Reading Fanatic Reviews
All Romance ReviewsDelectable Wicked Rakes by Dawn Brower and Amanda Mariel
Available at Amazon, iBooks, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
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Delectable Wicked Rakes*
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Despite being promised all six books in the blurb at my favorite book review site, the ARC I received only contained two novels. By the way, this irks me. I don’t mind being given only one or two books in an anthology to review, but be honest with me about it. Don’t promise six books and then give two!
Here are their reviews.
Stolen by My Knave by Dawn Brower: I have read several books in this series, though it has been some time since I last visited this world. While the author does provide some information necessary that we learned in the other books of the series—even though I was familiar with this series—I sometimes still found myself scratching my head trying to remember all the interrelationships, who crossed to what time and when, etc. Probably for a series like this, it is best to read them one after the other so you don’t forget the minutiae. I definitely felt like I needed a family tree and a chronology. I enjoyed the witty banter between Jack and Elizabeth, and I absolutely adored the references to Pride and Prejudice, especially how Jack learned from it. Jack is a jaded man, and I thought he was a little too glib for too long to be a truly good hero.
Enticed by Lady Elianna by Amanda Mariel: Cinderella, Regency style. After her father’s death, Elianna was essentially made into a servant by the new earl (they even call her thus to her face). They don’t even give her the honorific of Lady anymore, and to outsiders, they simply refer to her as either a servant or companion, never mentioning her relation to them or her status as a lady. Because of fear, I guess, Elianna never speaks out about this, even when she can. She is willing to be ill-treated by those who are actually her family, and even when someone asks more about her, she tells the same lies that her cousin’s family spout. Actually, I found that recurring theme rather irritating after a while. Why wouldn’t she tell the truth when asked or speak up to the hero on the many occasions when he asked? Instead, she just accepts her fate, and she seems unwilling to try for more of a life; she just bemoans her fate. And she is so apologetic to the dastardly relations—gag. There didn’t seem to be good enough reasons for her to act like this. And I also didn’t quite believe that the hero was so fascinated why her so quickly. The melodrama factor got ratcheted up too many degrees, making the story ridiculous. Even the way things resolved in the epilogue… like so many books of this type. So many romance tropes were used, without apparently being sardonic, that I nearly had to force myself to keep reading; I will admit to having a morbid fascination to see how many cliches this story would have. I found myself wondering if the author meant this as farce: let’s see how cliched I can make this and still have people buy and like it.
Jewel of the Bay by Brea Viragh
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Jewel of the Bay*
Yes, Even Contemporary Romances Can Be Trope-Heavy
I don’t know how I managed it, but this is the second book in as many days where the heroine is on a road trip to somewhere else but is waylaid in a small town, finds a job, and decides to stay there. Makes me wonder whether this is becoming a tired trope in small-town romance. I felt like this story was missing progressive complications through the middle section until the BIG complication. Yes, things were happening around the camp, but there didn’t seem to be progressive complications in terms of the romantic relationship. Much of the middle felt like we were just going from one annoying little camp moment to another. While the characters may have had to deal with camp drama, it should not have felt like the main thrust of the book. The characters never really became wholly real to me.
The Duke of Ravens by Jennifer Monroe
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Duke of Ravens*
Too Melodramatic
What a peculiar historical romance. I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I was put off right away by a word choice mistake in the first sentence. The book also suffered from several information dumps, which I always find annoying as I think background information is better when it is scattered throughout a novel as needed or shown in some way. I also thought that the author made the heroine’s life with her awful husband far too melodramatic to be believable. The author didn’t always use the proper forms of address for nobility. There is a suspense plot in this, and I thought that was better done than the romantic aspect of the book. The suspense plot does have some red herrings. Some characters’ behavior didn’t make sense until the end, which made for a confusing read at times. The cover doesn’t go with the book at all, as the hero would not have dressed like that for the bulk of the book.
An Unexpected Redemption by Emily Hamsher
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
An Unexpected Redemption*
A Hot Mess!
Despite good intentions, this book is a hot mess! The author strove to write a story that hinged on the beauty of grace and redemption, but some serious faults overshadowed this. The book has a prologue and then jumps ten years ahead, and we don’t really understand how we got from A to B for a while, so it was a little confusing. The author had some rather prodigious information dumps at the beginning, which for me always slows down the pace of a story (and never in a good way). There were many glaring errors in word choice, grammar, usage, and punctuation, enough to be overly distracting from the story. For instance, the word “urethral” was used instead of “ethereal” when describing cherubs, and as you might imagine, that was quite a jarring error! Often in conversation, the word “naught” (nothing) was used instead of “not” (a negation). There were strange punctuation errors all over the place. At a certain point in the book, I felt like I was more making a game of spotting the mistakes and correcting them in my head than actually enjoying the story. I think this story has potential, and the author certainly does as well, but it certainly was not realized here.
The Clan of the Woodlands: The Innocent by V. K. Ludwig
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Clan of the Woodlands: The Innocent*
I Love This Series
When I read the first book of this series, The Bastard, I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-written and complex world as well as characters I came to care about. I could tell by the hints given that there was much that I did not know about the world this author had created. So I was looking forward to this second book in the series, not only find out the protagonists’ story but to also get a deeper glimpse into this many-layered world.
The author has delivered another excellent story that gives a much wider window into the series’ world. In terms of character and story, this book flips the basics of the first story. Instead of having a woman go from the Districts to one of the clans, we have a clanswoman going to the Districts. At first, it seems like it’s almost meant to be a cultural exchange, for each side can learn more about the other; the Districts view clanspeople as almost feral and have believed and propagated lies about them for generations. In fact, in her very first moments in the Districts, Autumn faces prejudice against her people and their way of life time and time again in a way that even pierces her tough demeanor. However, Autumn is destined to become a part of much, much more.
As this is at its heart a romance, I would be remiss if I did not mention Max. Max is a scientist in the Districts, and he has discovered that male fertility in the Districts is dropping off at an alarming rate because of the special water they drink to control natural reproduction. In fact, the male population may be sterile in just a matter of years. He thinks he has a solution, creating a new version of the water that will knock out the genetic mutation that is harming male fertility while still tamping down attraction and desire (what the water is meant to do). His idea is shot down by a council member, but he determines to go ahead on his own and do a personal experiment—which could be of great detriment to his career if and when he is found out. His lab assistant figures out what he is doing and points out that he needs a control subject; she tells him that she believes the clanswoman could be the perfect one.
The book alternates between the perspectives of Autumn and Max. In Autumn’s sections, she shows herself to be of strong will and character, even if that is sorely tested by both her brother and her treatment in the Districts. Max is the perfect unreliable narrator; this is actually a hard thing to pull off, I think, so kudos to the author for doing a brilliant job at this. We don’t realize how unreliable he is until he meets Autumn. Their first meeting, oh, my gosh! Even though Ruth, his assistant, has warned him multiple times to be charming, it soon becomes apparent that he has absolutely no clue what that means. In fact, in their first scene together, Max reminds me of a bumbling Mr. Darcy. I’m a huge Jane Austen fan, and I always have loved the bit in the book (or movie) where he insults Elizabeth at the assembly, but he doesn’t do it directly to her face and perhaps doesn’t even really know that she could be listening. Max, on the other hand, insults Autumn repeatedly to her face with rude questions, and he truly has no clue that he is being so insulting. There was at least one point where I literally laughed out loud at his absolute imbecility and social ineptness in knowing how to talk to anybody, let alone a woman. He goes so far as to think that she’s spoiled because of her reaction to him, not that he’s a completely insensitive jerk!
The author did an excellent job showing how their initially fractious relationship evolved into one of attraction. It seemed to grow naturally, given their characters and circumstances. Just like in the first book, too, the author is able to weave in universal themes about prejudice, authority, power, the true meaning of love that is beyond physical, reproductive rights, and personal freedom into the story that seems organic; she has made the themes the lifeblood of the characters in this harsh world.
I really could go on and on about this book, as I genuinely did enjoy it. Instead, I will let what I’ve said above stand and describe the book’s story no more. Suffice to say that much lies in store for both Autumn and Max, which will take them places that they have no clue about when their stories start. The book did have some issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. I think the author needed to read this book out loud to herself or have Word do it for her so she could have caught many of the dropped or wrong words.
I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I feel this one ripped the roof off the greater social unrest that was only hinted at in the first book, and I am looking forward to the next story to see the shading that it can add to this complex world.
A Dangerous Temptation by Jillian Eaton
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
A Dangerous Temptation*
An Unlikely but Believable Couple
I have read several of Jillian Eaton’s books now, and I have enjoyed them. This book is no exception. The author is very good at manipulating both the reader’s emotional heartstrings and the characters’ thoughts and actions. The prologue, showing the hero coming upon his newly murdered wife five years before the bulk of the story, immediately makes the reader have great empathy and sympathy for the hero. She immediately switches it up with the scene of this book’s hero and heroine’s meet-cute told from the perspective of the heroine. The switch is jarring because of the sharp differences not only in the circumstances of the scenes but the voices of the characters. The heroine comes across as smart but a little naïve and as someone who has a good sense of humor and sense of self. The hero and heroine have a near instant and actually believable chemistry that is off the charts and only continues to grow as the book progresses. Because of the loss of his wife, the hero is a wounded soul seeking to avenge his wife’s death. The heroine isn’t quite willing to give him up despite the darkness she can sense within him or the difference between their social standings.
I enjoyed this book very much, both the romantic aspects between this unlikely couple and the suspense plot of finding and bringing the hero’s former wife’s murderer to justice. A solid historical romantic suspense!
Italian Summer Series by Lily Zante
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Italian Summer Series*
Superficial
This set of books didn’t quite do it for me. While I like a good contemporary romance, these stories and characters are superficial and actually made me feel uncomfortable reading them. I hate a heroine who thinks she’s all that and a bag of chips and even put down their own girlfriends who are good people (even if not exactly like them or living the life that they would lead). Still, if you’re looking for a meaningless little set of romances to while away your time on vacation, this might be your cup of tea.
California Can Wait by Marci Bolden
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
California Can Wait*
Not as Good As Other Books by this Author
As one who’s really enjoyed Ms. Bolden’s first four novels of the Stonehill series, I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, compared to those stories, I didn’t feel like this one was as well written. Right on the first page, I saw a wrong word choice (a communicable disease, not a communal one). I felt like the couple, Andi and Graham, had a good rocky beginning as often happens in a romance, but they started to have an attraction to each other even during that which didn’t seem realistic. Their problems from the past seem like good fodder for motivations and conflict, but I didn’t feel the urgency or tension for most of the way along the story. The couple didn’t have chemistry for me. I thought the book ended too abruptly. Minutes before it ends, it looks like All Is Lost, but then it is resolved, and—BOOM!—the novella is over. I would have liked to have gotten a glimpse into more of the actual resolution and how they move on from there, both as a couple and professionally. As the one who adored that the author knew how to pull emotional heartstrings in the Stonehill series, I found this book to be a disappointment.
A Wicked Earl’s Widow by Aubrey Wynne
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
A Wicked Earl's Widow*
Well Written, But Heroine Lacks On Occasion
Eliza, the heroine, finds herself at the mercy of her father yet again when she thought she was beyond his grip. He is an abusive man who has harmed both her and her mother over the years, and he wed her to a known rake (the Wicked Earl of the title) as a means to his own end, not caring about her happiness one wit. Though it took time, she and the earl eventually did come to have a genuine love match before he was killed in a riding accident when she was pregnant with their first child. Eliza’s father now wants to use her to marry again for his benefit, and he even threatens his granddaughter to try to force Eliza to comply. Her loving in-laws develop another plan, and on her way to hide out from her father, Eliza meets Nate when she attempts to stop hooligans from attacking an old woman.
I absolutely adored the hero, Nate. He is charming to watch as he becomes at first fascinated and then infatuated with the heroine; she affects him like no other woman, and the author actually did an excellent job of showing this. Right from the start, he could see that there was something more to her, a deeper and darker past that made her who she was and gave her the complexity that drew him in. I thought the author did a good job showing the effects of abuse in Eliza in a believable way. Eliza is at turns docile and obliging while at other times is filled with a rage that doesn’t seem to be within her character unless you know her background. I thought the scene with her whipping the hooligan showed her mental and emotional state with surprising complexity and truth. I loved little Althea. She was absolutely precious and could be as fiery and protective as her mother, as she showed in her first meeting with Nate.
I didn’t particularly appreciate how Eliza was so quick to want to give in to her father’s demands at various points in the story. She was never as alone as she thought, and she did have protection from a variety of sources. I just hated that whenever things started to look like they were (or even might) be going sideways that one of her first thought was that she should just go back to her father, accept the heinous older man as her husband, and give up her child to protect her from being drawn in to her grandfather’s vicious world. I also thought the title was wrong for this book. The use of the words “Wicked Earl” make you believe that this book has some naughtiness at some level to it, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, this is actually a very well-thought-out and well-written story of a woman who has been traumatized most of her life finding true happiness, love, and her happily ever after.
Date with a Werewolf by Lisa Daniels
Available at Amazon only
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Date with a Werewolf*
Not My Favorite by this Author
I have enjoyed other books by Lisa Daniels, including the first one in this series as well as her Six Isles series. While I like the hero in this book, and I love following his thoughts, I could never quite identify with the heroine, so this book didn’t quite work for me. I think I was turned off at first by the level of profanity, as I don’t remember that being as much of an issue in the other books I’ve read by her. I am just turned off by excessive profanity in books, as I think they tend to be the crutch of authors who don’t write so well (and I don’t believe this author falls in that category). I grew up reading books that didn’t have a lot of profanity, so it is always jarring when I read such in books. I also didn’t like her cavalier attitude about sex. In this book, the relationships between the sisters are fraught with some tension, and the hero actually walks into a circumstance that is perhaps more than he bargained for, with the state of the dilapidation of the ranch as well as the broken family relationships between the siblings due to their upbringing. I wish I could say that I liked this more, because I do like most of the other books by this author, but this one just didn’t do it for me.
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