Reading Fanatic Reviews
Books to Add to Your TBR list... or Not!Hey, ya’ll! I’m VERY behind getting my reviews up on the website! I’ve increased the reading and reviewing, leaving less of my leisure time available to update this website. I’ll do weekly posts with links to my reviews at Amazon; you can also check out my Amazon and Goodreads profiles.
By the way, I’m now a top 50 Amazon.com reviewer (#12 currently) and the top 8 US reviewer of all time on Goodreads (and top 9 in the world)… and the #6 US reviewer and #8 in the world in the past year. Cool stuff!
I hope to make updates to this site soon!
Her Warrior by Alice Wilde
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Her Warrior*
Saga Continues in China
This book continues where the previous one left off, and thank goodness after what happened at the end of that one! I found myself enjoying this book because I really like Li’s point of view. This book takes place in his world, as they seek an alliance with the Chinese. Because we’re so far on this series, I’m afraid to say too much, potentially giving spoilers if you haven’t read the previous books. This series does definitely need to be read in order to really understand the full arc, and one book does truly follow from the previous one. The relationships between the heroine and her shifters have gotten more complicated, and we’re down one guardian. The heroine continues to mature beyond that rather annoying teenager from the first book, I’m happy to say. If you have enjoyed the previous books in this series, you won’t want to miss this one.
Her Highlander by Alice Wild
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Her Highlander*
Better Than the First
I have some issues with the first book of this series, but I always give an author another try or two to see if he or she can still impress me. While I’m not fully there yet with this author, she has come up in my estimation. One of my pet peeves about the first novel of this series was that the heroine seemed more like a petulant teenager than a princess preparing to wed. In this book, she is gaining in maturity, but she still has naivete about the world. I enjoyed the slow-burn romantic aspect of this book and the rivalries between the guardians as they try to figure out all that their relationships should be. I enjoyed the Scottish flavor of this particular installment. The book did feel repetitive in parts; it could have used a good editor. All in all, I enjoyed this portion of the saga and am looking forward to the next.
Kerning to Crime by Jessa Archer
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Kerning to Crime*
I Love This Series
Jamie Lang, amateur sleuth and hand letterer, gets mixed up in another crime, witnessing an unknown woman dying on the street in the arms of a man. At first, they first thought she was having an allergic reaction, but when an Epi-Pen doesn’t help, something more sinister must have been at work. I enjoyed this book, as I have the other books in this series. I liked the way this book started, with a little look at Jamie’s hand lettering vlog. Nice to see a mention, too, of Hot Hugh, a YouTube hand letterer and Jamie’s friendly rival. How did she get mixed up with so many good-looking guys? Hot Hugh, law enforcement in town, and Kit–the man with the dying woman in his arms and the natural first suspect. This book, like all this author’s books, has a good balance between the quirky characters needed in a cozy mystery and the actual suspenseful mystery aspects; this is not easy to achieve, as I see most authors tending to go either one way or the other without striking the balance. A great read that had me turning the pages.
In the Nib of Time by Jessa Archer
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
In the Nib of Time*
Murder of a Master Letterer
I am so enjoying this series! And not just because the heroine, amateur sleuth Jamie Lang and I share the same first name! I love the hand lettering aspects of it, as I am a calligrapher myself. (I find myself wondering if the author herself has a love of lettering, because two series of hers now have had to do with it in some way, this one on hand lettering and another on typography.) I love how Jamie notices details, like a woman in her profession would. In this book, the author strikes the perfect balance between cozy and mystery. What do I mean by that? Some cozy mysteries put too much emphasis on the interesting characters or community, and the mystery lags (or is too obviously solved). Others have the opposite problem. Ms. Archer strikes the perfect balance between the two. I love the story. What a method of murder in general, and in particular for such a master lettering craftsman as the victim. I also enjoy a mystery with a lot of potential suspects, and this one had plenty. The book pulled me right into the story’s world, and I loved watching the details unfold. Another excellent book in this series.
Her Betrothal by Alice Wilde
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Her Betrothal*
Somewhat Tedious, with Immature Heroine
This book had the potential to be interesting, or at least I found that of the blurb had intriguing elements. But the heroine, who is the main voice of the story, comes across as a petulant teenager instead of a young woman on the cusp of marriage and perhaps co-ruling her kingdom. The book uses the first-person present point-of-view, but the author didn’t seem to have a mastery of how to use tenses in this viewpoint, so they were sometimes wrong, which was jarring when they occurred. In general, I am not a fan of the first-person present point-of-view for several reasons, including this one. I think that it is actually distancing because it is so unusual. I read so many books in the third-person past that the viewpoint doesn’t even make much of a blip on my radar unless the author gets confused with tenses or calls attention to it in another way. I think authors mistakenly believe that the first-person present gives a book a greater sense of immediacy, but for me, I have never felt that to be the case.
The book had other issues as well. It has some strange problems with grammar, punctuation, and usage; commas seemed particularly problematic. I felt like the book was slow to start and quite repetitive. Much could have been cut out or condensed, which made of made this story tighter and better. As I was reading along, I felt like I was just waiting for something to actually happen; I don’t like that feeling in a book. I feel like this book could have used both a developmental editor and a copy editor/proofreader.
A Raging Madness by Jude Knight
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
A Raging Madness*
Melodramatic Opening Hampers Enjoyment
Oh, goodness! What a melodramatic start for the heroine. I actually didn’t like this setup for her, and unfortunately, this colored my feelings about the rest of the book. I had just recently finished another novel about someone who suffered in an English asylum in the 1800s. The other book treated the subject very seriously, so in this novel it felt jarring to see it merely used as a plot device to set up the story and elicit empathy from the reader. I felt like the author’s writing was a bit stilted, which caused some distance between me and the work. I did like the character of the hero, though. I tend to have a soft spot for the wounded war hero, who believes that his physical issues make him less of a person. I felt like the book needed some editorial pruning. In the middle section especially, the author seemed to have scenes that didn’t serve a dramatic purpose.
Sweet Little Lies by Carrie Elks
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Sweet Little Lies*
A Family-Oriented Romance with All the Feels
I had read the previous book in the series, which I enjoyed very much. The author has a way of delivering a sweet romance that has all the feels. The hero and the heroine in this installment of the Angel Sands series are both good and likable people, but they have issues they must face in the present as well as problems from the past that keep you turning the pages to see how it will all end up. I absolutely adored the heroine’s son, Nick; what a great kid. Even though I am not a pet person, I enjoyed the animal aspect of this as well. Brooke, the heroine, is studying to be a veterinary tech, and she has a real way with animals. The characters were well drawn, and plenty of conflict kept it interesting. But the author managed to keep it relatively low angst because of the care and concern between the characters that came right off the page. A delightful contemporary romance.
The Sweetest Poison by Jane Renshaw
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Sweetest Poison*
Overlong and a Little Odd
It is hard to know what to say about this book. For one thing, it is very long. Now, I have read some long books in my day—a couple of eight- and nine-hundred-page books by Katherine LeVeque come to mind—so I’m no stranger to long fiction. But for a book that is supposed to be a mystery, which should have some tight suspense—and it’s even listed as a thriller—the length felt ponderous; it was not a page-turner. I felt like the book was paced too slowly, and the story did sometimes meander off into strange territory that didn’t improve the overall arc of the book. The beginning of the book, to about the 7% mark, gives us a glimpse into the heroine’s childhood. Like other parts of the novel, the section felt repetitive. I feel like it would have packed more of a punch if it were condensed, much like the rest of the book. I enjoyed the contemporary Scottish setting, but I didn’t really enjoy the rest of the book.
POSTED: HG, Amazon, Goodreads
The Realm of Silence by Jude Knight
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
The Realm of Silence*
Enjoyable Chase and Romance
It might be silly, but I do love a historical romance book with a good chase! Much of this book is a journey through England and Scotland to first find missing children who deliberately left school in an attempt to track down a spy, and the story continues as the main characters try to figure out what the children have discovered. It was fun to track the story all over Britain. I particularly liked Gil, the hero. He and the heroine had been childhood friends, and as might be typical for youngsters, their relationship had aspects of love/hate. But Gil is a good man and wants to help his former friend in her hour of need. Along the journey, their relationship evolves in a way that is delightful to watch.
There are some issues with this book. While the author did better at maintaining conflict and suspense compared to some of her other books that I have read, I still felt like there were some unnecessary scenes that didn’t really have much of a dramatic impact, move the story forward, or show character. When she attempted to mimic a Scottish accent, it was practically unreadable. Here is an example: “But ’en he got aw radge, and up the twois ay them went tae the bed chamber.” I’m still not quite sure what all of that was supposed to mean. That is very distracting because I just want to know what the person said and keep moving! There were some other issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. All in all, I enjoy the chase and the romance enough so that they outweighed these other issues.
Marry Me, My Lady by Allyson Jeleyne
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Smashwords, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Marry Me, My Lady*
Sweet and Gentle Love Story
This sweet little Victorian romance is a pure delight. The book had me at the meet-cute between the hero and the heroine, Doug and Phoebe; this time, the term is genuinely warranted. We learn a little about Phoebe’s plight as an unwed mother of a daughter with a cleft palate; she has been banished to the country to give birth, and she expects that her parents will soon separate her from the baby. Phoebe is taking a few hours off from minding her child and finds a strawberry patch. As she lazes in the tall grass, Doug (a duke’s second son) believes he has spotted a trespasser and makes threats. This all ends with Phoebe firing a strawberry right between his brows. It is all done with a light touch and great humor; Doug is besotted by her beauty, her aim, and her arm! The romance is sweet and gentle. Both characters are decent, open-hearted people who are actually quite well matched. Doug is everything a swoon-worthy, protective, and loving hero ought to be. I could foresee some turns of the plot, but they were so beautifully rendered, with such love and affection between the couple, that I didn’t mind that there were few surprises in the story. I love the extended end, where we can see the full effects and changes that had been wrought during the course of the book. I wish we saw more of the fearsome foursome; I believe they will be a force to be reckoned with, and they are so good together. The characters are an absolute delight. Can I be a part of the Cherrill family?
Jamie Brydone-Jack
Reader, Editor, Writer
I’m an avid reader, for both fun and work/business. I enjoy a wide variety of books, including literary fiction, romance, thrillers, cozy mysteries, and fantasy for fiction and history, contemporary issues, philosophy, music, medicine, and cookbooks for nonfiction. I’m a freelance copyeditor who also does beta and alpha reading. I have two websites that are all about romance and mystery. You can also follow my reviews at Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub.
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