It Had to Be You by Jill Shalvis *ARC Review*

Ali Winters is not having a good day. Her boyfriend left her, everyone in town thinks she's a thief, and now she's about to be kicked out of her home. Her only shot at keeping a roof over her head and clearing her name is to beg for help from a police detective who's as sexy as he is stern....

After a high-profile case goes wrong, Luke Hanover returns to his hometown for some peace and quiet. Instead he finds a bombshell brunette in a heap of trouble. As he helps Ali put her world back together, the pieces of Luke's own life finally seem to fall into place. Is this the start of a sizzling fling? Or are Luke and Ali on the brink of something big in a little town called Lucky Harbor?
~~

I've said it before but with Jill Shalvis I rarely regret it, quirky characters are my favorite when it comes to contemporary romances. I can find drama when I want it, but pleasant small town stuff, the stories with main characters that deserve the happiness life is bringing them, are the ones I pick up again and again and are the bread and butter of my bookshelves. 

Luke is getting a lot of flack as the former lead detective on a murder case involving a senator (which thankfully we don't get into a whole lot) so the last thing he needs, obviously, is free spirited 'searching for herself' Ali, who's just found out what a loser her ex-boyrfriend really is. Sounds like a rom-com starring Katherine Heigel right? Luckily things stay light, even when Ali's accused of theft, and Luke is able to start putting himself together as he realizes how much faith family and friends (old and new) still have in him.

It's cute ok? Go read it :).

Overall Feeling - B+

Series - 5) At Last 6) Forever and a Day 7) It Had to Be You (out 5/28/2013)

**Title requested from NetGalley** 

i can barely take care of myself by Jen Kirkman

"You'll Change Your Mind."

That’s what everyone says to Jen Kirkman— and countless women like her—when she confesses she doesn’t plan to have children. But you know what? It’s hard enough to be an adult. You have to dress yourself and pay bills and remember to buy birthday gifts. You have to drive and get annual physicals and tip for good service. Some adults take on the added burden of caring for a tiny human being with no language skills or bladder control. Parenthood can be very rewarding, but let’s face it, so are margaritas at the adults-only pool.

Jen’s stand-up routine includes lots of jokes about not having kids (and some about masturbation and Johnny Depp), after which complete strangers constantly approach her and ask, “But who will take care of you when you’re old?” (Servants!) Some insist, “You’d be such a great mom!” (Really? You know me so well!)

Whether living rent-free in her childhood bedroom while trying to break into comedy (the best free birth control around, she says), or taking the stage at major clubs and joining a hit TV show— and along the way getting married, divorced, and attending excruciating afternoon birthday parties for her parent friends—Jen is completely happy and fulfilled by her decision not to procreate.

I Can Barely Take Care of Myself is a beacon of hilarious hope for anyone whose major life decisions have been questioned by friends, family, and strangers in a comedy club bathroom. And it should satisfy everyone who wonders if Jen will ever know true love without looking into the eyes of her child.
~~

This book started out pretty well but petered off into something I consider amusing but not laugh out loud funny. It's probably not complimentary to Ms. Kirkman but I can't help but compare this to Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened. I don't read enough humorous nonfiction to have much else to compare it to and I think it's the best example of why I didn't connect to this book more: personal connection. 

Kirkman spends a lot of time showcasing different scenarios of how her friends/family put her on the spot regarding her decision to not have children, but once the humorous part of the story ends not much else seems to happen. She gets married and gets divorced - both with almost not back story - and doesn't ever seem to come to grips with her own decision. Maybe my confusion comes about from being a bit more bitchy about the whole thing, but by the end I just wanted to tell her to get a grip, it's your life, live it as you want.

Shrug. It's ok - but check it out from the library.

Overall Feeling - B-

Series - None

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris *HERE THERE BE SLIGHT SPOILERS*

There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart....

Sookie Stackhouse  finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough…
~~

The final Sookie Stackhouse book. I feel like there should be a drumroll or some suspenseful music to herald in this book, since it's been released with so much damn fanfare. Yes it's the end of a hugely popular series that has spawned a mostly hugely popular TV show. Are violence and death threats necessary? Absolutely not. They are never EVER necessary because you know whose book this is? THE AUTHOR'S. And she can damn well do whatever she wants with it.

Sigh.

The book itself in my opinion? Mediocre. It read as if Harris felt she needed to bring back every bad guy or suspicious character for one final showdown - or showdowns - and Sookie's personal story suffered for it. What you end up with are a lot of characters, a lot of unseen actions, and suddenly everything's just over. I was 80% of the way through when I realized that all of this other crap had gone down but Sookie was no closer to her HEA than before. Maybe it's my personal preference for romance, even/especially if its of the paranormal variety, but things ended up rushed and while I applaud Harris's choice to end her novel on a 'maybe' note instead of having Sookie jump in with both feet into another relationship, there could have been much more finality for all of the characters we've known and loved instead of all this 'whodunnit' stuff.

Overall Feeling - C+

Series - 11) Dead Reckoning 12) Deadlocked 13) Dead Ever After

True by Erin McCarthy

Awkward girl meets scorching-hot boy…

When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.

Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…

Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost… 
~~
Reason why I'm probably not going to read anymore New Adult:

1) Trying to picture these characters as their real ages made me feel like I was reading about babies
2) Heavy, emotional problems like these that still attempt to end in a HEA confuse me because their future seems so unlikely 
3) I'M SKEEVED OUT by their ages. I'm sorry. I can't. I thought I could handle adult sex with physically adult characters and I've had to face the facts that I need people to be 24+, please and thank you. 

The book itself and the story is ok, the family drama and bad boy meets good girl tropes are both things I tend to be ok with in my contemporary romances. Personally I had problems balancing their ages with their parents, and the fact that because they were young the parents were really applicable and at times detrimental to their desires. Combine that with roommates/friends who pull one of the most bullsh*t moves I've read about it in a while and Rory continues to be friend with them? Sorry, the ending was cute and I hope the best for the characters because they're pretty likable, but this was just not my kinda book.

Overall Feeling - C-

Series - None (?)

The Mystery Woman by Amanda Quick

Beatrice Lockwood, one of the intrepid ladies of Lantern Street, is in the middle of a case when her past comes back to haunt her.  Joshua North, a former spy for the Crown, has come out of a self-imposed retirement after a disastrous case that left him scarred and forced to use a cane.  He is hunting the villain who is blackmailing his sister.

The trail leads him to Beatrice who is his chief suspect.  But when he realizes that she is not the blackmailer they set out to find the real extortionist.  Passion flares between them as they dodge a professional assassin.  Meanwhile a mysterious scientist intent on resurrecting his dead lover using an ancient Egyptian formula for preserving the bodies of the dead is also hunting Beatrice. He is keeping his dead love perfectly preserved in a special, crystal-topped sarcophagus filled with the special fluid.   But he needs Beatrice's paranormal talent to activate the reviving properties of the preservative in the coffin.  Time is running out for everyone involved.

The two cases collide at a mysterious country-house filled with artifacts from ancient Egyptian tombs.  The drama concludes in the mad scientist's laboratory where Joshua discovers that the past he thought was dead is still very much alive -- sort of.
~~

I usually gravitate to Ms. Krentz books under her Jayne Castle pseudonym but for a historical The Mystery Woman wasn't bad. It's got Krentz's usual tricks, a forthright heroine and a hero with a dangerous past, but the story is still interesting to read. 

Beatrice's connection to her psychic abilities and Josh's vehemence that he doesn't have them is a familiar dynamic but one that works for me. I mean the book summary says a lot about what happens, so let me say in the end this was entertaining but not terrifically different from anything else Krentz has done. It was good enough that I've put the first book on hold at the library and will be checking back in with these characters in the future. If you like Krentz you should like this!

Overall Feeling - B

Series - 1) Crystal Gardens 2) The Mystery Woman

April in Review

What the heck people - it's May (imagine that Justin Timberlake picture that's been up all over Facebook cause I don't wanna post it). How did this happen?!

DC is bouncing between a million different temperatures, my allergies are killing me, and somehow I'm super busy. Again. Or still, I'm really not sure about that.  I did manage to find time to get my butt down to Duke for my 5th year Reunion but in addition to have a grand time, the baby faces currently walking around campus made me feel SUUUPPPPPEEERRRR old. I did get in one last time at my favorite Tex-Mex places of all time and demolished the following:

Worth all the calories :D

I guess with that intro no one's surprised by the short list of books below. I wish I had time to read more and probably more books that I want to read but all in all I can't say I'm totally dissatisfied. At least I got some books in!

Scarlet by Marrissa Meyer (B)
Impulse by Moira Rogers
It Had to be You by Jill Shalvis (review coming soon!)
Lush by Lauren Dane  (A+)
Kitty Rocks the House by Carrie Vaughn (B-)
Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts
Coming Undone by Lauren Dane
Never Enough by Lauren Dane
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (B+/A)
Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts (B-/C+)

My favorite of the month? Most fun has to go to Lush by Lauren Dane, most inspirational to Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg - go read them both!

P.S. -  My thoughts on that German fan who released the ending of Harris's last Sookie book? BAD FORM MAN. I can resist the internet ok, and you will NOT ruin it for me! 

Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts

For more than three hundred years, Bluff House has sat above Whiskey Beach, guarding its shore—and its secrets. But to Eli Landon, it’s home…

A Boston lawyer, Eli has weathered an intense year of public scrutiny and police investigations after being accused of—but never arrested for—the murder of his soon-to-be-ex wife.

He finds sanctuary at Bluff House, even though his beloved grandmother is in Boston recuperating from a nasty fall. Abra Walsh is always there, though. Whiskey Beach’s resident housekeeper, yoga instructor, jewelry maker, and massage therapist, Abra is a woman of many talents—including helping Eli take control of his life and clear his name. But as they become entangled in each other, they find themselves caught in a net that stretches back for centuries—one that has ensnared a man intent on reaping the rewards of destroying Eli Landon once and for all…
~~

As much as I love Nora Roberts I'm going to have to call Whiskey Beach a 'close but no cigar' kind of book. The characters were ok, the setup was ok, even the suspense was ok, but that's all the feelings this story got from me: just ok. Maybe I'd be able to take this book better on its own merit if her previous titles, The Witness and The Search, hadn't been so freaking good.

Abra is the typical Roberts heroine, seemingly perfect as a person who's overcome personal adversity to in order to craft a life that works for them. Eli is gruff as the hero, burned by his life and career and trying to find some semblance of a future in the house that has mean so much to him and his family. But in the end they both felt like caricatures of what Roberts has done in the past and while the book was nice as a quickie thrill from the library, I don't think this is one I'd care enough about to go back and reread.

Overall Feeling - B-/C+

Series - None