Tag Archive | romance novels

Lila is the manager of a book store that is located in a building that was bought by developer Grayson. All the legal notifications regarding the necessity to relocate the store were sent to her parents since their names are the listed as the owners. Throughout the book, there was a lot of misdirected anger at Grayson from Lila who she decided was foreclosing on her parents’ (mostly her father) legacy. If anything, it was her mother’s fault. But I won’t even get into that.

First of all, my impression of this books has a lot to do with my stance on Christian or religious contemporary fiction. It is my personal opinion that when romance novel authors try to make them “Christian” they should at least say somewhere in the blurb about the book. Reading a romance novel and having “God” references liberally throughout makes it a Christian contemporary. Not knowing that from the beginning because makes me feel as if I’m being preached to. I am not saying that I have anything against books with a religious slant, but at least I can set my expectations based on that.

Lila is trying to be a “good” Christian and has made a vow that she would not indulge in premarital coitus. But that was before there were lighting sparks between her and Grayson. So now she’s relapsing but she’s so conflicted the whole time. It got kind of annoying to me because the story had a Debbie-downer feel every time Lila focused on her guilt. And that took some of the fun out the reading the back and forth banter between them. I knew that they would end up in bed and the next day she was going to be regretting her lack of self-control.

To top it off, Lila has the thought that maybe she shouldn’t get with Grayson because he’s not a Christian. Then he agrees to go to church with her just because if that is what she likes, he will go along with it. I really don’t like that. I don’t think anyone should convert or change religion or become more religious because of girl or boyfriend. The person is just going through the motions and it may or may not last. I don’t know if in the long run Grayson would become a Christian, but there needs to be more of a basis than “I’m doing it for my girlfriend”.

Another point with which I take issue is Lila’s hot and cold attitude with Grayson. She seemed almost to the point of bi-polar to me. One minute she is flirting, ready to jump his bones, and the next minute she is telling him to get out of her house and she is not speaking to him. He had a lot of patience to deal with her. I would have told her “Crazy girl, get your store off my premises before I have forcibly vacated and get out of my life. Period.”

In closing, in The Book Of Love (Baby Its Cold Out) I liked the male character Grayson but the female Lila was super annoying. Some readers might find it humorous.
And to the author, let me know what to expect. If you are going to use the character’s religious relationship as part of the storyline, give readers a heads up and note Christian contemporary genre.

The title should be “Convincing Clay to learn how to trust”

Aug15

Hailey Lambert needs a job so she can settle down. She does not know what she is getting into when she goes to the job interview for the business manager position at Clay Cardell’s ranch. Her mouthiness gets the best of her on more than one occasion, but that is not necessarily a bad thing considering Clay Cardell orneriness.

Clay does a good job trying to keep up his guard around Hailey because he has learned from experience that the people who are supposed to love you most often leave with a great deal of hurt and pain. Plus most women have an agenda to get what they want. Once the get it, they are done. No matter what Hailey did, he had to be put it all into context since she was foremost a woman.

As the reader finds out, the book gives some of the history that made Clay into the sad, lonely person he is the way he is. Constant emotional abuse is bound to leave lasting scars. Trouble is that those scars make it difficult for the person coming with true love to be accepted. So many times when Hailey would make progress, something would happen to plant another seed of doubt in Clay’s mind and have him questioning her motives all over again.

This story is about trust, patience, and the ability of love to heal invisible wounds. These are two imperfect, dysfunctional people who have enough in common with their core beliefs to make the relationship work. In the end, it is good for the both of them that Hailey did not give up on Clay because that would have made them both miserable. They were two of kind that were meant to be together.

That being said, this book is SUPER long. I read on my Kindle so I have no concept of book lengths these days. When I read a regular book, I average 100 pages a hour. I don’t know if that is speed reading but that is my average. When I started reading, Amazon said this book is about 400 pages. So I am thinking this would be about 4 hours of reading time. I ended up finishing 6+ hours later so I would estimate that the page count would be close to 600 pages. Unfortunately for me, I was reading this book on a work night and by the time the book got really interesting I should have been going to bed. It has always been hard for me to put a book down so close to the end, so I kept reading until I finished (late nights and early morning don’t mix well). So keep this in mind! It is best to read this on a Saturday afternoon if you are like me and want to read the whole book in one sitting.

If you like Western romances, I suggest reserving the afternoon to read Taming Clay

***Additional side note*** there are quite a few f-b0mbs in this book, if strong language offends you. These are cowboys and cowgirls whose language can be coarse. Not everything will be “Aw shucks” and “Darn it”

Ella tiene razon para aceptar la propuesta

Aug1

La Propuesta– Brenda Jackson
La Propuesta: (The Proposal) (Harlequin Deseo) (Spanish Edition)

Jason Westmoreland es un caballero muy muy guapo. Es un hombre en todo sentido. El sabe que quiere y como procurarla.

Elizabeth “Bella” es una mujer fina nacido en Savannah Georgia. Tiene un rancho que recibio como un herencia de su abuelo desconocido. Ella quiere la libertad hacer sus propias decisiones porque sus padres estuvieron muy estrictos. Después de mudarse al rancho, sus padres la manda a regresar y casar a un hombre que les gusta. Ella no tiene muchas opciones menos una propuesta de Jason. ¿Vale la pena?

Jason desea tener 3 cosas (1) Bella (2) su rancho (3) su caballo Hercules

Cuando Jason realiza que Bella es la mujer para él, emplee poquito de manipulación para conseguirla. A mí, era chistoso. Bella sabe lo que ella se siente en su corazón pero no sabe si Jason es genuino o si solamente está diciendo todas las cosas correctas para vencer su corazón y adquirir su rancho (como su tio acusó). Considerando su experiencia limitada con los hombres, podemos entender porque ella tiene mucha cautela.

Al fin, todo cae bien con esta pareja en su camino al amor.

¡Sra Jackson ha hecho otra vez! Este libro tiene todo- caracteres simpáticos y una historia divertida. Cómpralo y léelo hoy La Propuesta: (The Proposal) (Harlequin Deseo) (Spanish Edition)

If you want the English review click here and if you want this book in English –> The Proposal (Harlequin Desire)

He makes her a proposal she can’t refuse

Jul31

The Proposal – Brenda Jackson

Jason Westmoreland is a fine-as-melt-in-your-mouth-chocolate cowboy. He is a man that knows what he wants and goes after it.

Elizabeth “Bella” is a genteel Savannah-bred woman who inherited the ranch neighboring Jason’s from the grandfather she did not know about until after his death. Since she lead a somewhat sheltered life by her overprotective parents, this is her first taste of freedom. Meanwhile, her parents think she is being foolish and are trying to force her to return to Savannah and marry the man they have picked out for her. So when her freedom is jeopardized, her only possible option seems to be a business proposal from Jason. But is she making a deal with the devil?

His agenda is (1) Bella (2) Her farmland (3) Hercules – a stud horse.

The reason for his sense of entitlement to her property has a lot to do with his relationship to her grandfather. Once Jason realizes that Bella is the woman he wants, he resorts in a little fast talking and subtle manipulation to make sure she is his. Bella knows what she is feeling but cannot determine if Jason is genuine or only after her land (as her uncle accuses). Considering her limited experience with men, it is easy to understand why she is being so cautious.

I am glad one of the secondary characters gave Jason the advise to communicate with Bella to prevent misunderstandings. Clearing the air and sharing their feelings is the best thing for them to have done. It works out for both of them. Ms Jackson has done it again with an entertaining story and likeable characters!

I think you will like this book too The Proposal (Harlequin Desire)

Romance Novels: This is not REAL life people!

Jul2

Since I like to try to read books in a series, in the future, I will be reviewing several romance novels by the author Brenda Jackson. This post about the author is to give you an idea of what to expect when you read her books.

I like to say that Ms Jackson’s books are short novels (about 200 pages) since the books I usually read are double in length. I have read one book from her Kimani series and several more from her Westmoreland series. The Westmoreland series feature members of the super-rich Westmoreland family. Each generation of the family likes to have a lot of children. Even though they are born into a wealthy family, they have all appreciated what advantages they have had financially to work in various fields of expertise from professionals to sheep farmers. As a result, they are no strangers to hard work and they are down-to-earth (insert your daydreamy “Ooooo” here).

Ms Jackson’s books follow a simple formula:

Guy meets girl.
The intense attraction and desire between them is immediate (they cannot explain or deny their lack of self-control).
For whatever reason, one or both of them do not want a long term relationship
They usually fall in love in a matter of weeks. (from the books I have read so far, I think the quickest was 2 weeks)

Some readers who have bought Ms Jackson’s books have complained in their reviews about the lack of realism. To that I reply, “Whatever!”. I do realize that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but people have to be reasonable. By choosing a romance novel, I think that a reader has to suspend normal belief to think that all of these short, passion filled relationships are going to lead to a long term, lasting happy marriages. I am sure it is possible, but the odds are not very likely. With inventive and fanciful storylines, these books are contemporary fairy tales, not to be confused with real life. Knowing the predictability of Ms Jackson’s books does not detract from the entertainment value for me.

If you are looking for real life romance stories, look it up in the encyclopedia. If you want an amusing diversion in the form of a romance novel, Ms Brenda Jackson will not disappoint.

That being said, as I read her books, I will be summing them up and reviewing them on here.