Dream Lake

Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alex, the youngest of the three Nolan brothers, is an outstanding carpenter and contractor who sinks deeper and deeper into depression and alcoholism with each passing day. His decline is a source of sadness and frustration for the ghost who has been tethered to him since Alex first began helping his brother Sam renovate the Rainshadow Road house. The ghost remembers only bits and pieces of his past and needs Alex's help to figure out who he is and how he came to haunt the Rainshadow Road house in the first place, decades ago, and for that, Alex must be sober and cooperative.

Zoe Hoffman is the chef and co-owner of Artist's Point, a bed-and-breakfast in Friday Harbor, Washington. Her grandmother raised her after her mother took off when she was tiny, and her father abandoned her at his mother's house when Zoe was in the third grade. Now Emma's health is failing, and Zoe hires Alex to renovate the old cottage Emma still owns on Dream Lake so that she can bring her grandmother to live with her there. Zoe and Alex met once several years ago, and it didn't go well: Zoe looks like a blond, vintage pin-up girl, and Alex resorted to rudeness to keep himself from drooling over her. Growing up with abusive, neglectful, alcoholic parents left Alex convinced he is undeserving and incapable of being in a loving relationship, and he recognizes that is exactly what Zoe needs and wants. Still, the two are unwillingly drawn together, and slowly learn that love is worth fighting for.

I absolutely fell in love with these characters and this book. I think my favorite character was the ghost, and I so appreciate that Ms. Kleypas made even a spectral person seem real. I was also grateful that Alex struggled so hard and for so long against both his alcoholism and his phobia of commitment. It drives me crazy when romance novels (or any type of story) make obstacles dissolve once boy meets girl, like somehow the power of attraction alone can overcome addiction or abuse. The closest Kleypas came to doing that was to have Zoe's cooking help Alex cope with the DTs, but that made sense for a book in a series laced with gentle magic.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is definitely primary, but story is strong, too. There are sex scenes and some occasional swearing.

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Crystal Cove

Crystal Cove by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Justine Hoffman was raised by a mother who never wanted to settle down and stay in one place, never allowed her daughter to put down roots. Consequently, Justine craves stability, and as the co-owner of a bed-and-breakfast in Friday Harbor, Washington, she strives to make her guests feel at home. The one thing she despairs of ever finding, though, is love. Justine and her mother are hereditary witches, and it turns out that when she was a child, her mother placed a geas on her, cursed her to never find love so that she would never experience the pain of loss. Justine decides to break the curse, no matter the consequences.

Jason Black is a very wealthy video game designer and reclusive mogul. When his assistant books rooms for Jason and his team at Justine's B&B, he has ulterior motives. Jason knows he has no soul, and he believes Justine's grimoire holds the key to saving him, whether she wants to loan it to him or not. He just didn't plan on falling for her first.

This book could have been so good. It's the fourth installment in a lovely series of magical realism romances, although I accidentally read it third. Unfortunately, Kleypas jumped on the 50 Shades of Grey bandwagon, opted for explicit sex scenes with bondage, and lost interest in making the characters or main relationship likeable.

The concept of Jason having no soul was muddled: supposedly all that meant was that when he died, that was just...it. No afterlife. Which really made him desperate enough to do genealogical research on hereditary witches and enlist his assistant's family's help to do the impossible, regardless of the cost to himself or anyone else? So if he was in all other ways "normal," why did he have to be such a ruthless, controlling jerk? Why are his eyes described as "fathomless...shrewd and opaque as blackstrap molasses--could have belonged to Lucifer himself"?

The fact that Jason was manipulative instead of kind completely undermined the story's central relationship. There was just no foundation for any kind of believable romance--nothing in common, no real friendship or companionship, nothing whatsoever to form a scaffolding for building a life together.

The tipping point for me, however, was when the hemp ropes came out and Justine allowed Jason to turn her into a human pretzel during a graphic sex scene. How can I put this...um, NO. A thousand times NO! There isn't anything wrong with choosing to be passive. Being tied up, restrained, unable to move, on the other hand, I find neither sexy nor erotic. All I could think was, "OW!! Use your safe word! USE YOUR SAFE WORD!!" But she never does, and then she wakes up to find him vanished, having stolen her most valuable possession. Yep. What's even better is that she only stays furious for a few days and then melts for more explicit sex when she catches up to him. Because, see, he "loves" her. Yes, indeedy--this relationship is solid!

Ugh. The more I think about this book, the more the bad parts eclipse the good parts. So I'm going to stop concentrating on this one and move on to writing my next review. (Of book 3 in this series, which I adored!)

For readers' advisors: story doorway. Do not suggest it to anyone who didn't love 50 Shades of Grey or similar titles.

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Rainshadow Road

Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Lucy Marinn's boyfriend of two years dumps her for her younger sister, she is devastated. She immerses herself in her glasswork and swears off men, even when one comes to her rescue after a drunk spills his beer on her in a crowded bar. Sam Nolan may be handsome and kind, but he's also pathologically afraid of commitment, having grown up with the town drunks as parents. However, when Lucy is hit by a car and ends up in the hospital, Sam again comes to her rescue and agrees to care for her at his house. Magic is in the air, though--literally--and broken hearts begin to heal.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways. The book is set in Friday Harbor, Washington. There are a few sex scenes.

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Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I haven't read many of Lisa Kleypas' books thus far, but I think I may have to change that. I really enjoyed this one, and not just because it was set in NW Washington, although that was definitely a bonus. I read this one in one sitting. I liked that there were no "bad guys" in the story--no awful exes or nasty people at all. Just lonely people with baggage trying to do the best they can.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways, plus setting for those of us who've traveled to or lived in NW Washington. Oh, and only one short sex scene, almost at the end, and it's not very explicit.



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