Revisiting…

July 25, 2006

5:40 pm • Filed under: Uncategorized

…old books this week. Books that have been on my keeper shelf since I was in my late teens, early twenties. When I first discovered romances and devoured them at lightning speed. Ahh, back in the day when I had a lot of time on my hands and I filled it with reading. I miss those days…

Anywho, I was inspired by my fellow Flirt Emma to reread some ol’ favorites and here’s what I’ve read so far.

Separate Beds by Lavyrle Spencer. Classic Lavyrle. I believe it was originally released as a category but I’m not sure. I read it when I was 19 and the heroine is 19, pregnant and forced into a marriage of convenience with a damn sexy man. Who wants her but she’s so screwed up in the head she denies him. Repeatedly. I wanted to shout at her when I first read it, “Tear down your wall and let him in! He wants in, you idiot!” This is a book so touching, so emotional that I cry every time I read it. Seriously.

Paradise by Judith McNaught. I read an excerpt of this book in Cosmo magazine back in like ‘89 or ‘90 (showing my age here) and was like, “Whoa. Who the hell is this? She’s good!” Bought the book, proceeded to buy every book she ever wrote after that and read through them in one summer, way back in the day. Judith is very descriptive. She’s a fan of the word ache, or achingly and the term “lazy smile.” Um, I don’t know about you, but I love a good kind of ache and when a “lazy smile” appears on a handsome man’s face well, I kinda like it.

Ok, I’ve only read two but here’s what’s next on my list. A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux. I love, love LOVE this book! Jude is the first author (at least that I read) who had flawed or feisty heroines. They weren’t all perfect and beautiful and timid. No way. Some of them were major pains in the ass, but the hero loved them anyway. She wrote one book where the heroine was (gasp!) chubby (Three Wishes, I believe) - wonderful book! Nothing wrong with chubby heroines. They’re all the rage right now anyway so Jude was way ahead of her time. After that is Once and Always, by Judith Mc. A historical. A really good one. Her heroes are the best. They can be jerks but are brought to their knees by the heroine. Nice.

And the one I’m saving for last, Dream Fever by Katherine Sutcliffe. A historical, set in Australia. Flawed hero, flawed heroine, awesome secondary characters. Freakin’ wonderful book. Wrenches the emotions right out of you.

I’m in for a cry fest with all of these books for sure. But I don’t care. It’s gonna be awesome!

So share what’s on your keeper bookshelf. Any oldies but goodies? Something new and so good you just couldn’t put it down? I’d love to hear about them.