Book List: June 2011

Since half of June was spent studying for and taking finals, this is all I've had time for during the remainder of June.

This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James
Scarlet Nights by Jude Deveraux
Teens Cook by Meghan & Jill Carle
Mysteria Lane Anthology
A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh
The Scent of Jasmine by Jude Deveraux
College Cooking by Meghan & Jill Carle
A Convenient Arrangement by Lynne Graham
Best Kitchen Quick Tips by Cooks Illustrated
Hero at Large by Janet Evanovich
The MacKade Brothers: Rafe and Jared by Nora Roberts
Storm of Shadows by Christina Dodd
Styx's Storm by Lora Leigh
What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

And yes, I read a lot of romances. I happen to like them.

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[Thoughts]

1. Eloisa James is always a fun writer to read, but while the book met expectations, I must say that the summary on the back had nothing to do with the actual plotline. How strange.

{Half Price Books, $1.00, Historical Romance}

2. Third in the Edilean Series, Scarlet Nights continued the tradition of absolutely gorgeous covers and fantastic writing. But then, almost all of Jude Deveraux's books are fantastic. Plotlines are well thought out and deep.

{Library Sale, $0.75, Romantic Suspense}

3. Unlike most cookbooks meant for people under the age of 18, Teens Cook actually explains various cooking techniques and includes things that would really help you learn your way around a kitchen. Aaand, as someone who's tried several recipes and had them all turn out almost perfectly, I can say that their recipes really work. I particularly like the fact that most of their ingredients are things that you'll have at home anyways and don't have to go out of your way to find in a grocery store.

{Library, Cookbooks}

4. I love anthologies because, really, who doesn't love getting four different stories for the price of one? *happy* I happened to get Mysteria Lane and its prequel, Mysteria, when Borders was going out of business, so the price was pretty awesome as well. This is one of those 'suspension of reality' books because you know all of it is impossible, but it's fun to read about the town and its characters anyways.

{Borders, $2.00, Paranormal Romance}

5. I ruined the twist for myself because I happened to flip to the back of the book and read one sentence that changed the entire way I interpreted A Matter of Class. I feel a little sad that I missed the surprise, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

{Library Sale, $0.50, Historical Romance}

6. ... Oh. I may not have actually read this one yet. Shoot.
{Library Sale, $0.75, Romantic Suspense}

7. The continuation of Teens Cook, College Cooking has even more tips on surviving in an unknown kitchen and how to eat healthy within your college budget. The styling's more mature and the recipes are decently doable, though I haven't tried any of them yet. Still working on the first book... *grins* I'm excited though.
{Library, Cookbooks}

8. Another anthology. Very Harlequin-esque, though if you can get over that fact and ignore the slight cheesiness of it all, it's a fun, fluffy read.
{Half Price Books, $1.00, Contemporary Romance}

9. This is one of those awesome books that you wish you had before The Incident happened (whatever The Incident you're thinking of is, as long as it occurred in a kitchen). The ideas and tips in Best Kitchen Quick Tips are super useful and good to know so you can save time, effort, and ingredients. But mostly time.
{Library, Cookbooks}

10. While I'm not a huge fan of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Series, I absolutely adore her short romantic comedies. They're easy reading and super cute. And incredibly crazy. In a good way. This one didn't disappoint and actually made me burst out laughing at three o'clock in the morning... That's how you know it's a good book. *grins*
{Library Sale, $0.75, Contemporary Romance}

11. Just to clarify: I will buy anything by Nora Roberts.
Well, almost. I've never bought one of her suspense novels 'cause I know they'll keep me awake at night. Which admittedly is a sign of a good author, but I'm not willing to risk my sleep.
Her romances, however, are a different story. While I lose sleep over these too, it's because I can't put it down, not because I'm agonizing over the ending and how crazy brilliant it was (ie: her suspense/mystery books). She can have you loving the characters within pages of opening the book and she writes their stories out so well that you forget you're not really there. J'adore.
{Half Price Books, $1.00, Contemporary Romance}

12. Christina Dodd is another one of my favorite authors. I think my only complaint about her books may be that the titles all literally sound the same. So when I'm in a bookstore, I can never remember whether I have a certain book or not just by the title alone. But other than that, if it has her name on it, I get excited. *eee* I'm still excited now because I have two more of her books waiting for me to read them. *happy squeak*
{Borders, $2.00, Paranormal Romance}

13. Who doesn't love a good paranormal romance? And for the genre that she writes, Lora Leigh is really a fabulous writer. Wow.
{Library, Paranormal Romance}

14. This woman is amazing. Her books are always super long (yay!), her characters are interesting, and her plotlines are fun to read. Plus, her sense of humor comes through easily in her writing. In What I Did for Love, I think my one issue would be that the resolution takes a tad too long. And when it does come around, I got a itsybitsy bit confused. Which isn't good as a reader. But loved the story and am willing to overlook the iffy resolution because of the awesome epilogue.
{Library, Contemporary Romance}

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So, what'd you read this month?