Reading Fanatic Reviews
All Kindle Unlimited ReviewsNOTE: These books were in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program at the time that I posted the reviews. They may not still be in the program, as authors can opt out every 3 months. If you find a book that is no longer in the program, don’t hesitate to contact me, and I will update the review.
A New Witch in Town by Jenny Bankhead
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A New Witch in Town*
Paranormal Cozy is Missing Some Pieces
Lorna has inherited an English cottage from an old aunt. She decides to give up her job and no-good fiance in Tennessee and start a new life in England. The cast of quirky characters starts coming around the new place and introducing themselves. Lorna has barely settled in when a murder rocks the sleepy town of Tweed-upon-Slumber. Lorna’s inquisitive nature makes her want to help figure it out.
I was intrigued by the concept of the book. I love a good witchy paranormal cozy mystery. However, I was put off by several elements. There was quite a bit of head hopping, even just for brief moments. Occasionally, the author switched to an omniscient viewpoint, telling us things that the character couldn’t know or wouldn’t know yet. At the very outset, several things just didn’t ring true to me. They are tiny details, but enough to affect my suspension of disbelief. For instance, her aunt has only recently died, but the house is in total disarray with cobwebs, lots of dust everywhere, and rotting furniture. Even if it took Lorna a while to settle her affairs in the States and get to England, this doesn’t seem like it would be accurate; could the place get so bad so quickly. Another tiny quibble was that the author stated that Lorna only was given a small snack on her transatlantic flight; having just done one not too long ago, you usually do get a proper meal.
The book started with a bit of an informational dump about Lorna’s past and all that brought her to claim her inheritance in England. The parade of neighbors didn’t feel quite right either. Cozy mysteries definitely need to have a cast of quirky characters, but we’re not usually introduced to them one right after the other in one setting. Typically, the protagonist will meet someone around town or at an event. It almost felt like an information dump for characters!
Inexplicably, this cozy mystery takes place in the 1990s. I’m not sure why the author felt the need to make it happen that long ago. It was simply jarring when I first read the word “nineties” in relation to time. Before that, I had assumed it was contemporary, so I had to read that line more than once to understand the context of the word and that it’s a story that supposedly takes place twenty years ago.
Because of the odd setup on several points, I can’t fully recommend this book.
Fudge and Murder by Maisy Morgan
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Fudge and Murder*
Slow-Moving Cozy Mystery
When the book opens, Grandma Mary and grandson Tripp are enjoying a relaxing weekend in a cabin owned by the parents of one of Tripp’s friends. At a swimming party later, one of the dads falls off the roof to his death. Is this simply an accident or has the man been murdered? Officer Preston will be leading the official investigation, but Mary and Tripp can’t help joining the investigation.
I enjoy cozy mysteries a lot. I will admit that I’m used to certain pacing and conventions in them. For instance, the murderer or foul play usually happens pretty quickly, usually within the first 8% to 10% of the book (and sometimes even sooner). That was not the case here. In this book, the man didn’t fall from the roof until around 27%. The time before that was spent showing Grandma and grandson’s evolving relationship as well as the newly forming relationship between the friend’s entire family and Mary and Tripp. I felt like I kept waiting for something to happen. I knew this was a cozy, I knew from the blurb that a murder was involved, so I felt like I kept turning pages waiting for the story to really start. The pacing of the rest of the book—the part after the murder—felt slow to me. Because so much time was taken before the murder, I didn’t feel like there is enough space left to build the suspense, throw in red herrings, and otherwise develop the normal plot devices needed in a mystery to keep you turning the pages.
Robyn: A Christmas Bride by Jacqui Nelson
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Robin: A Christmas Bride*
Will It Be the Party of Her Dreams?
Robyn and Max have feelings for each other, but neither has revealed them. Robyn gets it into her head that Max would prefer her to be more ladylike; growing up with three brothers, she is more of a tomboy. So she enlists the aid of the brides of Noelle to help her become more ladylike in a just a few days before a special party at which she hopes to receive a marriage proposal. Robyn and Max had been living in Denver, but Robin went to Noelle for the special tutelage. Max does follow her, even though he’s sworn that he wouldn’t go back to Noelle.
The absolute highlights of this book are the crazy Llewellyn brothers with their silly, fun banter and Grandpa Gus. Another fun theme running throughout this book was of men knitting! I thought Max had a good character arc about him coming to grips with his feelings about the town of Noelle. While I did enjoy the snappy dialogue and the other concepts I just mentioned, I felt that Robyn’s motivations for change were weak, and the plot felt contrived with the idea of a 4-day time limit on Robyn’s transformation and the proposal. I also felt to that the conflict between the couple was a non-conflict; if either just could have said their true feelings—and the reasons for not doing so didn’t seem to be substantial enough—things could have been solved rather quickly.
That said, if you suspend your disbelief about the weak motivation and the contrived plot, you might find yourself just enjoying the banter and the quirky characters we’ve come to know and love in this series. Once I realized this was just a light piece of Christmas fluff, like a good Hallmark movie, I was content just to let the story unfold and enjoy the ride.
Alice is Not Lost by Isadora Brown
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Alice is Not Lost*
Alice in Once-Upon-a-Time Wonderland
Alice’s sister has been missing for three years. She has not given up hope, and she checks in with the detective every day to see if there is any news. Soon, however, Alice finds herself not in her small town of Bayside but in the Wonderland Forest. Who will she meet here? Who are potential allies? What are the potential dangers? Why is she here?
I was drawn to this book because of the cover, which definitely reminded me of the last season of Once Upon a Time; I was a fan of the show for a long time. This book has elements of that TV show as well as the original Alice in Wonderland—the White Rabbit even makes an appearance. The author also did a good job of showing how disoriented a person would be when thrust into an unknown world. At times, the book did feel a little derivative, but interesting things kept happening to Alice, and new opportunities arose for her which were fascinating to follow.
I believe this is meant to be a prequel to a series, and I look forward to seeing what the author might do next with this interesting cast of characters and very different world.
Coming from California by Catherine Bilson
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Coming from California*
More Romance and Mystery in Old West Nevada
Daisy is a half Chinese, half Caucasian young woman from San Francisco who is taking a job as a school teacher in Nevada. Because of her biracial status, she had had a hard time finding a job in the city. She didn’t disclose her racial status or her young age when she applied for the job, so she was fearful that they might send her packing back to California. While she runs across some with prejudice, she is soon approved to be the teacher by the town council. Just moments after she arrives in town, she looks out the window from her boarding house, and a handsome cowboy shouts up a compliment. Daisy is a little insulted to be spoken to in such a way, but she soon comes to realize how decent and honorable Luke really is.
The book is mostly about this lovely and very sweet romance between Daisy and Luke. To add interest, there is another man who is interested in her as well who is not as much of an upstanding character as Luke. There’s also a mystery around who murdered an assayer in Reno. Luke also has his own story arc about what he may do as a profession and legacies given or left for him.
I read the first book in the series and enjoyed it, in part because I grew up in California and we often went to Nevada for vacations. I’ve been to Reno, Tahoe, and Virginia City, so it is fun to read a story that harkens back to the old days in those towns. I like how the author introduced a small recurring about prejudice. From what I understand, it was certainly a real issue for people who were Chinese or of Chinese descent back in the old west. While it wasn’t a huge overarching theme, it did come up more than once, especially in the beginning and surprisingly at the end. To have this theme woven in in such a way is a gentle reminder for us to look at our own prejudice, the way we treat people whom we perceive as foreign, and the laws that those in power may adopt to codify misunderstanding and hatred. Now, just because I’ve gotten all heavy right here, don’t think that the author played this with a heavy hand because she doesn’t. It is actually well integrated and feels very contextual for the characters, the plot, and the times.
If you are a fan of Mark Twain, you will appreciate the author’s tip of the hat to him in the person of the town’s newspaperman. I won’t spoil it for you, but it did make me chuckle to see how the author added this little Easter egg.
The book did have a few strange little issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, including one rather bizarrely punctuated and broken-up paragraph of dialogue that jarred me a little bit.
However, I enjoyed what is truly a sweet, gentle, slow-burn romance. The first parts of the book might feel too slow to you if you’re used to fast-paced writing, but I enjoyed the characters so much that I didn’t mind the slow pace or the slow burn. Since I have read the first book, I appreciated seeing some of the characters that I knew from the first book again. That’s one of the beauties of a well-done series. I loved Miz May from the last book, and I learned a lot more about her here. They are definitely some new characters as well, and I enjoyed that there were actually two romances in this book that came to fruition. I have become quite enchanted with the good people of this town, so I am looking forward to the next installment of the series.
Cadence Untouched by Dakota Willink
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Cadence Untouched*
First Chance at Love for Cadence and Fitz
Cadence, who’s taking on more of a role at her parents’ summer camp, meets Fitz on the first day of camp. He and a friend are there to do some community service. Fitz is a bit of a player and the son of a politician. He’s attracted to her when he first sees her and calls dibs on her with his friend. He is soon to find out, though, that she is not that kind of girl. Instead, Fitz and Cadence get to know each other, and a romance slowly develops into what is probably the great love of their lives. Fitz is hiding a secret, though, that changes the possibilities of where their relationship can go.
The author did an outstanding job showing the evolution of Fitz and Cadence’s relationship. Fitz actually did change over the course of the book. He became less of a player as he came to know and care her and was actually quite protective of her (until…). I didn’t like that in Fitz’s sections there was a fair amount of profanity. Looking at the book’s cover and reading the description, I expected something a little bit more gentle and sweet. I’ll admit to being disappointed with two things that happened towards the end of the book.
***** SPOILER START ******
I always hate, hate, hate when the hero seems to think that he has to pre-break the heroine’s heart by being a jerk instead of just allowing it to break on its own when he leaves her. And also, you knew when they didn’t use a condom that first time that a pregnancy was going to result, so it was disappointing when that happened. I just hate these two cliches.
***** SPOILER END *****
While I haven’t yet read the second book yet, I think the concept of having a duology that shows a couples’ first and second chances at love an interesting and even awesome idea. I enjoyed a second chance at love romances, and we usually just hear about the first round as characters reminisce with others or have memories, or it may be just revealed in a data dump. So it was interesting to read Fitz and Cadence’s first chance at love and how the characters grew and changed during that fateful summer. It will be interesting to see how these characters have turned out in book two.
Burned by J. K. Harper
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Burned*
Dragon Shifter Beauty and the Beast
I’ll admit that I love stories that are new takes on classic tales, so I was intrigued by this dragon-shifter adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. We meet the heroine, Teagan, as she’s bumbling her way through a swordplay class. She meets the hero, Ash, in the parking lot when she mistakenly thinks that he might be ready to attack her. Even though she only has a practice sword, she approaches him like a fiery warrior goddess protecting herself. Ash calms her down, and they start to have an interesting discussion, but when the wind blows his hood from his face, she sees his scars. She gasps, and he thinks that she’s just another one who can’t or won’t be able to see past his physical deformity.
What a delightful reimagining of Beauty and the Beast! Both Teagan and Ash have wounds, some interior and some exterior. I love how both of them were able to see past the physical right away. Poor Teagan has such self-esteem issues that she couldn’t see her unusual features as anything but ugly, but Ash could only see beauty. Teagan is smart, nerdy, and a little bit clumsy… and really quite endearing in her awkwardness, both verbal and physical. How can you not love a character who is so enamored with Queen Boadicea and ancient Ireland? And Ash, he truly believes himself to be unlovable, and I adored how the author had him wrestle with his inner dragon when confronted with this woman who could mean so much to them both.
If you enjoy retellings of classic stories with lots of heartfelt emotion and realistic, wounded characters, you might find this book a compelling, sweet (but steamy) read.
Thrilled by J. K. Harper
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Thrilled*
Rollicking Good Writing Style
We first meet Gabi, intrepid undersea explorer, who has found a wreck that promises to be a treasure find. Kai is a water dragon shifter who has been cursed by his dying mate: he’s not been able to touch their combined hoard until he finds true love again. Is this what Gabi has found? How can she see it and him, when she shouldn’t be able to do either?
The author’s writing style is delightful and easy to read. She has made two such clearly defined characters that their thoughts and actions leap off the page as being authentic. Gabi is full of life, exuberant, and dedicated to her job and her grandmother. At times, the book feels light and airy, while at other times we can understand and feel the pressures that both Gabi and Kai live under. There are humor and good banter, which I always love in any sort of romance.
This book is a part of a series, but it could be appreciated as a standalone. If you enjoy shifter romance with a strong heroine, a little steam, humor, and heart, you might find this a satisfying read.
Oopsy Daisy by Lucy May
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Oopsy Daisy*
Daisies Galore!
In this installment of the Charm Cove mystery series, daisies are literally falling from the sky. First it is just a little, but daisy dumps from the heavens just keep happening. They soon overrun the town, and these flowers don’t seem to die or wilt. Magical people in the town attempt to stem the daily tide, but it only gets worse. The daisies start to change color, and soon they are acting like aggressive vines that can even take over a house. What are the residents of Charm Cove to do?
If you’ve enjoyed previous installments of the Charm Cove mystery series, you will most likely enjoy this light and fanciful tale about the town being overrun by, of all things, daisies. Even if you haven’t read other books in the series, the author does a good job as at peppering in a little background about the town and the characters here and there as you need to know. Refreshingly, she doesn’t do an information dump, as often happens in later volumes in a series. The town is full of quirky characters, like a good cozy. So far, all the books I’ve read in this series are wicked good paranormal cozy mysteries—pun intended!
A Morning Routine by Lola R. Marie
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Free with Kindle Unlimited
A Morning Routine*
Start the Day off Right
The author shares her thoughts and ideas about the importance of the creation of a good morning routine. In the introduction, she states that she has struggled with her daily routine in general, but setting up a solid morning routine has been helpful. She’s open about her successes and failures; she tested out a variety of ideas while she was figuring this out in her own life. The latter half of the book is meditations that you can incorporate into your morning routine. The first section is eight chapters that first discuss the waking up process and the benefits of a morning routine. She spends some time discussing the sleep environment because good sleep is the foundation for a good morning. As an insomniac, I can tell you that it is true. Then, she starts talking about the elements of what could make up your morning routine, like waking up your body with exercise or your mind with meditation or journaling as well as some thoughts on grooming. She wraps up this section of the book by discussing how to create your own personal routine and telling you how you may be able to extend the routine to others you happen to live with.
When I first started reading the book, I almost felt a little overwhelmed at all she suggested, with the chapters on fitness/exercise, meditation, and grooming as well as the meditations. That’s a lot to pack into a morning! Luckily in the Creating Your Routine chapter, she suggests starting small, maybe first waking up just a little earlier or adding one concept to what you already do. She states throughout the book that setting up a morning routine actually makes her later day more productive. Not only because you might opt to prioritize your day during your routine, but also due to the fact that if you give structure to the start of your day, then you flow naturally into having more structure as the day progresses.
This is a fascinating concept. I do have a semi-routine for when I awaken but hadn’t really thought to nail it down precisely and follow it more days than not. I find myself intrigued as to whether or not the benefits she suggests are real, and I might be tempted to give this a try.
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