*sigh* This book had such potential, but was weak limp noodle of a story. I shouldn't have been so excited to read a historical romance by two contemporary romance authors, but SPACE RACE ROMANCE was just something I couldn't resist. I didn't like the heroine and felt neutral about the hero and their chemistry just wasn't there but hey they had great sex so of course he fell in love. I think the heroine was tired of being a divorcee and having to work to support herself and the kids, so she was willing to marry again so quickly. She was also a judgmental scold with everyone she met, especially other women. The world building could've used more period pieces to make you feel you are in the time period; instead, it felt like a contemporary heroine wearing vintage clothing and having a contemporary romance. It just failed for me and I am bowing out on reading the rest of the series.

Book: I chose Star Dust (Fly Me to the Moon #1) by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner. The heroine is a single mom of two kids.

Task #1

The mother of all writerly sins would be telling not showing, especially in romance. If the author keeps telling the reader that the couple is falling in love, but the reader doesn't see one example of that love and trusting building, then the romance fails. I want to look back on a book and remember scenes of action, conversation, and progress in the relationship, not paragraphs of the heroine or hero thinking to themselves that they are falling in love or having a side character say they are falling in love.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!!

Reading List

1. Home to Whiskey Creek (Whiskey Creek #4) by Brenda Novak

2. On Distant Shores (Wings of a Nightingale #2) by Sarah Sundin

3. Crewel World (Needlecraft Mysteries #1) by Monica Ferris

4. The Soldier's Secrets by Naomi Rawlings

5. The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

6. The Baron's Blunder by Susan M. Banganz

7. Toward the Sunrise (Until the Dawn #0.5) by Elizabeth Camden

8. Star Dust (Fly Me to the Moon #1) by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner

9. The Nightingale Sisters (The Nightingales #2) by Donna Douglas

10. Better off Wed by Laura Durham

11. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

This is a collection of stories, and I have not finished all of them yet.
In Her Service - Suleika Snyder - This is a quick read and a little short for me. I wanted to know more detail about Letty and Shahzad. Their love already existed at the beginning of the story, but I loved his loyalty and devotion to Letty. I also enjoyed how they disregarded others opinions considering they were in the public eye.
Run - Emma Barry - Both Maddie and Adam are strong characters. I loved Maddie's honesty, commitment, and steadfastness. I felt for his indecision because of his past experiences.

So, maybe I'll stick with regency romance? 

There are interesting scenes recalling the early days of the American space program, firmly fictionalized, but wildly exciting. Which is cool and all, but, as historical fiction, also means being trapped in the firmly entrenched gender roles in the national spotlight for that program. 

The problem is me. I am in the wrong genre. I want the gender swapped version of this. I want a woman riding a rocket, hoping she'll make it back home to her man. And that just isn't going to happen in a historical set in the early days of our space program. The closest I could get would be a fictionalized version of female pilots going through the same training and never being taken seriously by NASA. And I'm sorry, but testifying before a congressional subcommittee with no resulting action is absolutely not going to work for me as a form of escapism. I'm looking for the fantastical version, which is not this genre at all.

So that's enough complaining about the book I didn't read, right?

This is the story of a divorcee with two kids figuring out independence while falling for the too hot and too kind to be real neighbor who happens to be a national icon. The friction in their relationship caused by it really just being too soon for her is well done, but not for me. The friction caused in their relationship by her concerns for her children when she inevitably breaks up with someone who is both a hero and a neighbor is well done, but not for me. The friction in their relationship caused by the public spotlight on his life and her very understandable desire for privacy is well done and interesting, but not quite enough.

Yeah. Sorry, book. I appreciate your feminist take on romance, but you just aren't for me.