Category Archives: book review

Douglas: Lord of Heartache by Grace Burrows

book review January 19, 2015 Comments: 2

I am going to review Grace Burrows’ historical romance Douglas: Lord of Heartache by posting spoilers and complaints. One of them is informative, yet icky. You have been warned.

What is with Grace Burrows and precious bodily fluids? She’s not the only one who mentions them, but she is the only one whom I ever read that actually uses the term “mop up”. Is it for verisimilitude? Is it just her thing? It’s not that she discusses them more than others, but there’s an extra layer of prurience and “clean up on aisle 6!” to it.

The heroine, Gwen, has had (unpleasant) sex once in her life and became pregnant, yet the second time she participates, she gives no thought to pregnancy. From my limited experience, I know Burrows writes instant family romances, but does the small human walking around and calling her “Mama” not tweak any sense of caution? MOREOVER, despite getting pregnant the only other time she indulged, the heroine has to be told by the hero of her condition. She didn’t realise, despite having lived in seclusion as a result of her transgressions, and, this is the big clue, missing her period, that she is pregnant.  The hero has been away for some time, but with just Gwen’s naps to go on, he draws a correct conclusion. How does she not fall down more? In a genre built around pseudo-historical realities, far-fetched plotting, inconceivable social situations, and a hot man for every overlooked woman’s bed, the “and then my beloved whispered in my ear that I have fallen gravid” trope is one of the most ridiculous.

Novellas have to get in and get out quickly (kind of like Gwen’s sex life, HEY-O) and Douglas: Lord of Heartache managed to pack some melodrama into the compact length. Stilted, illogical melodrama that lots of people must love because Burrows is a tremendously successful genre writer. I don’t get it and that is a shame because she has a vast back catalogue and I do so love to storm through those.

 

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by writer or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful which includes the aforementioned observations.

The Complete Reading List by Author

book review January 1, 2015 Comments: 35

Short Version: Recommended books are in bold, reviewed books are linked, these are ruthlessly streamlined recommendations lists –

So You Want to Read a (Historical) Romance…
Ten Great Romance Novellas to Get You Started
Plus just for funsies: The Worst Romance Novels I Have Ever Read

I have more content based lists over there on the right  –>

Annual Reading Tallies & Author Commentary 2012 – 2017
On reading romance: Emotional Version and Pseudo-Intellectual Version.

My AUTOBUY List (Links Will Take You to a Summary of the Author’s Catalogue)
Tessa Dare (on probation right now actually)
Laura Florand Though she stopped publishing.
Talia Hibbert
Lisa Kleypas   The Queen for a very long time. Her back catalog is very deep and strong.
Julie Anne Long  Historicals only
Courtney Milan  The. Very. Best.
Lucy Parker Delightful. witty contemporaries
Sally Thorne Because her debut was just that good!

-A-
Albert, Annabeth Waiting for Clark (Bryce/Clark)
Albert, Annabeth Save the Date (Randall/Hunter)
Alexander, R.G. Ravenous novella (Declan/Trick/Jennifer)
Alexander, Victoria Love with the Proper Husband (Marcus/Gwen)
Alexander, Victoria Lady Amelia’s Secret Lover novella (Robert/Amelia)
Alexander, Victoria The Prince’s Bride (Rand/Jocelyn)
Alexander, Victoria The Importance of Being Wicked (Winfield/Miranda)
Alexander, Victoria Lord Stillwell’s Excellent Engagements novella (Winfield/ Felicia&Lucy&Caroline)
Alvarez, Tracey In Too Deep (West/Piper)
Andre, Bella The Way You Look Tonight (Rafe/Brooke)
Ann, Jewel E. When Life Happened (Gus/Parker)
Ashe, Katharine In the Arms of a Marquess (Ben)
Ashley, Jennifer The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie (Ian, not surprisingly/Beth) – GENRE OUTLINE
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The Survivors’ Club: The Arrangement and The Escape by Mary Balogh

book review December 22, 2014 Leave a comment

My theory that there are more soldiers in Regency romances with PTSD than served in the Napoleonic Wars continues to hold water.

Mary Balogh has been publishing romances since the year I was eligible to vote. Not surprisingly, she is a consistent writer of good quality. I have only read about six of her books, but I believe that the final book of her Slightly Series, Slightly Dangerous, is a classic. She likely has at least one more and as I wait for new books from my favourite authors, I should probably try to find out what they are.

The Survivors’ Club Series:
The Proposal  (Hugo/Gwen) – pleasant
The Arrangement  (Vincent/Sophia) – very sweet, understated
The Escape (Benedict/Samantha) – meh
Only Enchanting (Flavian/Agnes) – Wonderful, read this one. Read it twice.
Only a Promise  (Ralph/Chloe) – very good
Only a Kiss (Percy/Imogen) – meh
Only Beloved – sweet

The Arrangement

From Amazon: Desperate to escape his mother’s matchmaking, Vincent Hunt, Viscount Darleigh, flees to a remote country village. But even there, another marital trap is sprung. So when Miss Sophia Fry’s intervention on his behalf finds her unceremoniously booted from her guardian’s home, Vincent is compelled to act. He may have been blinded in battle, but he can see a solution to both their problems: marriage.

A book about kind, broken people falling in love, Vincent and especially Sophia are lovely people dealing with the blows that life has seen fit to give them. He, blinded in battle, is trying not so much to rebuild his life, but to rediscover his freedom and she, belittled and unwanted, the liberty to be herself and  make a life on her own terms. The gentle, but deep, mutual devotion they come to share made this a sweet story

The Escape

From Amazon: After surviving the Napoleonic Wars, Sir Benedict Harper is struggling to move on, his body and spirit in need of a healing touch. Never does Ben imagine that hope will come in the form of a beautiful woman who has seen her own share of suffering. After the lingering death of her husband, Samantha McKay is at the mercy of her oppressive in-laws—until she plots an escape to distant Wales to claim a house she has inherited. Being a gentleman, Ben insists that he escort her on the fateful journey.

I remember swimming and that the heroine’s mother-in-law is a b*tch of the first water. Those two aquatic-themed tidbits are unrelated. The Escape may not have been my most closely read book of the year, but it’s not the least. Other than the swimming and the bitchiness, I’m a little fuzzy on the whole thing. It’s one of those novels where a couple is thrown together, go on a road trip, and decide on a brief affair that gets a permanent extension. He’s wounded in body and soul, she’s a mentally abused shut-in from a kingdom far, far away. Things work out and this process involves canoodling.

The Arrangement and The Escape were both library books and I am likely to seek out more books from The Survivors’ Club, but not to pay for them. Mary Balogh’s publisher is not savvy when it comes to e-book pricing. If copies were $3.99 or less, I would stock up, but they leave their prices high, even for her back catalogue, so it’s the library for me.

Captious Aside: Does anyone else question whether it should be “Survivor’s Club” or Survivors’ Club”? It should be the latter, right? It’s not even consistent when I look it up online.

Also by Mary Balogh:

A Handful of Gold – Meh, but I did have fun reviewing it.
Slightly Dangerous – CLASSIC

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

Knitting in the City Series: Neanderthal Seeks Human, Neanderthal Marries Human & Love Hacked by Penny Reid

book review December 15, 2014 Comments: 2

Don’t worry, despite the title it’s not one of these:

saur

Now, you can’t unsee it either.

The Knitting in the City contemporary romance series is extremely highly-rated on Amazon and I both do and do not understand why. I don’t know what juju is in these books, but I keep re-reading the ones I have, particularly Neanderthal Seeks Human and Neanderthal Marries Human which both focus on the same couple. Re-readability is a kind of litmus test for me with this genre. I interact with the novels differently than I do other books. If one grabs me, I will reread my favourite sections and revisit the book again and again. If I really like it, such as A Kiss for Midwinter, I will read it again from cover to cover. (Note: I did this yesterday.) and not just the good bits. That does not mean what you think it means.

Knitting in the City Series

  1. Neanderthal Seeks Human – Strangely compelling
  2. Friends Without Benefits – Meh
  3. Neanderthal Marries Human – More strangely compelling
  4. Love Hacked – Pretty darn good
  5. Beauty and the Mustache – Really liked it
  6. Ninja at First Sight – quite good
  7. Happily Ever Ninja – frustrating
  8. Dating-ish: A Humanoid Romance
  9. A Marriage of Inconvenience

The heroine of Neanderthal Seeks Human and Neanderthal Marries Human, Janie, is both wonderfully quirky and highly capable. A buxom goddess, her sense of self is in contradiction to how other people perceive her. A first person narrator, she misinterprets or is oblivious to a lot of what goes on around her, experiencing the romantic self-doubt even the most together people feel. Janie is very likeable and that goes a long way. She might misunderstand, but she is smart and kind. I would have like to hear the hero’s perspective as well and the second book, Neanderthal Marries Human, incorporates it with good results.

Quinn Sullivan (Holy romance novel name, Batman!), owns a large security firm. He’s self-made and has a dubious past. Taciturn and stoic, he has many qualities that would be really annoying in real life, but are perfectly groovy in a hero. I enjoy these large, quiet protector types, even though such a creature would drive me crazy almost instantly were he real. Quinn communicates almost exclusively with his eyes, slight changes in the way he holds his mouth, and with his hands. He can’t keep them off of Janie. I cannot resist a besotted hero.

While the Neanderthal love story was sweet, the secondary plot was more dramatic in nature and a little cray-cray: Major events being dropped in and then glossed over, tons of family baggage, and things taking a turn for Too Much.

Like the Neanderthal books, Love Hacked suffered from cloak-and-dagger-and-not-really-unwilling-suspension-of-disbelief sub-plotting and benefited from a sweet relationship. The hero, Alex, was different from almost any I’ve read. Filling a usual heroine’s role, the Victim of Circumstance, he has a very difficult past, a not much less complicated present, and a heroine, Sandra (Holy not a romance novel name, Batman!), who not so much rescues him, but accepts him as he is. He is also the youngest hero I’ve ever read. He has crammed a lot into his young life and this makes the match believable.

Was that coherent? Do I care? Did I stutter? I have been working long days for the past 10 weeks (poor me) and these three Knitting in the City books have become the vodka tonics to my long day. To be perfectly honest, with some romances, – not these – this has meant skipping from the set up to when the couple first gets together. Plain escapism isn’t enough, I require full immersion and recurring familiar escapism, so I re-read. Apparently, my work brain needs to be subsumed immediately and can’t be bothered with all that lovingly crafted exposition. Revisiting books that are already familiar or have recently become so [cough]theseones[cough] fills the bill.

Question: Sandra is 28 and a practicing psychiatrist. Doesn’t that take about 12 years? Would she be done with her undergrad/medical school/residency already?

Penny Reid’s Catalogue gives an overview of her published works , some of which I recommend and some of which I dislike intensely.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

The Season Series: Season for Temptation, Season for Surrender, and Season for Scandal Season for Desire by Theresa Romain

book review December 14, 2014 Leave a comment

Confession: I blasted through all four books in the Season Series some weeks ago and while they left an impression, they did not leave a great deal of detail. No disrespect to Theresa Romain intended, I would recommend them as pleasant escapism, but everyday life has been quite busy of late and reading these books was taking a hit of reality evasion followed by a black out.

Season for Temptation (James/Julia)

James has come to spend Christmas with his fiancee’s family. Neither he, nor Louisa, are exactly on fire for each other, but they find one another pleasant and could do worse. Fortunately and unfortunately, Louisa has a younger sister, Julia, who takes one look at James, and he her, and finds a true match.

Season for Surrender (Alex/Louisa)

Louisa is not sorry that her engagement fell through, but she is tired of the conciliatory looks and remarks. She is persuaded to attend Alexander, Lord Xavier’s scandalous holiday house party. She wants the opportunity for a bit of adventure before descending into spinsterhood. Bonding over a mutual love of books and libraries Louisa and Xavier make their way towards a partnership. She needs to overcome her shyness, he needs to overcome some bad habits.

Wonderful Period Detail: When he invites Louisa to call him by his first name, Alex realises that at no point in his life has anyone ever really done so.

Season for Scandal (Jane/Edmund)

Alex, Lord Xavier has a handful of a cousin, Jane, who has a habit of gambling to make ends meet. When a game goes awry and crippling financial obligations result, she is extricated by Edmund Ware, Baron Kirkpatrick. They make a marriage of convenience which goes well, goes very wrong, and comes right in the end.

Season for Desire (Giles/Audrina)

The hero is an American. GADZOOKS! Giles and his father are in England on the trail of a family treasure. A chance meeting with Lady Audrina Bradleigh and a meteorological occurrence lead to a partnership in the search. Not surprisingly, this leads to another partnership as well.

The Season Series was notable for its excellent juxtaposition of historical detail, well counter-balanced expressions of physical affection, and interesting characters. Often these books have either history or romance on their side, so it was nice to read novels with both. The second book, Season for Surrender, was my favourite, but I would recommend all of them. They have a fine sense of fun and successfully become serious when they needed to; the people felt real and the historical elements realistic, and that is not as common as one might think in the genre. As long as the emotional lives of the characters ring true, historical waffling can be overlooked to some extent, but it is still a pleasure when the two are successfully dovetailed.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

Ridiculous by D.L. Carter

book review December 1, 2014 Leave a comment

Historical or otherwise, there are two character types each for men and women in romance novels and seven plots. The reader knows the heroine always wins the right to determine her own fate and seek her own happiness. What varies is the quality and inventiveness of the writing. Ridiculous by D.L. Carter is a keeper. By turns funny and charming, it delivers a wonderful piece of escapist entertainment. Use this Amazon link to buy the novel.

Now some words to describe this book and Carter’s writing:

Witty, clever, fun, light, pleasantly salacious.

Now some sentences to describe the plot:

Her skinflint cousin dead and facing greater penury than even her current circumstances of abuse and menial informal servitude provide, Millicent exploits her physical resemblance to her recently deceased relation to take his place. Mr. North’s body goes into a coffin, Millicent is mourned, and her mother and sisters have a chance at an easier life after narrowly avoiding the workhouse.

Tall and lithe enough to pass as a man in ill-fitting clothes, Millicent moves her family to Bath. When Millicent decides to visit her/Mr. North’s property in Wales, she runs across an overturned carriage holding our hero, Timothy Shoffer, Duke and latent Greek God, plus his sister and chaperone. A companionable relationship is formed, Millicent falls in love as does the Duke, secrets are revealed, happilies are ever aftered.

Now a summary paragraph in closing:

There was nothing new to see in Ridiculous just a very well turned and highly enjoyable Regency romance. Fresh writing goes a long way in these books and is always a delight to discover. I especially enjoyed Millicent’s acknowledgement that she had painted herself into a corner with her hastily cobbled together plan and the way she revels in her freedom when masquerading as a man. D.L. Carter has just one other book in the genre, Crimes of the Brothers, which I have purchased and will read next.

Lastly, my review boilerplate:

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

 

Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James Series: Once More, My Darling Rogue by Lorraine Heath

book review November 30, 2014 Leave a comment

Short Version: NO!

Medium Version: My romance spirit guide, Malin, gave me this book and guessed it based on the blurb.

It’s a Victorian romance this –

overboard

 plus a Victorian romance that –

taming

 resulting in a Victorian romance reading experience of:

stabby

Long Version:

While continuing to be an author I try to avoid actually paying for Lorraine Heath is solidly B-Minus List writer with some decent books under her belt. She can be dated in her plotting and characters and Once More, My Darling Rogue is no exception.

Lady Ophelia (God is kind, so she is called Phee by her friends) is an uptight snob, a Mean Girl. Gaming Hell owner Drake is a member of her social set, the adopted urchin son of a family friend. Drake’s sister and Phee’s best friend was the heroine of the first book in this series, When the Duke Was Wicked. It was not really a success either, but it did not inculcate violent urges. Phee has had snobbery engrained in her from an early age, which is admittedly historically accurate, and she is particularly awful to Drake. She treats him like a servant. He puts up with it, but it is wearing thin. They each wear masks to protect themselves and hide their true blah blah blah. You can see where this is going. The movie posters gave it away.

Phee has an accident and loses her memory. Drake conveniently finds and takes her in to his opportunely newly purchased, and thus undecorated and under-minioned home. Telling her she is his housekeeper/cook/maid of all work, he lets this illusion go on for more than .1473 seconds and it crosses the line into unforgivable. I remember thinking things like, “If these two embark on a physical relationship before she regains her memory I’m going to go postal!” They did and I didn’t, but I finished the book out of spite. There was some vague rationale about her unhappy past and the healing that comes with forgetfulness, but to hell with that. All I know is that her character flaws were rooted in trauma and SOMEHOW the fact that the character development that came with new trauma Drake inflicted was liberating for her is supposed to make it okay. It does not.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

Also by Lorraine Heath, But for Romance Novel Withdrawal Emergencies Only:

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The Mackenzie Series: Scandal and the Duchess by Jennifer Ashley

book review September 28, 2014 Leave a comment

Scandal and the Duchess is a fabulous romance novel title. Five stars for that. All gold.

I continue to lovehate Jennifer Ashley, but the fact that I have read everything in her Mackenzie series would seem to indicate that she is my guilty pleasure. Despite frequently overwrought plotting, but with sincere emotional connections and excellent smolder, I just keep reading her books, and in a couple of cases re-reading them. Maybe I enjoy her brand of tortured heroes more than I like to admit. Scandal and the Duchess is restrained from that perspective and a mostly gentle romp with a moustache twirling villain thrown in.

Rose, Dowager Duchess of Southdown, is the zaftig and scandalous second wife of the erstwhile Duke. The new His Grace has successfully blocked any knowledge of his father’s will and Rose has been left dependent on her former coachman’s hospitality. As her husband, whom she genuinely cared for, died early in their marriage, she has become a figure of public speculation. Obviously, she is a Victorian sex bomb whose appetites overwhelmed the old guy, though he did die happy. One night, while out and about being pursued by scandal mongers, she is literally run into by Captain Steven Sinclair. Three sheets to the wind, he still knows a good thing when he lands on it. Rose misunderstands his situation and offers a place to crash and in the morning, sober and deliciously disheveled, he suggests a false engagement to get the reporters off her back.

Steven and Rose embark on an “engagement” that, it is a romance novella after all, quickly becomes a genuine love match. It seems Rose’s husband liked puzzles and left her an inheritance if only she and Steven can figure out where and what it is. It’s an efficient McGuffin that does the job nicely. They gad about looking for clues and being sexually attracted to each other. Steven is a Mackenzie in-law, so characters from previous books in the series pop up, in particular the ones from her most popular novels. They have a cursory participation based mostly on being in the same room as the hero and heroine.

Scandal and the Duchess was light and pleasant-ish. There was less drang and virtually no sturm which is quite a change for Ashley. The novella felt perfunctory and yet I’ll still read the next one. Ashley has a formula that works well (read: profitably) for her and is an incredibly prolific author. She currently produces at least three different series under two different pseudonyms. The Mackenzie series alone has seven novels and three novellas published since 2009, with one more of each planned into 2015. She keeps pumping them out and I keep reading them, thus drowning out my clearly disingenuous protestations of ambivalence towards her work. It’s the sincere, emotional and romantic moments. I live in hope for them every time.

A summary of Jennifer Ashley’s catalogue can be found here. Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

 

The American Heiress in London Series: How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days by Laura Lee Guhrke

book review September 23, 2014 Leave a comment

The second book in Laura Lee Guhrke’s “An American Heiress in London” historical romance series, How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days, focuses on a marriage of convenience under renovation. It was rather sweet in its way, but Guhrke continues to be a library loan author for me. I will likely read the rest of the series, but I will not purchase the books.

Disgraced and shamed by an involuntary sexual encounter, such is the way of things, Edie has wealth beyond the dreams of avarice and a desperate need not to return to New York where her entirely unfair humiliation will continue hourly and for the rest of her life. Spotting the eligible, handsome, and, this is the helpful bit, impecunious Stuart, Duke of Something, she quickly makes and acts on a plan. Gossip reports that Stuart wants to go on an extended expedition to Africa, so Edie offers him the deal of a lifetime within five minutes of first setting eyes on him: They will marry, she will be the duchess to his in absentia duke, and his financial woes will disappear, but he must never return. Stuart had rather liked the look of Edie before the bargain was presented, but/and he leaps at her offer. They will marry and live together for six weeks before he “abandons” her and his life in England. You think they are going to fall in love and he never leaves, right? Wrong. He bolts after four weeks.

Five years later…

Having almost died from wounds sustained in a lion attack –  which you must admit is so much more manly than nearly succumbing to a parasitic infection – Stuart has reassessed his life and decided return to  England’s green and pleasant land. He wants a quiet life with his wife and, hopefully, children. Edie is horrified by his return. She loves the niche she has carved for herself. She has friends, respect, and has taken excellent care of the duchy. She neither needs, nor wants, a husband, but she cannot get a divorce without grounds and needs Stuart to agree to a legal separation as an alternative. Edie and Stuart embark on a wager. If Edie chooses to kiss him within 10 days, they will continue their marriage. If she does not, he signs the legal separation contract. You think they are going to fall in love and he never leaves, right? Correct. Stuart is a sweet and funny man eager to see if that spark he felt for Edie during their contractually agreed upon romance is still there. She is a kind and sincere person who has learned to live with her wounds, if not heal them. The restlessness that made Stuart leave is apparently resolved and he will not pine for his days of adventure. I didn’t buy that for a second, but he and Edie agree to find their way together which is, after all, what one looks for in a romance novel.

The American Heiress in London series:

When the Marquess Met His Match – pleasant and serviceable
How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days – please see above
Catch a Falling Heiress – January 2015

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James Series: When the Duke Was Wicked by Lorraine Heath

book review September 17, 2014 Leave a comment

Review Gesture Using My Romance Novel Fill-in-the-Blank Template:

When the Duke Was Wicked is a romance of the “you are everything I never knew I always wanted” variety: Boy meets girl. Girl has always loved Boy. Boy has experienced great loss and vowed never to love again. Girl pretends to seek Boy’s advice in finding a genuine suitor. But can he bear to see her with another man? Boy and girl move forward together secure in their love and commitment.

A historical romance set in 19th century London, When the Duke Was Wicked is my fifteenth book by this author, though I have only paid for three or four of them. I generally find her work a good time filler, although she is always on my B List. Lord of Wicked Intentions is her best work so far. I found When the Duke Was Wicked meh.  I will continue to seek out Heath’s other novels because this one was nothing special, but sometimes I just want something to read. I would not recommend this particular effort.

The main plot of When the Duke Was Wicked focuses on the healing of a tortured hero. Lord Lovingdon, a duke, is a rake. He is disenchanted, louche, and in denial about his feelings for Grace. The heroine, Lady Grace Mabry, is a victim of circumstance. She is intent on seeking a suitor who genuinely loves her and does not seek her dowry; moreover she has a secret she needs to be able to trust her spouse with.  Lovingdon and Grace are instantly attracted to each other. Over time, they come to discover that despite any challenges they face, they make an excellent team.

When the Duke Was Wicked was a perfectly fine, middling romance. It’s the first book in the new Scandalous Men of St. James series that follows the children of the Scoundrel’s of St. James novels’ main characters. There are some historical waffling that goes beyond what is usual even in these books, but that could just be my Accuracy Police Syndrome talking. If you would like to read a great romance, and a personal favourite, about taking a chance on love after the death of a spouse, I recommend Where Dreams Begin by Lisa Kleypas.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

Also by Lorraine Heath:

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