Cleaning out my TBR list
I have a whole bunch of books on the sidebar that are listed as TBR, that really aren’t TBR any longer, but just R. A few, I’ll talk about a little more later this week (Caressed by Ice, Riding the Storm, Soul Song, Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy) but there are others that I’ve read in the last month or so but probably won’t ever devote a whole post to them, and besides, everyone but me in the blogosphere has pretty much already read them anyway, so here goes a couple:
Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
Here’s the thing: I’m not really a fan of straight contemporary + funny (I can do paranormal or historical, though.) Or rather, I rarely like it as I read it (the humor doesn’t work for me), and in those rare instances that I have a good time, I rarely revisit the book (for example, I really loved Bet Me, would have easily graded it an A, but I know I’ll never re-read it, and this is my second Crusie) … and therefore I avoid the whole sub-genre like herpes. That is why I’m sure I didn’t pick this one up when it came out long, long ago, because the “Love & Laughter” line? Bleeeeechhhhhhhh. And oh-so-cute dogs/kids/oldpeople in romances? Double bleeeeeeeecccchhhh.
That said, I really loved this one, and have already re-read several scenes. And, double w00t! I got this one from a shopping cart outside my local USB for about … $0.10
Yeah, I’ll probably pick up another old Crusie up in a couple of months.
This is one of those books that I picked up solely because of the word-of-mouth factor. I’d read a couple of glowing reviews online, and I hadn’t read a rom-suspense in a little while (okay, I hadn’t read anything in a while because of a certain deadline). The last one I’d read was Bad Girl by Michele Jaffe (due to another recommendation) and loved it like crazy, and maybe because I was thinking of that one, Rose’s book came in just slightly below that. I skimmed a very few tiny parts, but overall, liked it bunches and bunches. Enough that, very soon, Die For Me will be in the TBR pile. And the rest of her backlist, too, but I’m trying to be a good girl.
The Billionaire Next Door by Jessica Bird
I didn’t really intend to read this, but I was stuck in Centralia, WA after being stuck in Portland traffic and being WAY late to a meeting with a writing buddy *sob*. I didn’t want to turn around and drive right back to Portland, so instead I went to Safeway, picked this up, and read it while sitting all by my lonesome in a restaurant. And, everyone probably already knows I’m a fan of category romances, but they lean toward the over-the-top Harlequin Presents line (and, oh my god, I’ve read some really bad ones lately, enough to make me rethink my guilty pleasure, but I’ll spare everyone the details) … but this really worked for me. It was a great way to spend about two hours when I didn’t have my laptop, and I didn’t want to get started on a single title that I’d have to put down (unless I wanted to get a hotel in Centralia, and lemme tell you … I didn’t.) I might even pick up the others when they come out, but I’m not sure. It was good, but there was no achy feeling in my chest that I get sometimes from her Ward books, so … yeah.
Also, I kind of dream of having luscious blond hair like the cover model’s.
