Jennifer LaBrecque 'Yule Be Mine'
Kate was talking about taking on a Blaze Harlequin book so when I saw Yule Be Mine in my grocery store, I could not resist. Can I digress and tell you some one actually requested All Night With The Boss from me on Paper Book Swap. *snort*
Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. I've mentioned before the lower standards I hold for Harlequin's (without more exposure, I really can't say if this is deserved or not) and this book totally delivered. Giselle had the hots for her brother-in-law but never would have acted on it. Then her sister's marriage breaks up (sister cheated on hero, conveniently enough) and a couple of years later, Sam tracks Giselle (the journalist) down and gets himself assigned as her photographer. They head off to Sedona, AZ with the strangely uncontrollable sparks flying.
These are sort of like paint by numbers characters, not as complex as a real painting, but not badly done all around. Sam's sole mission in life seems to be fulfilling Giselle's every sexual fantasy, to wit he gets some help from a magical amulet. I could have done without the magic which was worked in pretty clunkily (hey, I love fantasy/magical books, this was just poor execution). But it certainly facilitated the sex that he had a direct report on her every sexual fantasy through said amulet. Strangely enough the fantasies were hotter than some of the actual sex depictions. Well, maybe not strangely enough. :)
Anyway, overall decent writing (mostly), quite decent characters, silly plot, lots of explicit sex and I finished it in one night. What's not to like.
Harlequin Blaze Contemporary Romance 2008: 4 out of 5 purple ribbed vibrators with a curved tip.
6 comments:
Wow, talk about the perfect stocking stuffer....! Har.
sounds like a good one.
great review :)
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
Anne, no comment.
Naida, thanks, this one was pleasantly entertaining.
Oh, the Christmas pun!!! I'm working on my Unbuttoned review for my Blaze, and like you I was pleasantly surprised to find it pretty ok. I definitely got the impression that the writer would be capable of a bang-up single title if she were out of the constaints of the category, and it sounds like you had kind of the same reaction...?
Although I'm not certain I would have made it past the magical amulet bit :)
Yes, very similar reaction. Luckily the amulet didn't appear until the characters had already been surprisingly decently drawn, so I was lulled into acceptance. :) I had even forgotten the unbelievable title.
I wonder if titles are like covers, writers have little control?
I'm under the impression that in the categories the titles are generally not chosen by the author, but I don't have any linkage to back that out...just grumblings around the interweb. You know, like how Harlequin comes out with three books called "The Greek Millionaire's Virgin Mistress" in one month so someone's not paying attention in their naming-the-book department.
I can hardly fathom a worse name for the one I read than "Sex, Straight Up" (yes, big picture of undisclosed liquor on the front, although an ice cube *beside* the tumbler.) But "Yule Be Mine" is pretty damn good too.
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