Reading Fanatic Reviews
Romantic FantasyThe Butcher by Nathan Burrows
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
The Butcher*
Tastes Like Chicken…
What a quirky story! I am familiar with this author, having read his first book, Blind Justice, and quite enjoying it. It’s hard to imagine two more different stories, and it is to the author’s credit that he can write a legal thriller and a dark comedy. Even though this is a comedy, the author still did seem to get under the characters’ skins, giving enough detail so that the characters felt individual and real. They felt like people I could meet, though I’m not sure I’d want to.
Like other reviewers, I felt that the first part of the book was a little slow going. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. I’ve read other British writers whom I like who do a similar slow build, layering events and showing nuances of character before we get to the real action. It’s just rare today–a let’s-get-to-it attitude being more common–so it seems usual. Once I understood what the author was doing, though, I was willing just to sit back, read, and trust that he was going to get me there. And the book did not disappoint.
I found myself wondering how accurate this book is about the way that food and restaurant inspection is done in England. My father was a health inspector in the United States over 20 years ago–so I’ve seen the process here up close–and I found Emily’s time as a bumbling newbie health inspector interesting to watch. I have a feeling my dad would have related to some of it! I think he would have liked doing so few inspections, too! Also, oh, my goodness, the Pinch brothers! What an unusual way they found out of their situation. It was definitely a Fried Green Tomatoes moment. Parts of this book are laugh-out-loud funny, although, given the subject, you almost feel a little guilty doing so. Almost.
Whether he’s writing a dark comedy or legal thriller, Nathan Burrows has such a command of the written word that his books are hard to put down.
Snowglobes and Secrets by Laina Turner
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Snowglobes and Secrets*
Murder Before New Shop Even Opens
The book starts off with a bang with a 911 call to report a dead body. Read Wine has not even opened yet, but the owners found a dead body who is well-known to them. It is the woman whom Sally’s husband left her for. This, of course, makes Sally suspect number one in the women’s murder. Her friends and fellow co-owners, Trixie and Cora, do not believe but she would be capable of it and seek clues that will track down the real killer. The killer who wants the money is still stalking Trixie.
Who killed the woman? Will the killer get what he wants? What lengths will the women go to on both counts?
I am of several minds about this book. I’ve read a lot of this author’s books lately, and I can see an improvement in her writing style around the depth of characterization and more solid narrative prose. That being said, she really needs to hire a good editor or proofreader–or replace the one she has–as this book is really flawed in terms of grammar, punctuation, and usage. I also thought that she had Trixie do something stupid and dangerous, and something that I am not sure fits with the character that we’ve seen in the prequel and previously in this book. In general, too, I’m not a fan of serialized novels unless that is stated clearly. That is not the case in this series. Supposedly this series is a prequel, book 1, and book 2, but they’re more like episodes in a longer work. I prefer to know these kinds of things at the beginning.
Bulwark by Brit Lunden
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Bulwark*
Creepy Tale Defies Categorization
The fictional town of Bulwark, Georgia, is a town of secrets and mysteries. When this book opens, sheriff Clay is investigating a strange, large puggle that has a car trapped inside it. Soon, we meet other residents of the town, as well as injured newcomers who claim their children were stolen by a witch who lives in a gingerbread house on a street that Clay has never heard of. Taking the couple to the ED, Clay meets his estranged wife, Jenna, who is a nurse there; they are divorcing due to struggling with the disappearance of their daughter but haven’t signed the papers yet to make it official.
What’s going on in this small town? What other strange things will the sheriff find? Who will die? Who is in danger? What will happen with Clay and Jenna?
To me, this book has an almost Twilight Zone or Twin Peaks feel to it. If you decide to read this book, you can choose to go into it knowing that little will make sense for quite a while. If you can let go and allow that to happen, you might enjoy the ride because this book does take you to strange places.
On the book review site where I downloaded the ARC for this book, it was listed as a cozy mystery, a paranormal romance, and a small-town romance. The cover says paranormal thriller. I can see where the author would have a hard time pinning down the specific genre or genres of this book. I would say there are paranormal aspects, romantic aspect, but I wouldn’t call it a paranormal romance as that suggests to me that, say, a witch and/or shifter love story is happening. That’s not what happens here. The book is super slow burn until you get to the end, so I wouldn’t quite call it a thriller either. There’s definitely an element of the gothic here as well with the creepy, hidden mansion. It’s definitely not a cozy as it is far too dark for that. Although it takes place in a small town, I wouldn’t call it a “small-town romance” either. Maybe call it paranormal suspense with romantic aspects, but even that might not be wholly accurate as the paranormal elements weren’t clear until later in the book.
I am a registered nurse and have worked night shift in the hospital. There are definitely some medical and nursing errors in the book, but they most likely would not disturb anyone who is not a medical or nursing professional.
In a fun twist, the book has two alternate endings for the reader to enjoy and choose from.
Booked for Murder by Laina Turner
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Booked for Murder*
Chick Lit with a Side of Mystery
This prequel to the Read Wine series introduces us to the three ladies who will be running the bookshop/coffee and wine bar. The first part of the book feels more like chick lit rather than a mystery. All the women seem to be at pivotal points in their lives when they decide to make open the store (divorce, losing a job, etc.). Soon, however, days before they get the shop going, things start to seem to go awry. Who is trying to thwart them?
This is a very short prequel that ends on a cliffhanger, unfortunately. The book does have some issues with formatting. I did receive an ARC of this, so I don’t know if the problem exists as well in the commercial download. I did check the 10% available on Amazon, but it ended just before the problems with formatting started in my edition. Along with these formatting issues, there are some problems with grammar, punctuation, and usage.
I like the interaction of the three friends, and I’m interested to see how that pans out in the rest of the series–as well as get that resolution did the cliffhanger.
Deacon by M. J. Perry
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Deacon*
More Troubles with the Vampires
At the start of the book, Deacon learns that the rogue vampires have taken Milly. He is able to rescue her, and he takes her back the alpha’s home. He tells her more about his background of being turned in a partial vampire after having survived a vampire bite; his wolf hasn’t been able to shift since. He had pushed her away earlier in order to protect her, but they both know that they are mated and meant to be together.
Have they subdued the rogue band of vampires? Will Deacon and Milly consummate their bond? What other dangers lie in store for them and the rest of the pack?
I found this book a little hard to read at times, even though the relationship between Deacon and Milly was fascinating to read, because there were formatting, punctuation, and grammar issues. In particular, the author seems to like to write the narrative passages in one long paragraph whenever they occur, not breaking them into smaller paragraphs for easier reading. One such paragraph was four pages long on my Kindle, and I don’t use large type. Commas are often problematic in indie published work, and this book had issues with commas missing between independent clauses in compound sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction as well as others. Some quote marks were inappropriately placed. The plural *vampires* was misspelled once as vampire’s. The dialogue, too, didn’t seem natural, not the way people actually speak. There wasn’t enough distinction between each character’s dialogue as well; everyone seemed to talk like each other.
Ladies and Scoundrels: Volume 2 by Amanda Mariel
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Ladies and Scoundrels: Volume 2*
Enjoyed One of the Stories…
This book contains two early Victorian novellas by one author, Scandalous Wallflower and Scandalous Liaison. Both books are quite short and can be read in less than an hour each.
The first novella, Scandalous Wallflower, does show Jane, the wallflower, in a rather scandalous position–quite literally. She is asleep in her chamber during a house party when a man comes in and undresses! Rather than kick him out, maiden Jane allows him to stay and enjoys a few kisses and caresses before he falls asleep. When morning comes, though, all heck breaks loose when her brother, his wife, and a notorious gossip find them in her room with her nighttime interloper half-dressed. How will this work out for Jane and Caleb, the Marquess in her room? this story had some delightfully steamy moments as well as some humorous ones. They’re both broken people in different ways, and after a little bit of strife, they figure out how to mend each other. The good but simple plot was appropriate for the length of the novella.
Despite the title of Scandalous Liaison, considering the heroine is a widow and the liaison’s duration, there is not too much scandal. Grace and Lewis had courted when she was a debutante, but her family required that she marry a duke to help save the family’s fortunes. Now some twenty years later, they meet again for the baptism of his great-niece. Romantic sparks fly. While I appreciated that this novel had an older heroine–and that is not common in Victorian romance–this story is one that I believe requires more than a novella to tell properly. The pacing felt off for the entire novella and especially so with the abrupt end. The reason for the conflict didn’t feel like enough to keep them apart if it is true that they have regretted so much for so long. I so enjoyed the first one of this set that I hoped it would be the same for this one, but I didn’t like it nearly as much. To me, the characters lacked chemistry and didn’t really have a chance to develop as characters.
There were a few issues with wrong word choice (lathe/lave, bear/bare, good/said, worship/warship[!], and emblazoned used incorrectly) as well as an occasional wrong letter thrown in. I found myself wondering if the books had been professionally edited.
The stories aren’t evenly matched, as I felt that the first one was much stronger in terms of empathetic characters, solid backstory, conflict, and finally, an appropriate type of plot for the length of the stories.
The Flexible Pescatarian by Jo Pratt
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
The Flexible Pescatarian*
Flexible for Both Omnivores and Vegetarians
Are you familiar with the concept of pescetarianism? It is most easily defined as vegetarianism plus fish, but the author of this book refers to see it the other way around: a pescatarian is one who would like to eat a more vegetarian diet, eschewing meats of the land, but still desires to have fish and shellfish.
I am just a straight-up vegetarian, but I was intrigued by the concept of this book. Nearly every recipe is either a vegetarian dish that can be made flexible with seafood additions, a seafood dish that can be made vegetarian with substitutions, or has a component that is vegetarian (like a homemade granola that’s a part of a fish dish). The book did not disappoint in its creativity. The author chose some surprising substitutions for fish, especially in recipes that are considered to be fish dishes like Ceviche or Herring and Potato Salad. For the ceviche, the author swapped out hearts of palm for the fish, while in the salad recipe, goat’s cheese was used (which even some seafood lovers may prefer!).
The author is British but does provide American weights and measures for ingredients. There is definitely is British phrasing, vocabulary, and punctuation, but that just adds to the unique character of the cookbook. The book is simply divided into just four chapters: Snack & Small Plates, Soups & Curries, Mains, and Salads & Sides.
Whether you are a vegetarian, a pescatarian, or omnivore who just wants to add creative seafood dishes to their repertoire, you will find this cookbook brimming with recipes that will most likely inspire your own creativity.
Wanted by the Viking by Calyope Adams and Joanna Davis
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Waned by the Viking*
Anglo-Saxon Maid Becomes Obsession of Viking Raider
A Viking raider had become entranced with an Anglo-Saxon woman on a previous raid. Now, he is doing his best to find her again. He wishes to bed and wed her. After a little time, he does find her, but she is unwilling to go along with his wishes as she believes that losing her virginity would decrease her abilities as a healer. He threatens people at the inn where he found her, and she concedes.
There are many issues with this book. Even my brief description above gives a sense of one of them. The author also seems to have a love of exclamation points. They are scattered throughout the text with sometimes several on each Kindle page. It doesn’t look like this book was professionally edited nor was spell check used, as I caught several spelling mistakes, including a number right in the middle of a word and missing letters; the word Viking was even misspelled once. The plot was thin and very steamy. In fact, the plot seems to exist just to give a framework for the intimate moments. Having just done a little reading on the historical Vikings, several blunders caught my eye, one being that they would ever be one king of the all the Vikings. The geographical area of the peoples who did vikingr was vast and spread out; vikingr describes more of an act than a distinct people, and several geographically distinct groups of people had this tradition. I know, I know; I’m being too picky about history in a light piece of erotica!
This is really just Viking erotica, so if that suits your fancy, you might enjoy this book.
Textbook Murder by Laina Turner
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and Angus & Robertson
Textbook Murder*
Lawyer who Doesn’t Like to Practice Law Investigates Murder
Chloe is a lawyer who doesn’t like practicing the law! While working as an office manager at a law firm, she has been an adjunct professor of law on the side. Going to interview for a full-time position at Spencer University, she doesn’t expect to get it. She does, and on her first day at the university, she discovers the man she has come to replace lying dead on his desk. He was planning to take a sabbatical from teaching to defend a man who is charged with embezzlement, Randall Whittier. Chloe decides to go to the dead professor’s home, where she runs into Randall. Rather quickly she determines that he is not directly involved in the professor’s murder, and the two team up to help get to the bottom of what’s going on.
Is Chloe correct in her assessment of Randall? Who would want the Professor dead?
I enjoyed the second book of this new series by Laina Turner. I was expecting to see the amateur sleuth from the previous book here again, but I was pleasantly surprised so discover that, while the university is going to stay the same in the series, the amateur sleuths will change. I enjoyed the interaction between Chloe and Randall, two strangers who don’t know each other but want to figure out what has transpired.
Weight Loss by Bicha Belle
eBook was taken down after my review.
Weight Loss by Bicha Belle*
Some Content Taken from Another Source
This will not be a regular book review like I typically write. I considered not leaving a review, but I felt it my duty to warn other readers about this book.
After the first book I read by this author appeared to be partially taken from other sources, I decided to do a little research on this book. I found it, too, to be at least partially from an article on the Internet. The section on sugar in Chapter 2 about the causes of weight gain appears to be taken nearly word for word from an article from Healthline.com written by Jillian Kubala, MS, RD.
Much of the book is written in the first person. I sincerely hope that those portions are truly from the author’s perspective.
In any event, there is nothing truly new in this very short guide. There are other books more worth your time.
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