What I read on vacation: spring break 2012 edition

So here I am typing on my iPhone in Newport beach. It is only 11 o'clock, but i am the only one of the eight of us staying in this house that is still up. I probably won't post this till I get back because I'm not very good at typing on an iPhone, but I just wanted to get some notes down before the same old thing happens- I was going to do this after Christmas break, but we were in the middle of moving and by the time I had the time to do it, the books were one enormous blob in my head. I couldn't remember which one was which. So here goes.

Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. You might remember that I am not SEP's biggest fan. I've read many of her books, and I almost always love the middle 250 pages, but hate the beginning and the end. But that middle 250 pages is good enough that I keep reading them.  Breathing Room might be the exception. The beginning actually made sense. There was no shy virgin inexplicably trying to do a strip tease in front of a group of professional athletes; there was no one wandering down the side of the highway in a sweaty beaver suit. Just a believable story of a woman whose perfect life falls apart.

Isabel Favor is a famous self help guru whose fiancé dumps her because he finds her perfect life too boring. That same day that she finds out she owes the IRS over a million dollars because her accountant has the morals of a slime pit. With her life in shambles, she ends up taking over a friend's rental in Tuscany, where she runs into Lorenzo Gage, a movie star who specializes in playing bad guys. She has to figure out what parts of her old life still work and what parts don't. It's beautifully plotted, and the characters are both surprising and believable-- which is a great combination. This is a terrific book, one you could add to the shortlist of books to hand to someone who is skeptical about romance novels.

I only have two small gripes.  One, I didn't care for the ending- which for me and SEP novels is a big step up. I didn't hate the ending as usual, I just didn't care for it. It didn't seem to me like it fit the rest of the book. Two, there was a bit too much therapy-speak.  It is only excusable because the heroine really is a self-help guru, and so it's somewhat believable that she would think and talk like that.  The secondary romance (usually a highlight in SEP novels), is almost entirely built around marriage counseling, and it falls a bit flat. But still- highly recommended. 4 1/2 stars. Thank you to LondonMabel and Judy3 for the recommendation.  And I want a month (or three) vacation in Tuscany.  Please.

Believe It or Not by Tawna Fenske. I'm a fan of Tawna's blog, so I've been looking forward to this, her second novel.  The first one, Making Waves, was a solid debut novel, better than about 75% of what's out there-- mostly because of two or three truly funny, clever, intelligently written scenes that make the book.  At her best, Tawna's dialogue is witty and often hilarious, and the language she uses sparkles with intelligent humor.  But in that first book, it came in fits and starts.  You'd read one scene and be awed by the writing, but then the next one would draaaag.  (And since there was a great cross-dressing ex-NFL player in that book, I suppose I could say that pun was intended.)  I enjoyed it, and I'd recommend it, but I was really hoping that this one would be better. 

And it is.  Believe It or Not is several leaps forward.  The sparkly language is sustained for about the first two-thirds of the book, maybe even three-quarters.  It's a really fun read-- perfect for vacation (thank you, Tawna).  It's often laugh out loud funny.  Violet is a by-the-numbers accountant who has spent her adult life distancing herself (literally and psychologically) from her fruitcake psychic mother.  When her mom ends up in the hospital, Violet comes home to Portland (Oregon) to help, and ends up filling in as the resident psychic.  Fenske uses a combination of intuition, attention to small details, and coincidence to set up a believable way to make those scenes work (and they're amusing, too).  Violet meets Drew, the owner of the bar next door to Violet's mom's shop, which--he hastens to assure people-- is not a stripper club, it just has male entertainment a few nights a week.  They are both interesting, lovable people, and you root for them to get together.  But once again, I felt like the ending dragged it down a bit from what it could have been.

Part of it is because of the lack of closure on their relationship.  You already know I don't require a happily-ever-after.  My all-time favorite romance novel is Agnes and the Hitman, in which they never even use the L word.  But after making it through this entire book rooting for Drew and Violet to get together, it is just a downer when she isn't even sure if she's moving back to Portland at the end of the book.  She will if she gets the job she's interviewing for next week.  I understand that chick lit authors feel the need to prove that their books aren't all about the girl getting the guy, but let's be honest.  That is what this book was about. She yanked his chain all the way through, and then at the end, she can't even say for sure that she's in it for real?  It just makes her seem shallow, and undeserving of Drew, who has been more than patient. 

But don't let that stop you.  That's only the last page. I could nitpick about other little details that bugged me, but there's no point, because the bottom line is: Believe it or Not is fun.  It's worth reading. 4 stars.

This is way too long.  I'm almost done.

The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe.  This is not a romance novel.  Yup, really. I read something besides a romance novel on vacation.  After you pick yourself up off the floor, go out and get this one, because it is terrific.  Different.  Very odd.  I'm not even sure how to describe it.  Hard-boiled P.I. meets Three Musketeers?  It's the first of a series of books about sword-for-hire Eddie LaCrosse.  They're fantasy novels, sort of, but not the usual with elves and dwarves and magic rings.  The king of Arentia, who happens to be Eddie's childhood best friend, finds his infant son murdered and his wife in the same room covered in blood.  What happened?  He calls on Eddie to figure it out.  Along the way, Eddie finds out more than he wanted to know about many things, including his own past.  Under the hard-boiled-ness, there is a thought-provoking and heartwarming story.  But it is also gruesomely gory in more than one place, so not for the faint of heart.  I'm so glad there are more in the series, because I loved it.  I'm giving it 4 1/2 stars only because occasionally Bledsoe's writing skills aren't quite up to the task -- but since this is Bledsoe's first novel, he (she?) gets a pass on that.  And thanks to Witchy for the recommendation (I don't think she reads here, but thanks anyway!).

In Bed with a Highlander by Maya Banks. Mairin has been raised in secret because she is the illegitimate heir to one of the largest, most valuable properties in the Highlands.  Ewan MacGregor is the oldest of three brothers who are trying to hold together their clan's decaying estate.  Her cover blown, Mairin is fleeing from an evil guy who wants to marry her for her money when she runs across Ewan's young son, who has run away from home.  It's predictable, with a predictably too-stupid-to-live heroine.  She does some things in the middle of the story that are so boneheaded that I found it difficult to keep reading.  But once you get past that, it's a nice, predictable story.  It's not bad, it's just average. If you have a great love for Scottish clan lords, you'll like it, otherwise, don't bother.  I am going to read the third one in this series (there's one for each of the MacGregor brothers), though, because it is set up here and the premise intrigues me.  2 1/2 stars.

All Through the Night by Connie Brockaway.  This is one of those ones where the hero and heroine go through one close call/misunderstanding after another, and then finally get together at the very end.  I should have known better-- I'm not a fan of those.  Like An Affair to Remember or Sleepless in Seattle.  Blecch.  If you don't mind them, you'd probably like it, because Brockaway is a good writer, and according to the reviews on Amazon, this is a reader favorite.  I've liked several of her others, but not this one. Once I figured out what was going on, I skimmed through it in a couple of hours, so maybe my opinion doesn't even really count.  2 stars.

And that's it.  I also finished Moby Dick but where's the fun in writing about that??