When six of the last eight novels I’ve read have sucked, and all of those are romance (historical romance, with one exception), it must be time to switch genres. I’m not sure why I’ve been so desperate to read a good historical lately, but it’s clearly not happening!
I just started a fantasy novel that looks promising, but it’s an ebook and rather long, so if I’m short on reviews for the next week or two, it’s because I’ve dumped the rest of my recent reading list right here, and am now working to get ahead again.Right now, on my brand-new nook (I have a nook!)is a high-fantasy novel that is shaping into a mystery, a science fiction novel, and a collection of short stories by Nancy Fulda. (I reviewed Movement by her a while back, so am hopeful about these.)
And so, without further ado….Love Sucks!
1 Star Reviews
The Magic of You by Johanna Lindsey involved a 17-year-old girl making brazen advances after a 36-year-old man who tried repeatedly to warn her away. She is convinced they will be happy if he just gives in and realizes they are meant to be together. There is no actual happiness in the book, so I’m not sure how I’m supposed to believe that. I’m also not at all sure what made the little girl (and she really acted like one) so sure about this relationship. If she was supposed to be some kind of psychic or something, it didn’t come across to me at all. To me, it was just too stupid for words — or suspension of disbelief.
Midsummer Magic by Catherine Coulter tells the story of a man who doesn’t want to get married to a woman who doesn’t want to marry him back. He’s a jerk with no redeeming qualities who is not even good in bed. Seriously.
The Heiress by Lindsey Sands is one of the strangest sequels I’ve ever read. I really enjoyed The Countess, but this book covers the same events so closely that there’s really no point in reading the first 3/4 of the book.
One Night of Scandal by Teresa Medeiros starts with a debutante sneaking over to her neighbor’s house to get a look at “The Murderous Marquess,” and getting caught. I’ve rarely seen less chemistry between two characters. I didn’t dislike either one of them, nor did I find them inherently incomparable, I just felt like every instance of the two touching, kissing, or even thinking about the other felt amazingly forced.
2 Star Books:
Honeymoon Suite by Lynn Michaels (modern-day romance) may have been meant as a comedy, but it forgot the funny. It also contained It also had a big problem with STOPs (sudden Transformation of Personality)
Mine Till Midnight (The Hathaways, #1)
Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas is book 1 in the Hathaway Series, and the only reason I gave it as many stars as I did was that the rest of the series is actually decent, but it’s best to read them in order. So I don’t exactly not recommend this one, I’m just going to say I didn’t finish it — twice — and found it really boring.
Well I think it’s just important to tell peeps what books to avoid. Great post! New follower. Hope you’ll stop by my blog and follow back.
Jeannette
Thanks! I’m following you back.
I’ll admit, there are some not so good historical romance books out there, but there are also a lot of really great ones. I think the key is finding a historical romance that takes place during an era that you are interested in. For instance, I just finished reading a fantastic one titled, “The Romanov Stone” by Robert C. Yeager. The book takes place during the Romanov era in Russia. It is fast-paced with a lot of twists and turns. You should check it out before you give up on historical romance all together. One a side note, thanks for pointing out some not-so- great titles. I will make sure to avoid them.
http://www.robertcyeager.com/
You misunderstand! I’ve read tons and tons of historical romances, and enjoyed many of them. I think my problem right now is exactly the opposite — I’m dragging the bottom of the barrel looking for what I enjoyed in the others! 🙂
But I’ll check out that book. I have tended toward Regency and Victorian England, mostly because there are no shortage of books set there, Would be nice to mix things up.
Thanks for posting!
Oh, oops, sorry for the misunderstanding. Thank you for clarifying! 😉
No problem! I can see why you read it the other way. 🙂
Thanks. 🙂