Best Book of December 2010 (and November too!)

Hooray for YA! This has been an awesome year for me and YA books and the two books I am writing about here are no exception. Anybody who thinks YA books are too juvenile are deluding themselves and some of my favorite series ever have been YA. So, click the link to make the jump to see two YA books that impressed the heck out of me. The best part? Neither has vampires or werewolves :)

Cover of Darkness by Kaylea Cross

Synopsis:

Targeted by a terrorist cell, Bryn McAllister survives a bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut only to be left to die in a desert cellar. When she is rescued by Navy SEAL Lieutenant Declan McCabe and his team, Bryn must rely on the handsome officer to get her to safety. But just when she thinks the nightmare is over, family friend and legendary CIA operative Luke Hutchinson recruits her and McCabe to help track down the terrorist mastermind responsible for the attack.

With Bryn determined to see the terrorist brought to justice, Dec joins up to protect her, prepared to do whatever it takes to keep her safe during their dangerous mission. Battling the explosive attraction between them, Dec fights to keep his distance from her so he can do his job and keep her alive. But when plans fall apart and Bryn is captured, he must make the agonizing choice between his duty as a SEAL and the life of the woman he loves.

My thoughts:

Wow!

Ok, maybe I should elaborate. I get pretty excited when I discover a new author that rocks. This book, the second story in this series, had it all. The setting, so realistic, takes place in the Middle East where a religious zealot by the name of Farouck Tehrazzi has sworn jihad until all infidels have been destroyed. In this story he wants both Bryn and her father, a Lebanese diplomat who felt his country needed U.S. support, dead. I didn’t need a caffeine fix to stay awake to read this book. Once again Ms. Cross had me sitting at the edge of my chair right up to the very end.

Both the lead and secondary characters were surprisingly well developed. I really liked Bryn who came across as intelligent, easy going, and feminine yet had plenty of moxie when she needed to. Dec’s character was equally engaging. I loved that he didn't have a big ego and he tried so hard to remain professional when all he wanted was Bryn. I felt that the romance was an integral part of the story making the whole story very believable.

Wow! Oh yeah, I’ve already said that (sheepish grin).

If you enjoy authors like Cindy Gerard, Marliss Melton, or Suzanne Brockmann you may want to check out this author. I’m sure glad I did!

Books in this series:

Out of Her League

Cover of Darkness

No Turning Back

Relentless

Review: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean

A lady does not smoke cheroot.
She does not ride astride.
She does not fence or attend duels.
She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen's club.

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried - and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she's vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she's been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss - to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston - charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she's not careful, she'll break the most important rule of all - the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love...

Wow. I have not been this excited about an regency romance author like Sarah MacLean since I first read Julia Quinn. Or Loretta Chase. Or Lisa Kleypas. I loved this book! I can totally see why it's been on every Best Of list so far this year and I was so excited once I finished it last night that I made sure to buy a copy of Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord today. Don't worry, I did.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake was the loveliest, sexiest, most funnest historical romance that I have read in quite some time. The best part? It's Sarah MacLean's debut! Of course she's now set an extremely high standard for all her future books to meet but who cares? Even if all her other books are stinkers we'll always have this one.

Sarah MacLean's style is pitch perfect for her genre. She put together my two favorite elements for a great historical romance novel:

• She took a wallflower and made her into a social butterfly that believes she's beautiful. Callie was firmly "on the shelf" at the beginning of this book and by the end marries a marquess. It'ss a love match no less. (Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas is probably my favorite example of this.)  
• She made the main man powerful, forceful but not violent, and utterly convinced that he is incapable of love. That is, until he meets her - THE ONE. He then spends the rest of the book trying to figure out why he feels the way he does. What is wrong with him? Why can't he stop thinking about her? Why does she confuse him so? (Leopold Villiers from Eloisa James' A Duke of Her Own works here.)

I just loved Calpurnia. I loved how brave she really wasn't at first, just frustrated with her life and ready for it to be different. I think we all can sympathize with that. Getting her stubborn on and finally deciding to do all those things she's wanted to but denied for so long was just as satisfying for me to watch as it was for Callie. I loved the humor in this book, and the pain too - I found myself tearing up several times. I fell a bit for Ralston myself; who could resist a man who vowed to keep his heart to himself after his mother left them when he was a boy? *sigh*

I've got a serious decision to make here: do I read Ten Ways now or do I wait until I've finished another book I've really looking forward to - Bloodshot by Cherie Priest? Hmm. Look soon for my thoughts on MacLean's YA novel, The Season. Her third in this numbered series, Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart, will be out on April 26, 2011.

Our Most Anticipated Books of November

Let's just get on with it shall we?

Jen's pick:

This month's pick is a no-brainer. In fact, for the first time since Jane and I started doing this monthly feature, we picked the same book. Not exactly shocking is it? Not only do we have the same fab taste in books but this book looks like a winner. With its gorgeous cover outside and roster of outstanding writers inside how could I resist?

In this star-studded cross-genre anthology, seventeen of the greatest modern authors of fantasy, science fiction, and romance explore the borderlands of their genres with brand-new tales of ill-fated love. From zombie-infested woods in a postapocalyptic America to faery-haunted rural fields in eighteenth- century England, from the kingdoms of high fantasy to the alien world of a galaxy-spanning empire, these are stories of lovers who must struggle against the forces of magic and fate.

Award-winning, bestselling author Neil Gaiman demonstrates why he’s one of the hottest stars in literature today with “The Thing About Cassandra,” a subtle but chilling story of a man who meets an old girlfriend he had never expected to see.

International blockbuster bestselling author Diana Gabaldon sends a World War II RAF pilot through a stone circle to the time of her Outlander series in “A Leaf on the Winds of All Hallows.” Torn from all he knows, Jerry MacKenzie determinedly survives hardship and danger, intent on his goal of returning home to his wife and baby—no matter the cost.

New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher presents “Love Hurts,” in which Harry Dresden takes on one of his deadliest adversaries and in the process is forced to confront the secret desires of his own heart.

Just the smallest sampling promises unearthly delights, but look also for stories by New York Times bestselling romance authors Jo Beverley and Mary Jo Putney, and by such legends of the fantasy genre as Peter S. Beagle and Tanith Lee, as well as many other popular and beloved writers, including Marjorie M. Liu, Jacqueline Carey, Carrie Vaughn, and Robin Hobb. This exquisite anthology, crafted by the peerless editing team of George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, is sure to leave you under its spell.

Discover the many realms of the heart with this extraordinary cast of acclaimed authors:
PETER S. BEAGLE
JO BEVERLEY
JIM BUTCHER
JACQUELINE CAREY
DIANA GABALDON
NEIL GAIMAN
YASMINE GALENORN
M.L.N. HANOVER
ROBIN HOBB
CECELIA HOLLAND
TANITH LEE
MARJORIE M. LIU
MARY JO PUTNEY
LINNEA SINCLAIR
MELINDA SNODGRASS
LISA TUTTLE
CARRIE VAUGHN

Songs of Love and Death will be out on November 16, 2010.


Jane’s Pick:

My pick of the month is Matched, the first book in a trilogy by Ally Condie. I seem to have a habit of falling in love with book covers. This one is no exception. It’s beautiful, mysterious and down right intriguing. Don’t you want to know why she is in that green bubble? I know I do!

All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, who to marry. When she is Matched with her best friend Xander, things couldn't be more perfect. But why did her neighbor Ky's face show up on her match disk as well? She's told it was an error, but something once noticed clamors for attention, and now Cassia can't look away. Ky has many secrets, but the most stunning to Cassia is something she never suspected still existed: creativity. As they fall in love, Cassia's eyes are opened to the truth of the Society, and she knows she can no longer blindly follow its dictates. But the Society isn't through with them, and things get much, much uglier.

This YA book is being released on November 30th.