Ana Coqui: Immersed in Books

RWA RITA Review Round-up 2017

03/28/2017

I love the RITA finalist day on twitter. It is so fun to see author reacting to getting their calls or eagerly congratulating others. I know it must be hard to send your book out and not get that call but the overwhelming responses seem to be celebration and discovery.

Romance is a huge genre with many niches and it never more evident than when I sit and read through the list and see how many books I haven't even heard of and I read a lot of books and pay way more attention than I should to what is published.

On this year'a list: RWA RITA 2017 Finalists, there are 83 books, I have read 5 all in different categories. I have own several more but just haven't gotten to them yet.

The Breakdown by category:

Best First Book: 0/6

I haven't read a single one. =(

Contemporary Romance: Long: 0/7

I do have Alexis Hall's "Pansies" in my gigantic TBR.

Contemporary Romance: Mid-Length: 1/10

I adored "Fast Connection" by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell. I reviewed it along with "Strong Signal", the first book in that CyberLove series in July. *(Note: 3.9.18 -- Since this was published allegations have come to light that the author known as Santino Hassell, Catfished and mislead, co-authors, fans and others)

In this category I plan on tracking down Virginia Kantra and Roni Loren's books. I have enjoyed Kantra's books in the past and I saw a lot of love for Loren's books on twitter from readers I trust.

Contemporary Romance: Short: 0/10

I have Lorelie Brown's "Far from Home" on my TBR. I bought it after reading Jazz Baby (her m/f 1920's set historical). I love the fake relationship trope so a f/f green-card romance should be right up my alley.

Erotic Romance: 0/5

There was a time where I read a lot of ERom, but I have not read any of these.

Historical Romance: Long: 0/4

Loretta Chase is hit or miss with me. I have to be in just the right mood, so I didn't pick up this one. Maybe I should have.

Historical Romance: Short: 1/6

I am saving the Tessa Dare entry, "Do You Want to Start a Scandal" for my next reading slump. The Castles Ever After series has been tons of fun. (It is currently on sale for $1.99, so this is a good time to snap it up).

I did read and enjoy "Duke of Sin" by Elizabeth Hoyt. I loved how Hoyt didn't attempt to reform Val as much as redirect him. He is terrible person with very little empathy, but he does truly fall for Bridget and she loves and understands him, without condoning his past bad actions. There were a couple of thing I didn't love in this book. The one POC character, a young Turkish boy's poor understanding of English is played for laughs, and he adores Val as his white savior (Val rescued him from a terrible situation). That whole storyline was hugely uncomfortable. I was also disappointed that Hoyt teased us with rumors that VaI might be bisexual, and then back away. I didn't ever review it, but talked about it plenty on twitter. I also exchanged enough DMs about it with Elisabeth Lane that she can spot me talking about it without context.

Mainstream Fiction with a Central Romance: 0/4

I am sort of surprised I have nothing in this category, since I really enjoy books in other genres that have strong romantic elements.

Paranormal Romance: 1/8

I read the "Leopard King" by Ann Aguirre but I didn't review it because it I didn't get it as an ARC and I didn't love it and I hard time figuring out why. There was a lot of cool things happening in this book, very interesting world building but romance didn't really work for me. It has a lot of tropes I usually enjoy, widower falling in love again, fake relationships, and political intrigue but I didn't like how much guilt played into both their feelings and the whole storyline with her ex's jealousy after stringing her along for years because she couldn't shift and she still struggled with having hurt him was infuriating. I am curious to read more in this world however.

Romance Novella: 1/7

I adore Alyssa Cole and this novella "Let us Dream" appeared in "Daughters of a Nation" a great anthology that reunited her with Kianna Alexander, Piper Huguley and Lena Heart, whose previous anthology, "The Brightest Day" was also fantastic. It pairs a black cabaret owner in Harlem and dedicated suffragette and Muslim Indian immigrant chef. Politics, social action and a love fused into a delicious romance.

In this category I also have "Her Every Wish" by Courtney Milan deep into my TBR. I'm not sure why I didn't read it when I bought it, but I am going to simply thank my past-self for buying it.

Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements: 0/4

I haven't read a single one these, or much of any that would fall under this category.

Romantic Suspense: 1/8

"Mr. & Mr. Smith" by HelenKay Dimon is part of her m/m Tough Love series and I've enjoyed reading reading that series a ton. Great action, conflict and romance.

Young Adult Romance 0/4

None here either!

Best of luck to all the RITA and Golden Heart Finalists. May many readers find your books, this year and in the future.

Posted at 08:12 AM in Books, Contemporary, Historical, LGBTQ, M/M, multi-ethnic, Paranormal, Romance, Romantic Suspense | Permalink | 0 comments

Madly by Ruthie Knox (New York #2)

03/14/2017

It has been a long-time since the first book in this series came out. After I dug up my review of Truly, I realized I hadn't imagined the long wait, I had in fact read Truly back in 2013 when Loveswept was experimenting with serialization on WattPad. Thankfully, I am extremely happy report that Madly was worth the wait.

Madly is the story of Allie Fredericks, May's impulsive little sister. It has been more than a year since she broke up with her long-time boyfriend on their wedding day and now she is in secretly in NYC not to visit May and Ben but to stalk her mother.

Allie is watching her mother Nancy, share drinks with stranger, a man she has disappeared to meet up with again and again throughout her long-marriage, this time only days before her 30th Anniversary party. Angry, confused and regretful Allie is not sure what to do, but she doesn't want her mother to spot her across the bar till she figures out what to do next. Enter, Winston.

"Listen, I know this is going to sound kind of crazy, but if you can just kind of bear with me, I think you'll eventually decide it's the good kind of crazy."

"There's a good kind of crazy?"

"If there's not, people have been lying to me all my life."

Winston Chamberlain is quite possibly the least likely person to ever get caught up in Allie's potentially tawdry, and certainly ridiculous drama. Winston is a buttoned-up British banker, whose marriage recently imploded under the weight of all the artificial expectations of what a proper marriage should be. (He is also Neville' s older brother, from It Happened One Night). His ex-wife is across the world climbing the mountains and his nearly-grown daughter is deftly ignoring his presence in NYC. But Winston does get caught up in it, especially when he realizes he knows just who the man Nancy is sharing drinks with is his client, his very rich and very secretive client.

Madly is oddly an extremely sexy romance about divorce. It is also a story about mothers, daughters and the big and little compromises women make when trying to balance their ambitions, marriages and families. Allie and Winston are both exactly who they seem to be and also more. While they superficially seem like an unlikely pairing they are actually at the same point in their lives, evaluating what went wrong, what they want and what comes next.

It was a delight to read Knox's thoughtful prose again and to enjoy Allie and Winston antics as their romance rockets from unexpected attraction to come to something truly special, something worth taking a chance on even if it seems a little mad to everyone else.

Loveswept (Random House Publishing Group) provided a ARC copy of Madly for review consideration via NetGalley.

Posted at 09:39 AM in Books, Contemporary, Romance, Urban | Permalink | 0 comments

Ashwin (Gideon's Riders #1) by Kit Rocha

03/10/2017

If you look through this blog you will find a half-dozen reviews for Kit Rocha's Beyond Series. I have huge love for that series and was very pleased and satisfied with the way the series ended in Beyond Surrender.

Bree Bridges and Donna Herren, who co-write as Kit Rocha, are moving on from Sector 4 and the bootlegging & orgiastic O'Kanes to a very different corner of their world. Although many of the characters might be familiar to long-time Kit Rocha readers, this is a great jump on point for new readers, as the status quo has radically changed in the Sectors and Kit Rocha doesn't assume you've spent several years reading their previous novels (like I have).

Ashwin Malhotra is a genetically modified super-soldier, one of the Makhai, brutally trained to act without emotion. He is fearsome, solitary and has been growing increasingly unstable. The source of his instability is his forbidden fixation on one of his former doctors, Kora Bellamy. Ashwin smuggled her away from their base and arranged for the O'Kanes to hide and protect her, even from himself. Fearing he would harm her, he submitted himself to a tortuous process to rid himself of his fixation. Once again considered fit for duty his generals have sent him on a infiltration and reconnaissance mission into the heart of Sector One.

Sector One is run by the Rios Family, descendants of a powerful self-styled prophet, who built a powerful cult around himself. Gideon Rios, a grandson of the prophet is the political leader of Sector One, having given control of their church to his sister Isabela. Despite this the religious devotion and loyalty of the residents of Sector One, still belong almost absolutely to Gideon, which troubles the Generals as the refugees fleeing Eden are walking straight to Rios Family-run temples for help.

Kora Bellamy's whole life has been dedicated to caring and medicine. Trained for infancy by her his distant but over-protective father, she has never shied away from bucking authority and risking her life in order to make sure the people around get the help they need. During the war she found refuge in Sector One with the Rios family, who helped her establish hospitals and accepted her as a sister. But she hasn't really considered it home, till Ashwin walks in after being missing for months. Seeing Ashwin again raises tons of questions for her and throws them both into turmoil.

This romance is all about conflicted loyalties, accepting unexpected welcome & forgiveness and like all Kit Rocha books, about chosen families. Ashwin and Kora have a lot of secrets from each other, lots of fears and insecurities about their mental states, their feelings and their identities. They have long been pawns in other people's grand schemes and they need to figure out who they are and what they want before they can fully claim each other. They must satisfy their longing for each other while trying to unpack what they truly feel and then they will have to figure out how to keep each other safe from those who want to use them.

As Kit Rocha veteran, I am loving all the background political maneuverings and the exploration of the intersection between politics, power and religion in Sector One as the post-Eden world is reshaped. I love seeing this world from a different perspective and I can't wait to get to know the other Riders.

DISCLAIMER: I am unapologetic Kit Rocha fangirl. I pretty much dropped everything else I was reading when Bree emailed me this ARC. I follow and chat with Bree on twitter all of time because I really respect her views of romance, writing and fandom.