Reading Fanatic Reviews
Historical RomanceIn Darkest Days May Blossom by Leila Snow
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In Darkest Days May Blossom*
Can Love Survive in the Face of Harsh Realities?
Jonathan first sees Charlotte as she’s being beaten nearly to death buy constables for a crime that she didn’t commit. As a young gentleman, he is appalled her treatment and steps in to help, ultimately saving her life. These unlikely people fall for each other, and the book details Charlotte’s treatment in the legal system of late 18th century England.
Will Jonathan continue to stand by Charlotte? How was she fare at the hands of this seemingly merciless system?
Oh, my goodness! What a book! The author was able to draw me into this harsh world right away. Both Jonathan and Charlotte have incredible self-awareness as they acted and reacted to forces and circumstances beyond their control. As Jonathan saw that first day, Charlotte does have an incredible depth of character and inherent dignity that seem at odds with her circumstances as a poor orphan child. Jonathan, too, is different from—as Charlotte might say—a lily-handed toff. My goodness, what Charlotte suffers in prison as well as at the mockery of a trial! It’s hard not to feel for her and the injustice of her circumstances, first out in the real world and in prison as well. The author has done a skilled job in writing with such emotional honesty for both characters. I couldn’t help but be sucked in nor did I want to put the book down until I was finished. The end indignity—after all that she had already suffered—nearly broke my heart, but I was so thrilled when she finally triumphed.
This is an engaging and sometimes difficult read. The words themselves are easy enough, but the harshness of Charlotte’s world that they convey make a difficult indeed. Still, this was so masterfully done that I wholeheartedly recommend this book
Linked Across Time: Volume 1 by Dawn Brower
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Linked Across Time: Volume 1*
Unbalanced Set of Novellas
This is a collection of the first three novellas of the Linked Through Time series by Dawn Brower. There are also excerpts from the next book in the series as well as the first book of another series.
Book 1: Saved by My Blackguard: In 1987, Paul was told that he needed to take a vacation because he was killing himself with overwork. In 1722, Lady Evelyn with sent on a ship from St. Kitts to England so she may finally be wed to her betrothed, a duke. Soon, pirates overtake her ship, and she is eventually thrown into the sea by one of them because they believe having a woman on a ship is bad luck. In a time slip, Paul and Evelyn end up on the same beach in 1722. They have an almost instant attraction to each other. How will this work out with the time difference? Will Paul make it back to 1987? This is a relatively quick novella, so unfortunately, characters couldn’t really be developed fully, and the romance plot was on hyperspeed. It’s a fascinating enough premise for a book that I think it could have been expanded into a novel quite easily. I thought, too, that Lady Evelyn had way too much of a modern sensibility about men and sex; she did not come across as a young woman who was born at the turn of the 18th century in 1700. As a nurse, I can say that Paul’s visit to the doctor is like nothing that ever happens between patient and physician, first the detailed advice and then also the prognoses. Unfortunately, this book was riddled with grammar, punctuation, and usage errors. It has awkward phrasing as well and unnatural sounding dialogue. The text felt a little choppy, especially in narrative sections that were meant to show the passage of time. Rating 3/5
Book 2: Searching for My Rogue: Oh, my gosh! What a fun read this is! Alys is a smart-mouthed American from Baltimore in 2015. Her spoiled sister, Regency, is having a Regency themed wedding the estate of Bradford, the Duke of Weston. While there, Alys takes a tumble off a cliff and into Regency England. The Regency duke, James, has recently returned from the Napoleonic Wars, suffering in both mind and body. He finds her on a beach, nearly unconscious, near his estate. He takes her back there and calls a doctor. The banter between these two is so amusing. Alys is so funny and sarcastic as she’s trying to figure out what’s going on, where precisely she is, and who this man who looks so much like Bradford is (the duke in modern portion). The Regency duke at first doesn’t understand things like her strange shoes and some of the odd words and phrases she uses. Their heated discussion even becomes physical! He thinks she’s mad until she shows him her driver’s license that shows her birthdate. This book didn’t seem to have as many problems with grammar and punctuation as the other one. It was just a deliciously fun read. My only wish is that were a novel and not a novella, as I would have loved to have seen more about both of these characters. Rating 5/5.
Book 3: Seduction of My Rake: This is Regina and Bradford’s story. The prologue sets up that Regina’s marriage to Trenton is already on the rocks after just a few months; they will be divorcing. Regina can’t quite let go of the disappearance of her sister Alys, so she goes back to the Duke of Weston’s estate to look into it. She and the duke have an attraction to each other (almost love-hate), which they pursue, along with answers about Alys. I didn’t particularly like this book because of a few factors. First, I just didn’t like the characters of Regina and Bradford. They’re not very nice people, and for people who are supposed to be starting to care about each other, they treat each other abominably. This book, too, takes place wholly in the present, unlike the previous two. The principals’ banter, but it isn’t nearly as amusing as book two because it seems more hateful. There were some errors in grammar and punctuation, but they were not as marked as the first book and not quite as good as the second. Rating 3.5/5
So, how are these stories “linked through time”? Paul and Evelyn of the first book are the parents of Alys and Regina of the second two stories. Alice is adopted, and Regina is their natural child, avoiding the pesky problem of Regina and Bradford’s future children have a multiple-times great-grandmother who is also their aunt.
A Siren’s Melody by Nancy Wells
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A Siren's Melody*
Oh, my! Did Not Like This Book!
Lady Isabella is not having a good first season. She had high hopes, as it will be the only season her uncle will give her. She escapes to a balcony at a ball and seems to draw a young man towards her while she hums a melody. They have an instant attraction. Russell is a spy who hasn’t had much interest in women because of his work and the demons in his past. But it seems that the siren’s call attracts him, and soon they are involved in a passionate affair.
I am a great lover of historical fiction, so I’m always quick to snap up any that I find at review sites. This is a book I’m having a hard time figuring out precisely what to say in this because, to my view, it is just so very, very bad. Right at the start, the author head hops between the two adults in the first scene. In the next scene about Lady Isabella as a young girl, the author has a two-year-old who uses more complex phrasing than a typical child of that age, but who can’t say Bella’s full name. Language is unnatural and stilted throughout both the narrative sections and dialogue. The characters as adults seem overly dramatic and not like real people at all. Even though these events take place at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th, the characters sometimes use words and phrases that are far too modern. I find it hard to believe that a woman of those times would get involved in an unmarried, sexual relationship so fast. In general, I’m not a fan of intimate discipline in a novel unless there’s a strong contextual reason. It happens here, but I find the reason lacking. All parts of the sex scenes—and there are a LOT of them—were written in a style that had me cringing; they were more offputting than sexy.
I also don’t like the cover. He appears to be barely out of Eton and she well past thirty.
Even though this book has gotten rave reviews on Amazon, I cannot recommend this book at all.
Love in the Bargain by Kasey Stockton
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Love in the Bargain*
Odd Regency Tale about the Viciousness of the Ton
The book opens with three young girls making a pact never marry. Fast forward to six years later, and the heroine of the novel, Elsie, is poised to have her first season at the age of eighteen. Her parents know of the pact, and of course, they don’t approve. So her mother makes a bargain with her: if she agrees to fully participate in this season and not dissuade suitors, her parents will allow the release of her dowry if she genuinely does not have a bit of interest in one of the men who will pursue her.
This is definitely a different kind of Regency tale. It follows the three young women who initially made the pact during their first season. Elsie’s parent’s bargain has unintended consequences. Near the end of the book, Elsie realizes that she has been lied to by several people. To those who regularly read Regency, it was fascinating to really “see” the ins-and-outs of the gossip sheets and their impact on reputations and lives in Regency England. Quite often this is hinted at in a Regency novel, but this book addresses this aspect of society head-on.
I wasn’t wild about Lord Cameron, whom I believe is meant to be the hero. But he acts in ways beyond unkind, and I had a hard time getting past that to be able to relate to him. I certainly didn’t believe that he loves her.
The end of the book seemed to come out of nowhere. I won’t go into details, of course. The whole book was just kind of odd—and I realize now, feels a bit pointless—and in the end, left me feeling unsatisfied with the story.
Searching for My Rogue by Dawn Brower
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Searching for My Rogue*
Witty Banter and Crazy Actions Make this Book Fun
Oh, my gosh! What a fun read this is! Alys is a smart-mouthed American from Baltimore in 2015. Her spoiled sister, Regency, is having a Regency themed wedding the estate of Bradford, the Duke of Weston. While there, Alys takes a tumble off a cliff and into Regency England. The Regency duke, James, has recently returned from the Napoleonic Wars, suffering in both mind and body. He finds her on a beach, nearly unconscious, near his estate. He takes her back there and calls a doctor.
The banter between these two is so amusing. Alys is so funny and sarcastic as she’s trying to figure out what’s going on, where precisely she is (as it isn’t quite like the modern ducal estate), and who this man who looks so much like Bradford is. The Regency duke at first doesn’t understand things like her strange shoes and some of the odd words and phrases she uses. Their heated discussion even becomes physical! He thinks she’s mad until she shows him her driver’s license that shows her birthdate.
This book didn’t seem to have as many problems with grammar and punctuation as the other one. It was just a deliciously fun read. My only wish is that were a novel and not a novella, as I would have loved to have seen more about both of these characters.
Saved by My Blackguard by Dawn Brower
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Saved by My Blackguard*
Seemingly 21st Century Heroine in 18th Century Body
In 1987, Paul was told that he needed to take a vacation because he was killing himself with overwork. In 1722, Lady Evelyn with sent on a ship from St. Kitts to England so she may finally be wed to her betrothed, a duke. Soon, pirates overtake her ship, and she is eventually thrown into the sea by one of them because they believe having a woman on a ship is bad luck. In a time slip, Paul and Evelyn end up on the same beach in 1722. They have an almost instant attraction to each other.
How will this work out with the time difference? Will Paul make it back to 1987?
This is a relatively quick novella, so unfortunately, characters couldn’t really be developed fully, and the romance plot was on hyperspeed. It’s a fascinating enough premise for a book that I think it could have been expanded into a novel quite easily. I thought, too, that Lady Evelyn had way too much of a modern sensibility about men and sex; she did not come across as a young woman who was born at the turn of the 18th century in 1700.
As a nurse, I can say that Paul’s visit to the doctor is like nothing that ever happens between patient and physician, first the detailed advice and then also the prognoses.
Unfortunately, this book was riddled with grammar, punctuation, and usage errors. It has awkward phrasing as well and unnatural sounding dialogue. The text felt a little choppy, especially in narrative sections that were meant to show the passage of time.
Wicked Wickham by Anne Harlow
Available at Amazon only currently
Not a part of Kindle Unlimited
Author may add other sites than Amazon
Wicked Wickham*
Wickham’s Sordid Story Before and After P&P
I am a massive fan of Jane Austen fanfiction. In fact, my earliest reading time and space on my first Kindle were nearly exclusively in this subgenre as I went through nursing school. So I always delight in finding new-to-me authors and new stories. This story and the author were both new to me. The focus, as one would guess from the title, is the villain we all love to hate, George Wickham. The story takes us from his and Denny’s early days in London just after the senior Mr. Darcy’s death. If you ever wondered how Wickham managed to squander those thousands of pounds from the Darcys in only a few years, the author does a good job showing how he did it. We also see a detailed account of him and Georgianna at Ramsgate. Of course, it wouldn’t be a book about Wickham without having a section on his time in Meryton. The book continues to follow his married life with Lydia to his life as a soldier at Waterloo, with a final chapter wrapping up the way the course of where his life was heading.
My goodness! Denny and Wickham are blackguards and reprobates, out for only their own gain, spending money on all manner of vices. I did, however, quite enjoy the banter between Wickham and Denny in the first part of the book. The leopard does not change his spots much after marriage. When Lydia goes back to her family’s home for the end of her first pregnancy, Wickham almost immediately starts to strut around Newcastle with his mistress.
What is a mishmash of writing techniques! The first part of the book is written from Wickham’s perspective in standard third-person storytelling format. Then, the author starts with what I’m going to call the Dear Reader sections, where suddenly an omniscient narrator leaps off the digital page and begins to tell us about the story. I found these Dear Reader sections to be a distraction, pulling me out of the book. A fair portion of the novel is told in epistolary fashion, with many letters going back and forth between various people; these letters are interspersed with multiple Dear Reader sections. Again, I found all this to be an unusual form of storytelling, and one that I did not particularly like. I guess I am so modern in my sensibilities that I prefer straight-up third-person past perspective.
Much of the language, especially in the Dear Reader sections I think, tries too hard to mimic early 19th-century writing. The prose felt ponderous. I believe the writer is English, so there are definitely some punctuation differences between American and British English that looks strange my American eye. That said, though, there are plenty of similarities between British English and American English about proper punctuation, grammar, and usage; sometimes the author had issues with what I believe are common rules between our variants of English. In prose that is already heavy and with an outdated feel, the signposts of correct punctuation would be of particular use.
That said, if you find the character of Wickham to be an interesting one, you will most likely enjoy this detailed narrative of his life from a young reprobate to a middle-aged gentleman farmer.
Four Times the Temptation by Dayna Quince
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Four Times the Temptation*
Wallflower Comes out of her Shell
Luc and Jeanie meet at her first ball. When she looks around the room when she and her sisters are first being introduced to people, she notices Luc from afar and becomes embarrassed when he notices that she is looking at him. Later, she overhears him talking with a friend about her and her sisters being unlikely to make suitable matches due to the fact they are so poor; they’re only mistress material. Luc is affronted by this and doesn’t think it appropriate for this family of young gentlewomen. Soon he realizes that Jeannie has overheard them. They talked a little, and they share her first dance and her first kiss. Some months after, neither has forgotten that evening, and they meet again at a house party. They get to know each other, and their attraction builds. Unfortunately, Luc is a penniless viscount who needs an heiress to marry.
At the very start of the book, Jeannie is very mousy. It’s almost painful to read of that first ball. She gets embarrassed so quickly and allows her hopes for the evening to be shattered over the simple act of looking at one gentleman for too long. I’ll admit that she first came across to me as a bit silly in her actions and reactions. I thought it was interesting to watch her change over the course of the second house party when she meets Luke again, and they really get to know each other. Still, though, given how shy and embarrassable she was at the first ball, it’s hard to imagine her acting as she would later in the book.
I like the concurrent nature of this series of the Northumberland Nine. In this book in particular, I enjoyed the interaction between some of the men who are interested in the sisters.
I noticed a few peculiar editing issues in this book. I thought the book ended a bit abruptly. For so long, it looks like things won’t work out literally until pages before the end. I would like to have seen the ending drawn out a little bit more so the resolution could have been enjoyed.
The Wayward Bride by Anna Bradley
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, W. H. Smith, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
The Wayward Bride*
Love Quintangle
We meet Isla as she’s attempting to sneak out of the house to go for a ride. Her sister-in-law stops her because of fear of an impending storm, but later Isla sneaks out and does get trapped and lost when the snowstorm hits. Her brothers go in search of her and enlist the aid of Hugh, Lord Pierce, a neighbor. Hugh is the one who finds her, and he takes her back to his manor house to wait out the storm. She had been ostensibly riding out to the main road to check to see if her betrothed might be approaching, but she was also really wanting to pass by Hugh’s home, as she still hasn’t quite gotten over her feelings for him. As the book unfolds, it is clear that Hugh hasn’t gotten past their time together as well. Scandal has forced Isla’s betrothal to Sydney, whom she sees more like a brother. Meanwhile, on the road to Isla’s home, Sydney has gotten into a bad carriage accident and is getting care from a farmer who rescued him from the ditch he ended up in.
What will happen between Isla and Hugh? What will happen to Sydney?
I don’t know quite what to make of this book. I didn’t find any of the characters sympathetic, so I had a hard time getting into it. I found Hugh, who is supposed to be our straight hero, off-putting and creepy; he comes across as so harsh at the start. While he supposedly loves Isla, he doesn’t treat her in a gentlemanlike fashion while she is a guest in his home. Their supposed love and affection for each other did not come across as real; what was the basis for it? On a completely different note, it is a little too hard to believe that Isla would have had to stay in his house for so long. They had a sleigh, so why couldn’t she be returned?
The plot had too many complications. There wasn’t just a love triangle between Isla, Sydney, and Hugh. It was more like a love quintangle with the addition of Lucas and Juliana. The author seemed to parallel the two main couples’ storylines, with Hugh and Isla and Sydney and Lucas consummating their relationships around the same time.
While I don’t mind there being a gay romance plotline, something about it didn’t feel realistic to me. In his thoughts and reactions, Sydney didn’t come across like a man in a romance but more like a woman. I find myself wondering if a woman can genuinely write authentic gay romance without making one “the woman,” so to speak. Of course, too, given the times, an openly gay relationship was illegal, so it seems unlikely that Isla and others would so readily accept it. Also, there are two broken betrothals in this book, and back in those times, that was highly frowned upon. It seems odd to have not just one but two in this book.
The book had significant errors with grammar, punctuation, and usage. Commas seemed more problematic than usual in modern self-publish works. In fact, there were more commas than were needed, like in between phrases in a compound predicate.
I also didn’t think that the title was the best choice for this book; so much was going on, that “wayward bride” seemed the least of it!
The Marriage of Time by Mariah Stone
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Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Marriage of Time*
Finding Safe Harbor in Viking Times
In Viking times after a battle that has gone poorly, jarl Hakon is given a choice: death or marriage to the victor’s daughter and becoming that man’s ally. Hakon chooses to live, though he develops a plan to kill the man with whom he has a very bad history beyond this battle. In present-day Boston, Mia is at the hospital, showing her ultrasound to a friend. She is expecting a child, but she is determined to escape her abusive boyfriend, Dan. He finds her and lets her know that he will not let her go now that he knows she is carrying his child. A kindly looking older woman had been watching, and she follows them as Dan tried to take Mia out of the building under threat of force. She offers Mia a way out of her situation. She is a Norn and has the ability to send Mia back to Viking time. Mia soon finds herself at a runestone altar in the woods, and it is clear the older lady was telling the truth. Very nearly attacked by a bear when she first gets there, Mia is rescued by a man who claims that she is his bride-to-be.
What will happen to Mia in Viking times? How will Hakon react to her, especially if he learns her secret? Will Mia be able to escape, or will she have to marry him? What of the real bride-to-be? What of Mia’s life back in 2019? Will she go back to the future?
There was much to like about this book. Both Mia and Hakon are people with troubled pasts, Mia because of her abusive boyfriend and difficult father and Hakon because he has lived under the shadow of a curse that has affected his psyche as well as cause issues with his people. Even though Hakon looks tough on the cover–and he is–he’s got a kindness and a vulnerability about him that makes him a worthy romantic hero. While they get off to a rough start, how could Mia not fall for him?
I enjoyed, too, the lovely little moments that happen in time travel books. I particularly loved how it was almost a running gag that at times he just did not understand her words: hospital, congenital, etc. I adored the scene where she “uncursed” him, swaying to Thriller in her mind as she wiggled her fingers above crushed-up Tylenol…and how Hakon thought that she must be both a witch and healer, as his headache improved and hip pain went away. LOL!
There were a few things I didn’t like about the book. I am not a fan of clichéed secondary characters, and unfortunately, mafia crime lord Dan is an unfortunately stereotypical stock character. Medical issues are touched on briefly here and there, and as I am a registered nurse, I could pick up on some inaccuracies occasionally. And in the tiniest quibble of all, as both a nurse and a knitter, I took issue with two parts of this sentence describing the Norn as she watches the scene unfold between Dan and Mia: “…she was knitting, the needles in her hands jumping up and down like the lines of vitals monitor.” First, as a knitter, I can say that the needles don’t jump up and down in your hands! In fact, often the needles stay very stationary, with only the smallest movements evident as the yarn is picked (if a Continental knitter) or the hands moving to throw the yarn around the needle (if a British-style knitter). Second, I don’t know what vitals monitors the author has seen, but none that I have worked with would reflect such movement (an EKG maybe, but not a vitals machine), even if what she stated about the knitting was true.
That being said, I did enjoy this book. Mia and Hakon seem very real, and the way that they interacted with each other was fascinating to follow as their relationship grew and changed. I like seeing how both of them could heal wounds for each other; I love that when it happens in stories. By the way, I so wanted to give Mia a firm talking to near the end. Goodness, girl, what were you thinking!
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