THE BUTTERFLY SISTER by Amy Gail Hansen

PUBLISHER: William Morrow 8/2013
GENRE: Contemporary Mystery
SETTING: Illinois & Wisconsin, USA
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: Twenty-two-year-old Ruby Rousseau is haunted by memories of Tarble, the women's college she fled from ten months earlier, and the painful love affair that pushed her to the brink of tragedy.

When a suitcase belonging to a former classmate named Beth arrives on her doorstep, Ruby is plunged into a dark mystery. Beth has gone missing, and the suitcase is the only tangible evidence of her whereabouts.

Inside the bag, Ruby discovers a tattered copy of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, the book she believes was a harbinger of her madness. Is someone trying to send her a message--and what does it mean?

The search for answers leads to Tarble. As Ruby digs into Beth's past, she has no choice but to confront her own--an odyssey that will force her to reexamine her final days at school, including the married professor who broke her heart and the ghosts of illustrious writers, dead by their own hand, who beckoned her to join their tragic circle.

But will finding the truth finally set Ruby free . . . or send her over the edge of sanity?

MY THOUGHTS: This story sounded so unique but turned out to be uninteresting and farfetched. I stared to lose interest early on shortly after the suitcase was delivered to Ruby. Most of the plot was about Ruby's past professor-turned-boyfriend Mark from a year before. She goes to a college reunion and we, the reader, get dragged through implausible situations, right until the end. I was really annoyed at all the suicide/attempted suicide attempts revolving around Mark. It's was overkill and made me roll my eyes. No way could one person, in his case Mark, attract that many unstable women.

Virginia Barnard's letter to her dead sister in the epilogue did make me smile even though the stuff involving Virginia isn't likely to ever happen. Virginia's on a quest to repeat her past in a new setting- a hospital. Sounds like a set-up for a sequel but there's not to be one.

Not a good book and I can't recommend it to anyone. The embossed cover is beautiful though!

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

LADY ANNE'S LOVER by Maggie Robinson

PUBLISHER: Brava, 8/2013
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: Wales, 1820/21
SERIES: The London List, book 3
PURCHASE: link
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: C

FROM PUBLISHER: Lady Imaculata Anne Egremont has appeared in the scandalous pages of the London List often enough. The reading public is so bored with her nonsense, she couldn't make news now unless she took a vow of chastity. But behind her naughty hijinks is a terrible fear. Its time the list helped her. With a quick scan through its job postings and a few whacks at her ridiculous name, she's off to keep house for a bachelor veteran as plain Anne Mont.

Major Gareth Ripton-Jones is dangerously young and handsome on the face of it, but after losing his love and his arm in short order, he is also too deep in his cups to notice that his suspiciously young housekeeper is suspiciously terrible at keeping house. Until, that is, her sharp tongue and her burnt coffee penetrate even his misery - and the charm underneath surprises them both. Trust the worst cook in Wales to propose a most unexpected solution to his troubles...

MY THOUGHTS: I'm sorry to say this was a letdown. It started out interesting enough. The heroine, nineteen year old, red-haired, hazel-eyed Imaculata aka Anne/Annie, is escaping her father, who's tried to molest her for the past four years, since her mother died. She flees England for Wales and is employed by the hero, dark haired, blue-eyed Gareth, thirty-three.

Gareth is an alcoholic who lost part of his left arm after it wouldn't heal properly after he broke it. People also think he's guilty of killing his lover, Bronwen. She was raped and strangled. He's also destitute and Anne comes along at the right time- he's about to lose his home.

Anne comes up with a plan to help them both out of a bad situation. They say I love you far too soon and marry too soon. Once the plan is decided upon I lost interest in them (it happened so early on) but not in finding out who really killed Bronwen. That subplot was desperately needed because the main story wasn't enough to hold my interest. Everything just went too fast with them and there was nothing left for the author to talk about.

Both lead characters were likable and there was no conflict, which I feel is necessary. I hate when they get along so well right from the start. We learned nothing about Gareth before he went off to war. I need backstory on Gareth that goes back more than a year, which was how long it had been since he'd lost part of his arm. The only thing we learned about his past was Bronwen, who turned out to be a not so great person. We learned nothing about his childhood.

The author switches between calling the heroine Anne and Annie far too often. I also didn't like his cousin Ian at all nor the cast of characters who were involved with the wedding. I think he was written into the story for one reason only.

The ending with her father was so unbelievable that it left me shaking my head. The story could have been so much better, darker and deeper, what with the alcoholic hero and almost-molested heroine. That dark subject matter wasn’t handled well at all. The story just ended up being bland.

Please see my old interview with Maggie here.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

AFTER PORN ENDS Documentary

I stumbled upon this great documentary on ex-porn actors who were at the top during the 80's and 90's. Some of the ones interviewed are Asia Carrera (Mensa member!), Nina Hartley, Mary Carey, Houston, Crissy Moran, Randy West, Richard Pacheco, John Leslie, Amber Lynn, Seka, Raylene, Bill Margold, Shelley Lubben, Tiffany Million.

It was released in the U.S. in May 2012 and appears to be an Amazon Instant Video only, no DVD. It's not rated but isn't too graphic. It's pretty good and I know of most of the people interviewed. I give it a solid B.

TIGER’S EYE by Karen Robards

PUBLISHER Avon, 1989
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1814
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: A+

SYNOPSIS: Lady Isabella St. Just is shocked to learn the identity of the daring champion who comes to her aid -- for the man who rescues her from desperate felons is none other than Alec Tyron, the notorious king of London's underworld. Now she is beholden to an outlaw who is respected and feared throughout the city and stunned by her own intense desire for this dark man of mystery. Fate has united these strangers from opposite lives -- the beautiful aristocrat and the brazen criminal outlaw. And now that the flame has been lit, no power on Earth will quench the fire of their passion...or destroy a love that society cannot allow.

SPOILER SUMMARY: Isabella is twenty-three and in a loveless marriage to Bernard. Her mother is dead and her father doesn't seem to liker her at all, especially after remarrying years before. She's out in her carriage one day and is kidnapped and held captive at an inn. The kidnappers plan to kill her. After escaping through the window she meets Alec and his friend Paddy. They help her hide out at a brothel Alec owns.

Alec (golden hair/golden eyes) grew up on the streets and doesn't know his parents. He's twenty-eight. He met Paddy and Pearl along the way and has maintained a lifelong friendship with both. Pearl has been his lover the whole time.

Pearl runs a brothel that Alec owns and ends up getting very jealous of Alec and Isabelle's relationship. There's an unrelated subplot of someone trying to kill Alec at the brothel. Alec discovers that Isabelle's husband is behind her kidnapping but she doesn't believe him. Alec won't take her home so, with Pearl's help, she leaves for home without Alec's knowledge. She can't get inside the house and Alec finds her at a restaurant and persuades her to come live with him at his home and help him become a gentleman by tutoring him.

After three months of Isabelle being away from her husband, Pearl's jealousy has reached it limit and she informs Bernard of where Isabelle is, knowing full well that he's already tried to kill Isabelle. She's out walking one day and is kidnapped by Bernard. They travel home and with her father and stepmother, travel to France and stay for awhile, in case there's any scandal caused Isabelle, a married woman, being away from her husband for three months.

Alec discovers what Pearl has done and tracks Isabelle down at a party in France. She tells him she has to stay with her husband and Alec leaves with his feelings hurt. He's already told Isabelle he loves her. Three months later, still in Paris, Bernard goes up to Isabelle outside and starts talking to her, telling her he poisoned his first wife Lydia and that's what killed her, not a 'weak heart'. He grabs her hand and tried to pull her toward the cliff but she resists. He smashes her in the head with a rock twice and Alec shows up and pulls a gun on him. Bernard asks him who he is then realizes he must be the one Isabelle was with for the three months she was away. He moves toward Alec and Alec shoots and kills him. Isabelle's father and stepmother happened to see what happened and now, after she was almost killed by Bernard again he believes her original story about Bernard trying to kill her.

Her father learns from Alec that for the whole three months she's been back with Bernard Alec has had men watching her and even had one working in the house because he was scared Bernard would try to kill her again. Alec leaves for England. Three months later Isabella shows up at the brothel. He's in the tub and she tells him she loves him and they decide to get married. She gets in the tub with him.

MY THOUGHTS: This is one of my top favorite books of all-time and is one of the author's favorites. I first read it around 1995/96 after buying it at K-Mart. I'd only been reading novels for two or three years at that point. In fact, most of my favorites were read around that time.

Isabella is very likable. A little too meek and passive though. She should have gone back to England with Alec the first time, not hung around France for no reason. I'm a little surprised she cheated on her husband. She seems a little too straight and narrow to have done something like that.

Alec is just alpha enough for me. He's another child of the street who's made something of himself as a businessman. That's a common theme in these books, rags to riches.

Her father's a real piece of crap. When she first told him Bernard hired people to kill her he didn't believe her and even suggested to Bernard that he 'beat her' if he has to, anything to keep from getting divorced and having to deal with a scandal. He's sickening.

Adultery isn't extremely common in historical romances and I liked that about this one. The story was interesting from the very first page when Isabella was abducted at night on the highway. The plot was really good. I don't think I've ever read about a heroine almost getting murdered by her husband before in a historical romance. I like her first meeting with Alec when she escapes her captors. There's also an exciting part when they're staying at an inn after someone tries to kill Alec at the brothel and they're still after him. Turns out Alec bought a home from someone and he's angry that he lost his home in the first place, so he's out to kill Alec. That reason is lame but it's fun and interesting to read about his murder attempts and try to figure out the who and why of it.

There weren't any slow or boring parts to me in this story. Unlike in some romances, Alec and Isabella's love was believable but I don't like that she didn't go with him back to England after her murder attempt.