Good Time Bad Boy by Sonya Clark

Wade Sheppard was the king of country for nearly ten years. Now he can’t get Nashville on the phone, much less another record deal. When yet another drunken night onstage gets him fired from a casino gig, Wade is pulled off the road by his manager and sent home. Being back in the small town where he was born and raised, his every screw-up fodder for gossip, isn’t helping any. His family knows him too well, and the pretty, sharp-tongued waitress who catches his eye doesn’t want to know him at all.

Daisy McNeil has more baggage than most her age but she’s finally pulling her life together. College classes will be her ticket out of poverty and instability. She doesn’t mind waiting tables for the time being, but she could do without the rowdy rednecks who sometimes get handsy. When one of them crosses the line, she snaps and gives him and his stupid ten gallon hat the telling off he deserves, but causing a scene gets her fired.

Wade didn’t mean to cost Daisy her job. Chastened, he decides he doesn’t want his train wreck of a life to crash into anybody else. He offers the bar owner a summer of free shows if Daisy can have her job back. Now they’re spending nights together trading barbs and fighting a growing attraction. With a sexy smile and a powerful voice that can make any song his, Wade’s determined to show Daisy that he’s more than just a good time bad boy. 

I've bought many low cost books by authors I've never heard of and many of them just don't appeal to

me. They're usually bought on sale - think 99 cents - or the blurb makes the plot sound really good. Good plot and good price - it's worth a try.

I wasn't really expecting anything from Good time Bad Boy; I was just hoping I could finish the book. The book was surprisingly good and I really did like it.

I'd say the story is character driven. There is little action, no shooting, fighting or such. It's a story of two people falling reluctantly in love and overcoming some long term problems to be together. There's no "big misunderstanding" to maneuver around and the writing has its beautiful moments. This passage in particular caught my eye. Wade is playing his guitar while thinking about past music.

"From there Wade continued in the same vein, Spanish rhythms and melancholy, Texas and California country with dust and grit sandpapering the notes and faded dreams coloring the lyrics."

One of the underlying themes is teenage pregnancy. Both Daisy and her sister got pregnant in their teens; the sister kept her daughter while Daisy put her baby up for adoption.

Family, lifestyle, making your life work something that will make you happy, all these themes are covered. It's not a rock 'n roll book by any means; it's a small town troupe, almost a cozy with sex.  :-)

Definitely recommended. A damned good read.

Thank You Stranger

I don't know your name but you gave me the greatest gift a person could have. You gave your daughter life in a place where you couldn't be her mother for whatever reason there was.

You chose to let her live and I thank you for that. For having her and leaving her abandoned where she would be found. Some people have left their babies where they wouldn't, in fact couldn't, survive but you left your child where she would be found. Where she was taken to safety and placed with people who would take care of her.

I don't know what you faced but I believe your choices were made for your daughter's care. You live in a country where your choices are limited and your value, as well as the value of your child, are small. And you chose to let her live.

I thank you.

Yesterday our daughter came home, excited because she auditioned for high school jazz band and she made the A band. The better band. The one that will travel to other islands and have opportunities the B band won't. She worked hard to get into the A band. She'll learn to work hard to stay in that band and I'm so proud of her. You would be proud of her too.

She's beautiful. Her skin is soft and lovely, her eyes, nose and mouth are perfect. She has a small waist and a well shaped form. She is truly an attractive human being and I hope she looks like you. I hope those lips are yours, the long toes and straight hair are the same as what you have.

You are beautiful, and your daughter carries your beauty.

I know her in ways I wish you could. I wish you could see the compassion in her and experience her humor. Oh, she's funny. She can be so clever and has made jokes that have astounded me with their complexity.

She's great at math, can learn any instrument you put in front of her and she's showing an affinity for languages. None of those did she get from me so I assume your genes are showing in her. How you'd love her. I'll bet if you were here, you two would be nerds together and enjoy the same things. You would hear her, see her, as she learned about her interests and shared the excitement with you.

She's not perfect by any means but when I look at her, she seems perfect to me. I'm so proud of her and I love her more than I believed I could love another person. Just like you did. Like you probably still do.

Thank you for letting her live. Thank you for bringing her into the world.

Thank you.

My New Romance Novel

New from Bethaninny House
      Following in the tradition of inspirational romances
                           that inspire no one, no where

              LOVE AT BARKENWALD 
 by me, some random Jewess

Based on a true story that I made up, and lots of serious research (my brother told me Hitler liked dogs).

Adolph Hitler was a man who was tortured

by his country, his fellow men, and those

damned Jews (not to mention the gypsies,

Catholics and homosexuals). All he wanted

was to experience a true love, a giving love,

the kind of love that can only be found between

the pages of a bible or in the long, wet tongue 

of a German Shepherd. 

Despite murdering eleven million people (but

six million were Jews and nobody really cares 

since they're all Christ killers anyway)(and if God

wanted Jews to live, He would have made them

Christians like everyone here at Bethaninny

House) Adolph was alone. Until he saw the depth

of compassion in warm brown eyes and felt the 

soft fur of companionship. A beautiful dog named

Heidi who understood the conflicted heart and

true beauty of The Final Solution and loved

poor Adolph as he tried to exterminate those damned

Kikes from existence.

An excerpt:

"Heil Heidi, mein Shepherd girly. I have only killed three million of those damned Jews so far and feel inferior. I promised to rescue Germany from the large nosed, dark haired, good at money management and really scholarly non-believers in our Lord, Jesus Christ."

"Woof."

"Yes, that's right! I can mass murder them in unmarked graves and steal their possessions too."

"Woof."

"Yes Heidi, my good little Himmler, let us pray."

If you like this story, here at Bethaninny House we're also offering these other 'inspirational' romances:

A Civil Wrong: a compelling story of a racist, cross burning Ku Klux Klan member and the young black girl he hides in his basement  and rapes until she accepts that she's dirty and kills herself in shame...

Crusadables: a Catholic priest in a dark moment of history kills and rapes every Jewish, Muslim and Christian woman he can find until a nice Christian girl convinces him to just kill the Jews and Muslims and do it in Jesus' name because nobody likes those damned Jews and Muslims anyway...

Yassar and Goldie, A True Love Story.

                                                          ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I shouldn't have to mention that this post is in response to Bethany Press and their awful Nazi romance. As a romance writer, I am appalled. As a romance reader, I am appalled. As a survivor of sexual abuse, I am appalled. And as a Jew, I am enraged and disgusted. 

 

 

Brown-Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas

Wedding planner Avery Crosslin may be a rising star in Houston society, but she doesn't believe in love-at least not for herself. When she meets wealthy bachelor Joe Travis and mistakes him for a wedding photographer, she has no intention of letting him sweep her off her feet. But Joe is a man who goes after what he wants, and Avery can't resist the temptation of a sexy southern charmer and a hot summer evening.

After a one night stand, however, Avery is determined to keep it from happening again. A man like Joe can only mean trouble for a woman like her, and she can't afford distractions. She's been hired to plan the wedding of the year-a make-or-break event.

But complications start piling up fast, putting the wedding in jeopardy, especially when shocking secrets of the bride come to light. And as Joe makes it clear that he's not going to give up easily, Avery is forced to confront the insecurities and beliefs that stem from a past she would do anything to forget.

The situation reaches a breaking point, and Avery faces the toughest choice of her life. Only by putting her career on the line and risking everything-including her well-guarded heart-will she find out what matters most.

I can't say I've waited anxiously for this book, because I haven't. At the time, I had vague thoughts about why Joe didn't have a book of his own. After all, he is a Travis, but he was mostly in the background, so it was never a big deal for me.

Now Joe Travis does have his own book, thanks to Ms Kleypas' loyal readers who really wanted Joe's story.

I enjoyed this book. These were real people, who had real problems. The Travises may have been rich, but they come across as normal and Joe himself is a sweetie.

There's not really much of a plot; that may bother some readers. What there is, is a good, old fashioned romance, where the protagonists get to know each other without a bunch of misunderstandings and almost no internal lusting, which I found very refreshing. Yes, you read that correctly - no internal lusting! And yet the feelings and emotions were very real, came across well and were written beautifully.

I'm not going to say this is one of Ms Kleypas' best books, and not everyone's going to like the way the author wrote it, but it's a good addition to the Travis Family Saga. Not only do we have a satisfying romance center stage, but there's a secondary romance - Avery's sister, Sofia. We see Sofia's romance through Avery's eyes, so it's not real in depth, but I did like Sofia and enjoyed the back and forth between her and Steven. Plus, we get to catch up with the rest of the Travis family, which I loved.

I feel safe recommending this book because it's pure romance, without any other distractions. However, you might want to wait until MMP prices kick in because, despite the enjoyment the book gave me, it should never have been published as a HB and I should have Wishlisted it.

I guess if this were a review - *snark* - I'd give Brown-Eyed Girl a B. I really do like Ms Kleypas' writing.  :-)

The State of Sex Education in the USA

I had to share this. I swear to God, this country is going backward! It's not the 21st century in the good ole US of A.

Killing Babies and Selling Their Organs

So according to my brother, the Conservative who believes Fox News speaks for him (and I love him anyway), Planned Parenthood aborts babies (not fetuses) and then crushes their little heads and sells their organs for profit.

I want to cry.

I worked in an abortion clinic. Yup, it's true. And we did very few second term abortions. Very very few. But those few we did, we asked the mother if she wanted to donate the fetal tissue to the university who was working on stem cell research. If the mother said yes then the fetus was collected and given to the university. If they said no then the fetus wasn't.

We got no money from it. It was research. We squished no fetal heads and never did anything as repulsive as what the Conservatives are claiming.

Does Planned Parenthood 'squish and sell' fetuses? No. They provide resources for women from contraceptive care to well woman checks and yes, abortions. Because a woman choosing not to have a child she can't emotionally or financially support should be and remain her choice. Not a politicians.

And if fetal tissue is being given or sold to researchers, I know that it's with permission of the woman whose tissue it is. Because that's how it's done.

But bless the Conservatives who want to take away women's rights to their bodies by creating this unfortunate stink about aborted fetuses for profits. Keep on bringing the fight. And watch Hilary win the presidency if you do.

God Bless Helen

You Go, Girl!