Add a Random Quote generator to your site. Visit Quotedb.com

Google

Search LLB's Blog
Search WWW

A Google search of this blog will not pick up protected entries.

Calendar

««Jul 2008»»
SMTWTFS
   1
2
3
4
5
6
789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031

Access/Read Protected Entries

Last protected entry: 06/25

Instructions on applying for access

Apply for Access

Read Protected Entries

Those with access to protected entries will receive an automated email when a new protected entry is posted

Hit Counter

Total: 1,059,365
since: 16 Jul 2003

Blog Status

  • 4 yrs 51 wks 1 days old
  • Updated: 6 Jul 2008
  • 1,101 entries
  • 2,753 comments

Quick Poll

This week's quick poll is slightly different in that you'll be submitting a form with your response. Still, I'll compile the results for posting next Friday. The question? What's that frivolous high ticket item on your wish list you want more than anything else (sorry...it can't be a mansion or a Ferrari). Please use this form to submit your answer.

What was begun as an online journal of the books I read evolved...or maybe it devolved...so that it also now features:

  • Behind the scenes goings-on at All About Romance from my perspective (mostly based on my personal feelings - okay, it's a personal pity party).
  • Occasionally More and more my non-cyber life (including family and items in pop culture that capture my interest, which is just about everything).
  • Topics I've gone over ad nauseum in commentary at AAR, including the nature of reviews and online behavior.
  • Sharing part of my life with you is a two-way affair. All I ask from you is: Please do not violate my trust.

    Some AAR-related material is restricted, as are some personal postings. To access restricted entries, click here for instructions, then click here to apply - if unsuccessful, click here for an online form to fill out and submit (the form can be used to send me blog-related email as well). You must keep blogged material from the restricted section off AAR. Anyone violating this rule will lose access to protected entries. You only need to enter your password once (it's a cookies thing).

    Remember, this blog is not part of All About Romance. Comments or questions regarding sensitive blog content must not appear at AAR.

    Blog Directory - Blogged

    Laurie Likes Books at Blogged

    Recently Finished

    Mailing List

    Below you'll find the blogs I visit, broken out in my own odd little system of categories.

    My RSS Feeds








    Reckless

    posted Tuesday, 27 November 2007

    Reckless

    Amanda Quick

    Grade: B

    Sensuality: Warm

    Although my most recent JAK/Amanda Quick read was a disaster, she does remain a major comfort read author, and one of the first books I grabbed to read when I got sick last month was Reckless, published in 1992.

    It was a very good choice, and helped remove from my mouth the bad taste left after hating Gambler's Woman; hating a book from a favorite author is never fun, is it? Reckless was the sixth Amanda Quick release, and it offered everything I love about the author at her best; it was fast-paced, funny, and sexy, and the interplay between hero and heroine was terrific. Quick is wonderful at creating heroines who see their heroes in a way that is at odds with how the heroes see themselves. One may see a hero as having a sensitive constitution when he sees himself as a bull in a china shop. She used a similar premise in this book, but turned the heroine's idealized view of the hero on its head that I adored.

    Phoebe Layton, with her bluestocking ways, an oddly developed sense of style as regards her clothing, and an interest in old illuminated books, is on a quest, and for that she needs the help of a knight in shining armor. Some years ago she had given a man she thought loved her one of her collection. The man was later killed at sea and Phoebe is convinced if she can find that book, she'll find his killer, and alleviate the guilt she feels at not having loved him in return. Who better to fill the position of knight than Gabriel Banner, who played a part nearly a decade ago in a scheme the 16-year-old Phoebe concocted to "save" her older sister from marriage to a man the older girl thought she didn't want. As a result of his interference in the marriage, Phoebe's father ruined Gabriel financially and the young man went to sea to seek his fortune. As for the older sister, she acquiesced and married the man her father had chosen and is now a happily married woman.

    To pique Gabriel's interest so as to more easily be able to convince him to solve the mystery with her, Phoebe buys several antique books that Gabriel had sought for himself. Then she sends him an anonymous letter asking that he meet him late at night on a country road. For months now, Gabriel has been annoyed by the unknown person who manages to buy out from under him various rare books; he goes to the meeting with nothing in mind other than unmasking this pest. Still, he agrees to accompany and protect her that night as she goes to the home of a rare books dealer to purchase an antique manuscript. It isn't, however, until a how-coincidental-is-that highwayman appears on the scene and steals the manuscript that things get interesting. Phoebe is shocked at how cowardly Gabriel is; even more shocking is the kiss they share...and the shocker of all shockers for Gabriel is when he realizes who Phoebe is. Now that he's rich, has her father decided to ruin him again, or is Phoebe on the up and up with the story she tells him about her lost love, with whom Gabriel has his own tale to tell?

    This is the framework for a romance that is truly delightful. To provide more information about the plot itself would ruin the fun you'll have along the way. What I can share is that Phoebe and Gabriel's intelligence and ability to take care of themselves - as well as a tremendous physical attraction - makes them a well-suited couple. Gabriel may not see himself as a Regency equivalent to a Medieval knight, but he uses Phoebe's attraction to the knightly ideal to his advantage on their wedding night. As for Phoebe, her ability to shock Gabriel was a constant joy to read; most particularly when she gives him poor marks for his performance as a lover. Don't worry...he later makes up for it.

    Phoebe's family provides another level of fun; her mother and sister are against Phoebe and Gabriel as friends, let alone a couple, until they discover he's rich. Now her mom will have another son-in-law to go to when she has gambling debts she needs to pay. Phoebe's father is no ogre, and Gabriel's original plan to seek revenge on him by ruining Phoebe is one no reader will take seriously for long; that he eventually comes to understand the other man's position is a great moment.

    Amanda Quick, along with Julie Garwood, invented the humorous historical - Medieval, Regency, or otherwise. She shouldn't be penalized for that, but on the other hand, even though I can't really think of much negative about the book, after reading dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of them by now, there's nothing here that makes it stand out as one of the all-time best. Still, for what it is, it's a strong read and one I recommend with no qualifications. As for me, I've still got a few Quicks left unread, and some JAK's too, so perhaps one day I'll find my Quick/Krentz DIK. Until now, here's an undated table of my reading of her books to date:

    Not including in this list is the book she edited - Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women. A copy sits on my desk, next to my dictionary and thesaurus. My grade for this book is B+; it ties as the highest grade I've ever given her work.

     

    Rendezvous 1997B+Quick
    Mischief *1996BQuick
    Mistress 1994BQuick
    Reckless 1992 B Quick
    Scandal 1991BQuick
    Seduction 1990BQuick
    Trust Me 1995BJAK
    Between the Lines 1986B-JAK
    Dangerous 1993B-Quick
    Grand Passion 1994B-JAK
    Lady's Choice1989B-JAK
    The Pirate 1990B-JAK
    Surrender 1990B-Quick
    The Waiting Game 1985B-JAK
    Whirlwind Courtship **1980B-JAK **
    With This Ring 1998B-Quick
    The Main Attraction1987C+JAK
    Ravished 1992C+Quick
    The Ties that Bind 1986C+JAK
    True Colors 1986C+JAK
    The Wedding Night 1991C+JAK
    A Woman's Touch 1989C+JAK
    Mystique 1995CQuick
    Witchcraft 1985CJAK
    I Thee Wed *** 1999C-Quick
    Zinnia 1997C-Castle
    The Family Way1987D+JAK
    Man with a Past **** 1985D+JAK
    The Test of Time 1987D+JAK
    Uneasy Alliance 1984D+JAK
    Gambler's Woman 1983 F JAK

    * After I read Mischief I read Deception, published three years earlier by the same author. I was dismayed at how similar the two books are. Both stand alone as B's, but together they read as though Quick plagiarized herself.

    ** Originally released under the name Jayne Taylor; later reissued as JAK (my copy is in a 2-in-1 w/Dara Joy's High Energy, a terrific B+ read.

    *** Although I still have many JAK/Amanda Quick books on my tbr shelf, she jumped the shark for me with this book.

    **** Incredibly surprising to me was the scene in this book that verges on rape. This from a Krentz hero?

    links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit




    1. Nikki left...
    Tuesday, 27 November 2007 7:55 pm

    I have thought that the later Amanda Quick novels were all very similar, but I did enjoy the earlier ones a lot. I also kind of go to extremes with her contemporaries as well. I haven't reread any of hers lately, which is a sign of some sort--I don't know what exactly--but she is still an autoread for me.


    2. LinnieGayl left...
    Tuesday, 27 November 2007 9:23 pm

    Oh, Quick/Krentz is a big time comfort read for me. Rendezvous is my all time favorite Quick. I just don't think it gets the attention it deserves. I always wished that she would go back and write the story of the daughter in Rendezvous.


    3. Laurie Gold left...
    Friday, 30 November 2007 1:09 pm

    Nikki -

    After having read that horrible series re-issue, I knew I had to read an early, unread Quick to cleanse my palate. I'm glad I did.

    LinnieGayl -

    i think you and I are the only ones who love Rendezvous best. Almost everybody seems to prefer Ravished, which I think was just above average. I liked Deb Simmons' The Devil Earl better. The stories are similar...have you read it?

    TTFN, LLB


    4. LinnieGayl left...
    Saturday, 1 December 2007 5:34 pm

    Laurie, I haven't read The Devil Earl but have it in my TBR pile. I'll have to give it a try. I sometimes wonder if other people just haven't read Rendezvous. It's clearly the best of Quick.


    5. Laurie Gold left...
    Sunday, 2 December 2007 1:03 pm

    LinnieGayl -

    If you like Simmons, I think you'll like The Devil Earl. It's a very fun read.

    TTFN, LLB