Review: RITUAL SINS by Anne Stuart

When Rachel's mom dies suddenly of cancer and leaves all of her considerable fortune ($12 mil) to a cult called The Foundation of Being, Rachel is pissed. She travels to New Mexico to confront the leader of the Foundation, Luke Bardell, a charismatic ex-con. There she discovers Luke is anything but the spiritual ascetic he pretends to be, and that everyone at the Foundation of Being is a FREAKING PSYCHO.

The premise of Ritual Sins is pretty far out there, and I love it. How many romances do you come across that take place in a New Age-y compound where the hero is the leader of a cult? Not that many! Of course, most writers would have trouble making a hero such as Luke appealing, but since this is Anne Stuart and bad boys are her raison d'etre, she knocks it out of the park. Luke reminded me of Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, only after he got out of prison and started another con in the middle of the desert.

I was really enjoying Ritual Sins for about the first half, but then Luke and Rachel leave the Foundation of Being, and it totally threw me out of the story. I almost gave up on the book at that point, in fact, but was in the middle of a bout of insomnia and figured I might as well keep going. The second part of the book isn't bad, it just takes a while to get reinvested in what's going on, and the information we're given really isn't, to my mind, that important. I don't need to know any more details about Luke's shitty childhood than I was already given earlier in the book.

As for Rachel, she was an okay character, but it seems like these two have way too many problems between them, and I was never sure why Rachel was attracted to Luke at all.

And then they go pack to the Foundation (I don't want to say "and it's kind of like in Pirates of the Caribbean when they go back to the island," AGAIN--see here and here--but actually it's just like that) and there are SO MANY THINGS that make no sense. Luke is supposed to have the Foundation under constant surveillance and a killer instinct about people, but he had no idea what was going on, really? And why did all these people want to kill each other? Seriously, way too many murder plots running around this book. And why doesn't someone just call the police?

I really admire Stuart's guts and willingness to take chances in her writing, and I think Ritual Sins is a perfect example of those qualities. However, as far as this story goes, it's kind of disappointing. There are many books by Stuart that are more successful and probably better for those unfamiliar with her work to try out.

Two Books, One Review

Last week I read two books that have been sitting on my TBR pile for quite a while:  Show No Mercy by Cindy Gerard and Ice Storm by Anne Stuart.  Both have similar plotlines:  a tough, daring woman meets a dangerous man with whom she has extensive history, and there's a lot of shooting and killing, etc.  But I only liked one of these books, which I think demonstrates once again that it's not what you write, but how you write it.



Show No Mercy is about a tough reporter who was kidnapped and tortured in Argentina.  She was saved by a man named Gabriel (nickname: Archangel), who is a member of some sort of security corporation called Black Ops.  After recuperating in the States for a while, she returns to Argentina to do an interview, and she meets Gabriel again.

The first thing that annoyed me about this book was the prologue.  I don't read prologues; and I really don't read prologues that are twenty pages.  Then there's another twenty or so pages where our heroine meanders improbably through a working ranch, musing about her sorry state and digging up a load o' backstory in her head.  Exciting stuff.  Finally something happens around page sixty, but by then I didn't care.  This was a DNF.



Ice Storm is about Isobel Lambert, the head of a corporation called The Company which was featured in three previous Stuart novels:  Black Ice, Cold As Ice, and Ice Blue (my personal favorite).  Anyway, unlike Black Ops, The Company is run by some fairly shady people, and it meddles heavily in international affairs.  Basically the people employed by The Company are spies and assassins; but instead of working for a government, they work for a conglomerate.

Lambert is the Ice Queen; but of course she wasn't always like that.  At least, not until she fell in love with Killian, a mercenary who used her as a cover to get to Marseilles so he could assassinate a general.  He was the only man she ever loved, and the first man she ever killed.  Now she realizes Killian is actually still alive, working as a terrorist named Serafin (what is it with these men having angelic nicknames?), and that she needs to bring him in.

What I enjoyed about this book was that it starts off with a bang--Isobel murdering some baddies and returning to the office to receive her assignment, then realizing Killian is still alive.  It does give us backstory, but it gives it to us in several flashbacks, told as if the events were happening in the present.  Overall it has a very James Bond, Jason Bourne-esque feel to it.  Like an action film--and that is a good thing. 

Something that contributes to the James Bond-y feeling is the question of Isobel's age.  She's been described throughout the series as ageless, anywhere from thirty to sixty.  So when the flashback scenes happen, you have no idea if the setting is the sixties, seventies, or eighties.  For some reason the deliberate timelessness of the narrative gives a lot more impact to the action scenes.

The only real quibble I had with the book was that it was a little too focused on the action and what I saw as a secondary plot (but was written more as the main storyline) of the The Company.  I felt like I didn't get to know Killian's character at all, and as a result I was sort of like, "Meh," when he and Isobel finally got together.  I was much more fond of the interaction between Lambert and Peter, which reminded me of the Emma Peel's and John Steed's relationship in The Avengers.  Not to mention the fact that who the villian was was suuuuuuuper freaking obvious. 

Overall, however, this book was a well-written, entertaining, and quick read.  And it had what may be one of the best closing lines I've ever enountered in a romance novel:

"Come to bed," she said in her coolest voice.  "I can always shoot you in the morning."

"Of course you can, princess," he said.  And he got into bed.

She can shoot him if she wants to.  And that's why we love her. :)

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Sunday Salon-Weregin Edition

Bonjour, everyone, and welcome to my first ever Sunday Salon post!  The Sunday Salon is a weekly book discussion you can sign up for here.

It doesn't really feel like Sunday because I haven't gone to sleep yet.  This week I read two books: Show No Mercy by Cindy Gerard, which was a DNF; and Ice Storm by Anne Stuart, which was pretty darn good.  Strangely, these two books had very similar storylines.  I'll be writing a review and comparison of the two soon.

Right now I'm reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.  This is for an online bookclub Collette at Lovesromances started.  Normally this is not the type of book I would pick up AT ALL, but so far I'm enjoying it.  Unless the main character dies.  Then I will be upset.



I'm also excited, because Bound by Your Touch shipped today, which means it should be here by Tuesday.  Hooray!  I'm so psyched to read it.

Finally, I wanted to share this link with you to a great post by LynneC at The Good, the Bad, and the Unread:  Why I Need the Sexxing.  It's about why sex appears so much in romance novels, and why it's not porn.  Very interesting--while I'm not one of those people who need sex in my romance novels (preferring it to be about romance), I definitely see her point and agree with her in certain contexts.

What have you been reading this week?

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What Are Your Favorite Contemporary Romances?

I saw this at Adventures in Katidom and thought it would make an good post:  What are some of your favorite single-title contemporary romances?  I don't read a lot of contemporary romances, but there are definitely a few that I love.  Here they are:



Drive Me Wild by Julie Ortolon

Julie Ortolon is one of my favorite contemporary romance writers.  Drive Me Wild was her first release, and it's still my favorite.  Laura Beth is a shy, small town girl who has always yearned to escape from Beason's Ferry, Texas--just like her best friend from high school, Brett Michaels, who was the town bad boy but is now a big-time TV news anchor.  This book has some of my all-time favorite romance tropes:  uptown girl meets downtown boy; childhood sweethearts (even though they were technically just friends), and a brooding hero.  Also, fast cars--fast cars are always a plus.



Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book, and at first I didn't.  But then I realized it was actually a take on Pride & Prejudice, and one of the cleverest ones I've ever read.  Hard working, no-nonsense Taylor is assigned to babysit movie star Jason, whom ALL the women want because he's handsome and rich.  And he knows it.  I loved the character of Jason and how this book feels like a Preston Sturges romantic comedy.  A totally fun and enjoyable read.



Crazy Hot by Tara Janzen

Have I mentioned I love fast cars?  Well, Janzen's Hot books are full of fast cars.  Quinn Younger is a former car thief who is now working for black ops out of... Denver?  Hrm.  Okay, whatever.  Anyway, former bad boy, yay!  And he's been obsessed with this woman named Regan ever since they were teenagers and he helped her professor father out at a dinosaur dig (part of juvenile offender reform program).  This is another really fun book that's total escapist reading.  And the love scene on the hood of Quinn's car?  Definitely hot.








It Must Be Love by Rachel Gibson

One of the most enjoyable contemporary romances I've read. The hero is a cop (I heart stories with cops), and the heroine is a New Age-y yoga instructor. Will the no-nonsense cop be able to get along with the miss flighty spirituality froo-froo? I just don't know!




The Widow by Anne Stuart

One of the things I love about this book is that the character of Aristide, the dead half of "the widow," is based on Picasso.  Art history shout-out!  Also, the heroine, Charlie, is kick-ass; and the hero, Connor, is really hawt.  Add in a Gothic atmosphere set among the beautiful scenery of Tuscany and this book is a total win.



Charmed, I'm Sure by Liz Ireland

One of my friends told me I should read this book, and I'm glad I did.  A woman named Callie accidentally turns her boss into a golden retriever, and then she falls in love with his nephew.  The set-up sounds lame, but aside from being really funny, this book is actually surprisingly impactful.  The characters are so well-drawn that you can't help but sympathize with them, and despite the fact that one of them has magical powers, they deal with real-world problems.  I was really touched at the end of this book, and it was entertaining.  What more can you ask for?



Baby, Don't Go by Susan Andersen

This is by far my favorite Susan Andersen book.  Nick is a high-society photographer.  He hires Daisy, a security guard, to help protect him from the mafia--or something.  But the twist is, when they were teenagers, Daisy was in love with Nick and he disappeared immediately after the first and only time they had sex.  So she's pretty pissed at him.  I love the twist of having the heroine be the tough cop character, and Nick and Daisy have awesome chemistry together.

What are your favorite contemporary romances?

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