Katydid in Oz

I like this article in HuffPo about writing good hate mail, cause it applies to reviewing too. And pretty much every internet interaction. And most real life interactions too.

This is a run-down of an awesome romance conference that I wish I could have attended, but, you know, Australia!

I’m participating in this next year, as part of my National Year of Reading celebrations! You should too!

The Goodreads rundown of the best in romance of 2011. I agree with… two. But, you know, other people are allowed to have opinions. Even wrong ones.

That’s a mouthful, but it’s also a great idea, and that’s why I’m taking part.

All the info you need about the challenge: Here

all the info about me in the challenge:

• Genre: This may shock you, but I’m going to focus on romance. I know - shut the front door, right? I may dabble in some chick lit or women’s fiction, but you know where my heart lies.
• Challenge Level: Mt Everest was climbed because it was there, and I’m aiming for Franklin-fantastic for exactly the same reason. And also because I read fanatically.

My list of books is going to be dictated by time, availability, and - let’s face it, interest. What’s already on it:

Sister Pact, by Alison Ahearn and Ros Baxter

Liar Bird by Lisa Walker

Ooh, I do love a good challenge!
o

This is a debut novel from Tawna Fenske that had everyone a-twitter *cough* on twitter a couple of months ago.

Basic premise: He’s just been unfairly dismissed from his company, along with most of the other employees. A group of them get together to plan some revenge - and some revenue raising - by interrupting their corrupt boss’s lesser known, lesser legal activities. She accidentally ends up on their boat through a series of coincidences and one dose of … cold medicine, I think? Some over-the-counter thing that leaves her a bit dopey. Shenanigans ensue, including a naughty version of Battleship that you just never saw coming.

I really liked the characters in this book, but Juli’s issue (she’s super smart, and therefore gets bored easily) doesn’t really feel as deep as it should. It’s meant to be the emotional crux of the story, but it just never hit that depth for me, so I didn’t get the punch of what it meant to belong for her. Also, she’s so smart, but she studied to be a nurse? Don’t get me wrong - I think nurses are super important, and vastly underappreciated, but still. If you’ve got an IQ higher than everyone else in the world, surely you’d take on brain surgery or something.

All, that being said, this was a light, breezy read, lovely and enjoyable, if not strictly memorable (I had to look up the characters’ names). There’s also a nice secondary romance, and the other ‘pirates’ are great fun. Warning: the meals cooked will leave you hungry.

In a world with too few contemporary romances, this was a great way to spend the day.

Melane La’Brooy came VERY HIGHLY recommended by people I trust with book recommendations, so I … may have gone out and bought her entire backlist. It’s an addiction, people, but I don’t want to seek help.

First book: Lovestruck! Disclaimer: I’m a Melbourne girl. Even though I don’t currently live in Melbourne, I’m still a Melbourne girl. So the whole ‘Oh I love Sydney’ bit made me all rising-hackles and stuff. But you know what? I got over it. By picturing it happening in Melbourne. Which, during the iconic Sydney landmark scenes made things a bit awkward, but whatever. These are my hangups, not yours.

What can be shared, however, are the intense laugh workouts. This book is seriously funny without being stupid funny, which is a rare find in this Katherine Heigl dominated world. The characters are wonderful, and do wonderfully human things - that are so funny that your abdominals will hate you for months afterwards. I read this book weeks ago, and I’m still paying for it. But don’t worry - I’m sure my romance-novel-cover-worthy six-pack is just around the corner.

Premise: Isabelle’s relationship ends just after she moves to Sydney. She is left to contend with the vagaries of single life in Sydney, capital of the dodgy date. But she has some things to be thankful for: a glam job in an art-auction house and a set of friends whose own eccentricities disqualify them from being in any position to judge Isabelle and her romantic misadventures too harshly. And there’s Dr Jack, who always seems to find Isabelle at her worst, but recognises her at her best.

More chicklit than true romance, it is nonetheless wonderful, wonderful. Go! Enjoy!

So I really liked this trilogy from Victoria Dahl, including this book, which finishes off the siblings on the road to happy-ever-after. There’s lots to talk about, but really, what I really want to say boils down to one thing.

The sex was great.

Really. And it’s not because it’s romance novel sex, but real life sex. It’s sex that recognises in a genre that’s gone eroticism wild, that there are some people out there for whom missionary is their favourite position and there’s nothing wrong with that. Further, it’s awesome, because it also recognises that bedroom gymnastics come from the heart and the head as much as from the libido, and that being attracted to and aroused by your partner is the single biggest aphrodisiac there is. I just loved that about this book. These guys hit it off because they were genuinely attracted to each other, and that’s where the great sex came in.

There is a ton more to this book than the sex, but that’s my take-home message: come for the sex, stay for the good story.

Disclaimer: some take-home messages may appear dirtier than originally anticipated.