Month: November 2012

Review: Guardians of Stone

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Guardians of Stone
Guardians of Stone by Anita Clenney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When my dog immediately ate the cover of this book, I thought it was a bad sign. Thankfully I was wrong and Guardians of Stone is a really fun, entertaining, and sexy foray into a new series and new author for me. I’m actually lamenting the loss of the cover because it’s hard to convince people to try a new book with teeth marks on the spine; no really, the dog LOVED it too. The review quote on the back is a perfect descriptor as “a cross between Indiana Jones and Stephanie Plum.” The book is nicely balanced with relic action scenes – searching catacomb bones for an ancient box amid deadly booby traps – and a romantic triangle between the female lead and two equally gorgeous and grumpy men. It’s a bit of a stretch so readers have to be willing to buy into the premise and suspend disbelief but it’s worth it with sharp writing, good dialogue, sensible if familiar characters, and an overall interesting plot that keeps the action moving and readers interested. Continue reading →

Review: Your Biggest FAN

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Your Biggest FAN
Your Biggest FAN by Missy Welsh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I tend to like Missy Welsh’s books because they focus on younger men, just figuring themselves out. These characters tend to have inherent immaturity, due to their age, but that gives them charm and likability. They’re not perfect but struggling to be happy with who they are. Your Biggest Fan is along those lines this time with a closeted jock that happens to like cross-dressing and a self-professed “hairy Greek” that is a bit of a nosey troublemaker. Together the sparks fly and all issues are resolved pretty easily. The plot is nice and attempts some real depth but the shorter space means just about any issue or conflict is very easily resolved. This keeps the tone and pace easy and light and negates the weighty topics that are actually addressed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but the resolutions are particularly cheery and light. Continue reading →

Review: Sweet Talk

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Sweet Talk
Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Julie Garwood book but I have a whole shelf of them so I figured I’d check out her newest contemporary book. Sweet Talk is just that, almost nauseatingly so. I found the characters way too perfect. Everyone is gorgeous, kind, charitable to a ridiculous degree, and all with genius level intellects. The bad guys are bad without any real reason but tend to make near comical mistakes while the good guys are so perfect and caring I kept rolling my eyes at them. Flaws of any kind don’t exist in this fantasy land. On the up side the plot is decent and I actually liked many of the concepts of the book, the writing just couldn’t quite flesh them out well enough. Continue reading →