Thursday, November 13, 2008

TEMPTED BY THE NIGHT AND THE PROBLEM WITH MEMORY

I nearly threw this book in the garbage when I realized it was a paranormal. Since when is Elizabeth Boyle a paranormal romance writer? I felt deceived and seriously ripped off. 10 pages, 20 pages, 30 pages, 60 pages went by and I couldn't get even remotely into the story. I was very close to giving up and writing a brutal review...then realized that I had mistakenly purchased three copies of the novel. How I did that is beyond me. I must have purchased it directly after my three week European vacation (more on that in a later post) and then the others when I was in some foggy daze. The fact that I spent more than $20 on a book I wanted to rip to shreds actually guilted me into finishing it. What's funny is that I actually didn't mind the book after page 80. Maybe I got used to the weirdness of it.

Paranormal romance is still not one of my favorite genres. I like a good old fashioned historical...I don't need the hero to turn into a ghost or some mythical creature fighting underworld crime. I just want a simple Duke or Viscount slut who gets brought down by the love of a sweet feisty little virgin who's also a professional sex fiend. See...it's that simple to please me. I'm really not that complicated when it comes to romance novels.

I did enjoy this book surprisingly. It's not one of my favorite Boyles, but it's also not the worst book I've ever read. I know it sounds like I didn't enjoy the book, but I actually did. I just hope she doesn't write another paranormal. Keep it simple, Elizabeth. That's all I've gotta say!

TEMPTED BY THE NIGHT is a good book and I recommend it. The only problem I had was that I couldn't remember anything about the hero and heroine who were obviously secondary characters in past books. It irked me to no end. I do remember never being given any indication that the hero was some sort of underworld wizard or whatever the heck he was. It would have helped if a summary of the characters were given at the beginning of the book or maybe..just maybe..if the book had been published close to the other ones mentioning the two characters. Just a thought.

I've noticed this problem with other series books I've read lately. Now, either the secondary characters weren't that memorable to begin with OR my memory is going down the tubes OR maybe they need to start publishing books closer together for a change (maybe if I write this enough, they'll actually do it).

Now I know that authors have lives and they can't write ten books at once. This is why I suggest they add a brief character summary to the beginning of their books. Shouldn't be too difficult, right?

I don't know. I might have to do what I used to do with Liz Carlyle books. Buy them and not read them until the series is completed. It takes years to read a series but it's worth it. No aggravation, no memory lapses.

This post is a bit all over the place and I apologize. I had this problem with the new Laura Lee Guhkre novel and it bothered me the entire time.

And seriously...WTF IS GOING ON WITH THE LISA VALDEZ NOVEL?

3 comments:

Lori said...

LMAO about the Valdez novel. Cause at this point does anyone care anymore? Yeah, we'll all read it, of course...

I enjoyed the first one in this series. I haven't gotten to this one yet. But I agree with you, I couldn't tell you a thing about th 1st one other than a vague recollection that I enjoyed it. Now some of her past books? I remember characters and situations from. There? Yeah, not so much.

And, welcome back!! Hope you had an amazing time!!!

Kate Diamond said...

Yay! I'm glad you're back.

Jenny Rebecca said...

Hey! I read just got done reading your comments about Lisa Valdez and I hear you cluckin little chicken. Seriously, I was one of those that thought, 'Give her time, she's had a rough job of it' now that is GONE, and I think, just post it online for free if it's such shite, and get over yourself. I'm a mean person now, and I blame Lisa Valdez.