April Reads

Private Passions was one of Rochelle Alers earlier novels - nothing memorable about this story - wasn't a bad book, but it is not a must read. If you want a book because you have nothing else to read, it will do.

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda was a great book. It touches on the complexities of the Indian culture birthing female babies over males and how one woman deals with it. Not to mention the emotions one woman experience when she discovers the one role she desires the most out of life, to be a mother, is unattainable unless she opts to pursue adoption. This leaves her feeling worthless despite all of her other accomplishments in life. I highly recommend this book so you can see what unfolds and get a glimpse of the rich Indian culture. I especially appreciate their culture's focus on family.

The Sweetest Temptation and Taken by Storm are the last 2 books in Rochelle Aler's Whitfield Brides Trilogy. I preferred Taken By Storm over The Sweetest Temptation. Two things I loved in all three of these books a) it was a Whitfield family tradition started by their grandmother to meet with sisters/cousins twice a month for dinner. No men allowed - they would also have dinners which incorporated their partners, but I think it is so important to have girl time regularly. It made me miss the fact even more that I do not have any female family members who I grew up with who are close in my age. And b) I love the morals instilled in these men and women. The women were taught by their parents standards on how a man should treat, respect, and protect them as women and their fathers displayed great examples by treating both them and their mothers accordingly. These men also exhibited manners like opening doors, walking on the outside of the street, not allowing them to carry heavy packages, respecting their family and friendships, etc. It may be the men I come into contact with, but this seems like a rare commodity nowadays and I definitely appreciate a man with manners and home training. Such a turn on!

Ironically, a theme was illustrated in The Sweetest Temptation that I had just discussed with a friend. People tend to think you are shallow for having looks on a high list of priorities when finding a mate. However, if you are not dating a friend who may become more, what is it that instantly attracts you to someone. Their personality and characteristics aren't immediately on display which means the packaging needs to be attractive for a person to want to unwrap the layers to delve deeper and get to know the person, right?! If not, what else is there that initially attracts you to someone? On the flip side, I can understand Faith's wariness when Ethan complemented her looks constantly - every woman loves to be told they are beautiful, but we also love to know you admire the content of our character, our morals & values, our nurturing spirit, and how we allow you to be a man as well. I hate when men simply focus on my looks - it makes me believe our relationship is only superficial and I will not let you see past the surface.

Erin Duffy's debut novel Bond Girl was described as The Devil Wears Prada meets Wall Street. I was immediately intrigued - I can watch that movie everyday and be perfectly content. This book did not disappoint. It transformed me back to my first real job after I graduated college - you can definitely relate to Alex's experiences no matter what industry you are in. Everybody has the perfect image of how they see their life playing out and then comes the real world...with all of its painful lessons, you begin to realize your fantasy was much better. The guy you think you love is a jerk. The job you coveted isn't all it's cracked up to be...you don't automatically fall into the position of your dreams. You must do grunt work like everyone else to make it. This grunt work includes copying, scanning, and running office errands for coffee & lunch (I actually liked this part because I could get a breather out of the office for a few minutes.) And drinks seem to make everything appear to be better. Remember those days?! Oh! The golden years!

I kept hearing (on twitter) how great of a book Room by Emma Donoghue was so of course I added it to my library queue and could not wait to read it. Ehhhhhhhhhhh - I could have left this on the shelf. It did touch on some societal issues based on normalcy and how you can adapt to your circumstances no matter what the situation - but um yeah, not one of my better reads this month.

A Compromising Affair wasn't as good as the other Harrington Brother books by Gwynne Forster. I liked Scott from one of the other books and wanted to figure out what happened with him - Denise was a tad bit too whiny for me. I couldn't imagine getting mad at my significant other for getting along with my father and spending time with him. Seemed pretty bratty to me - or maybe that is a part of the only child syndrome which I cannot relate to. I do not recommend this one.

Still holding my breath as I just finished RM Johnson's Deceit and Devotion and anxiously awaiting the next installment because there is sure to be another. This is the latest book from his Million Dollar Divorce series (Million Dollar Divorce, Million Dollar Deception, and Million Dollar Deception are excellent reads as well) and he also included characters from his Harris Brothers books - I breezed through this book easily and literally could not turn the pages quick enough to see what was going to happen.

Finally read Brenda Jackson's latest release Feeling the Heat - a part of her Westmoreland series. I enjoyed it.

And there you have it - my 9 books for the month of April. This take my yearly total to 36.