Reading Fanatic Reviews
Romantic FantasyAn Imperfect Engagement by Alyssa Drake
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
An Imperfect Engagement*
Wild Ride… with a Cliffhanger
This is the first book that I have read in this series, and that is unfortunate because this book is certainly not a standalone. The author does try to explain some things at the beginning, but the plot gets thick really fast, so there isn’t much time for backstory. So I did find it a little confusing. I might have to go back to that first book, though, because this one is quite a ride, and I am curious to see how it all got to this place. I thought, though, that the characters really didn’t seem particularly historical; instead, they seem to have modern sensibilities and just happened to live in what we would call historical times. The book has some issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage–including some unusual ones–so that was distracting at times. But the author does know how to write a good suspenseful and romantic tale that just kept me forging ahead despite the confusion about the greater story and minor annoyance at the grammar. She’s able to set time and place well; I could imagine myself in that dingy apartment at the beginning. This book does end on a cliffhanger, so if you don’t like those kinds of stories, you might want to pass this one by; I understand the first book of the series ended similarly.
A Very Merry Ex-Mas by Kimolisa Mings
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
A Very Merry Ex-Mas by Kimolisa Mings*
Holiday Tale Left Me a Little Cold
In this story about Travis and Aijah, the college sweethearts are brought together in an unlikely circumstance near Christmas. Aijah’s boyfriend recently broke up with her, and she is spending the holidays separate from her family because she doesn’t feel like facing them after another failed relationship. Travis has come to the cabin in the woods to ruminate on his decision about whether to move forward in his relationship with his longtime girlfriend or break it off. Their past relationship was undone by heartbreaking misunderstandings and a lack of communication. When the truth comes to light, will they rekindle their old relationship?
I found this book a little confusing because of the weird names that the author uses for some of the characters and because the author had so many characters both from the hero’s and heroine’s past and present. I felt like I had to use a scorecard to keep track of everybody and what role they functioned in the story. I felt like this novel could have used some tightening to make it a little better as parts seemed repetitious. Having just read a lovely little holiday romance, I found this one left me a little cold.
Living Off the Grid by Gary Collins
Available at Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Living Off the Grid*
Over 50% is from RV Book
Having now read several of this author’s books, I am surprised at how much repetition there is between them. Over half of this book is the exact same as his book on living in an RV. There are additional chapters on things like using solar panels, setting up sanitation, and protecting your property. But this really isn’t that much more than that other book. Though I have never done it, I would think that living off the grid isn’t just about living in a tiny space, getting rid of most of your stuff, and the details like sewage and water. it seems like there could be so much for this author to explore that hasn’t been looked at in his other books.
Delectable Wicked Rakes by Dawn Brower and Amanda Mariel
Available at Amazon, iBooks, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Available at
Delectable Wicked Rakes*
Tag
Despite being promised all six books in the blurb at my favorite book review site, the ARC I received only contained two novels. By the way, this irks me. I don’t mind being given only one or two books in an anthology to review, but be honest with me about it. Don’t promise six books and then give two!
Here are their reviews.
Stolen by My Knave by Dawn Brower: I have read several books in this series, though it has been some time since I last visited this world. While the author does provide some information necessary that we learned in the other books of the series—even though I was familiar with this series—I sometimes still found myself scratching my head trying to remember all the interrelationships, who crossed to what time and when, etc. Probably for a series like this, it is best to read them one after the other so you don’t forget the minutiae. I definitely felt like I needed a family tree and a chronology. I enjoyed the witty banter between Jack and Elizabeth, and I absolutely adored the references to Pride and Prejudice, especially how Jack learned from it. Jack is a jaded man, and I thought he was a little too glib for too long to be a truly good hero.
Enticed by Lady Elianna by Amanda Mariel: Cinderella, Regency style. After her father’s death, Elianna was essentially made into a servant by the new earl (they even call her thus to her face). They don’t even give her the honorific of Lady anymore, and to outsiders, they simply refer to her as either a servant or companion, never mentioning her relation to them or her status as a lady. Because of fear, I guess, Elianna never speaks out about this, even when she can. She is willing to be ill-treated by those who are actually her family, and even when someone asks more about her, she tells the same lies that her cousin’s family spout. Actually, I found that recurring theme rather irritating after a while. Why wouldn’t she tell the truth when asked or speak up to the hero on the many occasions when he asked? Instead, she just accepts her fate, and she seems unwilling to try for more of a life; she just bemoans her fate. And she is so apologetic to the dastardly relations—gag. There didn’t seem to be good enough reasons for her to act like this. And I also didn’t quite believe that the hero was so fascinated why her so quickly. The melodrama factor got ratcheted up too many degrees, making the story ridiculous. Even the way things resolved in the epilogue… like so many books of this type. So many romance tropes were used, without apparently being sardonic, that I nearly had to force myself to keep reading; I will admit to having a morbid fascination to see how many cliches this story would have. I found myself wondering if the author meant this as farce: let’s see how cliched I can make this and still have people buy and like it.
Jewel of the Bay by Brea Viragh
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Jewel of the Bay*
Yes, Even Contemporary Romances Can Be Trope-Heavy
I don’t know how I managed it, but this is the second book in as many days where the heroine is on a road trip to somewhere else but is waylaid in a small town, finds a job, and decides to stay there. Makes me wonder whether this is becoming a tired trope in small-town romance. I felt like this story was missing progressive complications through the middle section until the BIG complication. Yes, things were happening around the camp, but there didn’t seem to be progressive complications in terms of the romantic relationship. Much of the middle felt like we were just going from one annoying little camp moment to another. While the characters may have had to deal with camp drama, it should not have felt like the main thrust of the book. The characters never really became wholly real to me.
The Duke of Ravens by Jennifer Monroe
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Duke of Ravens*
Too Melodramatic
What a peculiar historical romance. I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I was put off right away by a word choice mistake in the first sentence. The book also suffered from several information dumps, which I always find annoying as I think background information is better when it is scattered throughout a novel as needed or shown in some way. I also thought that the author made the heroine’s life with her awful husband far too melodramatic to be believable. The author didn’t always use the proper forms of address for nobility. There is a suspense plot in this, and I thought that was better done than the romantic aspect of the book. The suspense plot does have some red herrings. Some characters’ behavior didn’t make sense until the end, which made for a confusing read at times. The cover doesn’t go with the book at all, as the hero would not have dressed like that for the bulk of the book.
Bound by Blood by Tiffany Shand
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Bound By Blood*
Too Much Action, Perhaps?
This book had a lot of action for sure. At times, I felt it was almost too much, as the world the author has created is a complex one, and too many action scenes were stacked one after the other—not giving the reader (or characters) much time to catch her breath. This can actually be a bit tiresome and make a book hard to read. The heroine is an intriguing one, given her past and the hard choices she has had to make, but I didn’t feel like I was quite able to get to know her as well as I would have liked because there was just so much going on. I thought the use of italics was confusing. Sometimes they were for direct thoughts and other times just for emphasis; sometimes directs thoughts were written just in regular type. This sometimes it made it hard to distinguish what an actual word, phrase, or sentence was truly meant to be I thought the secondary characters, her companions, added depth and more twists and turns to the story.
An Unexpected Redemption by Emily Hamsher
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
An Unexpected Redemption*
A Hot Mess!
Despite good intentions, this book is a hot mess! The author strove to write a story that hinged on the beauty of grace and redemption, but some serious faults overshadowed this. The book has a prologue and then jumps ten years ahead, and we don’t really understand how we got from A to B for a while, so it was a little confusing. The author had some rather prodigious information dumps at the beginning, which for me always slows down the pace of a story (and never in a good way). There were many glaring errors in word choice, grammar, usage, and punctuation, enough to be overly distracting from the story. For instance, the word “urethral” was used instead of “ethereal” when describing cherubs, and as you might imagine, that was quite a jarring error! Often in conversation, the word “naught” (nothing) was used instead of “not” (a negation). There were strange punctuation errors all over the place. At a certain point in the book, I felt like I was more making a game of spotting the mistakes and correcting them in my head than actually enjoying the story. I think this story has potential, and the author certainly does as well, but it certainly was not realized here.
Not from the Stars by Christina Britton Conroy
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Not From the Stars*
An Immersive Read into Two Worlds, Edwardian England and the Theatre
I read a lot of historical fiction, but I haven’t read a lot from the Edwardian era. So I enjoyed that this author was not only able to make the Edwardian world feel real but was also able to bring theater to life in an unexpected way. I loved all the references to Shakespeare! This book involves quite a cast of characters, and at times, it is a little tricky to follow the movement of the greater story. There are some surprisingly sexual and violent scenes. If you’re used to reading historical romances, not historical fiction, parts of this book will seem shocking to you. But all in all, it was an immersive read that I found fascinating.
Four Green Fields by Greg McVicker, J. P. Sexton, and Mark Rickerby
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Smashwords, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Four Green Fields*
Take a Literary Trip to Ireland
As an American of Irish descent who has visited Ireland twice, in the 1980s and 1990s, I felt like this book’s stories, insights, and modern poetry very much reflected the Ireland that I knew back then. These three writers have let us into their worlds, both the ones in which they grow up and the ones they are living in now. I did spend some time in Northern Ireland when The Troubles were making an impact on daily lives in numerous ways; this certainly brings back those struggles and gives them a face and voice (so to speak). This book is not wholly focused on Northern Ireland, but a lot of it is about that small patch of the island. We learn a bit about republic sections of Ireland; we also hear stories from a person who is now a part of modern Irish diaspora. The authors have a way of writing that draws you in, whether narrative or poetic, and I can actually hear the words spoken in an Irish brogue; I think the words make more sense if your brain hears them that way! And it is more engaging. While the contents of this book are not always easy ones, I enjoyed this little literary trip back to Ireland.
Used To Build My Websites
NetGalley Badges