Favorite Heroines for 2008

I'm starting out my week of bests with probably my leanest category - favorite heroines. My shortlist in this category was less than half any of the others. That's likely because it's a lot harder to please me when it comes to heroines. It's easier to fall for men, but that's because I'm not one. I find myself less forgiving when it comes to female characters, one of my reading foibles I've just had to come to accept over the years. That being said, here they are...

4th Runner Up
Daisy Leaf in Perfect Timing by Barbara Elsborg

The joy of Daisy in this erotic romance is her sharp sense of comedic timing and the awareness on the part of the reader that this is a woman not to be trifled with. She more than holds her own against a romantic hero, and in fact, provides the strength necessary to pull him along when her characterization is clearer.

3rd Runner Up
Jillian Descharme in Heart of the Winter Wolf by Dani Harper

Though I enjoyed this novel as a whole, by far my favorite aspect of it was Jillian. She is a woman who took tragedy and made herself stronger without turning into a cold bitch or withdrawing from the world. Independent, strong-willed, and still manages to be feminine.

2nd Runner Up
Amelia Tucker in Highlander's Challenge by Jo Barrett

The fact that this woman goes by the name Tuck says something about her. She's self-sufficient and spunky, and though she hardly considers herself feminine, she is the perfect woman for Colin.

1st Runner Up
Gianna Randazzo in A Little Slice of Heaven by Gina Ardito

Gianna is one of those characters that I can see in my everyday life. A woman I'd value as a friend. A woman like so many women I already know. She reacts like the women I know, takes care of herself like the women I know. I like her in ways that I don't necessarily like other heroines. She's the girlfriend I'd call with good news or bad, and in the end, she's the heart of this warm book.

And my favorite heroine of 2008 is...
Arden Black in Like a Thief in the Night by Bettie Sharpe

Arden is the black soul of this dark novella. She ripples with violent tendencies and questionable morality, existing within the sharp prose as effortlessly as a single breath. Her momentum drives this story as much as Sharpe's gorgeous prose, and is one of the clearest, most sympathetic anti-heroines I've read in either print or e-books in a long time.

The Consolation Prize by Barbara Elsborg

TITLE: The Consolation Prize
AUTHOR: Barbara Elsborg
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 62k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $6.99

Chloe Lord has lost out on the recognition and promotion she deserves, but as a consolation prize, she is offered a four-day spa treatment at the Sunset Spa, which just so happens to be in the childhood home where she lost her entire family to a fire. She doesn’t want to go, but her sixth and a half sense, voices who have helped her throughout her life, refuses to let her ignore it. She doesn’t just find memories in Washburn Hall; she finds a naked man bound in chains. She can’t just leave him there, but little does she realize he’s a vampire and prey to a plot that will lead inevitably to his death…

The first book I read by Ms. Elsborg made me laugh out loud. Though this one looked like it might be darker, it was a treat to find rather quickly that the humor I appreciated in her Ellora’s Cave release was alive and kicking in this one. Or undead and kicking, at least. The author’s greatest strength for me is infusing her characters with a sense of humor, as well as her prose, that persists even when situations turn dire.

Where this book isn’t quite as strong as the first I read rests in the plot itself. Chloe’s sixth and a half sense are voices that compel her to do things against her will. Starting with the end of chapter three, there are mini-conversations among these voices that are probably meant to be cute, but the entire effect of them feels cloying. It strips Chloe of some of her power as they drive her through the plot. It’s not Chloe acting; it’s Chloe reacting to their commands, and more than once I wanted to shout at them to tell them to shut up. They start doing it with Luka, too, which only compounded the effect. It makes both of them look incapable of acting on their own.

It doesn’t help that when the plot gets stuck, something swoops in out of the blue to push it through the block. There’s at least two instances of deus ex machina in the action of the last quarter that just made me roll my eyes and think, “Well, that was convenient.” Again, it takes away any credibility Luka or Chloe might have that they can resolve their own issues. And I didn’t want that credibility taken away. I liked them. I just didn’t think they were altogether with it.

It makes the story uneven at best. It hurtles at a fun pace for a section, then gets yanked dead in its tracks by one of these moments. This sort of start and stop makes it difficult to engage in the romance, especially when the whole issues of mates gets introduced out of nowhere. The author’s voice does a lot to compensate for that, but in the end, it’s just not enough to make this anything but an average read for me.

Readability	8/10 – When the author lets her humorous voice shine, I’m in love.
Hero	7/10 – Likeable but more than a little thick
Heroine	7/10 – She and Luka pretty much deserve each other.
Entertainment value	6/10 – The voices never worked for me, and the inclusion of at least two moments of deus ex machina in the last quarter weaken the entire story.
World building	7/10 – There’s a lot of vampire lore in this that’s specific to this world, and it’s not always disseminated in graceful ways.
TOTAL:	35/50

Perfect Timing by Barbara Elsborg

TITLE: Perfect Timing
AUTHOR: Barbara Elsborg
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 57k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Daisy Leaf decides to try something new in meeting men – a murder mystery weekend at a stately hotel north of London. There’s only problem. She’s misread the information. Instead of a sixties theme, it’s an over-sixties weekend. All her hippy attire does is catch the attention of the sexy hotel manager, Jake Weston. Of course, it doesn’t help that she’s tangled up in a sheep when they first meet…

I don’t buy a lot of romantic comedy books. Humor is so subjective. What’s funny to one person isn’t to another, and it often feels like an author is trying too hard when it comes to this particular genre. My yardstick is the excerpt. In the case of Perfect Timing, I chuckled – genuinely so – so often during reading the excerpt, I knew I had to buy it.

I wasn’t disappointed. The book is zingy and charming, with both hero and heroine having the quick wit to keep up with the other. This isn’t a case of just one of the leads being stuck into humorous situations, though that certainly happens. It’s an example of two characters with a sharp sense of timing and the ability to get zingers out without batting an eyelash. Daisy is the stronger of the two, and I suspect Jake comes off as well as he does because he thrives in her presence. They play amazingly well off each other, enough so that when it came time for some of the latter sex scenes, I just wanted these two to put their clothes back on so I could hang out with them in that regard. The humor isn’t just in their banter. Some of the description and actions is even funnier than their dialogue. I was especially tickled by what a life of its own Jake’s anatomy takes on, completely separate to any of his actions.

I don’t mean to imply that the sex scenes don’t work. They do. I don’t think they’re as hot as some others I’ve read, but they certainly hold their own in expanding characterization for these two. But in spite of the plethora of them, it’s not the glue that holds the story together. That honor belongs to Daisy and Jake. While their swiftness to get to the oh my god this is love didn’t ring completely true for me, I liked and enjoyed them so much, I was willing to look past that.

If the story has fault at all, it’s in the less than believable motivations that drive Jake and Daisy. The darker elements of Daisy’s past are easier to accept, though they still seem to stretch the realm of credibility in a world that feels frighteningly real. But Jake’s reasons for keeping Daisy a secret – while well explained – don’t sit as well. He clearly doesn’t like what he’s doing, so I never understood why he stuck it out, especially to the detriment of what he thought was love. Perhaps if there had been interactions with his father and brother earlier on in the story, I might have found it more credible.

All in all, however, this was extremely funny and engaging, with two charming leads and a delightful story. If you read the excerpt and chuckle, I think it’s a safe bet you’ll find the rest of the book just as entertaining.

Readability	9/10 – Zippy and often laugh out loud funny, the only time this bogs down is during some of the sex scenes
Hero	8/10 – I’m never sold on his motivations, but I’m certainly sold on him.
Heroine	9/10 – Charming and funny, though her motivations are only slightly stronger than the heroes
Entertainment value	8/10 – I liked these two characters so much, I would have liked to see more of them outside of sex scenes.
World building	8/10 – The hotel itself is nicely realized, but history and a sense of place outside of it falls behind.
TOTAL:	42/50