My February Reading

Being marooned at home with inches of snow on our steep hills made for good reading progress. It being Valentine's Day, I read some V-Day-specific Harlequins that I had not read before. The only themed books I'd read before were Christmas books, and I love those. Now after reading these two V-Day books, I'm more inclined to try other holiday-themed books. You already have emotions surrounding holidays, so tying a romance to those emotions makes the book immediately accessible.

While these are not reviews, I want to share these two pieces that I'm particularly excited about: an interview with the amazing Lisa Kleypas and stories about their experience of the Romance genre by passionate denizens of Romancelandia: readers, bloggers, authors, editors, librarians, and scholars from all over the world.

A Year with Rumi: Daily Readings translated & edited by Coleman Barks
Category: Poetry
Comments: I am really enjoying reading my way through this book, a poem a day, some very simple, some complex despite the paucity of words. I'm convinced most of what he had to say is going over my head. I thought to read to understand Rumi, instead Rumi is explaining my life. Whatever is going on in my life, I see in his poetry.

The Matchmaker's List by Sonya Lalli
Category: General Fiction
Comments: I was really looking forward to this book with its promise of cross-cultural highs and lows, an exploration of the immigrant experience, and a look at traditional arranged marriages in modern society. Unfortunately, it ultimately failed to live up to its pledge because the heroine quite sank the story.

Raina is biracial, having a barely-there Indian mother and an absent Caucasian father. She was born in Toronto when her mother was sixteen, and she has been raised by her traditional immigrant Indian grandparents. Raina spends all her life trying to be a good Indian girl while also fighting against the restrictions imposed by the expectations of her Nani’s (grandmother’s) culture.

It’s clear from the way the book is written that we are meant to sympathize with Raina and follow her trials and tribulations with a smile. Unfortunately, I could not do it. She’s an utterly self-absorbed, selfish woman, who does not take the time to examine how her words and actions affect the people around her and takes their care and love for granted. While there are moments when she is nice to them, most of the time, we hear her carping about them or saying and doing things that hurt or anger them. Her feelings and her concerns take up all her attention and she has none to spare even for Nani. My review is here.

The Fearless King by Katee Robert
Category: Contemporary Romance
Comments: The heart of The Fearless King is a lifting up of the two protagonists as better people in themselves, because they’re together as a couple. Love, the rare equalizer of all humans, paradoxically allows the individual to shine uniquely.

Journey King is the COO of Kingdom Corp. in Houston. Along with her brothers, Anderson and Bellamy (and silent partner sister Eliza), they collectively own enough shares to successfully lead the company. In their childhood, they’d been badly abused by their father, Elliott. When their mother, Lydia, finds out, she runs Elliott out of Houston and helms Kingdom Corp., while raising her children. Now Lydia is out of Houston, leaving the company to her children, and…
Elliott is back in town to take over Kingdom Corp, as—to their shock—the majority shareholder.

The only way for Journey to deal with Elliott’s threat to herself personally and to Kingdom Corp. is to ask Frank Evans for help. Frank is a real estate mogul who is a power to be reckoned with in Houston. Many powerbrokers are in debt to him because he is the holder of many secrets and deals in information. Journey is convinced that if there is something to be discovered about Elliott, Frank would be the one to find it.

I really liked how the author showed how two strong personalities learn to rely on each other, their vulnerability not diminishing each other in the least. My review is here. I am pleased with how this review turned out.

Lady Notorious by Theresa Romain
Category: Historical Romance
Comments: Cassandra Benton is an unofficial Bow Street Runner and partner of her twin Charles. She enjoys investigative work and solving problems, and above all, being useful — to Bow Street and to Charles, who needs looking after. While she enjoys being needed, contradictorily, it is also a burden that she wishes somebody would take off her shoulders.

George, Lord Northbrook is the Duke of Ardmore’s heir. He lives at home and is a fancy-free gentleman who enjoys no responsibilities to anything or anyone and is simply waiting in the wings to become the duke someday. In the meantime, he’s dabbling in this and that. He’s convinced that he is a useless fribble and has learned to navigate society’s tonnish ways with a joking manner and careless mannerisms.

There are two things I loved about this story. The first is their absolute belief in the other person and the value they bring to everyone around them. The second thing is that the falling in love happens when they are together and just as much when they are apart. Many books have the romantic resolution happening mostly when the two people are together on the page and not much reflection when they're apart. I enjoyed the contemplative nature of this book. There's the murder mystery and then there's the frantic attraction and lovemaking, but there is also the quiet, thoughtful parts of the book. My review is here.

Devil's Daughter by Lisa Kleypas
Category: Victorian Romance
Comments: In this The Ravenels meet The Wallflowers book, Kleypas connects two of her most popular series. The book is also set in the world of Sebastian, now the Duke of Kingston, from Devil in Winter. My review is here.

Phoebe, Lady Clare, is Kingston’s oldest daughter. When the book opens, Phoebe has been widowed for two years, and after living with her parents for all this time, she is just coming out of mourning. She has two small children who she is henceforth determined to raise at Clare, the seat of her older son, Justin’s viscountcy. As our story starts, Phoebe is out of mourning and is traveling with her family and children to the Ravenels’ estate where her brother is marrying Lord Trenear’s ward. It is there that she meets West Ravenel.

And her mind and body are stunned—that was the only word that came to mind. He is so completely out of the realm of experience. With her first husband, Henry, she had shared a loving, gentle relationship. He was everything a gentleman should be, with the emphasis on gentleness and noble pursuits. West is reformed ex-rake who energetically pursues estate stewardship and continually challenges Phoebe's preconceived notions about herself. She slowly begins to believe that she is capable of many things, not just of being a wife. Just as he bucks her up, she bucks him up into believing in his reformation and not being blighted by his previous profligacy.

Crashing Into Her by Mia Sosa
Category: Contemporary Romance
Comments: Biting humor really works in catching my attention. Pair that with sharp characterization and sharper dialogue, and I am hooked. Anthony Castillo is a Hollywood stunt professional for TV and film and an instructor at a stunt training company. He lives at home with his father and is hoping to buy a home, but his non-steady income makes it difficult for him to get a mortgage. He is adamantly, uncompromisingly determined that he wants to remain relationship-free.

Eva Montgomery is a fitness instructor. She lives in the shadow of her father’s concern — a concern that can be as smothering as it is manipulative. After a scumbag of a boyfriend tried to force her to marry him by attempting to impregnate her, she is single-mindedly resolute in avoiding future serious entanglements.

They meet at the wedding of Eva's best friend and Anthony's cousin's wedding. They spend a passionate night together and vow to let the hookup go no further. But when life throws them together, despite their best intentions, their attraction to each other only deepens. They reminded me of magnets every time they're in each other's proximity—magnets for rampaging libidos and sarcastic comments. I liked how they retained that sassiness right through to the end and didn't dissolve in a gooey puddle despite the "awww" moments. My review is here.

Best Friends, Secret Lovers by Jessica Lemmon
Category: Contemporary Romance
Comments: This is a sweet, hot story between college friends who impulsively share a kiss on Valentine’s Day that sends shockwaves in their relationship. Sabrina Douglas has been Flynn Parker’s best friend since college. They cannot recall a time when they had not shared their thoughts and time with each other. Along with Gage and Reid, the four of them have been an inseparable quartet, especially now that they all work for Monarch Consulting, a management consultancy firm.

But it is with Sabrina that Flynn feels most like himself, and likewise for Sabrina—they’re attuned to each other’s thoughts and feelings. It is a friendship that has sustained them through various changes in their lives, large and small. For three years, while Flynn was married to Veronica, their friendship had somehow stumbled along, but now that Flynn is divorced, Sabrina and Flynn are back in each other’s lives stronger than before. And he is desperately holding on to her generous, empathetic, sunshiny nature to avoid drowning—emotionally in the aftermath of his divorce and the intense pressure of stepping into his father's dominating shoes as head of Monarch.

Neither of them wants to jeopardize their friendship, but neither can they resist the siren call of love. How will they juggle their sexual relationship, their friendship, and their working relationship? My review is here.

Her Secret Texas Valentine by Helen Lacey
Category: Contemporary Romance
Comments: Jake Brockton is the wealthy owner of the Double Rock Ranch, a large cattle ranch outside Houston. When his father died, Jake dropped out of college to work the ranch and support his mother and sister. He later finished his college online and got an MBA. However, he generally conveys a sense of being a down-to-earth cowboy, except in elevated circles. His previous failed marriage, where his ex-wife took him to the cleaners, has left him cautious to trust anyone. His requirements for a new woman in his life are someone who is organized, hardworking, passionate about her work, and independently wealthy.

Valene Fortunado works as a real estate agent in her family’s real estate agency that her father has built into a force to be reckoned with in Houston, with offices in Austin and San Antonio. She used to be a party girl in the circles she moved in. However, a failed relationship, where her boyfriend was more interested in romancing her father to get into the family business than romancing her, has left her cautious to trust anyone. Her requirements for a new man are money, a college education, and a good job.

Jake and Valene meet thanks to a dating app, and they hit it off from the first date, despite the fact that they are both exactly the opposite of their stated preferences. And in spite of the black moment in the second half of the book, theirs is a sweet story, with a heaping of sweetness from him. I really enjoyed seeing how their requirements of an ideal mate changes the more they get to know each other. My review is here.