Romance Novels

My mom shares all of her romance novels for me, and I tend to read them right before I go to bed, since they usually don't keep me in suspense the way other novels do, so I can actually go to bed at a decent hour instead of doing the "just one more chapter" thing. They are also a good way to clear my head after a stressful day at work when I don't really want to think to hard.

Here are a few I've read recently:
Minx by Julia Quinn - I keep saying Quinn is a different breed of romance novelists, and she is. Her books really go beyond the genre and she always has lovable characters. The male main character in this one is in a few of her others, and I love it when characters reappear like that. The female protagonist in this one is feisty and funny. She dresses like a man and runs the property and farm that she lives on, even though it's back in the early 1800s. It's got a good little story and was fun to read.

The Rocky Road to Romance by Janet Evanovich - I love Evanovich for her characters too, and she's hilarious. This one is a little weak; it's one of her first books, before the Stefanie Plum series. It actually has a lot of similarities to the Plum series, so it's really a building block for that which makes it more interesting to me, to see her process of becoming a better writer. It's got an accidentally crime solver, a crazy old lady who packs a .40 in her purse, and a dog named Bob. But the two characters fall in love way to soon and it has a really thin plot.

Song of the Road by Dorothy Garlock - Garlock's book are very sweet. They're more actual romance than loosely plotted sex scenes strung together like people think of romance novels being. She has several books about Route 66 back during the Depression. Song of the Road is one of those. It takes place in New Mexico and is about a young widow with a baby on the way and a drunk, mean mother. The mother was one of the most infuriating characters I've ever read about. She's horrible, and I feel so sorry for people who have to grow up with parents like that. The main character though was a tough, capable woman who manages to revive her family's motor court to make money and falls in love in the process. Good, simple, entertaining.