Well, I'm not at work! I know both my coworkers intend to go back into the office this weekend, but I'd rather bust my a$$ motoring straight through an extra long workday during the week and keep my home *work-free* rather than bring work home or, in the case of one coworker who lives in condo a 10 min walk away) go home, then come back to the office.
So I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
...to do laundry, grocery shopping and housework. *g*
But I'm also happy because after being in what feels like an eternal slump for months, I read two books back to back that I really enjoyed. (Ahhh, now my fellow readers understand the scope of my joy.) Not perfect reads, I had my quibbles with both, but still just loved the time I spent with both sets of heroes/heroines.
Kristin Higgin's Fools Rush In
This is has been languishing in the tbr pile since it's release (in 2006?). I love KH's voice, but she's one of those authors I can't read back to back or the similarities between books becomes too apparent.
Also, while i know she's marketed as contemporary romance, *to me* she's not. She writes woman's fiction with a strong romance. In this case about 300 pages of the almost 400 page book was about the heroine settling back into her small Cape Cod town after years away at University/med school and her self-improvement plans (the usual hair/make-up/weight loss/fix-up new home, establish career thang)--plans which tie-in very neatly to her bigger plans of landing her high school crush.
Who's not the hero. In fact, Millie's pursuit of Joe Carpenter falls pretty much into the realm of 'stalking'. Seriously. The author skirts the border of making the heroine unlikeable because of this, but aside from this touch of madness, the heroine is such a good egg, you can't help but like her. And the hero is just a real stand-up guy. What you would want in a real-life hero, not the fantasy hero-types you read in romance books. KH does a bang-up job showing the easy bond/caring/friendship between the heroine/hero before the romance really kicks in. Good thing, since he's her ex-brother-in-law. KH makes it work though! I totally believe that the HEA for these two will last.
The next book I read, I finished in 24hrs (stayed up till 5am this morning to finish!). Rachel Gibson's True Confessions, is definitely more of a straight contemporary romance, although there is a bigger story surrounding the core romance.
I loved the heroine and the hero. They were both distinctive, layered, imperfect and strong, and a really good match for each other. Loved their banter/witticism, and the sexual tension? Whoo baby! This is how it's done. Reminded me of some ol skool Linda Howard. I've missed reading build-up like this. I like the money-shot/pay off scene as much as the next reader, but the tease/foreplay/build is just so much more interesting/fun.
What I also enjoyed about this book is, I read RG's See Jane Score (I think it was her first book) and I a bunch more of her book in the tbr pile but haven't read them yet, but I could see that RG has taken her writing to another level with this latest release. I thought See Jane Score was great, but her writing in this book is just so much better.
I just love when a (favourite) author *gets better*, because it doesn't always happen. Sometime they stay at the same level re plotting, characterization, word-smithing, and in some instances that's fine. Whatever you loved about them, you still love.
But sometimes it's not, because you saw the 'rough diamond' of their work and kept reading in anticipation of that polishing and refining of writing skills. Gets frustrating when that doesn't happen, especially when the rough edges are things you might feel should/could be dealt with if just a little more attention/care were applied.
Worse scenario is, when it seems like they've regress (burn out? Not enough time to polish/flesh-out their work? Less attention given on the editorial end? Change of genre/publisher?) whatever the reason it's always disappointing.
Kinda got of track there, a little, didn't I? Well as long as I have rambled off topic I'll add that the last thing that's got me chuffed is, reading good books makes me want to be a better writer and to that end, I'm off to deal with the wip.
0 comments:
Post a Comment