Reading Fanatic Reviews
Historical RomanceMore Than a Rogue by Sophie Barnes
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, 24 Symbols, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
More Than a Rogue*
Fun, Lighthearted (Mostly!) Regency Romance
Emily believes herself to be firmly on the shelf at the age of six-and-twenty, and she laments to her friends that she has never even kissed a man. She has no desire for a husband; she is quite content running a small orphanage with her friends. She has considered asking a man to kiss her, but she would not be interested in a man who would want to pursue more than that. She does find herself in a compromising position (caused by the gentleman) with her best friend’s husband’s triplet brother. Griffin offers the honorable way out when they are discovered by her mother, aunt, and sister, but Emily asked him to not even make a formal proposal as she would not consider it. She truly is content with her life and does not wish to marry; she would only consider it if true love were on the table for both parties.
The first part of this Regency has a fun lightness to it because of the delicious banter and thoughts of the hero and heroine that show both of their incorrect reads of the situation as well as the circumstances that they continually find themselves in. The book turns a little more serious when Emily’s mother shows up in the country, but the twists and turns in Griffin and Emily’s relationship continue to be engaging. Griffin is a slightly confused and befuddled hero, but his confusion has a sweetness and kindness to it; he is a good man who wants to do right, especially by Emily. Emily has a delightful independence and a strong sense of self that is lovely to see in a Regency. It doesn’t feel forced as it sometimes does in these types of novels. I found this to be an excellent read.
A Lyons in Winter by Pamela Sherwood
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
A Lyons in Winter*
Awesome Box Set Intro to Author
I so enjoyed this collection of novellas plus a novel! This was the first time I had read this author. I absolutely adore historical romance, particularly medieval, Regency, and Victorian. Because I read so much of these subgenres, I find that I am often disappointed at the willful disregard for the basic rules and mores of the times or a story that is filled too much with the familiar tropes. So I was delighted and enchanted to find well-written stories well-drawn and sometimes quirky characters. The stories themselves revealed an author who is well versed in Victorian manners and morality, yet still knows how to weave a story that focuses on the uniqueness of the characters and the particulars of their individual stories.
I particularly loved the first novella. I enjoyed how the author made the heroine, Madeline, erudite with her love of Shakespeare and the theater, yet she had a good sense of humor, compassion, and backbone surprising for a Victorian daughter of a duke. The author did an excellent job of showing how the hero gradually came to know his own mind and needs better; he was surprised and charmed by Madeline, and I love his chivalrous nature. I also enjoyed the humor in this book, in particular where the author brought the modern “never have I ever” game into Victorian times, as the hero often imagined himself composing a letter to his sister proclaiming that never had he done something as he was doing now at the house party at the duke’s. I like how the epilogue of this first story became the prologue for the next story, although it was told or from the perspective of the hero of that novel.
I really enjoyed all the members of the Lyons family as well as the Christmas spirit that flowed through these novels. While this may have been my introduction to this author, I am definitely going to look into her other books.
To Marry a Morgan by Cinnamon Worth
Available at Amazon
Free with Kindle Unlimited
To Marry a Morgan*
Wrong-Headed, Right-Hearted Hero Nearly Bungles it All
What a wrong-headed hero! In this mixed-up tale of brothers and sisters, surviving brother Phillip means to make himself the brother of the woman he loves—whom he believes loved his now dead brother—by marrying her sister in order to make amends, as he believes that he is to blame for his brother’s death. Yes, that sentence could take a little to unpack! Phillip and Julia have loved each other their entire lives, but Phillip believes that she belongs to his deceased brother. So the best that he can do by her, while remaining true to his brother’s memory, is marry her sister. Unbeknownst to Phillip, he has it completely wrong. It is his beloved’s sister, Allison—the one he is going to pursue—who loved his brother and now blames Phillip for his death. How will this get untangled? Will Phillip realize what’s going on in the hearts of the sisters and be true to his own?
It was hard to believe that no one recognized Phillip at first; really, it was only five years, and adults’ looks don’t change THAT much. I felt the conversation and language in this book was a bit stilted at times. You can tell that the author is trying to sound like a more formal Regency book, but the effect fell a little short. I thought some paragraphs were a little too blocky and long. Given the rather complex plot, I thought the length of the story was too short for it fully to be explored. Other than these factors, I actually enjoyed this read, and I found both Julia and Phillip to be engaging and Allison to be rather annoying (in a fun way).
Adella’s Enemy by Jacqui Nelson
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Adella's Enemy*
Heartfelt Western Romance with Delightful Hero and Heroine
Oh, my gosh! What a wonderful enemies-to-lovers Western historical romance! Adella, the heroine, is southern through and through and still fighting the Civil War in her own way. She is determined to take revenge on the man whom she sees as responsible for her twin brother’s death when he died of starvation at a Union prisoner-of-war camp. In the beginning scene, she takes on a job to thwart the building of a railroad line, which will hurt that man in the pocketbook. When she arrives where the railroad is being laid, she meets Cormac McGrady, who is in charge of the men building this railway spur.
I absolutely adored Cormac’s fierce protectiveness, loyalty, and inherent goodness. Right from the start, he would insert himself—literally physically—between Adella and harm’s way. She didn’t want to like him because she perceived him as the enemy since they had polar opposite goals. But she couldn’t help but like and respect what she saw. The chemistry between the two of them was off the charts, and the author did an excellent job showing the powerful emotions that built between them. While his attraction was nearly instant, the rest of the romance did feel like it had a natural build as they got to know each other better. I totally fell in love with McGrady’s Men as well. Though they could have been rough men like the other railroaders, they were as decent and protective as their boss—and quite often injected a delightful dose of humor into what could sometimes be a serious story.
If you like a heartfelt Western romance with wonderful three-dimensional characters and a hint of intrigue and some danger, scroll up and get a copy of this book. You won’t be disappointed.
Highland Crown by May McGoldrick
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Highland Crown*
Characters Caught Up in the Sweep of History
If you are a fan of romantic historical Scottish books, you may be more accustomed to seeing stories that are heavy on the romance with a fair amount of steam (and perhaps a little light on history!). I would call this novel more of a light romance that’s heavy on history. In fact, in the way that it looks at and integrates this difficult time in Scottish history with a personal story that reflects that history but also is at its heart a romance, it reminds me of Gaskell’s North and South. We truly do get a window on how the history of the moment impacts the characters in a most personal way.
I absolutely adored the heroine, Isabella, a university trained doctor who has an amazing combination of compassion and skill as a physician. In parts of the story, she has formidable strength and resilience. I loved one of the early scenes when it appeared as though she was caught by the British. She would not be cowed. She stood firm with her head held high. I found the hero to be a complex and fascinating character. While I could understand his pull toward the heroine because she literally did save his life, I felt like the romantic aspect wasn’t as fully realized as it should have been. I would like to see more of a buildup for this to feel authentic.
If you like romantic fiction that truly personalizes history, you will most likely enjoy this book.
The Five-Second Rule for Kissing by Dayna Quince
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
The Five-Second Rule for Kissing*
Humorous and Steamy Installment of Northumberland Nine Series
As one who loves to read, I enjoyed this book in so many ways. I love how it started with the heroine, Josie, walking around the manor with a book in front of her face. Her meeting with the hero, Patrick, was perfect and actually had me for smiling and then laughing. Josie is a prickly heroine. She knows what she wants and doesn’t want; she knows her likes and dislikes. And she has no compunction against sharing either. I almost felt sorry for the hero at the start because she was simply determined not to like him even though he was clearly a decent gentleman.
I don’t know how many of this Northumberland Nine series I’ve read, but I have enjoyed them all to various degrees. I enjoy a good romantic Regency series. I loved the hero and heroine in this book. Josie is so book smart but completely baffled by anything that can’t be read about, quantified, and measured, like emotion and love. The hero is completely swoon-worthy. He falls for her rather hard and fast; it is sweet to see how he thinks and feels about her despite the way she treats him. He wants nothing more than for her to love him as he loves her. They are intellectual equals and have similarly compassionate hearts that could certainly do more for the world together rather than apart. This book is surprisingly steamy but completely in character for both of them and as a natural part of the plot.
There were some issues with grammar, punctuation, and spelling. In particular, commas were an issue. There occasionally was wrong word choice, like condensation instead of condescension. I thought the book did end a little too abruptly. Their HEA had only just been determined when the book ended.
I thoroughly enjoyed the humor of this story, the hero’s worthy heart, and the heroine’s transformation.
Escape to Everly Manor by Chalon Linton
Available at Amazon, and Barnes & Noble
Escape to Everly Manor*
Protecting Her Brother Before All Else
This book pulled me right in. How could it not? The heroine, Elizabeth Stafford, desperately wants to protect her 9-year-old half-brother, Thomas, whom their uncle wants to send away to become a cabin boy on a merchant vessel. Elizabeth and her brother are gentry. Their father and his new wife were killed in a carriage accident, apparently leaving them to the care of their uncle who wants little to do with them. In fact, he’s planning on marrying Elizabeth off to a man old enough to be her father.
Definitely an overriding a theme in this book is Elizabeth’s desire to protect her brother. In fact, she seems to have no sense of self-preservation; in her desire to keep her brother from harm, she is quite willing to put herself in jeopardy, whether bodily or risking her future. At times I found Elizabeth rather frustrating in this and other things. She just couldn’t seem to get it into her head that she truly could trust the hero, Barton, and his ability to protect both her and her brother. In trying to do the right thing, she instead consistently put herself In harm’s way in one way or another. It took her a long time to fully tell Barton her secrets, and then she kept creating more secrets that she kept from him! I honestly don’t understand how she could choose to protect the well-being of her servants over choosing the man that she professed to love (declared in her own mind).
I quite like the hero in this book. He really was a good and decent man who wanted to protect both Lizzie and Thomas, if only she would trust and let him. I liked how once he knew his feelings for her, he continued to look out for her even though she kept testing him because of her inability to trust. At a certain point, too, I actually felt bad for him because she just simply kept pushing him away, even when she did have a free choice. He made a few dumb choices, too. For instance, I can’t quite believe the one at the end where he actually trusted a guy he knew that he shouldn’t. Seriously, what was he thinking?
I actually thought the author did a fairly decent job of showing the push and pull of their relationship, especially when they were at Everly Manor (and even though I got frustrated with the heroine). I liked Thomas, though he seemed to have the maturity of a 6- or 7-year-old, not a 9-year-old. His interactions with Barton’s sister, Bethany, were sweet. I wasn’t too wild about Barton’s mother. What an interfering busybody!
What I didn’t like was at the end of the book author pulled out the standard villain ploys that seem all too common in Regency romance. I often wish that these books were more about character than unlikely things like kidnapping, thievery, fraud, double-cross, and murder. I seem to have read quite a few Regencies lately where the first part of the book is actually quite solid, but then the end degenerates into ploys like I just mentioned.
The book did have some issues with grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Close-sounding words were sometimes used instead of the right ones. Commas were problematic.
The Duke’s Desire by Elizabeth Elliot
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Duke's Desire*
Hero and Heroine Change and Grow
I am a great fan of Regency romance, and while I have read quite a few lately, most of them have left me desiring something different, something of a little more quality. I’m delighted to say I found that with this book. I loved that the heroine was a little older and not the stunning beauty that seems to be required of all heroines in romance (whether contemporary or historical). She was smart, kind, and compassionate—which is exactly how I like my Regency heroines to be. The hero was an approachable and likable one, not to irascible for once, but rather a good and decent man with a great affection for those in his care (like his sister). So the two main characters were simply a delight. The machinations of a plot though, kept them romantically apart for a while because all assumed that the heroine’s more beautiful younger sister would be the perfect match for him. It was a delight to see the hero and heroine’s blossoming affection, and both characters grew as people as well during the course of the novel. Unfortunately, this is far too uncommon in romance and especially Regency romance; so finding that here was a lovely surprise. Both these two characters had to learn more about themselves and how to fully appreciate another person. There were some issues with grammar, punctuation, and spelling, including surprising ones like incorrect verb forms and wrong forms of other words. This was somewhat distracting, unfortunately. But in the end, I found this to be a sweet, relatively low angst story that was simply a pleasure to read.
Saving Mr. Darcy by Rebecca Preston
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Saving Mr. Darcy*
Plodding and Tedious JAFF
I am a massive fan of Jane Austen fanfiction. In fact, when I first got my Kindle years ago, I just about read it exclusively! So, I’m always on the lookout for my next JAFF fix. I was hoping to find it with this book. Unfortunately, I found the plot to be rather plodding to start and actually rather tedious. What made it tedious? Many scenes seemed to be just filler, with no substance that drives plot or shows character, like the visit that Elizabeth had with Charlotte at the start of the book. We didn’t even see Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth converse—though we did hear after the fact that they danced at the ball that takes place at the beginning of the book–until after the 15% mark or so. The book is also full of all sorts of strange errors with grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling, much more so than the average independently published book. Commas were used either too often or not enough. Tenses were sometimes wrong, and even now and then there wasn’t subject-and-verb agreement. There were enough errors that it was distracting. While I do indeed love Jane Austen fanfiction, I do not feel that I can recommend this book.
Freya by Celeste Barclay
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Freya*
Repetitious, Emotionally Overwrought Tale
When I read the first book of the series, Leif, I actually asked the author if she was going to do a book about Freya because I so enjoyed her character in her brother’s book. I was thrilled to see this novel listed at one of my favorite book reviewer sites. Unfortunately, I am disappointed in this book, though I do I seem to be in the minority. We do know from the last book that Freya is a brave and strong shieldmaiden, but in this book—while we do see some of that—that is overshadowed by her mercurial emotional states.
I found this book to be very repetitious. Freya and Erik seemed to repeat their mental and emotional meanderings both verbally and in thought, and the substance of these rarely changed as the book progressed. They both seem to have crazy jealousy that doesn’t make sense in the first part because they don’t yet mean anything to each other. I rolled my eyes at how many times each described or was caught up in the gorgeousness of the other or reflected on how much every member of the opposite sex desired the other. In other descriptions, too, everything about them is superlative to the other: fiercest, biggest, etc. Really… please.
Erik seems to be smitten right from the start, and he just seems over-the-top, deeply in love in a way that just seems unbelievable from what happened in the last book and what is happening this book. Can he truly love a woman whom he doesn’t really know (in part because she rebuffs him all the time)? Especially to the extent that he either thinks or states. He is willing to take whatever Freya is willing to offer, and he is supports her positions and decisions that have to do with the greater story and series arc.
Freya pulls away for several reasons, including the fear that her warriors will respect her less and the fear that Erik will move on once he has satisfied himself physically with her. (Both of these fears come up repeatedly, even when they initially appear to be resolved.) Given that Freya has been led her father’s warriors and battled at their side for some time, it just seems strange to me that respect would be a concern that would keep her from Erik. Over the years, shouldn’t she have garnered their respect, no matter what man interests her? I also found Freya’s character to be a little too spiky emotionally; it seemed like any little thing could set her off, and she always interpreted what Erik said wrong.
There is quite a bit of head hopping in this book. Sometimes, it happens within a paragraph or alternating paragraphs. Sometimes, too, the narrator shifts briefly to the omniscient perspective. There are some issues with punctuation (commas), grammar, and word choice/spelling (e.g., whether for weather); hopefully, this was cleared up before publication, as I did receive an ARC copy. I didn’t feel like the plot was well-balanced. For at least half the book, even though they were on a scouting raid, the focus was on the emotional turmoil of the romance. I would have liked to have seen that balanced out better with the plot about Hakin and Inga.
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