Archive | February 2014

Synopsis:
In the prologue, Fergus does his best to convince Susanna that she should not marry Jason Mountjoy. He says the man is no good, without scruples, and is only after her money. Fergus is not successful and she Jason him anyway.

Three years later, Susanna is no longer the naïve miss with notions of romance. However, she is grateful to be a widow instead of suffering in a marriage to a man who was every bit the scum that Fergus described and more. From her life’s lesson, she does not want to get married again.

Fergus has invited her to his home now that he is the Laird of Kilmun to visit his home in the Highlands. He does not tell her, but he invited her for a purpose: make her his wife. He still harbored some guild for not being able to persuade her not to marry Jason. Plus he was in love with her. Fergus thought it would be easy, but quickly realized he had a challenge in trying to romance wary Susanna.

Opinion:
There was not a lot of character development. The story relies heavily on the fact that the characters have a past. The whole story is Fergus trying to convince Susanna to take a chance on him. Overall, An Invitation to Pleasure was a cute, short story. I put this in the category of a light reading when waiting at the doctor’s office or before going to bed. I would not describe it as “Scandalous” because it did not have too graphic love scenes.

Perfect fit romance

Feb20

Perfect Fit ♥♥♥

Synopsis:

Gabe was burned by a woman he thought he loved when she left him for her ex-boyfriend. Sage was burned by her father and fiancé on the same day. It was a double whammy. Hence the reason Gabe and Sage are perfect for each: they are both emotionally damaged goods

While Sage has condemned all men as being untrustworthy, Gabe is searching of a woman with no issues. Both are reluctant to begin a relationship. Of course, their attraction to each other is greater than their willpower.

Opinion:

This story was longer than most of the Brenda Jackson books that I have already read. I think it was the most different as well. Most notably, there were not that many steamy love scenes in this book. The focus was mainly on the external forces that created the emotional trust issues for each character.

It especially dealt with Sage’s lack of confidence that a man could be trustworthy. If she was going to fall in love, she was going to have to resolve a lot of issues. In her defense, if my fiancé betrayed my trust like hers did, I would feel like I had been kicked in the stomach. And while reeling from that, her father’s actions were equally debauched. I would be sick, disgusted, and done with men in general.

It seemed that Perfect Fit was the most realistic love story from Brenda Jackson in the sense that the fairy tale element was missing. Two very imperfect characters, with so many trust issues, did not want believe that the other person was sincere. But when they finally opened their hearts to each other, they could be happy ever after.

Over all, Perfect Fit was not the hottest romance, but most true to life.

Click any of the links to buy Perfect Fit on Amazon

Her foolish not wicked ways

Feb15

Her Wicked Ways (Secrets & Scandals) ♥♥♥

Synopsis

Miranda is a bored, spoiled girl from a rich family. Her parents find her misbehavior unbecoming of a young lady and banish her from London to the countryside to stay with her cousin and learn some propriety. She is supposed to stay until she has learned her lesson.

Foxcroft (Fox) is trying to manage a massive house with hundreds of acres and an orphanage using little income. He resorts to illegal means and justifies his spoils since he is like Robin Hood. He needs to marry an heiress to have the funds to support all those in his care.

My Opinion

The book should have been called “Her irresponsible/foolish/imprudent ways”. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but in Miranda’s case, it almost ruined her reputation. There was no explanation into her foolhardy behavior. Since she was determined to do what she was previously told not to do, she had a penchant for getting into sticky situations without thinking about the consequences. Miranda was a self-centered brat that was used to getting her way and hoping that her parents would overlook her indiscretions.

I do not know what to say about Fox. He had noble goals but I think he could have gone about it a different way.

In the end, Miranda was less self-centered due to her interaction at the orphanage. As for the romance, I did not think that Miranda was mature enough to handle a relationship. Fox was a little endearing since he was caring for the orphans, but that is about all he had going for him. Why Fox fell in love for such an immature chit of a girl is beyond me.

Her Wicked Ways was not too long, probably taking about a day to read. The story was okay. Not the best, but not the worst either. Miranda’s character lacks common sense, so that might annoy some readers. A few times, I thought she was an idiot for her behavior. However, if you are looking for a Victorian-era romance, you might like this book.

Catching a Greek Billionaire is easier than expected

Feb10

The Art of Catching a Greek Billionaire by Marian Tee ♥♥

Available on Amazon in Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set (10 Book Bundle)

Synopsis:

Mairi knew from her teenage years that she wanted to marry a Greek billionaire. She decided that she wanted to marry a billionaire, more specifically a Greek one, because her aunts read her Harlequin romance novels as bedtime stories. So that means she is not a gold digger right? More on that later… She gets a job teaching in Greece at an international school so that her Greek billionaire love can find her.

Damen is a deliciously handsome Greek billionaire who is the brother of one of Mairi’s students. He sees Mairi and has to have her. Since there is some serious chemistry and he does not have mistress, he is on the prowl for pretty young body to warm his bed.

My Opinion:

Mairi’s views are the product of unintentional, well-meaning, but irresponsible parenting. Her aunts tried to instill an optimistic view of life and in her ability to succeed in whatever tasks she set to achieve. They neglected to introduce her to realities of life as it relates to men. As a result she is trying to recreate a romance novel as real life (even as I write this I do realize that this story is not real, but I digress). In her mind, it is okay to target a billionaire because that is part of making her dream relationship come to life.

I will admit that there are fairytale-like stories where a super wealthy, uber-hot man might marry a woman of average financial status (google George Lucas new wife- he’s not uber hot but he is super rich). However, if the woman made it her goal to “catch” the aforementioned man partially based on his wealth, she is a GOLD DIGGER! Trying to deny that fact would be like saying Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman was not a prostitute. It does not matter how nice she is or what she plans to do with all that money once she is married. Marry for love and not his bank account. Mairi could be the poster child for the reason rich men need pre-nups.

This book did not have a happy-ever-after ending and I am glad. However, I did not realize that this was the first book in a series. You should know by now my feelings towards authors that drag a story out into multiple books. Ughhh! So probably by the end of the series, Mairi and Damen will probably be a couple. I do not know how I feel about the gold digger potentially coming out on top (no pun intended) and being achieving her goal.

Overall, I probably will not read the rest of the books to finish the story since Mairi annoyed me. She is looking for external forces, more particularly wealth, to bring her happiness. Damen was typical alpa-male that was used to getting what he wanted. As arrogant as he was, I did not dislike him but he was not at the top of my list of favorite heroes either.

Flemings – Austin TX

Feb2

I was in Austin, TX and a group of us wanted to go out for dinner. Since half of the people did not have cars, we decided to go somewhere close to the hotel so that we could walk.

As a side note to this restaurant post: Austin downtown is a great city for walking around.

We asked each other? What do we want? Chinese, Italian, Tex Mex, Steakhouse, Japanese, Thai, Indian? Of all the delicious sounding choices, we finally could agree on going to a steakhouse and the concierge suggested Fleming’s.

When we walked in, the hostess asked if we had a reservation. We did not. We wondered if this would be a problem. Thankfully it was a Wednesday night, so the place was not very crowded. We had to wait about 20 minutes and our group of 10 was seated. I thought that was quick considering the fact that we were a large group.

Once seated, the waiters brought warm bread for us to snack on while looked at the menu. I probably could have filled up on bread (as usual).

As always, when I am hungry I want everything on the menu. I ended up ordering the Caprese salad (Tomatoes, mozzarella, basil with balsamic reduction) and small plate lamb chops (cooked medium rare of course) with fried polenta. Someone ordered a bottle of Canyon Road chardonnay for the table. The caprese salad was so good, I used some bread to sop up all the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The lamb chops looked small, but were filling. The seasoning was simple- salt and pepper – so the natural flavor of the meat were enhanced. I am not a big fan of polenta in general, but this was tasty.

The Canyon Road chardonnay was a fresh, light tasting wine that, for my taste buds, went well with the Caprese salad. I do not usually drink white wine with red meat, so I did not drink any of the Canyon Road chardonnay with the lamb chops. I think red meat’s stronger flavors overpower white wines.

I was a member of the “Clean plate” club this night. I could not stop until it was all gone. By the time I finished my food, I was too stuffed for dessert. The whole reason I ordered the small plate was to be able to get dessert!

Fleming’s is a great choice if you are looking for a steakhouse in downtown Austin. The food was delicious and perfectly prepared. I could tell that they used high quality ingredients. The chefs prepared everything to our expectations. Nothing was overcooked or under-seasoned. The service was stellar. They had personality and made sure we had everything we needed. Plus, they offered thoughtful recommendations based on our taste preferences. The prices were comparable with Ruth Chris or Sullivan’s.