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!
Baskerville for the Bear by Jessa Archer
Available at Amazon Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Baskerville for the Bear*
Not Long Enough for Much Depth
After a divorce, Ruth is returning to her small town after 30 years as a reporter in the big city. She plans on restarting the town’s paper and restarting her life as well at the same time. A neighbor has been hunting on her property, her parent’s old place, but now she’s found a headless bear in a trap. While bear hunting is not illegal, trapping one is. When Ruth attempts to get law enforcement to look into this, she is brushed off. But Ruth will not be satisfied by this, and she starts to look into it herself.
This is a super short cozy mystery. I found it suffered from the faults typical of short cozies, specifically having a data dump at the beginning to set up the world and not having enough space to develop the characters and mystery. Aside from these two issues, the story itself was well-written with visual detail. If you think you might delve into the rest of the series, it is worth a read.
Shadow’s Way by Barbara Frances
Available at Amazon only
NOT with Kindle Unlimited
Shadow's Way*
I Did Not Like This Book
I did not like this book, and in fact, thought I might not finish it. In truth, I was put off by what I read in the first couple of chapters. Both the archbishop and Elaine are so condescending toward the other people that they interact with that I found it completely off-putting. A cleric thinking of a penitent as cow faced? A woman who talked condescendingly to the guests at her bed-and-breakfast while thinking them uncouth? These characters just rankled my every nerve. The language of the novel, in general, seemed to be puffed up with an exaggerated sense of self-importance that created a wall between me and the story. Oh, and I think the book needed a sensitivity reader.
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.
Loony Town by Paula Lester
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Loony Town*
Strange Magic at the Retirement Community
Things are rarely quiet for long at the Sunnyside Retired Witches Community! Zoey was having a lovely moment a flying kite with her boyfriend when she was called back to the community. Apparently, an insurance agent has been murdered on the premises. That’s not all. Strange magics are occurring, and odd energy blips seem to happen around them. Are the residents of the community involved in the murder? Why do these magic blitzes happen?
I’ve read all the books in this series so far, and they are a delight. The author is able to make the characters seem realistic even though this is a magical setting, and she can inject humor into what could be very serious scenes about the crime. In this book, most of the magic that goes awry is just plain funny (the sweatbands!). I love when I see that a new book in this series pops up because I can’t wait to read it.
A Trail of Breadcrumbs by D. E. Dennnis
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
A Trail of Breadcrumbs*
More Grimm Murders
The Grimm twins are pulled into another investigation by the mother of a woman who was recently murdered in the Siren Woods. This brings up memories and questions about others who were killed at or found missing from that spot. As the siblings dig deeper, they find themselves confronting issues with the cold cases as well as their current one. I’ve read several books in this series by now, and I quite enjoy the banter and interaction between Monica and Michael, the twins. They seem much like a real brother and sister. In this book, the author created a proper mystery novel, not as simple novella as many seem to be these days, with multiple plotlines, murders, and red herrings to keep interest and the pages turning. As in the other novels in the series, the twins have to fight resistance from the local police department while they’re trying to figure out everything else. One of the twins is even endangered. I like all the different secondary characters as well, as they flesh out the plot and add much to the multiple storylines. Some of these are recurring characters, while others were new. Dialogue is realistic and at times funny but still remains heightened and tells us just what we need to know.
The Arrangement Box Set by Madison Quinn
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Arrangement Box Set*
How Will Their Complicated Arrangements Turn Out?
What a long and complicated love story for Kenzie and Nicholas! I’m glad that I got this as a duet, as the story definitely is not over after book one. This is so complex I barely know where to start. Both of the main characters have complicated and hurtful pasts. They get into an arrangement to help Nicholas with some bad PR that his firm is getting. Kenzie is strapped for cash, as she has been since she fled for her life because of an abusive partner; so she agrees to the plan of playing the fake girlfriend for business functions. The author actually did an outstanding job of not making the first part of their relationship sexualized at all. In the beginning, for both, it was strictly an arrangement that was working out well for both parties; they actually became real friends first. So I would definitely call this a slow-burn romance. Even by the end of the first book, not much had happened on that front, though some of their thoughts and feelings towards each other were beginning to change. The second book ramps up the romance much faster. They make a new arrangement, this time a marriage of convenience that he hopes will quell all rumors that have been threatening his company from inside and out. I love how Nicholas is so kind and protective of her, especially after he realizes the extent of her history. There are definitely some dangerous elements in this book, ghosts from the past who still affect the present. If themes and scenes of abuse easily trigger you, you should steer clear of this. I will admit, though, that this book did have me enthralled and made me care about the characters so that I didn’t want to put it down.
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 Cowboy’s Daughter by Jamie K. Schmidt
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
The Cowboy's Daughter*
Mending Fences
In this contemporary Western romance, Kelly is coming back home to help her parents who are in fear of losing their ranch after she was banished six years ago after becoming pregnant out of wedlock by a man whom she was unwilling to reveal. There has been some relationship mending since that time, but Kelly’s relationships with her parents are still somewhat strained, especially with her father. Imagine Kelly’s surprise when she discovers that her daughter’s father, a former famous bull rider who was grievously injured, is back in town not only to be the master of ceremonies at the town’s annual rodeo but also to open a bull riding school on her father’s land.
I like the strong women in this story—Kelly and her sisters. Even though they don’t have the best relationships with their parents, they all want to help their parents keep the family ranch and uproot their lives to do so. Kelly and the hero did have chemistry. Alissa, their daughter, was adorable and even brought out a softer side of the patriarch. I felt that some elements of a plot weren’t given adequate room to breathe or show reaction adequately. For instance, I thought the hero should have been much angrier at his manager for what he did with the women who claimed he fathered their children. Also, after all the build-up about doing a DNA test, I thought the heroine would be more distressed about the need for it. I felt like a plot line was dropped; namely, the hero should have had some closure about his own paternity since that was a minor plot line.
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.
Stained Bonds by Helen Scott and Serena Akeroyd
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Stained Bonds*
Learning More about Father and the Sires
Marcella and the boys are back! We learn much about Marcella’s father and the four Sires. Many conflicts keep this book moving, and much space is given to RH fun. In fact, there might be a little too much as the latter; there seems to be a lot of it presented in very vivid detail. While I always enjoy the arc of the individual stories within this series, I’m always somewhat repulsed by the level of profanity in the books as I don’t really see a need for it; I think authors believe they need to do so to appeal to late-teen, early twenties readers. There were some issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, including a dangling modifier right in the first paragraph. If you’ve enjoyed the other books in this series, you’ll most likely enjoy this one that looks deeper into the entire world of the series. If you are new to this series, you definitely need to start at book one because it does build book by book.
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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