Audio Book Challenge

Time Frame: January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010

I have never listened an audio book, so I thought I'd give it a challenge.  Since I'm not sure if I'll like audio books, I am going to just attempt the Curious level for now, which is listening to 3 audio books.

I'll post the list as I go along...

Link to challenge: http://theroyalreviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/audio-book-reading-challenge.html

ROMANCE: Corbin's Fancy

Title: Corbin's Fancy
Author: Linda Lael Miller
Genre: Historical Romance
# of Pages: 311


Summary:

"When a traveling carnival left Fancy Jordan stranded in the rugged Washington Territory, she thought her luck had run out.  Alone, penniless, she welcomed a most intriguing offer--to live in the home of Jeff Corbin's brother, and coax the wounded, withdrawn Jeff back to health and happiness.

But a villainous attack on his ship had hurt only his body--a far deeper sorrow tortured him, heart and soul.  For as the beautiful gamine fell deeply in love with this handsome, brooding man, she faced a phantom rival...one that only the most splendid, most hearfelt passion could conquer."

Review: I'm really glad this was not the first Linda Lael Miller book I read.  It would have put me off her books forever.  Usually, I find her books engaging and well written, with good character and relationship development.  Not so with this one.  Though it may have been well written, the characters were not at all fleshed out.  And their relationship definitely had issues.  It was altogether too unrealistic.  I know it's fiction, but there has to be a bit of realism to fiction, too.  It has to be just a bit believable...

The main female character, Fancy Jordan, is fired from the traveling circus she was with and is almost immediately offered a job by Keith Corbin, a pastor.  She is to be a companion to his brother, Jeff, who suffered burns when his ship was set on fire.  Keith wants Fancy to draw Jeff out of the inner world he has hidden himself in.  Within two days, it seems she's successful.  Jeff goes outside for the first time in a long time, picking a fight with his brother and calling Fancy a slut.  The brothers don't end up fighting, as Keith will be late for church.  Instead, Fancy and Jeff have sex.  And then Fancy runs away.  Fancy is very insecure about herself and prone to jealousy, stemming from her insecurities and lack of self confidence.  The story is basically Fancy and Jeff arguing, making up, having sex, and then doing it all over again.  They did not get to know each other at all, even after they got married.  They each claimed to love the other, but all they really seemed to have going was sex.  Also, the antagonist of the story, Temple Royce, whom Fancy has been running from and who is Jeff's enemy, is dealt with in an unsatisfying way.  After all the times Temple is mentioned and seen in the story, the ending was very anti-climatic.  It seemed like Temple was there just so there could be a villainous character in the never.  In the end, it seems the author got tired of writing and just wanted it to be over with.

So, to sum it up: I found problems with the characters and the ending.  Plus, the plot wasn't very original.

Rating: ★★

Change in 101010 Challenge

So, I decided to change the Shakespeare category in my 101010 challenge, to the Georgia Nicholson books.  After watching the movie, I got interested in the rest of the storyline.  And so now, I'm going to read the complete series, which has 10 books.  Works out pretty perfectly, haha.

Also, I'm doing some other challenges too, and am interested in participating in still more challenges.  Challenges introduce you to so many new books!  I love it!  So the new ones that I've decided to take part in for now are ones I found in the Romance Readers Reading Challenges group on  Goodreads, under their "Dare You to Read" challenges.  The challenges I decided to partake in are: to read Line of Scrimmage by Marie Force in a month, to read The Last Time I Was Me by Cathy Lamb in a month, and to read the Sweet Magnolias series (4 books) by Sherryl Woods within 4 months.  Actually, the Sweet Magnolias series is going to come out with 3 more books this year, so that challenge might be extended.  So yeah, this doesn't seem too bad.  And I can use these books to cross challenge with my 101010 challenge.

There are many more challenges from the Romance Readers Reading Challenges (RRRC) group that I'm interested in.  I also have some I'm interested in from the Royal Reviews site.

So check back for more news on the challenges I'm participating in.  Also, I should have some reviews up next week! :)

I went to Costco about a week ago and picked up 2 books. One I've been wanting, because I'm a big fan of Julia Quinn, and that one is What Happens in London. The other, which is Hearts at Stake, just caught my eye. It's the first in a series, I believe. And it's about vampires. I've always been interested in vampires, along with witches, werewolves, etc., even way before all this Twilight hype. (Haven't even read the Twilight series yet...) Anyway, these two books have been added to my TBR pile, which is quite big (and not completely updated on the sidebar...it's much longer than that)...

I also have several books to review, which I will get around to some time this week...hopefully. I've got a midterm coming up, plus a paper due. So we'll see. I'm also thinking of changing one of my categories for the 101010 challenge to The Georgia Nicholson books, because I just watched the movie Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and go interested in rereading. Then, I found out there are actually 10 books in the series! I had only read 3 of them, I think.

101010 Challenge

Classics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Jane Austen Related
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

1st in Series (that I haven't read yet)
1. Squeeze Play by Kate Angell
2. Romeo, Romeo by Robin Kaye
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

From the Pages to the Big Screen
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Asian Authors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

YA
1. Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys by Kate Brian
2. The V Club by Kate Brian
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Fantasy
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Mystery
1. Executive Privilege by Philip Margolin
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Georgia Nicholson Books
1. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Romance/Chick-lit
1. This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
2. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn
3. Impetuous by Lori Foster
4. Heartbreaker by Diana Palmer
5. Corbin's Fancy by Linda Lael Miller
6. Curveball by Kate Angell
7.
8.
9.
10.

2010 Challenges

Alrighty, I'm here to post the year-long challenges I'm starting this year. First off is the 101010 challenge. Here are my categories:

1. Classics
2. Jane Austen Related
3. 1st in Series (that I haven't read yet)
4. From the Pages to the Big Screen
5. Asian Authors
6. YA
7. Fantasy
8. Mystery
9. Georgia Nicholson Books
10 Romance/Chick-lit

Next post will be the books I've read for these categories. Anyway, this is the only challenge I've officially signed up for, so far. Although, if I finish this, I'll be completing the read 100 books challenge, too. Another reading challenge I'm looking into is the Dewey Decimal Challenge. It looks interesting. :)