Lisa Beazley - Keep me Posted

Title	Keep Me Posted
Author	Lisa Beazley
Publisher	April 5th 2016 by NAL
Genre	Chick Lit
ISBN	1101989866 (ISBN13: 9781101989869)
Length	320 pages

Two sisters separated by oceans started writing to each other after being inspired by their grandparents during Christmas reunion. Each sister encountered family life problems, one self inflicted by her own unhappiness and low self-esteem, the other by her husband's infidelity.

The book is written from Cassie's perspective, so we only hear about the other Sid from her letters. Sid is definitely the more lovable and zen character, reminded me of my own aunt, than her sister who is hung up about her own regrets to a point where she neglects her wonderful husband (he splurged his life savings so that she could have IVF treatment to have their beloved twins, ceded to her when she wanted to stay in their beautiful apartment which became too tiny to contain the same boisterous twins and didn't even complain when she spent nearly 4K on clothes), preferring to get excited about meeting an ex who treated her badly.

I thought it was an easy read for a dull afternoon, though the happy ending had me rolling my eyes a bit lot. Oh come on, it's a little too good to be true.. [spoiler in white: Cassie gets to share a beautiful new compound with her beloved sister and their families]. I kinda want to slap Cassie, I thought her husband and her sister gave in a little too easily. I mean her sister spurns social media and her idiotic little sister accidentally posted their letter exchange online with "Slow News Sisters" blog that goes viral. I WOULD HAVE PLACED HER BETWEEN MY THIGHS IN A MOUNTAIN POSE AND SLOWLY CONTORT THE BREATH OUT OF HER. I am not convinced that Sid loves her husband, it felt a little as if she just went with the flow since she is so zen. And the husband character just existed so that he can pay up for the expensive alimony at the end.

It was like the author gave up towards the end, and like "fuck it, lets give a nice ending so that I can stop writing."

3 out of 5 stars (because of the ending).

Sophia Nash - The Once and Future Duchess

Title	The Once and Future Duchess
Author	Sophia Nash
Publisher	Avon, 2014
Genre	Romance
ISBN	0062273639 (ISBN13: 9780062273635)
Length	384 pages

This book is one in a series of books about dukes being forced to marry by the Crown Prince after they had too memorable a bachelor party before the Duke of Candover's wedding. So memorable that someone died and the is public outcry on the state of the monarchy.

So the Duke of Candover, James Fritzroy, is anal and rigid, and not very well liked by the other dukes. But because he is a premier duke (not all dukes are equal, it seems) , he has many women still wanting to marry him, most of all, the super desperado Duchess of March, Isabelle Tremont. I cannot understand the fascination on her part, other than she may have 恋父情结. Her dead daddy is his godfather/friend, and she transfers her desire for daddy's approval onto his friend. Otherwise please explain to me why she likes much older, very zzz man?

And because James is anal and rigid, he and the determined Isabelle spent a lot of time discussing what is marriage, passion, love. So boring. Luckily distraction comes in the more exciting shapes of the Duke of Sussex and his Scottish bride. Their story is more exciting but unfortunately spans across this and an earlier book so basically we get a summary and then randomly inserted slices of a conclusion. Somehow Sussex realized what his bride did for him and all was forgiven. He was suddenly down with marrying the poor governess. 

This book was pretty haphazard with the various characters appearing in the book. Like why does Mary of Kent like the Duke of Barry? Well because suddenly they did, thats why Mary, unlucky in love is upset by Barry wanting to marry March. *roll eyes* 

Rating: 2 out of 5. 

Believability - 0/5 (right, because the elite can readily accept a governess as a fellow peer); Romance factor - 2/5; Readability - 2/5 ; Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - big fat 0.

Follow my lead by Kate Noble

Title	Follow My Lead
Author	Kate Noble
Publisher	Berkley Publishing Group, 2011
Genre	Romance
ISBN	978-0-425-24151-6
Length	355 pages

His Grace Jason Cummings, Duke of Rayne, is seeking a wife. Tried when he was 29 years old, was almost compromised by three raving virgins. Second attempt was when he was a wiser 30 year old man, only to be bored to death at a garden party by same three raving virgins. So being a 19th century nerd, the red-haired he went to the Historical Society where he encountered a brown-haired she with a humongous cousin. Cousin George was determined to make Winnifred Crane his bride, incest and possible genetic disorder be damned. Luckily Jason was there to help her pass the hallowed doors, where she failed to prove to Lord Forrester (head of said sexist Society, her father's friend) that she was the famed historical writer, C. W. Marks. Why? Because her cousin claimed to be him already, in order to become a member.

Since the cousin was the villain and all the men in the Historical Society misogynists, the determined 30 year old Winn decided to take up the challenge issued by Lord Forrester to prove that the Adam & Eve painting given by her father to the Society was not painted by Dürer. Unlike the Duke who already saw the Continent and wanted to settle down, Winn wanted to enjoy the adventure of finding the evidence and checking out Europe.

Lord Forrester being naive or stupid, requested Jason escort Winn, George and their relative Totty to the port, even though Jason was interested in his daughter. Then Jason, being the busybody that he was, decided to follow Winn when she did not board the same ship as her family. 

Blah blah, they suffered poverty and misadventures in Europe as they tried to dodge George, but managed to find time to have sex a couple of times. If not for the sex, would have thought that it was Bert and Ernie running riot over Europe. Fairly engaging read.

Of course he ended up with Winn, even though he managed to propose to Lord Forrester's daughter when he returned to the UK, aged 31 years old.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. The parts where they dodged George were entertaining.

Believability - 3/5; Romance factor - 2.5/5; Readability - 3.5/5 ; Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - 1/5.

Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Title	Kiss an Angel
Author	Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Edition	reprint
Publisher	Piatkus, 2006
Genre	Romance
ISBN	0749937092, 9780749937096
Length	384 pages

Ratings
Unbelievable ?  EXTREMELY. 5/5. Just look at the protagonists' names, Theodosia (Daisy) Devreaux and Alexander Romanov Markov.

Alex is a descendant of the Romanov dynasty (yes, and from Tsar Nicholas II's fragile son's line) and a known circus folk. Daisy remained a 26 yo virgin while her mother was a frivolous nymphomaniac who was already bedding guys younger than her daughter before she died.

Problem with some of the famous romance authors is that they tend to stick to a certain formula that they become known for (other than the known requisite that all male protagonists are damaged in one way or another/ inscrutable, charismatic characters/ handsome weirdos).

For Susan Elizabeth Phillips, the female protagonist tends to be a pretty lady who is misunderstood by the people around her, especially the guy who she will fall in love with. But don't worry by the end of the book, everyone will love her. Always. And the guy would be very emotionally damaged but becomes cured by her love, though SEP outdid herself this time with one who is more damaged than the usual. (1) his parents died in a train accident when he was 2 years old, (2) he was raised by an uncle who camouflaged his pedophilia by whipping his nephew, (3) rescued by Daisy's father  when he was 8 yo. Daisy's dad was conveniently a diplomat to Russia who has a weird obsession with Russians and of course, this guy, to a point he makes him marry his daughter to continue the Romanov line. this despite he does not think much of her than as a brood mare. Give the man Father of the Year award!(4) Alex is now a professor of art at a college, but he is fantastically rich due to his own Russian art collection and consultancy work with biggest museums in the country, and he is helping his other benefactor by running his circus for 6 months after the latter died. WTF?

So he drags Daisy after their impromptu marriage to the circus, where of course she had to suffer a lot of trials and tribulations ala SEP style, e.g. being framed as a thief, being tortured by sundry circus animals, being burnt by stupid Alex, getting knocked up by stupid Alex who realized that he really loved her after he burnt her (S&M). And even though she doesn't like animals, and they her, somehow she developed a rapport with a tiger, a gorilla and a baby elephant who has weird olfactory fetish. Villains other than Alex, are a misguided teenage girl who has a crush on Alex, and the sexy circus owner's widow who has an obsession with Alex's circusfolk lineage and his sexual prowess, so much so that she turned from love to hatred when he denied her.

The main point is... don't think too hard when reading this book (especially TRY NOT to draw comparisons with SEP's other book "call me irresistible"), just appreciate the span of SEP's imagination when writing this book. I spent quite a lot of time rolling my eyes, but I have to admit it was an entertaining read. I also think the book should be renamed as "obsession" given the number of strange obsessive characters there are in this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Believability - 0/5 (see above); Romance factor - 3/5; Readability - 4/5 (fairly entertaining, too much about animals and annoying side characters); Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - 3/5 (handsome art professor who is a descendant of Russian royalty with amber eyes like a freaking tiger. Unbelievable!!! Dislike MCPs).