Every once in a while I enjoy indulging in something that is light, bubbly and bright. Something with a little romance, a little adventure, a hint of danger and a dash of witty dialog. Jane Austen meets James Bond. Impossible to find, you say? Ah, well you haven’t discovered the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig and the latest entry THE ORCHID AFFAIR might well be the best of them all.

Laura Grey, a former governess, is fresh from the Selwick Spy School and sent as the Silver Orchid to the grim Paris of post-Revolutionary France. Her governess skills are used as cover, and she is assigned to Andre Jaouen, the assistant to Napoleon Bonaparte’s minister of police. Jaouen and his rival Gaston LaRoche are working together to ferret out a possible Royalist plot to overthrow Napoleon. As Laura begins to investigate, she discovers plots, secret meetings and enough danger and romance to keep the pages turning through the entire book.

Laura is a wonderful character, smart, tough and witty; and Jaouen, the unlikely hero, grew on me without my even really realizing it. Their romance was satisfying and not cloying or overly sweet. In fact, it was real. The whole book felt real. Despite the light banter here and there, it was definitely a bit grim. Paris was a pleasant place, the Revolution had taken a toll and this echoes through the book, the presence there without being forced on the reader with gruesome scenes or overlong explanations.

Fans of the series will be happy to find the modern-day storyline of Eloise and Colin in this book. Eloise’s research on the Selwick Spy School for her dissertation continues to give us insight and we get a further look into their lives and ongoing relationship. But that really took backseat to the other story in The Orchid Affair. In fact, if you are a first time reader, you can almost skip their story entirely, the other story stand so well on its own,

I was just so pleased with this book. Call it a guilty pleasure in someone who usually reads books with more grit, but The Orchid Affair is just wonderful. It is well researched and brings the era to life. The characters are delightful, and ongoing personalities make appearances as well. There is really nothing to dislike. The Orchid Affair is a perfect mix of historical novel, regency romance and spy thriller. Trust me, you’ll love it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Dutton Adult | Pages: 416 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

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TEXTUAL HEALING by Eric Smith is quirky. In fact, I have a funny feeling when he sat down to write this book that word was first and foremost in his mind. Textual Healing has the feeling of an indie film, one of those feel-good small budget films like Ten Inch Hero, full of interesting characters, almost real-life situations and a sweetly romantic comedy.

Andrew “Ace” Connor is thirty, a former bestselling author whose one-time bestseller is now languishing in the bargain bin at the local Barnes and Noble. To add to his woes, his girlfriend and “muse” (not that he’s written a word in years) has left him for greener pastures. The bookstore he owns is full of interesting employees and he has to deal with a ninja florist who speaks in haiku.

Like I said, quirky.

There is a lot to like in Textual Healing, like those indie films, I found myself drawn into Ace’s world for the most part. There are times when his inner dialog is a little… hmm… annoying, but I am almost ready to forgive him that, because for the most part I like him. I sympathize with his plight and his frustrations as he stumbles through his life. The ancillary characters are a definite plus to the story and keep it from becoming just a bit too much.

The problem with Textual Healing is it’s kind of like a nice, slightly unusual dessert. It’s sweet and has a bit of character, but when all is said and done, what you remember is the sweet, the slightly unusual flavor and not much else. This is not the kind of book that I pull off my shelves to read again and again. It was nice, I liked it. If asked I would say, sure, read it, there are points that will make you laugh out loud, but don’t expect anything deep, no revelations about life and the universe.

But then again, maybe we need a few books that are just that. Quirky, funny and sweet.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Authorhouse | Pages: 280 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

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All the sugary sweetness of old-fashioned treacle can be found in A DARCY CHRISTMAS by Amanda Grange, Sharon Lathan, and Carolyn Eberhart. The book is actually three short stories featuring Jane Autsen’s famed lovers Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, written by three of the more prominent authors in this oddly growing genre. (It is amazing how many books Jane Austen’s character’s have spawned.) I have mixed feelings about the book. Call me a Scrooge, but bah and maybe a little humbug too.

It was the first tale that nearly did me in. When the opening pages of the book have you wanting to toss it across the room and into a nonexistent fireplace, it’s not a good thing. “Mr. Darcy’s Christmas Carol” by Carolyn Eberhart is what caused the reaction, and I think it was the collision of two authors in a wreckage of mixed language that stopped me dead on the first page. The mimicking of Dickens’ Victorian A Christmas Carol is a little too close and, honestly, it didn’t get better from there. I plowed on, though, like a plucky Austen heroine facing her first London Season, I went on.

The other two stories, “Christmas Present” by Amanda Grange and the title piece “A Darcy Christmas” by Sharon Lathan, were sweet, a little witty and almost there. Almost, not quite. For me, they lack what I love in Austen, the social commentary, the dialogue, everything, because there is so much more there than just the love story, although that serves as the backbone of the novel. These tales, all three of them, are just sweet. Sweet to the point of whipped honey covered in treacle studded with candied flowers dipped in sugar.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Jane Austen, and actually like, even love, a few of the modern Pride and Prejudice based books, which is why I wanted to read this one. I just was really not expecting the unrelenting sweetness without a break of anything – well except for a a few ghosts on Christmas Eve – that I am sure left both Dickens and Austen spinning in their respective graves.

If you are a fan of Jane Austen, or buying a gift for a fan, maybe think twice about this book. However, if you are a fan of these authors, you might want to give A Darcy Christmas a try, just sit far enough from the Christmas fire that the book is not in danger of being chucked into the flames.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark | Pages: 304 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

 
If you are looking for a cute romance, look no further than All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins.

As hard as Callie Grey tries to create the perfect life for herself, she has to face the facts: she’s just turned thirty and the man she’s been crushing on for years, Mark, is dating someone else. She needs to let him go, but she can’t resist the idea of making him jealous by dating the new veterinarian in town, Ian. Unfortunately, Ian is frosty, standoffish, and not at all receptive to Callie’s advances. He might, however, be interested in hiring her to promote his practice since he doesn’t really know anybody in Georgebury, Vermont and Callie, the former prom queen, is Ms. Popularity. Love life aside, Callie is also dealing with her wacky family, a couple of contentious friends, and a new rival at work. In All I Ever Wanted, Callie has to learn that if she spends her life making everyone else happy, she’ll never find her own happily ever after.

All I Ever Wanted is a cute story with plenty of likeable characters and a picturesque setting. Callie lives with her grandfather, Noah, and the crusty old boat builder was probably my favorite character. Both her kooky family and the colorful townspeople were a lot of fun and added charm to the book. Warm and vivacious, Callie is pretty darn likeable too. She’s one of those perpetually happy, upbeat people that usually annoy me, but she’s so down to earth and relatable that I was rooting for her. Although, her habit of constantly referring to her uterus (as in “my uterus twitched in response” or it “caught me right in the reproductive organs”) made me want to barf. Who talks like that? While that annoyed me, I thought the way Callie referred to the extra weight she carries around her middle as a “food baby” was hilarious, so I guess it all evened out.

All I Ever Wanted blends romance and chick lit into a funny, sweet story. I recommend it to anyone who likes those genres.

Quotes from All I Ever Wanted:

As the man I loved approached my office, the image of a deer being hit by a truck came to mind. I was the deer, metaphorically speaking, and Mark Rosseau was the pickup truck of doom.

It was as if there were two Callies…the smarter, more sensible self (I pictured her as Michelle Obama), and the dopey in love part…Betty Boop. Would that Michelle could give Betty a brisk slap, followed by some vigorous shaking.

Me? I looked…oh, just past my first trimester, I’d guess. Unfortunately, I wasn’t pregnant. Not with a child, anyway. With Betty Crocker vanilla supreme. That’s right. I had a food baby.

Love made you a better person. Made you feel protected and precious and chosen. Chosen.

Follow me on Twitter @kristendaemons

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Harlequin | Pages: 384 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

J. R. Ward’s alpha-male vampire warriors return in the eighth book of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Lover Mine. This time it’s John Matthew’s turn to find love, the only problem is that the woman he is meant to be with, Xhex, is currently being held captive by his enemy, Lash. That’s a pretty big obstacle, but even larger problems loom if the two want to have a relationship. Both will have to overcome the abuse they suffered in the past, and the half-vampire/half-sympath Xhex will have to conquer the darker, self-serving side of her personality. Meanwhile, Blay continues to fight his attraction to Quinn (though I don’t get what he sees in the inconsiderate man-whore). Enter Quinn’s cousin, Saxton, who might be just the distraction that Blay needs. There are also flashbacks to the past where the reader learns more about how Darius and Tohrment first met, as well as a subplot involving a paranormal reality show.

Romance, action, a good story, Lover Mine delivers all that, and yet I still felt slightly disappointed. For me, it just didn’t live up to Rehvenge’s fantastic story in Lover Avenged, but it’s still a must read for fans of the series. My main problem with the book is that I’ve always felt like John Matthew, Quinn, and Blay were like the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s little brothers. They’re cute in small doses, but it’s the Brothers that I care about and they are barely in this book. I also thought I had become immune to the ridiculous alpha-male dialogue, but it really grated on me in this book. I think maybe Ward was trying a little too hard to make the younger characters sound hip and it backfired. However, I still really enjoyed Lover Mine and I admire how Ward managed to tie seemingly unrelated subplots into the main story. It’s funny how Black Dagger Brotherhood manages to entertain and annoy me at the same time, but there’s just something about this series that has sucked me in and won’t let go.

If you are new to the series, you definitely need to start at the beginning with Dark Lover. I recommend the BDB series to anyone who read Twilight and thought, what this needs is a lot more vampire sex. A word of warning, the language and content are explicit (f-bombs on nearly every page) so adult readers only.

Quotes from Lover Mine:

“No, you’ve got it all wrong, John.” Reading his emotions, she shook her head and eased back. “You’re not half the male you could be because of what was done to you. You’re twice what anyone else is because you survived.”

Some things are destined to be — it just takes us a couple of tries to get there.

I would hold you up. I will ever hold you up and hold you dear, lover mine.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: NAL Hardcover | Pages: 528 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

Around Valentine’s Day this year, I was at a bookstore and got sucked in by their display of romance novels. I impulsively bought The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance, an anthology of 20 short stories about, you guessed it, romance and time travel. I loved The Time Traveler’s Wife and I was hoping that some of the stories might have a similar vibe. Unfortunately, I had mixed feelings about the book so let me break it down into the good and the bad:

What I liked – There’s a lot of variety among the twenty different stories as they are set in different time periods ranging from past, present, and future. The mechanism of time travel is different in each story too—sometimes it’s explained by future technology and sometimes it’s merely attributed to magic. The stories were much too short to spend much time on the nuts and bolts of time travel, but the ones that at least tried were my favorites. And with so many stories and so much variety, it was really easy to just skim over any story that I didn’t like and move on to the next.

Although I was disappointed in many of the stories, a few stood out. I loved The Key to Happiness by Gywn Cready, which takes place at wedding reception where bridesmaid Kate meets a strange older man who warns her that she is about to make a decision she will later regret. Also good was Last Thorsday Night by Holly Lisle, which begins with a stranger attending a writers’ group meeting with the intent of meeting one writer in particular.

What I didn’t like – In many of the stories the time travel aspect was just used as a device to get two characters from different centuries together, and I was disappointed that so much of the emphasis was on the romance rather than the sci-fi. My main complaint about short stories in general is that there just isn’t time for the reader to become invested in the story or the characters, and this was particularly true here. In these stories, one of the love interests inevitably has to give up their own time period if they want to be together, but it’s hard to believe that anyone would agree to do this after only knowing the other person for a few days. I kept thinking, wait, this woman is going to give up hot showers, technology, and modern medicine to live in 11th century Scotland with some Highlander she just met? Yeah, right.

The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance wasn’t for me, but it might be worth checking out from your local library if you like romance with protagonists from two different time periods. If you are mostly looking for science fiction time travel stories, you’ll probably want to skip this one.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Running Press | Pages: 512 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

Once October/November rolls around I begin to get excited for the holidays. Not just the holidays, but everything that goes along with the chilly weather. The sweaters, the baking, curling up on the couch and reading a good book. When I got the opportunity to check out Kate Jacob’s new book in her famous “Knitting” series, Knit the Season I thought what a better way to usher in the fall than a book that incorporates sweaters and baking into the plot?

You may already be familiar with Jacob’s first two book in this series, The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two. Knit The Season is the next book in the series and it will be available in stores on November 3rd, 2009. It takes place 1 year after the end of Knit Two and follows Dakota and the rest of the gals in the Friday night knitting club from Thanksgiving through New Years.

In Knit The Season Dakota has to make a decision between her career and visiting her Gran in Scotland. You’ll also find out what’s been going on with the other gals in the knitting group such as Anita, Catherine, KC, and Peri.

Although the book started out a little slow in my opinion, it picks up about 30-40 pages in. I like how Jacobs devotes sections of the book to each character so we get to know them on their own as well as in the group. I’m not a knitter myself and the beginning of the book contains some references that I didn’t really get. Although this didn’t ruin the book for me, I think people with a background in knitting would be able to appreciate it on a different level. Even though it wasn’t the best Chick-lit book I’ve read, it wasn’t the worst either. It definitely got me in the mood for the holidays, which was all I was looking for in the first place.

I’m only giving Knit The Season 2 out of 5 stars, but if you are a knitter, or are part of a knitting club yourself (like quite a few women are), I would give the book a 3 out of 5.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars | Publisher: Putnam Adult | Pages: 272 | Buy on Amazon

One book that has been getting a ton of buzz lately is the mash up Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. Seth Grahame-Smith has taken Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and inserted a zombie sub-plot. First let me say that I’m a HUGE Austen fan. I’ve read Pride & Prejudice about 5 times (you can read my review here) and have watched the movie and mini-series more times that I’d care to admit. I also like to think I have a pretty good sense of humor, so I told myself going into this whole zombie thing, to have an open mind and go with the flow. I lasted about 3 pages before I chucked the book across the room.

I picked it up, dusted it off, and inspected the back cover which says, “Jane Austen is the author of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and other masterpieces of English literature. Seth Grahame-Smith once took a class in English literature.” I laughed. I picked the book back up and gave it another chance. I lasted about a 100 pages before I finally gave up on it. It just wasn’t for me. I liked the idea; I just think that it could have been done better. I was looking for a fresh take on an old story. Sort of like other movies and mini-series have modified Jane Austen’s work to make is something unique (Bridget Jone’s Diary, Clueless, Lost In Austen). When I first caught wind of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies I immediately thought Shaun of The Dead meets Jane Austen. Now that would have been freakin sweet!

The book is actually not much more than line for line Pride & Prejudice with a word changed here, and a few sentences added there to make it about zombies. Reading it felt like ordering something at a restaurant that you could have made yourself. I know a lot of people out there think this book is brilliant and will not agree with me here, and that’s cool. I was actually hoping I’d like this book because I think that not liking it is going to make me about as popular as the time I admitted to a room full of music snobs that I hate Radiohead (which is also true).

In summary, this book oozes cool factor, but in my opinion does not deliver. That being said, I think I’m in the minority here and you should still check the book out and decide for yourself.

Buy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith on Amazon here.

Key Of Valor is the third and final book in the famous trilogy by Nora Roberts. The darkest of the three books, Valor will have you staying up late, and skimming impatiently ahead to find the conclusion of this fun, yet emotionally gripping tale. Key Of Valor tells the story of Zoe’s quest for the final key. If she finds it, she can unlock the souls of 3 demigoddesses that have been cursed by an evil sorcerer, Kane. She will also unlock a curse that keeps the Gods Rowena and Pitte confined to Earth.

Even though the Key Of Valor is predictable, it still manages to be fun and full of suspense. I finished this book over this past weekend while I sat by the pool and sipped a cold drink. If you haven’t read these books yet, I suggest you do just that. As I’ve said with the other books in this series, don’t bother reading it if you are a hardcore fantasy fan. This is more of a story about love and friendship than magic spells, and cursed gods, but it’s still a good time.

One last thing I’ll say is that a certain decision is made at the end of the book that I totally disagreed with. Not only did I disagree with it, but I thought it was highly implausible and a little cheesy. You might say, you are reading a Nora Roberts book about magic, how plausible and not cheesy do you expect it to be? I say fair enough, but read it anyway and tell me what you think of the end.

Buy Key of Valor by Nora Roberts on Amazon by clicking here.

I just finished the 2nd book in the Nora Roberts “key” trilogy, The Key Of Knowledge. This book picks up right where the first one left off. It follows the tale of Dana’s quest for the second key. Like the first quest, which featured Malory, Dana will have 4 weeks to find her key. In order for it to be revealed, she must look within herself, her relationships, and her gift, which is knowledge. She also has the help of 5 of her close friends, as well as the magical Rowenna and Pitte, but in many ways, the quest is hers alone.

The Key Of Knowledge is a little bit darker than the first book, The Key Of Light (read my review here). In order to move forward on her quest, Dana must first confront someone who has caused her a considerable amount of pain in the past. This will inevitably lead to some decisions she must make about her present and future. Another thing that makes this book a darker read is the role of the evil sorcerer, Kane. He had a small part in the first book, but is in this one a lot more. As the women get closer to finding all three keys, he seems to step it up a notch, even crossing the lines of magical law at times to thwart them from finding what they need. There is one part in particular that involves a bathtub that is particularly scary.

Similar to The Key Of Light, The Key of Knowledge is a fun read. I found myself staying up late to finish certain parts. I can already tell that I’m going to be sad when I finish the trilogy. At least I have one more left!

Buy The Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts on Amazon by clicking here.