How many books?

[jmc_bks]

I'm thinking that the reading slump is over.
  

Why?  Because April's reading list looks much improved over February and March.  The count is a little low, especially when you consider that I have reading time built into my daily schedule (1.5 hours to read on the train), plus the train ride to New York and back, and a RT flight with the attendant airport waits.  And there are a lot of Cs, but they are balanced by the higher grades, I think. 

New books

1.  High Noon by Nora Roberts.  B/B+.  The suspense took a little too long to develop, IMO; h/h seemed a little slow to catch on, but that may be my impressions because the reader gets the villain's POV while they don't.
2.  Anchor and Storm by Kate Poole.  Erotic romance historical, ebook.  Meh.  Too many ochs and lassies.  C-/D+.
3.  Natural Law by Joey Hill.  Erotic romance, ebook.  A-.  Reviewed here.
4.  Blowback by Chalmers Johnson.  Nonfiction.  A.  Reviewed here.
5.  Dipped in Chocolate by Renee Luke.  Erotic romance, novellas, black & interracial romance (I think).  C+.  Hated one story, thought the other two had promise but needed more space.
6.  Nemesis by Chalmers Johnson.  Nonfiction.  A.
7.  The Billionaire's Scandalous Marriage by Emma Darcy.  Category.  D+
8.  A Guilty Affair by Maureen Smith.  Category, black romance.  C.  Lots of chemistry between characters, clunky plotting, tacked on problem and resolution.
9.  Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell.  European historical.  C-.
10.  Pleasure Planet by Evangeline Anderson.  Erotic romance, futuristic, timetravel, novellas.  C-/D+.  One story had promise, other two were best forgotten.
11.  My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson.  Chick lit.  Picked up based on Karen Scott's review.  Wow!  A
12.  Prairie Moon by Maggie Osbourne.  American Western.   Good, but not a keeper for me.  B

Rereads
13.  Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
14.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
15.  Persuasion
16.  The Lady's Tutor by Robin Schone.  European historical, erotic romance.  Schone is or was an early ER writer who pushed envelopes, and I read this one probably 6 or 7 years ago.  This time?  DNF.  Overwrought prose, boring.  The "gays are evil" stereotyped villains are just sad.
17.  The MacGregor Grooms by Nora Roberts. B
18.  Menage by Emma Holly. B-

I'm almost finished Keri Arthur's Dangerous Games, the fourth book in her Riley Jensen series.  I read the first book a while back and though it was ~meh~.  Another paranormal series.  Slightly different b/c it's set in Australia, and the heroine is a werewolf-vampire crossbreed.  But still, meh, not another series.  I skipped the next two books.  Probably wouldn't have picked up this one, except the selection was limited.  I'm enjoying it more than the first book.  Not sure if it is because Arthur has progressed as a writer, or if it's just me.  I'm still not sure I'll pick up the next book of the series or read the two intervening books, but this one was good.

Comments

[tinyluv.livejournal.com]

I thought High Noon was excellent. I liked the way the story played out because it made the romance and the ultimate conflict more believable.

Snagged an arc, though, eh?

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Yup. In a roundabout way, since I don't generally get arcs. And I'm dying to post a review, but the release date is too far out for that.

[(Anonymous)]

Persuasion? Huh. I was just rereading Sense and Sensibility.

I'm doing a pimp myself thing. If you pimp me too, or just pimp my pimpage you could win valuable prizes. (I like the word pimp--just wish it didn't have the older nastier meaning)

[(Anonymous)]

Whoops, I'm Kate Rothwell

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Kate,

Persuasion is my trusty fallback reread. It always pleases. And S&S is my second favorite Austen, but I tend to reread it less often.

I can pimp. I've read one Summer Devon, which I have in eformat, I think. Can't remember if I did a review. And Somebody to Love, which I liked. Wait! I've read two Summer Devons -- one ebook and one in Taming Him!

What's the etymology of pimp? Must check. Have you ever caught Jeff Dunham's ventriloquist act? He has one dummy who calls himself Jeff's pimp -- a player in a management position. Hee.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

Angie said that the Arthur series gets better. I read the first one myself, and felt it was meh. Haven't decided on the second book yet.

[(Anonymous)]

what did you think of courting the courtesan? Was the rape stuff hard to take? did you feel like the characters had a future? I haven't read it yet but the buzz is pretty amazing.

(and I can send you a book if you want, you know.)

I'm also rerere-listening to Northanger Abbey on tape. That one is much funnier read aloud than silently

kate again

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

I thought the pacing was good in the first half or so, but the plot died in the second half. Campbell did a good job making the hero tortured, too good -- I thought he was a psycho rather than "hero" material. And when the heroine blamed herself for trying to run away from him? Grrr. The rape, for all of the discussion and furor, was a relatively small part of the book. And it was rape, no question at all. I didn't believe the HEA for a variety of reasons: first, because they both need serious therapy; second, because I didn't believe they loved each other; third, because of the casual dismissal of the social problems attendant to a duke marrying a whore...who may be barren. Of course, he probably has magic sperm, so maybe she isn't. Who knows?

C-/D+ from me.

Of course, I would never have picked it up but for the buzz. Neither the cover nor the back blurb would've prompted me to pick it up otherwise.