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The Secrets anthologies have been favorites of mine since I discovered “Roarke’s Prisoner”, by Angela Knight, in Volume 2. So it was no hardship to buy Volume 15 in support of fellow LARA members, Leigh Court and Jane Thompson, whose stories open and close this book. In a Secrets anthology, it is typical to find two contemporaries, one paranormal, and one historical. I’m a sucker for the paranormals, but can honestly say that my favorites in Volume 15 were Court’s historical and Thompson’s contemporary. I’m featuring “Simon Says” because I think Thompson’s use of humor makes it an especially entertaining read. Premise: Simon is a successful newspaper columnist who is living the good life in L.A. – money, women, the “in” crowd – what more could a man want? But Simon is at a crossroads – restless with his life, he attends a weekend party and runs into Georgina – a woman who, upon meeting him weeks ago, had treated him with as much contempt and distain as he inwardly feels for himself. As it turns out, distain was the only weapon Georgina felt she had against her attraction to Simon, and when she gets to know the man under the playboy façade, how will she defend her heart? What I liked as a reader: The older I get, the more responsibilities I have; the more responsibilities I have, the less I find myself really getting lost in a book. The kind of laugh out loud, “don’t you dare bother me until I’ve read the last word” kind of involvement. The real world faded away as I read this story. I mentioned the humor – it’s there from page one. And it’s not the ridiculous, over-the-top kind – it’s intelligent humor that doesn’t diminish the characters. And how about those characters? No way to resist smart, sexy, lonely-in-a-crowded-room Simon. Georgiana is an intriguing mix of innocence, honesty, intelligence and sensuality. And the sex was hot. :-) What I liked as a writer: Good humor is not easy to write, and I admire writers who do it as deftly as Thompson. I also liked the fact that the characters were full and complex, not the plot. Too often in shorter, novella length fiction, writers make the mistake of short changing character depth in favor of a complicated storyline. Thompson achieved a magnificent balance. This was a fantastic story, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a guaranteed “good read”. [posted 3/13/2006]
IHere’s a book I bought because of the cover – the picture really caught my attention and made me wonder about the story. The title made me think about fairy tales – my secret weakness, remember? It was an impulse buy, and I wasn’t expecting much – I love it when I’m pleasantly surprised. I read it twice in the same day. J Premise: Jane is a peasant, the daughter of a blacksmith. She remembers well the last time the Fae rulers came through her village, and it wasn’t pretty. So when Ryn, Commander of the King’s Guard, and his company of Fae arrive, nine years later, and tell her she has been chosen to wed the Fae king, she knows she must escape. The problem is that the more time she spends with the sexy Fae Commander, the less she finds she wants to flee. But how can she journey to wed the king when she’s falling in love with another? What I liked as a reader: Okay, I’ll admit it: I love captive bride stories. A woman who is taken against her will and finds a love she never expected. *sigh* These characters are both fun: Jane is feisty and smart, and Ryn is just Yummmmy. What I liked as a writer: First person narratives often make my hyper-aware of the writing, but I fell right into this world. It isn’t a terribly long book but, by the end, I was very attached to Jane and Ryn, and invested in their relationship. The pacing was excellent -- it takes off fast and stays fast, with never a dull moment. A fun, fast, hot read. Elias has a new fan in me. [posted 3/29/2006] |
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