When I saw The Stranger I Married in the bookstore last week, I snatched it up. I think it’s no secret that I love Sylvia Day’s writing, and this book is no exception.

They are London’s most scandalous couple. Isabel, Lady Pelham, and Gerard Faulkner, Marquess of Grayson, are well matched in all things–their lusty appetites, constant paramours, wicked wits, provocative reputations, and their absolute refusal ever to ruin their marriage of convenience by falling in love with one another. Isabel knows such a charming rake will never appeal to her guarded heart, nor will she sway his philandering one. It is a most agreeable sham . . . until a shocking turn of events sends Gerard from her side.

Now, four years later, Gerard has come home to Isabel. But the carefree, boyish rogue who left has been replaced by a brooding, powerful, irresistible man who is determined to seduce his way into her affections. Gone is the devil-may-care companion who shared her friendship and nothing more, and in his place is temptation itself . . . a husband who desires Isabel body and soul and who will stop at nothing to win her love. No, this is not at all the man she had married. But he is the man who might finally steal her heart . . .

Before proceeding with this review, I should mention that I had a chance to read the first few chapters of this book some time ago to offer my opinion of its unconventional characters. I told Sylvia that I was intrigued by where the story would go, and I wanted to read more. When I read this book last week, I was convinced that The Stranger I Married may well be Day’s best work to date: 5 out of 5.

Conventional readers may be put off by the reasons Gerard and Isabel marry. If that’s the case, I hope they will keep reading nonetheless; otherwise, they will miss a beautiful story. The Stranger I Married is not only the story of how Isabel and Gerard fall in love with each other. It’s also the story of one man’s journey to becoming a man who likes himself. Both these aspects of the story are compelling.

Equally moving is a secondary romance featuring Isabel’s brother. I’m not always a fan of secondary romances, as I often find them distracting, but in this case it was cute and not at all detracting from the story.

The Stranger I Married is a subtly drawn portrait of two people who find love and acceptance with each other. I encourage you to read their story.

 

I received a copy of Jacquelyn Frank’s Jacob at the RWA conference, where editor Kate Duffy called it the project she’d been most excited about. Naturally, this piqued my interest, although I didn’t read it until this month. Duffy’s praise is a lot to live up to, but I liked the book: 3.5 out of 5.

Since time began, there have been Nightwalkers–the races of the night existing in the shadows. For them, anything is possible, except love with a human. Ancient law denies these impossible pairings that can end only in destruction. For those who waver there is Jacob, the Enforcer.

For 700 years, he has commanded the element of the earth, resisted temptation, and brought to justice those who have fallen prey to their lust for humans. Immune to forbidden desires, Jacob’s control is total . . . until Isabella. Then, the conflict begins.

The concept for this book (and series; there are more books to come) is excellent. I was intrigued by the world Frank creates and found myself wanting to know more about it. The relationship between Jacob and Isabella evolves in a natural and interesting way.

I did wish there’d been more depth to the story. I felt like I knew some things about Jacob and Isabella but didn’t really know who they were on a deeper level. It didn’t help that Isabella is a bit of a cliche at first, an inexperienced librarian. She evolves quite a bit, and I thought she ended up a more interesting character by the end of the book. Still, I would describe this as a pleasant read rather than a particularly riveting one.

Gideon is the hero of the next book; it looks interesting.

 

I’ve been reading Amelia Elias’s work since her first book, Three Wishes. I own most of them, though I haven’t read everything. This week, I read Hunted.

Explosions, car wrecks, assassins, escaped murderers, and a kidnapping . . . arranged marriages can really take their toll on a vampire.

Witness to a brutal murder, Sian Lazuro didn’t count on the killer escaping moments after his conviction. Three years later, she’s learned the hard way there’s only one person she can trust–herself. When she wakes up in bed with a gorgeous stranger who claims to have saved her life, she’s understandably wary.

Diego Leonides is like no one she’s ever met before. Sensual, mysterious, and clearly delusional, he insists not only is he a vampire, but she’s now his eternal mate.

Diego never dreamed he’d find his mate by getting hit by her car, and she’s no happier about their sudden bonding than she is. The only survivor of a massacre that wiped out his entire Clan, he’s spent the century avoiding taking a mate. Now he finds himself stuck with a woman running from a murderer just as the descendants of the vampire slayers who killed his family arrive in San Francisco to finish the job with him.

Arranged marriages are hard enough on a vampire without having to convince his mate that the real bloodthirsty fiends are the mortals . . .

Elias is one of those authors I think should get a NY publishing contract. Any day now. I give Hunted 4.5 out of 5.

One of Elias’s strengths is in her characterization. I love Diego’s protectiveness even as he wants to fight his growing feelings for Sian. Once he realizes what he feels for her, though, he doesn’t hide it from himself or from her. There’s something wonderful and sexy about that.

Sian’s a strong character as well, a rare heroine who truly can take care of herself . . . at least in most circumstances. The world of vampires is an unfamiliar one for her, and I thought she dealt with the knowledge in a realistic way. She makes a frustrating choice toward the end of the book (just talk to him, OK?), but I still liked her overall.

Hunted is the first book in a series, and I’m looking forward to reading Outcast, the next book, which is out now.

Jill Shalvis’s Aussie Rules was in my reading now column for a while now, but that’s because I’m lousy at updating my sidebar. The book is actually a nice, quick read: 4.5 out of 5.

It’s bad enough that gutsy pilot Mel Anderson has to clean up after her lovable but completely disorganized best friend and business partner, Dimi, while her certifiable employees make more work than they do. Now, the one man she hoped she’d never see–the man who owns the deed to her airport, thank you–is back and looking for trouble. Scratch that, he is trouble. Amazing, holy cow, more please trouble . . .

Bo Black wants his family’s airport back, and he’s determined to get it. This laid-back Aussie is nobody’s fool. Thing is, neither is Mel. She’s intense. Uptight. Sexy. And very, very tempting. Suddenly, Bo’s thinking less about revenge and more about kissing and touching and falling into a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-underpants kind of forever love . . .

Now, somebody’s going for broke; somebody’s going crazy; somebody’s going to try everything; and somebody’s going to play a very risky surprise . . .

What makes this story so good? The way it focuses on the characters. As the story progresses, it’s clear that a mystery needs to be solved, but the mystery doesn’t overwhelm the attraction and budding romance between Bo and Mel, two real people with real emotions.

Shalvis’s books often have quirky secondary characters, and this book is no exception. They aren’t merely quirky, though; they also show depth. Two in particular share a very sweet love story.

I really enjoy the way Shalvis reveals the history of the airport to readers. It’s shared piece by piece, which really works for this book. I also like the fact that there is no convenient misunderstanding as the mystery unfolds. That probably won’t make sense unless you’ve read the book, but I want to be vague so I don’t spoil anything. Too often in fiction, there’s a convenient explanation for a character’s bad behavior. That doesn’t happen here, and I appreciated that.

Shalvis’s next Brava will be released in April. It’s also set in an airport and it looks pretty interesting. It also has a terrific cover! I’m looking forward to it.

 

Maria Snyder’s Poison Study was one of the most memorable books I read last year. The sequel, Magic Study, is quite good too: 4 out of 5.

With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she’d been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can’t help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways–and her newfound friends and relatives don’t think it’s for the better . . .

Despite the turmoil, she’s eager to start her magic training–especially as she’s been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia’s throne for a lost prince–and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn’t bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies . . .

It was nice to revisit Yelena’s world and see how she handled new adventures. She is progressing nicely as a character, and I enjoyed seeing her cope in situations where she had more control. In Poison Study, Yelena’s actions are restricted by her circumstances; here, she has more freedom. She does make some choices that seem a little reckless when I look back on them, but Snyder does a good job of making these decisions seem logical for the story and the character.

And Valek. He’s terrific. I just wish he’d been in the story longer. The man is dynamic, and I loved every page that included him.

Snyder also introduces some elements in this book that make me curious about how they will play out in the future. Now, I just have to wait for Fire Study, the next book in the series.

Born in Death is the latest installment in J.D. Robb’s In Death series. This is one series I continue to enjoy: 4.5 out of 5.

Technology has advanced in 2060 New York City, but childbirth has been the same since the beginning of time. And despite the brutal double homicide on Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s caseload, she has to be there for her pregnant friend Mavis, even if it means throwing the dreaded baby shower . . .

But Mavis needs an even bigger favor how. Tandy Willowby, one of the moms-to-be in her birthing class, has gone missing, just days before her due date–not even showing up at the shower at Eve and Roarke’s place that she’d been looking forward to so much. A recent emigrant from London, Tandy has few friends in New York, and no family. When Eve enters Tandy’s apartment and finds Mavis’s shower gift wrapped and ready on the table–and Tandy’s packed hospital bag still on the floor–her spine starts tingling.

Normally, this would be turned over to Missing Persons. Eve has more than enough on her plate trying to find out who murdered Natalie Copperfield and her fiance, both employed at a prestigious accounting firm. But Mavis wants no one but Eve on the case–and Eve can’t say no. She’ll have to track Tandy down while tracing the deals and double-crosses hidden in some of the city’s richest and most secretive citizens, in a race against a particularly vicious killer. Luckily, she has her multimillionaire husband Roarke’s expertise to help with the numbers crunching. But as he mines for the crucial data that will break the case wide open, Eve faces an all-too-real danger in the flesh-and-blood world.

If you follow this series, you probably know that a long-awaited event occurs in this book, one suggested by the title. It’s been a long wait. While the In Death books usually come out every six months, it’s been almost a year since the previous book. I was beginning to feel withdrawl symptoms.

I love the beginning of the story, where Eve’s discomfort with the concept of babies and childbirth is clear. There are a lot of nice character moments in this book, and they’re really the reason I love this series so much.

The mystery is nice, too. I thought it was interesting and well-crafted, a nice change from the deranged serial killers that have been in some of Robb’s previous books. I also liked the way the second mystery, Tandy’s disappearance, played out.

I’d heard that Roarke wasn’t in this story as much, but I didn’t notice that he was off-stage (I suppose that should be off-page) as much as I’d expected. He is very much a part of this book.

I’m excited to read the next book! I can only hope it isn’t as long a wait.

 

Stephanie Rowe’s Must Love Dragons is the next book in the series that started with Date Me, Baby, One More Time. It’s a good story, even if I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first book: 4 out of 5.

Theresa Nichols is a red-blooded young woman–trapped in a red-hot dragon’s body. Until the chance for a real-live date with her cyber boy toy Zeke sends her running to Satan to strike a deal. After all, when you’ve gone without sex for over two hundred years, a night of good lovin’ is worth your eternal soul, right?

Zeke Siccardi is a private detective trying to live a normal life–and outrun his dragon-slaying past. Not easy to do when his sexy online paramour turns out to be a dragon with a contract out on her life. Now Zeke has to protect a woman he was born to kill. But for the love of a fire-breathing sexpot, how hard could it be?

A book about a dragon and dragon hunter offers an instant and intriguing conflict. So why didn’t I like this book as much as its predecessor? For me, it was Theresa. Her emotions seemed to vacillate constantly, which made her character not as strong as it could have been. This made the book a little less compelling for me.

I did like Zeke, and I thought he and Theresa had good chemistry.

Satan continues to amuse me. He’s hilarious! He’s so egotistical and yet brought to his knees by his love for a woman. The next book is apparently about his Rivka. I’ll be interested in seeing how that story plays out.

Thirteen Books I Have Currently Checked Out of the Library

1. British Bad Boys: Nancy Warren
2. Cold As Ice: Anne Stuart
3. I’m in No Mood for Love: Rachel Gibson
4. Just Try Me: Jill Shalvis
5. Magic Study: Maria Snyder
6. Murder 101: Maggie Barbieri
7. No Rest for the Wicked: Kresley Cole
8. On the Way to the Wedding: Julia Quinn
9. The Rules of Seduction: Madeline Hunter
10. The Seduction of His Wife: Janet Chapman
11. She’s No Princess: Laura Lee Guhrke
12. Take Me: Lucy Monroe
13. The Vampire Who Loved Me: Teresa Medeiros

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I posted a column yesterday at Romancing the Blog. Hope you enjoy it! I’d love to hear if you keep track of your annual reads.