I finished this book a few minutes ago and I am still in a daze. When I started this book, I did not know that this was goi**spoiler alert** 4.8 stars
I finished this book a few minutes ago and I am still in a daze. When I started this book, I did not know that this was going to be a coming of age story, with a clean romance. I thought the blurb mysterious but nevertheless just a possibly nice little romance. How wrong I was and how happy I am to be wrong! Any vague notion I may have had before reading was far, far from what I read. Coming of age stories are rarely my cup of tea. The modern trend of recounting family secrets stories, usually by exploring at least 3 different generations of women's lives at one go, is generally a tedious experience for me. This was so not the case with this marvellous book. I got caught into a total whirlwind of soft, amazing and heartfelt emotions. And to my relief, there was no competing generational pov timelines. No, instead I got raw, genuine and tangible human emotions that echoed deeply, all wrapped in a dreamlike, earthly atmospheric setting. I can only stand up and heartily applaud RB for the magnificent prose and story that she chose to share with her readers.
Yes, there was romance and it was deliciously simple and angstily sweet. And though it is not explicitly mentioned in the story, I can't help but be convinced that the meeting of Luna and Jamie, though years in the making despite the numerous threads linking them, had all the hallmarks of sweet fate in action, waiting for just the right time for them to meet and fall in love. To that effect, their sweet romance did feel epic to me and my much contented heart.
But the story was also much, much more than that. The whole family and life story of Luna was breathtakingly captivating and profoundly human (with its flaws and all). It was heartbreaking but also exhilarating and soul reaching. The plot elements touching on Luna's lifelong struggle with Type I diabetes struck close to home in an incredibly relatable way (though I could never pretend to have had the same struggles as Luna) and it enriched the story to an even greater degree. Her 'soulless and sterile' existence also resonated deep and so true, as was her difficulties to maintain personal relationships, and her existential ponderings. I guessed the mystery by the 60% mark but I still enjoyed mightily the slow reveal of all the secrets. By the last page, I wanted to read on and on and remain in Edens Valley's cocoon.
And to top it all, the poem extracts penned by RB were pure delights:
After a beat, he started reading, his tone soft: ‘I thought I knew. Then you kissed me, and I realised I’ve known nothing at all. Sound, taste, scent. I didn’t know colour until there was you.’
Until the Author Note at the end, I had no idea that the story was taking place in Australia. It was sure a pleasant surprise ...more
Reading a Di Palmer is always something. Brooding macho heros, hiding their feelings behind harsh words and thick skins, alwa**spoiler alert** 3 stars
Reading a Di Palmer is always something. Brooding macho heros, hiding their feelings behind harsh words and thick skins, always ready to outrageously bulldoze into the lives of virginal and innocent heroines, whether they are ready for it or not. Hardly in the spirit of modern feminism. But since it is Di Palmer, the cheesy formula, a classic from her, still exudes a singular charm from another time. And to be fair, Connal is not the most arrogant and assholish hero of Di Palmer out there. He even kind of apologised with sincerity more than once for his ugly words to Pepi ...more
Hmm not a bad book. It deals quite heavishly, but well, with certain sensitive topics ((view spoiler)[PTSD, Military traged**spoiler alert** 3.2 stars
Hmm not a bad book. It deals quite heavishly, but well, with certain sensitive topics ((view spoiler)[PTSD, Military tragedy, Miscarriage (hide spoiler)]). And I did not know it when I started this book, but it is a Clean, Christian romance (no big preachy overtones though ...more
This one landed on my TBR list because the h is plus size, but in final there were not much body issues (and none from the **spoiler alert** 1.5 stars
This one landed on my TBR list because the h is plus size, but in final there were not much body issues (and none from the H). Even for a SC book, I found the writing very painfully staccato. There was not much plot (h to pay out her sister's debt to loan shark H, insta-lust, OTT evil sister, HEA) and the smut wasn't even that hot. The saving grace was that it was a quick read, ideal to have some pause between heavier books....more
Oh my goodness, what a fantastic read! After adoring Book 1, Tangled Web, I knew that I had to continue with Book 2. But ev**spoiler alert** 4.5 stars
Oh my goodness, what a fantastic read! After adoring Book 1, Tangled Web, I knew that I had to continue with Book 2. But even then, I did not expect how much it would be good! CM's pen took me back to the world of the Deizian Empire as if I never left in the first place. She digged even deeper into her world building and the details, inc. the mythology, were rich and fascinating. Not only was there a sizzling new romance between Izana and Modius to explore, but CM also shared many plot-worthy chapters from Azurha and Titus' POV ...more
This book was nicely written and it nailed the atmosphere of small, Southern, rural American towns, at least those that are s**spoiler alert** 3 stars
This book was nicely written and it nailed the atmosphere of small, Southern, rural American towns, at least those that are so sweet and welcoming in fiction. However, I do think that the blurb is a bit misleading. I would not qualify the story completely as a romance one, because much of the story telling time was spent on exploring the people around the main characters in the small Tennessee feel-good town (clearly gearing for lots of other books in this series).
It read more like slice of life than romance. There was so little angst between the two leads for 90% of the book that I was quasi yawning. What little angst happening in the last 10% felt fabricated and boring. Esp. since all the mini drama mainly happened because the h, Marlee had a too laid back and slow attitude in having real communications and taking firm decisions (and making them known). I was a bit aghast when she went on her high horse like she had no hand at all in the miscommunications ...more
The start of this book had me on the fence. The writing was very decent (save a few typos and editing issues, but I will live**spoiler alert** 4 stars
The start of this book had me on the fence. The writing was very decent (save a few typos and editing issues, but I will live!) and had a good pace. However, the h, Madelyn at first seemed a bit shallow what with her wishy-washiness about her slowly crumbling marriage. I was even questioning myself where the romance was in all this. However, the plot then went into unexpected avenues and surprise, surprise, I really enjoyed the last two thirds of the book.
TWs: cheating, open marriages turned into disasters, manipulation
Fair warning, it is not a book for everyone. Not because the themes are heavy but because what the characters do in the book might not be to the moral taste of everyone. That said, it is fiction. Though, I do not doubt that RL can get as messy as the book's plot. Personally, I would not have made the choices they did but I understand how for some people this might work, or how they might think it will work for them.
I am normally not attracted with marriages-in-peril books, more so when the element of 'open marriages to save existing marriages' is introduced. But this one had an appeal of its own. Because these tropes were only part of the plot, almost a small part in hindsight. The majority of the book was the romance twist between Madelyn and Kane. I did not expect it and I was agreeably surprised by it. They smelled of the forbidden (even if they did not cheat because their respective marriages were already ended) and they were a hot mess that were only waiting to crash. Although there is an element of insta love/lust on the part of Maddy (not Kane), I did believe in the intensity of their feelings. And honestly, I did not expect the last twist in the last quarter of the book. I found the grovel part original and the separation period realistic. I would definitely have forgiven Kane because even if what he did was twisted and hardly acceptable in RL, as a book boyfriend I am swooning ...more
Possible hard TWs: (view spoiler)[human sex trafficking; abuse environment (rape, torture, physical violence, murder - all**spoiler alert** 3 stars
Possible hard TWs: (view spoiler)[human sex trafficking; abuse environment (rape, torture, physical violence, murder - all on page and /or mentioned frankly, but mildly graphical); murder (on page - mildly graphical). (hide spoiler)]
I started this book because the author was hotly recommended on FB as writing good mafia books. Verdict? Well, the crime world building indeed had dark rich, gritty layers to it. Definitely better done and imagined than most other mafia genre books. The things that Elsie had to go through made me shudder and (view spoiler)[her nine years of being sex trafficked is truly heartbreaking (hide spoiler)]. The writing was decent enough to drive the story. It had its OTT moments but then it is almost expected for the genre.
About the romance, I did believe in the depth of feelings between Elsie and Michael. I will not comment much on the handling of the trauma in their relationship building, because the consequences of deep trauma is unique to each individual. In Elsie's case, I could try to suspend any disbelief. However, what was missing in the book to really make me invested in their romance was the psychology behind why they fell for each other. It was a long book and while I appreciated the time taken to describe how they strongly felt for each other, I needed more visceral build up before; some of these long pages could have been redirected this way.
For instance, Michael has long held himself off of love because of the reality of his crime life, what his brother went through and seeing his father being unfaithful. His angst of not being enough felt real enough and believable. Yet, there was still some link missing to really explain why he felt so undeserved of being loved. I butted against this conundrum everywhere: on one hand I believed in their strong emotions and pain, but on the other there was the psychology missing to say how the emotions came about. Same about Elsie. She suffered but she survived. Her grieving and rebuilding is entirely her own path. But sometimes, she confused the hell out of me because (view spoiler)[sometimes she oscillated between the will to live and save her friends, but within minutes, she would be a defeatist and want to die (hide spoiler)]. I do understand her muddled emotions but again where is the psychology to support it?
And even in the world building, there were odd things occuring that, for lack of better words, I think needed a good editor to round off. E.g.
Reading the blurb, I was vaguely interested although the time period was not my preferred one. But I am so glad I jumped in**spoiler alert** 4.5 stars
Reading the blurb, I was vaguely interested although the time period was not my preferred one. But I am so glad I jumped into it, because I really did not expect that actually reading the story would be such a delightful moment. The writing style won me over completely. It was captivating, delicate, and had that quaint brand of humour that had me grinning silly many a times. The world building just sucked me it, what with all the side characters that had their own interesting background which presages well for the rest of the series. In this book, I did not see the time go as the story developped at a good pace with many surprising plot layers. I got romance, OW machinations, a murder investigation and even some action scenes!
The romance was not a wind sweeping one, BUT it oozed so much charm and sweetness that I really fell for the refreshingly painted characters that Ned and Jane were. There was some OW drama that had some very funny moments though in final the angst was more gently latent than overdramatic. It did fit the ambience of the book. The sex scenes, though few, were decently hot.
Funnily enough, very recently I had complained in a review for another book that the use of the third person narrative with povs alternating every other paragraph made me in for a miserable reading experience. Guess what? Same happened here (though not systematically) and it worked like a charm! It all felt so natural and smooth. I can't explain why this worked in one but not in the other, except perhaps that a great pen does make all the difference!!
There are two specific events that I berated namely, (view spoiler)[the too laissez-faire manner with which Ned treated the Barrington problem (which he disconcertingly happily allowed his brother to settle the issue in his place!), and the way Jane and Vi laid themselves so easily open to the final trap (hide spoiler)]. Also, while the epilogue was nice, it was too short. Nevertheless, I am rating it up in GR because the whole story left me with such a feel-good experience. I was so happy to see that the other siblings had stories as well and happier still that the series is already completed!...more
Possible hard TW: (view spoiler)[rape of h - no graphical details or recounting, mentioned as a past happening and discusse**spoiler alert** 4.2 stars
Possible hard TW: (view spoiler)[rape of h - no graphical details or recounting, mentioned as a past happening and discussed with no details; murder on page and off page - slightly graphical but YMMV; depression episodes - on page, humanly described. (hide spoiler)]
After my most recent book review, I can say in all confidence that the writing style and the plot makes or breaks a book. Coming as a totally opposite reading experience to the last book I reviewed, the writing style in this book carries proudly the book all through. I don't have enough words and sophistication to explain exactly why the writing style of CCG worked for me but I can say that I was damned impressed.
*sigh* This one is totally my fault. Before starting this book, I had the fuzzy recollection that KL is an HP author that I**spoiler alert** 1.2 stars
*sigh* This one is totally my fault. Before starting this book, I had the fuzzy recollection that KL is an HP author that I could never read through because her pen and me were not on the same wavelength. But since it is 2023, I thought that I may have grown up a bit as a reader and maybe I could try once again. Obviously wrong of me.
I found the writing very laborious to read. It was good level English but there is something in the way the sentences were construed that did not sit well with me, my brain and my attention span. There were lots of meandering, boring, repetitive inner thoughts padding what little plot there was - in final, reading each sentence felt like dragging a ton of useless lead around (at one point, I actually counted 24 pages for a scene where the H and h have a few lines of convo, with the rest being page fillers of the characters' lacklustre - and awkwardly inserted - inner thoughts). And the problem was compounded by the use of the 3rd person narrative that switched perspective every other paragraph ...more
Hmmm, a short, easy read but still effective where it counts. The writing was decent, if somewhat lacking some artifice. Wh**spoiler alert** 3.2 stars
Hmmm, a short, easy read but still effective where it counts. The writing was decent, if somewhat lacking some artifice. Which is not a bad thing, but this story did have the huge potential to be a real angst fest had the authors chosen to do so and really go there. As it is, they chose to go straight into things, making all the drama unfold very quickly and solved as fast.
For instance, the very sudden J/P manners of the H, Callan, was outrageously funny and I am glad that Denver called him out several times on the hyper speed he was going into a relationship with her. It came out as super cheesy and even cringey, but candid me could try to just think of him as super laser focused on his woman. However, he did surprise me on how quick he was to believe the worst of Denver. No J/P H worth his salt would have fallen for such shoddy tricks from so obvious villains. But well, I guess the story needed that drama moment and in effect, though it was all cheap thrills, it worked! I even shed a few tears during the angst moments. The grovel was quick, a bit too much for my tastes, but it did mirror the trend of the whole book, and overall, I found the 'taking the time to do it right' to be a sane and sweet path to go.
Mini rant, but each time Callan called her 'Baby' it grated on my nerves. It sounded somehow cheap and easy, esp. when his demonic ex used to call him that all the time ...more
So I ended giving the benefit of the doubt to this new series in my rating. The writing was decent but not captivating and **spoiler alert** 2.5 stars
So I ended giving the benefit of the doubt to this new series in my rating. The writing was decent but not captivating and I had some difficulty to push through given the general ambience inspired by the writing style. Probably a me thing, but the style somehow felt a bit raw around the edges, so that it was not an easy peasy cozy read for me.
I was attracted by the blurb and the academic setting of the detective plot (I generally always fall for that one!). The world building was okayish. The puzzle in itself was mildly interesting, though there were a few silly loopholes in the criminals' plans imho. About the characters, I felt they lacked a bit of depth but since it is the first book, it is to be expected I guess. Alexander was an okay character, and I can see potential there. The main flaw of this book, from my personal appreciation, is its heroine, Saffron. I found her weak and she did not attract my sympathy, what with her watery personality and the blundering and silly ways she led the investigation (very haphazard and luck focused imho). Even the writing threw grave doubts in my mind on her abilities as a scientific and botanist! I know that the genre is usually fraught with confident busibodies, and while it was refreshing that Saffron was different in that respect, the result was not charming or intriguing at all. Not a good sign for the character purporting to hold up a whole new series.
One of my OCDs when reading any book of any genre is to establish the age of the characters and how it checks out with the timeline recounted in the plot. And here, the hinted age of Saffron clashed hard with the timelines mentioned. The fuzziness grated me much and further pushed me still further from Saffron's shoddy characterisation.
Still, since this is Book 1 and the world building was passably engaging, and I did feel the honest work put in by the author, I am upping my rating and possibly looking into Book 2, hoping it gets better.
I am feeling ambivalent on this one. There were things I liked and others that had me more dubious. Overall, it was an okay r**spoiler alert** 3 stars
I am feeling ambivalent on this one. There were things I liked and others that had me more dubious. Overall, it was an okay read but my jury is still out on whether it will ever deserve a re-read. However, I do think that JJ is an interesting author to look into.
I learned years ago to my delight that P&P variations were a thing. But I also learned that not all of them were written an**spoiler alert** 3.5 stars
I learned years ago to my delight that P&P variations were a thing. But I also learned that not all of them were written and plotted equally, notwithstanding the common love the authors share for the original piece. In the past year, I did witness that P&P variations were increasingly the rage, with often authors devoting more than one book on the theme, but I also saluted the freshness of some of these books in embroidering significantly different but still engaging plots around some of the well known key moments of P&P. So far, I have reviewed a few of them, all of which I enjoyed, and have skimmed others (and not finished them, hence no reviews) of lesser quality. For this novella, I am happy to say that it falls within the enjoyed category.
In this book, we are spared thankfully the iconic, yet overused, plot threads relating to Longbourn, Rosings, Pemberley, Lydia/Wickham and Lady Catherine. Instead, FR chose to focus on exploring deeper the very unfair but believably plausible consequences of Darcy's nonchalant first public comment on Elizabeth. That chosen angle felt fresh, along with the other well-thought original plot elements, and was well carried by the author's pen. I also liked that the author seemed to have well pondered on the inner musings of the leads in the original work; her quite deep and insightful analysis of the dynamics animating both Elizabeth and Darcy, at different points of the plot, shone clearly in her writing and was quite appreciable by their simple yet eloquent delivery on page. Her Elizabeth and Darcy were hence a good homage to the originals imho.
What would I have needed for a higher rating? Well, I was not enamored with the first person narrative - not that it was not well written, but I just felt it a bit too 'in your face' for a Regency book. Also, after all the unfortunate consequences that Elizabeth was victim of following Darcy's careless words, and which was the high focus of more or less half of the book, I would have expected his first trial at apology to have been recounted on page rather than brushed over in two lines in a 'Tell' mode. He did do better in later attempts, but I could not understand why the first one was abbreviated that way. And finally, some kind of epilogue would have been nice imho; as it was, the ending felt a bit abrupt (though it was yet another homage to the original).
All in all, I find this novella to be a worthy tribute to Jane Austen, one which will likely appeal to most P&P afficionados.
Delightfully marvellous. The writing was dreamily excellent and just sucked me in, so effortlessly, and refused to let me g**spoiler alert** 4.7 stars
Delightfully marvellous. The writing was dreamily excellent and just sucked me in, so effortlessly, and refused to let me go. Initially, I was intrigued all at the same time by a HR book co-written by the Duchess of York, by the blurb and the beautiful cover. But I was really happily surprised by the quality of the prose and more so by the atmospheric story itself which was not only rich but pulled me in all sorts of unexpected places. In turn a sweet, heart flutteringly worth and intense romance, an ode to women and their thirst to be themselves, a knowledgeable glimpse into the Victorian era and its ways and mores, a cozy detective story, a spy adventure... *sigh* Each and every one of the characters was so well painted and each breathed life on its own (my favourite, besides Mary and Tre, is certainly Lady Rolle). When pens can do that, esp. with so much ease, I can only remain humbly in awe. It was all so deliciously done and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
This was all fiction 'loosely' inspired by history, but fiction at its finest, well researched and laced perfectly, with ageless insights into the feminine condition and a brilliantly uplifting romance at its centre. ...more
A little gem of a short read from a new author! While the opening chapters were a little jarring to get into, the book's fl**spoiler alert** 3.2 stars
A little gem of a short read from a new author! While the opening chapters were a little jarring to get into, the book's flow got better and better and I ended enjoying this cute little story. An ideal palate cleanser read!
The romance between Billy and Grace was very charming overall. While I found the sex scenes (quite filthy hot!) a bit cringey when set against the small town ambience (I think it is just a question of smoother transitions needing to be worked on), I loved the rapport between Billy and Grace and the way it was told. Imho it would have deserved a whole novel to enable more digging into their story, but the sweet feelings were there and were believable. Special note of appreciation on the texts exchange bit, which was a very clever and smooth tactic of the author to push the story forward quickly (given that it is a novella) while still having a wholesome romantic development. There was also some good old fashioned little angst on the family side (H is considered to be on the wrong side of the tracks) and also between the leads. A longer book would have been lovely to take it into a real angst fest.
On the downside, though the book is a novella i.e. with limited room to write, I felt that the book lacked some much needed resolution in terms of how the h's family made their amends (there were some really abusive words thrown around). Also, the book badly needed a good epilogue on the couple's hea. Instead, we got the pov of the heroine of the next book. While interesting, it felt a bit offsetting.
An author to watch imho! Kudos EP for this cutey story!...more
I was attracted by the 'left at the altar' trope, but unfortunately this book was very awkwardly written. The 3rd person n**spoiler alert** 1.2 stars
I was attracted by the 'left at the altar' trope, but unfortunately this book was very awkwardly written. The 3rd person narrative was hard to follow, being leaden somewhat by the very weird writing style. And most of the characters were infuriatingly whiny annoying and vulgar, or gave me whiplash with their confusing personalities - another element that gives little incentive to forgive the already woozy story.
And that's a bit sad because the plot outline was quasi genius and had big potential to be awesome to the level of twisty plot authors like e.g. Natasha Knight... if only the writing had followed! Imagine this raw scenario: the mousy h is highly offended on behalf of her jilted bff and is convinced by said bff to continue to work with the H in order to understand why the brutal public humiliation happened. Along the way, the h gets confused by the H's sudden intimate interest in her, her own attraction to him, her loyalties to her bff, enmities at the workplace and feeling like a pawn in possible mind games played by either the H or her bff (or both) as so many conflicting 'truths' are thrown her way. Definitively a story with so many exciting possibilities! I do applaud the author for such imaginative scenario and all the twists she put in it (the reason for upping my rating a bit)... but the execution needed to be much, much more wholesome.
Here's to hoping that the author takes this friendly criticism constructively and someday gets to rewrite this book better - I would sure be ready to read it....more
I usually find that I enjoy books by RGA because she writes good, original stories that can tug on the angst strings in a ver**spoiler alert** 3 stars
I usually find that I enjoy books by RGA because she writes good, original stories that can tug on the angst strings in a very deceptively casual way. But I guess I have been too spoilt by her epic Her Ruthless Warrior, so much that I could not love that 2nd instalment as much.
It was not a bad book and the comparison to Her Ruthless Warrior is probably unfair. The writing was good, the couple was somewhat sweet and some secondary characters complemented the story well. However, the romance between Lily and Alessandro, though charming, utterly lacked any real tension and edge. They just waded through their mild uncertainties and sedately met halfway each other. Adulting wise it made sense, but epic wise it flopped. I still enjoyed their HEA though (lovely epilogue).
The characterisation at times felt forced. I could not picture Alessandro as heartless; he felt more like a noble beta-ish white knight (and the way he bowed backward to his big boss drove that home even more). He was not the ruthless Alessandro I recalled from and was intrigued by in Her Ruthless Warrior. Nor did Lily really come across as a 'warrior', no matter how many times it was stated on page. I feel like her insecurities should have been dug into a little deeper for her to deserve that title.
Their interactions with little Pietro and the tragic backstory was great, but it did not elevate the romance. It read more like a parenting guide. I think it was a missed opportunity to not have exploited their clashes in the 18 months they were working together. I had such hope when reading the prologue, but instead the story jumped right to when Lily discovered about the real occupation of Alessandro. While reading I had the feeling the book was hastily written for publication and instead of digging into key plot elements, the story got diverted unnecessarily long into much of the same emotional roundabouts and some weak mafia background business (btw, I did not like Matteo at all).
Again, it was not fundamentally a bad book, but clearly not what I expected. However, I do see how a possible novella for Pietro would be interesting (I think exploiting the psychological angle of his childhood issues, his thirst to overcome his limits and the aftermath of what he saw happening to Lily would be great plot threads - all of which were not addressed in this book), as well as a book on a grown up Vicky. I definitely would read those and I trust that RGA can make them into great books.
P.S. It was lovely to get snippets from Hoka and Vi (Book 1) in this book, even though the timeline with Book 1 was at times fuzzy....more
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