No Ordinary Love by Mary Balogh

September 28, 2017
Sometimes goddesses have a snafu or three

http://www.marybalogh.com/
As I mentioned before, my goddess Mary Balogh is in the process of releasing some of her old novels and novellas. I am over the moon about this, especially because this brings new

readers into the fold. I was pleased with the first anthology group A Rogue's Downfall, but the next group, No Ordinary Love, I'm not so over the moon with. No Ordinary Love has all the earmarks of author experimentation. Yes, it seemed Ms. Balogh once dipped her toes into paranormal romance. If I may be so bold, I'm glad she decided to stick with what she does best - historical romance (sans ghosts).

I like paranormal romance stories, I've been a big fan of them for a long time. I'm just not as obsessed with them as I am with historical romance. As with historical romance, I have created many rules my authors must abide by. Sure they don't know them, but it's my dime. Anyway, over the years I have adopted some rules paranormal romance books need to follow for me to enjoy them. One of the biggies is they have to make sense. Yes, yes, I know we are dealing with a world where the boundaries are pretty shaky and beliefs are stretched quite far. But the reasons for these far-fetched storylines/beliefs must make sense and loose ends have to be tied up. At least for me they do.

Let's start with The Dark Rider. This story has a bit of Gothic romance feel about it. You know the theme - a sweet nosy heroine, Dinah Ridding, visits a dark foreboding castle which is inhabited by an enigmatic, brooding hero, his secretive mother and creepy servants. Our hero, Edgar Neville, doesn't want the heroine at the castle because...???? He tries to get rid of her by telling Dinah ghosts stories. But Dinah wants to meet ghosts, explore the family portrait gallery and just suck up the scary atmosphere. She even spots the mysterious ghostly rider who amazingly looks a lot like our hero. This story might have worked if a big misunderstanding blow-up toward the end of the story hadn't been inserted. As a romance, this story didn't work and as a paranormal it was mediocre.

The second story is The North Tower. Probably when Ms. Balogh wrote this story she didn't know that the main device of this story is my least favorite paranormal theme - possession. Yes, as soon as our heroine, Daphne, enters the spooky castle she feels things. She's having a hard time sleeping at night because she's having vivid erotic dreams. Dear oh dear, those dreams seem so realistic - she keeps going into a door which isn't there anymore. Like all haunted heroines she starts snooping around and eventually solves an old murder. Spoiler - then we have the type of paranormal ending I haven't been fond of since the days of A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux - almost at the end of the story a guy shows up who looks exactly like the man Daphne has been snooking in her sleep ... and they live HEA.

The last story in the group, The Heirloom, is a time-travel-body-possession tale. I can be a little persnickety. Here’s the deal. I like time-travels, but not when they involve traveling back and landing in a body which doesn't belong to "moi." I have a reason for that, you know – I always wonder what’s happening to the soul who was kicked out, unless there are two in that body and that gets really confusing. So, where did that other soul go? How are they adapting? Are they still alive? It can be quite distracting. Well, this is a short story and all the way through my reading of this I was concerned whether Ms. Balogh’s would have enough time to tie up any loose ends. Well, she did tie it up. Spoiler, she sort of gave the historical couple a happy ending but then jumped to modern time and gave them their HEA. Giving two couples in a short story a HEA doesn’t leave much time for character development. I liked the historical couple and would have liked to see some kind of an epilogue for them, but was not to be. This story could have been better served if it had been in a longer format.

Bottom line, all the stories were weak, both the romance and paranormal theme. I’m glad Ms. Balogh doesn’t dabble in this genre very often.

Time/place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm

Hokey Smoke Bullwinkle! Upcoming Historical Romance Releases!!!!

Authors with an asterisk*, I'm picking up! For more Upcoming Releases that aren't historical see HEY DELIA!! October 15, 2017 to November, 2017. By the way, it is not my fault if a publisher changes the release dates - just so you know, they do not consult me.

	Amanda McCabe The Wallflower's Mistletoe Wedding October 17
	Anna Bradley Twelfth Night with the Earl The Sutherland Sisters November 14
	Carla Kelly Christine Merrill Janice Preston Regency Christmas Wishes October 17
	Diane Gaston A Pregnant Courtesan for the Rake The Society of Wicked Gentlemen series November 1
	Elizabeth Hoyt* Duke of Desire Maiden Lane October 17
	Eloisa James* Wilde in Love The Wildes of Lindow Castle series October 31
	Grace Burrowes No Other Duke will Do Windham Brides series November 7
	Janna MacGregor The Bride who Got Lucky Cavensham Heiresses series October 31
	Joanna Shupe* A Daring Arrangement The Four Hundred series October 31
	Karen Ranney The Texan Duke Duke Trilogy series October 31
	Lara Temple Lord Hunter’s Cinderella Heiress Wild Lords and Innocent Ladies series October 17
	Lillian Marek Lord Edward’s Mysterious Treasure Victorian Adventures series November 7
	Linda Broday To Marry a Texas Outlaw Men of Legend series November 7
	Lisa Kleypas Lorraine Heath Megan Frampton Vivienne Lorret A Christmas to Remember October 17
	Lynna Banning The Hired Man October 17
	Madeline Martin Highland Ruse Mercenary Maidens series November 14
	Mary Balogh Someone to Wed A Westcott Novel series November 7
	Nicole Locke Her Christmas Knight Lovers and Legends series October 17
	Olivia Drake The Scandalous Flirt Cinderella Sisterhood series October 31
	Paula Quinn The Scot’s Bride Highland Heirs series October 31
	Sara Portman The Offer Brides of Beadwell October 24
	Shana Galen Third Son’s a Charm The Survivors series November 7
	Sharon Cullen Bound to a Spy All the Queen's Spies series October 24
	Valerie Bowman The Right Kind of Rogue Playful Brides series October 31
	Vanessa Kelly The Highlander’s Princess Bride Improper Princesses series October 31
	Wilma Counts My Fair Lord Once Upon a Bride series October 17

A Rogue's Downfall by Mary Balogh

September 22, 2107  
Winky-dink Alert
 
http://www.marybalogh.com/
Thank goodness Mary Balogh’s old books are being released again; in this case a bunch of her novellas have been electrified. But this isn’t just a release of a bunch of old books. What Ms. Balogh’s is doing is grouping her novellas together by their themes. The first group of novellas A Rogue’s Downfall is all about our favorite kind of character – the rake. Yes, my little Petunia’s, those hot, manly-men who pepper our pages - rakes!

The three short stories in this anthology are: The Anniversary - 1994, The Wrong Door - 1993, and Precious Rogue - 1995. These were quick reads and I enjoyed all three of them, although I did like one better than the other two.

The anthology opens with The Anniversary. This is a story of the Countess of Reardon and her husband, Hugh. The story is all about misunderstandings. Tons of them. Our couple have been separated for a year, they both love each other – however they never actually told each other of that love. Before their quick marriage, they had been drooling over each other from a distance until one evening at a ball under the influence of alcohol they caved into their passion. A few months later - surprise! His seed has taken root and now they are forced to marry. Hugh is with his wife for the birth of the child, but then they separate. She remains in the country and he returns to London where we are led to believe he resumes his life of dissipation. Well, a year passes and Hugh returns to the country and his wife. As one might imagine this is a pretty angst filled story, maybe not quite made for the short story format. He feels guilty, he calls what they had together rape, although I’m really not sure that's what I’d call it. I would call it two intoxicated people having sex. While I'm not a believer in "the alcohol made me do it," I also don't think there was any force used in their encounter. At least that's my take on it. I know Ms. Balogh has used rape in a few of her early books, but I don't think this one falls into that category. However, whatever one calls it, there is plenty of guilt to go around, plus all the misunderstanding and jump to conclusion moments. Most of the story is about Hugh trying to woo his wife and overcome their misinterpretations of what is really going on. This was an interesting story, but the characters were a little hard to like and it would have been better in a longer format.  B-

Next is my favorite story in the bunch, The Wrong Door. Well, it seems as if our intrepid rake, Alistair, is on his way to a rendezvous with a luscious widow when he makes a wrong turn. Oops! He ends up in the room of Caroline Astor, a sweet young thing who also happens to be the host’s daughter. Well, of course they must marry – maybe. Caroline has been in luv with Alistair forever and isn’t really keen on a marriage which is lopsided. There would be nothing worse for her than to be the only one in a relationship who is in love. Through some of Ms. Balogh’s maneuvering, Alistair and Caroline enter into a wager - who will fall in love first. Even though you may not believe it, this story was fun and I smiled almost all the way through it. All of this happens over a weekend, but it seemed as if they were together longer. And, Alistair did some wonderful about face movements in this story.  A

The last story in this anthology, Precious Rogue is about Joshua Buchanan. There is no way around this, Joshua is a real rake. He’s not a pretend rake, but a real one – in fact, during the party he is attending, he goes to bed with at least three women and is working on a fourth by the end of the story. And, he’s doing all of that while courting another woman. He has no conscious, he doesn’t’ care one thing about the woman he’s courting and he intends to embarrass her and her mother before he leaves. I was a little concerned for his health. He was so realistically written that I just knew his winky-dink was either diseased or ready to fall off. The heroine of this story is Patricia Mangan, but she isn’t the woman Joshua is courting. In fact, she’s none of the women he’s interested in. She is the cousin to the woman he’s courting. She is little more than a drudge to her family. They treat her horribly. She spends her free time in a tree enjoying the peace it gives her. It is during a tryst with another woman under that tree that Joshua first encounters Patricia.  Joshua and Patricia slowly become friends, which eventually turns into love. Spoiler warning: for all of you fidelity purists, Joshua does not stop his sex-capades once he meets Patricia. He continues on being himself. Patricia on the other hand knows exactly what he’s doing. I thought it was refreshing to have a man continue his dalliances even after he encounters the heroine. It isn’t until he realizes he has grown to love her that he stops. The one thing that made the grade of this story a little lower was the revenge silliness at the end of the story – I didn’t like the path the revenge traveled down.  A-

I do recommend this anthology.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm

Pfffft!

September 14, 2017
Here's my update - three books. Two of the books I will be putting back in my TBR pile - not the third.

I must be getting old. I have discovered that I must not be a big fan of fan-fiction books, which is what I understand My Fair Baron by Licie Laine is. I read a glowing review on this book and maybe because I was in a weakened mood and really really wanted something to read, I bought it.

I tried. I really tried. I'm always ready to give humongous praise to debut authors, but this story was just not my cup of tea.

It is 1900 England and we have a heroine who is also a novelist. She has just been informed that her brother is dead and in order for her to inherit the estate she must marry. Ok, I can live with that - although it's a stretch. Well, it seems her bestest friend Izzy, who is a Lady, is also a business woman. Not only is she a business woman, she is an underage business woman, an underage unmarried business woman who lives in 1900 England. Not only is she an underage unmarried business woman in 1900 England, she owns a brothel. I can live with that - but it's realllly a stretch. So, she owns a brothel, but she's a good brothel owner, she lets her peeps keep "most" of their money. Seems as if the brothel is a good money maker. Well it seems that Izzy has the perfect match for her friend, our heroine Claire. William. He works for Izzy. He cleans the stables, fixes things and entertains the ladies. He is also a Baron who isn't in society anymore - for some reason.

So, Izzy gets Claire and William together. They are going to pull the wool over society’s eyes and pretend they are a love match so Claire can get her estate. Now, why nobody thought peope wouldn't recognize William is beyond me. Not only is he a male prostitute who caters to the elite, he also at one time was part of society. I was confused, but I could live with it - almost. Izzy has a lot of plans and schemes and I think they are supposed to be funny - but I did not laugh.

I kept on, I tried until...You see there is this horrible gossip-mean-girl and she is gossiping about William when everyone is galloping in the park. In order to divert the gossip Izzy does something to Claire's horse, makes it gallop out of control - becauuussse... William will be forced to rescue Claire and gossip will be diverted. I rubbed my sinuses and put the book aside.

This was just not my type of book. It had the feel of being incomplete and sad to say I could not finish this story, there was just too much stretching of beliefs.

Time/Place: 1900 England
Sensuality: Wouldn't know

The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

September 7, 2017

"Am I blue
Am I blue
Ain't these tears, in these eyes, telling you"

http://tessadare.com/
I seem to be going through some rough times with my authors and their new books. I have opened a number of them only to find I am not able to finish them. There is just nothing which keeps me turning the pages. So, when I opened up Tessa Dare's latest, The Duchess Deal, I was hopeful. I like Ms. Dare. She usually writes pretty interesting books with light touches throughout. As with Julia Quinn, I know what I'm getting with a Tessa Dare story, but this time it just didn't strike the right chord with me. So, now I'm blue because I'm running out of new books to read.

As I've said a gazillion times, I like to read books with humor and I think that The Duchess Deal was supposed to be funny - but I had a hard time working up any laughs. All the funny moments and the characters in the book were just a little off.

First of all, there is the Duke of Ashbury, aka Ash, and he's blue too. But not because he read this book - no, he's the star of the book. Ash is horribly scarred so he is sulking throughout most of the book. He's mean, nasty, and filled with self-loathing and he is bound and determined to make everyone around him feel blue too. His fiancée took a look at him and ran from the room, breaking the engagement. Her run from his horrible scar also destroyed a ton of his self-esteem - boo-hoo. You've heard of mean drunks; well, Ash is a mean scarred hero, which is why it's hard to work up any sympathy for him. It's also hard to find any humor in the situation and his pity-party lasted way longer than it should.

Then we have Emma. Emma was the best character in the book. Emma accepted changes which most women would not. Emma grabs the bull by the horns, so to speak. She's a seamstress, a mighty fine one, and she's just spent hours and hours on a wedding dress and now the wedding's off. She has not been paid for that dress. She has knocked on the bride’s door - no success. So she barges into the groom’s house and demands payment. Well, what she gets isn't exactly what she thought might happen. You see, Ash is that groom/ex-groom and he has come to the conclusion that any woman will do for a bride. All he's interested in is an heir and now here's this strange woman in a really ugly dress, even though it is crafted well. He offers her a deal: be his wife, have his child, then disappear into the country with said child. Emma weighs her options. She can starve or she can marry a mean-scarred-stranger. She picks the stranger and food.

Even though Emma seems to be a timid person, she starts changing things right away - very subtly. She decides that she may be bedding a stranger but she's also going to make some kind of a life for herself. Now here's some of the problems I had with this story. I never understood how she could so easily fall in love with Ash. I like my angst-filled heroes to have some kind of redeeming quality. There has to be some kind of glimmer of a reason for a heroine to fall in love with him. I just could not see it. He made it hard for anyone to feel sorry for him. He was constantly belittling her and everyone around her. He didn't want her to touch him, didn't want to hear her, didn't want anything to do with her and still she kept coming back for more. I also didn't understand why he needed an heir if all he was going to do was plant his heir in the countryside along with Emma. He had no plans to get to know his child - so why did he need one? He hated the world so much I didn't understand why he should care what happened to his estate once he kicked the bucket. It didn't make any sense.

And, then there were the secondary characters, whom I'm assuming are going to have books of their own. They were just silly and their differences were all outside things - one fixed clocks, one was a scientist-baker, and one saved animals. Hopefully their books will have some character-building.

I don't know. I was just very disappointed in this book. Everything was soooo over the top. The goofy friends, the weird cat, the boo-hoo-I-have-a-scar hero, and the I'm-going-to-save-everyone heroine. I felt the most sympathy for the heroine, but then I didn't understand why she would fall in love with a mean sourpuss. There are other ways to beat someone up besides using a fist, and Ash degraded Emma with his words.

I didn't find the book funny and I was very disappointed in this work. That doesn't mean I will not never read Tessa Dare again, it just means that this book wasn't one of my favorites by her.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Mechanical