Three more Leanne Banks reads

After having blogged last month about how I generally enjoy Leanne Banks' series titles, I read three additional Banks titles, and now my feelings are more mixed. The list in that earlier blogging indicates that of the fifteen books I've read by Banks, ten earned grades in the B range and 5 in the C range (most of the B's were B-'s and most of the C's were C+'s). These three additional reads change things; Expecting the Boss's Baby earned a B- from me, Expecting His Child earned a C, and a much earlier release, Ridge: The Avenger, earned a C-.

I mentioned in my last blogging that I enjoy boss/employee romances, and Banks has done several in the past. They tend to cross that "sexual harassment" line far more than the Shalvis title I mentioned last time, but for some reason I like these books. Expecting the Boss's Baby is, obviously, a boss/employee romance. The back cover blurb reads:

CEO Michael Hawkins had made an exective decision. After making his secretary, Kate Adams, pregnant in an unexpected night of passion, Michael asked for her hand.

Kate didn't want to be viewed as just another business interest. Could she convince her boss she would be as indispensable in his heart as she was in his office?

I liked this book as well as I did for a couple of reasons. One is that Kate is no pushover - and she has dignity that plays itself out throughout the entire book. Secondly, there's an undeniable poignance to their relationship; by the end of the book Michael is convinced that as a result of Kate he grew a heart. Pregnancy plays a big part in this story, as it does in Expecting His Child, but Expecting His Child is not nearly as good a book as Expecting the Boss's Baby. I'll get into that in a moment, but first, the back cover blurb:

Martina Logan dangerously shared a passionate affair with her family's nemesis, handsome Noah Coltrane. But when she became pregnant, Martina was determined to have the baby alone. So, armed with baby booties, she stood her ground.

Seeing this vulnerable beauty, swollen with his child, made Texas bachelor Noah fall head over spurs, and ring in hand, he stormed her door. This was one Logan he was determined to make a Coltrane.

Yes, this is a secret baby plot, but the secret is revealed right away. That in itself wasn't much of a problem. But there were problems galore, and my grade for this book is a straight C. First of all, the whole feud seemed silly in this day and age. Then there's the fact that the adult hero and all his adult brothers all live in the same house, making the book read like it was a western historical, as did the feud, frankly. The book didn't get a worse grade, though, because Banks writes well and the way in which the hero went about wooing the heroine was sweet. If only the author had done away with the various brothers on both sides, this could have been a reasonably good read.

Ridge: The Avenger might have been fairly decent too, but the ending was assinine. But I don't want to get ahead of myself, so here's that back cover blurb:

Ridge Jackson's plan was simple: protect lovely Dara Seabrook and get revenge on her godfather at the same time. Ridge was a professional; he knew the dangers of mixing business with pleasure. How then had the voluptuous brunette gotten under his skin?

Dara's sultry blue eyes soon made Ridge forget all about revenge and remember how good a woman's love could be. But now Dara was dangerously close to stealing his heart - and about to discover how she figured in an old scroe he had vowed to settle.

The sexual tension and chemistry in this book is wonderful; the problem comes from the resolution of the revenge. It would be a spoiler to explain in detail the revenge, but I can safely say that Ridge grew up without a father and unacknowledged by his father. His plan is to get revenge on Dara's godfather, who is running for president of the U.S., so I'm sure you can put two and two together. As I mentioned, it's not the revenge itself that's the problem, it's the resolution, and if you can read the final chapter and epilogue of this book and not gag, you're a far better person than I in terms of accepting changes in human nature. I'm sorry to be cryptic, but I don't want to "spoil" the ending for any of you who may have this book tbr.

That's all for this time.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit