Eyeliner of the Gods

Title: Eyeliner of the Gods

Author: Katie Maxwell

Genre: YA romance?

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Jan is on an archaeological dig in Egypt. Deprived of air conditioning, makeup, and decent clothes (but wonderfully away from her family!), Jan has one thing to look forward to each day: the hottie working next to her, Seth.

However, people think Seth is the reincarnation of the evil god Set - and thus he gets blamed for everything that goes wrong on the dig, including the theft of several artifacts!

Jan, Seth, and his brother Cy race against time to figure out what is going on - and Jan and Seth try to figure out their relationship through teenage hormones and misunderstandings (oy!).

Eyeliner of the Gods is cute. Jan can be annoying, but in the way of sixteen-year-old girls with (slight) self-esteem issues. If you like Katie Maxwell's (aka Katie MacAlister) other books, you'll probably like this one.

The Royal Treatement

Title: The Royal Treatment
Author: MaryJanice Davidson
Genre: Chick lit/Romance
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

In this slightly-alternate world of MaryJanice Davidson's, everything is exactly the same as our own - except that Alaska, instead of being sold to the US in the 1800s, broke away from Russia and became its own country with its own erm.. unique monarchy.

Enter American Christina Krabbe ("It's pronounced 'Crab', no 'e.'"), a no-nonsense ex-cruise ship cook. She jumped ship upon quitting (due to an incident involving flooring her boss for sexual harassment) and found herself stranded in Alaska, only to be taken in by none other than the king himself - and set up with the crown prince as the future crown princess!

This book is fun, lighthearted, and funny. Unlike Davidson's Queen Betsy series, the heroine of The Royal Treatment is smart, a fact which I greatly appreciated. Christina is smart, has a don't-mess-with-me attitude, knows what she wants and won't back down from anyone - not even the king himself, nor any of his five equally strong-willed children.

Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander

Title: Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander
Author: Ann Herendeen
Genre: Historical Romance (kind of?)
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander is the story of Phyllida, an author of trashy gothic romances, and her bisexual husband, Andrew Carrington. Andrew married Phyllida in order to do his duty by his family and secure an heir. Phyllida married Andrew in order to be able to continue her career as an authoress. Both went into the marriage with open eyes, knowing Andrew would continue his dalliances with his male friends (in the titular Brotherhood of Philander). Neither expected to fall in love with the other.

Reading Phyllida reminded me greatly of quite a few fanfics I enjoy. There's a three-sided relationship: Andrew and Phyllida, Andrew and his lover(s), and his lover(s)'s friendship with Phyllida. Add in some spying and there you go. Oh, and did I mention it's a Regency novel?

The book is...okay. It is not stunning, nor is it horrible. Like I said, it reminds me very much of many fanfics I have read. The author weaves the lives of the characters - not only Phyllida and Andrew, but those of the entire Brotherhood - in and out of each other throughout the novel, and throws in a spy subplot to (it seems) draw the entire story out another two hundred pages. I would have been happy without the spy subplot, just reading the story of Andrew, Phyllida, Harry, Matthew, and the rest of the Brotherhood.

I stayed up all night to read the last two hundred pages, because I was engrossed with the characters' stories. However, I don't think I'll be borrowing this from the library again, nor will I be purchasing it any time soon.

Sharpe's Rifles

Title: Sharpe's Rifles
Author: Bernard Cornwell
Source: Border's
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Although I don't usually like military history, I did enjoy this book. That could have been because I completely love the "Sharpe" DVD series - though the book was nothing like the movie, so maybe not. The style drew me in - dry enough to fit the genre, but not so dry that I did not care about the characters or the events. Those coming to this book expecting it to be what the movie was will be disappointed; those who come to it expecting a good story will not be disappointed in the least.