Eileen Dreyer Does it Again...

After reading author Eileen Dreyer's thoughtful responses in her recent interview on IRR, I was more excited than ever to tackle the third title in her Drake's Rakes series, Always A Temptress.  As you all know, I absolutely adored the first two books in this series and have been anxiously awaiting this one since finishing the last page of Never A Gentleman.  My wait finally ended with the recent release of Kate's story.

We had hints about Kate's background and familial troubles in the earlier books, but it seemed impossible that ED could match the sheer boldness of Barely a Lady or Never a Gentleman, and guess what?  She doesn't. Stay with me here though, because this is not a bad thing. Temptress is a quieter book on some levels. After finishing it, I had to take a few days and think about it before I felt ready to attempt a review. The feel of Temptress seemed different, more intimate, more narrowly focused on Kate and her Harry. The happy news here is that they are both fascinating characters.

Lady Kate Seaton is a widowed Duchess who has a somewhat infamous and unsavory reputation throughout the ton. Readers of the series know that Kate often employs that reputation to protect herself  and that under the glittering exterior, there is truly a heart of gold. While attending a wedding Kate is witness to the death of the murderous traitor known as the Surgeon. Just before his death the Surgeon tells her cousin Diccan (from NaG) that Kate has vital information about his traitorous group, the Lions.  Diccan, desperate to uncover the information and fearing for Kate's safety, asks his fellow Rake, Sir Harry Lidge to take care of Kate and try and find out if she does have any knowledge of the Lions evil doings. Sir Harry, perhaps due to his longstanding feelings of anger and resentment toward Kate, has her kidnapped and attempts to bully the information out of her.  Kate has no clue what he wants from her and is trying to deal with the chemistry and attraction that, even after so many years, is obviously still strong between them.

The nature of the conflict between Kate and Harry provides a fine example of Dreyer's strength as a writer. Although based on a misunderstanding, it felt very real and ran very deep. Actions that both had taken when they were much younger continued to impact their lives in a very immediate way and their mutual resentment and anger toward each other felt completely logical. This is a real strength in the book. By the time Kate and Harry begin to settle down and communicate, they are faced with danger from all sides and they must learn to trust in each other in order to survive. As I said before, the focus of this book is very much on Kate and Harry. Kate's colorful band of friends and servants are certainly well represented and provide a good deal of comic relief, but the core of the book concerns the two main characters attempting to deal with their complex and muddled feelings about each other. These two each believe that they have been betrayed by the other and in a very real way, they are both correct. Harry, after having been fed scurrilous lies about Kate, leaves her to a horrific fate at the hands of her uncaring father and elderly husband. Kate, after believing she has been deserted by the love of her life and her only hope of safety and happiness, feels that Harry chose money and position over her. The scenes that involve their mutual realization that they have both been wrong are very powerful stuff.
When Kate and Harry are finally able to realize the depth and nature of their feelings for each other, well,  I don't think I've ever enjoyed a HEA more.

As I said earlier, after finishing Temptress, I had to put the book aside and think about it.  Then, I had to go back and re-read a second time and think some more. This books differs from the first two titles, but it is in no way less dramatic or passionate.  Dreyer's deft touch and her ability to move beyond the sometimes cliched world of historical romance is as strong in Temptress as it was in the previous books.    I'll even go so far as to say I suspect that Kate and Harry have the best shot at a truly happy and fulfilling life together because we witnessed their struggles so intimately in Always a Temptress.  This book left me more certain than ever that Eileen Dryer is going to remain at the top of my favorites list for a long time to come.  The skill and range that she exhibits in her first three historicals have me positively giddy thinking about what she might offer up next.

I know that many of you have read and loved the Drake's Rakes series, so I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on Always A Temptress. And, once again, let me take a moment to thank Eileen Dryer both for her generosity and her talent. Oh, and also, I'm wondering what kind of bribe I'd have to come up with to get Drake's book moved up on the list.  The wait for that one may just do me in!

Never a Gentleman? I beg to differ...

As many of you know I've spent the last few weeks spreading the good word of Eileen Dreyer's new historical romance series Drake's Rakes.  I fell deeply in love with the first book in the series, Barely A Lady and before I had even finished it, I was buying the second title, Never a Gentleman.  If I thought Barely a Lady was a bold attempt to push the historical romance envelope, Never a Gentleman could be called downright audacious!  


Audacious:
1. extremely bold or daring; recklessly brave; fearless
2. extremely original; without restriction to prior ideas
3. recklessly bold in defiance of convention, propriety, law or the like; insolent; brazen


Oh yes, one can absolutely describe Never a Gentleman as audacious, as it works on all those levels. Again, Ms. Dreyer takes some basic historical romance tropes and then sets about using them to tell a story that feels completely new and different. NaG, follows two of the characters featured in Barely a Lady, Grace Fairchild and Diccan Hilliard. Grace is the daughter of an honored Army officer who has followed the drum all of her life and is looking forward to the end of the war so that she can return to England and start her own life.  Diccan is a suave diplomat, who plays the carefree bon vivant role perfectly, but in actuality is an important player in England's espionage and intelligence efforts. The two enjoyed a nice bit of business in Barely a Lady, with their witty verbal sparring and it was obvious that Ms. Dreyer was not finished with their story.  


Never a Gentleman begins with Grace and Diccan finding themselves completely compromised. Someone has drugged them and placed them in bed together and also made sure that they are discovered. The time period and their social status being what it is, they are forced to marry in order to save Grace's reputation. Neither is particularly happy about this development, although Grace harbors a bit of a crush on Diccan and he respects and admires her wit and intelligence. Diccan is described as a very attractive, sexy man and Grace is said to be plain, tall and slightly lame. He's Cary Grant. She's abnormally tall and walks with a limp. OK, so we get it, he's hot, she's not. We see this all the time in romance novels and frankly, my one complaint about this book, involved the constant repetition of how plain Grace is. She's plain and gimpy, we get it already.  Both characters try desperately to figure out how best to deal with their new reality, in light of the fact that they already had very specific plans for their lives. Complicating matters even more is the fact that Diccan has been ordered to romance some secrets out of a nasty female double agent.  He knows that this fake romance has the potential to truly crush an already fragile Grace and indeed, it does. Grace meantime is surrounded by her loyal friends and admirers who are horrified to see their friend seemingly being used and abused by her new husband.  Oh the angst!!!


Yes, my dears, this books contains even more angst per page, than my adored Barely a Lady!  This one actually drips with angst as we watch two, basically honorable people struggle with a truly wretched situation that neither of them created. We've seen this horrific set up before, I was reminded of Jo Beverly's excellent book, An Arranged Marriage, but in the capable hands of Ms. Dreyer, this situation is taken to a whole new level. Dreyer boldly goes where other authors have feared to tread. Grace has a front row seat to her new husband's amorous efforts with the other woman and Diccan constantly struggles with the need to do his job and the fact that he is practically destroying his new wife in order to save his country. The actions and emotions that this situation brings forth are extraordinarily complex. There is no black and white here and that is what I love most about the book.  Neither Grace nor Diccan is a bad person.  Ms. Dreyer does a great job of exploring and exposing their thoughts and motivations as she puts them through this terrible emotional ringer.  


A word of warning: Never a Gentleman is not for the faint of heart.  This is no happy go lucky romantic romp.  It demands a lot of its readers. I think to enjoy this book, you must be a person who understands that life is full of tough choices and less than perfect situations and it is the many ways that people find to deal with these situations and each other that makes life so intriguing. If you have a problem with infidelity in your romance novels, this one might not be for you. If you like things simple and cut and dry, then this one definitely isn't for you.  If, however, you are looking for a historical romance that provides a ton of heart and substance, then you should be buying this book immediately.  I cannot wait for the third book in the series, Always a Temptress.  In this one, we finally get Kate's story and if the first two titles are any indication, it should be a doozy.  Thanks again Ms. Dreyer for helping me remember why I love this genre so much.

The Eyre Apparent...

Ok, Ok, I'll admit that the world doesn't really need another film version of Charlotte Bronte's amazing classic, Jane Eyre. There have been as many as 30 versions by my count, including television and foreign language titles. What is it about this romance classic that continues to fascinate both film makers and audiences? I believe that this book, which has been on my favorites list since I first read it at 9, has all of the elements that a reader could want. The book explores spirituality, faith, love, romance, sexual chemistry, madness, adultery, sin, horror and certainly, redemption. I'm not sure what more one could ask from a work of genre fiction. Since the latest film version of Jane Eyre opens this month, I thought I'd provide a quick overview of some of my favorite and least favorite adaptations. This is by no means an exhaustive list, I have only included versions that I have actually experienced. If I were planning a Jane Eyre Festival, most of these would definitely be on the program...

Jane Eyre - 1934
Colin Clive and Virginia Bruce

Happy Jane!
If you have ever felt that Jane Eyre could be improved if it was just a bit more cheerful and upbeat, this is the version for you! All is sweetness and light in this film version, which has next to nothing to do with the actual text of the book. A blonde Jane!!!  That tells you all you need to know.

Jane Eyre - 1944
Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles

Broody Jane!
This version certainly relies on the novel's gothic tone.  Welles plays a very broody and intense Rochester, but I didn't think Fontaine added much with her portrayal of Jane as sort of a wishy-washy damsel in distress.  It adheres to the text of the novel pretty closely and is a decent, if limited, adaptation.

Jane Eyre - 1949
Mary Sinclair and Charlton Heston

Yankee Jane!
Nothing special to be found in this blase treatment of the book produced as part of the otherwise excellent Studio One television series. The lack of British accents let one experience the book from a Yank's perspective.

Jane Eyre - 1970
George C. Scott and Susannah York

Elderly Jane!
While I enjoyed the look and feel of this version and the acting was solid, both of the main characters were played by actors far too old for the roles.  Nothing terrible about this version, but certainly nothing special either.

  

Jane Eyre - 1973
Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston

Steady Jane!
A very good BBC production that adheres closely to the text of the book and features excellent performances by both leads.  Nothing brilliant about the look of this production, but if you want a version that remains true to the book and doesn't screw with any of the major elements, then this may be the best one for you.

Jane Eyre - 1983
Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton

Completely Jane!

Another BBC production which features all of the positives of the 1973 production with just a smidge more intensity. This is, in my opinion, the most complete and well-rounded adaptation of JE to be found. The script is faithful to the text of the novel, the performances are nuanced and Dalton's Rochester is just the right level of intense and passionate without being obnoxious. If Zelah Clarke is unable to match Dalton fully, she does a very credible job of portraying Jane's straightforward and innocent nature. My only gripe? Typically cheap BBC sets. The interior shots look like the sets of a high school theater department production. Still, for the Bronte loving purists, this is a treasure!

Jane Eyre - 1996
Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt

Whimpy Jane!
The only reason to see this version is to enjoy the excellent cinematography and the gorgeous look of the film.  Neither Gainsbourg nor Hurt brought much energy or passion to their roles. They both float through the film with a sort of resigned sadness and it just doesn't serve the story at all.

Jane Eyre - 1997
Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds

Angry Jane!
Anyone who knows me knows how much I adore Irish actor Ciaran Hinds, however his Yelly McYellerson approach to Rochester was not a highpoint of his career. Hinds chooses to emphasize Rochester's anger and we don't see much more than that. The production is fine, but the script is rather weak and I recommend this version only for the joy of watching Ciaran Hinds look excellent in period costume. Oh, this version did feature an excellent Pilot!

Jane Eyre - 2006

Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens

Sexy Jane!

Certainly the hottest version of Jane Eyre so far, this BBC production was really well-done.  Beautifully shot, with a strong musical score and an excellent script, this version featured a more  modern interpretation of the classic tale. Toby Stephens brings a boatload of sex-appeal, humor and charm to the the role of Rochester, although he never loses the character's intensity.  Ruth Wilson is wonderfully subtle as a smart, strong, forthright and loving Jane.  This is likely the version that readers of historical romances will most enjoy.



So there you have it Eyre heads!  Hopefully this quick overview will help you to pick and choose your fave film version of one of the best books ever!  I'd love to hear which Jane you liked best and I would really love to hear a review of any of the zillions of versions that I missed...

Angels and vampires and hunters, oh my...

After mentioning both here and on FB that I enjoyed my short foray into the paranormal romance world, I was inundated with suggestions for my next paranormal reads. All suggestions were appreciated and I am planning on doing more reading in this sub genre that I had previously avoided like a plague. One name that caught my eye was Nalini Singh. I've heard interesting things about her Psy/changeling series, but had always felt like there was just a bit too much going on in it for my taste. I decided to take a look at her fairly new Guild hunter series, which at this time involves only three titles. The number of beings seemed reasonable, basically archangels, angels, vamps and humans. I can only keep up with so many beings/creatures and still tend to shy away from those books that feature casts of thousands. 

I started and finished this series in a week and overall, I enjoyed it. Singh is a good storyteller. The characters were interesting, if not as well-rounded as those that I loved in Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. The series basically involves the initial meeting and then the development of a relationship between Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux and the lethally beautiful Raphael, Archangel of NY. Singh does a fine job of explaining the rules of her paranormal world.  Archangels are the ultimate power brokers in this series. They are immortal and blessed with control over much of the world. They are served by vampires, who in order to be made and receive immortality, pledge their service to the angels and archangels for a specific term. When vamps go rogue and try to break their contracts, Guild hunters are called in to return them to their masters. Elena Deveraux is a hunter born, meaning she was born with her abilities to track vamps by scent. 

You know, as I type this, I am reminded of why I have always avoided paranormals, there is just too much going on. Sometimes, one finds themselves so involved in trying to keep up with characters and creatures and even worlds, that the story gets lost. That is not the case here. Singh does a fine job of laying the groundwork for this series. Still, it is very much a series and one is well served by starting at the beginning with Angel's Blood. The relationship between Elena and Raphael is the story here and by reading the books in order, you get to enjoy and appreciate how it develops. I should add that this is pretty hot stuff. If you like your higher beings served up with a strong dose of sex, then this series should work for you. I should also point out that by the third book I was feeling  a strong sense of deja vu.The plot seemed familiar and predictable.  According to Singh, she has been contracted to write four books in this series and I think that may be plenty unless she chooses to focus on some of the supporting cast of characters and take the focus off of Elena and Raphael for a bit. So, if you're looking for a paranormal series that is pretty easy to get into, features extremely hot chemistry between the leads and doesn't require graphs and charts, this one might be for you. I didn't love it as much as the Fever series, but I did finish all three titles in a week, so obviously something was working.

Singing the Winter Blues...

OK, let me just say that January was not my favorite month ever. Besides being busy, traveling across country for work and dealing with Atlanta's Snowapalooza 2011, I have been dealing with some health issues which don't seem to want to go away. All my way of apologizing for the lack of posts lately.  Time and energy have been in equally short supply.

That said, I have certainly been reading more than ever. I started the In Death series by JD Robb while winging my way to Cali and I am currently up to 24. I have decided to go ahead and read the entire series before reviewing, but I will say that I am surprised by how much I'm enjoying these books.

My trip to California was to attend the ALA Midwinter conference in San Diego and I was thrilled to get to meet many amazing writers, including several personal faves. Is it any wonder that I love my job?  The faves I mentioned include Neil Gaiman, T. Jefferson Parker and Stewart O'Nan! They were all crazy smart and funny and very gracious to their fans.  I managed to grab some great ARCs and I am still making my way through this sea of great writing, but here are a few I want to recommend:

If you haven't read something by these three, do so immediately.  They are all fantastic writers and truly cool people as well.  

Also want to give a quick thanks to Beth for her review of the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning.  I started this series last week because I felt like I owed Beth one and I basically devoured it and finished  it on Friday night! You all know that I'm not a fan of paranormals, but this was quite a wild ride and so much fun.  I'm going to give it a while to simmer and then post a longer piece on this one, but if you all are looking for something cleverly written, with interesting characters and one of the hottest male leads ever, then get started on this series now.  And, oh yeah, Ms. Beth, here's my vote for the TV Barrons...

Odi et amo...

Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?

Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

I hate and I love. Why do I do this, perhaps you ask?

I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured.

--Catallus

The very short and poignant poem found above is by the Roman poet Catallus.  It sort of sums up the subject of this Tuesday's Top 5 which is angst. I'm not just talking run of the mill, oh I'm so upset cause you broke my heart, kind of angst.  I'm talking larger than life, earth-shattering, no one is right, no one is wrong, cannot move for the sobbing sort of angst. We romance readers tend to think of this as angst with a capitol A.  I like to call them Angst monsters.  

Finding romance novels that feature this level of angst used to be a pretty easy thing.  Romances tended toward big, overblown scenarios and epic lengths that really leant themselves to putting the featured couple through the proverbial wringer. These days it is way more difficult to find a truly angsty book. The genre has swung toward lighter, less intense novels and very few writers seem to want to let their protagonists be difficult or complex. Currently, I find that most of the angst in the romance world comes from paranormals. Since I am not a huge fan of that subgenre, I am bemoaning the loss of the truly angsty romance or at least one that doesn't involve a shapeshifter or a vamp. I'm looking for humans and all of their nasty habits and faults that, when combined with the right amount of chemistry, desire and passion, create really amazing stories. Stories where maybe there is no easy answer.  Stories where there may not be a right or wrong.   This sort of angst, when done well, provides a backdrop for more emotion and passion than most of us will ever see in our everyday life.  For that matter, we wouldn't want to truly experience these things.  But experiencing it through a well told story, with an interesting hero and heroine from the safety of your couch is one of the angst lovers truest pleasures.  So, be warned.  The list below features books that are not sweet.  They are, for the most part, dark.  They are dealing with gut-wrenching situations or emotions.  They are not for the faint of heart...

To Have and To Hold - Patricia Gaffney

One of my favorite books of all time! This story destroys many of the conventions that one usually finds in a romance novel. The heroine is a criminal, she is downtrodden to the point of almost being a shadow. The hero is a vain, cruel and superficial man. Their relationship is as disturbing and tortured as I have ever experienced. This book is very dark and very deep and many people hate it with a passion, however, if you crave angst, if you're looking for a complex and multilayered story about an almost impossible love, then go and find this book.  Gaffney is a master and this is her best!

The Lily Brand - Sandra Schwab

The premise of this book was unusual to say the least. A young girl's sadistic step mother makes her the gift of a man. A British soldier is pulled from a French prison and made the love slave to the beautiful and chaste young woman.  She is not strong enough to fight her stepmother, but is completely appalled.  The twist here is that the hero is the one who is enslaved and victimized. That a relationship could bloom between these two is unbelievable, but somehow Schwab makes it work. She carefully examines and exposes everyone's motivations.  And that includes those of the wicked and over the top villain. If you're looking for a romance that is truly different, then this might be for you.  

The Coming Home Place - Mary Spencer

This book had several strikes against it before I even opened it.  It is set in America, in the West and I hated the cover. Once I opened it, I found the over the top language very off-putting and the characters almost absurd, but I could not look away.  Spencer is a master of the Angsty romance. She is definitely more storyteller than writer though.  At times while reading this book, I found myself hating pretty much everyone in it but I kept reading. Look for a full review of this book in the near future because I really want to try and break it down and figure out why I read it and why I have since re-read it several times. It is a crazy manipulative, hyper-emotional, passion-filled mess of a book, but if you want Angst, it delivers in a big way!

Tangled - Mary Balogh

Ok, you guys know that I love me some Balogh. Let me say, up front, that this is not one of my favorites.  It is, however,  an Angst monster of the first order. Our heroine finds herself widowed and alone. She makes a decision to marry an old friend who, by the way, she sort of blames for hubby's death. She is bitter and resentful until new hubby begins to make her feel all sorts of good things. Just as she finally comes to accept her feelings for new hubby, guess what happens?  I am pretty darned sure that only Mary Balogh could have written this book.  

Sarah's Child - Linda Howard

I'm going to mix things up a bit and throw in a contemporary angst monster, Howard's very early work, Sarah's Child.  This book evokes the strongest of emotions from readers, but most seem to dislike it intensely. I am fairly new to Linda Howard and this was the first book of hers that I read and I found it pretty darned amazing. The premise is simple, heroine is in love with her dead friend's hubby, who she has worshipped from afar forever.  Hero finally notices heroine and their chemistry is strong, but he is still living with a world of pain resulting from the death of his family. Hero offers marriage of convenience and though they will have sex, they will not have children. Anybody who has ever read a romance can guess what happens.  The beauty of this book is in the way that Howard builds her heroine.  At first glance, Sarah is seen as weak and obsessed, but you finally begin to understand that she loves Rome.  Really loves him. Not just when it is easy and convenient and fun.  But even when she hates what he is doing, she loves him.  There was a real subtle complexity to this book that I haven't seen in any other Howard romance.  I enjoy her work, but she seems to have abandoned this sort of story and I think that is a shame.  This is another one that we may look at more closely.  I think it deserves a closer more thorough look.  

Is there an Angst monster that you love?  That you love to hate?  Either way, I'd love to hear about it...

Rip my bodice!

Today’s Top 5 Tuesday features my favorite bodice rippers.  For those who don’t indulge, a bodice ripper is a romance novel usually written in the 70s – 90s, that involved many of the following elements:

Virgin heroine (not for long)
Alpha (with a capitol ALPHA) hero           

Kidnapping

Forced seduction

Rape

Pirates

Harems

Enslavement

Spying

Travel

Adventure

Epic length

Long separation

Heroine imprisoned

Hero imprisoned

Heroine beaten

Hero beaten

Huge misunderstanding/s

Evil relatives

Evil Mistress

Adultery

Secret pregnancies

Surprise babies

Miscarriages

Amnesia

Flogging
Incest

Murder

Heroine/Hero sold

Back from the dead

Wild sex

Explicit sex

Arranged marriages

Stalking

Heroine has clothing torn off at least once, maybe several times (why do you think they call them bodice rippers?)

  

If you’re reading a romance novel and it contains more than three of the above elements, it may be a bodice ripper.  If it contains more than 10, it is definitely a bodice ripper and if it contains all of them it was probably written by either Rosemary Rogers or Connie Mason.

Bodice Rippers have fallen out of favor with today’s romance publishers, and frankly, I miss them.  Yes they were incredibly sexist and politically incorrect, but the stories were larger than life fantasies.  They offered up characters who were bold, vibrant and adventurous, unlike many of the bland, lifeless romance novels that one reads these days.  So, without further ado, my top 5 Bodice rippers:

Devil’s Embrace – Catherine Coulter – 1982

Psycho stalking alpha hero.  Check.  Innocent, soon to be raped and brainwashed heroine.  Check.  As a friend once said to me, if it wasn’t for all the beating and raping, this would be a great love story!

Never Call it Love – Veronica Jason – 1978

Nope, call it a violent, angsty, sex-filled travelogue. 

Sweet Savage Love – Rosemary Rogers – 1974

Ah, Steve and Ginny.  What most people think of when they think of a bodice ripper.  A little sweet, a lot of savage and not all that much love, but it is still a classic!

Caress and Conquer – Connie Mason – 1986

Bad, bad, bad in a real good way.  The entire time you are reading this book you will find yourself wishing you could quit reading it long enough to burn it and bury the ashes in the backyard, so that no one would ever be forced to read it again, but unfortunately, you cannot stop reading it long enough to move off the couch, let alone find matches and a shovel. 

Flame and the Flower – Kathleen Woodiwiss – 1972

The one that started it all.  Seems pretty tame now compared to the others on the list. 

Things that go bump in the night...

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday! I love the fact that we celebrate scary stuff and you get candy. What more can one ask of a holiday? To honor the day, I'm going to give you with my scariest suggestions to help you get in the mood. Just a note, today we're going to expand the formats, I'll give you a film and an album as well as a book title. I want this to be a Halloween that provides thrills and chills, whether you choose to read, view or listen...

Naomi's Room by the amazing British writer, Jonathan Aycliffe remains one of the scariest books I have ever read. This book has achieved something of a cult status, and deservedly so. Do not plan to read through the night if you are alone in the house, especially if you have an attic.  IJS. Terrifying stuff and well worth hunting down, cause it is out of print.

Amazing ghost story from writer/director Conor McPherson, starring the equally excellent (and incredibly hot) Ciaran Hinds. No one does ghost stories better than McPherson and this is a doozy.

Even though I am a fan of classic country music (from the 50s through the 80s), I was never big on country crooner Wagoner, except for this classic of dark, violent and depraved love. This is an amazing concept album where every song works to support the idea that life and love is a sad and violent, although passionate, undertaking! With lyrics like "lord, you should have seen their frantic faces, they screamed and cried please put away that knife..." and "I dug and dug for hours and then I planted flowers on the first Mrs. Jones..." this is light years away from the insipid dreck that passes for country music today.  Chilling!

If you enjoy a good fright and a visit with the darker side on occasion then I highly recommend these three titles.  Here's wishing everyone a spectacular Halloween and if you want to leave some scary suggestions yourself, I'd love to have them.

The Eclipse
Naomi's Room
Cold Hard Facts Of Life/Soul Of A Convict

Gothic Love

I'm back and having survived my recent brush with death (or at least a very bad cold), I thought I'd introduce a new feature for the blog.  I'm calling it Top 5 Tuesday! Basically, every Tuesday I'll put together my top 5 list of something or other. Could be books, authors, genres, etc. I hope that some of you may feel inspired to leave your own top fives in the comments, I'd love to get some new titles or authors to read out of this. For our premiere top 5 Tuesday, I'd wanted to offer my Top 5 Gothic Romances. I adore gothic romance!  I don't give a fig how cliched or insipid they may seem to others, curling up with a gothic and a nice cup of tea on a cold, rainy day is one of life's greatest pleasures.

Top 5 Gothic Romance Titles:

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
"Reader, I married him."

Mistress of Mellyn - Victoria Holt
"There are two courses open to a gentlewoman when she finds herself in penurious circumstances.......One is to marry, and the other to find a post in keeping with her gentility." 

Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderlay again."

His Dark Kiss - Eve Silver
"To travel on a day such as this was a task only for the addled or the desperate."

Lily - Patricia Gaffney
"What if I were a governess?  She was shouting now.  You'd never marry me then, would you?  Because even if you loved me, I'd be too much like your dead wife, your beloved Maura, the woman who made you this way!  But I'm not like her Dev, I'm me, I'm Lily..."

When is a Gothic not a Gothic?

When it is Elizabeth Hoyt's new romance, Wicked Intentions.  I was very excited when I first started reading that EH had a new book coming out.  I love her stuff.  I think she is one of the best romance writers around and to make a good thing even better, I was hearing that this one would be a Gothic romance!  I love me some Gothic romance.  I love all of the cliches involved in Gothic romances, love everything about Gothic romances.  I even love the covers with the heroine in appropriate period dress fleeing from the castle, mansion, etc.  So you can imagine my excitement at the idea of one of my favorite writers writing in one of my favorite genres?  So, I pre-ordered that baby for my Kindle and waited with anticipation for the release.  Sadly, the reality did not live up to the hype, as is often the case.

Wicked Intentions looks a lot like a Gothic. It has the heroine in appropriate period dress, fleeing down a dark and foggy London street. In the beginning it sounds like a Gothic, with the heroine and her loyal servant hurrying through the dark, foggy London night. And that's about where the Gothic stuff ends.  OK, so I don't have a Gothic written by one of my favorite romance writers, I still have a new book by EH and you know that will be excellent.  Right?  Um, not so fast...

I really do respect EH's talent and it hurts my heart to say that Wicked Intentions was not very good.  The story had promise, a young widow, Temperance Dews is trying desperately to keep the orphanage her family runs afloat. She meets the mysterious and dangerously attractive Lazarus, Lord Caire and he offers to introduce her to possible patrons for her good works, if she will agree to guide him through the murky streets of the St. Giles area. Lazarus suffers from a rather odd and fascinating condition in which physical contact causes him pain. To alleviate his sexual needs and avoid too much contact he has a habit of binding his paramours during sex. In fact, the reason that he needs to snoop around St. Giles is because his former mistress was murdered and he wants to avenge her death. At this point, I'm thinking that EH is entering some pretty interesting territory.  I'm still trying to piece together why it just didn't work.

For one thing, I think that EH tried to do way too much with this book.  It is the first in a new series and she introduced a million characters that you know will be featured in her future work. On top of the cast of thousands, she tried to explore a complex psychological condition and flirt with the concept of bondage and alternative sexual practices, as well as write a compelling mystery. Just too much stuff going on here. Her attempt to cover all of this territory meant that the relationship between the hero and the heroine just wasn't very well-developed.  Oh the witty dialogue that is a trademark of EH books was there, but there wasn't much substance to it. The depth of attraction and connection that you see in so many other EH books just wasn't there in Wicked Intentions.  Also, the whole no touching thing was treated sort of inconsistently.  We never really get a good explanation of why Lazarus has developed this condition and it seems to weaken and almost disappear by the end of the book. Yes, he had a withdrawn and distant father, but is that all it took for him to develop this debilitating condition?  By the end of the novel, he has made this major transformation, however it is never really explored in any depth.

I think there was great potential here but unfortunately it just didn't pan out. That said, I would encourage you to read Wicked Intentions if the description interests you. Just because it isn't as strong as her previous work, doesn't mean that it is not worth checking out. I'm sure that I will read the next in the series as well, because a weak Elizabeth Hoyt book is still better than most. After all, this is the author that created Jasper, Viscount Vale from To Seduce a Sinner and I owe her a debt of gratitude for bringing that amazing creature to life. Vale made my top ten Romance Heroes list. Curious as to who else is on the list? Stay tuned, I'll be featuring it soon...

Lovely, dark and deep...

OK, so you guys know I love angst in my romance, right?  How in the world have I not read an Anne Stuart book before this?  I have always heard about her love for dark and twisted, bordering on outright cruel heroes.  Her books are reportedly some of the angstiest out there, and yet I've not picked one up.  I changed that recently when I read all three of the books in her new House of Rohan trilogy in one week.  The verdict?  I enjoyed them.  I  sort of inhaled them actually.

Stuart definitely skews darker than most of the sugar sweet stuff I've been reading lately and I truly reveled in the slightly malevolent tone of her work. The new series follows various individuals in the Rohan family from Georgian times.  The men in the family are all associated with the Heavenly Hosts, a secret society that supports the pursuit of sin and pleasure above all else. The premise is a little bit hokey, but these societies did exist and since Stuart's characters don't take the groups all that seriously, the reader is allowed the same point of view.  The main thing their membership in the society does, is to allow Stuart to show how heartless and unfeeling her males are.  Sex is just entertainment and love is non-existent in their world, until of course they meet their heroines and fall madly in love.  Of the three, the third book, Breathless seemed the darkest to me.  The hero in Breathless is truly seeking revenge and seems to have little compunction about destroying the heroine, if need be.  The cool thing about Stuart is that she provides her dark heroes with a pretty good reason for being dark. The plot provides a rational justification for them to be jaded and cynical and she allows you to witness their progression and growth, as they begin to change.  Her writing is tight, witty and crisp.  Her characters are beautifully drawn and I loved how intelligent they all were.  No TSTL heroines here. These women are smart, strong and willing to get down and dirty when the situation calls for it.  

The first two books in the trilogy are available and the third is due out in October, so you can read them in order and close together and I think that adds to the enjoyment of the series.  As I understand it, Stuart has not written many historicals in the last few years, preferring to work on contemporary romances.  I hope this new trilogy is a signal that she is turning her talented hand back to historical romances.  Goodness knows we angst lovers need something to counter all that sweetness and light.