Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Cara Tanner

Book: Winter's Child
Author: S.L. Jesberger
Heroine: Cara Tanner

When I began to write “Winter’s Child” I knew I wanted a heroine who was going to be very different from Aislin, the protagonist in my first book. Even though they are half-sisters, Cara Tanner has been raised with the love of both parents. She’s been given the best of everything, whereas Aislin has been kicked around a bit.

Still, I wanted Cara to be spunky and strong, with a healthy sense of propriety. She is devastated when she discovers that her beloved farm Sweetwood and its people have been deeded over to Rafe Samuelson, a mercenary owed a favor by Boru, King of Morrigan. She resists the change at first then realizes that Sweetwood’s new owner has no clue how to manage the farm. She knows that she has to walk a fine line, positioning herself between the belligerent Rafe and the well-being of her workers to keep the farm running smoothly.

Though he scares her to death, Cara manages to put Rafe in his place several times with common sense and a sharp tongue. Still, she is acutely aware of her precarious situation and its limitations. This, I feel, is her real forté. She acquiesces when she realizes she can’t win and takes him on fearlessly when she knows she can.

She reflects on her strengths later in the story. She muses over the fact that she could have fought him, could have run away, and it would have just made things worse. She recognizes that putting her feelings aside and working with him for the good of the farm and its people was perhaps the bravest thing she could have done.
Blurb:
When her lands and her people are given to mercenary Rafael Samuelson for “services rendered” to Boru, the King of Morrigan, Cara Tanner has two choices: she can resist him, or she can find a way to work with him.

But Rafe Samuelson is a warrior, not a farmer. Already resenting being forced to take ownership of lands he doesn’t want, he arrives at Sweetwood angry and spoiling for a fight.

Cara and Rafe quickly collide in an uncompromising battle of wills. It doesn't take long for Rafe to realize that he's met his match in the fiery, amber-eyed Cara.

Their audience with King Boru reveals a shocking secret and rekindles long-held vendettas, but it’s Cara’s resemblance to another woman that will soon put them both in the greatest danger.

The Girl in the Yellow Vest by Loretta Hill

I really enjoyed this novel. It contains two remarkable women--I preferred one in particular--and a hero who just wowed me with his sarcastic wit. Mark Crawford...a man after my very own heart. LOL

First of all, we meet Emily. She's in a situation many women have found themselves in. Remember the motto, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free"? She's been living with Trent for five years, waiting eagerly for the diamond ring...only it doesn't come. He wishes to sow his oats instead. Is she going to stand for that?

No. She starts a new life on a construction site, where she trades dates for toilets and discovers she rather likes her best friend Will...as more than a friend, but does he return the feelings?

I liked Emily, especially when she takes work site issues into her own hands, but Charlotte and Mark's story stole the show for me. It was not so predictable and was laced with so much humor, mainly in the form of Mark's comments.

"A word, a second," he mused. "People always under estimate how much time of mine they intend to waste."

Charlotte is an amazing heroine. She's sacrificed so much for others. But it's time she learned to take for herself. Mark is dealing with a lot of grief and tends to have a very gruff manner.

I was really entertained by this book. I laughed out loud a number of times. I would have preferred more details about their engineering project, or perhaps what was said could have been made easier to understand. I had a hard time picturing things at moments. But I did learn a few things, such as spark testing. And to me, that stuff is interesting. I'd also like to add it's well written; no complaints from me there. Good amount of description to story, more showing than telling, etc. Also enjoyed the side stories about grieving the death of a spouse, moving on, having a child from rape. All important issues that make this so much more than a romance.

And while this story ends in a way you expect it to, I would never call this "cookie cutter". I appreciate what this author is doing, placing independent, career-minded young women in male-dominated work forces in which they can make it on their own, but can also find love in the process. And once again, I REALLY APPRECIATE THE HUMOR. I love a book that makes me laugh.

I received this via Netgalley.

Men and Manolos: Love and Relationships In The Heels Of A Hopeless Romantic: A Guest Post from Alyssa Velazquez

From stock.xchng

I still don’t refer to myself a writer. 

I know that’s silly, but I always thought of Men and Manolos as more of a monologue in a larger cultural dialogue than a book.

I’ll explain.

My training comes from various backgrounds, but I graduated with a degree in Anthropology and History. Anthropology as a social science has a slight variation in definition and purpose for everyone. For me, anthropologists are cultural playwrights. They study, research, interact, and inscribe a culture. They don’t necessarily want to be initiated into any particular sect of people or lifestyle but they want the rest of the world to gain a sense of acceptance for the foreign and unfamiliar elements of their surrounding environments through the anthropologist’s in-field ethnographic encounters.

From stock.xchng

Men and Manolos is a personal ethnography of a hopeless romantic experiencing love and relationships in the twenty-first century. Yet how to transcend that idea cross-culturally and amongst a wide age bracket?

I had just finished a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet. The director was hosting a birthday party for one of our cast mates. Even though it was a house party it had been a while since I had seen this particular group of people so I went searching through my closet for something nice to wear. Amongst my collection of footwear was a pair of black gladiator heels and remembering the last time I had worn them I wondered if they would once again bring me to a close encounter with the opposite sex.

I wrote the first essay for Men and Manolos because of that night, and it was the inspiration for its most constant character: shoes. If you couldn’t immediately relate to my personal experiences I wanted the physical vehicle of a shoe to be able to connect readers to the abstract romanticism of love and relationships. It is my hope that this memoir evokes the reader’s personal memories and lovers. That Men and Manolos causes you to never look at your closet of relationships the same way again.

Blurb: No one walks into a relationship without the proper footing…

In a collection of original essays drawn from her open ended and inquisitive relationship column “Sex and the Chester,” Alyssa Velazquez explores a twenty-first century world dominated by proverbial singles, foreign and domestic affairs, and emotional recall relationships. In her intensely personal memoir of unscripted cute meets, dates that should have never happened, and affairs to forget Velazquez searches through her past for wisdom, perspective, and advice on the survival of a hopeless romantic. Following familiar scenarios through her never ending, often time predictable search for love in flats, sneakers, rain boots, and even a pair of Manolos her electric honesty makes us contemplate if maybe the key to the “mating ritual” is all in our shoes.

About the Author: Living in New Jersey, Alyssa Velazquez currently works as a barista while daydreaming of mastering latte art. The product of liberal arts education, she has worked in D.C., Maryland, and Philadelphia as a conservation apprentice, production design intern, living history actor, and most recently a free-lance writer for The Women’s History Magazine and the Secretaries of Juliet Newsletter: Il Giornal de’Juilette.velazquezalyssa@gmail.com
Twitter: @AlyssaManolo
Website: http://www.alyssavelazquez.net.tf

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My Reading Radar 1/4/2014

Because I never get tired of reading about women pilots, especially the WASP program, this one made the wishlist:

A Place in the Sky by Tobin Atkinson.

At the height of World War II, the US Army is frantic to find trained pilots to test refurbished planes, tow anti-aircraft targets, ferry planes from factories, and train other pilots. Congress begrudgingly allows the creation of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) where 1,074 women are trained at Avenger Field, Texas and go on to fill roles normally reserved for male pilots. 

“Now, you, Laura, you’re like a firework. You climb in those planes, rocket right up there, and BOOM! Brilliance. Hell, you’re even happy when you get your butt shot off.”

A PLACE IN THE SKY tells the story of the little-known WASP program. During its short-lived existence, WASP flew 60 million miles in every known U.S. military aircraft. Thirty-eight pilots died while serving as WASP. And even though WASP weren’t granted full military status for their service until 1977 (thirty-four years after the last WASP class graduated), their courage and contribution to America’s greatness remain an inspiration.

***

There is no cover yet, but Belinda Alexndra's Sapphire Skies is pre-ordered on my Kindle. How can I pass this up?

2000: The wreckage of a downed WWII fighter plane is discovered in the forests near Russia's Ukrainian border. The aircraft belonged to Natalya Azarova, ace pilot and pin-up girl for Soviet propaganda, but the question of her fate remains unanswered. Was she a German spy who faked her own death, as the Kremlin claims? Her lover, Valentin Orlov, now a highly-decorated general, refuses to believe it. Lily, a young Australian woman, has moved to Moscow to escape from tragedy. She becomes fascinated by the story of Natalya, and when she meets an elderly woman who claims to know the truth behind the rumours, Lily is drawn deeper into the mystery. From the pomp and purges of Stalin's Russia through the horrors of war and beyond - secrets and lies, enduring love and terrible betrayal, sacrifice and redemption all combine in this sweeping saga from Belinda Alexandra.

***

This one hit the wishlist. I spotted it on Amazon's freebie. It's a first three chapters thing. No, I didn't download them. I loathe being teased and the book doesn't release until June so it's on my wishlist. I notice the author, judging by her previous releases, appears to be a feminist with a sense of humor, so I'm quite looking forward to trying this title: The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman.

In 1913, little Malka Treynovsky flees Russia with her family. Bedazzled by tales of gold and movie stardom, she tricks them into buying tickets for America. Yet no sooner do they land on the squalid Lower East Side of Manhattan, than Malka is crippled and abandoned in the street.

Taken in by a tough-loving Italian ices peddler, she manages to survive through cunning and inventiveness. As she learns the secrets of his trade, she begins to shape her own destiny. She falls in love with a gorgeous, illiterate radical named Albert, and they set off across America in an ice cream truck. Slowly, she transforms herself into Lillian Dunkle, "The Ice Cream Queen" -- doyenne of an empire of ice cream franchises and a celebrated television personality.

Lillian's rise to fame and fortune spans seventy years and is inextricably linked to the course of American history itself, from Prohibition to the disco days of Studio 54. Yet Lillian Dunkle is nothing like the whimsical motherly persona she crafts for herself in the media. Conniving, profane, and irreverent, she is a supremely complex woman who prefers a good stiff drink to an ice cream cone. And when her past begins to catch up with her, everything she has spent her life building is at stake.

***

Spotted on LibraryThing and cannot find a release date, this one is on the wishlist too: By Grace Elliot, The Ringmaster's Daughter.


The ringmaster’s daughter, Henrietta Hart, was born and raised around the stables of Foxhall Gardens, but now her father is gravely ill and their livelihood in danger. The Harts only hope is to convince Foxhall’s manager, Mr Wolfson, to let Hetty wield the ringmaster’s whip. Hetty finds herself drawn to the arrogant Wolfson but, despite their mutual attraction, he gives her an ultimatum: entertain as never before – or leave Foxhall.

When the winsome Miss Hart defies society and performs in breeches Wolfson’s stony heart is in danger. Loathed as he is to admit it, Miss Hart has a way with horses…and men. Her audacity and determination wake emotions long since suppressed. But Miss Hart’s success could threaten his career when the ringmaster attracts the eye of the lascivious Lord Fordyce. The duke is determined, by fair means or foul, to make Miss Hart his mistress – and as Wolfson’s feelings for Henrietta grow, disaster looms.

Beneath the Crinoline: Suffering to be Beautiful, With Carol Hedges

We’ve all heard the expression: ‘You have to suffer to be beautiful’. I didn’t realise how true this was until I started researching for my new book Diamonds & Dust, A Victorian Murder Mystery and came across that essential part of every Victorian woman’s underwear: the corset.

For Victorian fashionistas, corsets were the must-have item. The corset created the teeny-tiny waist that was accentuated by the wide hooped crinoline skirt and was so attractive to men. Interestingly the corset was originally seen as a medical necessity - women were very fragile creatures and needed something to hold them up!

However by 1860, the corset had become part of the fashion scene and no well-brought up young woman would leave the house without one. Indeed, the wearing of a corset took on a moral aspect in that it showed to the world that you were a virtuous and modest person.

The corset was a vital part of everyday women’s wear, preferably tightly laced. In the book, Isabella Thorpe, the spoilt rich heiress laments the fact that her Mama won’t let her ‘’lace to 13 inches’’ any more (32 cm). This story is apocryphal .... most young women laced to 18 -20 inches (45 - 50 cm ) which, if you come to think about it, was actually pretty tiny.

Corsets may have given women the desired shape, but they were incredibly bad for their health. They caused fainting and asphyxia, and the constant compression of the internal organs could render the wearer sterile, or result in constant miscarriage. However, that wasn’t going to put anybody off. The solution was horrifically simple: in an early and drastic form of ‘plastic surgery’ if you wanted to gad around without fainting or being unable to draw breath, you simply had a rib removed.

Corsets were stiffened with whalebone and in the UK alone, 15 thousand whales were killed each year to support fashion-conscious Victorian ladies. So next time you squeeze into some support underwear, or suck in your stomach and complain, be grateful you didn’t live 153 years ago. Compared to our Victorian sisters, we have it so very much easier.

Diamonds & Dust, A Victorian Murder Mystery is set in London in 1860. It tells the stories of three feisty young woman. Orphaned 18 year old Josephine King, rescued from a dreadful boarding school by her uncle Herbert King - and then re-orphaned once more when he is brutally murdered. Spoilt clever Isabella Thorpe, whose domineering Mama plans to marry her off to a totally unsuitable man and Lilith Marks, high-society prostitute and Herbert King’s mistress. Their various lives and adventures play out against the background of the great capital city, with its gas-lit streets and dark dangerous alleyways.

Carol Hedges is the successful UK author of 11 books for teenagers and young adults and one ebook. Her novels have been shortlisted for various prizes and her YA novel Jigsaw was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal. Diamonds & Dust is her first adult novel and is published by Crooked Cat Books.

It is available as book and ebook on Amazon at
or to order in bookshops.

Find Carol on Twitter: @carolJhedges

Read her blog: http://carolhedges.blogspot.co.uk

Blurb: 
When a horrific murder takes place on a dark night in 1860's London, it changes two women for ever. New light is cast upon past lives they thought they knew so well, and suddenly their futures become intertwined.

The death of her uncle will leave eighteen-year-old Josephine King an orphan, an heiress and the owner of a priceless diamond, The Eye of the Khan. For Lilith Marks, a chance finally arises to end her life as a highly paid prostitute and to prove herself as a serious businesswoman.

Set against the backdrop of the great gas-lit city, the two women are drawn together in their quest to discover just who killed the man they both loved.

Diamonds & Dust is a page-whizzing narrative, with an intricate and absorbing plot that entices you through the teeming streets of Victorian London. If Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all washed up on a desert island, they might have come up with something like this.

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Angel Taylor

Book: The Quest
Author: Susan Kearney
Heroine: Angel Taylor

THE QUEST is the fourth book in my series of strong heroines--and don't worry, you needn't read the other 3 first. Book four starts right at the beginning of Kirek and Angel's story. You see, he stows away on a hunk of salvage that Angels going to claim--a sneaky way of meeting one of Earth's best space salvage captains. Angel grew up with a sick mother and learned to take care of herself. She won her ship in a card game and she's willing to fight for herself and her crew. But when she meets Kirek, he pushes all the right buttons and she learns that falling in love takes the most courage of all.

Why does it take courage to fall in love? Well, first the heroine has to open herself up to the idea of having feelings. And that's tough, because you can be rejected. You can be hurt. Or you can be swindled. The Universe is a tough place and to survive it's a battle of the fittest. So letting down her guard is difficult for Angel. And yet, Kirek has a way of sneaking under her skin, of seeing things in her she didn't know were there. And when he asks the very private Angel to share her mind, she's staggered by the idea of opening up both her heart, her thoughts and her soul.

In addition Kirek suspects Angel has secret powers, ones she must learn to accept--for herself, for him and because the future of the galaxy is at stake!!

The linked books in this series are The Challenge, The Dare, The Ultimatum and The Quest.

If you are interested in the Rystani Warrior series, you can read more about them at www.susankearney.com


Blurb:

A warrior on a mission

Kirek of Rystan's objective is to destroy the Federation's deadliest enemy, but he needs help. When assistance comes in the form of a sexy and irresistible space pilot , he takes on a second goal--to win her heart.

A woman with a plan

Captain Angel Taylor's going after the biggest salvage haul in her career. Fiercely independent, she can't imagine a life with Kirek, a traditional Rystani warrior with extraordinary psi powers -- but he has seductive skills she can't resist.

The Quest

Teaming up, Angel and Kirek risk their lives to fight the evil Zin empire -- but Kirek's biggest battle of all is to win Angel's love.

A Bandit's Betrayed Heart (Blood Blade Sisters #3) by Michelle McLean

I loved book one of this series and liked book two, but this one somewhat annoyed me.

The third Blood Blade sister is chasing after their former butler, whom she's been pining for for seven years. It's like this chick can't take a hint. He left you and never came back. He persistently pushes you away. I think it's time to move on, girl.

Despite all her bravado and heroic acts in the past as a vigilante/bandit, I found her to be weak, whiney, and well, bratty. When the object of her affections pushes her away--and trust me, she throws herself at him constantly--she begins dallying with a dangerous politician to make him jealous. Seriously? What are you? Fifteen?

On top of that, there were lots of unexplained things that bugged me as I kept reading. 1. How is Finn covering the tribal tattoos on his face? They didn't have laser surgery back then. Is he wearing makeup? *It's later revealed he is, but considering the makeup options they had back then...* This takes place just after the Civil War. They didn't have the makeups we have now. 2. If he can cover them so easily, why did he not cover them back when he needed legal employment? Or when he worked on a ship and had to avoid certain people because of them? If he can cover them now, he could have covered them then, and thus, avoided a life of crime. It just doesn't make sense. 

I also have to add that the romance between these two was underdeveloped, perhaps because it happened in the past. We just know they love each other. We don't know why, what connected them in the first place, etc.

Though I disliked the first 35% of this, I finally began to like Lucy as the book continued--but I still think she's a stalker. I mean, she does stay here and harasses poor Finn. That is stalking. Anyway, she connects with Lilah, a former slave (Lilah needs her own book!) and starts a school for those less fortunate. Naturally, the Southerners aren't pleased with this and Lucy has to take on the Klan.

Lucy pulled out a shotgun and then reached up again for the ammunition. "I'm not letting anyone terrorize me on my own property. Let alone a bunch of cowards running around in their night sheets."

As the tale continues, with Lucy running after Finn, defending her school, and getting in the mess of all messes, she grows tougher and it all gets a bit more fun (especially when she fights bad men off despite the fact she's tied to a chair) and less irritating, but I stand by my previous complaints. I also hate how willing Lucy is to throw Lilah under the bus, 'cause that's what it is...

Conclusion: fun and entertaining, but not my favorite sister or tale. There's really no banditry.

I received this via Netgalley.