We Love Lisa Kleypas discussion

Crystal Cove, by Lisa Kleypas.   Release Date: February 5, 2013

From The New York Times bestselling author of Rainshadow Road and Dream Lake comes the final book in her Friday Harbor series...

Justine Hoffman has made a comfortable life for herself on the island of Friday Harbor. She is the proprietor of a successful boutique hotel, and she has the safe, predictable life she has always wanted. Growing up with her flighty, nomadic mother, Marigold, has instilled in her a deep longing for stability. But in spite of everything Justine has achieved, there is still something missing. Love. And after years of waiting and dreaming, she is willing to do whatever it takes to change her destiny.

What Justine soon discovers is that someone cast a spell on her when she was born, with the result that she will never find her soul mate. Determined to change her fate, Justine finds a way to break the enchantment, never dreaming of the dangerous complications that will follow.

And when Justine meets the mysterious Jason Black, she accidentally unleashes a storm of desire and danger that threaten everything she holds dear . . . because Jason has secrets of his own, and he wants more from her than fate will ever allow.

Reserved. Because you never know.

I pre-ordered my copy on Kindle!

Yes, Carol, I was going to do so for the audiobook, but audible.com doesn't have it listed...though Amazon does (for the CD). Weird.

I had pre-ordered mine, but then yesterday I got an email from Sarah....I won a copy from Lisa's Divas!!! I'm so tickled I can barely stand it!!! I can't wait to get it and start reading! It's going to be one of my year-long challenge books...*grin*

Not sure if I'll order this.

Just a heads up though and apology: I had a look at the good reads reviews for this one and someone has posted a review with lots of flashing animations. Unfortunately this is really hard on my eyes so I'm having to block people doing these animations as there seems to be no other way to hide the reviews. It looks like a bit of a trend at the moment. Apologies to whoever it was from *oldfuddyduddy*.

MashJ wrote: "Not sure if I'll order this.

Just a heads up though and apology: I had a look at the good reads reviews for this one and someone has posted a review with lots of flashing animations. Unfortuna..."

Mashj, I do put visuals in my reviews where I can, but nothing animated or flashing!

Received my advance copy of the book. I can barely wait to read it! If I didn't have so many books in front of it, I'd be reading it right now...*sigh*...But, I can promise you, it'll be read soon...very, very soon...*grin*

It is here! Yay! Loaded on my iPod/Touch, ready for me to do my errands.

**throws confetti and does happy dance**

Has anyone finished reading this yet? I am about to start reading it on my Nook and am so, so excited! :)

Yes, Sheery, I finished it the other day. Loved it.

Lisa Kay - I started the book last night. I had intended to read a chapter or two and go to sleep. LOL I stayed up way too late and read more than two chapters. I'm not done with the book yet but am loving it so far.

I started it yesterday! I'm about 20% thru and liking so far.

Just finished the book and really enjoyed it. Took me about 3 days. Not bad for a mom of 2 kids,teacher and a blizzard. Have a question though. I'm not sure if I totally missed this because I read so fast and into the wee hours of the night...why was Jason Black after the Grimoire in the first place?

Monica wrote: "Just finished the book and really enjoyed it. Took me about 3 days. Not bad for a mom of 2 kids,teacher and a blizzard. Have a question though. I'm not sure if I totally missed this because I r..."

Hi Monica - Jason wanted a Soul! He thought the Grimoire would have a spell. He found out about the Grimoire through Pricilla.

It's not very clearly stated though. I just read that part myself and came here to post the answer. very easily missed.

Glad you all are enjoying it so far.

I finished the book last night. I liked it and even gave it four (for a 3.5 star rating) stars. The thing is - I thought Justine was somewhat wishy washy. For example, she would talk or think about the necessity of practicing magic precisely and carefully but then turn around and wing it with her own spells. Like the business with the maiden's tears. Maybe I'm being nitpicky but I had expected Justine to be a stronger character than she turned out to be.

I liked the book but I didn't love it! The magic (excuse the pun), I normally experience when I read an LK book was somehow missing. I just didn't feel the same emotional connection to Justine and Jason that I felt with Zoe and Alex (Dream Lake is my favourite of the series and so I'm using that as a yardstick).

Perhaps I just yearn for heroes more like Derek Craven, John McKenna and Leo Hathaway !!

Yes, Sheery. I had an issue with the maiden's tears, too.

I agree, Carol. I really thought Jason was going to be more "hunky" than he was and I don't think the connection was a strong between J&J.

I did just read all the Wallflower books. Perhaps I should have waited a bit to read this book with characters/couples like Marcus/Lillian, SImon/Annabeth, etc. in my mind and heart. LOL

I actually really liked Jason. He reminded me a bit of Harry Rutledge. I think the problem was that his character wasn't completely developed. I feel like we don't know the We only learned a bit about his past. I felt like it wasn't delved into enough. There were however some great lines that made me smile. I felt like Dream Lake and Crystal Cove are moving more toward old Lisa. The next book looks interesting too. I really hope there's a historical afterwards.

Yes, I agree, we needed to delve into his past a bit more. I did like several interactions he had with Justine; they made me smile.

I have really been thinking about this book. In my review I wrote that something was missing and I just couldn't put my hand on it. But I think I have it figured out now. I think the books focused more on the witch craft and magic than it the relationship between Jason and Justine and that's what I think was missing....anyone agree?

I agree, Dream Lake is my favorite of the series by a long shot.

Heidi wrote: "I have really been thinking about this book. In my review I wrote that something was missing and I just couldn't put my hand on it. But I think I have it figured out now. I think the books focused ..."

I agree, Heidi. The book concentrated too much on the witchcraft and not enough on the romance. I don't think there was sufficient character development either.

I'm going to concur. The only "stand out" scene, for me, in the build-up of their relationship was when they were doing the "Truth or Dare" questions. That was reminiscence of Kleypas' banter between couples who are attracted to one another.

I agree Carol. In the "truth or dare" scene, I was like, "ok, here we go" and then it fell kinda flat.

Lisa Kleypas posted today on facebook that Crystal Cove is $1.99 for kindle & nook.

Heidi wrote: "In the "truth or dare" scene, I was like, "ok, here we go"..."

That is a good way to put it, Heidi. That is the way I felt, anyway.

I love Derek Craven... He is in a league of his own! I haven't read Crystal Cove yet, but so many fans have been disappointed!

Marissa: What is the next book you speak of? I can't find any information about it on Lisa's website. I'm curious!

I've just posted my review:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I'd better put on my flak jacket!

Great review, Carol! Nice and honest.

Lisa Kay wrote: "Great review, Carol! Nice and honest."

Thank you, Lisa Kay.

Totally agree with you about the "little things." That is what Kleypas does so well and it was missing in this one.

Or...there wasn't much of it.

Lisa Kay wrote: "Or...there wasn't much of it."

I always find it's those ' little things' that make me adore LK's heroes so much!

Very true. They make my heart melt.

Lisa Kay wrote: "Very true. They make my heart melt."

I forgot one of my favourites in my review where McKenna has kept Aline's handkerchief all those years. I knew he still loved her despite everything he says about wanting revenge.

Ah! Yes.

I agree that Dream Lake is the best of the series so far. I think that book had the most chemistry, which says something because I am not of fans of books where the hero starts out with a drugs/alcohol addiction.

Marissa wrote: "I actually really liked Jason. He reminded me a bit of Harry Rutledge. "

I thought he was like Harry too! But I've never been a big Harry fan lol, which is probably why I didn't really connect with Jason.

To be fair, I did like the near drowning scene, it was very suspenseful and romantic and you could sense how much Jason loved Justine.

I have to say...I really didn't like this one. Didn't even finish it. And I have read ALL her books but this one I couldn't do it. The whole series seemed off to me, although I liked the third one ok except for the end. The books were missing a lot it seems like, but I can't put my finger on what.

Lori - This one was my least favorite in this series, as well. I finished it but really felt like LK's something special was missing from this one.

Sheery wrote: "Lori - This one was my least favorite in this series, as well. I finished it but really felt like LK's something special was missing from this one."

It started with the first one and just went downhill from there it seems like...rainshadow road was fairly good, the one after that was fairly good until the end with the resurrection thing...and this one...blergh. Glad I am not the only one who wasn't enthralled lol

I know, I know LK needs to follow her muse but I'm really hoping she would write more historicals...

I liked this story but I did not love it. It felt like LK wrote the bare bones of a story or she wrote the whole story but just submitted the middle part of the novel. I think this is the first novel ever that I have read that I thought could have done with more padding not less. I would have liked to know more about Jason and Justine before they met.

I also like the 'truth and dare' section but am curious as what the 'rope bondage' scene actually looked like?

Yes, Sue, a visual of that scene would have been good.