General Plot Summary: Peppa is a voice talent at a recording company. Cameron is her boss. Peppa has recently come out of a bad spell - she lost a baby and her fiance, and she’s really working at moving forward and healing herself. Cameron’s got his own romantic history carnage, and he’s just interested in flings that don’t get mired in emotion. A chance meeting at a Christmas party, a bingle in a car park, and some match-making family members all lead to a burgeoning relationship, but the bottom line is Peppa wants very different things than Cameron, and she’s not willing to play the ‘fun’ card forever - or wait around indefinitely to see if Cameron ever gets over his fear of intimacy.

Characters: Peppa is the better drawn of the two, and her inner monologue will seem very familiar to many readers - the ‘sure I can have a fling with this super hot guy that I’m very attracted to without getting attached’ self-delusion that some *cough*me*cough* will have tried in the past. What works for Peppa is that she eventually gets over it, realises what’s happening and tries to extract herself. What doesn’t work for Peppa is her tender heart: when Cameron is a dick, instead of calling him on it, she recognises the inner pain that’s leading him to act this way. *snort* Calling him a dick might not have moved the story forward, but it would have made me as a reader feel better. Cameron is a pretty straightforward no-strings-attached rich guy. He does seem to move forward in the end, but his transition from distant and aloof to can’t-get-enough family guy doesn’t feel as authentic. I would have preferred if by the end of the story readers could see him making in-roads, as opposed to complete about-faces.

Bottom line: Carina Press is doing some good stuff with contemporary romances, so it’s worth checking out. One Perfect Night reads more like a category romance than a single title, so if you enjoy lush writing and quicker resolutions, this may be the story for you.

Long, involved thoughts only tangentially related to the book:One of the issues that comes up in OPN is an unexpected pregnancy. Now in the course of this book, it makes perfect sense for Peppa to keep the baby: it’s well-documented that she wants a family, and a previous pregnancy has diminished her chance of getting pregnant again, so a healthy pregnancy - no matter how it happens - is almost akin to a miracle. But it did bring in to rather sharp relief how unexpected pregnancies are handled in romances. Okay, caveat: I know there are romances out there who break the mould. This is not a ‘all romances ever written are the same’ argument. But I have read a heck load of romance novels, and I know what the trend is. So go ahead and argue if you like, but if your argument consists of, ‘I read this one book where the heroine totally gets an abortion!’ then you’re not really listening to what I’m saying here, and chances are I’m going to think you’re an idiot. Okay?

Right, so you’re single, you’ve just found out you’re pregnant, and the father, well, he’s kind of a douche, hence the reason you’re single. He’s commitment-phobic, or he’s addicted to his job, or he never wants children, or he’s a werewolf and you’re a vampire and two families both alike in dignity, etc. Bottom line is you have different values, and you’re not going to last in the long term.

You’ve got options. And based on your situation, beliefs, politics, and expectations, you’re going to make the decision that sits best with you. But the bottom line is, you’ve got options. But these options are so very rarely considered in the novels. And it’s to their detriment.

Romance novel advocates spend a lot of time arguing that the novels are feminist literature: celebrating the concerns, lives, and emotions of women. But to dismiss the options available to a woman about her own body and her own future is not feminist. It’s degrading. And as one of the few genres that consistently portray women in a realistic and heroic light, it’s diminishing. To have an intelligent, professional woman not at least spend a few minutes in rational, practical thought about her plans, ambitions, beliefs, and desires and how an unexpected pregnancy might affect them makes her an unintelligent heroine. To have a single, unemployed widow with twin five-year-old boys (as I read in a recent novel) not consider the financial, emotional, and physical ramifications of her unexpected pregnancy makes her irrational and irresponsible - and it’s hard to accept her as the heroine of the novel. 

The bottom line is that whatever the heroine chooses (and the whole point here is choice. Being pro-choice means accepting everyone’s decision as the one they chose as right for them), it’s really important to see the heroine making that choice. Because as readers, we know the hero is going to come back and it’s all going to work out all right. But there are people out there, outside of Romancelandia, who are going through this exact same thing. And if they turn to this genre that we love, they need to see that their experience is being reflected in a realistic way. They need to be able to read about strong, intelligent women going through a really tough situation, and acting in a way that reflects their strength and intelligence. If they chose to have the child, the reader can believe it will be okay, because the character has made the choice deliberately. If they are against abortion, they can consider adoption as a realistic alternative. Or they can consider terminating the pregnancy.

The genre needs to take these women that they’ve written, female characters that readers can believe in, can support, can understand, and can even aspire to emulate, and apply them in all situations. Especially about something as important and life-altering as having a child. 

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.

So remember last time when I was all, ‘I love Australian rural romances; won’t someone write me a good one?’ because the heroine was so annoying I wanted her to end up lonely and alone?

Well, along comes Kelly Hunter, who I already love, with a new self-publishing foray away from her traditional categories, and granted my Wish. (See what I did there? Cause I wished for one? And her book is called Wish? See? See? Well, I thought it was funny.)

Disclaimers first: this is a novella. Also, it’s probably available in lots of places other than Amazon, but I’m lazy, I didn’t want to put off writing this review while I asked Kelly, and I have a Kindle, and I’m not ashamed to admit I love it! LOVE IT!

So Billie is a single mom with a good kid and an interesting job, but living above a bar in metropolitan Sydney among the prostitutes and drug addicts is probably not the best place to go about raising a well-adjusted boy. So she sets out on a tree change to revitalise a pub in a small country town in rural New South Wales.

Not everyone is happy for her to be there - she’s got all these ideas and plus she’s all tiny and stuff and just ripe for underestimation against the big bad bush. (heh. That’s not a euphemism, but it made me giggle when I wrote it). The big bad bush in this case is represented by Adam, who knows something of the dangers for women and children when it comes to the elements, what with having lost his wife and child to a virulent storm.

So Billie goes about making things better, and making friends, and generally proving that she’s a decent person to have around. Grudgingly Adam begins to accept that she’s not going to leave. Also she’s way heaps hot, and he has this bad habit of trying to protect her, even though she keeps telling him not to. But then bad things start happening, and it looks like it’s all directed at Billie, and Adam’s not sure he can watch another woman he loves die.

So this story is short, but it’s complete - I especially liked the leaps forward in time that allowed the reader to understand the relationship was growing without any sort of short cuts. I also really liked Billie, who is smart, tough, but not dumb when it comes to her own safety and that of her son, Cal. I also liked Adam, though he’s not as dimensional as our heroine, especially in the little details that showcase exactly how unwilling he is to let anyone else get close.

What I really liked is this one little part where Adam and Billie have entered a no-strings-attached sexual relationship, and Billie acknowledges to herself that she is not this kind of girl, and that she deserves better from a man in her life. I love love loved this because

• Billie is not the kind of girl who can enjoy a no-strings-attached sexual relationship (and I’m not saying that there aren’t women out there who can’t, and I’m not judging women who do, so no jumping on high horses), especially because she has Cal to consider, and a life to build
• Adam is treating her like a dirty little secret, and while Billie is getting something out of the relationship (that is, great orgasms), she deserves to be treated with respect
• In a lot of ‘start with sex’ romances, that whole issue of respect is glossed over with a ‘they both want it’, but in this case it creates an unbalance, because Billie was respecting Adam and his wishes - that is, no strings attached, nothing serious, no one knows - but Adam isn’t respecting Billie’s - that is, serious and steady and open. Billie acknowledging that, and then dismissing it for a time, made me like her a whole lot more. We all know what overpowering lust can feel like, but it was so satisfying to know that Billie retains her brains in the face of all that muscled goodness. 
• Billie kicks Adam’s ass to the curb about it eventually, and then it all comes back into play at the end, when Adam has to prove that he does respect her and her needs and desires, which just makes it all neat and tidy and lovely.

The secondary characters are briefly but strongly sketched, with a nice secondary romance that’s pretty much all subtext.

The only thing I didn’t like about this whole novel was the last sentence, which I felt was a bit corny, but it ties in with the whole Christmas theme, and I’ve always been hyper-sensitive to corn.

Bottom line? Oh yeah - you know it:

Worthy of a dancing Picard :)

So I’ve been dabbling in the Australian rural romances that seem to be having a mini-renaissance and really enjoying them. But I should note: Paycheque (debut novel from Fiona McCallum) isn’t really a romance. There’s romance in it, but it’s more women’s fiction.

Also, I didn’t really like it.

Claire starts off the book making a poor decision because she’s self-centred and spoiled and a control freak. Throughout the course of the novel, during which bad things happen to Claire, she continues to be self-centred and control-freakish.  Even though all the people who love her point out her self-centredness and control freak tendencies, Claire continues to be self-centred and control-freakish. Then at the end of the novel, Claire is still self-centred and control-freakish.

Given that the book is told from 3rd person omniscient but only from Claire’s point of view, it’s really hard to understand why her best friend doesn’t ditch her, and this really great guy falls in love with her. They aren’t really doormats, but they act like them around Claire - at one point, they apologise for being hurt when Claire’s self-centredness and control-freak tendencies causes her to act in a completely inappropriate, not to mention irrational way.

Anyways, so characterisation isn’t this novel’s strong point.

However, the horses are, and while I found Claire so annoying that I was kinda secretly hoping she would wind up sad and alone, I was completely invested in the horse story line. I even said ‘oh no!’ out loud when Maddie (the jockey) found herself in a difficult situation during the final pages.

So if you like horses and stories about racing (the culmination of the characters’ work ends at the Melbourne Cup), or if you’re looking for time-appropriate novels, and you think you can work past an annoying main character, try this one. It’s a debut, after all. She’s got places to go.

Back from my self-imposed hiatus, I realised that I’d inadvertently skipped KAA, which was published between Heaven, Texas and Nobody’s Baby But Mine. In my defence, I doubt any publisher nowadays would let an author jeopardise momentum by going outside a series in progress, so I just assumed the Chicago Stars kept going.

Class, we all know what assuming does.

Anyways, Kiss an Angel. SEP really likes her rich-girls-discovering-they-are-something-more-than-a-walking-credit-card story, and this is another one. Daisy was a socialite, travelling the world with her super model mom, until said mom dies, and Daisy is left broke and alone. Not having the slightest clue how to live without money, she agrees to her dad’s cockamamie scheme to marry her off and show her what real life is like. If she sticks it out for 6 months, she gets a plump trust fund.

Her new husband, Alex, is a dick, determined to act even dickier than he actually is to prove to his new wife that there will be no feelings here! No sirreee! Not going to happen! It works. I’d never have fallen for him.

But Daisy is apparently more perceptive than I, ‘cause she sees past his pain-fuelled dickiness, and sees the man inside.

There’s a bit of a weird thing with a tiger, and the bits with the elephants are cute. Secondary characters (and romance) are played to advantage. Plus, you know, circus setting, which is kind of cool. Daisy learns to stand on her own two feet, and how self-respect can help you overcome all odds. Alex is still a dick, and does something supremely dicky, but it all works out in the end.

Maybe I’m just over the rich girl heroines and dicky men heroes, but this story felt quite dated to me. I have a hard time backing heroines who are completely helpless and kind of silly about it, even though Daisy does eventually start stepping up to being a character to admire. I have an equally hard time backing thick-headed dicky heroes, and Alex pretty  much stays that way through the whole book. I doubt I’d recommend this book to the romance readers I know, and I doubt I’ll pick it up again.

So according to the few other reviews I’ve read of this debut book from Shannon Curtis, it’s a romp.

According to me, it’s dark and scary. Dark and Scary.

This may be because I am at heart a very wimpy and cowardly person. But they say, ‘Know Thyself’ and I knoweth myself, so this is why I don’t read a lot of romantic suspense.

But I read this one, because Shannon is an Aussie, this is her first novel, she’s one of my very favourite people to hang out with at the RWA conferences, and it’s got a librarian heroine.

Dark and Scary.

But enjoyable! Librarian! Mistaken Identity! Wrongful Kidnapping! Sexy Law Enforcement Types! Bombs! Bad Guys! Simple yet Effective Disguises! An Invisibility Cloak (kinda!)! Sexy times while in mortal danger! (I can’t help it. I love me some sexy times while in mortal danger. I know it’s dumb, and in real life I’d be all, ‘you did what?’ <insert facepalm here> but in the book it’s all, ‘oh look at how in to each other they are! He can’t help himself!’ <insert swoon here>).

In the interest of why it scared the pants off me, there’s also torture. Torture involving eyes.

So veteran romantic suspense people, come along for the ride! It’s short (at 53000 words) and sweet. With Mortal Danger Sexy Times!

Wimps like me? You’ve been warned. Proceed at your own discretion.

Oh guys! How much did I love this book?

The answer? A lot. A lot. So much!

So our plucky heroine (Matilda, because what else would an Australian bride be called?) takes a big chance on love and arrives in her internet fiance’s hometown in a wedding dress, carrying a wedding cake.

Only, really, it’s an internet thing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happily married after an internet thing, but there would hardly be a story, right?

Turns out Barry is a douche, stole Matilda’s money, and left her hanging out on a Main Street in a wedding dress. Here entereth our hero, Mark.

Now Mark’s got himself some issues surrounding his hometown and his family, and the years he felt he wasted his own opportunities looking after them. These are … well, look, they don’t put Mark in the best light, and some might call them a stretch as far as issues go, but you know? I’d never go back to my hometown to live either, because hello! confining! so if you gloss over it, it works.

Anyways, Mark plays hero, Matilda integrates herself into town life as their resident Foreign-type, and it’s all heart-warming and amusing and dripping in Australian slang, so Aussies be warned, you’ll probably find that irritating, but having been born and raised in North America, trust me - the fascination is authentic.

Basically, this is your feel-good story of the week. And who doesn’t need a little feel good?

This is Kandy Shepherd’s first foray into self-publishing (she’s had two very cute novels published traditionally), and according to the Author’s Note, it is her first novel and while no one ever bought it, she always wanted to put it out there.

The story follows Crystal through her wedding preparations, a shocking discovery, a stunned (and ill-advised) flight, and a rescue by a handsome stranger. And that’s in the first chapter.

The handsome stranger is Matt; he’s got some secrets and heartbreak of his own. Anyways they end up shipwrecked on a deserted, tropical island with not much else but a lot of chocolate, and a lot of condoms. And you know both are going to be put to use. 

You can see what Kandy Shepherd is going to become in this novel, but my honest opinion is maybe this one should have been left alone. The story itself is possible, especially if you buy into the ‘people can fall in love in a few days’ storyline, and the characters are likeable - I especially enjoyed the lack of histrionics during the resolution.

But as Shepherd has had two novels out - and this novel isn’t as polished or as advanced as those two are. The language and writing is quite purple, the descriptive passages florid. Overall, it felt like a giant step backwards for this author, and perhaps a misstep as well. I’d read her other novels instead - they’re delightful.