Reading Fanatic Reviews
Romantic FantasyStalking the Dead by E. C. Bell
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Thalia, Smashwords, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Bol.de
Stalking the Dead*
Still Not Vibin’
I love a good paranormal mystery, so I was intrigued when three books by this author showed up on my favorite book review site. Unfortunately, I have just never been able to get into them, and I have given this author three tries now. (I do always give authors two or three chances before I give up.) I love that Marie has the ability to communicate with spirits who have not yet moved on and uses that to figure out their murders (if that is the case). But something in the writing style always turns me off in these books. For one thing, the dialogue doesn’t feel quite natural to me, and in places, there is a lot of conversation. I am almost always put off, too, by the level of profanity in the books, usually said or thought by the ghosts. Cursing is just a significant turnoff for me in any book unless it is used for characterization. The mystery in this particular book actually did have some interest as it tied in different aspects of Marie’s present and past. But, again, because of the writing issues above and others that I have not detailed, I still couldn’t get into this book.
The Fixer Upper by Maggie Mae Gallagher
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Bol.de
The Fixer Upper*
Funny, Lovely Characters But Missing Tension
A fun and quirky contemporary romance that didn’t quite have enough true conflict or tension. This book is well written, so you may not be aware of its deficiencies until you give it a little thought. Abby inherits her aunt’s home and moves in while she finishes her dissertation and also tries to figure out her next move in life beyond academia. Her next-door neighbor, whom she quickly nicknames Sheriff Stud Muffin, meets her in a most amusing way. I’ve got to hand it to the author. Parts of this book are really quite humorous. Abby is a very quirky young woman with a love of 80s horror that seems to be integral to her character. It does cause some amusing moments as she lives in this beautiful old Victorian and seems to see and feel threats at every turn. Nothing too heavy or serious but in an amusing way. For instance, her aunt had a collection of porcelain dolls that Abby finds a little creepy.
There is a parallel historical love story that we see unfold throughout the book due to a discovered journal. Insights from this little book inform the characters’ thoughts and actions and may even give the reader something to think on. There’s also another small plot about break-ins going on in the area. So, between the contemporary romance, the historical romance, the criminal activity, and Abby’s attempt to understand herself and her future better, there is a lot going on in this story. I thought the book had a bit of a data dump at the beginning, which I’m not a fan of. This is actually a long book, so the author could have definitely woven in bits of backstory more adeptly throughout. There were at times some very long narrative passages, which can get tedious in a book (especially one of length). There was more profanity than I like in a book and certainly more than was needed for characterization.
But I think the greatest flaw in this book is that it felt like there were no true conflicts. This couple had instant chemistry—and it did sparkle and jump off the page. They become friendly, and then they become intimate. but it didn’t really feel like there was true tension or conflict as the plot moved along. For me, key ingredients in a romance include the All Is Lost moment towards the end followed by a Proof of Love (self-sacrifice without expectations). That didn’t happen in this book, so even though there is the HEA, it felt unsatisfying. If you don’t mind low-tension love stories, this book actually is humorous and delightful. I just wish it had a little bit more substance.
The Complete Keto Cookbook by Amanda Klein
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Complete Keto Cookbook*
Brimming with Recipes
Even though it has a very short section in front with brief articles about what the keto diet is, its benefits, and how to set yourself up for keto cooking success, this book is really all about the recipes. There are over 600 recipes in this cookbook. The author has chosen to divide this by the type of meat, with other sections on vegetables, vegan recipes, appetizers, and dessert recipes. I thought that the book would have been arranged better if some of the recipes were split out into more logical groups. For instance, each section has quite a few soups. I would have loved to have seen a soup chapter—as I adore soups and we are heading into soup season. Perhaps within that chapter—if the author had gone that direction—she could have designated the types of meat or veggies that served as the base. I would have loved to have seen other such split outs.
In looking over the recipes, I found some of them to be the typical easy kinds of recipes that people enjoy today while others were a bit more complex. Most just use regular ingredients from the grocery store; only a few called for specialty ingredients. Only the briefest of nutritional information was given. While carbs were listed, it wasn’t stated anywhere in the book whether this was net carbs or total carbs. I thought some of the proportions between ingredients were a bit off. For instance, there was a salad recipe where a serving was one cup of lettuce with 1/4 cup of avocado.(For one thing, I can’t even imagine a salad that small; but that seems like too much avocado for the amount of lettuce.) Inexplicably, some recipes appeared in more than one section.
I thought that the sections preceding the recipes we’re mostly full of the normal information you hear about keto in these kinds of books and on popular blogs. I don’t necessarily agree with some of the information presented; I think it is just the standard stuff that is said for this diet. You can easily skip these sections and just move on to the recipes. There are no photographs in this ebook; the only pictures you will see are on the cover. I can’t really tell you if these are wholly keto-friendly, as I am not 100% knowledgeable about all of the ins and outs of the keto diet. But, however, I did find this set of recipes to be both practical and inspiring, even for people who don’t necessarily follow the keto diet.
Rapunzel Untamed by Erin Bedford
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Rapunzel Untamed*
Dystopian Fairy-Tale-Inspired Urban Fantasy
I absolutely love reworkings of the classic fairy tales. I’ve read several different ones by various authors in the last couple of years. But I haven’t read any revamps of Rapunzel or any other books by this author. So I was looking forward to a new fairy tale twist and a new-to-me author. Neither disappointed I am happy to say. This version of Rapunzel is a dark dystopian urban fantasy. Now, don’t let all that heaviness make you think that it is all dark; I have read some retellings that I like that. This one had a surprising amount of humor, especially when Rapunzel/Eva is rescued. There are other parts that are quite funny as well, like the discussion about Eva wearing a bra.
The author did a very good job describing the world from Eva’s perspective, even though Eva is confused about her circumstances. This isn’t easy to do, to get information across while the perspective character is in a confused state. But the author seems to do so with absolute ease. I found Eva’s head an interesting one to be in, and I really enjoyed the various personalities of her rescuing mages. The descriptions throughout the book are well done, not too much yet just enough to get across the character’s state of mind as well as what is happening. The writing at times feels immersive. The end has a surprising twist; the book ends on a cliffhanger. So if you aren’t a fan of books that end on cliffhangers, you might want to skip this one. But it is a very well done inspired-by-fairy-tale story, so you might want to consider it anyway.
The Duke’s Bride in Disguise by Claudia Stone
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Duke's Bride in Disguise**
Twins Separated at Birth Swap Lives (Poor Twin Story)
I absolutely adored the premise of these two books in this series, and each tale is rendered perfectly, aligning well with the characters of each sister; I like, too, that the stories are so distinct from each other. In this one, the poor sister of the newly discovered twins takes on the life of the wealthy sister to help dissuade her suitor. Ava is a delightful heroine, caught up in a world that she little understands. But her task is difficult. She has always had a bit of a crush on the duke (he was a patron of the shop she worked at); can she rebuff him for her sister’s sake . . . and at the peril of her own heart? The story is sweet and romantic. The only downside of this book, and the other as well, is that the book has not been properly copyedited—to the point where at times there are multiple errors in a paragraph. It was distracting from the lovely story. I would have given it five stars without those issues.
Movies, Moonlight, and Magic by January Bain
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Movies, Moonlight, and Magic*
Heavy on the Cozy, Light on the Mystery
This is the second book in the Manitoba Tea and Tarot series, and the second book that I have read in it. I will admit that I love the concept of this series because tea and tarot are two of my favorite things! I would love to frequent that little shop. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, so I was looking forward to the next. The series revolves around three sisters who have magical powers, each different. Charm, the heroine in this book, is only just coming to understand and work with what she can do. She has an interest in the new Mountie, but a gorgeous friend of his family has shown up, making Charm a little jealous. A film crew comes to town, and their accountant turns up dead. Other issues come up as well, and someone close to Charm is one of the suspects, leading her to want to investigate to clear their name.
As in the first book, the characters and the relationships between them are a delight. The paranormal aspect is fun. Unfortunately, as can happen in cozy mysteries, the mysteries themselves seemed to take a back seat to the quirky characterization and magical worldbuilding. For instance, the dead body wasn’t found until about the 21% mark. As that is the inciting incident for a murder mystery, not a lot of room was left for the mystery to be fully explored. This is already a short book, so not much space is given to the mystery. The other “mystery” shows up quite a bit later. All in all, I like the world and the characters that the author has created; I just wish that the mystery itself was more emphasized.
Alone for the Holidays by Vivien Mayfair
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Alone for the Holidays*
Not Alone for the Holidays
This is a super short, quick read. The heroine has gotten herself into a bit of a pickle when she invites a man she had met through a Goodreads group to spend Christmas with her. She had felt sorry for him because he had lost his wife the previous Christmas; this would be his first Christmas alone. She hasn’t been telling the truth about herself online, however. She’s a famous author but prefers to hang out on reader forums anonymously so she can just enjoy sharing books with like-minded book lovers. She’s even lied about her looks, believing that no man would be interested in a middle-aged, overweight woman. When the man shows up, she gets deeper and deeper into lies.
I thought that some of the language choices were a bit strange in places. I also felt that sometimes the writing seemed like it was trying to decide whether it was omniscient or third person. The story is so short that we can’t really get a window into the basis for their actual relationship, how they supposedly fell for each other while they were emailing back and forth. I just feel like this needed more.
The Viscount and the Vixen by Ava Devlin
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Viscount and the Vixen*
Excellent Regency Story
This is a delightfully well-written Regency romance. The author has made characters who seem believable, and the hero and heroine, at least, are not prone to excesses or melodrama. (I’ll admit that I’m not quite sure why the heroine is called a vixen in the title.} The heroine’s cousin, however, is a good example of the simpering, pouty Regency miss who insists on getting her own way. The author has set up an interesting plot here. The hero wants to wed quickly because of a scandal brewing in his family; he thinks that having a wife will make it all more respectable. He finds an old agreement that his father had done up between him and another man’s daughter, and so he chooses that route. That young girl is quite spoiled and not too pleased that her father has decided to marry her off before she has had a proper season. The hero himself, Gideon, is a bit surprised to see the girl’s cousin is a young woman whom he was enamored with several seasons ago before she accepted another man’s proposal. There’s actually a lot of detail here, and what I related might seem a little convoluted or hard to understand, but it doesn’t make sense within the story.
The hero and heroine do find a way out of the dilemma that he’s gotten himself into with the cousin; they decided to elope to Scotland. Much needs to be done with all that is going on in the Somers family. How will the new viscountess be in this world that she is now thrust into? Can the family avoid scandal?
There are parts of this book that were actually quite funny in a surprising way. Regency isn’t particularly known for being humorous. There were especially some moments between the cousins that I found particularly funny. During the elopement, things got surprisingly steamy pretty fast compared to how things were for them before. In fact, the second half of the book is quite a steamy read. All in all, I thought this was a well-written book with good characters and just enough of a different kind of a plot.
Bedazzled Dreamer by Deborah King
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Bedazzled Dreamer*
Heartfelt Contemporary Romance
Such a sweet contemporary romance! This is the story of Shelby, Shane, and Shane’s son (Nate). Shane is new in town and needs a place to stay; Shelby has a room because her roommate got married. Shelby is in the midst of pursuing her dream of having her own business. The story has several themes, including pursuing your dream and letting go of the past. Shane’s son is absolutely adorable. He even speaks in somewhat of a lisp. He trusts Shelby right away, and she is a good influence on him. All the main characters are sweet, good people who deserve their chance at a deeper happiness. A lovely small-town clean contemporary romance.
The Blood King by Amber K. Bryant
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
The Blood King*
Not Quite What I Thought But Still Good
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting after reading the book description, but what I got wasn’t quite it. I don’t think the author was wholly honest in the blurb about the actual nature of some of the characters in this book. Rather, she danced around what they were, perhaps hoping that the reader would draw their own conclusion or might not connect the dots. Despite feeling like I was somewhat tricked into choosing a book that I would not normally have chosen, the authors’ writing style is actually quite good. She has a command of the use of descriptive words; they truly do create a word picture without feeling as if they are overly descriptive, making the writing feel ponderous. She has crafted a complex paranormal world here. The heroine is strong in a take-no-prisoners way. She is definitely is the boss and in control. There were several scenes in this book that were really evocative, allowing you to feel as if you were actually immersed in the world and experiencing it. It is rare when authors can do this, so I quite enjoyed that aspect.
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