TBR Challenge for August

[jmc_bks]

The TBR Challenge is a bit of a mixed blessing. On one hand, it is making me confront my TBR pile; on the other hand, it is ruining the fantasy that every book in the pile could be a keeper, because I haven't had great luck with the books I've read so far for the challenge -- mostly average or DNFs.

This month's selection: Warrior or Wife by Lyn Randal

Publication info: Harlequin Historical , (c) 2007 (a January release, I believe)

In the heat and dust of the Roman area, a woman stands alone. The crowd cheers for Leda, the famed gladiatrix. Watching is the man who loved then left her -- Marcus Flavius Donatus.

Leda used to be Lelia, beloved daughter of a Roman senator. Exiled from the riches of her birth, she sold herself into gladiatorial slavery. Donatus is determined to right the wrong he did her and reclaim his bride!

Now Leda faces he ultimate choice -- independence and the danger of the arena, or an uncertain future with the man she once adored...

Why did I buy this book? It is a Roman-set historical, which is a relatively rare setting in genre romance. It was published at about the same time that a few other Roman-set books were, but for the most part, this is a setting more often visited in mysteries (Marcus Didius Falco) or literary fiction.

What did I think of the book? Weeeellll....I'll just say that it pushed a bunch of my buttons. The heroine had such a martyr complex that I wanted to tell her to get off the cross. The hero was a jerk; well-intentioned but pretty stupid, emotionally speaking, and a huge honking hypocrite as well. If conclusions could be measured and jumped like the pole vault, he'd've gotten a gold medal.

The book suffered from too many distractions, I thought. And an Evil Mother, of course. <sigh> Why is everything always bad mommy's fault? Mean Father was given a pass, of course.

Had I read this author before? Nope. This is her debut, or so indicates the cover quote from Gayle Wilson: "A stunning debut."

Will I read her again? Maybe. A single book really isn't enough to judge an author, especially not a debut novel.