3 Books in April

In April I made an attempt to read True Beauty by the plus-size model Emme. The book came out in the 90s so it could be considered outdated, but the conversational style was good. I didn't finish the book, something I'm doing all too often lately. Even my tried and true - go to books aren't really holding my attention these days. True Beauty was no different. I got about half way through it and still didn't feel like I'd learned anything new. The message basically said you can't lose weight and get healthy until you're comfortable with yourself and love the skin you're in no matter what size you are.

I do believe you have to love yourself and be comfortable with yourself in order to be truly beautiful, but Emme didn't give me any real suggestions on how to go about coming to terms with your weight, your body, and realigning your body image to something more positive than negative. So that was a bit of a disappointment.

In addition to True Beauty, I also picked up Dark Possession & Dark Prince, both by Christine Feehan. I actually finished both of these novels and enjoyed them even though I read them out of order.

Dark Possession is the latest in Christine Feehan's Carpathian series. In this one Carpathian hunter Manolito sets his sites on MaryAnn, a therapist from Seattle that his sister in law hired to help a young woman in her family. During their rocky courtship Manolito struggles against his own dark nature as well as curiosities in MaryAnn's. She is a great heroine, one with flaws and personality quirks that make her much more three dimensional than many romance heroines. Erotic and suspenseful, I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good vampire novel with a twist.

It was because of the twist I tracked down Dark Prince, which is the first of the Carpathian books. Much of the book is devoted to setting up the Carpathian society, how the Carpathians differ from the vampires of legend, and the long term conflict between the Carpathians and the human vampire hunters that want to eradicate them. I didn't enjoy Dark Prince as much as Dark Possession, though it was a fun read. While Mikhail the leader of the Carpathians is an interesting character and his flaws are touched on and given enough screen time to make him into more than just a cardboard hero, I didn't get the same sense of Raven, the heroine. She was a bit flat to me - good and kind, virginal, filled with innocence despite the horrors she's witnessed while helping the police on different cases. A little too perfect for my tastes. I was much more interested in the scenes between Mikhail and the other Carpathians, their personalities were fascinating and I enjoyed the banter and report they shared. I've bought the second book in the series, Dark Desire, but haven't had the opportunity to read it yet. Looking forward to it though.