DNF reviews...

It's rare for me to have DNF ratings, but I have two this month so far (not that I'm expecting more). They will probably come as a surprise for many... and I have to admit, it has to do more with me than the books' plots or writings...


Cherish by Catherine Anderson
published by Avon in October 1998

He Longed for...

Race Spencer's gunslinging days are far behind him. He is now a rugged, respectable rancher, but it's a solitary life. Then Fate leads Race to an earthbound angel--lost and alone, the sole survivor of an outlaw attack--and even his hardened heart is moved. He sweeps the ivory-skinned beauty into his arms and carries her away from danger.

A Woman to Cherish

When innocent Rebecca Morgan wakes up in a stranger's embrace, her life has been changed forever. Race's touch makes her blood sing and stirs up emotions in her she never knew existed. But this man has a fearsome reputation. And though her life may depend on him, can she trust him? Is it love she sees in her rescuer's dark eyes?

Genre: western
Series: don't know ^_^;

The Story: Rebecca Morgan comes from a cheek-turner family from a very religious community. The community has decided to move away as the world around them is becoming more modern and the youngsters might be tempted by newness. Rebecca, her parents and 9 other couples are about to embark on a journey that will lead them to New Mexico where the other families have already start settling. They are bringing the money that will be necessary to survive. Since they are very religious, they don't believe in hiring men to protect them or carry guns.

As expected, their wagon is attacked and everyone is killed, the women raped... except for Rebecca. She is saved by Race Spencer who used to be a gunslinger, but is now a rancher. Race is also half native... Luckily for Race, his men are not far behind... however, the robbers won't leave them alone and Race wonders why...

My Opinion: Well that's about all I read... then, I skipped to the middle and then, to the end. I bought this book because it's a Catherine Anderson and I like her contemporaries. I then picked this book up to read, because it was on the RT all time favorite list and I need a book for the Fall Challenge. Problem is, I don't really enjoy westerns... so this is more a "me" problem than the actual book.

Let see, I didn't really like Rebecca. She's not someone with whom I can connect easily. I know how she was raised and so on, but I couldn't help thinking she was silly. Then, I skimmed a bit and got to the scene where she's having sex with Race for the first time... and I couldn't help rolling my eyes. Again, I understand that it totally makes sense when you take in the circumstances and the way she was raised, but still... Couldn't help it. That pretty much sealed the faith of the book for me. I also read the ending, and I felt meh. Didn't make me want to go back and give it another try, unfortunately.

Race was okay, for what I read of him. I like that he was smart and figured things out quickly. I like that he didn't hesitate saving her... and I was sad that he suffered loss to his ranch by saving her. My favorite parts of the book are probably the scenes with Cookie. He was so funny, LOL :)

My Grade: DNF. Like I said, this has more to do with me than the books... western is just not for me I guess.


Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton
published by Berkley in November 2008

Sugar Maple looks like any Vermont town, but it's inhabited with warlocks, sprites, vampires, witches and an ancient secret. And Chloe Hobbs, owner of Sticks & String, a popular knitting shop, has a big secret too. She's a sorcerer's daughter in search of Mr. Right and she's found him in Luke MacKenzie, a cop investigating Sugar Maple's very first murder. Bad news is he's 100% human, which could spell disaster for a normal future with a paranormal woman like her.

Genre: contemporary romance with paranormal elements
Series: Sugar Maple, book #1

The Story: On the outside, Sugar Maple is the perfect little New England town whose income comes from tourism... However, Sugar Maple is actually a haven for paranormal creatures such as witches, shapeshifters, faeries, vampires and so on. Centuries ago, Chloe Hobbs' ancestor were fleeing Salem and found refuge in Sugar Maple. As a thank you, she cast a spell over Sugar Maple protecting the town from any harm and disharmony as long as there was a female descendant still living. Now, Chole is the only female descendant left and her blood has been diluted with human blood and it seems she has received very few gifts from her witchy sides. The spell over Sugar Maple seems to be weakening and therefore, everyone is trying to match Chloe up hoping she would produce a new descendant and quick...

As proof that the spell is weakening, Sugar Maple experienced its first murder, an out-of-town woman... Luke Mackenzie who's a Boston cop has been trying to get out of the big city for a few years and the assignment is perfect, even if it's only temporary. He knows that the town has secrets and he intends to discover them...

My Opinion: I previously read Just Desserts by Ms Bretton and really enjoyed it. Thus, I was looking for more books by her... I did hesitate to pick up Casting Spells as it was slightly paranormal... then, I read Holly's review and decided to give it a try.

First, I have to say that Casting Spells feels more like a contemporary romance with slight paranormal elements than a paranormal romance book. I mean, think of a small town with weird habitants having small quirks... but in this case, their small quirks might be they're able to shapeshift or drink blood.

I got halfway through the book. I liked Chloe and Luke... this book is at the first person POV and it alternates between Chloe and Luke, so it was fun to see what both were thinking. Both characters are nice and fun to read about and I like their chemistry :)

So what didn't work for me? The town and the whole: "Chloe needs to get someone and start reproducing, but oh, the cop won't do because he's human." I didn't feel like it was Chloe's responsibility to protect the town and insure that it was safe. That city hall reunion? Complete rubbish. Yes, Chloe was welcomed back in the community after the death of her parents and yes, everyone had a hand in raising her... but it wasn't for unselfish reasons!!! It seems to me they all want to keep Chloe because she was a Hobbs and her presence would maintain the spell! So having people saying that she owns them annoyed me! Having people trying to match her up with men just so the spell would continue annoyed me! Having people say that Luke wouldn't be good because he's human annoyed me! Also, the fact that people complained about her lack of powers also annoyed me! And these are constant reminders... by everyone in the book, Chloe included. A lot of time, you don't choose whom you fall in love with and I mean, Chloe could do a lot worst. Also, the fact that people seems to be-little Chloe and she just took it, because she seems to believe that it's her fault? It was too much for me and that's why I won't be continuing the book and I doubt I will be picking it up again :(

This is supposed to be a series, so perhaps I'll pick up book #2 (since now, Chloe has powers and Luke knows the whole truth)... but I'm not sure. I mean, the writing was good and it has potential. I just got annoyed with few details and it ruined it for me :(

My Grade: DNF.

Review: Morning Light by Catherine Anderson

Morning Light by Catherine Anderson

published by Avon Romance in January 2008

Born with second sight, Loni MacEwen must warn the handsome rancher Clint Harrigan that his son is in danger-except he doesn't even have a son. Then the drama Loni predicted unfolds on the news: an orphaned boy is lost in the wilderness. As Loni and Clint help in the search for the boy, they begin to form a bond of their own...

Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: The Harrigans, book #2 (slightly related with the Coulters series)

The Story: The back blurb is one again quite accurate for a synopsis, but here’s s0me more details. Loni comes from a family of psychics; however, her gift is stronger than in the previous generations. After a failed and catastrophic attempt at helping the police with her gift, Loni moves closer to her family to start a new life. Unfortunately, her gift is something she can’t ignore and she becomes torn between responsibility and self-protection. In the end, she chooses responsibility and therefore warned Clint Harrigan of her vision. However, Clint doesn’t have a son – not to his knowledge, and therefore write up Loni as a charlatan. This is not a happy situation for Loni, who has “seen” Clint since she was young; the cowboy of her dreams isn’t the prince charming she was expecting. It doesn’t stop her from helping Clint when he asks her to accompany him on their search for the lost boy in the wilderness when Clint learns of the tragedy in the news and quickly realizes that Loni and him are the boy’s only chance to survive.

My Opinion: I’ve enjoyed many of Ms Catherine Anderson’s books in the past few years; my favorites being Sunshine and Blue Skies. True, her books are quite cheesy and she has over-used the “not-perfect” heroines plot, but the characters and storylines were quite enjoyable. It was not the case with Morning Light. I love books with psychics – especially the FBI SCU series by Kay Hooper; so perhaps I’m harder on psychics heroine and that might have contributed to my non-enjoyment… but then, I also had a problem with the hero. Loni, I think, is strong and very determined and I admired her for that. She’s been able to build herself a life, finding ways to work around her gift. One thing that annoyed me though is that her gift wasn’t well defined. I know that psychic powers don’t always fit nicely in a category such as clairvoyance or telepathy…In the case of Loni has visions when she touches people or objects (usually old ones). However, are the visions from the past, present, future or all of the above? How can her mother and grandmother who have the gift too spy on her and her sister using it? Since the gift is an important characteristic in Loni, I wish it’d been more consistent, that the author would have put more thoughts in it. But back to Loni. I thought she was an okay heroine till she jumped into TSTL la-la land. I know that lack of communication is very common in romance, but come on. It wouldn’t have killed to talk to Clint and explains the situation and her fears before running away. I mean, she didn’t even say goodbye… and in the end, it all worked out fine anyway. I thought the conflict at the end was quite unnecessary.

As for Clint, I didn’t like him much. Physically, he looks a lot like the Coulter brothers from Ms Anderson’s previous series… however, personality-wise. He’d be someone that I detest probably. Arrogant and thinks he knows it all. I dislike how he was “I’m Catholic as a result, I don’t believe in psychic.” It’s almost as if he thought himself above Loni. In addition, the no-sex rule before marriage and then, breaking if off… I don’t know, I thought it was pointless.

The story overall wasn’t that good either. Loni and Clint basically fell in love with each other in the space of a few days while they were looking for a lost boy in the wilderness… it kind of rubbed me in the wrong way since it’s supposed to be such an emergency situation. Also, I thought Ms Anderson put the drama at the wrong place. You have Loni that thinks that afraid that she lost all her privacy because reporters know that she’s a psychics and could help missing people and then, you have Clint that discovers he has a son and that his son just lost his mother and adopted father. See, between the two, I think that the situation between Clint and his son would be more delicate and more conflicts would arise from it… but no, it was solved all nice and easy… instead, there’s more drama between Clint and Loni because she runs away… but then, in the end, that too was resolved too easily.

So this book was definitively a miss with me and that’s just too bad, because I was looking forward to it. Ms Anderson’s next book is a historical if I’m not wrong, Comanche Moon… and then, we’ll probably have to wait till next year for the next Harrigan brother book… but I’m not sure anymore if I’ll buy it or not.

My Grade: C-.

Last reviews of 2006

So, year 2006 will be officially over in a couple of hours... I guess it's fun and sad, both at the same time. I'm a bit glad. This year have been crazy and I'm hoping that the coming year will be a bit more relaxing. Although I have to say, time passes way too rapidly. It really flies by too fast.

anyway, hopefully, there'll be plenty of awesome books coming out in 2007 :)

So, I've been reading quite a lot lately and here are the last reviews for 2006. But first, I'd like to share with you the books I bought (yes, bought...) in the last week. I'm not going to list them, because, well there's too much and I'm too lazy. So, pictures = 1000 words anyway :D

The first picture is what i bought from the UBS store and the second, I bought at bookstore ^^; I know, I really went crazy... I hope they're all there. Ah well, onto the reviews now :D

Take a Chance on Me by Susan Donovan: 4/5

All right, I bought this one after it got a lot of praise over at Ames' blog :D

Hairy is a Chinese Crested dog; bald, small and pretty ugly. Not only that, his owner, Slick, was murdered in front of his eyes and now, Hairy can't stop shaking and peeing. Worst, he ends up in the care of Thomas Tobin, an attorney/amateur rugby player that does uncover work and poses as a killer-for-hire. Thomas has seen and heard all about the worse side of human nature and in result, he's been isolating himself, erecting walls around him. As the new owner of Hairy, Thomas brings the dog to see Emma Jenkins, a pet behaviorist in the hope that Hairy could stop shaking and peeing...

Hmmm, another bad synopsis. Maybe I should really do the next few ones in point form. Anyway, Thomas brings Hairy to Emma and immediately, he is attracted to her. It takes a while for Thomas and Emma to start a relationship, especially since Emma just divorced her crook of a husband. In addition to that, Emma is now in charge of LeeLee, her best friend's daughter. Also, in the course of everything, they realized that Hairy must have witnessed Slick's murder and therefore, try to get some clues from Hairy.

Okay, I've never been that much of a fan of Susan Donovan's novels, but I really enjoyed the story quite a lot :D Emma is quite the typical woman tho; recently divorced, trying to go through it + keep her business, in short struggling. As for Thomas, well I thought he had a really dark secret, but he didn't... and well, I thought his self-imposed isolation wasn't that necessary, but I guess if he didn't do it, he wouldn't be the same guy. Anyway, the love story was all right and the intrigue was too, although perhaps a bit far-fetched at the end. What I liked was actually the humour and I hoped Hairy would have "thought" more often, cos that was quite hilarious. In fact, if it hadn't been for Hairy, this book would have been lumped in the "okay, typical, not original" book.

Hidden Secrets by Cait London: 2/5

Let see if I can find the good words this time...

Spence has recently lost his sister, brother-in-law and nephew in a car accident and his mother, in another accident at home. He blames himself for not being there, not being able to protect them, not preventing their deaths and so, he has left his banker job in Seattle to move back to their little town. He now plays guide, organizes camping trips and search for the remains of his nephew for closure.

Then, there's Marlo Malone who's a psychic, but refuses to acknowledge her gifts. She and Spence have a past, but she's put it behind. She's also gone through a painful marriage and divorce and now, takes refure in her work. All she wants is peace and normalcy... However, lately, everytimes she sees the color red through glass, it makes her think of Cody, Spence's nephew, along with a feeling of anger that frightens her... She also believes that the accidents that took away Spence's sister and mother's lives weren't accidents...

Okay, I thought this book could have been way better, but instead, no. First, I got annoyed at Marlo. She's psychics... perhaps acknowledging her gifts would have helped her feel better. It also makes me mad that she can sense things, know things, but decides to remain passive. I mean, perhaps she could have prevented those events from happening and that would have save her some guilt trips. But no... then, there's this relationship between her and Spence. Oh man, annoying. It completely lost me. Spence and Marlo have a painful past together and I guess that the only person who truly knows Marlo is Spence... he can edge her, get a reaction out of her... he wasn't by her side in the past and so he thinks that he's worthless now and tries to keep away from her, but at the same time, he always, always comes back, edging her more. Like I say, completely annoying. Hey, if you love her, you have two choices: woo her or go away and let her have a better life if you think that's what she'll have. Instead, he comes over and over and just ruins everything. The intrigue wasn't so enjoyable either. Instead, I just kept getting mixed up... the timeline and flow of the story were difficult to follow in my opinion. One minute, this was happening, the other minute, something totally unrelated and it kept going and going. So yeah, didn't enjoy it.

Sun Kissed by Catherine Anderson: 3.75/5

So finally, a book where the heroine is not "damaged." Well maybe a little, but not more than any other romance book.

Samantha Harrigan is a horse breeder and trainer with her own ranch. When she was younger, she married Steve Fisher, someone who was only after her money. But that's over, she's divorced him over a year ago and he's out of her life. Now enters Tucker Coulter, who've she met at this rodeo meet where she went against a drunk who was beating a horse. Both were arrested, but freed shortly after. Samantha has no intention to see Tucker again, but she needs a vet when two of her horses are poisoned... Soon, she's the prime suspect for insurance fraud...

So let see, this is the last of the Coulter siblings and I have to admit that the story was a bit different, but still enjoyable. For once, as I said, the heroine is not "damaged." Her ego and pride might be a bit bruised, but she's all right. Anyway, Tucker has never been my favorite sibling among the Coulter family, but he seemed to be portrayed quite differently in this book, seems to me he was gentler. Also, it seemed that the author, Ms. Anderson, was quite undecided about Tucker's faith... at the end of Sunshine, it was hinted that his mother would play matchmaker and she had a woman in mind, who knew how to stand her ground having grown up with 4 brothers. Then, at the end of the last book, he was heading for Colorado and I think the author intended to write the story there... then she came back to Samantha, who indeed has four brothers. *shrug* I guess it isn't that important.

So yeah, I did enjoy Sun Kissed. I guess I always enjoy Ms. Anderson's books. This one is just a plain, old romance with a little intrigue behind. The story went smoothly, but I have to say, the intrigue was way too easy to figure out. I mean, after reading the synopsis and page one, I knew who it was... now, that's way too easy. On the other hand, I actually quite liked Samantha - unlike the other heroines, she was quite confident. I mean, she knows what she's doing and she's proud of the results and that's something. She'd like to be more independent though, which is totally understandable. I think that her family might be a tad too protective. I mean, I usually like protective brothers with their big brother act, but Clint's answer was to beat out the crap out of anyone who hurt Samantha. Hmmm, no cute. Anyway, onto other matters, I also liked how Tucker was portrayed in this one. As I said, gentler and less jaded. Actually, he's quite like Isaiah, only sharper. Unfortunately, there wasn't that many romantic scenes though and it was quite understanble given the circumstances... but it still work. My only complaints are 1) we didn't get to see that many Coulters in the books... as the last Coulter's books, I'd have liked for an update for closure, but nope. 2) I bet Ms. Anderson was setting the characters for her new family series... I mean, Samantha has 4 brothers to marry now.

So although I enjoyed Sun Kissed, it didn't bring closure to the series. I also think I'm going to stay away from the new family series, because how much ranchers story can you write without it becoming too repetitive? Hah, I say that, but I'm probably going to crack. So not a bad book, not an oustanding book but an enjoyable one ;D

So that's it for 2006. I'm reading Demon Angel by Maljean Brook, but I doubted I'd be able to finish it before midnight :D