Books I read in January 2010

1. To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
2. To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt
3. Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern
4. Danny Dunn, Scientific Detective by Jay Williams
5. Bachelor Prince by Debbie Macomber (manga)
6. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult – post 1, post 2
7. We Gotta Have It by Esther Iverem
8. Empowered vol. 1 by Adam Warren (graphic novel)
9. Sandman Companion by Hy Bender
10. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
11. Ideal Wife by Mary Balogh
12. Beast by Donna Jo Napoli
13. In Odd We Trust by Queenie Chan & Dean Koontz
14. Pharaoh’s Daughter by Julius Lester

Romances

Hoyt is writing a series of historical romances that feature soldiers who were mysteriously betrayed during the French and Indian war.  To Seduce a Sinner (again, bad title) is a marriage of convenience between plain Melisande and playing-the-fool Jasper.  Melisande turns out to be passionate in bed and fascinating out of it and Jasper is dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The third book, To Beguile a Beast, is a beauty & beast story naturally.  The beast is a naturalist named Alistair who was captured and scarred during the war.  I can understand this beast as everyone in the book screams or faints at seeing his terrible scars.  The beauty Helen has been betrayed and hurt by her beauty.  She is a runaway mistress, hoping that the father of her illegitimate children won’t catch up with her.

Ideal Wife by Mary Balogh -  Very satisfying read about a man who chooses to marry a woman because she’s sensible and quiet and finds out she’s nothing of the sort.  I really the marriage of convenience and I like Balogh’s early books better than her more recent work.

NonFiction

Esther Iverem’s We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies is a movie guide on Black cinema and the problems in Hollywood.  She is the founder of seeingblack.com which covers all media.  Both are worth checking out.

Hy Bender’s Sandman Companion on Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel series is good too.

Graphic Novels

In Odd We Trust – What you’d expect from an Odd Thomas novel.  I liked this format.  I hope to add more later.  Empowered did not offend me but it didn’t interest me either.  Bachelor Prince was very cute.

Youth Fiction

Coraline reminded me much more of P. L. Travers’ Mary Poppins than the Alice books.  The quiet menace of those you trust betraying you is much more in Travers’ line.  Beast – it is, in fact, the beast’s story and I enjoyed it.  Pharoah’s Daughter disappointed me by telling the story from two different perspectives and I enjoyed the pharaoh’s daughter’s tale better than Moses’ version.

Single Post Navigation

← Older Entry

Newer Entry →