Guilty Pleasure Books

Guilty Pleasure Books

I read a wide variety of books, sometimes to see what the current trends are—didn’t care for the Girl books: Gone Girl, Girl on the Train or some other popular and critically acclaimed literary fiction—The Golden Finch. I did like We Are Not Ourselves, about a family dealing with Alzheimer Disease. There was no plot per se other than the day-to-day struggles of the wife and son as they dealt with their husband and father’s illness.

I read murder mysteries and thrillers because they’re so popular and to see how pacing and plot structure make a page-turner. Otherwise, they aren’t my favorite genres. Iris Johansen is a popular author with a series about policewoman Eve Duncan. I read Quicksand and didn’t care for the graphic details of child torture or the one-dimensional villain. The rest of the characters were engaging, though Johansen didn’t go deeply into their psyches. Heather Graham’s The Cursed, part of a series called the Krewe of Hunters, seemed silly and over the top.

Books set in the Scottish Highlands

Have to admit I enjoy these books, as silly as the titles and stories can be, usually set in the 18^th or 19^th century. They run the gamut from Diana Gabaldon’s critically acclaimed and wildly popular Outlander Series to titles such as Hannah Howell’s Highland Master and Highland Chieftain, the second part of a series about the Murray family. The first lacked tension—didn’t believe anything bad would really befall the characters—but was still fun. The second was about a girl whose stepfather kidnapped young boys to work his farm. She was accused of killing the man, part of a plot to wrest land from unprotected women in the area. The torture and rape to wring confessions out of the women seemed gratuitous. The emotional consequences were discussed almost as an afterthought. I won’t read the rest of the series.

Heather Graham wrote a number of these books in her earlier career: Knight Triumphant, in which the heroine came across as too much a feminist for the time, while on the other hand, a stereotypically emotional/hysteric female compared to the steadfast, strong but silent hero. Still one of the better stories I’ve read. Seize the Dawn was set during the time of Wallace, a real Scottish hero. An interesting plot, a few chapters set at sea, which gave an interesting glimpse of piracy of that time. The heroine falls for a commoner but the story was believable.

What I Call the Duke Books

These are books set primarily in 19^th century England with the basic plot that a Duke or other titled gentleman needs a wife, and the conflicts and tensions the hero and heroine undergo to get together. The heroine’s used to be primarily naïve but spirited virgins under twenty who mainly had sex after marriage. I see a trend now toward older, worldlier women who succumb to the hero before the wedding, though they always get married.

Duke of My Heart (silly title) by Kelly Bowen had the older woman with a shady past, definitely not a virgin. The climax of the story was filled with tension but the ending fizzled into an exercise just to finish off the threads of the story. Liked the different heroine though couldn’t help but think she never would have been accepted in reality at that time period.

Eloisa James is popular. My American Duchess was deeply romantic and managed good tension without the common overdone conflicts. The heroine being American added unusual and interesting aspects. James’s A Duke of Her Own was less morally constrained than usual. A Duke with six illegitimate children seeks a wife to mother them. Typical misunderstandings and obstacles arise to add conflict between the Duke and the woman he chooses, but the different, more mature way the characters face them was refreshing.