Reading Fanatic Reviews
Romantic FantasyThe Key in the Loch by Blanche Dabney
The Key in the Loch*
Time Travel Romance with Unbelievable Conflict
In this time travel romance, the heroine, Rachel, is a young English woman who is preparing for her Masters in medieval studies. After her adoptive mother dies, she receives a strange gift to that she cannot open without a key, which was luckily found by her brother when going through things at the adoptive mother’s house. When opened, the gift reveals a necklace, which when touched transports Rachel back to Scotland in the 1100s. She is immediately involved in a predicament that some clansmen believe will require human sacrifice.
Will she be sacrificed? Will the laird, in whose bedroom she initially appeared, become wrapped up in the drama or will he’ll be able to control his clansmen? Will the attraction between Rachel and the Laird come to anything?
This book did not sit right with me. The crux of the conflict is based on the idea that ancient Celts or druids performed human sacrifice. Nowadays, it is not believed that this happened. I do understand that this is fiction, but at least the historical Scotland part should have some basis in Scottish reality.
Also, I thought that the book spent too much time relating feelings and events in contemporary time that didn’t matter in the Scottish part of the story; only what was relevant should have been laid out. The book has some of the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, but this is not overly distracting.
The cover had two pet peeves of mine. First, the heroine is said to have fiery red hair; she is very dark haired on the cover. Second, a bare-shouldered style of dress more typical of modern Mexican restaurant waitresses was not favored in medieval Scotland.
If you enjoy time travel Highlander romance and can buy into the human sacrifice aspect, you might find this an enjoyable read.
The Golden Hour by Malia Zaidi
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Golden Hour
Meandering Cozy Mystery in Post Great War Britain
In this sprawling cozy mystery set in post-Great War Britain, Lady Evelyn is newly returned from university when one of her Scottish cousins calls her and asks for her assistance with her mother (Lady Evelyn’s aunt). Before leaving London, she stops in at her aunt’s home, and soon her aunt is traveling with her to find out what is going on with the family in Scotland. When they arrived, much more is happening than the cousin let on. Also, a neighbor has turned his home into an artist’s retreat for veterans of the war. Soon, a murder happens, and then another that is related to her family. Lady Evelyn is determined to figure out all that is going on.
What family secrets are there in Scotland? Who is causing these murders in this neighborhood? What exactly has Lady Evelyn stumbled upon?
If you are accustomed to mysteries that get right to the point, you will need to allow yourself to savor this slow movement of this story. That’s not to say that things don’t happen in an interesting fashion. In fact, I love the humorous way that Aunt Agnes got involved. But it takes a while for us to get to the mysteries at the heart of the book and even longer to untangle them. Personally, I enjoy cozy mysteries that are like this, the kind where you make yourself a cuppa and settle in for a meandering but intriguing ride.
The characters in this story are well-drawn, and the settings are almost characters themselves. The characters are quirky, and many have their own goals and motivations that lead to either help or hinder Lady Evelyn.
If you enjoy long cozy mysteries with a historic backdrop, you might enjoy this book.
I received a free review copy, but this did not affect my review.
Winter’s Dragons: Draconic Affairs by Eva Brandt
Winter's Dragons: Draconic Affairs*
Getting to Know the Dragons Before They Met Cheimon
If you read the other two books in the Winter’s Dragons part of the Harem of Season’s series, you’ll find this little book–which is mostly about the dragons’ lives before their arrival to the winter realm–a fun bit of backstory about Cheimon’s dragons. The three main chapters that take up over half of the book are each narrated by a different dragon; the author was able to give them each a unique voice. The first chapter shows their meeting as young hatchlings while the following chapters look at their other encounters as dragonets and then adult males. The epilogue, which is a substantial portion of the book, is told from Cheimon’s perspective.
I enjoyed seeing how the dragons interacted before they knew Cassia. It illustrates how much has changed since they’ve become the soulmates of the avatar of winter. The first chapter did a good job showing the learned prejudices of the different races of dragons that is so ingrained in draconic culture that young hatchlings are not immune. I found the epilogue to be particularly humorous. My goodness, what the dragons made her do in the bailey!
If you enjoyed the other books in this part of the series, you would enjoy this peek into the background of Cheimon’s dragons.
The Portrait Problem by Jamaila Brinkley
The Portrait Problem
Meddling Mothers, Wedding Planning, and Intrigue…Oh, My!
The portrait isn’t the only problem in this novella in the series supposedly taken from Anastasia Galipp’s files. Wedding planning takes on a whole other, and often hilarious, dimension when both Anastasia’s mother and Simon’s mother show up, and it becomes a double wedding with Simon’s sister, Juliet, as the other bride. Intrigue is added to the mix when Juliet feels faint after sitting briefly for a sketch for a possible wedding portrait.
Will the double wedding go off without a hitch? How does Anastasia feel about the co-opting of her wedding by their mothers? What is causing this portrait fatigue amongst certain young brides?
I found this novella to be a quick, fun read. The author was able to maintain an irreverent, dry humor throughout.
Egging Her On by Mellanie Szereto
Egging Her On
Too Much Sex, Not Enough Romance
I don’t know what I was expecting when I read the blurb on the review site where I often pick books to review, but this wasn’t quite it. The book seems far more crude than it needs to be. While I don’t consider myself a prude, I often wish that sensual romance books didn’t resort to profanity or crass terms. Often these days, it seems like romances are either clean or lewd, without much middle ground. At least on Goodreads and Bookbut, the book blurb clearly states at the top that it is “erotic romance.”
The heroine, Lindie, is a no-nonsense farmer, specializing in eggs though she does sell some produce as well. The peaceful life she has created for herself is upended when someone wants to buy her property for way more than its value. This turns out to be the many-times-great grandson of the original owner who would like to have it back in the family so that he can raise his orphaned nephews there. The blurb says they meet when she’s naked, but there’s definitely more to it than that.
They immediately decide to embark on a no-strings affair, complete with a detailed contract specifying contraception, STD checks, and no mention of relationship terms (among other things). Will this affair impact the proceedings with a property? Will either of them break the contract? Why is Lindie dead set against selling, even at a fantastic price? What is her big secret?
I found Lindie to be too rough, abrasive, and crude. She’s definitely not a shrinking violet. It’s hard for me to imagine a real woman acting with Blaine as she does the first two times they meet.
Perhaps I read it wrong, but the blurb seems to be more about their property dispute and Lindie’s secret. The book, however, seems more about their tawdry affair. I would liked to have seen more character development, and given the way the story actually went, more of a development of actual romantic interest between the two, not a just sexual one.
The cover of the book isn’t right. Lindie is stated to be 40 more than once, and Blaine himself is supposed to be nearing 40. Neither of the models on the cover appears to be close to those ages. I like it when a book has an older heroine, but this should be clear on the cover. Otherwise, it seems hypocritical, using youth to sell a story about a more mature romance.
The book had some of the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but these in themselves did not distract from the book.
The Prince Who Captured Me by Joanne Wadsworth
The Prince Who Captured Me
False Marriage Thwarted by Kidnapping
Lady Olivia, the heroine, met Anteros–a sea captain and gentleman’s club owner–at a ball a year-and-a-half before the book starts. We don’t get to see much of this backstory except in the prologue and snippets of recalled memories, but apparently, Anteros has been a good friend to Olivia and her family. Lady Olivia has also gotten to know his sister, Adrestia. For all that has transpired in their past, Anteros believes that Lady Olivia owes him a favor. So when his father demands he marry–even though Anteros has no desire to–he asks Lady Olivia to perform false vows with him to appease his father. His father accepts this compromise. Lady Olivia is later kidnapped.
Is Anteros’s father genuinely willing to accept an English noblewoman, not his chosen Austrian archduchess, for his son’s bride? Will Anteros risk to pursue and rescue lady Olivia? When will he tell her that he is actually an Italian prince whose family has been deposed by Napoleon? Will they speak false vows of marriage? Will they fall in love?
As I have often felt in this series, the book is missing something by not fully including the couple’s backstory. We are just told they have this complex past relationship with only brief moments of that history shown. I would like to understand that the dynamics between Olivia and Anteros better, and that can only be done by showing the scenes where their relationship evolved. The author prefers to write the series as novellas rather than novels, but to me, the complex character dynamics and plot shifts require longer telling to be fully satisfying for the reader.
In this series, the author creates some fascinating secondary characters. Like in this story, Anteros ’s sister, Adrestia would make a fantastic heroine. I would encourage the author to both write some of the romances for these interesting secondary characters and consider making them longer so we can understand the couple’s backstory instead of just being thrown in at a much later time in their relationship.
The book had some of the common issues of grammar, punctuation, and usage, but this did not distract from the story. She did misspell the hero’s dynasty, Bourbon, as Bourdon twice.
If you enjoy historical romances with a little bit of adventure on the high seas, you might enjoy this story.
October Revenge by Merry Farmer
October Revenge*
Spitfire Heroine Saves Her Man
The author does a good job right at the start in setting a mood and a tone for the book. The hero, Mark, the Earl of Gatwick, is silently walking around his own home as if trying to vanish into the woodwork himself. Soon the author reveals some of Mark’s past. Apparently, when Mark was younger, he got in with the wrong crowd. He got involved with a man named Shayles whom Mark witnessed doing terrible things. Mark feels guilty because he didn’t say anything. Now some twenty years after a particularly heinous act, Mark helped get Shayles convicted of one crime. Unfortunately, this will not keep Shayles in prison for long; in fact, he’s due to be released in a month from the start of the book. Mark knows that Shayles will kill him once he is released. Shayles’s lawyer has even sent Mark a letter stating that Mark owes the villain twenty thousand pounds, and if this is not paid, Mark will be ruined by what Shayles will divulge. Under the power of these threats, Mark feels a bit like a dead man walking.
Immediately on the heels of the receipt of this letter, Marcus is surprised when there is a knock at the door. He never has visitors. This visitor is a young black woman from New Orleans named Angelica. Mark’s uncle had moved to the States and became her adopted grandfather. In the old man’s will, Angelica who will not get her inheritance unless she marries Mark.
The young woman is quite a spitfire and rather determined, unlike any woman Mark has known. He is definitely attracted to her, probably due in part to the monkish existence he has lived. Mark comes across as a sad, vulnerable, and sweet hero.
When Shayles’ finds out about this new woman in Mark’s life, she becomes a target as well. However, Shayles has not met a woman like her! She is unwilling to back down to his threat. It was fascinating to see her strength and the way that she was able to help Mark become a stronger and better man. There is definitely violence in this book, but it is contextual and not gratuitous.
The book has some of the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book.
This is a very unusual historical romance. Not only is it interracial, but the heroine is stronger than the hero. If you’re looking for something a little different in historical romance, this book may fill the bill.
Soulswap by Laura Greenwood
Soulswap*
What If You Were Born Into the Wrong Body?
This book takes the Freaky Friday concept and adds several twists and turns. Arya and Tate are two women born on the same day who seem to have been born into the wrong bodies. This book, Soulswap, is the story of this discovery from Tate’s perspective; Soulshift is this same story from Arya’s point of view. Tate is engaged to be married Devon, but something about their relationship has always felt off to her. She claims to love him but often pulls away from him in her discomfort. In one of the twists, Tate is actually a dragon shifter, but she has never been able to shift into a dragon. (Arya is a vampire.) In what she thinks is a dream, she awakens to a woman beside her instead of Devon. This blond woman is a stranger to Tate, yet she feels familiar, and Tate enjoys her presence. So, that is the second twist on the Freaky Friday concept. One of the relationships is heterosexual, and the other is lesbian.
The author does a good job showing Tate’s confusion first about what’s even going on with these shifts and also about her feelings for Sian. All eventually figure out that these two women are exchanging souls. What is interesting is that each is more comfortable in the other’s life. What will that mean? What will happen to these couples?
This book has an interesting combination of correct and incorrect grammar, punctuation, and usage. Sometimes commas were correctly placed while at other times they were completely forgotten or created a comma splice. But I found the reading engaging, so this did not bother me too much.
If you enjoy the Freaky Friday concept or unique paranormal romances, you might enjoy this book.
Poetic Poison by V. S. Vale
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Poetic Poison
Delightful–and Deadly–Return to Swansneck Village
What a delightful second visit to Swansneck Village! I read the first book of the series a few weeks back. While you don’t have to have read the first book to understand the second–as the author does an excellent job of giving bits and pieces of backstory throughout the first part of the book–you will have a greater appreciation of the diverse cast of characters and what brought Jenny Bradshaw back to Swansneck if you do.
Jenny is well ensconced in village life now, her vintage hat store turning into a vintage clothing store. In a handbag from a box of items purchased for the store, she finds a crumpled poem with a murder threat. It turns out that the woman who owned the handbag died some months earlier. This makes Jenny question whether there was murder involved in some way.
Jenny and her grandmother sort through some of her grandfather’s things at the house she inherited from him. When Jenny first moved in, she simply boxed up her grandfather’s things to make room for her stuff. Now it appears that her grandfather’s stamp collection is missing. So now Jenny has two things to solve. Was there a foul play involved with the woman’s death? What happened to her grandfather stamps?
Along the way, Jenny gets involved in village happenings, like the Founders Day Fete. Also, it seems that a group of older ladies in town see her as a spinster now!
I enjoyed this book so much! The author has a way of drawing you in that is subtle and endearing. As someone who reads other cozies and thrillers, I enjoy the slow pace of her writing. I often get annoyed at books where the pacing is too slow, but surprisingly, I appreciate it here in a way that I don’t in other books. I particularly love the small moments of interactions between friends and family because they seem organic and realistic. For instance, before Jenny goes through her grandfather’s things with her grandmother, the two women just to talk about the past. It reminded me of discussions I’ve had with my mother as we readied old Christmas ornaments and discussed the history of how certain ones came into the family. That sort of intimate writing is rare in any genre of modern book and especially mysteries. Its unexpectedness makes it more special.
The book had some of the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, and I do understand and appreciate the difference between American and British English. But some rules–like the one that should be between independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence–stand in either form of English. I actually do enjoy the use of British spelling, words, and phrases, as they lend authenticity to this tale that takes place in a small town in the north of England. I even learned a few terms that I didn’t know, like dab-hand, and I consider myself an Anglophile.
If you enjoy cozy British mysteries with a large cast of realistic and fascinating quirky characters, you will enjoy this book and the previous one in the Swansneck Village series.
Perception Boxed Set by Shandi Boyes
Perception Boxed Set*
Triumph and Tragedy in Coming-of-Age Romance
This box set contains three separate interlinked novels. In fact, the first two combine to make one bigger novel. The first two books are a coming-of-age romance of wannabe rockstar Noah and Emily, the younger sister of his friend Jacob’s girlfriend Lola. These books touch on quite a few themes that could be unsettling for some readers. Several heartbreaking events occur, both on large and small scales, but I don’t want to give away too much detail because, if you choose to read these books, you’ll appreciate the reading experience more for having read it yourself. The second book involves a romance for Noah’s friend mentioned above, who usually is quite the player.
I’m glad the author is offering these in a boxset because the first two really should be read together one right after the other. While the first book could be seen as complete in itself, the ending would be unsatisfying; it does make you wonder what happens next for Noah. The second book has a shocking twist I didn’t see coming; it was very well done by the author.
The book did have the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and spelling, including incorrect possessives and misspellings/wrong words like dints for dents, opposing versus opposite, and allude for exude.
If you enjoy coming of age romances that have triumph and tragedy, you might enjoy this boxset.
I did receive a free advance copy, but this did not affect my review.
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