Juggling books

Today I was searching for a new picture and came across an interesting topic on the web: multi - reading. The author of the article said that good readers read several books at the same time. Glad to hear it - or read it - because I've always felt kind of guilty when I'm reading more than one book at a time. It's like I don't give the book all the attention it deserves. Of course, when I'm reading a really good and absorving book I don't read anything else until I finish it (I barely sleep, as well).
However, now I'm ready to read guilt-free!

Lovely weekend

This weeken was wonderful. It started friday evening with theater in the park - Richard III - which was absolutely amazing. The play was on the open, and we had to change locations in the different scenes. I was surprised by the jokes and laughs on the play, which is a Shakesperean drama. So much for prejudice! The villain (Richard) was perfect: greedy, untruthfull, treacherous...
On Saturday morning I went with my husband to see the Picasso exhibition at the Met. Very nice, and the chronological order of the paintings and drawings helped me to understand him better. Funny how many of the changes in his style were - at least partly - influenced by his relationship with the women in his life.
Then we had to watch the match between U.S. and Ghana... so sad! But a couple of Margaritas cheered us.
In the evening, movies in the open: Spiderman.
And on Sunday we went to see the Gay Pride Parade. Later, a quick stop at Chelsea Market, and then, finally, home, sweet home!

Pursuit, by Karen Robards

I didn't like this book, and found myself skimming through the middle and end of it so I could return it to the Library. The main problem I had was that I didn't buy the plot.
Young attorney Jessica Ford is working her a** off in a lawyer firm in Washington. One night, her boss commands her to fetch the First Lady of the U.S., who apparently has ditched her Secret Services bodyguards and is drinking away in an hotel.
Jess manages to coax the lady in the car, but then all hell breaks loose. There is a car crash, the only survivor is Jess, and even though her memory of the accident is patchy, she has the terrible certainty that the crash was caused by Secret Services agents. Her theory seems to run true when someone tries to kill her in the hospital.
Mark Ryan was the Secret Service agent in charge the night that the first lady was murdered, and, guilt-ridden, is decided to find out everything about the accident... not that he actually believes that the First Lady was murdered... or that someone tried to kill Jess.
But then, Jess's boss tries to kill her and then kills himself, and his secretary is murdered. Mark takes Jess to his house to protect her, but there is a traitor in their midst, and there is no place safe for them...

OK. Witness protection? Why does a Secret Service agent have to go rogue to protect a witness? I figured out the villain the first time he/she was mentioned, and the reason for the first lady's murder is totally cliche. And there are some pretty unbelievable scenes, just to get the plot going. The hero is thick headed and kind of naive for his position, and I think Jess suffered some kind of brain damage in the accident, because she makes some dumb choices. Why do so many of Robards`heroines have to be stupid?

What I did for love, Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Can I start by saying how much I liked this cover? I find it absolutely gorgeous, and I love the dress.

Georgie York is a down-on-her-luck star, better known for her role as adolescent Scooter in a television sitcom that ended 8 years ago, and who now has to deal with an scandalous divorce (very Jennifer Aniston vs Brangelina).

The last thing she wants is a new scandal - like the one that's about to happen if the media finds out that, on a wild night in Vegas complete with booze and drugs, she married her hated former co-star, Bramwell Shepard. She has to convince Bram to stay married to her - by waving a fat paycheck in his face.

Bram is the most obnoxious, sarcastic, and sexiest man alive... and he also has his own agenda. 8 years ago he blew the opportunity of his life when the sitcom show was cancelled due to his irresponsability, getting a bad reputation that had keep him from achieving a succesful career.

Now, if he could only show that he has grown and is responsible, he might have a second chance. And what could be better than staying married to America's sweetheart, Georgie York? Not that he is going to tell Georgie any of his plans...

I liked the book. It was like watching an episode of E! - from the stars POV. Bram was a manipulative SOB, but he was irresistible. Actually, the thing that kept me from loving this book was that Georgie made him suffer to much at the end... and now that I think of it, it was only what that deceptive snake deserved.

Sagas

Today I read the review for "That perfect someone" by Johanna Lindsey, from the Smart Bitches site. I haven't had the pleasure - or displeasure - or reading that particular novel yet, but something that the review's author said impressed me.

This particular novel is the number 10th in the Malory-Anderson saga, and with 9 previous books you have plenty of couples to revisit. The author (of the review) wrote that at one point she felt like reading the literary version of "Days of our lifes", with a lot of characters from previous books, suspicious timelines, and a villain who doesn't have any reason to be mean except the requirements of the storyline.

That got me thinking, and I discovered that I have a love/hate relationship with sagas. On one hand, I like to see characters from previous books and read how they're doing (quite well, thanks, still living happily ever after). On the other, there are some books that parade characters and couples from previous books, who - sadly - have lost much of their charisma and personality and now are reduced to be a rather pale imitation of the spunky/tempestuos heroine or the domineering/brooding hero, surrounded by perfect children. The worst part is that the principal couple is robbed of a lot of reading time/scenes/importance because of the presence of all this other "relatives".

What's wrong with a single title? I can remember some that are pretty good, among them "Secret Fire" (J. Lindsey), most of Linda Howard's books, "Shanna" (K. Woodiwiss, although Ruark has a small cameo in "Petals in the River").

It looks like in the last time it's all about series. There's the Malory/Anderson (Lindsey), Montgomery (J. Deveraux, although I like how she follows a family through centuries, and there's never more than 4 books closely related), Bridgerton (Quinn), Cynster (Laurens), Fallen Angels (Putney), Malloren (Beverley), Bedwyn (Balogh), Changeling/Psy (Singh), Wallflowers (Kleypas), Carsington (Chase), etc...

Maybe they should stop after the 4th book. I can handle 3 previous couples, but 10 is way too difficult. Or maybe get all the relatives together in one big scene (like the Central Park picnic in Sweet Liar, by Deveraux) to give them a chance to wave hello and then disappear.

Lily, by Patricia Gaffney

I absolutely loved this book. It's a tearjerker, where every possible mishap and misfortune can happen to the heroine.
I highly recommend it to all readers who like darker romances.

Lady Killer, by Lisa Scottoline

This is my first book by Lisa Scottoline, and I loved it.
Mary Di Nunzio is a succesful lawyer in Philadelphia, working for an all-girls firm. She is also a widow, has all-to-human doubts about her career, and has a tight relationship with her italian family and the neighborhood where she grew up.
Suddenly she is involved in a case concerning the Mean Girls from her Highschool when her former nemesis, Trish Gambone, comes to her for help regarding her abusive - and mobster - boyfriend. Then Trish dissapears and Mary has to deal with her 3 best girlfriends, who come on her like a trio of harpies.
Mary goes to look for Trish, but on every step of the way she finds secrets... some of them regarding herself...

Kill for me, by Karen Rose

This is the third book in the Vartanian trilogy, and I enjoyed it much more than the previous one.
In this book, the main characters are Susannah Vartanian and Luke Papadoupolus, and it starts the same day that all hell broke loose in "Scream for me", the previous book.
I strongly recommend reading this series in order, because otherwise you become absolutely lost.
Anyways, in this book Luke has to catch a human traficking band, and the mastermind that's behind it and has a very personal reason to kill Susannah. I was glued to its pages since the beginning, and actually got to care for the characters. Both Luke and, specially, Susannah had very dark streaks, which is rare to find in a romantic suspense novel. As with the other K.R. novel I read, the romantic part is in the background, while the current investigation and the bad guys steal the limelight.

Pilgrimage to Maine

As some people go to Mecca or Jerusalem, I did my personal pilgrimage to Maine last weekend.

Maine has always been a place full of significance for me. On one hand, it's the land of Stephen King, where so many of his books are set. On the other, it's a favorite spot for romance novel authors too.

While I was walking around Ogunquit and Portland and Bangor, I kept remembering the characters of King's horror novels. But when I went to Camden and Mount Desert Island, the couple of The Raider - Jessica and Alex Montgomery - kept springing to my mind. I could picture Jess wandering around the rugged coastline, catching fish and clams.

Jude Deveraux's Montgomerys live in Maine, in fictional Warbrooke. Paullina Simon's couple from The Bronze Horseman ended up in Maine, in the second book of the trilogy. LaVyrle Spencer has a book entitled That Summer in Camden. And Johanna Lindsey is currently living there (as the god, S. King)

The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory

With this novel starts a new series about the Plantagenets, the english kings that came before the Tudors, and the bloody War of the Roses.

The War of the Roses was fought between two branches of the english royal family: the Lancasters, whose symbol was a red rose, and the Yorks, who had a white rose. Both houses descended from king Edward III, and fought between themselves for the english crown.

At the time this book starts, the king is Henry VI (Lancaster), but he has a feeble mind, and many have sided with his cousin Edward of York, a young man of 19 who seems to never lose a battle.

Is this young pretender whom Elizabeth Woodville addresses to have her dowry back. Elizabeth is a commoner, 5 years older than Edward, and a widow with 2 small kids whose husband died fighting for Lancaster, leaving her penniless. She is also descended on her mother side from the house of Burgundy, and as the legend says, from the water goddess Melusina.

They fall madly in love and marry in secret. After Edward beats old King Henry and is proclaimed king, he announces their marriage to the world, but Elizabeth problems are only beginning.

Throughout Edward's reign the plots and rebellions to put another king on the throne flourish. First is old King Henry, then his son, then Edward's own brother, George. It seems like the throne is a free prize that the strongest can claim.

And when King Edward dies, leaving his 12 year old son as the new king, the boy's uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, seizes this opportunity to imprison his nephews in the Tower and proclaim himself the new King of England.

Elizabeth has to plan and ally herself to the most unlikely friends to try to save herself and her children, but when the little princes in the Tower dissappear, no one knows who is the culprit. Is it King Richard III? The Duke of Buckingham, who wants to overthrow Richard and become king himself? Or Lady Margaret Beaufort, the last of the Lancastrians, who wants the throne for her only son Henry Tudor?

Philippa Gregory has some interesting theories about it...

Next book in the series is "The Red Queen", which continues the story from Margaret Beaufort's part.