HARLEQUIN BLAZE: AN UPDATE

OK, I have read a few more Blaze books since my last post. I like to make a few more addendum's and observations.

First off I said Blaze could not be re-read or re-printed in 20 years. Let's try five. I read one published in 2005, and it made references to Martha Stewart being in Jail, the TV show 'Fear Factor', ( I had to really reach back in my brain for this one, because I am not a fan of reality TV, then it hit me, 'Oh yeah, the show where they paid idiots to eat live worms on TV for money.') And a couple of references to Sex in the City and channeling one's inner Samantha. How cute, how dated, already. But such is the problem with a contemporary romance, they don't stay...contemporary. Very short shelf life.

Of the 13 Blazes I have 'blazed' through in the past few weeks, only one ended with a marriage proposal. And hey! I came across a few heroes and heroines in their early thirties, one guy was even 36! Cool. I am still waiting to find someone who is a sexy 40.
All the books have been different, one was very gritty, about living on the street and finding teenage runaways, another was slap-your-thigh funny (will talk about it in a moment) Also, I read some paranormal Blaze, something I forgot to mention, Kimberley Raye's delightful Texas vampire series. Joanne Rock has a Blaze historical coming out in April, yes, every girl's fantasy, a pirate. I LOVE that every book is different. Some are formulaic, but the majority are original and unique.

Something else I forgot to mention, the covers. Provocative, sexy to be sure, and most times they match the story.

Check this cover out, Feb 2010 release. I saw it at the Harlequin website and got a little excited. Oh boy, sexy hermit mountain man, who has cut himself off from the world, and love. The model looks great, sexy pose, nothing like a hunk in red flannel who can weld an axe. I ordered the book without really reading the blurb.
Big mistake.
Not that the book was bad, it wasn't. Only, the hermit was the heroine. The hero was a book publisher, from Chicago, in an Armani suit. Not once in the book did he go outside and split wood. Damn.
I was disappointed, I felt the book cover mislead me. Note to self: Always read the blurb. Always. Like I said the book was fine, but the reading enjoyment for me was ruined by my silly preconceived notions of what the book should have been (Or what I wanted it to be) I will read again later.

Here is one that had me laughing. Giggling out loud. This is the book from 2005 with the already dated references, but aside from that, this was sexy, funny and sweet. The heroine runs an etiquette consultant firm. She is very proper down to her Victorian chairs in her office and china tea cups. Enter the hero, a shit-kicker from Texas with hay between his teeth who can barely string two sentences together, but of course the man is a walking sex-bomb who carries a larger package than the UPS guy.
It's My Fair Lady turned on its sexy head.
Needless to say the heroine gets flustered fairly fast by this hunk of Texas beef, and no wonder, he is a charmer in his crude way.
His half-sister is marrying some British nobility, and his mother wants him to be presentable, hence the reason for the etiquette consult.

LOL moment: He, of course, spills the tea in her office,breaking some china (like the stud bull he is) He immediately whips off his skin tight T-shirt to sop up the mess, sending our proper miss into a bare-chested tizzy.
If you come across this in a second hand place, snap it up, it was an entertaining read.

Still enjoying them, and still recommend.