First the romance:

Slightly Dangerous
Mary Balogh

I trotted out to a store to buy this book in hardcover on the day it came out: I adore cold, aristocratic Englishmen. I love to see them get their comeuppance. In fact, I like a good grovel. What’s more, I don’t seem to be able to create these men myself: I do better with surly, slightly crazed men. (What that says about my marriage, I don’t know.) Mary says she was horribly nervous writing Wulfric’s story. I can sympathize. At the time I’m writing this review, I’ve received hundreds of requests demanding that the Earl of Mayne fall in love, and soon. Given that Mary is a huge bestseller, she probably got hit with thousands of letters about Wulf. But making a character you know so well fall in love is not easy! Witness Shakespeare. There’s an old, and quite likely true story that Queen Elizabeth commanded that he bring back Falstaff and make him fall in love. So Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor. I bet you didn’t study it in Shakespeare 101; that’s because it isn’t very good. I had created a cold, arrogant aristocrat in A Summer to Remember, Mary says, and then deliberately built upon that image through the first five Slightly books while at the same time giving hints of the real person behind the facade. But I was totally amazed and overwhelmed by the growing flood of interest in him and the almost frenzied anticipation of his story. If we could all write so beautifully when we were overwhelmed, the world would be a better place. Or at least, more literate. Slightly Dangerous is a wonderful book. If I rise to the occasion and paint such a deliciously nuanced portrait of the Earl of Mayne as Mary writes for Wulf, I will be as happy as a king. Happier than Shakespeare! Go on, read the excerpt. You’ll love it.

All Those Other Books

Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers
by Lois Frankel
Warner Business Books, 2004 This is exactly what it sounds like — one of those self-help books that get excerpted in Cosmo. You do the quiz in the dentist’s office and right when you’re about to find out whether you’re a Sexual Vampire in Bed, or Little Lost Lulu under the Covers, you get called in for your root canal.But this one is actually good. I picked it up in an airport in Germany and read it all the way back to the States. I even took the survey and figured out where I needed the most help. Superficially, this is about quitting the girl stuff, especially at the office. I know you’re thinking: what office? Eloisa’s a writer. Actually, I’m a professor too, and there’s lots of office time. But it doesn’t matter: whatever we do, wherever we are, we’re judged by the nuances of how we act. And I agree with Frankel that a lot of women were never taught how to act professionally, myself included.

For example, I have a huge desire to be liked. This is all very well, in its place. But as Frankel points out, when people get angry or annoyed with us, it’s often for the purpose of getting us to do what they want. Don’t fall for that ploy!

I loved this book. I thought it was useful in my office, and (frankly) in my marriage. And unless you already have the corner office (or hey, even if you’re male), you need it!
 

And, Finally, The Books I Can’t Wait For!

James Rollins’s Map of Bones

OK, Rollins writes boy adventure fiction (my own label for it). I don’t like this stuff!? I pick up a Clive Cussler and go limp with boredom. But Rollins is addictive and what’s more, his writing crosses gender lines. People are shot on every page, for example, and he even has female heros now and then. If you haven’t discovered Rollins, run to the nearest store and buy ICEHUNT (now in paperback). It’s a terrifying, utterly surprising, fabulous read.

Jilly Cooper’s Wicked
If you haven’t read Cooper, run to the nearest store. She’s the closest thing to wickedly funny and outrageously sexy that’s coming out of England these days.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s Match Me If You Can.

I have to admit… this is for you to anticipate, and me to gloat over. Because I got my hands on an Advance Review Copy and gobbled it up. It’s a glorious, hilarious, sexy book and I only wish I had it to read over again. And that movie… what is that movie they watch?? Will someone please let me know, as soon as the rest of you get to read this delicious book?