More August reading

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Once again, I have put Tessa Dare on the back burner, waiting for some quiet, peaceful time to read her book. I haven’t read any novels this past week, with most of my book selections being dip-in-and-out reading. I have always loved visually beautiful books but they are:

  1. Too expensive to buy so I go to the library and
  2. Too heavy to borrow from the library and carry home

But the other week, I *shock and surprise* drove to the library so I stocked up on big, heavy, pretty coffee table books.

Infographics series 

Infographica : visualizing a world of information; Infographic guide to music; Infographic guide to literature

I love well-designed infographics and the majority that are in these books are interesting representations of the comparisons and visual narratives they are trying to represent. My only complaint, unfortunately, is that infographics lend themselves best to posters and larger (than A4) sized paper. These books are small in size (20.4 x 16.9  x 2.2 cm) and I found some of the information design was overly complex and difficult to read. I’d love to see these books published in quarto sizes. Continue reading →

Lynne Graham’s The Sheikh’s Secret Babies

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When it comes to Sheikhs in romance fiction I feel like that lone child at a birthday party, quietly whispering “I don’t like clowns” while all the other kids are keenly anticipating fun and laughter until that horror moment when the screen door slams open and a Margo Lanagan-esque Barry the Boisterous Bastard Clown blasts into the party thunderously shouting “Who’s ready to bust this partaaayyyy up” triggering tears from all the kids bar one jumping up and down shouting “More More More”.

[added after I received the first comment] Let me articulate that I am not scared of clowns. I want them to be funny. However, they are either failed slapstick AKA Fozzie Bear funny or downright creepy but rarely do they amuse me. The same goes with sheikhs. I want to like their stories. However, I want their culture to be a little bit more realistic and not whitewashed with western sensibilities. With alll due respect to authors who work hard researching their books, I have yet to find a Sheikh romance that culturally does not discomfort me through what is left unsaid. Lynne Graham has possibly achieved this with this book better than meagre few I have read for reasons outline below.

So it was with trepidation that I picked up this latest Lynne Graham novel. It had the makings of some of my favourite romance tropes:

Autobuy author – Lynne Graham tick
Billionaire – our hero tick
Secret marriage – tick
Secret babies (plural!) – tick tick!

But then there are a few not so favourite romance tropes:

Sheikhs – *sob*
Made up kingdom – *sob*
Man with a ponytail – *whimper*

All this from just the cover and blurb! However, Miss Bates reviewed this book over on her blog (which I have yet to read). The last time the two of us reviewed the same book we used the same quote. So, it is game on!

Lynne Graham's The Sheikh's Secret BabiesBut first, the blurb!

Twin royal heirs! Prince Jaul of Marwan’s royal duty is to marry a suitable bride. But first he must divorce the woman who betrayed him. Locating his estranged wife? Easy. The intense passion still burning between them? Manageable. Discovering he has two royal heirs? Impossible! Devastated when her handsome prince deserted her, Chrissie Whitaker’s beautiful twin babies were the only balm to her broken heart. Now Jaul will stop at nothing to claim his legitimate heirs, but can Chrissie forget their painful past and recognize him as her husband in every sense of the word?

Chrissie Whitaker is the younger sister of Lizzie who married billionaire Cesare. One small detail when I have to contend with a whole made up white-washed Middle Eastern kingdom called Marwani. *sigh* Why is it that the whole of Romancelandia can adore those Greek, Russian, Italian billonaires but you never hear of the Egyptian’s Secret Babies, or the Arabian’s Billionaire Bride? If we are going to be vague about borders why don’t we just say the European’s Hot Night with Consequences.  The men from the middle East deserve established countries, dammit! *rant rant*

…but let me return to Chrissie. Continue reading →

Weekly reading in August

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Last week, I said that I was going to aim at 2 blogs a week. I did manage three in actual fact, but I chose to keep one in my drafts for now. Perhaps I will post it later in the week. I think I need to let it age, like a good wine. It is now the third week of semester. I am finding it a smoother semester than the one that just past but it is going just as quickly!

What I am reading:

 

When I see grandmaWhen I see Grandma

by Debra Tidball

A young girl visits her Grandma and ‘brightens her dreams’ whilst her little brother charms the nursing home residents with his playful antics.

I found this book to be heartbreakingly beautiful. 2 children have regular visits to their grandmother who is hospitalised with dementia. Stories and memories show the grandmother in her youthful life juxtaposed with bedridden self. I wept reading it. I cannot recommend this picture book highly enough especially for those who need to explain dementia to their young children.

I borrowed this book from a NSW public library. Continue reading →

Love Finally Requited

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Proof Of Their Sin is my second Dani Collins book and I am now devoted to tracking down the rest of her novels to read as I have fallen in love with her writing style. She adheres to the otherworldliness of Mills & Boon Sexy (or Presents depending on which country you are in) with billionaires, glamour settings and beautiful people yet brings a pathos, humour and reality to her characters. I am giving you a heads up that there are spoilers, relationship unravelments and all here today.

But first, the blurb:

Proof of their Sin by Dani CollinsA beautiful mistake

Pregnant. Lauren Bradley’s heart stops—there’s only one man who can be the father and it’s not her late husband, the man everyone thinks is a celebrated war hero….

Ravaged with guilt at sleeping with his best friend’s wife, Paolo Donatelli closed his heart to Lauren forever. But in nine months’ time, the proof of their incredible night together will be there for the world to see. Marriage is Paolo’s answer to avoiding more scandal, but it’s Lauren’s worst fear—she still bears the scars from the first time she said “I do.” Can she trust Paolo enough to reveal the truth?

We meet Lauren as she is making her way to reveal her pregnancy to Paolo, her late husband’s best friend/frenemy with whom she slept with on the night she found out her husband died. The story slowly unravels, going back and forth in time to reveal small details of their initial meeting in a bar, to their subsequent marriages to other people and the handful of times they met before they fatefully slept with each other on a night that the rest of the world will view as a betrayal (Lauren’s deceased husband Ryan is a high profile soldier that has died at war). Lauren carries with her timidity. Continue reading →

It’s August already!

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Every month I have plans for blogging at least twice a week and every month I fail. So this month I decided that if I put my aim up on my blog, I will possibly achieve it. So here goes!

What have I been doing:

Screen Shot 2015-08-03 at 2.52.46 PMEntertainment wise, I bought my husband a record player for his birthday. Our old one died about 5 years ago. We spent several nights driving our kids nuts while we spun some discs and danced crazy parent rhythmless jigs in the kitchen. A fun night had by the two of us. The rest hid in their rooms and cringed. I found my inability to skip songs and to fast forward (unless you want to have the full Chipmunk experience) a throwback to my analog teens. I don’t have a big digital music collection, nor do I stream music but I do use Youtube occasionally to listen to new music.

The image is of my first ever album which I received at the age of 7. She (assumption is being made) has an awesome arse! And check out the lettering on the cover. As my friend Noula Tsavdaridis pointed out – it is the comic sans of the 70s. Continue reading →

TBR Challenge: Fever Pitch by Heidi Cullinan

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Having missed posting for June, I thought I’d take a step up and actually BUY a new book and read a 2015 RITA nominee for this month’s Challenge. Not only did I buy a new book but I bought an Ebook – a rarity for luddite me who has yet to embrace digital novel reading. And I have ventured into reading an m/m romance which is also a rarity for me (I had read about 3-4 titles).

Fever Pitch I decided to read Fever Pitch because I liked the cover art more than any other RITA covers. I am easily swayed by an awesome cover. I love the clean, funky lines of this cover. I also think the guy looks gorgeous. I’m a fan of the well-dressed man on romance covers (I cannot bear/bare shirtless manmeat covers – yech!). Having read the first chapter, I was sold. I downloaded the book and read the book in one straight sitting. No lunch, no stand up and stretch, no tweeting, no breaks, nothing but reading. It was that good.

The story is about two young men and their first year at college. They had a hook-up in high school. Giles was openly gay but Aaron was still struggling to come to terms with his difficult family life as well as trying to decide how to navigate his own coming out. When Aaron follows Giles to his college, they become awkward with each other and this is where the reader is taken to the familiar tensions of “Does he/doesn’t he like me” that is typical for 18 year olds. But add some extra problems to these young adults such as the difficulties of finding a safe place where they won’t be beaten up for their sexual orientation, negotiating coming out to your parents, to your friends, being surrounded by homophobic proselytisers. Continue reading →

Getting all “Pistols at dawn” over reading

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I took Julia Quinn’s The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy to my bookclub meeting on the weekend and it caused a huge argument between myself and another member of the group. When she saw my book she was all: I can tell from the shape of the book that it is a throwaway read; there is nothing to learn from romance; You read it, it’s there, it’s fun but don’t try to tell me that it has the depths of Kundera etc, etc. I’m paraphrasing here. This was from a closecloseclose friend with whom I regularly argue on many issues that affect our lives. I also think she was deliberately riling me as she knows that I jump to the bait or as my dad would say Πεταγεσαι σαν πορδος απ᾽το βρακη/You jump like a fart from undies. It was fun seeing other people around us unsure as to how to react to our shouting. I won’t go into my response or her counter-responses here, (except to say – how can you judge a book purely by its shape? ‘Tis the content not the container!) however, I LOVE and ADORE that it was not the discussion of other reading choices but the reading of romance that brought shouting and dissension. There were fists being shaken to the skies and the thumping of tables and turned heads from all around. If we had white gloves with us, there would have been a duel challenge! The cafe owners, thankfully, did not intervene.

Julia Quinn The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy

Does it really matter which cover and shape I read?

I don’t think enough people get riled up enough over books to have pistols-at-dawn moments. I think this is what I love about some reading arguments (both online and offline). People getting angry over books. People being incensed by what others read, how they read, and where they find meaning. I certainly get incredibly angry at marginalising reading interests, judgmental statements about people’s reading choices, at assumptions of people having a lesser intelligence either because they do not enjoy reading or cannot read, and my blood absolutely boils when reader shaming is bandied about.

A big disappointment for me several years ago was seeing reading evangelist Neil Gaiman talk to a room full of librarians about the power of reading. I had read the transcript several months earlier and in my head I had a powerful, expressive voice driving home the importance of reading. Watching the video, I was crestfallen (and a tad bored). It was all very English and dignified, it was a measured speech completely lacking in any emotion. Some may say that this is how professional, mature people behave when delivering a speech to a room full of other professionals (and they might actually be right). Continue reading →

Readorama!

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I’m on holidays! Yay! And I am on a big, huge, catch up readorama! Now that my marking is finished, I presented my conference paper a few days ago and my July paper is 90% complete, I feel at ease reading without guilt!

Duke of Dark Desires by Miranda NevilleMiranda Neville’s The Duke of Dark Desire

This book is the 4th in the Wild Quartet but the first one that I have read from this series. The story is of Jane Grey, who is actually a member of the French aristocracy, Lady Jeanne de Falleron, who managed to escape the guillotine in the early 19th century. Sadly, the rest of her family – her parents and both her younger sisters – were executed on the eve of their planned escape to England. Jane’s sole purpose is to avenge her family’s deaths by killing the Englishman who betrayed them and didn’t get them out of France. The hero, Julian Fortescue, is the man who is responsible for her family’s death. There is nothing spoilerish in what I have just written. All this is given to the reader in both the blurb and the first few chapters. I’m not going to give you a blow-by-blow account of this book but I do have some words I need to write. Continue reading →

Reading when I am too busy to read

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I get cranky when I don’t read for relaxation. Angry, cranky and just a miserable person to be around. Unfortunately, the past month has been so crazy busy that I have not read a single book. Yes – this does mean that I am currently a self-absorbed, agitated mess of a person that is humourless. I am not laughing at jokes, sarcasm passes me by and I am snapping at my sons’ banter. As a self-confessed reading addict, I am going through withdrawals. The cold-sweats, I’m curled up in a foetal position, my reddened eyes and gnawed fingernails and chipped polish. I stare longingly at the piles of books that tempt me but I lash out angrily, constantly pushing the temptation far away from me as I reach for another theory laden assignment to mark. It is, indeed a dark place I am currently inhabiting.

On the platform, reading Flickr user: Mo Riza/ CC by 2.0

On the platform, reading
Flickr user: Mo Riza/ CC by 2.0

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Now don’t get me wrong here. I have not gone without reading for a month. It is pleasure reading which has fallen by the wayside. The whole month of June has been taken over with marking student works (both undergrad and postgrad) primarily in Information Behaviour Theory. Now I do love me some sense-making discourse, and throw in practice theory too but they suck when I am trying to wind down and relax. I am also completing 2 conference papers for June and July and on top of that, I received notification from JPRS that a paper I submitted a while ago has been accepted for publication “as is” (wooot! *blows into kazoo*) but I need to do some small edits before the end of this week. Continue reading →

More Lynne Graham love coming your way!

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I am back on my Lynne Graham kick. I finished reading her latest about 2 weeks ago but work commitments have kept me from writing about it. The Billionaire’s Bridal Bargain (I do love an alliterative title) blurb:

The Billionaire's Bridal Bargain by Lynne GrahamTo love, honour…

Cesare Sabatino never intended to marry. But if his thoughts did ever stray in that direction, the lucky woman’s answer would have been a resounding ‘yes’. Imagine his surprise when Lizzie Whitaker turns him down on the spot!

…and possess?

To get his hands on her Mediterranean island inheritance, Cesare must wed innocent Lizzie…and ensure she’s carrying his heir! Luckily the formidable Italian is legendary for his powers of persuasion. With Lizzie desperate to save her family’s farm, it’s only a matter of time before she gives in…and discovers the many pleasurable benefits of wearing this tycoon’s ring.

Cesare “Not Caesar. We’re not in ancient Rome. It’s Chay-sar-ray” Sabatino (oh Ms Graham you made me giggle when you gave me instructions on how to pronounce your hero’s name) is a bit of a silly buffoon however he is a rich silly buffoon with a manservant called Primo to boot. Though he was betrayed by his first love, Serafina, and despite swearing off love and marriage (the hurt runs deep in this one), Chay-sar-ray loves his paternal Greek grandmother, Athene (I am annoyed that he calls her Nonna and not Yiayia, seriously – nonna in Greek is Godmother and I don’t care that the woman was married to an Italian – we need more culturally correct names in romance fiction) who has given up hope in ever visiting her birthplace because of a watertight will (yep – a top notch inheritance lawyer said so) stipulates that her family cannot visit the island unless there is a marriage that joins her family and the island’s owners. His grandmother, who brought him up after his mother died and his father remarried, is also giving up her will to live. Chay-sar-ray decides to be the sacrificial lamb for his beloved nonna/yiayia and says he will marry one of the two women who stand to inherit the island. He chooses the frumpier, older daughter as the younger, prettier girl is still at university and our hero is from the 21st century and not from the 1970s. Aside: I am not being rude about the 15-20 year age difference in many M&Bs of that time. It was also a reality – see Chuck and Di and their 13 year difference when they were betrothed when she was just 19. Continue reading →