January's Reading List

The Four Seasons - Mary Alice Monroe
Cold As Ice - Anne Stuart
Taking The Leap - Pema Chodron
The Elder Gods - David And Leigh Eddings
Harvest - Belva Plain
The Barefoot Princess - Christina Dodd
The Greatest Lover In All England - Christina Dodd
Heart Of The Dragon - Gena Showalter
The Jewel Of Atlantis - Gena Showalter
The Nymph King - Gena Showalter
The Vampire Bride - Gena Showalter

Heart Of The Dragon - Gena Showalter

Heart Of The Dragon - Gena Showalter

Paranormal Romance - 376 Pages
Atlantis Series, Book One

From Back Of Book: Searching for her missing brother, Grace Carlyle never dreamed she would discover a secret world populated by mythological monsters - or find herself facing a sword-wielding being whose looks put mortal men to shame.


But there he was, Darius en Kragin, one of a race of shape-shifting warriors bound to guard the gates of Atlantis, and kill all travelers who strayed within its borders.


Now Grace's life was in his hands, and Darius had to choose between his centuries old vow and the woman who had slipped beneath his defenses and stolen the heart of Atlantis' fiercest dragon.

My Review: As the first book in Gena Showalter's Atlantis series, it really sets the stage.  It introduces the reader to Atlantis (at least one version of it) as well as to many characters that will be seen repeatedly throughout the series.  While Darius and Grace are the main storyline, there is also a subplot between Grace's brother Alex and Teira, the wife of Javar, another dragon.  There is a lot that happens in this book, though even as such, it flows well.  I quickly became attached to several characters in the book, besides just Darius, Grace, Alex and Teira.  The storyline will make you laugh one minute, cry the next, and want to kick some vampire booty within seconds.

Harvest - Belva Plain

Harvest - Belva Plain
Fiction - 424 Pages
Werner Family Saga, Book 4

From Back Of Book: An unforgettable novel yielding the fruit of hidden passions, corrosive secrets, and tragic rebellion that simultaneously shape and echo the fortunes of three generations.


At the center of the storm are the beautiful Anna, trying to undo the damage of the past...Iris, whose marriage to Theo, the brilliant surgeon is foundering...their son Steve, caught in the turbulence of the '60s, a political radical wanted by the FBI...and Paul Werner, the powerful banker, driven to help the family that barely knows him.


Out of the strains of forbidden and forsaken love, shattering secrets and uncompromising differences, Belva Plain brings a compelling epic to its triumphant conclusion.

My Review: I hadn't realized that this was part of a series until long after I had already picked it up.  It stood alone quite well, though now I want to read the rest of the series.  There are so many threads in this book, that reading the whole series should flesh out more.  Even with so many threads, and no prior knowledge, the book was easy to keep up with.  There is enough of the past elluded to so prior knowledge is not necessary.  The characters are well developed and worm their way into your head and heart.  This is apparently the crowning volume to the Werner Family Saga, which makes the plot make more sense, and why so much seems to happen in the book.  There is a lot of growth within this book, within most of the characters...yet I feel almost cheated with the threads that were dropped.  All in all a wonderful book, though I'd recommend reading the rest of the series as it was intended.

The Greatest Lover In All England - Christina Dodd

The Greatest Lover In All England - Christina Dodd
Historical Romance - 390 Pages

From Back Of Book: Since childhood, Rosie's life has been the stage - passing herself off as a boy playing women's roles in the somewhat disreputable theatrical troupe of actor Danny Plympton, Rosie's adoptive father.  But when unanticipated danger confronts them, they must flee London, taking refuge at the estate of Sir Anthony Rycliffe.  A handsome, devil-may-care rakehell, Tony quickly sees through Rosie's disguise.  But a lush, womanly form and eminently kissable lips are not the ravishing young beauty's only secrets - and the burning attraction Tony feels for her does not lessen the peril she has brought to his doorstep.  The dashing rogue is determined to strip the irresistable lady of her mysteries - and her masculine garb - using all of his fabled seductive  powers.  After all, Tony has a reputation to uphold, as...The Greatest Lover In All England.

My Review: Once again Christina Dodd takes a well loved story and adds her own twist to it.  This isn't your typical heiress in distress novel.  Taking place within the time frame of William Shakespeare, when women were not allowed on the stage, Rosie flaunts the law in doing what she must to survive.  The interchange between Tony and Rosie is downright hilarious at times, and Rosie will move you to tears as she grows into the heiress she always was.  While there are predictable moments, as there are with all novels of the same genre, there are many moments as well that will make you scratch your head in confusion.  In a good way, as the timeline flows rather well between past, present and the two characters.

The Barefoot Princess - Christina Dodd

The Barefoot Princess - Christina Dodd
Historical Romance - 363 pages

From Back Of Book: Once upon a time...in a kingdom high in the Pyrenees, three young princesses were forced to flee the chaos in their land - vanishing without a trace and lost to their people...until the day a courageous prince can bring each princess home.


Life in exile has taught the passionate Princess Amy to hate injustice, and on the enchanting English isle of Summerwind, she finds injustice personified in the powerful and wickedly handsome Jermyn Edmondson, marquess of Northcliff.  Since he has stolen the islanders' livelihood, Amy decides to steal him.  She kidnaps the arrogant nobleman, chains him with his own manacles, and holds him for ransom.


It's a simple plan, destined to succeed.  Surely Jermyn's uncle will pay his ransom.  Alas, his uncle would be delighted if someone killed his nephew and left him to inherit the title and fortune.  And holding the furious, guileful, sensual Jermyn chained in her basement provides a challenge to Amy's restraint...and her virtue.


How could such a little revenge and blackmail go so passionately wrong?

My Review:  This novel sucked me in straight away.  Amy is not your typical princess, that much is clear right from the start.  And the flashbacks of her childhood really allow it to hit home, and makes Amy one of the most believeable characters I've read in awhile.  And Jermyn is a laugh a minute, especially the biplay between the two characters.  They are both very human, and almost leap off the page at you.  There is nothing flat about Christina Dodd's characters.

I'd Recommend This Book To: Anyone who loves historical romance.

Cold As Ice - Anne Stuart

Cold As Ice - Anne Stuart
Romantic Suspense - 360 pages

From Back Of Book: Never get in the way of a mission.


The job was supposed to be dead easy - hand-deliver some legal papers to billionaire philanthropist Harry Van Dorn's extravagant yacht, get his signature and be done.  But Manhattan lawyer Genevieve Spenser soon realizes she's in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that the publicly benevolent playboy has a sick, vicious side.  As he tries to make her his plaything for the evening, eager to use and abuse her until he discards her with the rest of his victims, Genevieve must keep her wits if she intends to survive the night.


But there's someone else on the ship who knows the true depths of Van Dorn's evil.  Peter Jensen is far more then the unassuming personal assistant he pretends to be - he's a secret operative who will stop at nothing to ensure Harry's deadly Rule Of Seven terror campaign dies with him.  But Genevieve's presence has thrown a wrench into his plans, and now he must decide whether to risk his mission to keep her alive, or allow her to become collateral damage...

My Review: Fortunately, Genevieve is not one of those "damsel in distress" types, and the byplay between her and Peter is quite amusing, and downright moving at times.  While there is a certain amount of predictability, that is common with the genre.  It wouldn't be a romantic anything without the two characters that fall madly in love by the end of the novel.  But even with the predictablity, the story was sound and well written.  Anne Stuart really got into the character of Genevieve, especially when building suspense.  Anne Stuart makes you want Genevieve to survive, and by default that she falls in love with Peter.  Poor Harry Van Dorn doesn't stand a chance against these two!

I'd Recommend This Book To: Any romance lover.  Women will enjoy the romance, and men will enjoy the suspense.

The Four Seasons - Mary Alice Monroe

The Four Seasons - Mary Alice Monroe
Fiction - 400 pages

From Back Of Book - A time for change...and second chances.
They are the Season sisters, bound by blood, driven apart by tragedy.  Now they are about to embark on a bittersweet journey into the unknown; an odyssey of promise and forgiveness, of loss and rediscovery.


Jillian, Beatrice and Rose have gathered for the funeral of their younger sister, Meredith.  Her death, and the legacy she leaves them, will trigger a cross-country journey in search of a stranger - a stranger with the power to mend their shattered lives.  As the emotions of the past reverberate into the present, Jilly, Birdie and Rose search for the girls they once were - in hopes of finding what they had really lost: the women they were meant to be.

My Review: What a wonderful story this was, at times heart-wrenching, at others, elating.  Mary Alice Monroe creates a very believable family, with all the problems inherit in many families.  Many of the events take place in the early 70s, so anyone who grew up in that time period will connect even deeper with what's going on then I did as a child of the 80s and 90s.  But even with the time period differences, the issues are things many, if not all, women have to go through at some point in their lives.  An unusual coming of age story that focuses on life after middle age.  A very well written timeline, at no time did I get confused as to what point of time Mary Alice Monroe was writing about.

I'd Recommend This Book To: Any woman, young and old alike.