Monthly Reading Wrap Up -- March 2018

This is probably the slowest reading month I've had since I started vigorously tracking my reading progress using various spreadsheets.  That would have been back in 2014 when I started listing more than just what I read each month.  I think the lowest number of books read in a month since 2014 was 6 books.  Of course, before 2014, I was still not quite tracking or reading as much, and had months where I went without reading at all--that was back in 2012.

Before 2012 were my "in college" or "just got out of college" years wherein I maybe read one book a month, four books a month, or no books for months.

I wonder if this year will prove to be so slow I'll have to drop my reading challenge goal back down below 100 books...  O.O

Though at this time, about a week into April, I've already managed to finish reading three books, so maybe this will be a better month than March.  Maybe...

March Reads

Books Dropped/Put On Hold

None this month!  Yay!

Currently Reading

March Reading Stats

Total works read:  3

• 3 print/e-book novels

Average rating: 3.33 Stars

• Highest Rated:  Light in Shadow by Jayne Ann Krentz // 4.0 Stars
• Lowest Rated:  Dangerous Deception by Kylie Brant // 2.5 Stars

Series I started reading:

• None

Series I completed:

• Tremaine Traditions by Kylie Brant
• Whispering Springs by Jayne Ann Krentz

Series I have made progress on:

• None

Favorite reads:  This isn't a hard pick since I only read three books in March.  Obviously Light in Shadow was the more enjoyable of the books I read, but probably only because I always seem to enjoy books by Jayne Ann Krentz, and I read very little of anything else.

Disappointing reads:  Kylie Brant was always a personal favorite because her Mindhunters books were some of the first few romantic suspense novels I'd read years ago when I first stumbled upon the genre.  Unfortunately, the tail end of her Tremaine Traditions romantic suspense series was a bit lackluster, so the last book, Dangerous Deception ended up being the lowest rated book for March.  However, it's not like I had much to go on with my slow month anyway.

Reviews & Notable Posts

Reviews Written

• Cold Image by Leslie A. Kelly
• Tremaine Traditions series by Kylie Brant

Memes

• Did not Meme this month!

Other Posts

• None

Coming Up In April

Tentative TBR

Other Stuff

In keeping with my Author Love challenge, I'm proposing three more Jayne Ann Krentz books to read for the month of April.  Hopefully I'll be able to get through those since it's JAK and her books have always proven fast-paced, exciting, and easy to get into.

Meanwhile, I will be doing my best to find some time to finish listening to Jill Shalvis's last Animal Magnetism book, which I put off for some time in favor of mindless and wonderful sing-a-long music.  But we will definitely get around to finishing that book.

I would also like to start in on some Juliette Marillier work, of which I've already decided to go the Sevenwaters direction, although I would also love to immerse myself in her most recent young adult high fantasy of the "Oh my god, those covers are so beautiful!" variety.

2018 Wrap-Ups 

Past Monthly Reading Wrap Ups (2016 / 2017)
See Also: 2015 Reading Wrap-Up posts (scroll to bottom of page)

(updated as year progresses by month)
January | February | March | April | May | June
July | August | September | October | November | December

Series Thoughts: Tremaine Traditions

Tremaine Traditions
by Kylie Brant
Book #1:  Alias Smith and Jones | Goodreads | Rating:  3.5 Stars
Book #2:  Entrapment | Goodreads | Rating:  4.0 Stars
Book #3:  Truth or Lies | Goodreads | Rating:  2.5 Stars
Book #4:  Dangerous Deception | Goodreads | Rating:  2.5 Stars

Average Series Rating:  3.125 Stars ~~>> 3.2 Stars

I would say that the Tremaine Traditions is a great romantic suspense series to read during a nice rainy weekend if you don't have anything else to do.  Encompassing hints of what I found to love in Kylie Brant's later series, Mindhunters, this series also unfortunately sprinkles a lot of dated romance cliches in and around each story line.

I love that most of the heroines in this series are strong, feisty, independent women with some level of sense.  This is something I always wish we could see more of in the romance category in general.  Unfortunately, the strong heroines in this series also tended to get overpowered by the neanderthal-like, pushy men, and the way the romances played out.

The suspense aspect of these books were exciting enough, but unfortunately not a whole lot to write home about.  Possibly this is a case where you could see hints of the mysteries and the suspense being a great, potentially center-stage part of the books, but ended up as a background to the first and foremost romantic coupling.

He called himself Jones and was more pirate than charter boat captain.  His protective streak was suffocating.  His kisses devastating.  And the bullet scar on his back, the gun tucked in his pants, told Ann that there was plenty the sexy stranger wasn't telling her.  Perhaps even more than she wasn't telling him.

Because she wasn't Ann Smith, island-hopping rich girl.  She was Analiese Tremaine, and she was there to find and rescue her missing brother.  But how long could she hold on to her carefully constructed identity when her search had already landed her in deep trouble with no one but Jones to help her out alive?

I guess one of the things I'm grateful for is the fact that I haven't known Kylie Brant to suffer extremely damsel-like heroines.  Sure, Ana had her moments, but she was still quite resourceful and had her wits about her--if only Jones would quit smothering her with an over-protectiveness that sort of comes out of nowhere.

I would have liked to explore more of Ana's proclaimed skills and talents as a decryption and encoding specialist who works at her brother's company, Tremaine Technologies... or something like that.  Her expertise is hinted at, but never really utilized in the book.  She manages to get herself around just fine without too much interference from Jones, but then the story takes a turn into survival story mode, and Ana becomes just another damsel-esque heroine... sort of.

As for the romance, I'm not entirely sure I really care for it much.  Jones had some sort of stick up his ass that needed to chill.  Though at least the lusting was kept to a minimum and the "I love you" exclamations weren't premature.

The caveman/over protective big brothers thing gets a bit old though.

Sam Tremaine could charm the thorns off roses, and Juliette Morris both wanted and hated him.  The CIA agent had learned her secret identity--and had used it to gain her help to catch an international criminal.  Even worse, she was falling for this man of honor who had every reason to despise her.

He'd thought her a liar and a heartbreaker.  But in Juliette, Sam discovered a woman whose loyalty and warmth shook him to the core.  Hiding his growing feelings would take every covert skill he possessed, but Juliette's future depended on her never learning she'd stolen his heart....

Erm...  I found that I enjoyed Entrapment a bit more than I did the first book in this series.  A lot of that has to do with Juliette and her resourcefulness, her talent, and her skill at doing what she does.  But the ultimate truth is... well, there wasn't a whole lot else about this book I can even recall after finishing the read weeks later.

The romance could have been executed a little bit better, I suppose.  I had a hard time NOT getting frustrated with Sam and his judgmental preconceptions about Juliette.  It was getting annoying that Sam would admit, over and over again, that his actions in getting his job done were no different than Juliette's.  And yet, he allows himself to hide behind a government agency to justify what he does, while condemning Juliette just because her reasons are personal ones.  As if Sam didn't have his own personal vendetta against the big baddie in this book (a name of a villain I cannot recall, and do not care to look up).

Otherwise, I really DID enjoy this book, as it was much more intriguing and exciting than the first.  And Juliette was pretty awesome.

Dr. Shae O'Reilly followed the rules--but Cade Tremaine caused her to break them.  With a criminal father and a brother in jail, she knew the last man she should ever get involved with was a cop.  Especially one who didn't know her past. But when an injured--and then escaped--drug dealer decided Shae was his angel of mercy, she found herself getting very close to the charming detective.

Cade couldn't help but be intrigued by the sassy, independent and sexy-as-hell doctor.  She held the key to finding a cop killer--but would he risk her life to catch his man?  Or would this be the time he caught--and kept--the woman?

This was probably not my favorite Tremaine Traditions installation, but probably only because I had an issue with Cade Tremaine.  The man has no respect for boundaries; the fact that our heroine, a very intelligent woman, would still allow him to disrespect her boundaries, no matter how many times she has asked him to either a) leave her alone, or b) get out of her house, made it a little hard for me to swallow.

Nonetheless, at least she didn't really just melt at the smoldering, handsome alpha male's every gaze.  That would have been even more disappointing.  Meanwhile, the main mystery was a tad bit predictable, and at the same time, not quite so exciting as I would have liked.

I also wished a lot more things could have been resolved between Shae and her family.  The inclusion of James Tremaine, eldest Tremaine brother, felt a little forced as well--it was pretty much a shoe-in for "we've got another book coming."

Your parents' deaths weren't accidents...

Billionaire securities expert James Tremaine couldn't believe the anonymous note.  Private investigator Tori Corbett was his only hope of uncovering the truth, but keeping his hands off his beautiful employee was as difficult as solving the case.

And yours won't be, either.

For Tori, working day and night with the sexy tycoon was like playing with fire.  She wouldn't--couldn't--become emotionally involved with a man hell-bent on vengeance.  Especially now that there was evidence linking her own father to the crime....

It's unfortunate that the last two Tremaine Traditions had to show-case main male characters who are both not only pushy, but annoyingly unable to respect the boundaries of other people.  It also sucks that the women in both books were strong and independent in all aspects until it came to facing off with their male character counterpart.  It gets old watching the female characters in these books turn to putty just because the main male character is good looking and gives sexy, smoldering looks.

Nonetheless, I really loved Tori and her continued attempts, and resolve not to let the barbaric James Tremaine sway her principles... even though it was pretty futile watching the whole thing.

The twenty year old mystery was an interesting one, but in the end seemed a bit predictable, though I DID like following Tori's investigations.  The ending was abrupt and unsatisfying, even if conclusive.

All-in-all, this book is enjoyable, but that's about all I can say about it.

Brief Thoughts: Cold Image

Cold Image

by Leslie A. Kelly
Book 4 of Extrasensory Agents

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  2.0 Stars

Derek Monahan sees violent death wherever he turns.  His strange ability forces him to watch crimes that repeat in loops of blood and anguish.  The only positive is that he is able to use his power to solve cold crimes...like the disappearances of boys from a secretive academy.

Dr. Kate Lincoln hates that her kid brother was sent to an awful school in Georgia.  The place is a nightmare--housed in what was once a brutal asylum.  Now her brother has disappeared, and she's the only one who seems to care.

Derek wants to help the beautiful doctor, but going undercover in a place that seethes with ancient violence isn't easy.  When she sees just how much his job affects him, Kate realizes she wants to be the one to help heal the wounds of this strong, noble, and very sexy man.

As long as she survives to do it.

I suppose I give this book a 'C' for effort, despite the fact that it didn't really show much effort, to be honest.  The premise was very promising, and this is the fourth book in a series I've been enjoying.  The previous book was likable.

But the amount of typos, grammatical errors, and back-story errors I came across just goes to show how terrible a book can be when it lacks proper editing.  So no matter how much I like this author and looked forward to this series' next installment... it was disappointing, to say the least.

And don't get me started on the amount of tacky, dated romance novel schmaltz...

The most disappointing part of this book was that it had all sorts of promising potential.  Our heroine was non-standard, straight-forward, and level-headed.  Our hero wasn't a broody alpha despite the fact that he probably has every right to be a broody alpha based on his ability to see the violent death echoes of people being murdered.  The mystery was also promising, and the only reason I stayed with the book--I really wanted to know what was happening at the creepy juvenile academy for delinquent rich boys, and why they kept disappearing.

It would have been nice if some retribution were to be had against some of the nasty professors of the school...

Monthly Reading Wrap Up -- February 2018

Due to my own personal reasons, which amounted to nothing more serious than that maybe I just needed a break from something I really love, I didn't end up finishing the books I'd planned to finish reading for February.  Because of this, obviously the blog ended up being pretty quiet for some time, with only the occasional It's Monday! meme just to let everyone know that I'm still here.

Anyway, for some reason I decided to start reading about four books at about the same time.  Or rather, I started listening to an audio book, reading two other books... then threw another book in when March rolled around.  February is a short month anyway, and before we knew it, it was over.

February Reads

Books Dropped/Put On Hold

None this month!  Yay!

Currently Reading

February Reading Stats

Total works read:  7

• 4 print/e-book novels
• 2 audio books
• 1 anthology

Average rating: 3.30 Stars

• Highest Rated:  A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn // 4.5 Stars
• Lowest Rated:  Cold Image by Leslie A. Kelly // 2.0 Stars

Series I started reading:

• None

Series I completed:

• None

Series I have made progress on:

• Harmony by Jayne Castle (Jayne Ann Krentz)
• Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourn
• Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis
• Santori Stories anthology
• Extrasensory Agents by Leslie A. Kelly
• Tremaine Traditions by Kylie Brant

Favorite reads:  Because I only read so many books in the month of February, it wasn't hard to pick out the ones I especially loved.  Obviously, based on ratings, A Treacherous Curse was my most favorite of books for the month.  I've enjoyed each book of this series so far, and A Treacherous Curse did not disappoint, so I am extra happy about that.

Meanwhile, other books were a bit meh, but I might also give Illusion Town by Jayne Castle a quick shout out, as there hasn't been an occasion yet that I haven't enjoyed a book in the Harmony series.

Disappointing reads:  I truly am disappointed that Leslie A. Kelly's most recent installment of Extrasensory Agents wasn't more to my liking.  I haven't posted a review yet, but for the most part, I think I would have loved everything about this book save for the execution, presentation, and lack of editing.  The concept was a good one, the characters had potential, and the mystery DID have me wanting to know how things turned out.  But there were grammar errors and typos enough to pique my irritation, and then there was a schmaltz factor that really got my eyes rolling.

Reviews & Notable Posts

Reviews Written

• Siren's Call by Jayne Castle
• Illusion Town by Jayne Castle
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak | Review transfer
• The Giver by Lois Lowry | Review transfer
• A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn
• That's Amore! anthology -- Janelle Denison, Tori Carrington, Leslie Kelly

Memes

• It's Monday! Happy Year of the Dog! | 2/18/2018
• It's Monday! What Are You Reading? | 2/26/18

Other Posts

• Maybe Put On Hold For Now: The Heir

Coming Up In March

Tentative TBR

Other Stuff

I had initially planned to finish reading Jayne Ann Krentz's Whispering Springs series in February, so had gone ahead and planned on tentatively adding two more JAK books to March, in keeping with my Author Love challenge.  But now I really don't know what I want to read for March.  If I take away those two books, however, then I've got a seriously skimpy list, so they're staying.

Meanwhile, I can't really think of much I'm planning for this blog.  The Booklikes platform is playing a new reading game that I briefly considered joining, but then decided to bow out this time, if only because I didn't really have time to go over all the rules and decide if I wanted to play.  With what my recent reading has looked like the past couple weeks, however, I might not have made it very far anyway.

I suppose I'm just going to spend another month just reading in an extremely laid back fashion.

2018 Wrap-Ups 

Past Monthly Reading Wrap Ups (2016 / 2017)
See Also: 2015 Reading Wrap-Up posts (scroll to bottom of page)

(updated as year progresses by month)
January | February | March | April | May | June
July | August | September | October | November | December

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? | 2/26/18

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It's a great post to organise yourself.  It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile!  So welcome in everyone.  This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey.  Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.  And here we are!

I have been so lazy this week in my reading life!  I wish I could blame it on work or family or whatever else that's going on in real life, but the truth is that, it's all just me.

As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes you DO need a break from the things that you love.  And it's not even because I'm reading anything that I'm not enjoying.  I've just been finding other things I got more interested in doing.

Yeah, I know.  The blasphemy of it all!

Anyway...

Meanwhile, the weekend could have made up for my lack of reading... but lots of activity made it a bit impossible, so I can kind of blame family stuff for the lack of reading over the weekend.  Unfortunately, that doesn't really explain the rest of the week.

My brother's birthday was on Saturday, so the family decided to take a road trip to visit him and celebrate.  A three hour trip later, and we all joined together for a late lunch wherein I tried NOT to eat too much since my brother had said something about sushi for dinner.  We actually didn't get into KC until later than we'd expected, and then ended up waiting a good thirty minutes to an hour before lunch was served.

We went to a bar and grill called The Yard House, where they had a LOT of beers on tap to choose from.  There was a room, or rather a whole hallway, of beer kegs by the entrance for the pleasure of viewing, and they were all connected to the bar via lines running along the ceiling inside metal box tunnels.  And while I'm not really a big fan of beer, I've found myself drawn to the more roasty ones lately.  So I got myself the Boulder Shake Chocolate Porter.  My youngest brother had wanted to order something called a Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar, but they were out of that--so sad, because it actually sounded kind of tasty, and I was going to try to steal a sip from my brother.

Anyway, as you can see from the photos above, my meal included two appetizers: a Korean BBQ boneless wing platter, and some pork lumpia.  The boneless wings really just tasted more like a spicy sweet and sour chicken with a slight hint of Korean BBQ, and came with a weird sauce that may or may not have been some sort of mustardy mayo... maybe.  And the pork lumpia wasn't really much to write home about.  They were good, but the real star of the entire show was the creamy truffle dipping sauce that my pork lumpia appetizer came with.  It came with a sweet chili sauce as well, but really, who cared about that one in the face of that creamy truffle sauce that tasted all sorts of wonderful, so much so that I started dipping my brother's fries in it just to use it all up, then requested another ramekin for the rest of the fries on my parents' meal?

I was fawning over it so much that everyone at the table just started making fun of me, and my mom even looked up a recipe only to find out how expensive a bottle of truffle oil was.

I don't have more pictures, if only because this KC road trip isn't something new for us--we visit on a regular basis.  Even sushi dinner is quite typical... and also I didn't really enjoy the sushi dinner that night as much as I did my appetizer lunch.  Which is sad because I love sushi, but this place my brother took us to wasn't that great, in my opinion.

All-in-all, it was a nice weekend trip, and I look forward to another one.  I've been wanting to check out the Brazilian steakhouse in KC, called Fogo de Chão; my family just needs to psychologically prepare themselves for the onslaught of all you can eat meat, apparently.

What I Read Last Week

What I'm Currently Reading

What I'm Planning to Read Next

Other Plans On the Blog

I've got two series reviews ready to push out as soon as I finish reading the last of Jill Shalvis's Animal Magnetism and Kylie Brant's Tremaine Traditions.  They'll be out at some point the week after, if not this week.  Meanwhile, with March coming around the corner, I get to pick another Reading Assignment book, and I chose Kylie Brant's Pretty Girls Dancing, which I've been wanting to read since the beginning of the year when it came out.

Meanwhile, I've got one review I'm going to give a quick edit to, and then it'll get posted either today or tomorrow.

That's pretty much it for now.

It's Monday! Happy Year of the Dog! | 2/18/2018

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It's a great post to organise yourself.  It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile!  So welcome in everyone.  This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey.  Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.  And here we are!

First of all, Happy Year of the Dog to everyone out there!

The lunar calendar made it's round to the new year on Friday, and obviously Baby approves of the occasion, as it is going to be the Year of Baby!  Or, well... you know...

The weekend was kind of filled with a bit of fun and festivities, although not as much as we used to have when I was younger.  With everyone busy, busy, busy these days, it's hard to find a good time to get together for much.  At the very least, our immediate household did our thing with yummy, traditional feast food that always seems to grace the table whenever we celebrate anything!

There is always roast duck, roast pork, a lovely seafood soup, the big pot of tofu and veggie stir-fry, and various other savory dishes of the seafood variety (or not).  And then to top it all off, we have our steamed white rice that was cooked with the very flavorful Chinese sausage--with all of that sausage oil being dripped into the rice, it gives it a delicious touch.

Everyone, this food is not for the light of heart.  We Chinese love to eat flavorful and savory... and apparently we also love to eat oily and anything that will probably give us high cholesterol.

But, hey!  It's just so, so yummy!

I suppose the diet will finally start after this last holiday is over... *crosses fingers*

What I Read Last Week

Meanwhile, in bookish news, I've been slacking on my reading, which makes me extremely glad that I hadn't truly made a lot of reading challenge commitments.  I started reading two books this week, but didn't finish Cold Image until just this morning, in the wee hours a little after midnight.  It took longer than it should have, for many reasons...

Cold Image is bite-sized, and I typically would have flown right through it like it was nothing, being a romantic suspense with a lot of factors I liked, and a premise that was quite promising.  But time got away from me... and the book wasn't what I'd expected from Leslie Kelly after reading others of her works, and I was sadly disappointed.  There will be a review to come at some point.


Aside from getting sucked into an online multiplayer RPG with my brothers, I've also been indulging in a YouTube vlog called 'Strictly Dumpling.'  The host of this vlog introduces you to a lot of wonderful cuisines in places such as New York, San Francisco, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and most recently Vietnam.  And if it's one thing I love just as much as books, it's food, and Mikey Chen, the host of this vlog, does a wonderful job of showing us great places to visit and eat.

His focus is on Asian cuisine, which was how his vlog started off in the beginning, but I like that he's trying to branch out as well, as there is a food vacation tour of Peru as well.  I mainly have been loving this YouTube channel because this guy is strangely funny, with weird descriptions and analogies that sometimes make no sense.

Meanwhile, I don't always agree with a lot of his opinions pertaining to Chinese food, but I still love the way he presents them at his channel.  If anyone is interested, hop on over and watch a few if you like.  I highly recommend his most recent Vietnam vacation, as he features a lot of really awesome looking food for uber wonderfully affordable prices... well, after the plane ticket, I suppose.


Anyway... now back to our not-so-regularly scheduled bookish news...

What I'm Currently Reading

Meanwhile, I have a feeling I might have started loving All I Want because of our heroine, Zoe, but I tend to forget that Jill Shalvis is best taken in small doses.  As I had already finished listening to two other books in this series... I think I might be a bit Jill Shalvis-ed out.  I'm going to go ahead and continue listening to this book, as it is also narrated by one of my favorite audio book voices, and it's not like things are getting too tedious.  There are just always some Jill Shalvis elements that I will find a bit... repetitive, as well as frustrating.

On the other hand, I also started reading the third Tremaine Traditions book by Kylie Brant, Truth or Lies, and am immensely enjoying, having already breezed through the first quarter of the book.  The main hero, however, is annoying the heck out of me, and I'm hoping some development will come about rather than our heroine falling for him just because he's supposed to be badass.  She's smarter than that, and if it's one thing Kylie Brant is good at, it's writing smart heroines who aren't always losing their panties just because a man has a smoldering gaze.

What I'm Planning to Read Next

Other Plans On the Blog

As you can see above, I'm hoping to finish the rest of Kylie Brant's Tremaine Traditions, hopefully all this week, or at least by next week.  In which case, I'll have a full series review ready to publish at some point.  Following, I'm interested in continuing on with my Author Love challenge and hit another Jayne Ann Krentz book, or two.  Light in Shadow and Truth or Dare are books in a duology called Whispering Springs, and I'm looking forward to it... also I've checked out the second book from the library, so it needs to get read.

The blog has been sadly quiet lately, but with all the holiday "festivities" over, I'm hoping on getting some more posts planned and ready to go.  Maybe I'll be able to start some more books and have more reviews ready.  Maybe I'll just work on transferring more previously written reviews to Ani's Book Abyss.  Or maybe I'll just start filling out weekly memes again, just to have something to blog about.

I've already started drafting a few future posts, and am trying to figure out where to go from there.

Either way, like I keep promising, I really want to start being more active once again.  It feels oddly depressing to be away from the blogging community for so long just because I can't think of anything to write about.  And a lot of the time, I'm really just lurking, reading posts and commenting randomly.

Thoughts: That's Amore!

That's Amore! -- anthology

Authors include: Janelle Denison, Tori Carrington, and Leslie Kelly
Book 2 of Santori Stories

~ Goodreads ~

Average Rating:  3.1 Stars
(Includes personal rating:  3.0 Stars)

It's way too late to elope....

Meet the Parents by Janelle Denison

Like all dutiful Hawaiian daughters, Leila Malekala is expected to marry a Hawaiian groom handpicked by her parents.  But guess what, Mom and Dad?  Leila has wedding plans of her own.  The groom is California bad boy Jason Crofton... and the bride is pregnant.

I Do, Don't I? by Tori Carrington

Efi Panayotopoulou is about to marry her childhood sweetheart Nick Constantino.  Everything should be perfect.  But their families seem hell-bent on turning the wedding into a farce-or Greek tragedy.  And Efi is about a baklava flake away from running off... without her groom.

There Goes the Groom by Leslie Kelly

Luke Santori is engaged to "a nice Italian girl" from his Chicago neighborhood.  But wedding plans get tossed-like unbaked dough at his family's pizzeria-when Luke falls for blond-haired, blue-eyed Rachel Grant... the dressmaker designing his fiancee's bridal gown.

I'm really not a fan of the romantic Valentine's holiday, but I'm also a hopeless romantic and love to love some sweet, fluffy contemporary romances.  What better way to celebrate the holiday than an anthology of contemporary romances called That's Amore! that is based around three wedding novellas.  One of which was written by an author I like!


Meet the Parents by Janelle Denison
Rating:  3.5 Stars

This novella was cute, and I found a lot of the Hawaiian traditions quite interesting as well.  I liked that there wasn't a whole lot of angst in this sweet love story, even if there was a bit of a conflict involving the groom-to-be and his in-laws.  I wish I could say that I found Leila's parents a bit frustrating in their disapproval of her chosen husband... but the truth is, it doesn't surprise me, because I've seen more than my fair share of the same behavior among my own Asian relatives.

It's tiring, and yes, also frustrating.  But something that happens.  But we get a Happily Ever After in this novella, which is what counts.  That's probably more than I can say for other stories I've seen with the same, stubborn types of parental units who are more concerned with tradition than seeing how happy their children are.

A nice little read.  And while I'm a little reluctant to say that it was also a little boring... well, it kind of was.


I Do, Don't I? by Tori Carrington
Rating:  2.5 Stars

This novella was really full of crazy.  And while I loved seeing all the Greek wedding traditions, and reading about the loud, raucous actions of all of Efi's and Nick's relatives, and just overall witnessing a week full of partying and celebration... I couldn't help but feel extremely frustrated with both sides of the family.  This is why a lot of couples end up eloping...

And then maybe I was a bit frustrated with Nick as well.  It probably didn't help that we mostly followed Efi's point of view up until one small scene at the end of the novella.  I honestly would have liked to have seen more of the entire affair from Nick's point of view.  Because without his side of things, the story just felt like Efi was bearing all the stress of the wedding planning and the family crazy... while Nick just skated by and waited to get married.

Nonetheless, this story was a fun one, even if a little over-laden with angst, conflict, and made-for-television antics.

I would have liked to have seen a show down between Efi and Aphrodite, though I suppose it wouldn't really have been in good humor.  I would have liked to see more mature understanding from Nick--the fact that he seemed to be oblivious to everything, including cousin Aphrodite's attempts to seduce him made me cringe a little bit.  The fact that Nick had even entertained thoughts of doing anything with Aphrodite at all made me a little wary of how this marriage will be going forward; especially when Efi's confrontation didn't even seem to get through to his thick, ignorant head.

The fact that Nick has no idea that Efi had dreams of her own that shouldn't have been impeded by wedding vows felt a little immature.  In fact, neither of the two seemed to know what the other wanted, or had been expecting out of this marriage at all.  It got to a point where I was wondering if they were just getting married because it was expected for the two high school sweethearts--that they were in love with the idea of being in love and getting married, more than they were in love with each other.

Anyway... fun as fun was, this story turned out more like a family affair of crazy rather than a sweet romance.  It certainly DOES bring a realistic tone to all the crazy events that usually lead up to a wedding day.  Especially when family and relatives tend to get a little too involved.


There Goes the Groom by Leslie Kelly
Rating:  3.5 Stars

The premise of this novella could have gone in all sorts of bad directions--with an engaged man and his fiancee's dressmaker falling for one another, this could have been a disaster.  Fortunately, our lovely author managed to handle the events quite well, and we simply end up with a case of two people marrying for the wrong reasons.  Our hero sort of works through his own issues with the help of the heroine, as well as his brothers.

Simply put, this novella was a sweet one.

One of the things I DID NOT appreciate were the little comments here and there from our heroine that came off a little judgmental about random people in the story.  Some of those comments, honestly, I felt were uncalled for.

Meanwhile, this story also made me want a pizza...