HarperCollins, nonfiction, 2001
Connections: companion book to Food Network series of the same name

I know I did a quick 'n dirty commentary on this book several weeks ago, but I decided to go the full monty anyway, since more than one person has asked me why, as a dedicated vegetarian, I would even think of reading a book in which animal slaughter is a prevalent theme.

OK, first a quick summation: as indicated above, this is the companion book to Mr. Bourdain's Food Network show from almost a decade ago. In the show, he traveled to all these exotic locales in search of "the perfect meal," with mixed results, depending upon how bizarre the local definition of "delicacy" was. Among the places he goes are Portugal, Mexico, Scotland, France, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Russia, Morocco, and California. And while he doesn't eat anything as overtly disgusting as warthog rectum (which he ate not too long ago on his current Travel Channel show), there are some pretty out-there foods...if you can call them foods.

A little story about my history of owning this book: I bought it on a whim because I really heart Bourdain when he does his guest stints on Top Chef. The same day I bought it, we went to visit a family member in the hospital. Said family member is a bit of a foodie, so I loaned him the book, thinking it would keep him entertained in the hospital. Said family member is also not a vegetarian and not remotely squeamish. So imagine my surprise when the mister brought it back, saying said family member couldn't get through the first chapter. So I read it. The first chapter describes, in detail, the slaughter of a pig for a feast in Portugal. Considering my relative was in the hospital getting his guts opened up for surgery, I can see his inability to get past that first chapter. I think on any other day, he would have been fine with it.

Anyway, reading that chapter, as well as other slaughter incidents did disturb me. Even Bourdain said in the book that he felt a little guilty, but he also makes a very good point: you have to be able to handle where food comes from. I wouldn't be able to handle that, and that's why I'm a vegetarian.

Despite the fact that Bourdain never has two good words to put together about vegetarians, he's a pretty compelling personality, and he brings every stop on his tour into vivid life through the food, the people, and the atmosphere. His sojourn in Cambodia was downright scary. His occasional sidebars about why you don't want to be a TV star were amusing and provided a great little window on the production of the show. I was deeply amused to see his comments about driving in Asia, since they were almost a mirror of comments Douglas Adams makes in Last Chance to See. His meal at Thomas Keller's restaurant, French Laundry, in Napa, California, was a sublime experience even secondhand. I even felt for Bourdain when the show's producer's sent him to dine with vegans near San Francisco—it sounded like a miserable experience, and I'm a vegetarian!

Basically, if you like food, travel, philosophy, and Bourdain, A Cook's Tour is definitely worth a look-see—even if you are a vegetarian (but an open-minded one)!

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Grand Central Publishing, non-fiction/humor, October 2007

This is The Colbert Report in book form. Really it is. In it, Stephen Colbert sounds off on American cultural and political issues, such as the family, immigration, sports, higher education, the media, and science with his trademark sarcasm masquerading as conservatism.

The book is peppered with images to illustrate his points -- and most of the images, of course, are Stephen Colbert in the guise of athlete, scholar, immigrant, homosexual, or the Vetruvian Man, depending on the chapter. As with his television show, the book is also filled with blatant advertising, particularly the sports chapter, which is alternately brought to you by Chevron (The Gas with Techron!), Blockbuster (Now You Don't Have to Choose!), and Kraft Seven Seas Creamy Italian. Each chapter ends with a segment called "Stephen Speaks for Me," and/or a funny little game, such as how to transport Tucker Carlson, James Carville, and a Boston Cream Pie from MSNBC HQ in New Jersey to a press event in Manhattan.

I think my absolute favorite part of this book is that it reads like the television segment "The Word," with marginal notes to underscore the funny. In the chapter on Higher Education, he talks of the ruination of our young people by New Ideas. Margin note: "Racism, genocide, and bears were all once New Ideas."

My favorite chapter has to be the Science chapter, with the A-Z glossary of Science. "Psychiatry: Psychology with balls. And a prescription pad," and "Why? This is the question that scientists are always asking. You know who else asks that? Five-year-olds. Shows you the kind of mental development we're dealing with here, folks."

The book also comes with a page of "The Stephen T. Colbert Award for Literary Excellence" seals, for members of the Colbert Nation to nominate books that embody "the values of the Colbert Nation," as well as the transcript of the now-infamous White House Correspondents' Dinner speech.

In short, this book is great fun, although best read in small doses in order to savor each nuggest of wisdom properly. And if I get arrested for defacing books in the store with the award seals, I hope Mr. Colbert will send bail money.

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Roc, contemporary fantasy, April 2008
Connections: Conclusion (?) to Cassie Palmer series

If you haven't read the first two books in this series, namely Touch the Dark and Claimed by Shadow, stop now, and don't even think of trying to read this book without having done so. Even I, who read the first two books, found myself getting a little confuzzled due to the gap between books and my less-than-perfect memory.

That said, this was a rollicking good read, very fast-paced and very well-written.

When the book opens, chief seer (or Pythia) Cassandra Palmer and her ever-present protector-sidekick mage Pritkin are hot on the trail of the Codex Merlini, a magical tome that is supposed to contain the counter-spell to the geis placed on Cassie as a child by vampire Mircea and then inadvertently doubled by Cassie when she went back in time and met Mircea (see Claimed by Shadow). The problem is, almost no one wants her to find the Codex, due to the other spells it contains. And that includes Pritkin and just about every other mage on the planet, so how can Cassie know who to trust? And what if the spell doesn't reverse the geas -- how will that affect Cassie and Mircea, not to mention the power dynamic in the universe?

There is a lot going on in this book, and enough bending of the time-travel conventions to make The Doctor wince. At times, I felt like I would need a flow chart to keep everything straight, particularly the multiple Mirceas and Pritkins. But all the same, I could not put the book down. I think it was a great conclusion to the series, if it is in fact a conclusion -- Chance's next book looks like a new series, and there's no news of another Cassie book that I've heard of (if you know differently, tell me!).

I noticed something about this series that I think is really cool: they all end with the two words, "...and shifted." What does puzzle me, however, about this particular book, and this is definitely the fault of the publishers: why is there a Star of David on the back cover? Cassie's protective tattoo is a pentagram, not a hexagram. Tsk, tsk, art department!

Anyway, I'm really grateful to Ms. Chance for sharing Cassie's world with us. I hope it's not the end, but if it is, I'm satisfied.

1/2

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Ballantine, historical romance, March 2008
Connections: third book in the Courtship Wars trilogy

A couple of weeks ago, I made a comment about this book and how I might have to force myself to finish it or just put it aside. Well, I did the former, and...I wasn't wrong.

Lilian is the last of the single Loring sisters. She's an outdoorsy hoyden who thinks all men are horrible beasts and will never, never, never get married. Heath Griffin, the Marquess of Claybourne, is the last single male friend of Marcus Pierce, the Earl of Danvers and husband to the first Loring sister, Arabella. So whether they fit together or not, they're stuck with each other. Heath comes across Lilian hiding out in the barn at Marcus and Arabella's wedding. She's slightly tipsy on champagne and slightly maudlin over the "loss" of her sister, and of course, he's enchanted and makes a pass at her.

What follows is a pretty predictable tug-of-war, both between Lilian and Heath and within Lilian herself. All men are beasts, but she's attracted to this one, oh noes! Like the rest of her sisters, Lilian comes with baggage, but hers is worse. She once intervened when she witnessed her father beat her mother. So unlike her sisters, who just thought that no man could ever be faithful because their father kepts hordes of mistresses, Lilian also thinks all men are brutes who will physically harm their wives, or any women under their care. The fact that the place she chooses to hide from Heath is her friend Fanny's boardinghouse for the demimonde doesn't help.

But what I found so frustrating is that Lilian was too bloody-minded. Even when she was a minor character in her sisters' stories, her adamant opposition to their happiness irked me. In this book, Heath bends over backwards to please her, to show her that he is nothing like her father. He proves himself over and over and over again, and still she pushes him away. All I could think while reading this was "Geez, you're dumb." I had the same thoughts about Heath. He's kind, adventurous, affectionate, a stallion in the sack, and he persists in chasing after a man-hating chit who repeatedly pushes him away. Apparently, he's a masochist.

As for the subplot with Fanny, the gaming hell owner who is obsessed with her, her childhood friend who also loves her, and the aging Cyprians she shelters, well, apart from finding the latter amusing, it really didn't do much for me. Though I think I could have been more interested if Fanny was the focus of this book rather than Lilian.

I can't help but wonder what went wrong with this third installment. This is a rare mis-step in Ms. Jordan's canon for me. About the most enthusiastic reaction I can offer is "meh."

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Forever/Grand Central, historical romance, September 2007
Connections: third in trilogy, stands well on its own, though

The Serpent Prince is the last of the Prince/Fairytale trilogy, and its hero, Simon, Viscount Iddesleigh, gets quite an ignominious opening, and its heroine Lucy Craddock-Hayes, gets quite a shocking and educational one. Simon has been beaten, stripped, robbed, and left for dead in a ditch just outside of Lucy's village, and of course, the innocent Lucy is the one who finds him.

Even half-dead, she's fascinated by his body and devastating good looks, likening him in her mind to a fallen angel. Of course, when he wakens, he proves himself to be more devil than angel, something else that fascinates the country virgin. When Simon wakes, he thinks Lucy is an angel too, and possibly his salvation. But before he can have Lucy, he has to finish avenging his brother's death.

Lucy is horrified when she realizes that Simon is coldly calling out and killing the men responsible for his brother's death and his sister-in-law's disgrace in Society. But can she convince Simon that revenge shouldn't take over his life so completely?

I quite enjoyed this story, although it is a great deal more melodramatic than the preceding tales. Simon really does fancy himself something of a tragic hero, and so the story of the Serpent Prince, which he manufactures as a way to spend time with Lucy, contains many parallel elements, including dying for love. But Ms. Hoyt's hand is very deft with both stories, so the melodrama never tips over into farce.

Another thing I found myself liking was Simon's foppish ways. In earlier books, he comes off a bit effeminate, with his lace and his red-heeled shoes. I've encountered such heroes before, and with only one notable exception (*ahem*Rothgar Malloren*ahem*), I've never been convinced there was an alpha male under all that lace and powder. In Simon, I have found my second exception.

Lucy's light earnestness and innocence is a terrific foil for Simon's melancholy and vengefulness. Though an odd coupling, they are a delight together.

I've already picked up Ms. Hoyt's newest book, and I am forever grateful to my discussion group for turning me on to her books in the first place.

1/2

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Ballantine, historical romance, February 2008
Connections: book #2 in the Courtship Wars trilogy

In January, Nicole Jordan breathed new life into the overdone plot of the guardian-and-ward romance. This time, she takes on the infamous love-lesson plot. I admit that this cliché is my favorite of the Overdone Historical Romance Plots, so I was actually looking forward to this one. And Ms. Jordan didn't disappoint.

Roslyn Loring, like her sisters, was emotionally traumatized by her parents' horrible marriage and the scandal that ensued. But she still wants to marry. Her plan, though, is to marry for love, and if there's anything her parents' marriage taught her it's that men fall in love with their mistresses, not their wives. So if she learns how to act like a mistress, she can be a wife her putative husband will truly love.

For a husband, her sights are set on a neighboring earl. For the lessons, she chooses Andrew Moncrief, the Duke of Arden, because he's apparently a legendary lover and Roslyn has already had a risqué encounter with him, so she knows firsthand he can teach her.

This being the love-lesson plot, we all know that the plan will backfire, and that Roslyn and Drew will fall in love with each other. But it's what Ms. Jordan does along the way that makes it worthwhile.

Roslyn wants marriage more than her sisters, but she still has a warped view of it, striving for perfection and thinking that the slightest disagreement will lead to the same end as her parents' marriage. That's actually a somewhat understandable reaction, and I sympathize with her for it.

Drew, on the other hand, was raised by cold aristocratic parents and doesn't know the meaning of the word love. It's actually great fun watching this man truly learn the meaning of "heart love" from Roslyn -- it's rather like watching the Grinch's heart grow three sizes. Better still, his transformation is absolutely believeable. So believeable that I found my sympathy towards Roslyn's narrow ideas of a marriage without any kind of strife stretching a little thin, no matter how legitimate a fear it was. The problem is that I as reader could see what Drew was thinking and Roslyn couldn't, and I had to remind myself of that. On the other hand, when they finally opened up to each other, the reward was worth it.

There's also an odd little subplot involving the Loring sisters' matchmaking patron, Winnifred, Lady Freemantle, and her late husband's secrets. It's actually interesting and serves as a good foil for Roslyn's feelings about men and their feelings towards mistresses and wives. The third Loring sister, Lillian, also begins her romance in this book, albeit very much in the background. Lillian is actually my least favorite of the sisters, so I'm curious to see how her book turns out. But Roslyn and Drew's romance made me a very happy reader.

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Ace, contemporary fantasy, April 2008 (mass-market edition)
Connections: Southern Vampire series, book #7

First, an offbeat observation: why does the cover proclaim this "A Sookie Stackhouse Novel" instead of A Southern Vampire Mystery? Weird.

Anyway...

This entry takes place over a very short period of time: a few days at the much-touted (in prior books) vampire summit, at which all of the kings and queens of territories will meet for politics and socializing. Sookie is to accompany the Louisiana delegation; as a telepath, she can inform Sophie-Anne, the queen of Louisiana, about what humans in other delegations are thinking. Of course, she's been warned not to go, but of course, being Sookie, she goes anyway. And, of course, intrigue and mayhem ensue.

To be perfectly honest, although the plot was good, I read this book a few weeks ago, and the finer points of it escape me. What does stick in my head, though, is Sookie's personal life. She's got a new honey, Quinn the tiger shifter, and we get to delve more into his history and cheer for Sookie's chance for a relationship with the potential for openness -- something that would be very welcome after the betrayal of Bill and the complications of Eric.

And speaking of Bill, he's there, selling his infamous vampire directory at the convention. It's interesting to see Sookie try to abjure him like the weres do to their own, yet being completely unable to do so. Instead, she learns to live with the pain of what he did and move on. Eric is another matter, and I doubt he's going to step aside and make room for Quinn.

It's always interesting to get inside Sookie's head. I love how the human world dismisses her as a weirdo and looks down on her, but she has shown over and over again that she's no dumb blonde (except in who she trusts sometimes). It was Sookie who raises the possibility that someone who wanted to see Louisiana's queen at a disadvantage used inside knowledge of weather forecasting to forestall the summit until after Hurricane Katrina devastated the US's most powerful vampire kingdom. She thinks outside the box, with extremely good logic, and I really admire that about her.

Fans of Sookie and friends will enjoy this latest saga. Newcomers really should start with Dead Until Dark and work their way up.

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

1. JD Robb, Creation in Death (4.5, continued from last month)
2. Mark Morris, Doctor Who: Forever Autumn (4)
3. Elizabeth Hoyt, The Leopard Prince (4.5)
4. Elizabeth Hoyt, The Serpent Prince (4)
5. Amanda Quick, The River Knows (5)
6. Emma Holly, Demon's Fire (5)
7. Trevor Baxendale, Doctor Who: Wishing Well (4)
8. Stephen Colbert, I Am America (And So Can You!) (4)
9. Berke Breathed, Classics of Western Literature: Bloom County 1986-89 (re-read, 5)
10. Anthony Bourdain, A Cook's Tour (3.5-4)
11. Nicole Jordan, To Pleasure a Lady (3-3.5)
12. Nicole Jordan, To Bed a Beauty (still reading)
13. Jayne Ann Krentz, White Lies (4.5)
14. Charlaine Harris, All Together Dead (still reading, but 5 territory)

Ballantine, historical romance, January 2008
Connections to: first in Courtship Wars trilogy

I have enjoyed Nicole Jordan's books in the past, but goddess help me, I couldn't help but be leery when I saw the outline for this trilogy: three beautiful, impoverished, and scandal-tainted sisters wanting to live independent lives without a guardian and/or marriage. And of course their new guardian is young, handsome, and rich, and comes with two ready-made equally young, handsome, and rich friends. Setup and clichés, anyone?

But like I said, I decided to trust Ms. Jordan, and I'm glad that I did. True, she's working with heavily used (OK, overused) historical romance standards, but it's what she does with the characters that makes this book worth reading.

Arabella Loring is the eldest of the three sisters, so she takes it upon herself to inform Marcus Pierce, the new Earl of Danvers, that she and her sisters have no desire to have him as a guardian or to have him settle generous dowries on them to marry them off. Instead, they would rather continue to run their deportment school for the daughters of the nouveau riche without his interference. Marcus is, of course, intrigued by this gorgeous spitfire and thinks since he has to marry anyway, he may as well marry Arabella, because at least she holds his interest for more than five minutes. So they make a wager: if he can woo her in two weeks, she'll marry him; if he can't, she wins independence for herself and her sisters.

Pretty standard stuff so far, but now is where the fun kicks in, when Ms. Jordan gives both main characters depths beyond the cookie-cutter standards of spinster and rake. Arabella is attracted to Marcus, but she refuses to let him into her heart – her only experience of marriage was her parents' constant arguing, which culminated in her mother running off with her lover and her father dying in a duel shortly afterward, resulting in the defection of Arabella's own fiancé due to the scandal. Her only models of manhood were her profligate father, her fickle fiancé, and the prior Earl of Danvers, who took out her parents' sins on her and her sisters.

Marcus realizes this and is up to the challenge of breaking through Arabella's walls, but in the process he finds his own depth of feelings – and insecurities. I like how his motives change – I rolled my eyes when he pretty much instantaneously decided to marry Arabella, but I really admire the emotional journey he took. When he originally thought he wanted a hot bedmate and an incubator for heirs, he discovered that there's more to women than bedding and breeding. But now that he knows that, can he ever convince Arabella that he's not like her father, her former fiancé, or her previous guardian? It's lovely and sweet (and hot) watching Marcus first seduce Arabella's body, and then try to entice her mind and heart as well, because while he is an expert with the former, he's at sea with the latter. And what makes him even more special in my eyes is that he's discovering all this on his own; no one, and especially not Arabella, is pushing him to see things in a new light -- his transformation is entirely his own, and therefore more credible.

I do have a few issues with this story: the clichés, as I mentioned, but then there is also the fact that Arabella and Marcus are pretty much unchaperoned much of the time. Scandal-tainted or not, it really wasn't that simple for single women to have affairs in this period of time. But if you can set all this aside, it's very easy to enjoy the chemistry and emotion that Arabella and Marcus have to share with readers.

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Jove, contemporary romantic suspense, February 2008 (annoying "premium" paperback edition)
Connections to: Arcane Society novels written as JAK and Amanda Quick

Before I get started on this book, a word to publishers everywhere: Readers do NOT want these so-called "premium" paperback editions you keep foisting on us. Seriously. They're more expensive, for starters, and they're a bizarre size that often does not fit in a bag. My entire readers' group hates them. And you know what else is right up there with these odd-sized paperbacks? Trade-size paperbacks. Can't stand those either, especially those publishers (*ahem*KensingtonandvariousHarlequinimprints*ahem*) who deal in expensive trades but never publish the bloody books in mass-market size and price so the little reader can afford them. Please stop.

Wow, there was a little more in me on that topic than I thought! Anyway, on to the book. The reason I started with the rant is without a steep discount, I would never have bought it, and I would have missed out on an enjoyable experience.

This is, to my knowledge (and feel free to correct me), the first time Ms. Krentz has done a full-fledged crossover between her various writing personas. I'm going to be honest with you: White Lies stands on its own well enough, but to really get a grounding in the Arcane Society and what it means, you really should read Second Sight written as Amanda Quick first.

Jake Salter's job as a "consultant" to millionaire businessman Archer Glazebrook is about to get royally screwed up due to the arrival of Archer's illegitimate daughter, Clare Lancaster. Jake's true reason for infiltrating the Glazebrook's social circles has to do with tracking down a rebel cabal of the Arcane Society -- ruthless men who are after an ancient formula purported to enhance psychic talent and strength. The reason Clare is about to mess everything up is because of her own psychic talent: she's an off-the-charts human lie detector, and Jake, who is really an off-the-charts hunter talent, is presenting himself as a weaker talent than that and hiding his real purpose.

Clare doesn't want to be there either. Six months beforehand, when she came to visit her half-sister, she stumbled upon the body of her sister's estranged, evil, and soon-to-be-ex-husband. Since Stone Canyon, Arizona, is a small and exclusive community, the finger of suspicion fell on Clare herself as an outsider, especially after rumors started that she was having an affair with the dead man. The rumors spread all the way to San Francisco, and Clare lost her job with a charitable foundation and has been unable to get her foot in the door anywhere else because of those same rumors. She's only in Stone Canyon because Archer summoned her. And even though Jake intrigues her, she really just wants to leave -- but when someone tries to kill her, and then she finds another dead body, she can't leave town.

What I found so interesting about this story is seeing the growth of the Arcane Society from its founding days in the Victorian era. Whereas the characters in Second Sight had to be secretive, the characters in White Lies are far more open about their talents. Why? Because almost everyone involved are Society members. Sure, they have to be secretive with non-psychic people, but there's still an openness to this book that I totally didn't expect, and I kind of liked, especially since that meant Clare and Jake weren't hiding things from each other and engaging in Big Misunderstandings. I love when there's no Big Misunderstandings.

The plot was extremely well-paced and very suspenseful -- I actually finished the book in one day, that's how much I couldn't bear to put it down. There's an implied continuity to this story, which makes me wonder if we'll see Clare and Jake again. I think I'd like that.

1/2

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Berkley Sensation, erotic paranormal romance, April 2008
Connections to: all Holly's other books and novellas set in the alternative Victoriana demon world

For those of you who were intrigued by Prince Pahndir, the Yama royal who was imprisoned in the pillow house as a teaching tool for courtesans in Prince of Ice, this book is for you. The prologue takes us back to the epilogue of the prior book: Pahndir is hidden in the hold of the ship that Corum and Xishi are taking to their exile in Bhamjran, and, while an unwitting voyeur to the couple's passion, he orgasms for the first time since his wife killed herself two years before. Pahndir is what the Yama call a solitary – there is only one mate among the royalty who is his perfect biochemical mate, and she's dead. So the idea that a human (Xishi, you may or may not recall, is part human) might end the torment of Pahndir's coming into heat with no one to relieve him is something very appealing to Pahndir's increasing frustration.

After the prologue, some time has passed and Pahndir is the proprietor of a brothel called The Prince's Flame. The brothel is quite successful; however, Pahndir's quest to find a human who is his biochemical match has not been. But then Pahndir sees a young human couple strolling through the marketplace and his lust stirs – only not just for the woman, Beth, but also for her companion, Charles. Not a problem, since apparently Yamish princes are on the adventurous side, but the idea that one of each gender could be his match together (as opposed to an occasional novelty) is quite novel and intriguing to him.

Beth Phillips (little sister of Adrian Phillips from The Demon's Daughter) fancies herself a bit of an adventuress, coming to Bhamjran to work on an archaeological dig of the fabled Yamish queen, Tou (see "Queen of All She Surveys" from Beyond the Dark). While touring the dig with Lord Herrington, the Yamish aristocrat in charge, she encounters a secret room in Tou's chambers, a room that speaks to her. This room also starts changing her physically, increasing her stamina and her sex drive, and mentally, as she starts to see flashes of Tou's life in her own memories. Beth has always loved Charles, and with Tou's memories encouraging her to take charge of her sexuality, she finally has the courage to do something about it. The fact that she's also attracted to a demon who owns a brothel trips her up only slightly.

Charles Watkins (also from The Demon's Daughter) grew up in Herrington's household and has been in love with Beth for years. As the dig site's cook, he gets to be close to Beth, which is both gratifying and frustrating – the latter because Charles is acting the martyr by putting Beth up on a pedestal and refusing to accept his darker desires (to feed his essence to a demon) as anything more than shameful.

So those are the players, and what follows is an intricate dance of courtship and seduction, filled with some of the most graphic yet gorgeous sex. Ms. Holly has an amazing gift and just the right touch for erotica – not to mention a decent plot to go with all the rampant sex. This isn't sex for sex's sake; there's a purpose and depth of meaning to every touch.

Setting this story in another world was also a stroke of genius on Ms. Holly's part – things that I have pointed out in other books as being completely unrealistic are somehow normal in this world of humans and demons, and don't even remotely push my hot buttons. I have, in fact, absolutely no complaints about this book – maybe one nitpick, but it's honestly too small to dwell on. When faced with such vibrant characters and such lush sensuality, there is nothing left to do but simply enjoy.

If you haven't read the other stories set in this world, I recommend that you do, especially since a background in Pahndir's history and Tou's story are useful to the completeness of Demon's Fire -- not necessary, mind you, just useful.

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Jove, historical romance, April 2008 (mass-market edition)

You know, after 24 Amanda Quick titles, you'd think the bluestocking heroine and dark, vaguely mysterious hero would get a little wearing. And I will admit that somewhere in the last several books, my avid fandom may have waned a bit. But The River Knows puts me at risk of becoming a total addict again. Yes, the heroine is a bluestocking, and yes, the hero is dark and vaguely mysterious. Louisa Bryce and Anthony Stalbridge come right out of Quick/Krentz/Castle central casting. But they're also entirely refreshing.

Louisa Bryce isn't who she seems. Now the paid companion and secretary of a forward-thinking widow, she used to be a lowly bookshop owner, until one night a noble customer of hers attacked her. She killed him in self-defense and faked her own death, creating a new identity for herself. At the time she faked her drowning, despondent Society ladies seemed to be throwing themselves into the river left and right. One of those women was Fiona Risby, the intended of Anthony Stalbridge. He's sure she was murdered, and he's sure her death is connected to the death of another Society lady, Victoria Hastings. When he meets Louisa in a darkened corridor, also in the act of investigating Elwin Hastings, it's the perfect opportunity to further his own sleuthing and engage the lady in an illicit affair, something he's wanted to do since he first met her.

What Ms. Quick gives us here is a plot far more convoluted than it seems on an initial glance and characters that are far more interesting than her stock characters usually are. For one thing, Louisa is hiding a secret that really can destroy her, giving a darker tone to the novel. Anthony's family is eccentric and fun, and Anthony, conversely, is also a lighter hero than many of Ms. Quick's earlier heroes. It's actually kind of nice to have the heroine be the one with issues -- not that Anthony doesn't have baggage, but he's not a brooding obsessive either. It's also absolutely splendid that these two trust each other and are open with each other.

If you, like me, have drifted away from Quick/Krentz/Castle in recent years, give her another shot with The River Knows, which contains all the elements that make this author a comfort read, but also gives these comforting elements a refreshing makeover.

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick

Warner, historical romance, April 2007
Connections: vague connections to The Raven Prince, but basically stands alone

Goddess bless reading groups. Last year, someone recommended The Raven Prince as a discussion book at the Café, and I found a new author to love.

The Raven Prince featured an earl in love with a servant; The Leopard Prince features a lady in love with her land steward. Similar themes, yes, vastly different plots and characters, though. Lady Georgina Maitland is a rather unusual woman for 1760s England: she's 28 years old, never married, and actually owns her own property in Yorkshire, left to her by an aunt. Said property is overseen by Harry Pye, whose rather painful past has its roots in the same neighborhood.

There is a problem in the neighborhood: local farmers' sheep are being poisoned, and someone is trying to frame Harry for it. George insists on joining Harry in his investigations, especially when she learns that the local magistrate, who owns the estate where the sheep are being killed, is determined to see Harry dead, whether he's guilty or not.

Of course, Harry and George fall in love -- this is a romance, after all. The sheep poisoning, even when it escalates to a woman being killed, takes a back seat to the dynamics between Harry and George, servant and mistress. I found it fascinating that in the prior book, the hero didn't get nearly the amount of flack for marrying beneath him as George gets in this book over Harry. It's an interesting statement on sexual politics and societal mores. Just as with The Raven Prince, the underlying metaphor in this story is a fairy tale -- that of the Leopard Prince. Harry, the Leopard Prince, needs to see that he can have freedom AND love, and George, the princess, has to set Harry free in order that he can love. Unlike the prior book, readers have to rely solely on George's telling of the fairy tale, which is amusing in and of itself. The secondary characters are complex and colorful...although I do confess to wanting to smack George's younger sister Violet from time to time.

All in all, I really enjoyed this story, although I will admit to having to suspend my disbelief over George's independence. At least she and Harry were misbehaving in the country, and not sneaking off at crowded balls, though! Fortunately, with Ms. Hoyt's well-written prose and witty characters, suspending disbelief was not a chore. Try it, you'll like it.

1/2

Review © 2008 by Riley Merrick