Thursday, October 15, 2009

Still Waiting For A Stunner...


Wicked All Day by Liz Carlyle

I though Wicked All Day by Liz Carlyle was going to end this irritating reading jag I have been enduring for the last several weeks. But alas, no. Although No True Gentleman is one of my all-time favorites, there are some other books by this author I did not love (The Devil You Know, for example). Wicked All Day is not one of Carlyle's best efforts, in my opinion. Zoe, the heroine, was not very appealing...she was more or less a spoiled, naive, whiny girl. She spent a lot of time in her room crying and feeling sorry for herself (boring!) Also, the pacing really dragged mid-way through the book. Just after the heroine decided to break it off with the ne're-do-well fiancee, Carlyle decided to employ one of those aggravating "let's have this guy fall off of his horse and almost die, thereby forcing the heroine to nurse him back to health" incidents, which felt incredibly gimmicky to me. Bright spots: The love scenes between Zoe and Mercer were intense and satisfying, and the conclusion tied up the loose ends neatly, and with the requisite HEA. Nevertheless, I am still searching for something to rock my socks off. I ordered Almost Like Being In Love: A Novel by Steve Kluger, and I have heard great things about this book, so hope springs eternal. 

Grade: Not sure how to grade this book, exactly, so I'm giving it a B-/C+

Hoping for greener pastures and more satisfying romance novels, 
Penelope