Brown-Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My sister and I listened to this on Playaway in the car as we did our usual car commuting. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. I know that many fans weren't that happy with it. To my surprise, I really bonded with Avery. I got her. I understood her fears and what drove her and why she was trying so hard to avoid a relationship with Joe. It was funny how I would have a thought about the story and it would pop up either in the dialogue or Avery's thoughts.

I do also have to say that this nails some very integral aspects of Texas culture. I found that highly enjoyable. It was also interesting that Avery is a Texas woman to her core, but she connected to living in New York so much.

I loved Avery's relationship with her sister Sofia and the employees of her wedding/event planning company. Sofia and Steven's relationship definitely had me thinking that their sparks were of the romantic kind. I liked how Avery and Sofia were so close, despite meeting as adults. I'm very close to my sister, so I totally got the sister love between them. I loved the affection and loyalty they showed to each other. It felt very authentic.

As far as the romance, I wasn't 100% satisfied with it. I know that most of that is due to the 1st person POV format. It just doesn't work well for romance. I think that for me, I need to have access to both the characters to see the romance in a 360 degree view. I was forced to wonder and surmise how Joe felt based on what Avery saw or what he did in the book. I sometimes wondered what was defense mechanism or merely reacting to what Avery said or did.

I liked Joe, a lot, but he did let me down in a major way. (view spoiler)[ Joe was intractable about considering a long-distance relationship and that didn't gel with his supposed serious feelings for Avery. I could understand if he was clear about why, or if he expressed some angst about it. But he had already made up his mind that it wasn't going to happen. I think that if you love someone, you try to make it work. You don't hand out ultimatums. Even though he claimed he wasn't pressuring her, he made it clear that there wasn't a chance of their relationship continuing if Avery moved to New York. Plus, he made Avery say "I love you" first. I do understand that he was probably uncertain about Avery's feelings for him because she spent so long pushing him away, but he had gained a lot of insight into her and she was very clear about the fact that she didn't want to lose him. I felt the resolution of whether Avery was going to move to New York was a cop out. I would have preferred if Joe was willing to support her and willing to work out a relationship long distance, even if Avery realized she didn't want to go. I am thinking this part could have been done better. The proposal would have been cuter and better accepted if I had seen a gesture from Joe prior to that. It just seemed like he got what he wanted and it was easy street for him. (hide spoiler)]

I think my issue with this book is the same with the Travis series. I just don't care much for 1st person romance. I will always love the books, because Lisa Kleypas is a fantastic writer, and even my least favorites by her are still well-written. I did like catching up with the Travises. I really wish this had been multiple 1st person, because I really missed Joe's POV. I don't think I got to know him nearly as well I wanted. Hardy is still my favorite. Oh, that man! I could eat him off a spoon. But Joe is dreamy, and I loved him with Avery. Avery won me over and I really felt a kinship with her. I think I would like her in real life, and hanging out with her Sofia would be a lot of fun.

This was a very Texas book, with a couple of women that I felt like could be my friends in real life, and that was nice!

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Wizard by Stephanie James

Wizard by Stephanie James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sometimes you just want to read an old school category romance, and that's why I ended up reading this. Plus, I never could resist a Nerd Hero. This is also a bit of an opposites attract kind of book. Sophy is the normal intellect daughter of two academic geniuses and she has a chip on her shoulder about academics. She likes cowboys. Her parents have mostly given up on making her in their image, but they are still trying to pair her up with an intellectual so they can have genius grandchildren. So of course, they push Max in her direction when he comes to Dallas for some consulting work, getting Max to meet her while he's in town.

Sophy is downright insulting to Max, initially, pretty much calling him dull as ditchwater to his face, and citing her preference for cowboys. Max is enchanted with Sophy and very, very jealous of her cowboy she's currently dating. For Max, it's practically love at first sight. He resolves to spend as much time with her as possible, and he ends up seducing her into giving this academic the old college try.

Stephanie James is a pen name for Jayne Ann Krentz and you can tell. Ms. Krentz/James seems to prefer intelligent, but very masculine alpha types, and well, who can blame her? I liked Max. He has a big POV, and you realize that he's a very layered man. Under his calm, intellectual exterior lurks a crouching tiger. I can see that he was more than willing to fight for his woman. I love a hero who doesn't give up on his heroine and pursues her despite all obstacles.

Although Sophy did come off a little bratty at first, it's apparent, she's a very sweet person. It was her way of dealing with the hurt of always being the normal kid around overachievers. I like that even though Max massacred the steak (steak-grilling is apparently a skill all men must possess or lose their man card), she still stroked his ego about it. That was very sweet of her. She didn't have to do that. She could have destroyed his fragile male ego, but she didn't. I like that Sophy is also very well-developed. She is a talented seamstress and designer, and her flair for color and design is apparent, even in the face of people (including her parents, dismissing it as trivial).

I lived in Dallas as a teenager (high school), and James captures it well. I have a book fondness for cowboys, but my real life experiences with them has left me disenchanted. Sophy's beau reminded me of some of the cowboys I went to school with, and he lives down to my worst experiences of that type. I can't say I ever met a real life cowboy I found sexy, but I will still cherish my fictional cowboys. However, nerds always win out. Max is one sexy nerd. I like that he's very supportive of Sophy and never treats her like she's his intellectual inferior. He seems to understand that being a book smart person isn't the sum total of experience. I liked that although her parents don't get her, Sophy's parents do love her, and she loves them. I think it took courage for Sophy to forge her own path, despite the fact that it took her in a very different direction from her family's aspirations.

This book lives up to the charm that old school category romances will always hold for me. It's amazing how much story a skilled writer can tell in under 200 pages. I'm really glad I was drawn in by the nerd angle, and I've enjoyed all the Stephanie James books I've read--this is no exception I'd recommend this if you can get a copy of it.

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Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas

Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I checked this out on audiobook and my sister and I listened to it in the car. It was a fun read. I liked that one of the narrators was male and the other was female. They alternated the parts of Allie and Luke and it was a nice touch. The male narrator sounded a bit noir, but it suits Luke being an investigator of sorts. The female narrator makes Allie sound as adorable as she is. I pictured Allie as Claire Bowen, who plays Scarlett on "Nashville."



For Luke, I pictured a younger Luke Wilson

I loved the small town, Texas atmosphere. All of the characters are quirky. They are all hanging on to life on the edge of Jefferson's Crossing, near the lake that was made when Jefferson's ancestors dammed up Twisted Creek. Allie is a very sweet young woman. Her devotion to her grandmother made me smile. Nana raised her when Allie's self-centered, good for nothing mother ran off. When Allie's grandfather died, Nana lost their farm and Allie had to leave school to help take care of Nana.
I liked this viewpoint of their relationship. It's not typical to think of a young woman who is living with and supporting and caring for an aged relative, but I'm sure it happens more than one would believe. Allie has a lot of burdens on her young shoulders, but you never get the impression she wants to get rid of that burden of caring for her grandmother, but does it willingly.

I liked the rag-tag band of Nesters (as the objectionable sheriff) refers to them. Each of them has been hurt by life, or merely decided to drop out and hang out in the fringes. When Allie and Nana arrive at Jefferson's Crossing, they establish a found family of these misfits, one that effects change for everyone in a good way.

Luke was one heck of a guy. Thomas writes Texan heroes that make me wish I met guys like that in real life living in Texas. Luke is definitely a keeper. Even though he seems like a slacker, he has some very strong reasons for being on the lake. He and Allie have great chemistry that is a good underpinning for this book, but the relationships between all the characters could actually stand on its own. I loved how he connects to Nana almost immediately and they form a strong relationship.

I adore Jodi Thomas's books. They are satisfying reads with characters that feel real and are quirky and textured. She is a great romance writer, but one of her best skills as a writer is characterization. Her larger-than-life characters come out of the page and make friends with the reader.

I have a print version of this, but I'm really glad I got the audiobook. I do have to say that the Southern accent made the narrative a bit slower than I wanted at times, since I read much faster than the narrator speaks. However, that was true to the characters.

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Wild Lady by Ann Major

Wild Lady by Ann Major
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was glad when I read the afterword and found out this was Ann Major's first book. For a first book, it's actually quite good. If this was a recent entry from an author I had read and been very impressed by, I would have been more disappointed. As it stands, it was pretty good.

Things I didn't Love
*Let's face it, Kit is very immature. She's young, with very little life experience. She's also spoiled. For all that, she is a good person. I think she always did love Ted, but her youth made it hard to express that. She doesn't quite know how to make a relationship work, and it shows.
*Ted is harder to get a handle on for most of the book because the book is from Kit's viewpoint. He annoyed me when he flipped out on Kit and put her out. He didn't give her a chance to defend her, just assumed. He should have been a bit better at relationships for his advanced years over Kit, but clearly he isn't.
*This book relies heavily on misunderstandings, which can be kind of tedious as a source of conflict. As I said, for a first book, I can respect that this was a chosen device for a novice author.
*Phyllis, Ted's sister-in-law was annoying and interfering in Kit and Ted's relationship. I wanted for Ted to tell her to butt out, but he didn't get around to it during the book. That's a shame.

Things I liked
*I did get the feeling that the love between Kit and Ted was real and strong, despite all their fits and starts. I just wish they communicated better.
*I liked that Kit was half-Mexican and half-white, and embraced both parts of heritage.
*I'm always a sucker for books set in Texas.
*Ted's daughter was cute. I wish she was in the book more though.
*Ted was a self-made man.
*Ted was red-headed.

So not a great book, but not a bad one either. It's always interesting to read an author's first book and to see how far they have come.

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