Eyeliner of the Gods (Review)

I must admit, I've always loved books about Egypt. When I found Eyeliner of the Gods by Katie Maxwell at the bottom of a discount book bin, I couldn't resist it. Eyeliner is a teen romance. Its heroine, January "Jan" James, wants to be a journalist and finds herself on a summer adventure in Cairo. Helping with an archaeological dig, she finds herself embroiled in a mystery involving a bracelet named "The Handmaiden"- and a teenage hunk who may or may not be the reincarnation of an evil God.

Why I love January James: she's a real girl. She's not perfect. She may need to lose a few pounds and eat a little healthier, and she's not some superskinny supermodel type. Her sisters and brothers have artistic talent, but that talent seems to have skipped Jan. She seems more real because she has flaws.

Her crush, Seth, is totally boylicious. He has long, black hair, always smells good, and rides a motorcycle. When he and Jan get together, the sparks fly:

"His lips were warm and soft, and made my knees go melty until I had to cling to him to keep from falling. Just when I thought it couldn't get any hotter, his tongue touched my lips. My blood seemed to boil as I let him into my mouth, prepared to back off if it got gross (I mean, it was his tongue!), but it didn't. In fact, it got better."

Best of all, in the inside back cover, I discovered Katie Maxwell is a pen name of an author I'm already familiar with from her grown-up romances: Katie MacAlister. Her books include the highly likeable A Girl's Guide to Vampires.

As Katie Maxwell, she's also written teen romances with titles like They Wear What Under Their Kilts? and The Year My Life Went Down the Loo. You should definitely give her a chance if you like fun, breezy romance that is appropriate for teens, but also fun for grown-up romance readers.