast.

Gideon has a lot of room for growth. He’s fairly shallow and obsessed with image in who he dates and in how he dresses (among other categories). He only wants to date men who meet his high intellectual standards. He is a web developer, and while he doesn’t require his dates to be technical, they have to be objectively successful in the white-collar world. He’s also in a bit of a bind, as he’s a freelancer without work. He ends up taking an impossible job that involves building up a network and a server room, physical work he’s not really used to, although he can do it. The carrot on the stick is that if he can finish it fast enough, he will get a gig designing the company’s web site, which is what he really wants to do.

Alex is much more easily sympathetic. He’s a blue-collar guy who does drywall, electrical work, stuff like that. We already know he’s never going to measure up to Gideon’s standards. He’s also dealing with family issues—his father is suffering from debilitating and heartbreaking dementia (to the point he no longer recognizes his family, as he’s stuck about 20 years in the past). Alex’s sister, who is also Gideon’s roommate, is not handling their father’s decline well. She’s in denial about what it is, thinking it can improve.

Alex met Gideon a couple years earlier at a party and has had a crush on him ever since. Gideon has no idea he exists, until they run into each other in Gideon’s apartment, where Alex is started some remodeling work. They have a relatively unpleasant exchange, accompanied by some clear physical attraction, however. Gideon doesn’t think much about it until they run into each other again—on the job site. It turns out that the company Alex works for is doing simultaneous work there while Gideon builds the network.

There are a lot of obstacles to overcome, mostly for Gideon. He has to get over his snobbery and his aversion to the dementia (he has a big fear of becoming intellectually incapacitated). There’s also an issue with Alex’s size (he’s a big guy) being intimidating to the much smaller Gideon. Then, Alex has to deal with his family situation and get his sister on board with a treatment plan for their father. He’s also got to make time for himself, so he can actually date Gideon.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and found the characters engaging and believable, even if Gideon himself wasn’t always someone I’d want to be friends with in real life. The attraction was realistic and it culminated in a satisfying ending. On top of that, I appreciated the slight geeky bent of the story. Russell added technical terms at the beginning of each chapter, which was fun and added to the feel of it (yet not in a way that would distract readers uninterested in it).

Rainshadow Road (Friday Harbor #2) by Lisa Kleypas

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Rainshadow Road book coverAfter reading the book 3 in this series, I went back and read the first one, which is a short novel set around Christmas-time featuring another Nolan brother (Mark). I enjoyed it so I got the whole series. Book 2 is about Sam Nolan and Lucy Marinn and is also set in the small town of Friday Harbor on an island off the Washington coast. Book 3 takes place at basically the same time this one does.

Despite being about one of the brothers, this book is really Lucy’s story. The first fifth of the book is all from her perspective, giving us her backstory, which starts when she was very young because we have to learn about her very crummy and spoiled younger sister. This matters because it’s who her lame-o boyfriend is cheating with right before the book starts. But we also learn that she can do something a little magical with glass, both in the literal sense and the metaphorical sense (she’s a successful glass artist). The first thing we get in the today storyline is him breaking up with her and asking her to move out.

She meets Sam right afterward, and though they’re interested in each other, she naturally says no when he asks her out. Then we start getting Sam’s story. Sam’s a good-time guy but he’s helping to raise his 6-year-old niece, who Mark got guardianship of when their sister was killed, as told in book 1. So we know Sam’s a good guy because he’s a very good Uncle Sam to Holly. Sam and Lucy also run into each other some more and he’s encouraging her to sublet Mark’s old studio apartment. They decide to not get involved with each other because they know he’s not available for anything serious. Then she’s in a bicycle accident that bangs her up pretty good and breaks her leg (technically it’s not broken but it might as well be).

This is where the book gets a little odd for me, because somehow Lucy’s friend convince Sam to take care of her in his house for the first three days she’s out of the hospital, when she’s supposed to be bedridden. And for some reason, they decide she needs to have multiple showers while she’s there. I mean, most people wouldn’t bother until they could move on their own. There are lots of other opportunities for them to get close, which they do, and at one point they almost have sex but are interrupted. This whole part was a little hard to accept, but I was able to suspend disbelief enough to get through it, because other than the strange pretense, their growing relationship was fun to watch.

It takes a long time for Sam to realize he loves Lucy, though she figures out that she loves him a lot sooner. One thing that made me happy about this book was that Lucy had a great opportunity that would take her away from the island, and they figure out a way to make that work. She doesn’t have to give up the greatest move her career has seen just to stay with him.

Portland

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I’m currently in Portland, Oregon, doing a little research for my books. They are set in Portland, which is a little weird since before Thursday, I’d never been there. There is a reason for the setting, however (otherwise I would have set them in Seattle (actually the Eastside), where I live). Portland has a really strong music scene, which matters in book 3. That fact is a little funny, since I came of age worshipping the Seattle music scene… but whatever. Portland works for the series.

A friend of mine came with me on Thursday night and we’ll go back Monday. Our first 24 hours were interesting. On the train there was a guy wearing socks but no shoes who just starting belting out “Amazing Grace,” until the conductor asked him to stop. Then, after we got off the train, one of those carts drove up and offered us a ride to the front of the station (my friend walks with a cane), singing guy somehow got in the cart with us. He sat next to me—joy—and rambled on in a low enough voice that I couldn’t really hear, except for nonsensical snippets. He offered to help my friend tip the driver by holding out random pieces of paper to her. Then we took a (literally) 5-minute taxi ride that the driver charged us $20 for, even though the meter said $6. Somehow in the moment, I wasn’t paying full attention because of my friend, and our stuff, and the fact that the motel looked closed and it was 10 pm, and I just gave him the twenty when he asked. So if you’re in Portland and you’re in a Broadway taxi and the driver’s name is something Quranni, give him the evil eye for me. The next morning, we were waiting for the streetcar and this guy overheard my friend telling this story about someone thinking she was crazy, and he came up and said, “Did I hear you say something about crazy?!” He laughed. “I’m not crazy, I’m just discombobulated! I haven’t had my first espresso today!” Then the streetcar came and we figured out how to validate our tickets and sat down—and sat there for another 15 minutes because there was a wreck just in front of the streetcar so we were stuck until they moved it.

Things normalized a little after that, but we have had the weirdest agenda because this is mostly a research trip. First—of course—we went to Powell’s, the famous giant bookstore. It’s pretty amazing—a department store of nothing but books. It’s three stories of an entire street block. I was proud of myself for only spending $114, until I went back and bought a t-shirt, too. No sales tax here, though, which is nice. We ate at this burger place, which was notable mostly because my friend dropped her water glass on her plate and two employees descended almost instantaneously to clean it up. That was Friday. We were lazy after that and went back to the hotel instead of doing something else.

Then on Saturday, we went to Milwaukie, because that’s where my hero and heroine live in the first book. I was able to find some good pictures of the library where my heroine takes her son a few times, but none showed the lower floor, which is the children’s library. Obviously I needed to go there, so we did. I made a map of the children’s section (I didn’t take any pictures because there were kids down there and I figured nobody would appreciate that…).

ledding library map
I have a future as an architect, huh?

I snapped a picture of the fountain that’s out front, too.

ledding library fountain

After that, we went to this restaurant in NE Portland called Bollywood Theatre because that’s where characters in my second book go. It’s an interesting place—it offers Mumbai street food in an eclectic setting. We got some good stuff there. I’m glad I went, because although I found great pictures online and was able to write the scene, there were a couple details I picked up that I can use.

bollywood theatre restaurant

bollywood theatre food
Yum

Then we went to a famous ice cream shop next door called Salt & Straw. They had some pretty wild flavors (green fennel and maple, fresh herbs sherbet, strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper…). I wasn’t that brave—I got honey lavender and my friend got carrot cake batter and hazelnut praline. There was an interesting guy on the corner playing guitar while wearing a full head skull mask. I don’t know why. Maybe because Portland?

portland guitar guy

Sunday afternoon, we went on a little river cruise with brunch. It’s not currently in any of my books, but I’m thinking of putting it in one of them. My cruise definitely wasn’t romantic, but theirs could be. There was a pianist playing constantly and occasionally she and some of the staff would sing some super old crooner songs (Doris Day, Engelbert Humperdinck, …). Something kind of funny I saw was a little herb garden hanging off the rail on the back of the ship.

boat herb garden

Anyway, that was my exciting research trip.

Simply Irresistible (Chinooks Hockey Team #1) by Rachel Gibson

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Simply Irresistible book coverI think I’ve mentioned before that I’m relatively new to romance. Most women who’ve been reading it have been doing so since they were kids, but I only started a couple years ago. I’ve embraced it fully, but most of the canon is still new to me. So I’m reviewing another old book, because she was one of the first authors I read and she hooked me into the entire series and some of her others, too.

Rachel Gibson writes very strong alpha heroes, which isn’t my favorite type. However, she does it really well and I consistently enjoy her books even if I wouldn’t be able to stand the hero in real life (never mind that he wouldn’t have the time of day for me, either). I also would never have expected to enjoy sports romances, as I’m not into sports, either. However, Sarina Bowen taught me that a good hockey story is a little addictive.

So I came into Gibson’s first novel in a series centered around players on the fictitious Seattle Chinooks Hockey team a little unsure—would she be able to pull off the sporty, alpha in a way I could appreciate?

Yep. Despite some faults, I had trouble putting this book down.

In this secret baby/enemies-to-lovers tale, Georgeanne Howard flees her fiancé, the uber-wealthy owner of the Seattle Chinooks, the day of their wedding. One of the team’s players, John Kowalsky, inadvertently helps her get away. He takes her to his beach house so she can regroup and come up with a plan. This is the low point of her life, after all—she has no clothes except a tight dress and only 7 dollars in her wallet. Yet this is a romance novel, so it’s not surprising that they end up in bed together.

Georgie is young and naive, and she instantly falls for him. He, on the other hand, wants to stay out of trouble with the team owner, so he buys her a plane ticket back to Texas. She’s had a tough life with some kind of learning disability and has grown up thinking the only thing she can do is cook well and be friendly and charming. And she decides she doesn’t want to go back to her crappy life. So she stays in Seattle, landing a job at a catering firm (due to her cooking expertise, fortunately) and slowly working her way up until she’s a successful caterer herself. The only hitch: she got pregnant on the night with John, and she doesn’t tell him about their daughter, Lexie.

Seven years later, he finds out about Lexie, and he’s understandably pissed (even though it’s also somewhat understandable—though clearly wrong—that Georgie never told him). She reluctantly lets John into Lexie’s life, although she worries about his influence. But as it turns out, he adores Lexie and they get along very well.

Okay, so this book isn’t perfect. Georgie and John fight a lot and he really is a jerk for most of the book. He’s crude and rude in general, as well as specifically to Georgie. He sometimes tries to be better, but they still fight a lot, and that’s an issue I sometimes have with the enemies-to-lovers trope—are the things that were done and said during the enemy phase truly forgivable? I’m not entirely sure here, but I do believe Georgie forgave him. Also, Georgie thinking she’s fat at tall and 140 lbs. gets old. I mean, I know that’s the way it is, but still, annoying.

Gibson writes good characters, in the sense of being well-drawn and very distinct from each other. The dialogue is great and Georgie’s southern-inspired monologues (which John calls rambling and which drive him crazy when they first meet) are funny and fairly true-to-reality. Why use five words when you can do it with twenty? Gibson’s books also feature lots of palpable sexual tension that delivers when it should. I suppose these are the things that drew me into the story despite several potential issues for me.

For a Good Time Call… (Bluewater Bay #17) by Anne Tenino and E.J. Russell

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For a Good Time Call... book coverThis book is part of the Bluewater Bay (mm) series from Riptide Publishing, and it’s my first foray into the series. The series has an interesting premise—a Hollywood crew sets up residence in an old logging town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington to film a popular TV show about shifters. This particular book features Nate, who’s on the show crew, and Seth, a local bartender.

The book’s a definite slow burn, as a friendship turns into a relationship, even though the attraction is there from the beginning, at least on Seth’s side. Nate, on the other hand, is “grace”—or gray asexual, which means (basically, and in this case) that he’s rarely sexually attracted to people, and has to develop a sense of closeness with someone first. In Nate’s case, that’s only happened a couple times before, and each turned into a long-term relationship. His most recent one ended after his boyfriend cheated, so he’s still recovering from that. He’s also got other baggage in the form of a strained relationship with his mom.

Seth’s got his own baggage. He’s got a complicated family. It’s one of the oldest in town and consequently his family is a part of all the early town stories, and his uncle in particular wants to protect their image. At the beginning of the novel, he’s living on and taking care of the grounds of the “big house,” as it were—where his grandmother still lives, even though she very much wants to move. Somehow, Seth’s grandfather set up his trust so that his father and uncle are in charge of the house and her money in general, and they refuse to let her sell it. Seth’s sort of in the middle of finding himself, so he’s starting a new job as a bartender.

The night before Seth’s new job, he meets Nate and after some confusion about intentions, a friendship begins. They bond over town history, of all things—Nate’s into local history and Seth is local history, so it works out. I also have to mention that it’s totally dorky, but I enjoyed it anyway. Between the two of them, they send the family into upheaval, which is good for all the good guys—Seth, his grandma (who’s great), and Seth’s dad. Plus, of course, Nate—once they finally work things out.

As mentioned, it’s a slow build, but the main characters are well-drawn, there are enough subplots going on to keep things interesting, and I enjoyed the grace angle (many people will appreciate that making it into another book). Also, there’s a dog. The book’s not super-sexy, so don’t look for that (though it’s definitely far from sweet). Give this one a chance if you’re looking for a nice mm romance or even if you’re just curious about gray asexuality. I’ll definitely be checking out some of the other books in the series.

Him and Us by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

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Him book coverThese two mm books comprise the Him series and although they are both standalones, once you read Him, you’ll want to read Us to see how the whole story ends. Or okay, let’s be real—we know how it ends, but what sort of problems will they face and how will they deal with them?

Both books star Ryan Wesley (Wes) and Jamie Canning, two men who were best friends throughout their teen years. In Him, we learn that they spent summers at a hockey camp. But Wes held a secret during those years—he already knew he was gay and had a massive crush on Jamie. An incident when they were 18 stretched their relationship and Wes pulled away from Jamie, thinking that Jamie was as straight as could be. Jamie never knew what the problem was and they both missed each other, but didn’t have contact through college. When they reconnect at the same hockey camp just after college, Wes knows he’s never stopped wanting Jamie, even though Jamie’s oblivious—and still clearly straight, to Wes’s mind.

Us book coverBut the lines aren’t clear for Jamie, after all, as he discovers when he and Wes get assigned to the same room. He soon finds himself confusingly attracted to Wes, and comes to the realization that he’s bi. This is nice because there aren’t a whole lot of bi characters out there—often it’s more, “oh, I’m discovering I’m gay after all these years,” which is fine but not always realistic. Also, bi people are sometimes treated as deviant by both the gay and straight sets (even the open-minded ones) so it’s good to see them normalized.

Wes is NHL-bound and focused on that. As much as he loves Jamie, he doesn’t think Jamie will stick around for the long haul. Also, he doesn’t want his love life to get in the way of his career, especially as if it got out, it would make him the first openly gay man in the NHL. Still, that fling brings us loads of sexytimes. Bowen and Kennedy can really write those steamy scenes, full of emotion. Both Jamie and Wes are well-developed and deep characters and there’s definitely more to the book than the sex.

So, what starts off as a temporary summer fling turns into something deeper in Him, which is fine for an HFN, which is how it felt to me. But it’s still not entirely clear how—or if—that will turn into an HEA. Us clarifies that.

Us takes us to Canada, where Wes’s NHL career is starting. Jamie lands a job coaching hockey to teens up there, foregoing the minors for a coaching career. He ends up living with Wes and although everything is great in the apartment, outside it’s hard on both of them because they have to pretend to be just buddies. The stress manifests differently in both of them yet results, basically, in lots of self-doubt and bad communication. Add in Blake, Wes’s annoying teammate who lives upstairs and inserts himself into their lives, which cuts into their together time.

So things are rough. Eventually something jumps in to add even more strain to their relationship, and they get outed. They love each other, but it becomes clear that relationships can be hard. Fortunately, they figure this out and how to work through it all, and we’re left with a definitive HEA with Us.

Plus, we’ve become well-acquainted with Blake, who’s already got his own book. He was definitely annoying in the beginning but grows on you a little (if not a lot).

Anyway, I recommend them if you like hot books with hot men—even if it’s your first mm, you’ll probably like them. Both have loads of good reviews and Him was a RITA winner, after all, so lots of people think they’re great.

The Fixer (Games People Play #1) by HelenKay Dimon

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The Fixer book coverI was new to HelenKay Dimon with this book. This is another romantic suspense recommended at RT, this time for its strong heroine. So again I delved into the romantic suspense genre.

Emery Finn is definitely strong. She’s not afraid of confronting a man who clearly thinks of himself as in control. She’s not totally stupid about it—arming herself with a bat when she goes to see what he thinks he’s doing by sitting in a car watching her apartment.

Now, the fact that Wren is watching is a little creepy, it’s true. But that’s the field he’s in—surveillance, tracking down, “fixing” stuff, and the like. Normal in romantic suspense, not so much in straight-up contemporary. So I went with it. He’s dark and more than a little socially awkward, but not in the nerdy way. Emery teases him for not being human, or even being a little robot-like, which he resents. But he’s so used to being in control of himself that he has sort of lost touch with the normal-person part of himself.

The plot is pretty interesting, dealing with the disappearance of Emery’s cousin/best friend back when they were tweens. Emery’s been desperate to find out what happened to Tiffany since then—thirteen years. Even her career choice was influenced by the disappearance. I admit I was never entirely sure exactly what her job was, but she works for an agency that helps other people track down missing people, using databases and whatnot. However, the reason she comes into contact with Wren is that Tiffany’s father had Wren’s name among the various files and such he’d compiled in searching for his daughter. Her serious digging on him brings him out of the woodwork. Tiffany’s disappearance therefore forms the backbone of the story. The mystery of what happened isn’t too hard to unravel, but it’s still entertaining to watch it unfold.

After Emery and Wren first encounter each other, the interest is there, though Emery does a better job of denying it in her head for a while than Wren does. Still, it’s a relief when they do finally hook up for the first time. Dimon has a deft hand with the love scenes. They’re long and luscious and you always know what’s happening, but she leaves out a lot of the almost clinical detail that a lot of authors include. They’re a joy to read.

The characters are, as I’ve implied above, interesting and well-developed, although Emery’s deep emotional needs are more transparent than Wren’s. Still, Wren is compelling and his behavior is justified by his wounds. Overall, Dimon’s a very good writer and if you’re a fan of romantic suspense or very mysterious men, you’ll like this one.

Good Girls Don’t (Donovan Family #1) by Victoria Dahl

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Good Girls Don't book coverThis book was my introduction to Victoria Dahl, who instantly became my favorite romance writer. I began devouring everything else she wrote, starting with the rest of the series. One overall comment I have is that the original covers on the series bely the sexiness packed within.

Good Girls Don’t features Tessa Donovan, a beautiful blonde who also happens to be an integral part of her family’s brewery business, and Luke Asher, the detective investigating a break-in at the brewery. Tessa’s the baby of the family with two older brothers who are both (hilariously) convinced that she is pure and innocent and needs protecting. A little early-on confusion ensues when Luke believes his old friend (and Tessa’s older brother), Jamie, about said innocence. But fortunately, they make it past all that silliness and seeing each other in a very adult way.

One of the reasons I liked the book so much was that the romance was definitely not the only thing going on. For one, there was the investigation of the break-in. Even more important is the fact that her brothers’ relationship is very strained, as the oldest, Eric, thinks Jamie is a thoughtless playboy even while Jamie is trying to take on more at the brewery. It won’t happen if Eric finds out what Tessa finds out the morning the robbery is discovered—that Jamie offered the daughter of one of their most important customers a tour of the brewery—and then took her home, if you know what I mean. Tessa’s really mad, but she also wants to keep the brothers on good terms so she thinks it’s her job to hide Jamie’s indiscretion.

As the story of the break-in unfolds, so does the web of protective lies Tessa’s has helped weave. Tensions get really bad with the family, but the two brothers sort of band together to protect Tessa. She doesn’t want or need protecting. But she does need some things she doesn’t recognize. When some of Luke’s own backstory comes out, it throws a wrench in their relationship. It takes some soul-searching to patch things up, but of course they do. As the reader you’re happy they do because they’re both very cute and smokin’ hot together.

Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers #1) by Penny Reid

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Truth or Beard book coverI have to admit, I am not enamored of beards. Stubble, yes—yum—but beards, not so much. I also am not overly fond of redheads. So Reid had to manage to convince a skeptic that Duane Winston was attractive.

I’m happy to report that she pulled it off. Dark and a little broody with clear hidden depths, Duane still comes across as very appealing, so I was right there with Jessica James, the poor high school math teacher who has quite a bit of a challenge before her when she tries to fight off her desire for Duane.

The setup is fun—Duane has a twin brother Beau who is way more charming than he is, being friendly, not broody, and maybe a teeny bit shallow. And Jessica has spent her whole life crushing after Beau, so when she ends up making out with him at a party only to find out that it isn’t Beau after all, she’s horrified. She actively dislikes Duane because he was mean to her when they were young—which, it turns out, was because he’d always liked her. His latest escapade isn’t particularly nice, either—he was fully aware that she thought he was his twin.

Unlike his brother, it’s clear from the outset that Duane’s personality runs quite deep. He’s complicated. He’s also got a past he’s trying to recover from and he has some risky hobbies. Drag racing. Antagonizing the local motorcycle club. Still, he’s determined to convince Jessica to date him—actually, he’s already convinced he wants to marry her, but he gets that he shouldn’t exactly bring that up yet. It’s quite the uphill battle for him, as Jessica is rightly perturbed at him for tricking her. Also, her brother and father are local cops and they do not approve of Duane. Even more important is the fact that Jessica has no intention of sticking around their small Tennessee town. Nope, she’s going to see the world, once she gets herself financially sorted.

Duane and Jessica are both great characters, deeply drawn and likable. Their chemistry is great. The surrounding cast of characters is also highly entertaining. Duane has a whole gaggle of hot and easily distinguishable brothers, making the backup cast quite fun. Even if some of the books weren’t already out, you’d know it would have to be a series. There’s plenty of typical Reid humor (i.e., smart and a wee bit nerdy) sprinkled throughout, though the book has many steamy moments, as well. I wouldn’t have minded more of the steam, though, but that’s my only near-complaint. If you like reading about intelligent characters making life choices, you’ll like this one.

Keepsake (True North #3) by Sarina Bowen

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Keepsake book coverIn Keepsake, Bowen continues the story of the Shipley farm, moving us back there full-time. This time it’s Zachariah’s story. Zach grew up in a polygamous cult and got kicked out for a small transgression (mostly because he was a young man, when the old men wanted the girls all for themselves). Zach’s been working at the Shipley farm for a while and he’s beginning to feel that his time there is coming to a close. Not because he wants it to be, but because he thinks they need it to be.

But Keepsake is also Lark’s story. She’s one of May Shipley’s oldest and best friends. She just survived a terrible incident while she was on a work assignment in Guatemala, which broke her fearless, adventurous spirit. We don’t learn exactly what happened until close to the end, but we do know that she was kidnapped and held for a while. Everyone assumes she was raped and that’s why she is so traumatized, but she insists that’s not it. The result of her trauma is that she decides to spend some time at the Shipley farm because her parents aren’t taking her waking-screaming-from-bad-dreams very well. She’s going to help with the apple-picking and try to heal.

Zach and Lark have previously met at the farm and admired each other from afar. When it turns out that Zach is the first one to hear one of Lark’s screaming dreams in the bunkhouse at the farm, he goes in to comfort her, despite his own awkwardness in doing so—and Griff Shipley’s mandate for all the men to keep their hands off Lark. This happens several times as he becomes very attuned to listening for her. Also, interestingly, she ends up sort of comforting him, because he too is broken after his upbringing and exclusion from his home. These nightly interludes happen regularly and then, not too surprisingly, turn into more, though it does take a long time. It’s quite a slow burn of a story, in general. But in a delicious way.

Being with Zach doesn’t fix Lark. It seems like only time and some more therapy can do that. And Zach has some growing and self-discovery to do, himself. It takes some time apart before they figure out a way to come together and stay that way.

Both characters are richly developed and absolutely believable, despite their difficult life experiences. The chemistry between the two of them and the love scenes are as hot and sensual as you’d expect from Bowen, with the added complexity that Zach is a virgin and they both know it. Bowen handles that very well, expertly weaving in a bit of humor with the super-sexy. There’s also more going on with the supporting characters, especially May, which deepens the book quite a bit. Still, the focus is on Zach and Lark, and it’s a wonderful comfort story.

Run to Ground (Rocky Mountain K9 Unit #1) by Katie Ruggle

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Run to Ground book cover

Now, I don’t read a lot of romantic suspense, but I got an ARC of this book when I was at RT this year. We actually discussed one of the author’s earlier books in one of the sessions in my writing boot camp at RT, too, and it sounded good. This is a spinoff series. The book comes highly recommended, with recommendations from Charlaine Harris among others.

Theo is a small-town Colorado K9 officer whose partner has just died suddenly. He’s also inherited his partner’s dog and they’re not bonding very well. Theo is in general not coping very well—he’s just sort of going through the motions. Even his new K9 partner is suffering because of Theo’s partner’s death; he’s struggling to fulfill his K9 duties even as Theo tries to get him working again. Despite all this, the moment Theo sees the new server at the local diner, he’s intrigued. He knows she’s hiding something and that he should therefore stay away, but he doesn’t.

The secret that Jules is keeping is that she kidnapped her four siblings (taking them out of an abusive home situation), got five new identities, and brought them to Colorado to hide. So she’s a very young woman trying to take care of kids in junior high and high school, all while knowing that if they get caught, not only will she go to prison, but they’ll all go back to their crap home situation. Understandably, Theo makes her very, very nervous.

But of course they can’t resist each other. The attraction between them is clear and well-portrayed, even though I personally don’t find Theo that appealing. He is kind of jerk to everyone but Jules, because he is emotionally damaged by the death of his partner (and, not long before that, his own K9 partner). Jules, on the other hand, is definitely likable. She’s trying so hard to support herself and her siblings that you can’t help but feel for her.

One thing about the book that disappointed me was a distinct lack of strong resolution regarding the cop vs. kidnapper conflict, which I felt seriously detracted from a true HEA. But I don’t know, maybe this is acceptable in romantic suspense. After all, some things can’t realistically be reconciled. So if you enjoy romantic suspense, especially if you also like cops and/or dogs, you’d probably enjoy this book and the series. If I liked the subgenre more, I’d pick up the second book or even the original series that this one spun off of.

Dream Lake (Friday Harbor #3) by Lisa Kleypas

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Dream Lake book cover

I said in an earlier review that I’d definitely try Kleypas again. I did, and I’m glad. This time I picked up my preferred subgenre, contemporary.

Alex Nolan is an unhappy man. He’s a drunk, actually. He comes from drunk parents and although his two brothers seem to have done okay, he’s drowning his sorrows. It’s not entirely clear why he’s unhappy, though. He had a crappy first marriage, which is breaking up, so that’s part of it. But it seems like he’s just fundamentally unhappy. Maybe it’s who he is. He definitely thinks so.

Enter two people: a ghost and Zoë Hoffman.

The ghost somehow (it’s never quite clear how) gets attached to Alex and can’t travel too far from him, which drives them both crazy. The ghost has only vague recollections of his life, although it’s tied to the house that Alex’s brothers live in. But more importantly, Alex and the ghost need to figure out what’s tying them together, and how they can break that.

Zoë, on the other hand, is just a nice, sweet girl whose ex-husband shocked her by coming out as gay. She’s no match for Alex’s dark moods and when they first meet by chance at Alex’s brothers’ house, they’re both drawn to each other but Alex is total douchebag to her. Plus, she has problems of her own—her beloved grandmother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and is already showing signs of fast decline. Zoë is going to have to take care of her from now on, which she plans to do by renovating a house near where she works, but the house seriously needs fixing up. Alex is recommended to her by her cousin because he’s an expected carpenter/builder-type. So enter Alex into her life.

Something about Alex pulls Zoë to him. Probably that ridiculous thing a lot of women have about fixing broken men, but in this case Alex makes the choice to fix himself and acts on it. Zoë loves to cook and plies Alex with baked goods and breakfast and eventually he starts to come around as a more decent person. But he’s still convinced he’s nothing but bad news for Zoë and warns her to stay away, despite the simmering attraction between them.

Fortunately for us, Alex’s ghostly friend helps him to see things in a slightly new light, even if it’s a painful process for both of them. Alex gets quite involved in helping the ghost solve his mystery, which ends up being tied compellingly to Zoë and her grandmother. When he and Zoë finally give in, it’s such a relief, but it also involves wholly believable transformations for both of them.

A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

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A Bollywood Affair book cover

For some reason, I really enjoy reading (and watching) things set in Indian culture. It all started when I dated a Punjabi guy many years ago and I started reading Indian authors. I’m by no means an expert on Indian culture (or, cultures, as it’s a very big and diverse country), but it’s all interesting. I also have a certain amused appreciation for Bollywood, even though it’s been a while since I’ve seen anything.

When I was first reading Indian authors, I preferred high-brow, literary fiction, but now I generally stick to romance and YA. I was looking for some more diverse romance and stumbled across Dev and read her second book, The Bollywood Bride, first. I quite liked that one. I liked this one less well, because I couldn’t really appreciate the hero, although I liked the heroine, even though she couldn’t be more different from me. Most of A Bollywood Affair is set in the U.S. (Michigan, specifically), yet it’s a story about Indians rather than Indian-Americans.

Mili is twenty-four and she’s technically been married since she was four, when she she and a twelve-year-old boy named Virat were forced to marry by their very traditional grandfathers. The groom and his family soon left Mili’s village and haven’t returned. Mili is no feminist—she’s dutifully been waiting for her husband to return so she can start her wifely responsibilities. She’s afraid that the reason he hasn’t returned to her is because she isn’t good enough, so she’s always trying to improve. Her situation isn’t great—she and her grandmother don’t have much money. However, and a little ironically, being married gives Mili a little more freedom compared to the other girls in her village. So her grandmother allows her to go to America to study. This should make her an even better, modern Indian wife, right?

This all makes Samir Mili’s brother-in-law, even though he and Virat had both totally forgotten about the marriage until she reminded them with her first communication—a letter pointing out that she took care of their grandparents until they died, as were her daughter-in-law responsibilities in “our great culture,” as she puts it. She also says that it’s time for her to start taking care of him, too. And that she’s been caring for Virat’s ancestral home since his grandfather’s death, but now she needs money to pay for the more serious repairs it needs. This enrages the brothers because they think she’s some type of gold-digger.

Samir and Virat didn’t think the ceremony their grandfather had forced them into was truly real. In fact, Virat has been planning to marry his now-pregnant long-term girlfriend. So he needs a divorce from Mili. Then he’s in an accident and things look particularly dire, because now he’s in a coma and can’t pursue the divorce himself. Nobody wants the child to be a bastard—horrors. So Samir steps up to convince Mili to sign for the divorce from his brother.

By this time, she’s already in Michigan, so off Samir goes. Oh, and by the way—Samir happens to be a very well-known Bollywood director. Samir deceives her when he reaches Michigan. She knows he is the famous director, but she doesn’t know he’s Virat’s brother. But he ends up taking care of her after she breaks her ankle, so she thinks he’s a great guy.

So, as I mentioned, I do have some issues with the book. Samir is actually a big douche. He has a troubled past so we’re supposed to forgive him that and believe in his redemption at the end. But he doesn’t respect women, getting all pissy when they “inevitably” fall in love with him. So this is troubling. Mili is likable though, even if her innocence and devotion to a missing husband are kind of sickening at times. She grows a little, but not as much as I’d like. I wanted her to see how limiting the traditional view is and at least be glad she’s going to be able to escape that.

Despite these reservations, I still enjoyed the book. It is believable that Samir’s fallen in love with her and he does sort of face his past. Maybe he’s really changed. So if you’re looking for something a bit different from the vast majority of romances out there, check this one out. I wouldn’t recommend the book if you can’t read rake heroes, though.

Steadfast (True North #2) by Sarina Bowen

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Steadfast book cover

Steadfast is a gritty second-chance-at-love story. We first met Jude in Bittersweet as the former junkie trying to make good. He had just been released from prison and then detox and worked on the Shipley farm as a way to get established again and stay clean. In that book, he comes across as a decent, if troubled, guy.

In this book, Jude has nowhere else to go as the harvesting season has ended, and he has returned to his home town, Colebury, to live with his father and work as a mechanic at his garage. Jude assumes that the love of his life, Sophie, is still in town. Of course he’s decided to stay away from her because he doesn’t want to drag her down with him. He’s genuinely trying to stay clean, fighting the cravings that haunt him every day.

Sophie is still in town. She’s finishing up her Bachelor’s degree and working as an intern in a social work position, which she’s hoping will turn into a full-time job after she graduates, even though she doesn’t really expect it to happen because her fellow intern is finishing his Master’s. Then there’s her mess of a family. Her father is a bonafide asshole, the local police chief who can’t do any wrong. And her mom has been basically nonfunctional since the accident that killed Sophie’s brother.

The accident is even more significant because her brother was in Jude’s car when he was killed. And although Sophie and Jude had been very much together when it happened, he went straight to jail and then prison and she hasn’t spoken to him in the three-plus years he’s been gone. He refused her letters in prison and she hasn’t even been able to learn anything about him. Her brother was a douche, but she’s still eaten up with desire to know what happened that night. What happened to her brother—and what happened to Jude.

So, with that setup, a lot happens. As I mentioned, this is a gritty book—we feel Jude’s suffering as he tries to resist the urge to find more junk to take himself away from everything that’s shit. Because on top of everything he’s dealing with, there’s some fallout from the night of the accident. Even though he doesn’t remember himself what happened, there were some drugs involved and somebody’s looking for them. Sophie is dealing with taking care of her parents, cooking dinner every night for her hateful and ungrateful father and her practically comatose mother.

But of course, when they run into each other, sparks fly yet again. After one of his NA meetings at the church, Jude ends up getting talked into volunteering to help at a community dinner by the priest, only to find that Sophie is a regular volunteer there.

After a while, they can’t keep away from each other even though they both try. She is trying to not be in love with him because he really hurt her, and he naturally thinks the best thing for her is for him to not be in her life. If her father finds out that she’s seeing Jude at all, she’s in real danger. We don’t see her father’s true nature until the end of the book, but we sense it throughout. That combined with the threat looming over Jude’s head means constant tension.

The book is immensely satisfying. There are enjoyable flashbacks to when Sophie and Jude were first together, when they were teenagers. And there are also a couple of good twists that I didn’t really see coming (at least not at first). Even though there’s plenty of sex, the sexual tension is there throughout (just as you’d expect from Bowen). Although it’s the second in the series, there’s no reason you need to have read Bittersweet first (except for the fact that it’s awesome).

Dreaming of You (Gamblers #2) by Lisa Kleypas

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Dreaming of You book cover

I know it’s probably a little weird to review a book this old (originally published in 1994), but two things: 1. I own weird; 2. I’m just reviewing what I read, basically. And I’m catching up on the genre. I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that I’ve only been reading romance for about two years, having previously been one of those horrible snobs about the genre. And even then I called myself a feminist… sigh. <guilt>

So, I don’t normally read historical fiction because I find it either anachronistic or sexist (and often racist, too), which annoys me. A feminist friend of mine who reads it has told me that usually good authors compromise a bit on both to make it work reasonably well. I just hadn’t encountered this kind, I guess. At one of the sessions I went to at RT this year (one about creating strong heroines), they mentioned Derek Craven as the most appealing hero in all of romance. The entire panel sighed together over him, so I figured I’d check the book out.

And I did like it. The premise is that a successful novelist named Sara Fielding is writing a new book set partially in a gambling club and she goes to London to do research. There she stumbles across a scuffle in the street which turns out to be Derek Craven, the legendary gambling club owner, getting his faced slashed for spurning one of his many women. Sara shoots one of the assailants and she and Derek abscond to his club, where he gets patched up. Derek himself wants to keep her out, but one of his top employees, Mr. Worthy, takes a (reasonably innocent) shine to her and allows her to hang out at the club during the day to mingle with the staff for her research. All the staff—and that includes the club’s prostitutes, of course—adore her and admire her work, even if there is some humorous confusion about her most well-known protagonist, Mathilda.

Derek has no patience for Sara because he feels an unfamiliar pull toward her and he doesn’t see the need for her to be in her club all the time. So he forbids her from going there. But Sara’s a bit of a stubborn mule and finds a way to continue her research. They encounter each other again and finally Derek does effectively ban her from the club, and she goes back to her village and her near-fiancé. But she’s a changed woman and things don’t go swimmingly. Eventually she and Derek run into each other again after a meddling friend of his arranges it, and sparks fly.

There are the requisite Derek-saves-Sara scenes (two of them). But then there are also a couple scenes where Sara does the rescuing—one of Derek and one of herself. Those two are a little sloppy on her part, but I think it makes it more believable, and I bought in. I do find Derek himself a little more problematic, though. I could believe that he was a very troubled guy, based on his very rough beginnings. He was born to—and abandoned by—a prostitute and then raised by others “in the rookery.” I had to look this up—slums, basically. Anyway, Derek. He’s troubled and of course he’s a real guy, so he’s got a long line of women he’s slept with. In his case, he prefers married upper class women. You’d think this would get him in trouble with the husbands, but it’s one of the women who causes him the most difficulties. But when he meets Sara, he starts falling in love for the first time and he resists powerfully. I can buy this, and I can buy his finally yielding to it and being willing to change to a certain degree to be with her. The issue I have is one I have with most formerly-philandering alphas—I have a hard time believing he’s not going to step out on her eventually, even if he continues to love her.

But I guess that’s just my cynicism coming through. If it weren’t for that specific reservation, I’d have none with the book. I did enjoy it and I will likely try another one of Kleypas’s books.