Linda reads : All He Ever Dreamed by Shannon Stacey

May 18, 2013August 27, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

The Kowalski family has owned and operated the Northern Star Lodge in Whitford, Maine for four generations. The current generation includes five siblings. Josh is the youngest and only one left living at the Lodge. All his siblings have found other interests and occupations that do not include the running, upkeep, maintenance and all the work that it takes to run the Lodge. Josh feels he is being forced to give up his own dreams of exploring a life outside of Maine and the Lodge. When the family discovers just how upset he is with being stuck at the Lodge, they try to find a way that Josh will be able to leave and fulfill his dreams – even if it means selling the Lodge.

Katie Davis is the daughter of the Lodge’s live-in housekeeper, Rose. Katie grew up with the family and feels like she’s another sibling to them. She owns a barber shop in town. Secretly, she has always been in love with Josh, but he thinks of her as a sister – until late one night when she walks into the kitchen in her pajamas. Suddenly, Josh is not seeing a “sister”.

Everyone in the family and in town can see that Josh and Katie are meant to be together, but Josh can’t see what’s right in front of him. It was fun to watch Josh stumble along when he realizes he’s in love with his “best friend”. Suddenly Josh’s vision of leaving Maine becomes clouded by his feelings for Katie. She is committed to staying in Whitford and has no desire to leave. Josh feels guilty about leaving her and the Lodge and you can really feel his dilemma. The author does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing what’s going to happen.

There’s a sweet side story between the housekeeper, Rose and her late husband’s best friend Andy. The other Kowalski siblings’ stories are also entertaining and the various townspeople of Whitford, Maine add another layer of interest.

Shannon Stacey has the winning formula for contemporary romances. Her stories are witty, charming, filled with emotion and fun to read!

This is book 6 of The Kowalski Family series. The books do not have to be read in order. Learn about the rest of the Kowalski clan in the previous 5 books:

1. Exclusively Yours

2. Undeniably Yours

3. Yours to Keep

4. All He Ever Needed

5. All He Ever Desired

Erotic Romance vs. Erotica

May 14, 2013May 15, 2013 / Linda / Leave a comment

Erotic fiction has been around for a very long time. One of the most erotic pieces of poetry is the Song of Songs in the Bible. The late 18^th century brought us the French aristocrat, Marquis de Sade whose name gave us the sexual kink of “sadism”. In the early 20^th century, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tropic of Cancer helped reform obscenity laws in the United States. In the 1970’s there was a dramatic increase in erotic fiction with Fear of Flying, and My Secret Garden. The 1980’s brought us Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty Trilogy. Many new publishers were founded to keep up with the demand of erotic fiction.

Erotic romance gained more ground with the introduction of ebooks. By the mid 2000’s when traditional romance publishers saw the interest in this genre, they launched imprints dedicated to the print publication of erotic romance.

There has always been a strong core of erotic romance readers, but with the introduction of the Fifty Shades trilogy, erotic romance became more main stream. However, it is often confused with erotica. Generally speaking, erotic romance ends with “happily ever after” and erotica does not. Erotic romance has more of a story line, exploring love and emotions and centering on two main characters. It’s all about the romance with the sexual journey second. It differs from mainstream romance because it is more sexually graphic. Erotica is all about sex and little else. It can entail some romance, but the focus is the sex.

The Cheshire Library has been seeing more and more requests for books like Fifty Shades, or erotic romance. In an effort to fulfill our patrons’ requests, we have placed orders for similar books. The second most popular author of this genre is Sylvia Day. She self-published Bared To You and when Berkley Books heard how popular it was, they immediately published it in paper. It was followed by Reflected In You and the third book in the trilogy, Entwined With You, will be released in June.

Megan Hart is another author that is very popular. We own several of her titles.

There are three other trilogies that are “like Fifty Shades” and they have received excellent reviews. They are:

The Submissive Trilogy by Tara Sue Me

The Submissive
The Dominant (due out in August)
The Training (due out in October

The Stark Trilogy by Julie Kenner

Release Me
Claim Me
Complete Me (due out in July)

Breathless Trilogy by Maya Banks

Rush
Fever
Burn (due out in August)

You may place holds on these items. Let us know how you like them and if you’re interested in the library acquiring other titles.

Author Profile/Book Review: Against the Edge by Kat Martin

May 11, 2013August 27, 2014 / Linda / 1 Comment

Kat Martin is a New York Times bestselling author of over fifty historical and contemporary romance suspense novels. She currently lives in Missoula, Montana with her husband. Kat is a graduate of the University of California where she majored in Anthropology and studied History. Before starting her writing career in 1985, she was a real estate broker. That’s where she met her husband, Larry Jay Martin, author of more than 20 westerns and mysteries.

Most of her ideas for books just pop up in her head, but she does occasionally get ideas from newspapers and television. Her books are published in twenty foreign countries.

Against the Edge is book number eight in the Against series. You don’t need to read the others in any order as they stand alone just fine.

Former Navy SEAL Ben Slocum receives the shock of his life when a stranger appears on his doorstep announcing that a child he didn’t even know he had is missing. Claire Chastain is a friend of the boy’s late mother and is desperate to find him and seeks Ben’s help. They band together to track down the kidnapper, all the while trying to fight the attraction they feel for each other. Ben enlists the help of his fellow private investigators and end up traveling through several states in search of an off grid survivalist group who might have his son, Sam. To add an interesting twist to the story, Claire’s old boyfriend shows up with his own trouble that Claire gets drawn into.

This book is filled with drama, suspense, action, romance, and likeable characters. It is fun to watch Ben and Claire’s relationship take hold. The author weaves a believable story of both characters’ pasts that adds great interest to the book. The secondary characters (some have been introduced in past Against books) add another enjoyable layer.

BOOK REVIEW: What She Wants by Sheila Roberts

April 30, 2013August 27, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

This is book three of the Life in Icicle Falls series. I didn’t read the other two and do not feel like I needed to. This book took me completely by surprise. Most romances center around the angst of women trying to find true love. This book centers around men! It was very refreshing to read a story from the man’s perspective.

Jonathan Templar and his poker buddies are single, married, separated, height challenged, balding, overweight and geeky. Not your typical romance heroes! But they all have good hearts and no knowledge on how to get the love of their lives, or keep the loves of their lives.

The main character of this book is Jonathan who has been in love with his childhood neighbor his whole life. She only sees him as her “good friend”. Their 15 year high school reunion is coming up and he is determined to change from geeky, skinny, computer nerd, to stud-muffin he-man. He’s also determined to learn how to talk to women and learn what they want. His poker buddies also have their women challenges from Adam who thinks he’s in love with someone at work, to Kyle whose wife kicks him out for taking her for granted, to Vance who has known love and lost love and has quite the surprise! Ms. Roberts deftly weaves their stories and other secondary characters around Jonathan’s. Jonathan’s sister starts planting the seed of reading romance novels to learn about women. They attend their local library’s book sale and Jonathan ends up buying a ton of romance novels. He approaches reading them as if they were textbooks, highlighting passages and taking notes. He ends up actually enjoying them! His poker buddies accidentally come upon his new hobby and he hooks them into reading the romance novels too. It is quite interesting, humorous and thoroughly engaging to watch these men transform.

This book will make you laugh, cry, and cheer for the underdog. It is very well written, with great character development and scene setting. You’ll fall in love with the Town of Icicle Falls and all its characters!

Author Career Achievement Awards – 2012

April 27, 2013April 24, 2013 / Linda / Leave a comment

Romantic Times Book Review magazine announced the 2012 winners of the prestigious Career Achievement Awards. Fifty reviewers and editors chose these winners from a long list of nominees. They are: