A Spinster's Luck, Dancing in my Nuddy-Pants, and The Playboy & Plain Jane

First up is A Spinster's Luck, the debut romance (it's a traditional Regency) for Rhonda Woodward. Though I've had some good luck matching at least partly with AAR Reviewer Megan Frampton, I've got to disagree with her on this one, which she gave a grade of D. It was a B- for me, and the book would have gotten an even higher grade had it been better explained why the heroine was so upset at the hero for so many years. When she's a 16-year-old girl she overhears something he says and misinterprets it. The reader isn't privy to the misinterpretation until very late in the story, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense why she feels the antipathy she does, but the rest of the book worked so well for me that I was surprised it was such a dud for Megan. Readers who enjoy cocoons turning into beautiful butterflies should enjoy this book, and the bitchy villainess for some reason doesn't seem the caricature this character type is often portrayed as. She's particularly effective in creating problems for the hero and heroine, and there's a poignancy to the story that makes it linger in my mind.

Next is Dancing in my Nuddy-Pants, the fourth in Lousie Rennison's hilarious YA/Chick Lit for Teens Georgia Nicolson series that both my daughter and I fell in love with last year. It took me a while to get back into the rhythm of the narrative, and perhaps the author over-dosed on the "osity" of too many words, but it's still a very fun read and I actually hope she stops the series at this point, because the ending perfectly fits the book (and the series). 14-year-old Georgia, madly in love with Robbie the Sex God, is perplexed by the "red-bottomosity" she feels for Dave the Laugh. She must deal with her nunga-nungas and oversized nose, the latter of which doesn't seem to be a problem for her growing girl-power over the opposite sex. Angus the cat is back in full force, and Georgia's sweet relationship with her baby sister is as fun as ever. 11, 14, or 40 - "girls" of all ages will enjoy this B read.

And then there's The Playboy and Plain Jane by Leanne Banks, which starts off a Silhouette mini-series. Banks has written the hunky single father and seemingly plain Jane nanny before, and does it well. This book works for the most part, but some of the series romance conventions included in this book are a bit much. The book earns a B- from me and would have been a straight B had the final conflict between the hero and heroine been expanded and more fully explored. Banks is a comfort read author for me, and those for whom she isn't a comfort-read author may find my grade higher than theirs.

I say this because the Rennison book did earn a straight B and it's clearly a more original and better book than the Banks, and would still be better had Banks expanded that final conflict. It's a good thing I no longer officially review online, because grading isn't always precise, and my reasons for the final grades of all three books mentioned today are equally imprecise. But there you have it anyway.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books