Through the Nostalgia Glass: The Velvet Promise by Jude Deveraux

Warning: all the spoilers.

Welcome to the post that took me over a year to write! If you were wondering what took me so long, the answer is: I’m super lazy and my ability to procrastinate is close to a superpower, like I was bitten by a radioactive excuse or something. I was also a bit afraid to revisit a book that’s so close to my heart, a fear that, as you’re about to see, proved to be both right and unnecessary. But really, I was mostly being lazy.

The goal of this post (that may or may not become a feature, but I’m not making any promises) is to revisit beloved old favorites and see how they hold up to the reader I am today. This means that I’m interested in how my current context shapes the reading experience, and not in how the book’s past context shaped the way it was written.

Oldie but Goodie Guest Review: Prince of Dreams by Lisa Kleypas

Credit: Zawezome

It's been a while since we posted an Oldie but Goodie review, so today I'm happy because Sarah is back and with her comes a blast from the not-so-distant past!

About Sarah: Who am I? I'm a part-time library science student, part-time librarian, and full-time mom. When I'm not wrangling my little girl or my husband, I'm reading all sorts of books to be able to recommend that "next" book for shy readers or those new to the romance genre. I can be found on Goodreads or on my blog at sarahsbookshelf.com.

Tell me if this sounds familiar to you. You have a huge TBR pile, but there are a few books in that pile that you don't want to read because you know you are going to read them way too fast. You know that you are going to love them and you know that you are going to be sad when you have to move onto something else when you are finished. So you procrastinate and procrastinate reading the book, simply because you don't want it to end. Lisa Kleypas is the author that writes books that fall into this category for me. I cannot help myself when I pick up one of her books. It's like a buffet on a cruise ship: you know you can eat as much as you want, and it's so yummy, but you also know that your time is finite. So the question becomes do you want to savor it? Or do you want to stuff your face as fast as you can, while you can, and suffer the heartburn? For me, it's the face-stuffing/heartburn, because I just can't help how quickly I read when I really like a book. If it's a book I own, I'll probably give it another read in the future when I have more willpower to pace myself.

Oldie but Goodie Review: Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts

Credit: Zawezome

It’s simply not possible to have a section called Oldie but Goodie without a novel by Nora Roberts. She has written novels on almost any sub-genre and one of her very best -in my opinion- is Carnal Innocence a Romantic Suspense novel.

I think that I enjoyed everything about this novel, the heroine is very likeable, the hero is one of my favourites of all times –I need and exact replica for me, please God!-. Then there is the southern accent, the dialogues are so good that you practically can hear them talking –and I read the novel, it wasn’t an audiobook- . The mystery of the plot was insane and the writing was five-stars. In sum, Carnal Innocence has all the elements to be in our books’ Olympus.

Oldie but Goodie Review: Again by Kathleen Gilles Seidel

Credit: Zawezome

This is an oldie but goodie book, but it was a newbie for me. I came upon this book by accident; I was going through my parents’ library and found this one hidden under a pile of dust. I googled the book and since the reviews were great and the description sounded interesting I read it. Once I started it I couldn’t put it down.

The book is set in the world of soap operas. The hero, Alec, is a very famous soap opera star who after having a lot of troubles with his current show gets fired and starts working in another one. The heroine, Jenny, is the head writer of that show. They have an instant connection, he is attracted to her refreshing attitude and she is just plain nice and friendly, so they become fast friends. He is the first one to realize that his feelings have developed into something more, but the problem is that Jenny is in a very serious relationship with one of the show’s actors.

Oldie but Goodie Review: Mr. Perfect By Linda Howard

Credit: Zawezome

With this review we are starting a new section in our blog: “Oldies but Goodies” (I know, we are very original), and what a better way to do so than reviewing Mr Perfect by Mrs Linda Howard.

If you read this week’s “Follow My Book Blog Friday” you might have noticed that Mr Perfect is in my “I cannot live –or die, since it is the apocalypse- without it” list of books, and ladies that is God’s truth! Mr Perfect is just that, perfect. Linda Howard, being the master mind that she is, wrote a Romantic Suspense book (or Contemporary Romance with some traces of suspense) that is worth reading again and again because every time that you do it you discover something new that for sure will creep you out or make you laugh.  In this book she manages a balance between funny dialogues, a plot full of trepidation and an explosive romance.