The Golden Leopard - Lynn Kerstan

Back cover blurb

In every adventure, there must be passion....

Lady Jessica Carville wants nothing to do with men after having her heart betrayed. Despite society's disapproval, she has found fulfillment and success as a dealer of rare antiquities for Christie's auction house in London. The last thing she needs is for the scoundrel who once cast her aside to rear his handsome head.

Despite her best efforts, Lord Hugo Duran's sudden return from India piques Jessica's curiosity--as does his tempting offer. He needs her expertise on a quest to locate a priceless artifact that is rumored to have been smuggled into England--a quest full of daring adventure, dangerous intrigue, and unbridled passion.

My Review

7/10 seems to low a score for this book but 8/10 is definitely too high I guess 7.5/10 would seem to make sense but somehow it just doesn't feel right... how about 6/10 for the first half and 8/10 for the second half.


This book was very hard to get into at first I found the first 150 pages to be relatively boring but well written enough that I didn't put the book aside. In addition to that I was not able to warm up to the heroine Jessica until the book was almost over. The hero Duran I found quite likable but he is far from being a favourite. If my first impressions of this book had continued I probably would have only given this book 6/10 but as it was the second half of the book improved tremendously. Jessica quit being such a harpy, the romance picked up and the plot moved along at a fairly nice suspenseful pace.

Some people may have an issue with the plot if they are sticklers for plausibility. For myself I'm willing to suspend my disbelief as long as it doesn't get ridiculous and even then in a well written book it still may not bother me. As such I found the plot well done and quick moving but there were a number of instances that would probably jerk someone else right out of the story.

One thing that did bother me was how quickly the heroine went from wanting nothing to do with the hero to jumping into bed with him - there was sufficient sexual tension prior to this to explain why she wanted to climb into bed with him. However, it would have been nice to be inside Jessica's head at that moment rather than Duran's to see the thought process that lead from her previous stance to the one that had her jumping him like a wildcat.

All in all aside from the less than compelling first half of the book I quite enjoyed the read and I'm looking forward to picking up the next book in the series.

Prairie Moon - Maggie Osborne

Back Cover Blurb

Living on a rundown farm at the edge of a small Texas town, Della Ward is haunted by the bittersweet life she once lived with an adoring husband who died too soon. Once a laughing, carefree soul, Della is now a widow with only guilty memories for company. Until the day she sees a rugged stranger riding across the prairie toward her house. His presence awakens Della’s heart, but she can never imagine the ways this man will forever change her life.


Lawman James Cameron believes in settling debts and living by honor. It may have taken him ten years to arrive at Della’s door, but he’s finally here and is determined to tell her the truth about the day her husband died. But one look at the woman whose picture he has carried with him for years and he knows that the truth may destroy them both. For Cameron will have to face the past and force Della to do the same before either of them can have a future . . . or each other.


My Review
I'm still recovering from my weekend in Vegas so I'm not sure how concise this review is going to be but here it goes.


This was my first Maggie Osborne and I really really enjoyed it.  I love angst and this story had plenty of it and not made up my ex-wife/girlfriend/lover cheated on me and now I can't love anyone angst but real honest to goodness angst. ****Minor Spoiler****** James Cameron killed Della's husband during the war and has come to make amends and deliver the letter he found in her husbands pocket.  Only 10 years later he's fallen in love with Della through her picture and can't bring himself to tell her.  I loved it.  Della was a true western heroine who is strong, independent and hard working.  James is the strong, silent western lawman that I love.  Although, he didn't talk much throughout the book every word he spoke was that much more important because of it.  

The story line mostly focused on these two getting to know one another and was a bit slow at times but I found it really worked for this story.  The ending was tied up just a touch too easily for a true angst bunny like myself but all and all this was a solid and very enjoyable read.


Rating 8/10

Flying Away

Holy moly,

Three posts in one day!

I just want to let everyone know I'm leaving Thursday morning (and I do mean morning I have to be at the airport by 4:00 a.m.) to go to fabulous Las Vegas with my husband so I won't be posting until I get back on Monday, September 6, 2009.  I don't think I'll get a chance to post tomorrow since I'll be tying up loose ends at work, then packing and trying to get to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour.  I doubt I'll be sleeping much since I'm still like a little kid and get too excited to sleep.

Now I just have to decide what to books to bring with me...

She Walks These Hills - Sharyn McCrumb

Summary from Sharyn McCrumb's web site

She Walks These Hills: An Introduction


She Walks These Hills is the story of mountain journeys, both literal and figurative. Charlotte Pentland's passion is the first Appalachian journey: that of the mountains themselves. Through a vein of the mineral serpentine that runs from the hills of Georgia up to Nova Scotia, she hopes to trace the mountains' kinship back across the ocean following the serpentine chain to its beginning, in the mountains of western Scotland. Scholarly research in a good place to hide from an unpleasant reality: that Charlotte's father is the escaped convict, even now wandering in the Appalachians.


Historian Jeremy Cobb is backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, attempting to retrace the tragic journey of Katie Wyler, who was kidnapped by the Shawnee in 1789, and who escaped, making her way home through hundreds of miles of wilderness. Jeremy has no trail experience, but he is determined to complete his scholarly quest or die trying. He doesn't know that the spirit of Katie Wyler is still seen wandering the hills, trying to get home. Mountain wise woman Nora Bonesteel sees her every autumn "when the air is crisp, and the light is slanted, and the birds are still."

Sheriff Spencer Arrowood feels sorry for Harm, imprisoned for life for killing a hated local bureaucrat. There is even some doubt about Harm's guilt. Besides, the elderly convict has Korsakov's syndrome, a side effect of chronic alcoholism that robs its sufferers of their recent memories. To Harm, it is always 1967. As the psychiatrist tells a deputy: "You may get this fellow out of the hills, but you'll never get him out of the past. He's got nowhere to go." Harm doesn't even remember the crime. He doesn't know he's an escaped convict. For Martha Ayers, who wants the job of deputy, catching Harm Sorely would be the best way to prove her fitness for the position.

Harm, an Appalachian Don Quixote on the edge of reality, meets both Jeremy and the still-wandering Katie Wyler on his journey back to a home that isn't there any more. He is the "last moonshiner," holding the dream of an unspoiled wilderness in the fragile web of his delusions. When he goes, it will be lost forever.

My Review

I had no idea what to expect going in to the this book. Was it a mystery? historical fiction? literary fiction? ghost story? I'm still not sure how exactly you would class this book but I do know it was a great story no matter where you shelve it.

The multiple story lines and characters made it difficult to really connect with any of the characters but that really didn't matter. The writing style is very lyrical which I sometimes find distracting but it really worked with this book.

The author had a habit of leaving cliffhangers everytime the character point of view changed making this a very difficult book to put down and a very quick read.


This is a difficult review to write because it's hard to summarize exactly why I liked this book. There was so much going on and the way all the plot lines ended up tying in together was really well done. All I can say is to just try the book and you'll see what I mean.

Rating 8/10

Perhaps I'm a little too anal...

Okay,

So I'm one of those people who likes to keep their books looking brand spanking new forever.  I guess you could say I'm anal but I didn't realize how much until today.  One of the girls at work was getting ready to go to the bank (it's the first of the month so she usually spends a couple of hours there) when she realized she'd forgotten to pick up a magazine.  Her first thought was to come to me since I usually have at least one or two books in my bag with me.  So when she asked me I handed over Wish Upon a Cowboy since I'd just finished it.  The first thing she did when I gave it to her was look at it then look up at me right away and say "This spine is already cracked you know that right?  You aren't going to think it was me?"  I can honestly say there was real honest to goodness fear in her eyes. 

Am I really that anal?  I must be since someone who never even reads books let alone has conversations about them had a near panic attack at returning a damaged book to me. 

I can't help it though I love it when my books look like they've never been read.  It took me years to get around to actually buying books from used bookstores and I only started because moving out of my parents place and having to pay "real bills" took a huge bite out of my book budget.  Even now when I go to a used book store it's not unusual to find me with multiple copies of the same book spread out on the shelf while I examine every square inch from all possible angles to determine which one is in the best condition and then I have to determine whether I want the one that looks less damaged when sitting on the shelf or when I've got it pulled out and I'm trying to read it.

Now that I'm going back and reading it.  I think it might be a little sad.  Then again I can't deny how happy I am when I'm looking at all my like new books with their clean shiny covers, unbroken spines and new book smells.