Genre: Romantic Suspense

POV: Multiple POVs in the 3rd Person

Sensuality: Warm

Violence: Some but pretty tame

My Grade: DNF

As far as I’m concerned, Stephanie Tyler’s Hard to Hold would have been more aptly titled Hard to Finish. I can’t in all conscience assign a grade to this book because I started skimming from page 214 before reading the final chapter properly.

On a positive note, I know Hard to Hold is the sort of romantic suspense beloved by many readers. I can see why it’s popular. Unfortunately, it represents precisely the sort of romantic suspense which rarely works for me.

Before I start listing my problems with this book, here’s a brief summary of its premise: Hard to Hold is the first book in a trilogy which will be published back-to-back over the next couple of months. Lieutenant Jake Hansen and his two foster brothers, Nick and Chris, are all Navy SEALs. They’ve survived some tough times together, both while they were growing up and in the line of duty. When they rescue Dr. Isabelle Markham, an American hostage in Africa, Jake feels a connection which he’s never experienced before. The circumstances surrounding Isabelle’s kidnap are such that her ordeal is not yet over once she reaches American soil. Taking a position as a military doctor – ostensibly for her own protection – Isabelle is pleased when Jake is assigned as her bodyguard. Naturally, sparks fly and Isabelle and Jake fall in love. But before they can find happiness, they have to survive the evil machinations of Isabelle’s captor.

The basic set-up is fairly typical romantic suspense fodder and bound to appeal to many readers. I prefer my romantic suspense to be dark and gritty, and this certainly isn’t. It’s reminiscent of Suzanne Brockmann’s style in the sense that the story is told from multiple points of view, complete with the odd flashback. Whereas Brockmann usually confines herself to a maximum of four POVs, I stopped counting the number of POVs in Hard to Hold once I’d reached eight. I don’t respond well to multiple POVs, particularly in a book which is only 370 pages long and which is supposed to be a romance novel. By the time I’d read thirteen chapters, I was confused as to who everyone was and why I should care. Jake and Isabelle’s romance felt like one subplot among many. Admittedly, I stopped reading properly after page 214, but from skimming the rest of the book, I didn’t get the impression that this changed later in the story.

Jake and his two foster brothers seemed terribly clichéed. What’s the likelihood of all three becoming SEALs? Seriously? Also, their father,  Kenny is a rock band-managing psychic. Yep, try wrapping your head around that one. I wasn’t sure how that fit into the context of this story, but I’m sure it’ll become more relevant in Chris’s book as he’s Kenny’s biological son and has inherited his father’s abilities. Isabelle wasn’t a bad heroine but I never felt I got to know her well enough to really care what happened to her.

I struggled to read this book. From skimming the second half of the story, I didn’t get the impression I’d missed much by not continuing. If you like Romantic Suspense Lite, and can cope with head-hopping, this book might be for you. As you can see from the other reviews I’ve linked to below, my opinion is in the dissenting minority. I know I won’t be continuing with this trilogy.

Other Books in this Series:

Too Hot to Hold (05 January 2010)

Hold on Tight (26 January 2010)

Other Reviews of Hard to Hold:

Dear Author – B-

Lea at Closetwriter – Desert Island Keeper

Pearl’s World of Romance – 9.7 out of 10

Book Binge – 4 out of 5

Avid Book Reader - C

As you may have noticed, reviews have been scarce at Monkey Bear Reviews of late. There’s a reason for this. The last three books I read were ones I either could not get into or actively disliked. Instead of prolonging my torture by devoting three normal-length reviews to these books, I’ve decided to go the lazy route and feature them in mini reviews.

The first book on my (s)hit list did not suck as such, but I couldn’t engage with it.

Brief Synopsis: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber is billed as Historical Fantasy. Eighteen-year-old Miss Percy Parker arrives at the Athens Academy to finish her education. She is an oddity in both appearance and ability, and is quite self-conscious in consequence. Percy is albino which inevitably draws stares. To ensure that people stare even more, she tries to disguise herself by wearing a turban and lavendar glasses. (This made absolutely no sense to me, but whatever.) In addition to being albino, Percy can see and hear ghosts. She has never revealed this ability to anyone for fear of being considered insane. The Athens Academy is also not quite what it seems. It is run by the mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman. Together with five friends, Alexi is part of a select circle with supernatural powers. Their task is to prepare for the war against evil and to await the arrival of a seventh helper.

My Verdict: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is not really a bad book and I’m sure it would appeal to many readers. Unfortunately, it failed to engage my attention and I gave up halfway through. While I’m not a fan of too much info dump, I felt as if I’d been thrown into the story with no adequate background knowledge. Much is assumed, little is explained. The circle of six all have distinct personalities – or so I assume – but beyond the odd one-liner, we’re not given a true glimpse of their characters. We learn a little more about Alexi and Percy, but not enough to make me want to spend a whole book in their company. Although Alexi has potential, Percy seemed cold and uninteresting. If I don’t care about the characters, the book is a lost cause. I also got the impression that Alexi and Percy were gearing up for a romance. The age difference bothered me (he is 36 to her 18) but the teacher-student relationship disturbed me even more. Grade: DNF

The second book on my list was one which I finished, but it is not one I can recommend.

Speed Dating by Nancy Warren is part of the Harlequin NASCAR series. I downloaded it for free from the Harlequin website. Given how bad the book sucked, I was glad I hadn’t paid money for it.

Brief Synopsis: Actuary Kendall Clarke gets dumped by her cheating fiance right before an important ceremony at which she is due to receive an award. Dylan Hargreave is a NASCAR driver in need of a date to his ex-wife’s wedding. Kendall humiliates herself in front of her colleagues with a tell-all speech in which she reveals her fiance cheated on her and impregnated another co-worker. Needless to say, she’s demoted and given a forcible stress leave. For some odd reason, Kendall fails to realize she acted unprofessionally. Dylan needs a fake girlfriend to stop him kissing his newly-married ex-wife. Only it doesn’t. Somehow, the ex-wife and her doormat new husband decide they are actually in love. After about five minutes of soul-searching, Kendall and Dylan decide they are, too, and they all live happily ever after.

My Verdict: This book was the worst I’ve read so far this year. It wasn’t even bad in a Susan Mallery sort of way whereby I could at least laugh at its ridiculousness. Apart from having a beginning, a middle and an end, this book has no redeeming features. Grade: F

The last book on the list is J.R. Ward’s Covet. After five days, I’m only on page 203 and I’ve started skimming. I’m not quite prepared to label it a DNF just yet, so I’ll put it aside with the intention of trying it again at another time. At the moment, it’s boring me and I want to devote my limited reading time to a book I might actually enjoy.

Brief Synopsis: Following a fatal accident at work, carpenter Jim Heron is sent back to earth with a mission: to save his boss’s soul. Vin di Pietro is a self-made man. He’s described as ruthlessly ambitious and has no problem with being on the shady side of the law. He lives with his beautiful fiancee, Devina, but is fighting his attraction for the prostitute Marie-Terese. Marie-Terese is also attracted to Vin but she is busy trying to pay off her debts and protect herself and her son from her evil ex-husband.

My Verdict: Jim is a good character. I could have done without his Harley-riding sidekicks, but I had no basic objection to Jim. Vin’s actions and Ward’s description of his character seemed at odds. She tells us he’s ruthless, yet I haven’t seen evidence of that up to the point I stopped reading. He seems cold but basically a good guy. The character I had the most problems with was Marie-Terese. Her portrayal was so very different from that in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. In those books, she was described as the head ho in Rhev’s club, ZeroSum. In Covet, she’s metamorphosed into a typical J.R. Ward doormat heroine. She’s a reluctant prostitute and seems to be pretty low on the totem pole in the club in which she now works. The part which defied all logic was when her boss, Trez, offered her the money to clear her debts and she refused because she was too proud to accept help. WTF? She’ll sleep with men for money, even though she despises herself for it, but is too proud to accept help from a friend? I think I need to move on to another book. Grade: TBF/DNF

I’ve struggled through to page 255 of Loretta Chase’s Don’t Tempt Me and I’m not sure I want to continue. This book will likely be adored by hardcore Loretta Chase fans, particularly those who loved Lord of Scoundrels. I am apparently an atypical romance reader as I hated Lord of Scoundrels but enjoyed some of her other books, most notably Mr Impossible and Lord Perfect. As I do think many Chase fans will enjoy this book, I’m going to avoid major spoilers. Here’s a brief list of my problems with the book so far and why I’m reluctant to read the last 100 pages.

A brief synopsis of the plot: Twelve-year-old Zoe Lexham was kidnapped by white slave traders while traveling in Egypt with her aristocratic parents. A dozen years later, Zoe escapes the harem in which she was held captive and returns to England. Although her family are delighted see her alive and well, they are terrified of being ostracized from society due to Zoe’s scandalous past as a harem girl. Lucien de Grey, Duke of Marchmont, is a family friend and a former childhood playmate of Zoe. He is the epitome of fashion and the Lexhams ask him for his assistance in launching Zoe successfully in Regency society. Needless to say, he is wildly attracted to the beautiful and captivating Zoe, and decides to make her his own.

My problems with the story:

1. Zoe
2. Zoe
3. Zoe

No, seriously:

• By page 24, I wanted to slap some sense into her. She is the sort of heroine I absolutely despise but is beloved by many romance readers. She defines “spunky” and is constantly running heedlessly into danger in an effort to be independent.
• Despite living in a harem for twelve years, SHE’S STILL A VIRGIN!!!
• Virginity not withstanding, she’s an expert in the sexual arts.
• She’s petulant and throws tantrums.
• She’s described as intelligent but certainly doesn’t act it.
• The hero is a trusted family friend and repays that trust by romping with the very girl he’s supposed to be helping launch into society and make respectable.

Anyway, my dilemma is this: I’m really not enjoying this book but I only have 100 pages left. Should I persevere, or abandon it in favour of one of the many books on my TBR shelf which I really want to read?

With regard to DNF reviews: do you think you can review a book without having finished it? I must admit I struggle with the concept of calling my thoughts on a book I did not finish a review. However, I think it’s legitimate to say I did not like a book enough to finish it and explain why I felt this way.

When was the last time you didn’t finish a book? How far into it were you when you decided to put it aside?

I should have known better, I really should. This book is bad on so many levels that I don’t know where to start. Actually, “start” is a bit misleading, as I didn’t even manage to finish it.

Angels’ Blood is labeled an Urban Fantasy Romance, so a lot of world building goes on in the first couple of chapters. The basic premise is as follows: Elena Deveraux is a vampire hunter living in an alternate reality Manhattan. In this world, archangels rule, served by their vampire slaves. Humans are the lowest on the pecking order. Hunters are classified as human, although they have a special power which other humans do not: the ability to track vampires gone bad.

One day she’s called to a meeting with Archangel Raphael, the leader of North America, and receives an unusual assignment: to trace a renegade angel. (I’m not sure why angels can’t track each other given that they are supposed to be all-powerful, but whatever.)

Elena is a Buffy wannabe with a bad attitude. She spends the first few chapters stomping and sulking. She’s supposedly terrified of Raphael, yet she defies him at every opportunity. Her death-wish is the result of some childhood trauma, which will no doubt be explored as the story progresses.

Elena is described as having dark gold skin, white hair and silver eyes. Sounds a little odd, but nothing I can’t cope with.

Then we come to Raphael. The depiction of his piercing blue eyes reminded me of Elijah Wood, or the dude who played Boone in ‘Lost’. It’s not a compliment either way. The description of his hair left me with the distinct impression he was sporting a mullet. The wings skeeved me out and I tried to erase them from my mental image, especially the gold dust which they emit when shaken. So we have a bemulleted, bewinged hero with a funky dandruff problem. Oh, and he’s naked.

All the secondary characters are stunningly beautiful, etc., and in a permanent state of arousal. I think there was an orgy in Chapter 7, but I was already skimming at that stage, so I’m not one hundred percent sure.

My problem is not with the story itself. It’s totally ridiculous, of course, but I didn’t expect anything else from the description on the back cover. The main reason I can’t continue with the book is Raphael. Bearing in mind that this is supposed to be a romance, I’m assuming Raphael is our hero and Elena is our heroine. The idea of those two getting intimate revolts me and I really don’t need to read about it.

I’m not a huge fan of paranormal/urban fantasy, but Angels’Blood got great reviews elsewhere and I thought I’d give it a go. I was not expecting something bordering on interspecies porn.

I really hate not finishing books, especially ones I’ve spent money on. If anyone can convince me that the rest of the story is worth reading at a later point, please try. For now, I think I’m moving on to something better.      Grade: DNF