Love Struck

Love Struck
by Chantel Guertin
280 pages
Genre: chick lit
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3 / 5


On the day that Poppy Ross discovers that her husband Parker is having an affair, she is informed that she must get to the hospital: Parker has been struck by lightning. The good news? He has no memory of the previous three months. Those three months include the time he spent in his affair.

So Poppy is on the horns of a dilemma: tell Parker what she knows, resolve to forgive and forget and renew her attentions to her marriage, or try to make over herself into the image of Parker's side piece.

Poppy of course chooses Door Number Three.

And here is where she becomes a somewhat unlikable character. Her decisions are so half-assed that you find yourself getting angry with her. When we're supposed to be on her side, we actually begin to think she's nuts and not worth our time.

Yet if she fessed up and bared her sins to Parker, she risks sending him back to his other woman. That motivation we can understand. She loves him, as she tells us several times. We may not see much evidence of it - she seems to spurn his attentions at nearly every opportunity - but she says she does, and we have to believe her.

I wasn't always sure what book Chantel Guertin was writing here. I had the same problem with her previous novel, Stuck in Downward Dog, which I did not enjoy at all. Is this a romance? A comedy? A searing examination of what women will do when they are desperate to keep a man?

The problem is that the book reads as all the above, never quite certain which it wants to be. Poppy is entertaining, if not completely enjoyable. Parker comes across as somewhat daft, but I liked him. Half the time I couldn't blame him for seeking out the companionship of another woman. In fact, Poppy herself acknowledges the cracks in her marriage, yet she does absolutely nothing to rectify them. If anything, she continues to perpetuate them.

Despite all of that, the book is not terrible (unlike Stuck in Downward Dog). You find yourself invested in the characters, somewhat against your will, and you want them to be okay. Happy and okay.

But with a premise like this one has, the book could have been much better.

Stuck in Downward Dog

Stuck in Downward Dog
by Chantel Guertin
Published by ECW Press / Key Porter Books
272 pages
Genre: chick lit (I guess)
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
1 / 5


I wasn't sure whether to post this review or not, because I do respect writers and am aware that it is tremendously challenging to write a novel.

But sometimes, kids, books just aren't that good.

Mara just got dumped by her boyfriend, has a job she hates, friends she doesn't particularly seem to enjoy all that much, and a life that is in a deep, deep rut. Thank goodness for yoga, which is the only positive thing she has going on.

And there you have it: the sum total of this novel.

Sure, there is some social commentary about plastic surgery and cosmetics. And social climbing. And societal notions about what women should be doing with their lives. But as far as a real story is concerned? I couldn't find one. It's more of a stringing together of events than anything else.

Oh, and romance? There is NONE. Not even the hint of one. The ex-boyfriend? Mara doesn't seem too bummed that he's out of the picture. In fact, her lack of reaction beyond the surface leads us to believe that she never cared all that much for him in the first place.

Her so-called friends are horrific. One gets married and fails to ask Mara to be a part of the festivities, and the other is shallow and critical. Between them and the boyfriend, you wonder if Mara is a poor judge of character. Or, worse, if she draws all this negativity toward her.

The only reason I finished this thing was because I was convinced it would get better.

I was wrong.

Adam's Boys

Adam's Boys
by Anna Clifton
Published by Harlequin Australia
157 pages
Genre: romance; chick lit
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
2.5 / 5


Okay, so. This book. It's cute, it's entertaining, it's sweet. But it's missing something, perhaps a couple of somethings.

Abbie and Adam had a three-week fling four years ago, fresh on the heels of the death from cancer of Adam's beloved wife. Adam credits his time with Abbie for giving him the emotional strength he needed to return home to England from Australia and be a father to his new son.

But now, four years later, it appears that Adam has more than one son. When Adam and his older boy return to Australia, he is in for a bit of a shocker: Abbie is his baby mama, and they share a son.

This being a romance novel, you know that nothing will be resolved quickly. Our happy couple has to deal with Issues in their lives, both involving their respective families. And that's not all. Adam is irked that Abbie kept his second son a secret, and Abbie is hurt that Adam didn't return to her as he promised.

So with all of this drama, why isn't there more tension? It's as if the outcome is a given from the first page, and all the words in between are just words.

That isn't to say that this is not a sweet little book. It is. Abbie and Adam are enjoyable - Adam more so, because Abbie does some dumb stuff - and the little boys are adorable. Perhaps it's the slim length of the story; maybe that's why it feels so slight. I'm not sure. But just when the conflict and drama would start to get interesting, it would get resolved.

And don't go looking for hot sexy times, because there is not one bit to be found. None. Nada.

Maybe that's the problem? Maybe what heat is lacking in the story could have been made up for with some headboard rockin'?

This is a good choice for those of you who prefer your romance chaste, clean, and nice.

Plus One is a Lucky Number

Plus One is a Lucky Number
by Teresa F. Morgan
Published by HarperCollins U.K., Harper Impulse
Genre: romance; chick lit
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3.5./ 5


Weddings bring out the best or worst in people. There really is no in between. You either are impressed by someone or completely turned off.

Even more insufferable are those occasions when you are a guest at a wedding - a solo guest. You know that "plus one" on the invitation? Isn't it far more comforting and satisfying to pen in the name of your plus one than it is to leave it blank?

Sophie agrees. When invited to her cousin's wedding, Sophie dreads returning home single, without a plus one. So she checks the box and hopes for the best. With just a few days to go, however, Sophie realizes she either needs a miracle or needs to not show up.

Fortunately, the former obliges in the comely form of Adam, a coworker who also happens to be quite the heartbreaker.

Adam agrees to accompany Sophie not out of any great kinship or kindness but rather because he's guilted into it by a mutual friend of theirs. He hardly knows Sophie, and even though it turns out that the low key look she sports at work does not reflect the gorgeous woman she is, Adam nonetheless is a little nervous. The more time he spends with her, the more he likes her. The same goes for Sophie, who's heard the rumors about Adam. But he's nice to her, he plays the game in front of her friends and family, and on those occasions he "has" to kiss her? Those are quite, quite nice.

Adam and Sophie are far more alike than they would care to admit. Both of them are focused on work, both move about life avoiding romantic entanglements, and both protect their hearts. Which means they clearly are made for each other.

You can tell that this is one of those Cute Romance Novels, can't you? It's all cute, from Sophie to Adam to their families and friends. They're both so darn likable that you almost need an insulin shot. In fact, that's perhaps my biggest complaint: I needed a little something to cut the sugar, and by "a little something," I mean a hot sex scene.

For a while there, it looks like you're going to get one. Or more. But just as the action heats up, there is either coitus interruptus or the curtain comes down.

Still, for all its predictability and cuteness overload, it's a fun, quick read.

Just don't expect anything hot.

Equililbrium

Equilibrium
by Lorrie Thomsen
Published by Kensington
336 pages
Genre: women's fiction
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
4 / 5


Laura Klein is two-for-three when it comes to saving her husband's life. That one time she missed, things didn't turn out so well.

Now it's a year later, and Laura is adjusting to widowhood and being a single mother to her teenage children. She struggles with missing Jack; sometimes she aches for him, and sometimes she feels pure rage. He was bipolar and didn't take his meds regularly. He made Laura do everything, including keep him alive. He was selfish, and Laura can't quite bring herself to admit that.

Her fifteen-year-old daughter Darcy is also struggling. Darcy was a Daddy's Girl, and while she doesn't quite blame Laura for Jack's death, she also doesn't forgive her, either. She wants him back, despite him clearly being selfish with her as well. She is a girl in a tremendous amount of pain and grief.

Troy, the thirteen-year-old son whom Jack left behind, chooses to mourn by not remembering anything good about his father. As we discover, Troy didn't have many happy memories. Jack was not a particularly good father to his son; he seemed to parse out what decent parenting he did to Darcy alone.

Into the Kleins' lives come two men who will change everything.

The first is Nick, Darcy's ne'er-do-well boyfriend. Nick has his own issues, including an abusive father. That he loves Darcy is not under question. He does. He even takes care of her in his own way. But as each character - Darcy's friends and her mother - warn her about him, Darcy digs her heels in every deeper. They don't know the Troy whom Darcy knows.

Then there is Aidan, an emergency room doctor in his late twenties, who rents out Jack's old writing studio. Aidan is described as movie star hot, and we know it's only a matter of time until he and Laura discover each other.

Nick and Aidan shake up the Kleins. Nick both protects and threatens Darcy, as Aidan does Laura. The danger Nick poses, however, is far greater than Aidan. He could break Darcy's heart - or worse. Aidan, on the other hand, could be proof that Jack was not a good man, that he was cruel and selfish and weak. Nick's threat is primarily physical; Aidan's emotional.

Lorrie Thomson tells her story from Laura's and Darcy's points of view. We feel Laura's frustration at not being able to help Darcy, just as we feel Darcy's toward her mother. We remember what it was like to be fifteen and in love for the first time, and we experience Laura's sadness, confusion, and hopefulness.

Thomson's writing is not always clear or fluid, but she tells a strong tale. She makes us care about Laura, Darcy, and Troy, and she does a fantastic job representing the conflicting feelings that families of those who commit suicide.

A solid debut from Lorrie Thomsen.

First Affair

The First Affair
by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Published by Atria Books
256 pages
Genre: women's literature
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
5 / 5


Do you ever wonder about the women involved in sex scandals? Do you want to ask them, "What the hell were you thinking?" Do you shake your head in disgust? Blame them? Salute them? Pity them?

I'll admit that I was fascinated by Monica Lewinsky. I didn't find Bill Clinton to be particularly good looking, and certainly not hot, but power is the ultimate aphrodisiac (thank you, Henry Kissinger, for giving voice to that), so who knows? Perhaps if I worked with him, I would have been more open to him, sexually speaking. Or any sort of speaking. Lewinsky was young, and when I was in my early twenties, my taste in men was ridiculous.

And so we come to First Affair, which tells the story of a young college graduate's White House internship and the close - I do mean close - proximity in which she finds herself with the President of the United States.

Jamie McAllister is fresh out of college and watching all of the money that went to her degree appear to be worthless. She got an internship at the White House and is singularly unimpressed. Internships don't pay for student loans. Thanks to the kindness of a friend, she's able to live rent free ... for now, anyway. But she is restless and wants a real, paying job.

As for President Rutland (I'm sure the "rut" part of his name is not an accidental choice on the part of the authors), he of the taint of rumors regarding a previous pass made at a young woman, Jamie has little to no contact with him. Until, that is, a chance meeting in the hallway. Their paths cross, and then they cross again. And then they cross with a little more passion.

Jamie's affair resembles Lewinsky's in many ways: the physical natures are quite similar, and the scandal surrounding it erupts with the same feral ferocity. Jamie is, remember, young. She is impressionable. She does not have the benefit of much life experience, and her decisions reflect that. She does not know, for instance, how to choose her friends or how to know whom she can trust. Can she trust Rutland? Herself?

The romance - and it is a romance - is fascinating. We know why Jamie is attracted to Rutland, and we come to learn why he is attracted to her. What we don't know is why he risked so much (the affair takes place during an election cycle) to be with her. We can guess, based on what we know of other powerful men brought down by their dangly bits. Perhaps he felt untouchable (no pun intended). Perhaps it is as simple as hubris. Or maybe Rutland's passion for Jamie was so intense that the threat of scandal and ruin just did not matter.

There is quite a bit of intrigue going on here as well. Jamie gets betrayed, and betrayed again. She comes to question her character judgments, and rightfully so. She is hopelessly naive, but that's what makes her so believable as a character. What twenty-two-year-old woman in love with an older man (or any age man, for that matter) manages to think straight? She believes in him and she trusts him. She cannot conceive of him ever abandoning her or betraying her.

Yes, there is the matter of Mrs. Rutland. We don't find out much about her, but there is a photograph of her with her husband that piques Jamie's guilt. Jamie is very much aware that Rutland has a wife, and, like most of us would, she justifies her relationship with him. She occasionally allows reality to creep in, but she refuses to let it take root.

Jamie is wonderfully written. She exasperates us and frustrates us, yet she makes us care about her. There were times while reading this that I hoped she and Rutland could be together and be happy. Like Jamie, I didn't want to face reality.

I am a fan of McLaughlin and Kraus, having enjoyed Between You and Me a great deal. I enjoyed this book as well, and I had a difficult time letting go of it when I finished. I may not have always liked Jamie, and I may not have always agreed with her decisions, but I was on her side.

She made me more empathetic to the Monica Lewinskys of the world.

One Night in the Spa

One Night in the Spa
by Kathy Lyons
Published by Entangled
77 pages
Genre: romance
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3 / 5


The title is a dead giveaway, isn't it? Pride and Prejudice this is not. Nor is it Gone Girl, The Husband's Secret, or Dangerous Girls. This, my friends, is pure entertainment.

Kim is a former professional squash player, forced to retire due to injury. She works at a fitness gym, and David, the spa's manager, offers to give her a stress reducing massage. In the spa. One night.

David, you see, doesn't want to be relegated to the friend zone for one more moment, so he plans to let Kim know that he's interested in more than something platonic. She, meanwhile, is in a delayed onslaught of puberty and finds herself all horned up in general, toward David specifically.

There is some sort of corporate mumbo jumbo going on regarding ownership of the spa, but who cares about that? You want to know about the one night! In a spa!

Let's just say that it could be hotter.

I'm sure Kim enjoyed it.

But I wanted more.

We learn a lot about Kim's backstory, but not as much about David's. Like I said ... I wanted more. It's as if you're getting half a massage, so to speak.

Sometimes you need something utterly fun and forgettable to read, and for those moments, this is as good a pick as any, I guess.

I just wish there had been more.