Call Me Irresistible

Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Meg Koranda arrives in the small town of Wynette, Texas, just in time to fulfill her role as Maid of Honor in her best friend's wedding. Lucy is marrying Ted Beaudine, the town darling and the Most Perfect Man on Earth. Everyone loves him. Everyone. Even sunbeams seem to follow him around! Meg is the only person who finds him irritating, and who likewise irritates him. What Meg quickly realizes is that the match isn't as ideal as it should be, and Lucy is intimidated by her fiance's perfection. When she voices her reservations, she starts a chain of events no one sees coming, and suddenly she finds herself the most hated person in town. Unfortunately for Meg, she lacks the money to leave, so for once in her unfocused life she is forced to find reserves of resourcefulness and determination she didn't know she had in order to survive and overcome the obstacles and complications now blocking her path.

I put this book on hold based on an interesting blurb I found on a list of this year's Top 10 Romance Novels. (Put out by the publisher? I don't remember which list it was.) I was expecting it to be a good story, based on its presence on that list, but I was not prepared to be so drawn in by the story and the complexity of the character development. Then I discovered it was book #6 in a series with at least 7 volumes so far--happy day! I've gone on to read #7 (even better than #6!), and I plan to go back and read the earlier novels as well. What a delight to find a new-to-me author who writes with such depth, humor, and compassion for the follies and foibles of her characters.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways. Some sex scenes and swearing.

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The Great Escape

The Great Escape by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To call The Great Escape a romance is technically accurate but so inadequate. It's really a character-driven novel of three couples struggling with identity and history, trying to figure out what they want and who they want to be.

The book opens as Lucy panics and flees her own wedding to The Ideal Man, Ted Beaudine. His perfection has tipped her over the edge into the rebellion she never experienced as a teenager, and she escapes Texas with Panda, a biker who isn't quite what he seems. Panda tries to shock Lucy into returning to Ted--or at least to her family--and he is surprised and dismayed when his efforts fail. He decided long ago he was unworthy of and too dangerous for family life, and Lucy's presence is an unwelcome reminder of what he cannot have. Unfortunately for him, Lucy can't yet bear the thought of returning to her old life as the prim and proper lobbyist daughter of the former president of the United States, instead seeking solace in her new identity as Viper until she can figure out who and what to become now.

Couple number two features depressed and penniless Bree West, whose cheating husband dumped her for a nineteen-year-old office temp, and gregarious real estate salesman Mike Moody, whom Bree has detested since childhood and blames for destroying her chance at happiness with her first love, David. Bree returned to Charity Island after inheriting the guardianship of David's twelve-year-old son, Toby, who happens to idolize Big Mike, and she's grappling with her new realities of poverty and parenthood.

Couple number three consists of famous TV fitness guru Temple Renshaw and the love of her life, Max, whom she deems unsuitable. Temple is known for her harsh onscreen methods of coercing contestants into losing weight on her reality show "Fat Island," and she is no less critical when it comes to herself and shedding the pounds she gained in her despair over giving up Max. She hires Panda to keep her hidden from the paparazzi and prevent her from getting her hands on contraband like chocolate or muffins. But no matter how thin she gets, it's never enough.

Healing occurs slowly as their lives intersect on a small island in Lake Michigan.

I absolutely love this novel. It's the seventh in a series, following Call Me Irresistible, which I picked up because it was on a Top 10 list. Ms. Phillips is now one of my favorite authors. Her characters are real and flawed. They are people you might actually meet or already know. They struggle with PTSD, abuse, societal and familial pressures, sexual identity, body image, and low self-esteem. They crave a sense of purpose and seek to make a positive difference in the world. I'm glad to have met them.

For readers' advisors: character doorway. There are a few sex scenes and some swearing.

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Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet by Darynda Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Private investigator Charley Davidson hasn't left her apartment building in the two months since she was tortured by the man Reyes Farrow, her supernatural boyfriend, had been jailed a decade ago for murdering. Turns out he wasn't all that dead, so Reyes has been released from prison, while Charley is stuck in a self-imposed one. But a girl's gotta pay her bills eventually, and Charley owes a lot of money to the home shopping channels on television, so she takes the case of a young woman convinced someone has been tormenting her since childhood and is now trying to kill her. Her investigations keep being interrupted, however, by demon attacks, bank robberies, and family interventions. Charley needs to figure out--and fast--what other abilities come with her birthright as the grim reaper, or soon the bad guys might not be the only ones dying.

As always, Darynda Jones' books are a fast-paced, hilarious romp from beginning to end. This one has a bit less sexual content, though, since Charley and Reyes are furious with each other through much of the novel. My only complaint is that I now have to wait for months until the fifth book is released and I can find out what happens next!

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character is secondary. There is plenty of swearing and sexual references, so don't suggest this series for people who want "clean reads." Fans of Janet Evanovich's zany Stephanie Plum series will usually love it, though.

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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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The Woman Who Died a Lot

The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just sit back and enjoy the wacky ride. Thursday Next is back, a bit more battered than before but still just as determined to save the world from the Goliath Corporation. This time around she's also battling to save the library budget from elimination, find a missing criminal who can manipulate memories, prevent an imminent scheduled smiting of the Swindon business district by the Global Standard Deity, discover the purpose of the illegal body doubles, find out what Jack Schitt is plotting and stop him, keep a genius daughter with bad taste in boyfriends on track to get her Anti-Smite Shield invention working, and figure out why her son is going to murder someone on Friday at 14:02. Among other things. It's a whirlwind of complicated and crazy subplots.

Favorite moments: the reference to Nancy Pearl on page 100!  Thursday's desk has a dedicated red phone with a single button labeled "NP."  It's the emergency hotline to Nancy at the World League of Librarians, and if you summon her, she'll be on the first gravitube from Seattle.  HA!  Also, page 108 and the "Shush Law" that OK'ed violence by librarians against thieves and vandals.

What I love most about Fforde's novels is that they are so very chaotic and zany. They are nonstop action and nonsense that somehow come together in the end to make perfect sense in their own unique way. This series is pure fun , and I love escaping into Fforde's crazy reality.

For reader's advisors: setting and story doorways. Some mild swearing.

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The Ugly Duchess

The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The Duke of Ashbrook informs his son, James, that James must woo and marry the duke's ward, Theo, or they will lose everything. The duke has already embezzled a sizable amount of Theo's dowry, and if her mother finds out, she will have him arrested. James is livid but is forced to agree to the plan, on the condition that upon their wedding day, his father signs the entire estate over to him to prevent any more financial disasters. James and Theo have been raised as siblings and are best friends, so when he begins to court her, both are shocked to discover their feelings are deeper than either knew. Two days after the wedding, however, Theo learns the truth and banishes both James and the duke from the house. She never hears from her husband again until the day of the formal ceremony in the House of Lords to declare him dead.

I was going to give this one five stars...until the last third of the book after James returns and is a total jerk. 1 star for that section. He's known all along that he betrayed his best friend and will have to work really hard to rebuild her trust in him and convince her he actually does love her, not her dowry, yet when he finally bothers to come home, all he does is humiliate her and run roughshod over her life, stripping away her freedom and autonomy. I HATED him for that. For not listening to her. For not ever really apologizing or demonstrating that he understood the vastness of her pain. James swaggered in and treated Theo like a possession, not a person, and never ever truly LOOKED at her to see the person she had become or what she had accomplished during those long years alone. Even while he was working to overcome her revulsion at all things sexual, all he did was lie to her and trick her. (And really, under the circumstances, she re-learned to enjoy sex WAY too quickly.)

This book made me so very very angry. I have enjoyed Ms. James' books in the past, but this one.... James (the author as well as the character!) needs to attend some of Alison Armstrong's workshops, especially the one called "Understanding Women"! Particularly the part about The Rage Monster and the proper (and only effective) method of apologizing to a woman.

Oh, and it's loosely a re-telling of the Ugly Duckling fairy tale.

For readers' advisors: story, character, setting doorways. Steamy sex scenes.

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The Duke Is Mine

The Duke Is Mine by Eloisa James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Olivia Lytton has been raised since birth to be a duchess. Her father and the Duke of Canterwick were schoolmates who pledged to betroth their first-born daughter and son, respectively, so Olivia has always known who she'd marry. However, her fiance is a few bricks shy of a load and five years younger than she to boot, so she takes refuge in bawdy wit, to the despair of her mother and twin sister.

After an embarrassing encounter forced on the pair by their parents, Rupert heads off to war, determined to bring glory upon his family name before he marries Olivia. For her part, Olivia becomes Rupert's champion as she learns to appreciate his sweetness and realizes he had been deprived of oxygen at birth. With Olivia's future settled, she and her twin sister Georgiana head to the country where Georgie is auditioning for the role of duchess to Quin, the Duke of Sconce. (In other words, they attend a house-party hosted by his mother).

Unlike the frequently irreverent Olivia, Georgiana would make an ideal duchess, and the dowager agrees. Problem is, Quin cannot keep his eyes or his attention away from Olivia, and the feeling is mutual. What a tangled web!

I loved Olivia's sense of humor. Were I in her shoes, pledged to marry a man who could never be my intellectual equal and who would require a lifetime of care, I likely would become clinically depressed, but Olivia chooses to make herself laugh instead, and I admire that.

I also loved that you get to know and understand the characters better over time, which makes them more human and sympathetic. For example, Georgie may be perfectly behaved, but she longs to go to university, in an age where women simply weren't allowed access to higher education. Even the obedient child has a bit of rebel in her.

The overall story is a re-imagining of the Princess and the Pea fairy tale, and I enjoyed how Ms. James played with those themes. Apparently, though, the ending was also a tribute to The Scarlet Pimpernel...although it's been too long since I read it to catch those allusions.

Based on other reviews I've read, this is a book you either love or hate, and I loved it. Zany fun, and great for a day cooped up indoors with a nasty cold.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways are primary, setting secondary. Some steamy sex scenes set in Regency England.

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