Not too long ago Queen J and I decided to test the bonds of our friendship by participating in what we’ve been calling “Book Roulette.” The basics of are this: we pick a book to read for each other and hope it doesn’t ruin our friendship.
Luckily, the monarchy remains stable.
The book that Queen J assigned to me was [amazon text=Fantasy Lover&asin=B001OO4H14] by Sherrilyn Kenyon, a paranormal romance written in 2002. One sentence plot: 2000+ year old Spartan demi God/love slave and current day sex therapist help break his curse.
I…rolled my eyes a lot in the beginning of this book. This book may have been new and exciting when it was first released, but I found it dated and unbelievable. I realized this is paranormal and plots don’t need to make sense, but this one went beyond belief. Our Heroine, Grace, is a supposed sex therapist, yet she claims to have never orgasmed (at the age of 29!) and in fact, never had a healthy sexual relationship herself. How can she counsel her patients when her knowledge is so lacking? Suspending my belief about Grace, I was able to enjoy the rest of the book…mostly.
You all may not know this, but I am a bit of a grammar nerd. Oxford commas are one of my greatest loves. Thus, the formatting of Fantasy Lover rubbed my inner grammar nerd the wrong way. There was no differentiation between point-of-views and you could read nearly an entire passage before realizing it had changed.
The only thing that saved this book, in my opinion, was our Hero Julian. He started off very self-absorbed and was the reason for the majority of my eye rolls at the beginning. I enjoyed watching him grow into someone caring and protective; someone worthy of love. Additionally, I found the Greek historical and mythical tidbits interesting.
If I haven’t scared you away, consider checking out Sherrilyn Kenyon’s entire [amazon text=Dark Hunter Series&asin=B00ERQIZE6]. Convince me to give them a try!
Queen B’s book for me was Dreaming of You (The Gamblers of Craven’s #2) by Lisa Kleypas
Historical romances are not my most read genre so that may have contributed to this book being a complete surprise to me. Up to this point, I had “Historical British” as one standard category in my mind and I never looked at the nuances of the many decades and styles of the genre. I opened this book expecting castles, royal titles and rigid gender roles. Surprise! This book has none of those things.
Set in Regency (not Victorian) England, Dreaming of You looks at the reluctant romance of a brave and independent young author and a Cockney gambler with a heart of gold.
Sara was unlike any historical heroine I’ve read before. She is innocent, brave, independent and contains an abundance of empathy. In a time consumed with class struggle our heroine does not appear to have a judgmental bone in her body. I loved seeing her interact with all the different types of characters in this book. Poor, wealthy, titled, prostitute she treated them all with respect. Derek likes to call her “mouse” and she has a innocent bashfulness to her at times, but then she comes out swinging with her fierce independence. One of her best quotes:
“A long time ago I learned not to explain things to people. It misleads them into thinking they’re entitled to know everything I do.”
Derek is adorably gruff. He is gritty, determined and jaded with an uncaring facade he uses to cover everything he’s had to overcome and protect his few remaining soft spots. He is not very happy having his world disturbed, but Sara’s genuine heart and inquisitive mind won’t let him escape.
She felt him tremble with the force of his need. He spoke just beneath her ear, his voice thick with tormented pleasure. He spoke just beneath her ear, his voice thick with tormented pleasure.
“You have to leave, Sara … because I want to hold you like this until your skin melts into mine. I want you in my bed, the smell of you on my sheets, your hair spread across my pillow. I want to take your innocence. God! I want to ruin you for anyone else.”
Blindly Sara flattened her hand on his cheek, against the scratch of newly grown beard.
“What if I want the same?” she whispered.
This is a true love story and I can understand why Queen B has a special place in her romantic little heart for this book.
In the end, independent women, cockney accents and the dirty back streets of London were all a surprise, but a very pleasant surprise.
Book Roulette round 1 survived!