Title: Awaken to PleasureTitle: Secrets in the Marriage Bed
Author: Nalini Singh
Year published: 2004 and 2006 respectively
Why did you get this book? I'd read Slave to Sensation earlier this month and went looking for her backlist
Do you like the cover? NO and NO
Did you enjoy the book? Yes and Yes
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? New to me when I'd read StS
Are you keeping it or passing it on? I'll be passing these on.
Anything else? I don't read much category romance--shame on me, I know. These were both good books, a lot of story packed into 184 pages. My first thoughts for both of these books were "over the top/too melodramatic" but after I thought about it, they need to hit the conflict head on running or nothing will be resolved in the short page count. What I liked about both books is the relationships felt real.
Awaken to Pleasure--Jackson Santorini is the head of his own movie studio, Taylor Reid used to be his secretary. Chance brings them back together and both are looking for something in their lives. He wants a family and is very protective of her. She need the protection of a husband (she's fighting to keep custody of her younger brother). And the story just flows from this very simple premise, they fall in love, over come obstacles and heal one another. A nice book. The only thing that really bugged me was his use of Italian endearments--so didn't work for me.
Secrets in the Marriage Bed--Caleb and Vicki Callaghan have been separated for 2 months when she finds out she's pregnant, and he convinces her to try and work things out. This book so works because it shows an unhappily married couple coming to terms with the problems in their individual lives and marriage. A real couple dealing with real life issues, now that was truly refreshing. The more I think about it, I may have to move this from good to very good.
Hey look, it's only the 9th and I've actually finished the TBR challenge.
11 comments:
Hmmm. I need to buy the backlist. My UBS only keeps a few months of old Silh so I will probably need to go online.
I haven't read Awaken to Pleasure yet, although it is TBR, but I read Secrets of the Marriage Bed back when it was released and enjoyed it a great deal. The cover nearly put me off buying it, though -- the sweater was very Father Knows Best and the gold top of the heroine didn't really match. I guess in the world of heinous covers, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't one that I liked.
Poor Jane!
I love my neighborhood UBS. It's actually a mini-chain... five stores in the surrounding area, and they shuffle books back and forth. Shelves grown with old Harlequins, bodice-ripping editions of books by favorite authors, and (of course) the latest releases which I can't actually buy with book credit.
I love it. Lassley's, you are the Queen of used bookstores.
Hmmm, re-connecting books don't work for me and the first one sounds uh, icky. I'll buy STS first and then see from there. What I really want is all of Jessica Bird's backlist!
CindyS
Jane, my UBS keeps 4 or 5 years worth of category romances, but these where the only ones she had. If the rest of her books fall into my lap that's fine, but I probably wont search them out.
jmc, the covers are attrocious, SotMB cover was down right creepy. But, the books were pretty good.
Kate D, 5 UBS in the same area, yikes my teeny, tiny community can barely support the one we've got, the next closest shop is over an hour away.
Cindy, backlists are always a bit iffy, you never know what you're going to find. STS is worth a read.
SITMB is still at my friend's house in CT, waiting to be put in its M-Bag, but it's one I'm going to read the minute it gets here! I also have a couple more from Singh's backlist coming.
Rosario, you'll probably enjoy it, very different from the norm, which is nice.
I had a similar reaction to Singh's backlist. They did remind me an awful lot of other series romances from long ago like Krentz, Lowell, etc. They are different than STS where she had time to expand the characters and conflict.
BTW, I love your Just the Books page. I've only recently started a spread sheet of what I've read. I so wish I'd started it 20 years ago. I can't imagine the number of books the list would have. My office is wall to wall books of my keepers as it is. Your page is a great record and diary of your reads. Plus after many years of reading you won't be relying on your memory whether you read something or not *sigh* like me.
I'm not participating in this challenge because I do not like category romances. :P But kudos to you for getting it done so soon. LOL I still have to find Slave to Sensation-I hate Winnipeg book stores! grrr
Rosie, I have to agree with your assessment of Singh's category romances, very similar to older ones, which is great.
Thanks for the nice comments about my Just The Books page. I hate to admit it, but I only started keeping track of what I've read in the last 2 years. Unfortunately I've got an additional 23 years worth or romance reading in my head and it's fading really fast--LOL. I started keeping track of additional data because I loved how Rosario could give you details of what she read at a glance.
Ames, I used to read category as much as single titles, but categories don't hold my attention as well.
Bravo! I hardly read category romance too, so it's thanks to the challenge that I did.
Post a Comment