Speechless

Speechless
by Hannah Harrington
Published by Harlequin Teen
288 pages
Available on Amazon.com
Genre: YA
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
4 / 5 cupcakes


If there is one word that is synonymous with "high school girl," it would be "drama."

Teenage girls love them some drama, and if you doubt that, come on and hang out in my classroom. You will discover that I speak the truth. Some girls like to stir up drama, others like to be in the middle of it, and then there are those who enjoy watching it unfold. In Speechless, sophomore Chelsea Knot tends to be one of the stirrers, although she really can't help it. She speaks before she thinks, rarely - if ever - considering the consequences of her blabbing.

A New Year's Eve party changes everything when Chelsea blurts out something she witnessed between two classmates. Just as she realizes the implications of what she says, she also realizes that she is powerless to stop them. When a near tragedy results, Chelsea responds by deciding to keep quiet. Seriously quiet. As in, she decides to say nothing to anybody.

Alas, Chelsea is a high schooler, which means her peers do not respond well, either to her actions during the party or afterwards. She soon is left without her best friend, or really anyone else. Forced to go it alone - and mutely, at that - Chelsea soon discovers a new circle of friends and even gets a job as a dishwasher at a kitschy diner. A new coworker also happens to be her partner in art class: the cute, adorably dorky and charming Sam.

Much of this book speaks to the cold hard truth about high school: it sucks. It really, really sucks, whether you are part of the "in" crowd or left standing in its shadows. Chelsea's decision to staunch her voice allows the rest of her senses to be more perceptive. She begins to realize the false front of her friendships, and she comes to see the torture and reward of striking out on her own.

The thing about high school is that kids profess to want to be different. They decry homogeneity, yet they need it to survive. Be different, but be the same. Change, but be more like everyone else. Hannah Harrington understands this, and her characters and dialogue delivery a pretty realistic picture of the ugliness of the high school experience.

Harrington does take some short cuts, but given how well she crafts Chelsea, we can forgive her for too safe of a conclusion, including that regarding Chelsea's relationship with her parents. Chelsea frustrates us, perhaps all the more because we see a bit of ourselves in her. Who didn't want to be popular in high school? Be honest. You know you did, even if doing so made you a little sick to your stomach. And so it is with Chelsea, who craves being a part of something, yet comes to see its danger.

Speechless is an excellent YA novel and sure to interest teens and even those of us a few (cough) years removed from high school. Give it a try, and maybe in doing so, you will discover just how much you gain when you give up your voice.

The Angel

The Angel
by Tiffany Reisz
Published by Harlequin MIRA
416 pages
Available September 25, 2012; pre-order on Amazon.com
Thanks to NetGalley and edelweiss for the preview
Genre: erotica; scorching hot romance novel
5 / 5 cupcakes

When last we saw Nora Sutherlin in The Siren, aka Eleanor Schreiber, she had broken up with her roommate-slash-would be lover, the young Wesley, and returned to her soul mate and true love, Søren. AKA her priest.

As The Angel begins, Nora and Søren have been together for a couple of months when trouble appears to be afoot. Søren is being investigated as a potential Bishop, both by the Catholic Church and, he tells Nora, the press is after him as well. On top of that, Nora's secret file, held securely in Kingsley Edge's safe, has been stolen. To protect Nora, Søren sends her to stay with the wealthy and adventurous Griffin Fiske at his estate in the New York countryside. Søren also dispatches Michael, the boy whose virginity Søren gifted to Nora.

But this is Nora Sutherlin we're talking about, and nothing she does is traditional, predictable or reasonable. She is supposed to train Michael, whom she nicknames The Angel (GET IT? Michael the Archangel?), to be a sub, but Nora quickly realizes that Michael's interests may lie elsewhere. Meanwhile, Søren weaves his considerable magic on Suzanne, the reporter looking into his past and present.

Typical of Tiffany Reisz's Original Sinners series, The Angel has equal parts scorching sex scenes and discussion of the BDSM lifestyle. Reisz understands her characters and presents them, faults and all. She makes us care about Nora, who remains drawn to Wesley. She does love him, in a pure, vanilla, dare she admit sweet way, even as she knows that Søren is the man she cannot, will not quit. As the heroine of the trilogy (the third installment, The Prince, comes out later this year), Nora is complex and maddening. She makes stupid mistakes, and her feelings for two men cause us to battle between the two just as she does.

Michael, too, is sympathetic. He has to navigate his way through his tortured upbringing to allow himself to love and love fully. As he and Griffin develop a friendship, we hope that Nora's host will help Michael learn to understand and accept himself.

Then there is Søren, the mysterious center of the tale. If you felt cheated by lack of insight into him in The Siren and Reisz's novella Seven Day Loan, you will feel much more satisfied by what you learn here. Reisz delivers his story, and it is full of as many surprises as Søren himself. Whereas he seemed cold and ruthless in his previous appearances, here we get to know him better and even begin to empathize with him. He becomes more likable. We might have wished Nora to be with Daniel or Zachary from the previous stories, but the closer we get to Søren, the more we like him for Nora.

This is a good thing, because a sadistic priest who needs to beat a woman in order to become aroused, who has had a long-term affair with her, whose sadism is both feared and admired within the BDSM dungeon club The 8th Circle, whose exquisite Nordic handsomeness overwhelms both men and women, and whose job - he's a PRIEST, for goodness sakes - intimidates and distances us as readers. The closer we get to him, the more we like him. And Tiffany Reisz needs us to like him in order for us to keep investing ourselves in the series.

The sex scenes will burn you up. Nora Sutherlin doesn't just rock the headboard, she rams it into next month. I thought the sexy times in The Siren were too few, but we have just the right amount in this installment.

Hot, interesting and HOT. If you haven't started this series yet, DO IT.

Books to Movies Giveaway Hop

Guess what, kids! It's time for another giveaway, courtesy of Kathy at I am a Reader, Not a Writer, and Sweeping the USA. The theme is "books to movies," so the prizes available for winners are books that were made into movies. Simple, non?

I signed up for this one immediately because some of my favorite books have been made into films. Although I love movies - a LOT - the books are always better.

If you win my portion of the giveaway, you get to choose which of these books-made-into-movies you'd like:

The Godfather by Mario Puzzo.
If you've seen the first two movies, then you know the story. The movie versions are brilliant, and perhaps the only exception to the caveat of book being better than film. If you enjoy books about dysfunctional families and the Mob, this is an excellent choice, should you win.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
The movie. Oh, the movie. I loved the movie so much that I almost didn't want to read the book version. It turned out that my fears were for nought, because the book is hysterically entertaining. Helen Fielding knew her character, and it shows.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Oh, people. If you have not read this, you absolutely must. Now, I will be honest and tell you that I judge - and judge severely - those who read this book and do not like it. I might just find you wanting. It is not an easy read, nor is it quick. But it is beautiful, lyrical and will stick with you for years. Absolutely sublime.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Meet the reason why I became a high school English teacher (the second reason is the previous book). This novel is everything: romance, intrigue, societal examination, family drama, and wit. I tell my male students that Mr. Darcy sets a high bar, and if they want to know how to get a woman and keep a woman, they best take notes. If you have not read this one, shame on you.



I can be persuaded to give a copy of The Hunger Games or East of Eden, or even The Blind Side, if you'd prefer one of those.

The winner will receive a digital copy of his or her choice of one of the above mentioned novels, and has seventy-two hours to respond to the email notification regarding winning the giveaway.

Good luck to all of you, and please check out the other blogs. There are some fantastic prizes to be had!

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Riptide Rentboys: The 2012 Collection

Riptide Rentboys: The 2012 Collection
by Anne Brooke, Cat Grant, Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane
Published by Riptide Publishing
Available on Amazon.com
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3 / 5 cupcakes


If this is THE collection of 2012 for Riptide Rentboys, I'd hate to read what was left on the cutting room floor.

This trio of stories is kind of like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: one is unfathomably bad, one kind of meh, and the third is cute.

Let's start with the one most likely to result in a WTF? reaction.

"Cruce de Caminos," by Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane (the authors' names sound like romance novel heroines, don't they?) seems to be one of those paranormal, "this is what the underbelly of society is really like" kind of tales, but really it's just an awful short story. Sean, who is Irish but apparently looks Hispanic (don't ask - seriously, do yourself a favor and DO NOT ASK), has a girlfriend with whom he fights and rocks the headboard. An industrial, entrepeneurish kind of guy, Sean decides to make bank by selling his services. But good old Sean either has appallingly inferior gut instincts or he is just plain stupid. He winds up in the clutches of one of New Orleans' famed netherworld practitioners, with whom he shares quite the night, as the two service a wealthy businessman. It isn't so much that the story is convoluted and ridiculous (and it is), but rather that the sex scene is so unfulfilling. Evidently, the best part happened after Sean passed out, so we don't even find out about it except in a rather cursory way. This short story is a Fail.

What "Cruces de Caminos" lacks in depth and compelling characters, "Priceless", by Cat Grant, makes up for, almost too much for a short story. Connor is a college professor whose bestie decides to fix him up with young Wes, a hot student. The socially repressed and stifled Connor turns Wes down, however, but the two later are reunited most fortuitously. And then reunited again. A lot of time is spent discussing Connor's isolation and Wes's financial desperation. A whole lot. Still, though, you can't help but like Connor, even if Wes is a bit too annoying and helpless for me. The sex scenes are hot, although there aren't enough of them for this type of story. It's a cute tale, if too long.

Thank goodness, then, for Anne Brooke's "Where You Hurt the Most," which is the jewel of the collection. Adrian is an escort for hire whose boss fixes him up with his cousin Dan, whose face was horribly disfigured in a car wreck. Dan hides his face in a hoodie, and Adrian is sensitive to Dan's fears and vulnerabilities. The two share a HOT night together, and then Dan disappears. Of the three, this is the most romantic tale, not to mention the hottest.

So this collection is hit or miss. I can't hep but wonder how much better it would have been if "Cruces de Caminos" had been replaced by something better written and certainly something hotter.

Thy Neighbor

Thy Neighbor
by Norah Vincent
Published by Viking Adult
320 pages
Available on Amazon.com
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3.5 / 5 cupcakes


Try to sum up this book. Go ahead and just try.

A guy whose parents died in a murder-suicide sits in his house, spying on his neighbors, and comes to discover that he is being watched? That's certainly part of it. A man learns to come to terms with his dark past and discover that the gene pool does not have to dictate who he becomes? Sort of. Sometimes everyone in a family can love the same person? Yes, in a way, but ...

Let's start with the basics. Nick Walsh festers, whether alone in his home, studying his neighbors via spy cameras he had installed in their homes, or in the local bar, where he drinks too much. Nick drinks too much at home as well, but can you blame him? There was the murder-suicide of his parents, after all. His one friend is a loathsome creature, and his few human relationships are a study in dysfunction. The one constant he has are those monitors trained on his neighbors. We know Nick needs to be rousted from his miasmatic existence, even if he seems a bit resigned to it.

There is a woman in his life, the elusive Monica, who comes and goes as she pleases. I would not call theirs a romance, but it isn't merely friendship or adversarial, either. For the most part, Nick is blithely uncurious about Monica; when he finally decides he wants to know her better, he is unprepared for what she is willing to divulge to him.

As Nick observes about himself:

I have only an idea of a person, even the person that I call myself. That's all. And when I love another person, or think I do, it is only the idea of that person that I love, and it is only the idea of me that is doing the loving. 

... Show me where love is, where it exists, and I will show you a cerebral circuit board of signals and crossed wires. Saying you are in love with a person is like saying you are in love with a radio, or a TV, the box itself, not the broadcast coming from it, which is always hopelessly muddled anyway with the broadcast that is coming form yourself.

Nick unwittingly sets forth his inner turmoil, although he clearly is not aware that he has such self-knowledge. Monica pushes and pushes him to give up that "broadcast" that flits within him, but he does not. In Nick's case, it is not an issue of won't, but an issue of can't. He is not ready to face his parents' death and the ramifications of it, nor is he ready to admit his own failings, separate from dear old Mom and Dad.

This is not an easy or simple book to read. It is very complex, both in Nick's creation and portrayal, and in its supporting characters. When Nick befriends an elderly neighbor across the street, it is clear that he has found someone more complex than himself.  Then there is the young girl he allows into his life. She breaches a sort of lingering childhood innocence in him; Nick responds by alternately pushing and pulling her away from and into his life.

There is a considerable amount of conversation, both internal and those Nick shares with us. A lot of contemplation goes on. For the most part, Nick's observations are interesting and thought provoking. Some are just annoying and ridiculous.

Overall, Thy Neighbor is pretty good. It is not a book I care to read again, only because when I finished it, it left a ponderous sensation. Yet it did make me think, and some of Norah Vincent's lines are meant to be debated.

How to Mend a Broken Heart

How to Mend a Broken Heart
by Amy Andrews
Published by Harlequin Medical Romances
262 KB; 134 pages
Available on Amazon.com Kindle
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3.5 / 5 cupcakes


First, let's talk about that cover.

This book is about a couple who divorced shortly after the death of their young son; ten years later, they reconnect, bent and bowed under the weight of grief that still shrouds them. Does that cover look like two people in their late thirties? In his case, Fletch, the man in the photo, is forty. The hell? Do the people who come up with these covers even read the books? And Tess, the woman, has short spiky hair. The cover couple looks like two college kids hiding in the library stacks, desperate for a naughty study interlude.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, on with the show.

How to Mend a Broken Heart is saddled with, in addition to that awful cover, an awful title. Yes, Tess and Fletch's hearts are broken. It's been ten years since their son Ryan's death, but in those ten years, Tess left their home in Australia to move to a small town in the English countryside. Fletch stayed behind, and now must deal with his mother's dementia. When he sees Tess during her annual graveside visit on the anniversary of Ryan's death, he asks her to move in with him and his mother and help take care of the latter.

This is a "medical romance," or so the cover tells us. And it is, to some degree. Fletch is a doctor, Tess a nurse, and some scenes do take place in a hospital. But it's really a character study of two people still mired in grief, both of them clinging to it out of fear that if they get past their loss, they will lose their memories of their son. Mirroring this is Fletch's mother, who actually is losing her memory. If Fletch and Tess ease up on their grief, will they experience their own form of dementia?

There is a romance to be found here, as Tess and Fletch independently remember their life together. He is determined to keep her, just as she is determined to leave him again, absconding to England to get away from memories of Ryan.

And this being a romance, we are treated to some loving, touching and squeezing. Just ... not enough. And what we get can be a bit of a tease. Then again, given the heaviness of the story lines, would it make sense for these two to rock the headboard? Probably not.

There is nothing lighthearted about this book. It is serious, from start to finish, with almost no let up. Tess is not always likable; she's frustrating and self-focused. Not that you can blame her, really. Fletch, on the other hand, wears his wounds like his three day stubble. We want to comfort him and help heal him.

You have to be in the right mood for this book, even if it is a fast read. If you want an excuse to shed a tear or two, this is one to pick up.

That's Amore

That's Amore
Wendy Markham
Published by Forever
352 pages
Available on Amazon.com
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3.5 / 5 cupcakes

Are you? Are you singing the song? Do you hear Dean Martin waxing romantic about the moon hitting your eye like a big pizza pie?

When you read That's Amore, however, you will find yourself singing "Has Anybody Seen My Gal." I know that sounds odd, to say the least, but Wendy Markham quotes that song in the book, not the one that first springs to mind.

Daria Marshall, all 5'2" of her (GET IT NOW?) is what you might call a runner. She does not like to stay put for long periods of time and has speedy departures down to an art form. She packs light, doesn't get attached to anything - not belongings, not people - and is always itching for a new place to be. When we meet her, she's in New York, staying with her sister Tammy, a psychic with whom Daria has maintained a long distance relationship. Tammy and Daria share certain psychic abilities, only rather than seeing into the future, Daria sees dead people.

For reals.

Her complete opposite is Ralphie Chickalini, who has lived in the same house all his life, even after the deaths of his parents. His family is close by, together they all have a hand in the running of the family's pizza parlor, and Ralphie is nothing if not entrenched in Queens. Sure, he thinks about moving, but he can't bring himself to leave his home. He feels his father's presence there. But one thing he doesn't feel is peace. Ralphie is engaged to Francesca, a woman his family adores more than he does. When she breaks up with him, Ralphie is not exactly heartbroken.

Naturally, Daria, the girl who can't stand still, and Ralphie, the boy who can't move, meet. They have an instant attraction, one that strikes Daria most fearfully. She knows she can't - or really won't - stick around, but Ralphie. Oh, Ralphie. He begins to mean something to her. That he cares for her concerns him, but only because he is afraid she'll leave.

There are some pesky ghosts, both those whom Daria sees and the more emotional variety, that must be dispensed with before these two can truly come together.

This is a cute, sweet story. Ralphie is instantly likable; Daria takes some time to warm up to, only because she gets a bit annoying with her insistence that she MUST move and frequently. Ralphie's family, straight out of Central Casting for "big Italian clan", is likable as well. Not all is as it seems within the Chickalini herd, however, which adds a little unexpected zest to the story.

In terms of hot romance, it is here, albeit briefly. There is a scene that entails rocking the headboard, and while it is not particularly spicy or likely to linger in your mind, it is very fitting for a cute, sweet book such as this.

My biggest beef is the way Markham spells Chickalini. It's so .... un-Italian. Ciccialini seems to be the more traditional, not Americanized way to spell it, but even I know this is a ridiculous thing to complain about.

Cute, sweet, nice. That's That's Amore.