Review: Hot Stuff by Janet Evanovich and Leanne Banks

So there were very little books I were expecting for the month of April. I wasn't too sure whether I would get this book, but I ended up doing so... cos I was bored. To be honest, 50% was for Janet Evanovich (my level of fan-ness has dropped down dramatically in the past few years) and 50% for Leanne Banks, cos I liked her Feet series.


Hot Stuff by Janet Evanovich and Leanne Banks: 3.5/5

published by St.Martin's Paperbacks in April 2007

Cate Madigan is a 26 years old woman, studying to get her teaching degree and working part-time in a bar at night. She's swore off of men, because they're a distraction and messy, but her family keeps matching her up with potential boyfriends. Her roomate is a drag-queen singer who attracts most of the bar's business, and is in need of a house-sitter for when he's out-of-town performing... the arrangement suits Cate fine, till the day Marty leaves town precipitedly, after receiving strange phone calls. Then, Kellen McBride appears in her bar and starts getting close with some purposes in mind. The next thing she knows, Marty sends her a very ugly dog named Beast to insure her safety...

Genre: contemporary romance, comedy
Series: none so far that I know of

Review: sorry for the crappy synopsis... didn't know what to come up at the end... So, this book was all right in my opinion. It had it funny moments where I did laugh out loud, but that's to be expected from Ms Evanovich and Ms Banks. I'd say the book sounds a lot more like most of Ms Evanovich's books though with a very similar style. All in all, you'll get a good laugh, but it's not the best book by either author.

The Character - Cate's character was okay, except for the fact where she swore off man. I mean, I understand why, but when someone's yummy as Kellen storms into your life, don't hesitate too much. I also thought either Cate was very ignorant or naive, and a bit stupid - maybe to fit the story better. Otherwise, she was okay... nothing that particular about her.

Kellen was yummy. He reminded me a bit of Morelli, but kinder and gentler. Something that I don't get tho... is that one moment, he said his family was dead (all of them, parents + 6 sisters), but it didn't state how... but I wonder if it wasn't an error. Anyway, his past wasn't discussed much, which made him a bit intriguing. What bothers me the most though was how he seemed to have fallen in love with Cate... but I think that's more concerning the story...

There's also a lot of other characters, such as Cate's 2 best friends, Pugg and Marty... All interesting characters, but that we don't get to know in depth.

The Story & Writing - The writing reminded me a lot of Stephanie Plum. It's not a bad thing, but the story just wasn't long enough. Some few stuff was also pretty obvious to the reader, but not the characters, which I found a bit unbelievable... and there were some inconsistencies that were annoying. For example, Julie's a Southerner and is supposed to have this very thick accent. This is portrayed writtenly in the first sentence of her dialogue, but once you start the second sentence, it'll be back to normal. For example, she says "dawg" in her first sentence, and then, it will revert to "dog" in the rest of her lines... which is just weird. Finally, the ending seemed a bit rushed, which is quite sad, considering the book was quite short and there was no reason to rush it.

The Cover - It's nice and it fits the book :D

Am I keeping this book? Undecided so far... probably, because I'm a book hogger...

Anything else? Well, this issue was brought up with Ms Evanovich previous release, Motor Mouth I think... the font is quite large in the book, much larger than usual... the book is already pretty thin, compared to most books out on the market. If you consider the font size, the story is really short and so, I do feel a bit cheated.

Review: Feet first by Leanne Banks

I wasn't sure if I was going to write the review tonight or wait till tomorrow morning. However, I decided I should stop procastinating and so here it is :D See, my old pen pal has just re-contacted me after 3 years and so we're catching up... but it sure does take time! So now, I don't think I'll have time to read tonight :P Oh well, it's for the greater good right?

So tonight, the lucky book is...

Feet First by Leanne Banks: 3.5/5
published in September 2005 by HQN Books (Harlequin)

Jenny Prillaman has been jumping from job to job, not sure of what she wanted to do in her life until now. She's been at Bellagio for almost two years, which is the longest time she'd stayed at a job, as Sal, a shoe designer at Bellagio, assistant. For the past few months, she's been doodling shoe designs, covering for Sal's hangovers. When Sal enters rehab when he's supposed to be designing Bellagio president's niece (Brooke) shoes for her reality-tv wedding, Jenny is asked by Marc Waterson - VP - to cover for Sal once again.

For a couple of months now, Jenny has wanted to have an affair with the handsome VP, but the man cannot even remember her name! However, this is about to change as they're obliged to work together in addition to baby-sit and keep Brooke under control... The problem is that Jenny doesn't factor in Marc plans; he's been looking for a wife and ambitious Jenny isn't the right woman. Yet, he's attracted to her...

Series: the Feet trilogy. This is the first book of the trilogy, Underfoot and Foot Loose are the two other books.
Genre: contemporary romance

Review: I read the two other books of the trilogy first and I just wanted to know how Jenny and Marc got together as they had some brief appearances in the two other books. It was an enjoyable read and exactly what I needed to get back my reading mojo.

Characters - The book mainly focuses on Jenny and Marc, although there's a range of secondary characters. The problem with the secondary characters is that they're just part of the scenery... Only one will get her own book (Trina) while Brooke's stories will be told over the three books. Jenny is an interesting character enough... Average woman who has two over-achiever siblings and has finally found her goal. She's nice, sociable, has good friends, no dark past... a bit carefree, but realist. I guess she's a bit typical as a character... As for Marc, well he's focus. That's the word for it. He has a plan and intends to follow it. Again, typical character...

Writing & Story - The writing was okay... I mean, seriously, the whole book was a bit typical. Man and woman attracted to each other, have sex and find it's not enough so decide to engage in an affair with a number of rules. Of course, they enjoy each other's company and slowly develop feelings for each other; however, there's a misunderstanding... but at the end, they get back together. Sorry if I spoiled the book to anyone :P So you have typical characters and a not so original plot, but it's still enjoyable - not memorable, but enjoyable. Why? The writing, the flow... It wasn't too dragging and I liked that the misunderstanding was resolved fast. Actually, the hero wasn't really bother by it, it really wasn't important for him, because he has already figured out his feelings.

The Cover - I like it. It's flimsy and the colors are nice and soft and most importantly, it fit the story.

Am I keeping it? Yes... I already have the two others and it's a cute trilogy.

Anything else? Not really, just that Leanne Banks next book will be co-authored with Janet Evanovich and it's titled Hot Stuff, coming out in April.

I got my mojo back

So how's everyone doing? as you've probably noticed, it's going well on my reading :) I've bought more books and I've been reading them :) So here are 2 reviews.

Caroline's Journal by Katherine Stone: 4/5

What can I say about this one? It was a nice story. What I liked the most was the change of pace from the other books. The story was nice and touching and it was slow, which for this one was good.

I'm putting up the book synopsis, because surprisingly, it's pretty close to the story:

Caroline, a successful architect, is finally and joyfully pregnant. She keeps a journal throughout her pregnancy, conveying her feelings and plans, and is also reestablishing her relationship with her much younger sister, Meg. Meanwhile, her husband is prosecuting a murder case involving a pregnant woman, and as a father-to-be he finds the case particularly distressing. When Caroline has feelings of foreboding, she chalks it up to her usual worrying. But at the start of her third trimester she is diagnosed with preeclampsia, and Caroline discovers that it will be a struggle to keep both her and her baby safe.

So it's pretty much Caroline's last possible pregnancy as she is 36 years old and she already miscarried 3 or 4 times. Jeffrey, her husband, has caught a case in which the father-to-be has killed his pregnant fiancée and he finds it difficult, not only because the victim was pregnant, but also because the murder occured almost at the same time as Caroline's miscarriage. Meanwhile, Caroline and Meg's relationship has suffered a lot after their parents' marriage. Meg has turned to drinking and Caroline thinks she did a poor job at providing a motherly figure to Meg; but both are trying hard to mend their relationship.

I really liked the story but somewhat, I felt cheated: the book wasn't long enough and I thought there was not enough detail. It was a nice change that the main characters were in love with each other, but I'd had like for Caroline to recount how she met Jeffrey and fell in love with him. I'd had like a bit more storyline too, like a bit more things happening. Aside from that, it's a classic Katherine Stone - you have relationships that need mending, conflicts, love and a medical condition. The characters were all nice, no TSTL heroine, no annoying characters. It is probably a bit weak compared to Pearl Moon, but it is a very nice relax read, a true Katherine Stone classic and it was much better than the Cinderella Hour which restore my confidence in Katherine Stone's books to come.

Foot Loose by Leanne Banks : 3.5/5

This book came very close to a 4, but there's just a tiny something missing.

Amelia just got dump by what was supposed to be the love of her life, William... She's been with him since elementary school, has made so much sacrifices for him, has live the way he liked and now, he has dumped her. Apparently, he outgrew her. How dare him? So, following advice from the shrink, Amelia has to discover herself, learn who she really is. In order to do so, she writes up list of things to do and try to do them.

For the past few years, Amelia has been working as a temp at Bellagio, designer shoes manufacturer and is loved by everyone. She's the temp that the cie will assign in every difficult situation and now, she's been assigned to LillianBellagio, one of the founder's widow, in Keys. There, she meets Jack O'Connell. Jack is a venture capitalist and the bastard son of Dario Bellagio, i.e. Lillian Bellagio's stepson. However, Lillian has long paid off Jack's mother and so, Jack never really had the opportunity to meet his father. Nonetheless, he'd like to be part of Bellagio, but on his terms and due to his abilities. That day has almost come as Bellagio needs money and Jack is happy to provide, only if he can becomes a board member. Anyway, Jack and Amelia meet in Keys where Jack helps Amelia to discover herself, gets some on Bellagio from her and become lovers. Of course, when she realized that Jack used her, she's not very happy and is reluctant to forgive him...

Anyway, this was a good book and I really enjoyed it. I liked Jack a lot and Amelia was a nice heroine too. The story went smoothly and was good. However, I wished we've seen a showdown between Amelia, Jack and Will... I mean, the author did reunite them, but nothing really happened. Also, I thought that the jail scene was unnecessary.