Nerdy Neighbor Has NO Clue!

Haley has a great new job and her nearly next door neighbor is a hot, young professor. They both have an attraction to each other instantly, but neither is confident enough even to have full conversations for a bit. Haley has a three-legged dog named Tank that causes a few embarrassing moments for both her and the professor.

How will this new job go for Haley? Will these two act on their attraction to each other?

The book alternates between Haley’s and Ted’s viewpoints. They are both professionals–she is a veterinarian and he is a professor–but I didn’t think their word choice and language usage reflected that. Also, I didn’t think there was enough of a distinction between their voices; they didn’t sound different enough. I thought, too, that there were a little too many crude words.

That being said, there are some parts of this book that were quite funny. Haley is very attracted to Ted, but he has absolutely no clue. I mean, NO clue. In fact, he first thinks she’s a lesbian, and then he thinks she is bisexual! So he simply tries to be a friend for a long time while denying his feelings.

If you like your men a little nerdy, you might enjoy this light, romantic read.

The Muse is Not Amusing

Charity, the heroine, is the daughter of an earl who became embroiled in scandal some years ago that resulted in the loss of her reputation. Retreating from London to Scotland, she marries her older brother’s friend. They move back to London to run his father’s bookshop. Due to injuries that became infected, her husband dies not long after the birth of their daughter. Into their bookshop, now run by just her, comes an old friend and her first love.

Will they want to rekindle the old flame between them? Can he forgive her for her part in the scandals so long ago? Will she want to maintain her independence, which she seems to enjoy? What does Charity truly want for herself and her daughter?

This had to be one of the most poorly written books I’ve read in a very long time. So much was wrong in it on so many fronts I hardly know where to begin. Charity seems to be outrageous just to be outrageous; we don’t really understand what the earlier scandal was about for a long time, though it is talked about and alluded to constantly. Something so pivotal for both the hero and the heroine should have been explained more upfront (or added piece by piece more quickly) so that the character’s actions and thoughts in the current plotline don’t seem so strange. There was one claim the author made in the prologue that seemed outrageous and made me go, “Huh??” So far as I know–and I could be wrong–unless her parentage or legitimacy is in question, society cannot take away the appellation of “Lady” from a woman who is the daughter of an earl!

Her previous husband is seen only briefly in the prologue before they marry; he seems to serve just to give her a bookshop and a child; I don’t really see how this backstory adds anything to the main story, which is all about scandals, lies, coverups, etc. We know nothing of the hero-to-be until he shows up in the store. Then a partial backstory is given from both perspectives, but it is more confusing than illuminating. I’ll admit: I got frustrated with the story. The plot and backstory just seemed to be a jumble of ideas that never gelled. I don’t mind if an author tantalizes and teases, releasing tidbits along the way of a couple’s shared history, but this did not feel like that at all. The whole setup just rings completely false, and it didn’t improve as the book progressed.

There were many problems with language as well. The writing is not only stilted and unnatural, but the author used words and phrases in dialogue and narrative that people just don’t say or think . . . or are just flat out wrong. I’ve never heard lace called “blond” to describe its color, and the use of “stay” for “stays” is hard on the ear if you regularly read historical fiction. I can guess what “children born in [London’s] dredges” mean, but that word should not be used here. Several times the hero talks about “gentlemen of my peerage” instead of saying “my peers” or “the peerage,” either of which would most likely sound better depending on the context. And what–precisely–is “constitution of character” as it relates to post pregnancy? One’s body changes during pregnancy but hopefully not one’s character. Sometimes the wording was shockingly modern, like when she described her husband-to-be as “her brother’s mate, but she fancied him.” Another time, she used, “we are in this together,” which doesn’t sound very historical to me.

Here are a couple of lines that struck me odd as a nurse: “Altair was injured enough as it was with sutures in his side and a broken leg. There was no doubt that once his spine healed completely he would return to the front lines.” The way those lines follow each other (and there was no prior mention of a spinal injury), it made it seem like the spine and side injury related. The way she attempted to portray a Scottish accent didn’t make sense. Here’s a line: “So, ya’ gonna come ta’ London with me after we marry…” Apostrophes are typically used to show the lack of a letter that makes a sound; this is not the case here. The most commonly used copyediting stylebook for novels in the United States declares that a word like “marquess” should not only have the possessive apostrophe but an s following it (marquess’s, not marquess’); so the title of the book itself seems to have a punctuation mistake. Several times dialog tags and other phrases/sentences around dialogue weren’t punctuated correctly.

I cannot recommend this book. I had a hard time sticking with it. Sometimes I think I only did so to see what strange things the author would have the characters say or do next. Because of the problems with plot, character, and language, I suggest forgetting this book and finding another Regency one that will be more compelling and enjoyable.

Discover Your Passion and Vision to Motivate Your Life

Your Rebel Dreams is the first book in a three-book series that’s all about empowering women to find their purpose and passion and put a plan of action around that to make it all a part of your life. This first book is about finding your passion so you can have a better vision of the life you want to live. She defines passion as your Flair plus your Zone plus your Joy plus your Service. I’ll explain these terms below, but all of this that makes up passion must be encompassed within your values.

This is a workbook, and she has a 100+ page file available for download so you can print out the questions, allowing you to answer them easily. Very handy for an electronic workbook. It’s broken down into nine weeks of questions. There are a few introductory essays and ideas to think about before you start the official nine weeks as well. Uplifting short essays are also scattered throughout and appear at the end.

She defines Flair as what you do well, your talents or what you’re good at. Your physical environment, the people around you, and the information you will watch or absorb is your Zone. What you love doing is your Joy, and Service is what you can give to the world based your talents and skills. Week one is about values, and weeks 2 through 4 are about your Flair, your Zone, and your Joy. She gives three whole weeks to Service. Then she wraps up week nine by pulling these all together in one big vision for your life and having you make a pledge to yourself. At the end of each section, there is a brief check-in to see how you’re feeling with the process.

If you want to dig deep to find your passion and vision–or simply want to reflect things you do well, things you enjoy, or what you can do to help others– this book is chock-full of encouragement, tips, and suggestions, as well as the exercises that get you thinking deeply about yourself. It will give you a great start to help you understand yourself if you want to move forward with living a life that is aligned with your passion and vision. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

I received a free review copy, but this did not affect my review.

New Life and Love for Small-Town Doctor

Small town physician Callie, the heroine, is taking on too much at work as the only doctor at her clinic, so she hires a relatively new doctor to assist. He gets into town early and, immediately has to help a town resident with a minor injury. Callie is a little put out by this; she’s going to have a hard time giving up control of the patients who are her neighbors and friends in this small town. Callie’s a widow with a young son whom she hasn’t had much time for as she is so busy with her job. Robert, the new doctor, wanted to go into oncology but didn’t get the position he wanted, so he figured he could cool his jets in a small town for a short while until he could get the job he wanted. As he and Kelly get to know each other, they find themselves more and more attracted to each other.

Will Callie be able to open her heart again, especially when she knows that Robert never planned to stick around? Will Robert want to stay if he finds the woman of his dreams? Which is more important, his dream job or the potential love of his life?

I’ve been a nurse in a hospital, and I have had a nephew who went to medical school, so I found some of these depictions of medicine to be inaccurate. Callie is a dedicated physician, and she interacts with her patients in ways that you just don’t see the small town (even though it would be awesome if you did). I lived in a town the same size as this fictional one, and our medical system was nothing like this. Also, the timing described for medical school and a residency with a specialty didn’t seem quite right. An oncology doctor would be unlikely to take a general practitioner job; even if he didn’t get his ideal position, he would still most likely look for something in his field. A small town practice, too, might pass over such a specialist, no matter how desperate they are.

Despite that, as a romance, it was still an enjoyable read.

Quick, Steamy RH Read

Snow is coming down, and a blizzard is expected to hit in the Midwest, causing most of the members of the romance book club to miss their regular meeting at the library. As the storm increases earlier than expected, the library closes so people can get home before the worst hits. This is when romance book club member Rose finds out about a secret racy romance book club.

This is a fun, steamy, quick read that plays with the concept RH, both in books and in “real” life, or at least the real life of the characters of this particular story. If you like the RH concept, you might enjoy this small taste of it.

Roadmap to Help You Become a Multipassionate Entrepreneur

If you’ve done any reading lately about entrepreneurship, you know that one of the buzzwords of the moment is “niche.” This book’s bold stance is that no niche is necessary to become a successful entrepreneur. The author posits that we are multi-passionate people– a term she uses regularly–and that our business should reflect not only our passions (plural).

The book is divided into three sections of two or three chapters each. The first section presents the premise of the book using her own life as an example, discusses how it is different than conventional wisdom, and encourages you to start thinking about removing roadblocks if this is something you want to pursue. The next section is about strategy, figuring out and shaping your core message as well as deciding what role you want to take in your business. The final section is about the nuts-and-bolts of realizing your vision, both building a robust framework of it from a couple of different models as well as how to keep your new business going and on track with your core message and your personal needs.

In each chapter, she not only talks about her own experience and insights; she also shares relevant examples from contemporary society’s entrepreneurs who have taken a multi-faceted approach to their business(es) or brand(s). Chapters beyond the earliest all have exercises to get you thinking, reflecting, and brainstorming about your passions and what you want your life and business to look like and ultimately be.

If you’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur but have had a hard time shoehorning yourself into a single niche, as experts often tout as the key to modern business, this book could help you better understand what passions drive you and what goals motivate you so you can better choose a path that’s both right for you and will bring value to your customers.

Coming Home Again

This book is part of The Inheritance Clause series. I had already read Minerva’s story, so I was familiar with the premise. This series does have an excellent concept, by the way. Their grandfather has died, and rather than will his heirs their money directly, he requires his grandchildren to perform a task to his lawyer’s satisfaction. These tasks are highly individual and meant to challenge the particular person. Clearly, the grandfather has known each grandchild well and wants each of them to find hidden strengths and talents. Theo, the hero of this book, appears to have the most straightforward task. He just needs to go back and stay at his country manor house, the seat of his marquessate. He hasn’t been back since his wife’s death; it is filled with too many bad memories.

Go back he goes, as he wants his inheritance to prop up his foundering estate and keep it out of the hands of a reviled relative. His ward, Lucy, who has lived on the estate this whole time, is no longer the young teenager he remembers; she is now a young woman. In his absence, she has gradually taken on the role of mistress of the house, not just handling household details but taking care of matters on the estate along with the steward, settling disputes among the tenants and the like. She is determined to stay in the house; not knowing any better, she fears he is there to marry her off. She loves his home and wants to stay there and remain in charge of it until he remarries.

The author did a fantastic job showing Lucy’s motivations and fears. She has no clue that Theo now sees her as an attractive woman. He’s trying to distance himself from her because he doesn’t feel his attraction towards her appropriate, but she sees his actions as disapproval of her and what she has done for his home estate. She wants to do nothing more than impress him with all that she’s done so that he’ll let her stay. Her insecurities, especially because she is doing such an excellent job of running his estate, are endearing.

Will Theo accept his changed feelings towards his ward and let her know? Will they continue to grow as he comes to know her? How long will she fear being married off and sent away?

I enjoyed the previous book in this series and found this a delightful read as well. If you enjoy Regency romance, you might find this book–and the series–as delightful as I do.

Historical Mysteries Impact the Present

In this book set in an alternate, magical present, perspective shifts between Brendan—who is an Elite agent—and Jake, who is preparing for his first day in the Elites when we first meet him. Brendan, while heroic fighting against the Ambros family, has recently lost his son and is still not working as he tries to process his grief. Wanting to get out of the house, he shows up to work, but his boss attempts to send him home. When Brendan says he wants to stay, the boss says must do the new recruit orientation or leave. Thus, Brendan’s and Jake’s lives start to intertwine. Both Brendan and Jake are members of the Council, which hundreds of years ago triumphed over the Coven families so they could to exert better control over the magic of their world. Soon, the recruits are looking into some historical mysteries that revolve around Porter’s Lodge.

What will these new investigations into old mysteries bring up? Will they be tied to events that are happening now? Will Brendan overcome his grief enough to fully function?

The book had a slow start–as Brendan and Jake prepare for their day–before we see that it is a magical world. Things start to get more interesting as the new Elites start looking into the old mysteries. The author did an excellent job of portraying the paralyzing effects of grief, which is especially difficult when that grief revolves around a parent’s child.

If you enjoy paranormal fiction that slowly reveals mysteries and their impact on the present, you will enjoy this book.

Love is Not Blind When the Heart Can See . . . 

What a beautifully written book! The heroine, Lauren, is legally blind due to retinitis pigmentosa, seeing only vague shapes and colors. Despite her limitations, she has built up a successful phone therapy business. The hero, Gabe, is renovating the other half of her duplex for his new renters. She can’t see the hero very well, but she likes his southern drawl and his scent. He, of course, finds her attractive and asks her out to dinner right away; she’s not interested and pretends she has a boyfriend. Both have some ghosts hiding in the closet, of course–both in terms of relationships as well as other aspects of their lives. He, in particular, appears to have secrets not only about his military past but his private life as well.

Will these two pursue their attraction, even though they both have reasons for not doing so? Will the secrets keep them apart completely or tear them apart if they get together?

The author has done a fantastic job of having Lauren express her world through the senses that she has available. When the book is from Lauren perspective, we don’t “see” her world; we hear, feel, smell, and taste it. As a very visual person, I found it interesting to enter a world where my favorite sense was denied me; what a different way to experience the world. Of course, when chapters were written from Gabe’s perspective, sight was used to describe events and surroundings. Probably because vision is denied in Lauren’s portions, Gabe’s visual sense of the world made those moments seem that much more strong.

The book had me laughing within the first few pages. I often work at home, so I could identify with Lauren’s issues, both with excessive sound from neighbors as well as having to get dressed on occasion! While I don’t have an adult onesie like Lauren, I do like to be comfortable.

I also appreciated that the author had in the back of the book place where you could learn about and donate to research into the reason for Lauren’s blindness, retinitis pigmentosa.