What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long

I was recently looking longingly at the book list of Ms. Long (because I lurv her books, well, Pennyroyal Green anyway, there were some others I didn't totally linger over).  And since I'm all caught up with the series but I couldn't for the life of me remember if I had read What I Did for a Duke, I bought it and started reading it (again, it turned out).

I am not typically a re-reader but like many other of Ms. Long's books, even though I recognized the story once I started it, it was so funny and lovingly written (I can imagine some might call Ms. Long's prose a bit purple, but I think she walks the line pretty much perfectly) I just kept reading and reading until I had finished it in a single weekend day.  Have I mentioned my daughter who is a grammar stickler says I am a comma hater and that I write run on sentences.  What!  Never say it!

Anyway, this isn't really a review cause I love this book, but it is a recommendation.  Really, if you have liked any of Julie Anne Long's Pennyroyal Green books, read this one.  Its fabulous (despite the lame cover.)

Historical Romance 2011: 5 of 5 "horses" not whores.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Shout out to Book Smugglers for this recommendation.  If I spend too much time on their site I sometimes become overwhelmed by the awesome (so many books, so little time) and decide to never read again. But I was lucky enough to hit on Ancillary Sword's release and thus Ancillary Justice's description before my eyes started to glaze over at all the pretty covers.

I loved this book.  Loved it, I say.  But I recognize (those of you with lesser intellects) not everyone is going to be entranced by the political and military meditation on what it means to be human.  No, seriously, it has an interesting, well constructed plot, but no one is going to accuse this book of being too plot-driven.  It's a character study with some really kickass cultural and technical concepts that are deftly explored and fun to think about.

Perfect example, I encouraged, cajoled, forced my daughter (14) to read the book and she dutifully did but at a much slower pace than she reads 80% of the other books she picks up.  When she finished it she told me that it was very cool, which is high praise, and she was glad she had read it and was looking forward to reading the sequel but I noticed she had another book in hand by the next day.

But seriously this book is so good.  I mean really good.  And I don't typically read a lot of sci-fi -   I'm more of a fantasy girl myself.  Get it now. Be so happy that the sequel is already out. Don't cry too hard when you buzz through the second book and realize you, like me, have to wait an entire year or more before the third book comes out......

Science Fiction 2013: 5 out of 5 Presger vivisections.

Season for Desire by Theresa Romain

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be reviewing Enraptured but while the cover is delicious I don't think I liked it that well so I'm leaving it there for your enjoyment while I review a book I liked quite a bit but which has a much less interesting cover.  Well, I suppose the material of her dress is nice but does it have to be almost puce.  (Never thought I'd get a chance to use the color puce in a review, yea!)

Ah, I do digress.  The first paragraph holds a lot of what I liked about this book: "Sunset fell early over the moorlands of northern England, and prudent men abandoned the road to the criminal, the desperate, and the mail coaches."  Clever word choice, a self deprecating tone and of course the most important thing of all, the oxford comma.

Well, actually over the years I have lost a lot of my oxford comma fervor but the book brims with humor and fun characters and witty rejoinders you wish you had thought of yourself.

Giles is an American who is helping his father on a treasure hunt of sorts, Audrina has just been abducted against her will by a suitor and her father blames her, or at least doesn't defend her quite as vociferously as she might like.  Lady Irving is the cantankerous woman of a certain age who pushes people around for their own good, insulting them while she is at it.

At first I was annoyed by the author writing sections in minor characters voices (I'm here for the primary romance, hello!) but then I came to really enjoy it.  They are fun characters and I loved that they were non-traditional voices we don't generally hear.

Terrific regency romp.

Regency Historical Romance 2014: 5 of 5 Vulgar family mottoes.

Julie Anne Long "I Kissed An Earl"

Hmm. I was just reading a review for The Native Star where the reviewer said quite elegantly: "It is one of the paradoxes of reviewing books that it is actually harder to do well and fairly when there is nothing conspicuously wrong with a novel you’ve just read." Now you probably know that I'm a Julie Anne Long fan-girl, but I haven't loved every one of her books. This is Violet Redmond's book. She is Miles' little sister. She actually stows away on a ship with a hunky captain who is hunting her brother, Lyon.

And so we combine both my ridiculous love for heroines stowing away on ships and hunky captains and crews who fall in love with her because she's so darn nice and plucky with an author whose hyperbole continues to enthrall me. She writes: "He was unnervingly gentlemanly about turning his back and allowing her to slip into her night rail. He was then unnervingly matter-of-fact about stripping down to nothing as per usual and climbing into bed as though that first eyeful of his nude rugged beauty didn't club the breath from her entirely and prevent her from moving for a few solid seconds."

I was very concerned that Ms. Long would not be able to reconcile Violet's love for her brother and her love for our hero. I should not have worried.

Historical Romance 2010: 5 of 5 slave trading bastards.

Suzanne Collins "Mockingjay"

I'm going to try hard not to give away anything about Mockingjay but I'm assuming you've read the first two books so be forewarned (spoiler alert).

In case you haven't read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, what are you waiting for?! It's a dystopian story about a young girl whose sent to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games where 24 teenagers battle to the death in the arena.

When I read The Hunger Games I was struck by the skill with which the book handled so many different ambiguities. Does she "love" Peeta or Gale, what does "love" mean as it applies to each of them? Where are the moral lines between survival and retaining your humanity? While we condemn the Capitol viewers for their interest in the Hunger Games, isn't the pace and violence and uncertainty one of the things that keeps the reader reading this book? Not only is the book brilliant but it's riveting and you can't help but fall in love with the characters making it readable on many different levels.

Catching Fire was terrific but I think most noteworthy for being, really, a very decent middle book. That's not easy to do either.

Mockingjay completely lives up to this entire series. The brilliance of the first book lies in what it didn't resolve. I worried that in a third book, where you certainly expect things to be resolved, there was no way to not be disappointed. Ms. Collins, I'm impressed. The book effectively and logically ties up a lot of issues, but dives even deeper into war and how one retains one's humanity under impossible circumstances. Wow.

And no. Not gonna tell you which boy. But I will say, both live and so in the end, she does have to choose. :)

Young Adult dystopian novel 2010: 18 of 5 decapitating lizard mutts.

Meredith Duran "Written On Your Skin"

This book is overdue at the library and I'm a rule follower so I'm going to stay up late and write the review so I can send it on to the next lucky person on the hold list.

Phineas Granville is an English spy pretending to be an American businessman to bring down a gun smuggling ring in Hong Kong. Mina is the collateral damage, the step daughter of the ring leader. Her step father is abusive and is about to marry her off to someone that makes her skin crawl so she is looking for a way out. She throws herself at Phin and he's astounded by her idiocy but the tables turn when he's poisoned and she's in a position to save his life.

Four or five years later, she has extracted herself and her mother from her stepfather's ruin, and built an amazingly successful cosmetics business in New York. She travels to London with her mother, where her mother is kidnapped by her stepfather who had escaped from prison some time in between.

She turns to Phin for help but he wasn't much of a willing spy, and he has no intention of being dragged back through the mud again.

Nitpick #1: Nice gratitude! Until he decides that she is not an idiot, and she's telling the truth and she's actually really quite frickin' amazing, he doesn't feel very guilty about not wanting to get involved even if she did save his life.

I really, really, liked this book, but I do think overall I liked the heroine better than I liked the hero. And it's nice that the book is good enough in other respects that I get to think about the characters as if they were real people and nitpick their decisions, not because they don't make any sense whatsoever, but because they reveal selfish character flaws that I'm not excited about. In other words, this is a terrific book and if you want to know my other nit-picky issues you have to read it and then we can talk. :)

Historical Romance 2009: 5 of 5 intemperate misses.

Robin McKinley "Sunshine"

Did I say to myself while reading this book, "It's just a classic fantasy quest tale: and really, the angst sections go on a bit too long and her worries about demon blood seem silly." Yes, my logical mind registered these judgments.

And did I think, the vampire thing is sooooo overdone at this point, I'm surprised Robin McKinley would go there (not knowing that this was written in 2003 but still...). Yes, I thought that. So why did this book seem to squirm back toward my hand every time I put it down, like one of Rae's charms in her glove compartment. Why did I carry it with me everywhere just in case I had an extra second? Why did I finish it and sit staring at the cover for ten minutes just luxuriating. Then when I felt the cover was inadequate to the beauty of the book (and this cover is awesome) why did I have to go back over all of their conversations, just to see what I had missed, forgotten, not entirely understood?

Because that's how Robin McKinley gets me every time. Were there problems, yes. But in this book she takes the simple fantasy quest framework and adds something very very important. First she walks us through what it might cost someone to accept their 'special' status as the world saver. Then she lingers after the successful destruction of evil to recognize what it might have cost the warriors. What does it cost someone to even face and recognize that kind of evil, what does it cost someone to learn that they are capable of destroying that evil, not because they are so above it, but because they have some affinity for it. I can leap from this fantasy to Darfur much too easily. That is the mark of an exceptional author.

Fantasy Vampire Novel 2003: 5 out of 5 black silk shirts.

Sherry Thomas "Delicious' and "Not Quite A Husband'

I really enjoyed Private Arrangements for it's non traditional twists on the historical romance and it's clever yet tortured characters; so I was eager to read her other books. I wasn't disappointed. Delicious is the story of a master cook who inspires lust with her cooking. I liked the fact that the hero was more developed in this story. Both the hero and heroine are people you wished you knew, who have lost true love and struggle to find a way to bring it back into their lives. Wonderfully written.

When I picked up Not Quite A Husband two days later I was worried I was overindulging but well, that's never stopped me before. Bryony is a woman doctor, Leo is a mathematical genius and an intrepid explorer. But Bryony is brittle and when something goes wrong in their marriage it shatters her. This is the story of their recovery. Again, two wonderful characters who are smart, fully developed and tortured. But what actually improves this book is the addition of some suspenseful plot. Normally I'm complaining about too much plot and not enough character, this book pointed out to me again that it's a balance. A bunch of character and relationship exploration (done well) is great but breaking it up with a little plot made this book rise above the first two.

Overall, Sherry Thomas is terrific. Auto buy for sure.

Historical Romance 2008 Delicious: 4.5 of 5 madeleines. Historical Romance 2009 Not Quite: 5 of 5 emergency cesareans.

Pamela Clare 'Untamed'

Visiting the library a couple of days ago I came across this book. The cover is hard not to notice and then I remembered it had been reviewed favorably so I picked it up.

It might have a lot to do with timing, I've been in a reading slump lately, not enjoying my historical romances the way I usually do. Regardless, Untamed has re-innervated my love for historical romance novels. I loved the movie The Last of the Mohicans and in atmosphere the book is right there. The MacKinnion Rangers are suitably legendary and while I usually prefer an intrepid heroine, Amalie's character is true to her upbringing and very believable without being entirely a victim. Instead of being annoyed that Connor and Joseph were so obviously going to be sequals, I found myself looking forward to their stories.

I was impressed by the author's ability to wind this love story through the realities of the French and Indian War, or any war for that matter. The uncertainty of times of war make for high emotion but not for believable development of loving relationships, and Ms. Clare manages to use both to her advantage. Although the final plot developments were a little over the top for me. Small complaint.

Historical Romance 2008: 5 of 5 Satan's arses.

*giggle* did you notice 'taut' and 'sensual' are placed right in his bellybutton *giggle*

Stieg Larsson 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'

Minerva has been a muddled, useless, exhausted mess all day today, and it's entirely the fault of this book. Once she began reading, it was impossible to put it down. And even after it ended -- sometime around 3 AM -- it was impossible to go to sleep. How can anyone sleep with eyes staring, muscles clenched, and mind churning? All Minerva really wanted to do was turn the bedside lamp back on and read the whole thing again, just to make sure she understood how all the pieces fit. That's how good a thriller this is.

It starts out slowly. Indeed, for the first four chapters, it appears that "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is going to be an interesting (but not particularly thrilling) tale of a mildly swashbuckling investigative journalist, Mikael Blomqvist, who gets caught up in a labyrinth of corporate malfeasance and trickery. Three things hint otherwise: the tantalizing prologue; the grim statistics on the title pages of each section; and the gradual emergence of a thoroughly unlikely heroine, the diminutive, punked-out, utterly asocial yet brilliantly competent investigator Lisbeth Salander -- the girl with the dragon tattoo.

The book's original title is "Män som hatar kvinnor" -- Swedish for "Men Who Hate Women" -- and as the story unfolds, this central theme comes to the fore. Blomqvist, his career shattered by a libel suit, turns his investigative talents to the unsolved case of a girl who vanished -- presumably murdered -- thirty-six years earlier. Meanwhile, Salander, whose mysterious past was clearly a nightmare of violence and abuse, contends with an authority figure who seeks to further victimize her. And when Blomqvist and Salander join forces to probe into a grisly series of unsolved murders -- all women, all horribly brutalized -- well, that's when Minerva got out of bed, went downstairs, and triple-locked the front door. And that's the last word she's going to tell you about the plot.

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is translated from the Swedish, apparently by an exceedingly competent robot. Occasionally there is the slightest slip -- as when Blomkvist asks Salander if he may "burn" a cigarette -- but for the most part, the writing is correct, in a coldly mechanical, faintly inhuman way. Perhaps the original text had the same iciness (Minerva will never know, Swedish not being a language she has any intention of learning), or perhaps it came about accidentally in translation. Either way, its chilling tone is extremely effective.

Minerva fully intends to read the next two books in the trilogy -- "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest" -- but is in no particular hurry to do so. Her shattered nerves demand a soothing dose of Austen or Trollope.

Rating: 5 out of 5 sets of cold steel handcuffs.

Julia Quinn "What Happens In London"

Considering I was one of the few people who liked Mr Cavendish, I presume I'm pretty sure I've lost my objective abilities (such as they are) with Julia Quinn. But, I read her new book so I want it duly noted.

Really it's very good. She's honed in on what she does so well, comedy of manners. When Sir Harry muses on what Olivia would do if he started choking at his desk, while she is spying on him through the window, it's not only funny but makes you fall in love with Harry all the more. Who doesn't like tall dark handsome and a sense of humor.

Now as par for Julia Quinn, the sex is not extensive and it comes later in the relationship (oh, how novel, you mean not all the women in Regency England slept with practical strangers as long as they felt like they were THE ONE) but in this book I thought she gave a bit more time to the sexual tension and build-up which was nice.

If you haven't read Julia Quinn yet, MY GOD, what are you waiting for, and if you have and are waiting for a used copy of this one, you're going to like it. :)

Meljean Brook 'Demon Moon'

Savitri the computer guru and Colin the incredibly gorgeous vampire. This is book four in Brook's series about Guardians fighting Demons and Nosferatu. Colin is falling in love with Savitri but he has the unique vampire problem of not being able to share his blood without killing the recipient. This does not make him an ideal life partner, since when a vampire feeds they have an overwhelming desire to also have sex with their victim and if he feeds from Savitri exclusively she won't last two months.

The tension over how they are going to solve this incompatibility is terrific, Colin is terrific. The plot adds some distraction from the angst and is enjoyable in its own right. There were fewer moments when I wondered what the heck was going on than in the first book (but they still occurred). Ms. Brook is quite committed to the "show, don't tell" rule, maybe a bit too committed.

Overall a very enjoyable addition to this series.

Demonic Vampire Romance 2007: 5 of 5 ways to taint a vampire's blood.

Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice"

Is it just me or does anyone else find prejudice difficult to spell? I just so want to put that 'd' up front. But I digress. I've been totally slacking off on the blog, sorry about that. I have been reading, so hopefully I'll get a chance to trim down the TBR stack soon. (That's To Be Reviewed these days. I've given up worrying about the To Be Read pile.)

My book club decided to read Pride and Prejudice for the month of June and I was determined to finally get through it. Yes, I know, horrors! I'm admitting that it's not my favorite book on earth, nor do I have it memorized (even though my Aunt read me the first sentence when I was thirteen). I have attempted the book in the past and didn't finish it. I'm thinking now that may have been at thirteen because I do remember being totally confused over who the hell everyone was. Can we call the characters by one name please, I mean really.

So despite my desire to not love this book because like EVERYONE loves this book, I'll admit it's pretty good. Okay, it's funny and even philosophically insightful, and yes, romantic. Fine, fine, it's a great book, I liked it.

Romance Novel 1813: 5 of 5 unmarried daughters.

Madeline Hunter 'The Sins of Lord Easterbrook'

Lord Easterbrook is the mysteriously retiring and eccentric older brother of the Easterbrook clan. When he sees Leona in London he is stunned, as he has never forgotten their time together in Macao, seven years ago, where her father had a trading company.

In previous books he is the quintessential powerfully inscrutable character. A wealthy and socially influential marquis who is almost completely dismissive of English society's expectations. He does not go into society except when he feels it's necessary to support his family members, which given his emotional reserve from them, is an insight into a soft heartedness that his brothers are quite surprised by.

In this book we learn Christian suffers from a prescient ability to discern people's emotions, and for some reason he can not read Leona. When he finds she is in London he is determined to have her. What is so interesting about this character is that his pursuit of her combines both sexual temptation AND support of her other interests. In other words, he courts her by being her friend and support, not just trying to fufill her sexually.

This is what I love about Hunter, when she's at her best, her characters and relationships have an extra realism to them that makes them less forgettable than other romance couples, without bursting my 'romance bubble' if you will. It goes without saying that her historical detail and feel for period enhances the books as well.

Historical Romance 2009: 5 out of 5 loose dressing gowns.

Julie Anne Long "The Perils of Pleasure" & A Book GIVEAWAY

Is it possible I could love this book more than Like No Other Lover (which I forced my entire, non-romance-reading book club to read.) The only bittersweet part of reading this book was knowing that I had used up some of my best superlatives on her other book. Well, that and the back cover, WTH?

Madeleine Greenway is hired to orchestrate Colin Eversea's escape from the gallows. He was to be hung by the neck until dead for murdering someone in a pub who insulted his sister. He is innocent, of course, and once he's free the person who hired her tries to kill her instead of paying her, giving her an incentive to help him prove his innocence and try to recover her fee.

Julie Anne Long can write herself some damn fine characters. Her prose is slightly more restrained in this book than in Like No Other Lover and I would dare to say this plot is just a hint leaner than the other as well. Making this one of the finest books I've ever read.

And since you've probably either read about or guessed my penchant for well recounted infatuation, I'll point out that she is the master in this department as well.

Historical Romance 2008: 5 of 5 'masculine problems.'

Now about the book give-away. Because, as I mentioned above, I forced my book club to read a romance novel, and because I was feeling guilty about it and because I therefore bought a few extra copies of Like No Other Lover since the library's were mostly out.....I'm hereby spreading the joy these books have brought me and offering two (used) copies of Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long to two randomly selected commenters on this post. Deadline is midnight, April 7th, a week from today. Go crazy.

And in case you're interested, an excerpt:

"Could anyone have been hurt today?" he faltered. "The explosions..."
"No," she said coolly. "Not from the explosions alone, anyhow. They were low explosives, meant for loud noise and smoke only. ....set off by very strategically placed boys , paid out of my pocket, ... and all for your benefit, Mr. Eversea. I don't suppose we can discount a turned ankle or a fit of apoplexy in the crowd ...but other than that..."
"Or a trampling," Colin added with dark irony. "Can't discount a trampling."
"Your concern for the thousands of people who came out to cheer as you died horribly is touching, Mr. Eversea."
"I don't think they all came to rejoice in the event."
"I wouldn't be too certain," she said tartly.

And this for some perverse reason made him smile. She wasn't any happier to be here with him than he was to be with her. And she was so very ready to volley, and good at it. He'd wanted a conflict; she'd given it to him and he felt as though he'd spent himself in a good tennis set.

"You really don't exert yourself to charm, do you, Mrs. Greenway?" he mused easily.
"Charm, Mr. Eversea, will cost your family an additional ten pounds if and when I return you alive and whole."
"I should like to see the menu of available services , then, if you please."
He turned back to her just in time to see her smile crack like lightning. It was dazzling, genuine, a thing of natural beauty. [sic] Seconds later it occurred to him both that he was gaping and that he should probably breathe again.

Best Book of 2008 - Better Late Than Never

I love this book. Love it, like I love chocolate Lindt balls. And I love chocolate Lindt balls almost more than I love my offspring. I'm not kidding around here people. True love is no laughing matter. It's what's between me and this book.

If I were to entertain the idea that this book had faults, I might be convinced to mention it's loquaciousness. But I prefer to think of it as a verve for life, not a slight habit of repeating itself. Oh, sure you might try to argue that the book could have been trimmed by a suitor or two, but you'd only be showing your true jealous colors.

Cynthia is on a suddenly desperate husband hunt. Miles had been transfixed then repulsed by Cynthia upon seeing her in London. It's never nice to overhear someone referring to you as the 'dour second son.' A few weeks later, his sister invites her to their estate for a country house party.

I will admit, on occasion, the author dances dangerously close to purple prose (I can not keep turgid images out of my mind when I read or use that phrase, yuk, yuk, yuk.) I loved Miles, his slow dissection of Cynthia, her motives, her strength, her inherent goodness underneath this shallow but real exterior. I loved that they give each other up, because the only thing better than reliving infatuation is empathizing with someone else's impossible love. While knowing of course that they get together in the end. Oh, sorry for the spoiler.

I love clever writing like this: "They both watched Lord Milthorpe cast the china cup a wistful glance, as if he knew he was bound to crush it eventually and was issuing a silent advance apology." And finally I loved Cynthia, she's smart, she's insiteful about people and she is transformed through the story into a better person, and not only because Miles loves her (although it helps, this is a romance novel after all).

Best Historical Romance 2008: 5.5 of 5 statuary penile projectiles.

Julie Anne Long Like No Other Lover

Julia Quinn 'Mr. Cavendish, I Presume'

It never fails that I just can't wait for PaperBackSwap to send me the latest Julia Quinn. I finally broke down and bought it, full price, at the grocery store. Can you imagine! Well, it was my birthday week so maybe I can be forgiven.

Did I mention my birthday, let's talk about that for a second. I started the day with my 5 year old waking me at 4am, and 5am and 6am. Then on my way to class, (Tuesdays I have to bike), I discovered my bike seat was all wet from the recent rain when it soaked through to my undies. Moments later my shifter actually cracked right off leaving me in a very low gear and feeling like a hamster on a wheel. My Sociology professor had very inconveniently scheduled an exam ON my birthday, the nerve, so I had to take said exam once I finally arrived. After the exam I walked out of the building and looked up and realized it was the MOST gorgeous fall day. I took the five year old out to lunch where there was no whining or screaming. (the kid is on steroids, this is amazing!) When we got back home said angel child went off to play, I grabbed Julia Quinn and sat in the fall sun on my lovely porch and read. Really 38 doesn't get much better. I even managed to finish up the day with drinks with some good friends at a hip and edgy bar. Well, as hip and edgy as Madison gets.

Oh, back to Quinn. I'm happy to report that I have a complaint. Not a complaint really but at least something I can say other than," Goodness, this woman's stories are brilliant." Quinn's endings are never her strong point, usually they suffice since the beginnings and the middles are so completely brilliant. But as long as I'm pretending to review the book; the sex scenes near the end seem to come out of nowhere because there isn't much build up to their desire for each other. We are told that Thomas thinks about Amelia 'that way' but we aren't shown through their own physical experience of their own physical desire. As a result the sudden physicality of their need at the end seems incongruous. Oh, it's nitpicky, no doubt there. I loved that Amelia stayed relatively weak willed, not something I would ever have expected to love, but that's the brilliance of Julia Quinn.

Historical Romance 2008: 5 of 5 bucolic Irish villages.

Loretta Chase 'Lord of Scoundrels'

This is a book I kept seeing on various people's 'best books of all time' lists. And having read a couple of Loretta Chases' other books, and enjoyed them, I couldn't pass this up.

Sebastian, our hero, is likely the most enjoyable yet truly badly behaved hero around. And their early interactions, especially how clever and funny the heroine is, are wonderful. Compared to some other Chase books, the first half of the book is funnier, the second half of the book is more old school romance. Well written, clever, basically realistic. I wasn't as thrilled with the second half of the book but Sebastian's abject fear of losing Jessica, which convinces him to finally act human, would warm the cockles of any woman's heart.

Historical Romance Reissue from 1995: 5 of 5 hideously overdecorated bonnets.

Loretta Chase 'Your Scandalous Ways'

What I love about this book is the hero. Francesca is smart and witty so I like her too, but James is smart, funny, physically commanding and can laugh at himself. He doesn't think he's immediately in love with Francesca, he's certainly in lust, but when he does admit he loves her, he's not tortured by it either.

Francesca was divorced by her terrible husband for adultery. She fled to Paris and eventually became the most sought after courtesan of her time. Now she is in Venice, currently between lovers. James is a British operative sent to retrieve some incriminating letters her former husband wrote. But he's not the only one after them, and the other party isn't as reluctant to kill to get them.

I have heard some criticism of the book because the heroine is a courtesan. Besides violating the basic tenet that romance novel heroines must not have had sex that they liked, I thought the author navigated the pitfalls rather well. Neither character is insecure about the other's past lovers. If the author had introduced that issue I think it would have bothered me more. Let's face it, James has slept with a lot of women in the name of duty, what is that but a patriotic whore.

The sex was great, the plot believable, the characters smart and funny, and the hero puts on the heroine's dress to deflect the killer's attention. I loved it.

Historical Romance 2008: 5 of 5 condums.

Kate DiCamillo 'The Tale of Despereaux'

If you have children between the ages of 5 and 80, you should read this book out loud to them. A self aware take on fairy tales that revels in the beauty of stories and hope and dreaming. If you don't have children you should read this book to remind yourself why you started reading books.

My husband said, "I think the ending was pretty lame." I will admit it was subtle and maybe didn't live up to the promise of the beginning of the book but I think his pronouncement was a bit harsh, and perhaps if he had heard the complete book he would have been more swept up in the characters.

Children's romance, in the best sense of the word. 5 of 5 red eyed rats.