First order of this wrap up is to give a great big 'THANK YOU!!' to Moonlight Reader and Obsidian Blue for the great game they put together!  Booklikes-opoly was winning, and it has been an outstanding three and a half months of wonderful game play!  I read a few new authors that I will continue to check out books from, and I even managed to finish some book series and cut a lot of my already owned books off my TBR!

And to be honest, even up into April I was still kind of in a reading and blogging slump--a slump that started in November and didn't quit.  Booklikes-opoly changed that and I ended up finishing one book after another, pre-drafting a lot of game play posts, writing reviews... the works.

And to be honest, while I love reading, I think there came a point in the game where I just simply looked forward to the next roll--trying to figure out what book to read for each game space became a thing.

And then there was Magnetic Monkey, Teddy Bear Game Piece, and Peek-a-Boo Penni Penguin...  At first, Monkey was simply supposed to be a random magnetic decoration for my live game board.  But then I started finding reasons to play around, and he somehow became my game mascot!  I'm so delighted that a lot of you enjoyed my game play updates with Monkey and Friends, and so finding a new pose for Monkey became another thing I looked forward to on a regular basis.

So here they are one last time, wrapping up my game play with the final game stats:

Nothing fancy, just chilling around and showcasing the board!

Books Read for BLopoly

Some Final Ramblings

I counted all of the books that I read for Booklikes-opoly, whether or not I finished them, or even read the entire book.  That being said, there were only three books presented above that only counted partially towards the actual game.

False Memory by Dean Koontz was a book that I had started reading prior to the game start.  But the book itself is 700+ pages, and so even as I started participating in BLopoly, I was still reading False Memory.  During an unlucky roll where I ended up, first in Jail Visitor, and then in actual BLopoly Jail, I decided to read what I had left of False Memory to count for however many pages of sentencing I needed.  This worked out wonderfully!  I got out of jail, donated some pages, and then finally finished the darn book!

The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick was also a book I read for the purpose of donating some pages to the BLopoly prison library.  It was for the Memorial Day extras, and since I wanted to get the book read and turned into the library (as well as so I could move onto the next book in the series), I chose to read all of The Perfect Poison, even though I could only donate 100 pages of it.

The Law of Attraction by N.M. Silber turned out to be my very first DNF book of the game, and for the year.  I didn't make it far, dropping the book at about 26%, which turned out to be about 63 pages.


My favorite reads for the game were the Brothers Sinister books by Courtney Milan.  I didn't read all of the books in this series for BLopoly, only the first and the last, which were my two favorite of the series anyway.  I also loved Deanna Raybourn's A Perilous Undertaking, It Had to Be You and Rumor Has It by Jill Shalvis, and Ravished by Amanda Quick.

The longest book I read would be False Memory Dean Koontz at 751 pages... but I only read part of it for Prison reasons, so I'm not going to count it.  That places the actual longest book I read for this game as Northern Lights by Nora Roberts, at 562 pages.

The shortest book I read was Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai.

I only listened to two audio books for this game, but I did not have to employ the audio book exception to keep listening while moving onto the next roll... both were finished during the course of that roll due to multiple rolls or being in jail.

I managed to catch up with and/or finish about 9 series during the course of the game:

• Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourn
• Aftershock by Jill Sorenson
• Veronica Sloan by Leslie A. Kelly
• Brothers Sinister by Courtney Milan
• The Line series by Kimberly Kincaid
• Colorado High Country by Pamela Clare
• The House of Steele by Addison Fox
• ICE: Black Ops Defenders by Melissa Cutler
• Extrasensory Agents by Leslie A. Kelly

I didn't read all the books in the above listed series for a BLopoly game space, but the last book in those series were read for the game.

I picked up 7 new authors during the course of the game:

• Courtney Milan
• Kate Morton
• Jean Barrett
• Leona Karr
• Lisa Childs
• Susanna Kearsley
• Celeste Bradley

The stats could probably go on, so I'm going to cut it off here.  This post is already long enough as is.

I really hope there will be more games like this in the future.

Once again, another great big thanks to Obsidian Blue and Moonlight Reader--for creating this game, for all the work they put into it, for playing along with us, for all the fun new twists... pretty much for all of it!  You guys are the greatest!!

Final Bank, Update Links, Review Links

Final Bank:   $274

• Roll #1 (4/15):  A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn / 345 pages = $3.00
• Roll #2 (4/17):  The Paris Assignment by Addison Fox / 284 pages = $3.00
• Roll #3 (4/21):  False Memory by Dean Koontz // Donated 200 pages ($2.00) to the Jail Library
• Roll #4.1 (4/23):  Schoolgirl by DAZAI Osamu / 50 pages = $1.00
• Roll #4.2 (4/23):  Don't Look Away by Leslie A. Kelly / 323 pages = $3.00
• Roll #4.3 (4/23):  Rolled three doubles, ended up in Jail / 300 pages of sentence to be served // 332 pages read total
  • Storming the Castle by Eloisa James // 138 pages served
  • False Memory by Dean Koontz // 194 pages served
• Roll #5 (4/29):  The Duchess War by Courtney Milan / 271 pages = $3.00
• Roll #6.1 (4/29):  SKIPPED
• Roll #6.2 (4/29):  Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz / 352 pages = $3.00
• Roll #7 (4/29):  Backwoods by Jill Sorenson / 378 pages = $3.00
• Roll #8 (4/29):  Before the Storm by Leslie Tentler / 336 pages = $3.00
• Roll #9 (5/9):  The Thing About Love by Julie James / 380 pages = $3.00
• Roll #10.1 (5/11):  The House at Riverton by Kate Morton / 468 pages = $5.00
• Roll #10.2 (5/11):  Two Guys Detective Agency by Stephanie Bond / 255 pages = $3.00
• Roll #11 (5/18):  The London Deception by Addison Fox / 282 pages = $3.00
• Roll #12 (5/20):  BL Task - Double rewards on next read & share w/ a friend / No book read.
• Roll #13 (5/22):  Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts / 402 pages = $5.00
• Roll #14 (5/27):  Obsidian Prey by Jayne Castle / 351 pages = $3.00
• Roll #15 (5/27):  The Rome Affair by Addison Fox / 284 pages = $3.00
• Roll #16.1 (5/27):  Rumor Has It by Jill Shalvis / 281 pages = $3.00
• Roll #16.2 (5/27):  Once a Thief by Kay Hooper / 326 pages = $3.00
• Roll #17 (6/6):  The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan / 318 pages = $3.00
• Roll #18 (6/8):  Don't Ever Stop by Leslie A. Kelly / 281 pages = $3.00
• Free Friday #1 (6/16):  The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan / 322 pages = $6.00
• Roll #19 (6/18):  To the Rescue by Jean Barrett / 292 pages = $6.00
• Roll #20.1 (6/22):  The Mysterious Twin by Leona Karr / 256 pages = $6.00
• Roll #20.2 (6/22):  The Substitute Sister by Lisa Childs / 240 pages = $6.00
• Free Friday #2 (6/23):  It Had to Be You by Jill Shalvis / 327 pages = $6.00
• Roll #21 (6/24):  The Manhattan Encounter by Addison Fox / 283 pages = $6.00
• Roll #22.1 (6/26):  Pushing the Line by Kimberly Kincaid / 122 pages = $4.00
• Roll #22.2 (6/26):  Her Wild Hero by Paige Tyler / 334 pages = $6.00
• Roll #23 (6/28):  Secret Agent Secretary by Melissa Cutler / 248 pages = $6.00
• Roll #24 (6/30):  The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley / 430 pages = $10.00
• Free Friday #3 (6/30):  Tempting Fate by Pamela Clare / 322 pages = $6.00
• Roll #25 (7/4):  Driving Heat by Richard Castle / 336 pages = $6.00
• Fourth of July Opt-in (7/4):  Night Diver by Elizabeth Lowell / 388 pages = $6.00
• Roll #26 (7/6):  Hot on the Hunt by Melissa Cutler / 281 pages = $6.00
• Free Friday #4 (7/7):  Ravished by Amanda Quick / 418 pages = $10.00
• Roll #27 (7/8):  Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz / 403 pages = $10.00
• Roll #28 (7/10):  River's End by Nora Roberts / 447 pages = $10.00
• Roll #29.1 (7/14):  Northern Lights by Nora Roberts / 562 pages = $15.00
• Roll #29.2 (7/14):  Burning Lamp by Amanda Quick / 328 pages = $9.00
• Free Friday #5 (7/14):  The Law of Attraction by N.M. Silber / DNF @ 63 pgs = $2.00
• Roll #30 (7/20):  The Pretender by Celeste Bradley / 384 pages = $6.00
• Free Friday #6 (7/21):  Midnight Crystal by Jayne Castle / 371 pages = $6.00
• Roll #31 (7/22):  Always on My Mind by Jill Shalvis / 318 pages = $6.00
• Roll #32 (7/25):  On the Loose by Tara Janzen / 403 pages = $15.00
• Roll #33.1 (7/27):  BL Task - "Give another player $5.00" = -$5.00
• Roll #33.2 (7/27):  Heat Wave anthology (Bond, Kelly, Betts) / 320 pages = $9.00
• Free Friday #7 (7/28):  Cutting Loose by Tara Janzen / 405 pages = $10.00
• Roll #34 (7/29):  Cold Memory by Leslie A. Kelly / 260 pages = $6.00

Extrasensory Agents
by Leslie Parrish (Leslie A. Kelly)
Book #1: Cold Sight | Rating:  3.0 Stars -- Previously Reviewed
Book #2: Cold Touch | Rating:  3.0 Stars
Book #3: Cold Memory | Rating:  3.0 stars

Average Series Rating:  3.0 stars


First of all, this only bugs me a little after staring at the covers and realizing that they're not of the same set.  Cold Sight and Cold Touch were written a few years prior to Cold Memory (six or seven years, I think), and if you go to the Amazon pages, the first two books have new book cover illustrations that are a bit more cohesive with the newest book.  The covers I have chosen to display for the first two books are from the original paperbacks.

HOWEVER, unless you really care to look, you don't really notice the differences, aside from where the series' title is situated, the font type, and the author's name (Leslie Kelly used to write under the pseudonym 'Leslie Parrish' for her romantic suspense novels, but has recently chosen to simply add an 'A.' to her name for this genre instead.).

Otherwise, it's a cover illustration of a person standing in front of a dark background.  So... no biggie... if I don't stare at it for too long, because it will probably, eventually bug me into just changing out the cover illustrations so they all look like they're from the same set...

In fact, here you go:

I can't really say which covers I like better, or if there really is much of a difference aside from the cover models.  But I'm anal retentive enough to care about aesthetics on my blog.


Anyway....  Onto the actual review...

To be fair, I don't know if this series is finished yet or not (Leslie Kelly's author's note at the end of Cold Memory promises more books, but we'll see), so the average series rating is only for these first three books.  Almost two years ago, I stumbled upon Leslie Parrish's Extrasensory Agents and found the concept very intriguing.  But there hadn't been word on the continuing of this series, so I thought it was finished as a duology, even though there's room enough for even more expansion into this world--there are still other characters who have great potential for story.

About two or three months before the publication of the third book, Cold Memory, I stumbled across its existence and was quite pleased.

This series is getting a series review because I just never got around to reviewing Cold Touch.  As a matter of fact, I didn't even realize I'd reviewed the first book, Cold Sight, until I randomly fell onto its Goodreads book page and found that I'd written a few sentences about it.  You can click on the above link to see the original review, transferred to this blog.

Then the publication of Cold Memory was announced, and suddenly the idea of an individual review of Cold Sight, a review of Cold Touch as part of a bundle of other book highlights, and a subsequent, possible individual review of Cold Memory sort of felt unbalanced.  (Don't ask, my mind works in ways that I will NEVER understand myself, so everyone else need not try.)

Long story short, I really still don't have much to say about these books individually.  Once again, the concept of a group of psychic investigators holds much potential, and as many will know, is one type of plot device that I absolutely love!


Cold Sight was already reviewed, and had been really good if I could remember anything about it without consulting my previously written thoughts--again, see the link above.  If I get a chance, or even if, maybe this book is released as an audio, I might reread it.  According to Kelly's author note at the end of Cold Memory, both Cold Sight and Cold Touch were edited and re-released with some new short story content at the end of each book.  Even though these books only netted a mediocre 3-Star rating from me, I'm curious enough to go back and see what might have changed... if I even remember what was in the original to begin with.

Aiden McConnell is a straight-up psychic, is how his teammates describe him; and he was burned by the media and law enforcement on his last case, prior to the beginning of this book.  He's on sabbatical to recover his own peace of mind until investigative reporter Lexie Nolan stumbles into his life with a plea to help her uncover what she believes to be a serial killer targeting teenage girls.  No one in town believes her, so she turns to Aiden as a last resort.

As I recall, the pairing was a great working team, and I also loved that, while an investigative reporter, Lexie truly feels that something sinister is going on.  She's more interested in trying to save the teenagers than getting her next big story, because if what she suspects is true, then another girl will disappear soon.  Although since I really don't remember a whole lot about this book other than that I enjoyed, it, I'll leave my thoughts here for now.


Cold Touch was an enjoyable, dark and gritty read with a character who has an interesting, if depressing psychic ability--Olivia can touch a dead body and experience the last few moments of that victim's life before death.  So if said victim had been murdered, then Olivia will experience that exact murder.  Needless to say, it's obviously a trying skill to have--to die multiple times, in multiple ways, for the sake of investigating the truth of someone's death.

While I feel like Olivia could live without this kind of skill, and feel bad for her, I didn't like the way Detective Gabe Cooper goes about trying to tell her what she needs to do with her life.  I get that he's concerned about her mental health, but it's none of his business how she lives her life.  I found him a bit of a hypocrite and a jackass, even if I DID like Olivia, as well as the rest of her psychic team.

This particular story got very personal, as it also delves into some of Olivia's childhood, specifically a time when she'd been kidnapped, and would have died if not for a young boy whom she believes risked his life to save her.  And, once again, this book, much like the first, wasn't all that memorable, even if it was quite enjoyable when I read it.


Cold Memory is a study in conflicted feelings for me.  As enjoyable as the book was, and as much as I liked our main characters, the few things that stood out about this book included how bloody and gory the murders were, and how many grammatical errors and typos I found scattered throughout the book.  I'm not intentionally picky about typos--they happen and I usually ignore them... until they become abundant enough for me to notice and start caring.  Because this is a finished product, and I expect a more complete finished product.

But this is Leslie Kelly, and I'm willing to overlook some of these errors in publishing.  Because at least the book was still quite enjoyable, even if a little bloody and gory--goodness the murders in this book were bloody and gory.

Secondly, I found the mystery pretty predictable once the ball got rolling.  Members of a carnival community start dying--very gruesome deaths--and the killer decided to leave behind a vague clue at the first crime scene: a black feather.  Somehow, it gets missed, so the killer takes pains to point out that this piece of evidence got missed.

Meanwhile, Police Chief Gypsy Bell and eXtreme Investigations agent Mick Tanner have teamed up to find out who would want to kill an old man who was dying of cancer.  And as they continue their investigation, a few dark underbelly secrets of the carnival start to surface.

I hate to say that this book was predictable because of how obvious our author makes the clues; but it's true.  Specifically, a lot of the clues come from our killer, himself, via his POV of the book narration.  Because as soon as the killer gets his first scene, I had pretty much figured out who he was and why he was killing, even if there was a slight twist that, while I didn't really guess, I wasn't surprised about.

The romantic relationship between Gypsy and Mick was sweet and nice, if a little too quickly progressed.  The "I love yous" seemed a bit premature, yes, even after all they went through.  Though it helps that they were attracted to each other first, and completely honest with each other throughout their interactions about their feelings, and also that they knew each other as kids.  So I have little complaints about the romance, but it DID feel kind of bland.

Finally, the conclusion felt a little loose.  The murder mystery was solved, but felt a little forced.  Other loose ends weren't really tied together.  I'm not sure how I feel about the open-ended-ness of tangential story lines, such as the ordeal between Mick and his grandfather--maybe it was never meant to be resolved, despite the fact that there might have been a hint that something could potentially happen.


Nonetheless, this series has a great concept, and Kelly's writing can be enjoyable.  The truth is, I really DO look forward to the next book, and will hope that we get Derek's story first.  Because, the truth of the matter is, Julia's story is going to be a hard one for Kelly to create.

What I DID find a little disappointing, however, was the outcome of a certain character in Cold Memory that I hadn't been expecting, if mainly because of the build up Kelly gave to said character, that gave great potential for a future book.  A pity, that one.


***

Roll #34:  Last roll!
Cold Memory was read for this game space
--the book involves a carnival.

Page Count:  260
Cash Award:  +$6.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $274.00

For those of us participating in the Summer Reading List part of this summer's COYER Challenge, our hosts have announced three different readathons for each month of the challenge:

• Read-a-thon Dates are
  • June 25th – July 2nd ~ read only ebooks
  • July 23rd to July 30th ~ read only physical books
  • August 20th to August 27th ~ read only audio and ebooks

 
I was pretty scattered with my book choices this readathon.  I could have stuck to physical books only, but I had some library books to finish, and just as well, I wanted to focus on the end of Booklikes-opoly.  So hopefully for the next readathon, I'll have a better time of focus--there won't be other challenges to focus on... maybe.

Meanwhile, two books read isn't bad, I think, even if I felt like I could have read, at least, one more.  I was truly hoping to read all five of the Steele Street books I had left to finish, but two is not bad.

July Readathon Books Read

Ani's COYER Summer Reading List

See Also: COYER Summer Reading List @ GR
See Also: COYER Summer Reading List current review link-up page

1. Going Rogue by Robin Benway
2. Secret Agent Secretary by Melissa Cutler -- 6/29/2017
3. Hot on the Hunt by Melissa Cutler -- 7/8/2017
4. Behind the Scenes by Natalie J. Damschroder
5. Secrets by Cynthia Eden
6. Suspicions by Cynthia Eden
7. The Manhattan Encounter by Addison Fox -- 6/25/2017
8. Hot Mess by Lynn Raye Harris
9. Hot Package by Lynn Raye Harris
10. SEAL's Honor by Elle James
11. On the Loose by Tara Janzen -- 7/27/2017
12. Cutting Loose by Tara Janzen -- 7/29/2017
13. The Mysterious Twin by Leona Karr -- 6/23/2017
14. Cold Memory by Leslie A. Kelly -- 7/31/2017
15. Pushing the Lines by Kimberly Kincaid -- 6/27/2017
16. Skin Deep by Kimberly Kincaid
17. Midnight Exposure by Melinda Leigh
18. Night Diver by Elizabeth Lowell -- 7/9/2017
19. The First Victim by J.B. Lynn
20. Thicker Than Water by Maggie Shayne
21. The Littlest Cowboy by Maggie Shayne
22. The Law of Attraction by N.M. Silber -- DNF'd on 7/20/2017
23. Her Fierce Warrior by Paige Tyler
24. Heat Wave anthology - Stephanie Bond, Heidi Betts, Leslie Kelly -- 7/27/2017
25. That's Amore anthology - Janelle Denison, Tori Carrington, Leslie Kelly
26. Bare Essentials duo-story anthology - Jill Shalvis, Leslie Kelly
27. Night Driving by Lori Wilde
28. Smooth Sailing by Lori Wilde
29. Crash Landing by Lori Wilde
30. Part Time Cowboy by Maisey Yates

1. Loose and Easy by Tara Janzen
2. Breaking Loose by Tara Janzen
3. Loose Ends by Tara Janzen
4. Ghost Horse by Patricia Rosemoor
5. Fire and Ice by Julie Garwood

(Added on 7/29/2017)

1. Dear Maggie by Brenda Novak
2. Just Past Midnight by Amanda Stevens
3. The Trouble With Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis
4. One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis
5. Accidentally on Purpose by Jill Shalvis

Well... Happy Reading, everyone!!

Cutting Loose
by Tara Janzen
Book 8 of Steele Street

Cutting Loose still didn't feel like the reason why I ended up loving these Steele Street books, but it DID get right back into the heart of it's absurdly entertaining factor.  There are guns, there are cars, and there's the hot and steamy sex... of which our couple seems to manage over a very long period of time.  Whew!  There's high speed chase from danger, but no gun fights or explosions.

And it wasn't until nearing the end of the book that I realized that the entire setting of this 400 page book takes place over the time frame of one day.  Only the first couple and last couple chapters are not part of the one day.  And so that's when I felt a slightly bit more impressed--because for a book that manages to drag out an entire day of cat and mouse chase between several players, the progression actually flew by pretty quickly.

I hadn't even been aware that things were happening, because I kept thinking that we weren't in the middle of the conflict yet... and yet we technically were.  If that makes any sense.

These books don't make any sense.

So this review probably doesn't make any sense either.

Anyway...

While Lily and Zach were interesting characters, this wouldn't be the first time in this series where we didn't get enough of a chance to get to know the main couple.  And so, while you learn a few things about them as the story progresses, we really barely skim the surface of these two character's biographies.  Even Lily barely knows who Zach is until the end of the book.  The two of them are running from danger together, with secrets as the giant pink elephant in the backseat of Zach's Shelby Cobra Mustang.

And yet, somehow, they managed to make this partnership work.  Somehow, they develop a rather believable romance, even if most of it is based off of lust and adrenaline.  Somehow, I found the two of them rather intriguing.

Meanwhile, we get to meet previous characters, which I love doing, because usually I end up loving previous books' main characters as side characters.  They tend to be much more fun when they aren't center stage, ya know.  Unfortunately, like some of the previous books in this series, you also get introduced to a random secondary couple who kind of also manages to hog some book time along with other side characters... and you'd rather just get back to the main couple and learn more about them.

Entertaining book.  Lots of potential.  Lots of crazy.


***

Free Friday #7:

Page Count:  405
Cash Award:  +$10.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $268.00

Heat Wave
-- 'Rex on the Beach' by Stephanie Bond
-- 'Getting Into Trouble' by Leslie Kelly
-- 'Shaken and Stirred' by Heidi Betts

Average Overall Rating:  3.4 Stars

It's pretty typical that novella-length stories are usually only good for a fast and breezy enjoyable taste of what an author is capable of.  The three stories in Heat Wave are entertaining, but don't really feel all that interesting, and probably not stories I'd come back to because they aren't entirely memorable.  And maybe a little cheesy to boot.

The beach theme was nice though--it made me want to take a little vacation to relax on a nice, sunny beach myself... despite the fact that I've never really been fond of beaches.

But hey, this sounds kind of nice:

"We'll get a great room with an ocean view, go shopping for sexy new beach outfits and laze around on the sand all day, reading steamy romance novels and sipping umbrella drinks."

Rex on the Beach -- 3.0 Stars

by Stephanie Bond

I have a lot of problems with the premise of this story, if only because I'm not entirely comfortable with how quickly our couple lusts after each other even when they each have their own commitments--one of which is a possible marriage.  But if you can get past that, the development of our main couple had a pretty good amount of potential to make a fun romance.

When two characters carrying secrets hop into a relationship, you're bound to have all sorts of juicy twists and turns to work with.  So maybe if this story had been a little bit longer, it might have been more intriguing.   But otherwise, even the characters as individuals were a little flat.

Getting Into Trouble -- 3.5 Stars

by Leslie Kelly

Leslie Kelly is always hit or miss with me, and I've read enough of her work to keep her on my radar.  But a lot of her older work, or mainly some of her contemporaries are laden with dated romances, and an underlying sense of judgment towards females and their sexuality--akin to slut shaming, I'd say, but not quite so blatantly.  I say 'dated romance' because it's quite typical to find these themes in older romance novels: a sense that good girls don't talk about sex, don't think about sex, and don't have sex.

Which is in full contradiction of the main female characters in her contemporaries, because they are cast as very sexual people--they DO think about sex, the DO talk about sex, they DO like sex.  Except that there's always that unofficial disclaimer of "I don't always do this."  Because it's quite alright for a woman to have sexual needs and express herself sexually... if she doesn't announce it often, or if it's not in her normal behavior.  I'm not even sure Kelly realizes she does this, because I've read other works by her that don't have this underlying tone of a qualifying a woman's open sexuality.

It bugs me, if only because, even in this day and age, women are hesitant about expressing themselves in a sexual way, because society has taught us that women should not talk about sex nor even like it--that it creates gossip and makes you look bad.  Even though it's perfectly acceptable for men to joke about, talk about, have, and/or even be crass about sex.  On a regular basis.

I have a friend who can't even say the word 'sex' without turning pink and whispering it like it's an evil mantra.

But anyway, let me get back off of my soapbox, because this could go on for a long time.

Getting Into Trouble was the longest, most in-depth novella in this collection.  A lot happens that really DOES create a well-rounded romance, with conflict, angst, and fun.  I just got a little irritated with both of our characters:  Allie for being so wishy-washy with her actions; Damon for taking rejection so personally that he acts all butthurt and kind of douchy about it.

But in the end, everything comes together and it's a pretty nice and enjoyable romance.  My spiel about the whole 'dated romance' thing came mainly, because there were points in the book where Allie finds herself having to justify her attraction towards Damon, and it bugged me.  The word 'scandal' got tossed out there, and suddenly I'm thinking, "What is this, a historical?"  That people would disapprove of her getting close to a strange man because she's a single mom.  That it was okay when all the other women did it, but NOT Allie, because she's the virtuous main character.

That she feels she can't be attracted to, start a relationship with, or get to know this passerby in town, otherwise she'd get judged for it.

Of course, it might also have to do with the fact that Damon is traveling with a carnival, and carnies really do get a bad rep, more often than not.

Otherwise, the story was pretty good.

Shaken and Stirred -- 3.5 Stars

by Heidi Betts

The honest truth is that Shaken and Stirred was the better written of the three stories, with a cute and sweet romance, a slight amount of conflict, and a Happily Ever After™.  The relationship developed in a mature, fun, honest fashion, if a little too fast for my liking.  There was a cutesy, breezy feel to the story's progression.  And there weren't any overly complicated twists.

It was just a sweet little chick lit piece about a woman breaking out of her normal, shy and closed-in personality, and having a fun vacation; meeting a man, having a fling, and generally enjoying herself.

It was simply a contemporary romance, about a man and woman who meet during a summer vacation, have a fling, and start developing deeper feelings.  The sex might have happened a little too quickly, and the "I love you's" were flung out faster than I expected, but it seemed like a pretty decently outlined, down-to-earth romance.

If only it hadn't been so boring.  Which is probably why it felt like the shortest of the three stories.

But, nonetheless, it was still very enjoyable, and readily likable.


***

Roll #33:  "Read a book with water on the cover, or where someone turns on the waterworks (i.e., cries) because of an emotional event."

The cover features water from a beach and ocean.

Page Count:  320
Cash Award:  +$9.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $258.00