As a young girl, Neave was often stuck in a world that didn’t know what to do with her. As her mother not unkindly told her, she was never going to grow up to be a great beauty. Her glamorous sister, Lilly, moved easily through the world, a parade of handsome men in pursuit. Her brother didn’t want a girl joining his group of friends. And their small town of Lynn, Massachusetts, didn’t have a place for a girl whose feelings often put her at war with the world -- often this meant her mother, her brother, and the town librarian who wanted to keep her away from the Dangerous Books she really wanted to read.

But through an unexpected friendship, Neave finds herself with a forbidden copy of The Pirate Lover, a steamy romance, and Neave discovers a world of passion, love, and betrayal. And it is to this world that as a grown up she retreats to again and again when real life becomes too much.

Neave finds herself rereading The Pirate Lover more than she ever would have expected because as she gets older, life does not follow the romances she gobbled up as a child. When Neave and Lilly are about to realize their professional dream, Lilly suddenly disappears. Neave must put her beloved books down and take center stage, something she has been running from her entire life. And she must figure out what happened to Lilly – and if she’s next. Who Neave turns to help her makes Sharon Pywell's The Romance Reader's Guide to Life one of the most original, entertaining, exciting, and chilling novels you will read this year.

My contribution to the wrapped book exchange! Don't judge this book by the cover or even the title! It crosses many genres...

My favourite character is the cross dressing dead dog.

To the finder:
Calgary has an active group of BookCrossers that meet to swap books and discuss book crossing every second Saturday of the month at 11am at Cravings Market on Fairmount Drive SE. We always love to meet new crossers, so please join us any time you like!

Got this book from the Calgary BookCrossing wrapped book exchange. It is well known that I don't like romances, but after reading the blurb, it's clear this isn't a romance. And also something about a dead, cross-dressing dog?

Well, I'm glad I got this in the wrapped book exchange. Had I not, I would have probably judged the book by its cover (and title) and promptly passed on it. The book is not a romance, but it does feature a romance novel and it's pretty cool that the author was able to have second book going on within the first book. The Pirate's Lover feels like a fleshed out romance novel (though I suspect it's actually better than most romance novels). The rest of the book with Neave and Lilly was also great. It was interesting to see them trying to build their cosmetic empire at a time when no one wanted women to succeed in the workplace. And the dog! Mr. Boppit. That aspect of the book took the plot to another place and made it more compelling to read.

Passing on this book to the next reader at the Calgary BookCrossing February meet-up.

Picked this up at the monthly book crossing meeting at Cravings Market Restaurant

Returning to Calgary BookCrossing group

Got these from a BookCrosser to return to circulation. I am sorting the books and either passing directly to a Calgary member who has requested it or returning it to the person who introduced it to the group. Hopefully this one will find a new reader soon!