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Festival - Victoria Barrett

I have to admit to reading Festival a few years ago, so this is not a recent read for me. But that should say something about it's memorability factor. I came across the book while looking for another here on Amazon and was immediately reminded of how much I loved Festival. There are so many fresh elements to this romance. For example, the hero and heroine fall in love before they ever meet face to face. Telephone calls...sexy telephone calls, allow them to get to know one another and enjoy each other's good qualities before physical factors come into play (What a nice change!!)A time-travel and romance saga is the best description for Festival. I highly recommend it.

Look for Victoria, who is currently writing under the name Vicki Hinze

12 Sharp by Janet Evanovich

I got my Plum fix. Jolly good times. Way more detail as far as the Ranger/Morelli/Stephanie triangle in this book.

Here's a quick break down of the synop. Stephanie is stalked by a woman who claims to be Ranger's wife. Ranger's suspected of murder and kidnapping. The sexual tension spikes a dozen times, and, once again, we're left wondering......

I thoroughly enjoyed 12 Sharp. Had only one issue with the big "reveal" scene at the end where the "whodunnit" and why is explained by the bad guy. His reason for not killing Stephanie right away seems a bit contrived. But who cares. I don't read these for the mystery. I read it for Ranger/Morelli/ Stephanie, and this one just ups the ante on that scenario.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling

Chamber of Secrets is my least favorite HP book, but that doesn't mean it's not great. It simply means it's not as fabulous as the others.

In chamber of Secrets, Harry finally learns why he can talk to snakes, but it's also the first book where death becomes vitally important to the entire series. For those who don't know, death is, indeed, a main theme to Harry Potter ... how we deal with it, fear of it, what we're wiling to do to escape it etc. It's the first book where life or death becomes a reality for a character other than Harry - namely, the person opening the Chamber of Secrets.

One of the reasons I do like COS is because it's also the introduction to Moaning Myrtle, who is so annoyingly cute and nerdy, you can't help but like her, and also, it's the introduction to Dobby, the house elf. Thankfully, the movie included both of these elements (though the following movies left out Dobby, which I think was a huge mistake on their part.)

So, final thought: if you read Sorcerer's Stone, chances are you read Chamber of Secrets quickly after and so on anyway. They're like Lays potato chips. Betcha can't eat just one.

July is Near!

With July around the corner, I'm starting to browse for more books to add to my frighteningly huge TBR pile. Here are some July releases that have caught my interest.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - JK Rowling

I'm still reviewing books I read a long time ago... no time for much fresh reading. So I thought I'd start on my favorite series ever! Harry Potter.The first book in the series, The Sorcerer's Stone, was one I was pressured into reading. I had purchased Goblet of Fire (book 4) through my daughter's Scholastic catalog, and had started reading it to make sure it was appropriate for her age (she was about 6 or 7). Then, my sister's friend Amy called to answer a few research questions for me and we got on the subject of the books. I'd told her I couldn't quite get into the intro of Goblet. She told me I HAD TO READ THEM IN ORDER. She was so enthusiastic, that I went out and bought Sorcerer's the next day. I read it in one sitting, feeling completely enthralled and excited about reading for the first time in years. The writing was stellar, but JK is a master storyteller. I found the intricate details of the world so exciting and fresh that I was turning pages even while stirring that night's supper. That first trip to Diagon Alley, arrival at Hogwarts, seeing it all for the first time through Harry's eyes. It was the definition of magical reading.I won't insult anyone by giving a synopsis. Unless you've been under a rock for the last 10 years, you know what Sorcerer's Stone is about. But I will say that the afternoon I finished SS, I went out and bought Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban. I read them all within a week and still wanted more.

UNLEASH THE NIGHT by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I adore Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series. Unleash the Night was no disappointment. I fell in love with Wren and his monkey (read the book, it's not perverted).

Wren is a shape-shifting tigard who's spent his entire life being hunted by greedy family members. In order to remain safe, he's been living at The Sanctuary, where the law of their kind prohibits violence. He's been fine with his antisocial existance...until he meets Maggie. Now he just wants to be normal. But in order for him to be with Maggie, he risks revealing his kind to society. He must choose between love and the laws of the Were.

I only had a couple of problem areas with this story, but they were nothing that pulled me so far away from the characters that I stopped loving them. Unleashed will definitely go on my keeper shelf.

The Bride - Julie Garwood

New reading is slow in coming for me lately, so for my book review Tuesday, I'm relying on another old favorite from Madame Garwood: THE BRIDE

FROM THE PUBLISHER
By edict of the king, the mighty Scottish laird Alec Kincaid must take an English bride. His choice was Jamie, youngest daughter of Baron Jamison...a feisty, violet-eyed beauty. Alec ached to touch her, to tame her, to possess her...forever. But Jamie vowed never to surrender to this highland barbarian.
He was everything her heart warned against—an arrogant scoundrel whose rough good looks spoke of savage pleasures. And thought Kincaid's scorching kisses fired her blood, she brazenly resisted him...until one rapturous moment quelled their clash of wills, and something far more dangerous than desire threatened to conquer her senses...

The bride dares to wear black to her wedding. When the groom is an enormous Scottish laird, that says alot about her daring and character. Any of Julie's medievals are worth noting, but this is among the top 3 of my yearly re-read list. Hmmm... I might even have to pull it off my shelf to enjoy it again shortly.

June's Around the Corner!

Wow! May's almost over. That means a good two hours spent browsing Amazon to see what books I have to run out and buy in June. These are the ones I'll be looking for. How about you? Any of these look good? Any recommendations?

TO PLEASURE A PRINCE - Sabrina Jeffries

To Pleasure a Prince reminds me of the regency-set Julie Garwoods from several years ago. The dark hero who's so Alpha he bosses himself around. The heroine who is flawed but unafraid of the ogre-hero, who is tiny but leads him around by his nose.

Know what that means? Yep. I loved it. I loved Regina's flaws, I loved the fact that I wanted to climb through the pages and slap the crap out of Marcus. I love all the wagers made in this book, because you just know at some point, the person referred to in each bet will find out and conflict will insue. I also love the fact that Ms. Jeffries didn't try to make those moments the BIG BLACK MOMENT, the predictable, this will tear them apart scenes. She used them as little gray moments and saved far more personal conflicts for that BIG BLACK MOMENT, so that, while you could guess what was going to happen, you never really knew when or how Ms. Jeffries was going to pull it off.

Will I read Sabrina Jeffries again? Absolutely. TO PLEASURE A PRINCE was part of the Royal Brotherhood Series, and I'm looking forward to reading the others in that series when I'm in the mood for this time period again.

Did I like the cover? Oh yeah. It's very very sensual.

Oh, and for those who were wondering - yes, Ms. Jeffries has every right to give workshops on great dialogue and unskippable love scenes. She's done a brilliant job with both.