When Romance Goes Wrong

As fond as we may be of all these stories with a happily-ever-after at the end, we all know that sometimes things just don’t work out. Sometimes Prince Charming turns out to be a lying, cheating scumbag with a mother who makes the Wicked Witch of the West look like someone you’d like to lunch with regularly. Once you’ve kicked him to the curb, you are left with nothing but memories – and the occasional bauble that you might prefer to turn into cold hard cash rather than wear again. What’s a newly single girl to do? Sell the sparklies and go buy some sexy shoes, of course! How? you may ask, or Where? At Ex-boyfriend Jewelry.com, a website devoted to unloading unwanted gifts from your former Significant Other. Better still, you don’t just post your stuff for sale, you get to blog about it. Tell the story of those Tiffany earrings or the engagement ring for the wedding that wasn’t, in as little or as much detail as you want. This is by far the most entertaining feature of the site, especially in the “Gifts that should have been jewelry” category. So if life is such that you just can’t stand another happy ending, cue up a really good “this man done me wrong” song, and check out the website. You might find it useful someday. As the site’s motto says “You don’t want it. He can’t have it back.” So there.

Quick Looks: Good Girls Do

Good Girls Do
By Cathie Linz

Contemporary/Romantic Comedy

The Premise: Julia Wainwright just knows she has left the hippie, bohemian lifestyle she was raised with behind for good after she has spent a few years as a reference librarian in the small Pennsylvania town of Serenity Falls. And then one afternoon, she finds herself dressed in a Little Bo Peep costume trying to keep the mayor’s son from swallowing one of the Library Director’s prized koi, and facing off against Luke Maguire, the town’s bad boy prodigal son who has just zoomed in on his Harley to claim his inheritance. Sparks start flying between the two immediately, much to Julia’s dismay. She likes the orderly life she has worked so hard to make for herself, and there is no room in it for flirtatious black clad bikers who have a strong disregard for rules of any kind. Luke has only come back to town to meet the terms of his father’s will: spend six months running the family pub before deciding to either stay or sell, or get nothing. If Luke discusses the terms with anyone, he loses everything. This is just the latest insult from the man with whom he always had a bad relationship, but Luke needs the money so plays along. Though he has no intention of sticking around once the time is up, he just can’t stay away from Julia. Meanwhile, Julia has some family problems of her own. Her very New-Agey mother Angel, sister Skye, and niece Toni-the-biter have arrived in town and decided to crash at Julia’s place while getting on their feet financially after the failure of their tofu-dog stand in Alaska. Angel has a few secrets of her own she has been keeping, and is trying to find a way to tell her daughter something Julia probably won’t want to hear. With the nosy residents of Serenity Falls keeping tabs on everyone and everything, Julia’s well-ordered world starts flying to bits.

What I liked: The description of Julia’s life at work was pretty accurate, including (especially?) the wackier bits. Ditto the small town setting. I’m a sucker for eccentric characters, and this book is full of them. The chemistry between Julia and Luke is really good. Better still, the requisite happy ending doesn’t involve a wedding and white picket
fence existence, but instead gives us the happy couple declaring their love and heading off for parts as yet unknown in unwedded bliss on Luke’s Harley. How refreshing!

What I didn’t like: Julia’s sister. She remained a pompous little brat from beginning to end, in spite of the growth shown by the other characters. Based on the sneak preview at the end of the book, she’s going to have her story told in a sequel. I think what she really deserves is a smack.

Overall: This is fast, funny and quick, a great romantic comedy caper.

On the Book Cart

Some new titles and some reissues are on the cart this week. If you are a fan of Western love stories, you’ll enjoy the two double volume sets from Debbie Macomber. The Manning Sisters contains The Cowboy’s Lady and The Sheriff Takes a Wife, the stories of two sisters from Seattle who move to Montana. The Heart of Texas contains Nell’s Cowboy and Lone Star Baby, stories of remaking families set in the fictional Promise, Texas. Linda Lael Miller’s Last Chance Café also has a Western setting, featuring a Nevada rancher and divorced mom who’s trying to solve her beloved stepfather’s murder. Calder Promise by Janet Dailey takes us from Montana to Europe and back to the West again as Laura Calder decides between life with a sexy British Earl and a stubborn Texas rancher. The Ozarks are the setting for Hannah Alexander’s Last Resort, where a missing child brings together a woman and the man who has loved her since they were children. Three historicals you might have missed the first time around include two from Amanda Quick: Scandal and Rendezvous. Christina Dodd’s My Favorite Bride rounds out the trio; all are set in the drawing rooms and country estates of England.
New titles include two paranormals: The Oldest Kind of Magic by Ann Macela and The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter. Also new is Christie Craig’s Weddings Can Be Murder, a romance with a strong mystery element. Check the catalog to request the titles you want to start off your summer reading.

A Movie Blog comes to VPL!

Julie Stump, the library’s very own movie maven, has launched a new blog! Julie is the librarian responsible for our wonderful, eclectic collection of films, and the VPL Movie Corner will feature short film reviews and a general discussion about movies. You can access the Movie Corner through our Reading Cafe; just go to the library homepage and click the menu tab that says Reading Cafe, and look for the link. If you see a movie you would like to request, you can do it the same way you request books when you use the catalog. Popcorn, anyone?

On the Book Cart

Werewolves, ghosts, and demons inhabit the book cart this week! Kresley Cole’s Dark Desire’s After Dusk has arrived; it’s one her new entries into her Immortals After Dark series. Lindsay Randall’s Phantom is an historical ghost story featuring ancient curses, family scandals, and a passionate battle between good and evil. In Call of the Highland Moon, Kendra Leigh Castle examines what might happen if a kind hearted woman opened her door one cold winter night and took in what she thought was a stray dog, only to wake and find she has rescued an injured werewolf. (I think I’ll stick with adopting from the pound, and hope they screen for werewolves while they look for fleas and heartworm...) The romantic suspense novel Dead Right by Brenda Novak is the story of a twenty year old missing persons case that turns out to be murder and more. If you are looking for something a little more mainstream, try Robin Carr’s Shelter Mountain, the story of a former Marine and a recent victim of domestic violence trying to work through some emotional baggage to form a lasting bond. On a lighter note, Causing Havoc by Lori Foster pairs up an extreme fighter with his long lost sister’s smart-mouthed friend as the two try to prevent a disastrous marriage. As for the title that’s coming home with me this weekend: Good Girls Do, Cathie Linz’s story of a small town librarian whose orderly life is turned upside down when her crazy family shows up, followed in short order by the return of one of the town’s prodigal sons who comes roaring in on his Harley. If you want to be next in line for tale of the feisty librarian and sexy bad boy, or anything else on the cart, reserve your copy today.

Quick Looks: Just A Taste

Just a Taste
By Deirdre Martin

Contemporary Romance

The Premise: Vivi Robitaille and her half sister Natalie have moved from France to the U.S. to follow their dream of opening a little bistro. They end up leasing a place in Brooklyn, right across from Dante’s, a family owned Brooklyn institution. Current chef and proprietor Anthony Dante’s wife died just over a year before, and since then he has devoted himself to his work. Dante’s is his life, and he takes everything related to it very, very personally. He’s not happy when the two mademoiselles show up to begin work on their restaurant, especially since Vivi is so opinionated about everything culinary. What starts as nothing but a rivalry between two talented chefs slowly becomes friendly competition and eventually attraction. Both characters, however, have issues from their past to overcome. They also have a few problems in the present: Vivi’s sister is supposed to be handling the finances, but the only place she seems willing to spend money is at Saks; Anthony’s brother and co-owner Michael has just retired from his professional hockey career, and has all sorts of helpful advice on everything from hiring to the menu.
Vivi and Anthony have a lot of baggage to unload before they can live happily ever after.

What I Liked: I really loved the Brooklyn neighborhood setting, and the way the clash of cultures between Vivi and Anthony worked into the story. The supporting characters were very well portrayed, especially Aldo the headwaiter and Insane Lorraine. This story is related to Martin’s series featuring the New York Blades hockey team, and it was fun to see some of the characters and story lines cross over. The chemistry between the hero and heroine was good, particularly all the culinary bickering and one-upmanship.

What I didn’t like: Food! Food! Food! Hard for a dieting blogging librarian to avoid breaking down and ordering take-out!

Overall: Very tasty. I will definitely read more from Deirdre Martin.

Quick Looks

You Don’t Know Jack
by Erin McCarthy

Contemporary Romance

The Premise: Jamie Peters has a history of dating losers. She knows this; in fact, she does it on purpose. Jamie is not interested in meeting Mr. Right or in falling in love, since she’s never really gotten over the fact that her father left her mother (and her.) Jamie knows that True Love only leads to heartache, and she’s not interested in more heartache. So when her psychic tells her she’s going to meet her soulmate (during an accident, involving food, no less) she’s not too happy. But months go by and she figures she’s safe, until she runs into Jack Davidson – literally – on the subway. Unbeknownst to Jamie, Jack is actually Jonathon, her roommate Caro’s older brother and former Wall Street boy wonder. Having made his millions, Jack has retired to help run a foundation. Jamie’s social service organization has applied for funds, and the financial wizard can see that her agency has some funny money transactions on its books. So Jack is investigating, and trying not to tip off Jamie, which is hard, since he falls madly in love with her at first sight. Jamie feels the same, but since Jack is far more together than her usual rehabilitation projects, she decides it can never work, and fights the attraction. The truth comes out eventually, as it always does, and Jamie leads Jack on a merry chase.

What I liked: The screwball characters make this a true romantic comedy caper. When the entire plot turns on the prediction of a recently paroled six-foot-four-inch cross dressing psychic, it’s hard to go wrong. The goofy in love relationship between Jack and Jamie is lots of fun too, with great chemistry and the kind of silly misunderstandings that keep the plot perking along.

What I didn’t like: I would have liked to see more of some of the secondary characters, and a little more background on Jack’s previous girlfriend. She seems like a real witch; always a nice way to ratchet up the tension.

Overall: This is a fast, fun read with engaging characters. I really enjoyed it. This is the first book I’ve read by Erin McCarthy, but I will be definitely read more.