Books I've read since November 27, 2009

Rather than hiding away my book-reading on its own page I thought I'd start a new thing whereby I post my short reviews as their own post and then post them on The Book Book blog as well. I'll also write a single-sentence summary of each book's concept, which is good practice for summarizing my own novels.

I actually didn't think I'd read much, but I've read three full novels. Interesting how that sneaks up on you!

Stephanie Bond, "In a Bind" (ebook from www.fictionwise.com) A week of supposed no-strings sex threatens to become something more. I'm not usually into straight-on romance novels and this one had some of the characteristics that tend to annoy me (immediate sex, misunderstandings that a few casual questions would have cleared up) and also my main hot button: cheaters who get to prosper. (I really want to see a cheater truly get what s/he deserves for once... maybe I need to write that book myself?) But I did enjoy it, because I thought the main characters were interesting and real. The heroine was struggling with her guilt over what she was doing and I believed her. The ending didn't tie up absolutely every loose end, which worked for me as well. If I'm in a romance-reading mood, I'll check out more of her books.

Faith Bleasdale, "The Love Resort" (paper book, discount table) A romance novelist who runs a resort so she can see the beautiful people and put them in her book is disappointed by the caliber of her guests so handpicks six gorgeous people to visit but is then disappointed by their behavior. That's not much of a sentence, but I think that's at least partly because the book seemed all over the place. The handpicked people are of course not what they seem, but not in a particularly interesting way for me. Some of the characters were interesting but a lot felt cliched to me. The romance novelist made me crazy, there was again a thread of prospering cheaters, and the writing itself really lacked polish for me. The ending felt tacked on and overall I wasn't thrilled with the book.

Nancy Warren, "Speed Dating" (ebook, downloaded for free, but I forget where). An accountant and a race car driver pretend to be dating to fool the driver's ex-wife but it may become more than pretense. Another romance. Being an ebook, it's difficult to tell for sure, but I think this is a novella not a full novel. While I liked both characters, their development wasn't as rich as I'd have liked, and their relationship went from "she likes him but he won't commit" to "we're together" so fast I scrolled back in the book to see if I'd missed something. I hadn't. I'm not clear on what stopped him from committing and what changed his mind, and from what I know about romances (admittedly not a lot) I SHOULD be clear on those things. But I enjoyed a lot of the situations in which the characters found themselves and since Mr. W likes NASCAR it was interesting to read a book set in that world.

To fulfil my 52 books in 52 weeks, I still have 13 books to go. Eep. I CAN do it, given my speed. But will I? I guess we'll see. But I definitely need to get reading for it to happen!