Sunday, July 31, 2011

Suggestion Saturday, er, Sunday!

Yeah, I know I said I'd be doing Suggestion Saturdays and I haven't. I also know that today is Sunday. But, whatever, I still have a wonderful suggestion for today.

I've been on a YA kick lately, if you can't tell. So, I decided to make these suggestions NOT YA (shocking, I know).

Today, we have Mary Balogh's Bedwyn Series:
Slightly Married (Get Connected Romances)Slightly Wicked (Get Connected Romances)Slightly Scandalous
Slightly TemptedSlightly SinfulSlightly Dangerous

This is a regency series (of course it is, just look at the covers) that made me a life long fan of Mary Balogh. Years ago, I was a literary snob. I'll admit it. I thought, like a lot of unfortunate souls do, that romance was trash. I would never have been caught dead reading a book with a cover similar to any of these. But, one day while perusing the shelves of the 50 cent paperback racks at my local Goodwill, I decided to be reckless. I picked up a copy of Slightly Dangerous along with some not so great romances which will remain nameless and another that I'll mention in an upcoming suggestion post.

"But, obviously, Slightly Dangerous is the last in the series," you might say. And I would reply, "Well, where were you when I decided to take a leap and buy it? Because the strife I endured while reading this book and wondering about all the rest of the family and their stories was frustrating, to say the least."

Needless to say, I was hooked. The second I finished Dangerous I ordered every other book in the series. I now look back on my oh-so-snobby self and give her the cut direct. Regency romances became a passion of mine. One that I only allow myself to indulge in every few weeks or so, because once I start, I can't stop. And Mary Balogh is my favorite regency author. She always involves so much emotion in her books that I know I will cry. Call me sappy, I don't care. I will shout it from the rooftops "I LOVE REGENCY ROMANCE!"

Slightly Dangerous will always be my favorite in the series because I came to love stuffy, ol' Wulfric and his patriarchal ways and I related to Christine's clumsy, self-sacrificing character. But, my second favorite is Slightly Sinful about Alleyne who gets amnesia from being wounded in battle and is taken in by all the flamboyant ladies in a brothel and he must find his family even though he doesn't know who they are and he falls in love with the girl who saved him who he thinks is a prostitute but she really isn't and.... Sorry, got carried away.

So there you have it. If you are like I was way back when and don't want to lower yourself to the romance genre then, GET OVER YOURSELF! Sorry if that was a little harsh but it's just how I feel :) Go pick up one of the books in this series. I recommend the last one, that way you'll HAVE to go get the rest in order to know the beginning.

Happy Reading!

YA Review: Forgotten by Cat Patrick

ForgottenIn One Sentence: Read it in one day, 'nuff said.


Amazon Description:
Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.


YA Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

HourglassIn One Sentence: I've been waiting on this one and it didn't disappoint!


Amazon Description: 
One hour to rewrite the past . . . 
For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn't there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents' death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She's tried everything, but the visions keep coming back. So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson's willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he's around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?