I think everyone has at least one plot that they can’t pass up. For me, it’s a marriage of convenience with a particular soft spot for mail order brides. I love that part where the couple grapples with not marrying for love, but finding it anyway. Two of my all time favorite books, ones that I have re-read too many times to count, are marriage of convenience stories. Sunset Embraceby Sandra Brown and Susan Carroll’s The Bride Finder. I highly recommend both if you love the marriage of convenience story line, too.
However, I fear I may have over-read my favorite plot. Each one I read is starting to feel the same. Even when they’re well written, they’re getting old. The reasons behind the marriages seem to be getting more and more far fetched. Do two millionaires really need to marry due to an unplanned pregnancy in this day and age? Can a crazy old man really change his will so his son must marry in order to inherit?
So I’m taking a marriage of convenience break. Going into rehab, if you will. Anyone know of a twelve-step program? No more until 2014. And, if I have a relapse, Anne and Kay get to pick out a book for me to read. *shudder* But if I’m giving up the marriage of convenience, I’ll need something else to distract me. What’s your poison of choice? The one story line you can’t resist?
Author: Dirty Girl Anne
Laiden’s Daughter by Suzan Tisdale
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Ember
Kink Level-None
Series-Clan MacDougall #1
Reviewed by Kay
Duncan McEwan is a warrior, training to become a future Chieftain. He was never looking for love and never suspected he would find it in the hopeless and abused woman he and his friends find face down in a stream. Aishlinn, no last name, has never experienced kindness from a male. Not her stepfather, stepbrothers, or pretty much anyone else that should have cared for her. She escapes after years of repeated and horrific abuse only to end up face down in that creek.
Her rescue at Duncan’s hands is the start to a love story that will touch your heart. Not just the love but the scars each of them carry from their pasts both physically and emotionally. This novel started out so good but drug in the middle pretty badly for me. There are some plot twists and they leave the reader pretty satisfied with them I would say. What didn’t work for me honestly was the heat level. It was barely there and I am a big fan of heat. Sadly, her good writing and storytelling was penalized for me because of it. Enough that I won’t read any of the others. It makes me sad because anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Scottish Highlander romance!
The Theory of Attraction by Delphine Dryden
Grade: B-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink (BDSM)
Genre: ContemporarySeries: The Science of Temptation #1
Reviewed by Kate
121 pages
On Anne’s recommendation, I read the Seduction Hypothesis. (See Anne’s review here.)When I finished I had to go back and read Ivan and Cami’s story. I wasn’t too far into The Theory of Attraction before I realized I had read it before (evidently my poor memory could benefit from some sort of “books read” system as this is no where near the first time this has happened to me.) As I continued to read, I remembered how much I had enjoyed reading it the first time around.
Ivan is a man of routine and predictability. In the time Camilla has been his neighbor, she has learned his routines and fallen for him a little bit, even though they are just computer game playing, sci-fi watching friends. When Ivan needs to charm some bigwigs at an upcoming party he turns to Cami. Perhaps she can help him get past his awkward social presence. Cami jumps at the chance to help him (and spend more time with him) but gets more than she bargained for when she realizes there’s one thing about predictable Ivan she didn’t know — he’s a Dom.
I really like that this wasn’t a book about changing Ivan. Cami helps him understand the situations he’ll encounter at the party, but he doesn’t undergo a nerd-to-jock transformation. He remains himself. He continues his experiment on growing tomatoes, despite his his dislike for tomatoes. He still has a hangup about shower hanky panky (my favorite scene in the book.) And on the path to helping Ivan, Cami learns about herself too.
A strong start to a great series. Delphine Dryden has done for nerdiness what butter did for toast — made it yummy and scrumptious.
Dirty Girls' Good Books 