Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane

When I closed the cover on this book I was just happy and I still am happy. This is quite possibly the only time I have ever considered giving a book an A grade that wasn't a romance book and had no sex between the H/H.

I think I'm growing up.

*wipes tear from eye*

Upon further reflection and let's face it, my need to perfect my grading system in at least my own mind, I decided on a B+.

Cindy Blurb: Heaven is a, uhm ... well she's the heroine and Brady is the hero of the story.

Huh.

Okay, basically - uh.

I guess I'm making it pretty clear I have no clue how to review a chick-lit book.

Heaven starts the story as a high powered PR executive for a small firm and for some reason gets the boot (I mean, I know the reason, maybe jealousy or maybe we're seeing it from Heaven's side of things but whatever). Heaven gets a job as a waitress at a pretty trendy restaurant and we get the inside dish on what restaurants are really like (since I was once a waitress, I get most of it). I also think that Heaven doesn't have many boundaries because when she starts getting her neighbours mail, she thinks nothing of opening it and telling him her opinions.

The neighbour is Brady but we meet him on a plane wondering over his past relationships and why he is still trying to be cool when he is over 30. He is forced to move when the woman he has been living with for the past two years refuses to believe he is breaking up with her and won't leave his rent-frozen (can't remember the term) apartment. He meets Heaven and is basically appalled by her noisiness and general mayhem.

This book is told from the POV of Heaven and Brady and they swap chapters. So the chapter heading will read Heaven and it's her thoughts etc. We don't get earth shatteringly deep thoughts out of either of these characters. They are not looking to solve world hunger or stop war, they are just normal and sometimes normal is down right hilarious cause who hasn't been there and done that.

Is it a story about finding one's self? I guess, maybe, damned if I know. I think it's more of a story about meeting the person you fall in love with and that makes me happy. I laughed out loud at parts and no, it's not slapstick funny like Evanovich so no worries there.

Why not a perfect grade? Believability.

There is a scene where Heaven is clueless to the point of stupidity and all I could think was 'stop, you can't be this dense.' Basically she's working at the restaurant and smells something extremely bad and she thinks the toilets in the bathroom have backed up. She apologizes to the table seated near the bathroom and everyone kind of looks away. She goes into the bathroom and finds the odor is not as bad in there - so she decides that someone at the table has stepped in something and tells them this. Nobody at the table reacts - I would think at this point you would shut your yap and let it go but no, she starts sniffing around the table until she gets to a woman and is bending to inspect her shoe when the woman bursts into tears. She has a colostomy bag - Heaven is mortified that she just embarrassed the woman but really, would anyone take something that far?

The other part that I stumbled over was a section about Starbucks and how people get to make choices. While reading it all I could think of is You've Got Mail and how the hero in that movie had the exact same thoughts. It definitely took me out of the story because I was no longer in the head of Brady but in the head of the movie guy.

Oh, and the ending was too pat. I mean there is a HEA and then there is an over the top HEA. I'm just saying, the guy gets the girl, good enough. The rest is gravy but then Crane threw whip cream and a cherry on top. But then, there are people in the world with over the top lives. Bastards.

Ahem.

If you already love Chick-lit then I would recommend this book to you but remember, I'm not well versed in this genre. If you are in a slump and need something a little different then this might be just the thing.

That's what this experiment was for me. I just didn't know which of the 200 romance books in my TBR pile to pick up next so I decided I needed to read something completely different.

I'm glad I did.

Cold As Ice by Anne Stuart

Let's face it, we all know this is a keeper for me being the Anne Stuart fangirl that I am.

That said, I think this is one of her better stories and I loved the heroine. It is rare that Stuart gives us such a strong and likable heroine and I am so voting for Genevieve Spenser as my Favourite Heroine of 2006 at AAR.

Cindy Blurb: Genevieve Spenser is one high powered attorney and she has the bling to prove it. She was once down and dirty in the world of law but she was attacked one night by a battered woman's husband. Having survived the attack she learned how to protect herself, moved to a safer part of the city and thus a new line of work and lost herself in a world not her own.

Genevieve has finally decided to take a vacation but she needs to get one of the firms 'huge' clients to sign some paper work. This puts her on a yacht of a billionaire that she wishes she could thumb her nose at but is forced to be civil to. Civility forces her to stay over night on the boat and thus, her movement into the line of fire.

Peter (The Ice Man) Jensen is an undercover operative for a collection of agencies trying to keep world order. Or peace. Whatever. He is serving as the billionaire's aide in order to discover what kind of maniacal plans he has in store for the world. The night Genevieve steps on the yacht turns out to be the night of reckoning for the billionaire and the lawyer is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now if only the Ice Man can do as ordered and kill the innocent who has stumbled onto the scene.

*sigh*

I love me some Anne Stuart.

Onwards!

I'll say what I noticed as a problem for the story. Peter was almost too much of an Ice Man. In other words, he was able to bait Genevieve and reply coldly to her to the point where I started to wonder if he did find anything about her appealing. He said he did but he was also able to convince himself that murdering an innocent had never been part of his job before. Turns out I found this quite convincing so the idea that he was falling in love with Genevieve (he starts to call her Genny) was hard to find in his own mind!

Another thing was that the villain of the piece was really evil. Really, really evil and had one hell of a plan that was scary in it's scope. Now this is perfect for someone who likes to see villains who are not cartoon characters. The problem came when all his plans were foiled, he decided he needed to kill Genevieve. Somehow this would make him feel better.

Yeah. Not exactly as scary as it could have been.

As to the rest? Loved it!

Stuart finally gave one of her contemporary heroines some skills and it was wonderful. Genevieve wasn't afraid to try and keep escaping and was able to make decisions on the fly about her own survival. Not only that, she was lippy and since I tend to have a mouth I liked that she didn't back down from a fight. She is probably one of my favourite heroines so a huge thank you to Ms. Stuart.

I tried to figure out how someone who wasn't an Anne Stuart fangirl would rate this book and it just wouldn't gel with me. For example, there was a book years ago called The Widow that I still own and it's on the keeper shelf but I think it would be rated at a C if it was lucky. Cold As Ice, however, had everything I liked in a Stuart book so I think it sits firmly in the A range which would still make it a keeper.

So there you have it.

KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER!!

The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

It's now Monday morning 1am and my stomach has decided to give me a break. I was able to visit with my friend but I tell ya, the minute she left my stomach went nuclear. Major pain for the rest of the night and even when I got up today I didn't want to eat much. I ended up eating soup and I have a saying in that regards.

If I'm eating soup, I'm sick.

It must have been what the tummy needed though because it calmed down just after that. It was minestrone which happened to have a few chunks of potatoes so maybe it was the comfort food. Yeah, would hate to think I would dump my horrible fast food ways because of one bowl of soup.

I'm sure I'll be back to my old self soon enough.

What's that you say?

How about a notoriously poorly written book review?

Thought you would never ask!

The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt is as many people say, an excellent debut novel. Even still, there were things that kept it from being perfect. I'm going with a B-.

Cindy Blurb: We have the Earl of Swartingham (Edward) coming back to his ancestral home in some small town. He is one of those semi-absent minded individuals who loves to get in the muck and help his tenants while also being a strong personality that has sent many a secretary fleeing his anger.

Anna Wren, a widow of 6 years needs a job to help keep her, her mother-in-law and her haphazard maid in the small cottage her husband left them and manages to talk her way into a job as the new secretary of the Earl.

As I wrote my horrible blurb I realized that there really is so much more to the story and not being one to spoil people's expectations of a book I don't want to reveal too much. Even so, the backblurb on the book gives more away than I have but let's move on.

What I liked:

I loved Edward and Anna and even though I'm sure I would fall asleep from sheer boredom in Edward's presence I know he was a good fit for Anna. (He loves everything to do with agriculture) Anna was also a great character and not one to shy (too much) from strong emotions. I liked that she didn't feel sorry for herself or take the easy way out. She also had a normal reaction to Edward in the beginning of the story - Edward is a survivor of small pox and has the scars to prove it. Anna refers to Edward a few times as an 'ugly' man before she ever really gets to meet him (They first meet and barely a word is spoken between them when he almost runs her down with his horse) which I think is realistic in first impressions.

I also liked that there didn't really seem to be any care for propriety. I mean, there are some things that even made my eyebrows go up and I'm far from a stickler for historical accuracy but one of the final scenes had me wondering if I had missed the part where Anna put on a disguise.

Apparently not.

Let's just say, she would have been ruined. No ifs, ands or buts. (is that the right wording?)

My problems?

Actually, I think the story was a tad slow in the beginning and since I hadn't read the backblurb I was shocked to discover the 'way the plot turned'. I remember thinking at one point 'oh please God no.' but apparently, it was a resounding YES.

And then it happened again!

Okay, not only did it happen but I actually liked how the author had it happen. Let's just say the Earl had no clue and I liked how Anna realized the difference between sex and making love. Very true to form. Also liked that the author didn't have the hero 'know who it was all along'.

In writing this *cough* review I have discovered that I appreciated the way the story unfolded. Sure, a few plot points took their grand old time showing up but, hey, maybe that is the sign of a great story teller.

Oh yeah. Then there was 'the widow who can't have children' thingie. (shut up, I'm calling it a thingie)

Don't get me started on infertility.

And I've started. (what a shock)

There was a point where I would have walked away from Edward without looking back because I'm not sure I could forgive such a painful swipe. I mean, it was honest and stuff but I'm not sure it needed to be said outright. (yeah, I may have been too criptic without meaning to. It was in the barn after he kissed her - he gives her this long speech about why they can't be together and it's because he wants kids. Ouch. I mean, that would be painful *today* but I guess back then it would be only natural that children were at the forefront of people's minds.) I found that Anna seemed to forgive too easily and I'm not sure I would have been convinced to marry this guy. I may have needed more from Edward on this point but then the ending made it all moot anyways.

The ending?

Made my teeth hurt but, of course, I saw it coming. I always see that coming. But that's a personal peeve and not one another reader might have.

All right. Are we all here? *starts head count* I think we may have lost a few.

Is this book worth your time?

Yeah, sure, why not. I enjoyed it and even though there were things that pulled at me they were my own things and not so much the problem of the story.

Unless you are a stickler for historical accuracy.

Then don't you dare pick up this book.

Okay, you can pick up the book but, don't you dare blame me!

Her next book is The Leopard Prince but I may watch for other's opinions before I pick it up.