Forever Your Earl by Eva Leigh

Eleanor Hawke loves a good scandal. And readers of her successful gossip rag live for the exploits of her favorite subject: Daniel Balfour, the notorious Earl of Ashford. So when the earl himself marches into her office and invites her to experience his illicit pursuits firsthand, Eleanor is stunned. Gambling hells, phaeton races, masquerades... What more could a scandal writer want than a secret look into the life of this devilishly handsome rake?

Daniel has secrets, and if The Hawk's Eye gets wind of them, a man's life could be at stake. And what better way to distract a gossip than by feeding her the scandal she desperately craves? But Daniel never expected the sharp mind and biting wit of the beautiful writer, and their desire for each other threatens even his best-laid plans.

But when Eleanor learns the truth of his deception, Daniel will do anything to prove a romance between a commoner and an earl could really last forever.

REVIEW:
Though I loved the basic premise of Forever Your Earl, the execution left me unmoved. Both Eleanor and Daniel were enjoyable characters (she the editor of a gossip rag, he the paper's most popular subject) but the situation they found themselves in was just too contrived for my taste. It was never at all clear why Daniel felt having a reporter along for the ride on his wild escapades would bring less attention than when he set out alone? Nothing about that makes any sense. The book was an OK read but one I had to keep chiding myself to continue. 2.5 stars.

Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr

For the second time in a year, a woman arrives in the small town of Virgin River trying to escape her past.

John “Preacher” Middleton is about to close the bar when a young woman and her three-year-old son come in out of the wet October night. A marine who has seen his share of pain, Preacher knows a crisis when he sees one—the woman is covered in bruises. He wants to protect them, and to punish whoever did this, but he knows immediately that this is more than just instinct. Paige Lassiter has stirred up emotions in this gentle giant of a man—emotions that he has never allowed himself to feel.

Then Paige’s ex-husband turns up in Virgin River. And if there’s one thing the marines’ motto of Semper Fi—always faithful—has taught Preacher, it’s that some things are worth fighting for.

REVIEW:
I was really hoping to love this Paige and Preacher book but wow did I not. I did love Preacher and Paige as characters, but the storyline itself was problematic for me. The sequence of events with Wes seemed completely unrealistic - attacking his wife and another woman in broad daylight on a street full of witnesses didn't fit with a history of behind-closed-doors abuse. However, my bigger issue is with the treatment of pregnancy and pregnant women in this book (which I also disliked in book one of the series). Between teen pregnancy, miscarriages, and the birth stories - it seems women in these stories have no higher function than to be fecund. I think this book marks the end of my visit to Virgin River; I'll stick to the TV show for my guilty pleasure.

Eloise by Judy Finnigan

"She was a daughter, a wife, a mother. She was my friend. But what secrets did Eloise take to her grave?"

After her best friend Eloise dies from breast cancer, Cathy is devastated. But then Cathy begins to have disturbing dreams that imply Eloise's death was not all it seems.

With a history of depression, Cathy is only just recovering from a nervous breakdown and her husband Chris, a psychiatrist, is acutely aware of his wife's mental frailty. When Cathy tells Chris of her suspicions about Eloise's death, as well as her ability to sense Eloise's spirit, Chris thinks she is losing her grip on reality once again.

Stung by her husband's skepticism, Cathy decides to explore Eloise's mysterious past, putting herself in danger as she finds herself drawn ever deeper into her friend's great - and tragic - secret.

REVIEW:
I wanted to like this book but it was just too all over the place to make for a good read. Though the background story of Eloise and her family was quite engaging, Karen and Chris were just too unbelievable as characters to carry the story. I know the author was trying to call up the atmosphere of classics like Wuthering Heights and Rebecca but that effort failed. Karen's thoughts and emotions vacillated so wildly and unpredictably that I was unable to grasp her as a character, and Chris' reactions to Karen made it impossible to believe he could be a mental health professional. The drama of it all was just too much to be realistic even for a gothic style novel. 2.5 stars.

The Marriage Pact by M.J. Pullen

Marci Thompson always knew what life would be like by her thirtieth birthday. A large but cozy suburban home shared with a charming husband and two brilliant children. A celebrated career as a writer, complete with mahogany shelves and a summer book tour. A life full of adventure with her friends and family by her side.

Instead, Marci lives alone in 480 square feet of converted motel space next to a punk rock band, hundreds of miles from her friends and family. She works in a temporary accounting assignment that has somehow stretched from two weeks into nine months. And the only bright spot in her life, not to mention the only sex she's had in two years, is an illicit affair with her married boss, Doug.

Thirty is not at all what it is cracked up to be.

Then the reappearance of an old friend with whom she had made a drunken marriage pact ten years earlier opens a long-forgotten door, and the lines between right and wrong, heartache and happiness are all about to get very blurry, as Marci faces the most difficult choices of her life.

REVIEW:
This should really be a 2.5 star review which is rather disappointing. Though this book was well-written, the heroine was just to unlikable to carry the story. Marci was stuck in a dead end job and a dead end relationship with her boss, and yet somehow just thought everything would somehow resolve itself without any work on her part. Then an old friend swoops in to carry her away and she seemingly falls into another relationship without actually making any attempt to address the problems in her life? I found her too frustrating to wish her well, and didn't like that she saw herself as a victim rather than an active participant in her life. It wasn't until the very end that I found anything redeemable in Marci, and that was just too late. I never understood the attraction to Doug, and I thought Jake deserved better than his relationship with Marci, but again it seemed like he had put no real thought into that either. All in all, a rather aggravating read for me.

The New Republic by Lionel Shriver

Book description:
Ostracized as a kid, Edgar Kellogg has always yearned to be popular. A disgruntled New York corporate lawyer, he's more than ready to leave his lucrative career for the excitement and uncertainty of journalism. When he's offered the post of foreign correspondent in a Portuguese backwater that has sprouted a homegrown terrorist movement, Edgar recognizes the disappeared larger-than-life reporter he's been sent to replace, Barrington Saddler, as exactly the outsize character he longs to emulate. Infuriatingly, all his fellow journalists cannot stop talking about their beloved "Bear," who is no longer lighting up their work lives.


Yet all is not as it appears. Os Soldados Ousados de Barba—"The Daring Soldiers of Barba"—have been blowing up the rest of the world for years in order to win independence for a province so dismal, backward, and windblown that you couldn't give the rat hole away. So why, with Barrington vanished, do terrorist incidents claimed by the "SOB" suddenly dry up?

I wanted to love this newly published offering by the gifted Lionel Shriver but the painfully slow start to this novel made reading it a chore.  Edgar Kellogg is a completely unsympathetic and often annoying character; he tries so hard to be arch adn superior that he often made me cringe.  The entire situation in Barba, a Portuguese province now the home of a breakaway rebel movement, is absurd- too absurd unfortunately to make for an enjoyable read.  Though the book does raise some interesting questions about journalism and sensationalism, the story itself never pulled me in as a reader.  The big twist was something I saw coming once Edgar arrived in Barba and I found his inability to follow the breadcrumbs irritating and unbelieveable.

The last third of the book was certainly an improvement both in terms of pacing and dialogue, but it was to little too late to save this book.  2.5 stars.

Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

Book Description:
Harper Connelly has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. The way Harper sees it, she's providing a service to the dead while bringing some closure to the living-but she's used to most people treating her like a blood-sucking leech. Traveling with her stepbrother Tolliver as her manager and sometime-bodyguard, she's become an expert at getting in, getting paid, and getting out fast. Because for the living it's always urgent-even if the dead can wait forever.

The start of a new series, this paranormal mystery about a young woman struck by lighting who can now locate the dead and see the moment of their passing is surprisingly good. Though it doesn't take long for the reader to figure out the mystery, it really doesn't matter- it is the characters that carry this book along amd make it impossible to put down. I've read other books by Harris and enjoyed them, but this is head and shoulders above The Southern Vampire Series or the Aurora Teagarden mysteries. Highly recommended even if you don't normally enjoy Charlaine Harris.

Unholy Business by Nina Burleigh

Flap copy from ARC:
"In 2002, an ancient limestone box called the James Ossuary was trumpeted on the world's front pages as the first material evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ. Today it is exhibit number one in a forgery trial involving millions of dollars worth of high-end, Biblical era relics, some of which literally re-wrote Near Eastern history and which could lead to the incarceration of some very wealthy men and embarrass major international institutions, including the British Museum and Sotheby's.

Set in Israel, with its 30,000 archaeological digs crammed with biblical-era artifacts, and full of colorful characters—scholars, evangelicals, detectives, and millionaire collectors—Unholy Business tells the incredibly story of what the Israeli authorities have called "the fraud of the century." It takes readers into the murky world of Holy Land relic dealing, from the back alleys of Jerusalem's Old City to New York's Fifth Avenue, and reveals biblical archaeology as it is pulled apart by religious believers on one side and scientists on the other."

Though Unholy Business has the potential to be a riveting read, it falls far short with its disjointed approach to storytelling. The author bounces back and forth through time and introduces a dizzying array of similarly named characters in the process. In the beginning, I found myself flipping back to previous chapters just to track the chain of events and people involved. The complicated story of this massive fraud often seemed to take a back seat to the author's opinion of the reasons behind the fraud which made for a much less compelling narrative.

I was disappointed that this book focused so much on personalities rather than on the facts of the case. I also thought the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying. A more scholarly approach to this interesting case would have made for a much more satisfying read.

The Chocolate Lover's Club by Carole Matthews

Flap copy from paperback:
"Some women are addicted to shopping; others can't get enough of champagne. But there's one thing that Lucy Lombard can't live without, and that's chocolate - rich, creamy, delicious chocolate. Sharing her passion are three other addicts: Autumn, Nadia and Chantal. Together they form a select group known as the Chocolate Lovers' Club. Whenever there's a crisis, they meet in their sanctuary, a cafe called Chocolate Heaven, and with a cheating boyfriend, a flirtatious boss, a gambling husband, and a loveless marriage, there's always plenty to discuss ... The Chocolate Lovers' Club brings together four unforgettable women from totally different worlds united in their passion for chocolate."

This book sounded like the perfect light read for my vacation- a tight group of friends bonding over exotic chocolates and tales of woe should be an automatic chick-lit home run. Unfortunately, this book was more a swing and a miss to me because the main protagonist Lucy was clearly more caricature than character.

I would like to believe that no self-respecting young woman would truly be so proud of her ability to stick with a serial cheater of a boyfriend. I would like to believe no self-respecting young woman would be so proud of her absolute inability to perform any of the basic functions of her employment. I would like to believe no self-respecting young woman wants to read and sympathize with so vapid and annoying a main character.

It was a real shame to me that Lucy was so stereotypical and idiotic a character, because the problems faced by the other women in the book rang true and could have elevated this book above the fray if they hadn't been constantly undermined by clumsy babbling irritating Lucy.

A disappointing 2.5 stars.

Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles

Flap copy from ARC:
"Odessa, Ukraine, is the humor capital of the former Soviet Union, but in an upside-down world where waiters earn more than doctors and Odessans depend on the Mafia for basics like phone service and medical supplies, no one is laughing. After months of job hunting, Daria, a young engineer, finds a plum position at a foreign firm as a secretary. But every plum has a pit. In this case, it’s Mr. Harmon, who makes it clear that sleeping with him is job one. Daria evades Harmon’s advances by recruiting her neighbor, the slippery Olga, to be his mistress. But soon Olga sets her sights on Daria’s job.

Daria begins to moonlight as an interpreter at Soviet Unions(TM), a matchmaking agency that organizes “socials” where lonely American men can meet desperate Odessan women. Her grandmother wants Daria to leave Ukraine for good and pushes her to marry one of the men she meets, but Daria already has feelings for a local. She must choose between her world and America, between Vlad, a sexy, irresponsible mobster, and Tristan, a teacher nearly twice her age. Daria chooses security and America. Only it’s not exactly what she thought it would be..."

I really wanted to like this book which has such an interesting premise and started out strong. Daria is a great character, and I felt truly invested in her struggles and her life in Odessa. The descriptions of trying to work in the post-Soviet era Ukraine are hysterical. The entire mail-order bride business is both amusing and tragic, and is very well depicted in this novel.

Unfortunately, once Daria makes a choice about how she wants to live her life, my interest in the book rapidly waned. Daria immediately lost all of the vivacity and humor that made her such an interesting character, and without a strong character interestd to drive it, the narrative petered out. I feel like this was two different novels- one a lighthearted chick-lit offering with set in Odessa, the other a darker look at the questionable world of international mail order brides. Either book as a stand-alone tale would have been an enjoyable read, but the combination here weakened the impact of story.

Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean

Flap copy from ARC:
"Delia Chandler, an eighteen-year-old Southern girl, marries Viscount Ivor Conisborough just before World War II and becomes part of the Windsor court. It's every girl's dream come true. But Delia is jolted from her pleasant life when she realizes, after the birth of her two daughters, that Ivor chose her only to bear an heir to his estate. Shortly thereafter, she begins an affair with her husband's handsome, titled, and frequently scandalous best friend."

This book is a hard one to review, especially because I was so primed to enjoy it before I began. Unfortunately, the more I read, the less I liked the Delia and the less I enjoyed the novel. Both Delia and the plot itself remained to superficial for me, and I found the vast leaps in time grating. The best part of the novel by far was the insights into the Windsor court and into the Egyptian colonial society of the time, but even those highlights were not enough to carry the narrative for me, especially as I'm not sure how historically accurate they were.

I was ultimately disappointed by Delia's decisions, and by her blind refusal to see how much her actions blighted the lives of those around her; honesty would have been by far the best policy for all of these characters. The narrative also moved incredibly slowly which made it even harder to sink into the story. I gave this one three stars, and believe it might make a decent vacation read.

The Believers by Zoe Heller

Flap Copy from ARC:
"When New York radical lawyer Joel Litvinoff is felled by a stroke, his wife, Audrey, uncovers a secret that forces her to re-examine her ideas about him and their forty-year marriage. Joel's adult children will soon have to come to terms with this unsettling discovery themselves, but for the meantime, they are grappling with their own dilemmas ... "

I was really looking forward to reading this book because I loved Notes on a Scandal, but finishing this book was a chore. My thoughts were pretty aptly summed up over at Streetcorner Library. Despite the quality of Heller's writing, my inability to empathize with any of the characters made it impossible for me to enjoy this book.