Convincing Alex by Nora Roberts

Convincing Alex (1994)
Nora Roberts
Grade: A
Genre: contemporary romance
Sex scenes: regular NR
Source: own
Stanislaski series: (1) Taming Natasha, (3) Falling for Rachel, 

Book four, and I'm still loving this series. Yes, I have given this a marginal grade up from the rest, but that's because I think Bess is my favourite heroine, not because this is necessarily my favourite book of the series. I still need to read books five and six before I can make a proper, informed choice, but if they're as good as the first four books, I'm going to have to read them all again before I can even think of choosing.

Bess McNee is very serious about her work. If this means caking on make-up an inch think and squeezing into hot-pink spandex to work the streets in the name of research, then by God she'll do it. When Detective Alexi Stanislaski (equally serious about his work - no guesses here about what he does) mistakenly arrests Bess for soliciting him, Bess can't help but think that her night has only got better. Not only has she got her time masquerading as a prostitute to help her with her newest storyline on the show 'Sacred Sins' for which she is one of the writers, but if she ever needs to write an arrest/jail scene, then her research is all done!

Exit to Eden by Anne Rice

Exit to Eden (1985)
Anne Rice writing as Anne Rampling
Grade: C-
Genre: Erotica
Sex scenes: Oh, I don't know ... erotic, perhaps?
Source: Library

This cover is so blatantly phallic it's painful to look at while I type. While most erotica covers now tend to feature naked people twisted around each other in anatomically awkward (not to mention uncomfortable) positions, I find this cover much more painful to look at.

This is my first foray into erotica, though to be honest, it wasn't as explicit as I was expecting something classed under this genre to be. Considering this is twenty-seven years old, it is to be expected that authors have got more ... adventurous is one way of putting it, with the sexual exploits of their characters. Or maybe I just have a high tolerance to the issues that this book does deal with and my expectations were more in line with a modern erotica novel. Anyway, more about the book's eroticism (or lack of it) later.

World Book Night 2012

A friend told me about WBN in 2011 and I promptly forgot about it, being the attentive friend that I am. When I remembered, I'm not even sure if I registered correctly, because I remember having to re-do my application over and over again, getting a funny message each time I tried to submit it. The site was as slow as the NaNoWriMo site the first few days of NaNo season each year, evidently crowded of people like me trying to register at the last possible opportunity.

Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts

Carnal Innocence (1991)
Nora Roberts
Grade: B
Genre: romantic suspense
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own

Fucking hell. I mean, just ... fucking hell. There are no other words. I saw it coming all along, but just ... I have to say, this is the most twisted NR book of all that I've read - which is a LOT. A lot being 136, according to my Shelfari shelf, which is generally correct considering how anal I am about recording everything that I read.

Carnal Innocence reminded me a lot of Unfinished Business: successful world-class musician returns home to recuperate after a gruelling tour/health scare/intense pressure. What makes Carnal Innocence a different and (IMO) a more exciting read is that it's romantic suspense, as opposed to Unfinished Business' straight contemporary.

Falling for Rachel by Nora Roberts

Falling for Rachel (1993)
Nora Roberts
Grade: A-
Genre: romantic suspense
Sex scenes: standard mild and dreamy NR
Source: own
Stanislaski series: (1) Taming Natasha

I'm actually quite surprised. With all the stuff that I wrote in my review of Taming Natasha about the majority of later books in NR series being subpar, I've allowed myself the night to reflect and sitting here with my green tea (just plain), I find myself having enjoyed Falling for Rachel just as much as the previous two books in the series.

Rachel is a public defendant, worked off her feet. When she is assigned Nicholas LeBeck's case, she manages to see beyond his tough facade and sees the shaken, vulnerable boy underneath his gang jacket. He may be guilty of burglary and theft, but since he won't give up the names of his fellow gang members, Rachel is determined to save him from jail. So is Zack, Nick's step-brother. he puts up bail, agrees to pay for all the stolen merchandise, not just what was found on Nick, and gives Nick a home and a job at his bar, Lower the Boom.

Judge Beckett agrees to a two-month probationary period to monitor Nick. What Rachel and Zack hadn't counted on was being appointed Nick's co-guardians.

Prey by Linda Howard

Prey (2011)

Linda Howard
Grade: B+
Genre: romantic suspense
Sex scenes: enough to get your blood pumping, but not as hot as a regular Linda Howard reader might expect.
Source: library

Prey was like Up Close and Dangerous, Cover of Night and Ice all rolled up into one. Not that I mind: I think I like Prey better than all of those three, though only barely better than Up Close and Dangerous. It's like Linda Howard got a few times to practice some ideas she had in her head and I have to say, I do love the amalgamated result.

Angie Powell runs a tour guide company that she took over from her father when he became ill, taking clients through the wilderness of Montana which she knows like the back of her hand. Business was strong in the first year, but when Dare Callahan returns from the war and starts up his own rival company, Angie's business is slowly leached away. Dare had asked Angie out twice in the first year of his return, but Angie now avoids him like the plague. Angie has so little business that she has put it up for sale, though the prospects don't look good. In the meantime, she has a client booked who is looking to bag the trophy of all trophies: a bear ...

Snow Day!

I really really really love snow.  It's that inner child in me. Plus the fact that I have a birthday around Christmas, yet it never snows on my birthday/Christmas. My youngest sister was born on the 27th January, and every year, from the year she was born until at least her fifth birthday, it snowed. On her birthday. Every. Single. Fricking. Year. Is it really that much to ask for a white Christmas?

Plus I just like to wear my wellies.

Taming Natasha by Nora Roberts

Taming Natasha (1990)
Nora Roberts
Grade: A-
Genre: contemporary romance
Sex scenes: pretty standard Nora Roberts, really. That is, for those not well versed in Roberts' books: mild and dreamy.
Source: own

First thing to note: I'm a HUGE romance reader. The majority of books that I review here will be romance. So if you're a romance snob who can't get beyond Fabio covers and the identify with society's general contempt of romance as a genre, then this isn't the place for you.

On the other hand, if you don't care that you're seen in public reading what is clearly a romance novel, then I'll carry on.

First Post.

First Post. Huh. Not sure what to say, really.

I've been thinking about starting a book review blog for a while, but I don't really have much time to read now. Oh well. Any posts will be mostly sporadic and most probably won't have much to do with books. If there are a lot of book reviews, this clearly means that I'm neglecting all the work that I have to do. Why would I choose to read law tomes and cases and journal articles when it's so much more fun to read books?

I consider myself quite a strange, and at times, quite an anal person. One thing that I'm mostly anal about is drafting stuff before I do them properly, whether it's an essay, speech or review/blogpost. I have this really cool notebook that I bought from the Bodleian Library when I visited Oxford with my school in September 2010 with vintage book covers on the front. Everything that I blog goes down in there first, so this is just a warning that when I post reviews on here, the review is most likely from months ago when I actually read the book, only I was too lazy to post it until now. 

This blog was supposed to be called 'Random Musings and Manic Ramblings of a Self-Confessed Book Junkie.' It took me absolutely ages to get it so that I was pleased with it, but then it was too long, which was more than a tad annoying. I suppose, reflecting on it now, the 'Readaholic' fits in with the 'R' and 'M' theme, so it's slowly beginning to grow on me.

I'll stop rambling now.