This was such a delight. A charming, funny, angsty, endearing, adorable delight. I adored th
The bane of his life and the balm to his soul.
This was such a delight. A charming, funny, angsty, endearing, adorable delight. I adored this so much and adored the leads Max and Effie even more. Two incredibly lonely souls finding acceptance and happiness in each other. For fans of Amanda Quick's Ravished I think you'll love this one. This had a very similar set up with a scarred "beast" recluse hero and a sweet eccentric bluestocking heroine who loves her archeology. Although I found this one much stronger with more depth and emotion on top of the humor. I loved Effie's combination of confidence in her intelligence yet vulnerability and insecurity of wanting a family and to be loved just as she is. Max was the perfect gruff, brooding, grouchy "beast" to her smiling personality and open heart. Max just dissolves into a big teddy bear around her and it was so great to see. Their meet cute happens when he finds her on his land digging up holes trying to extract an old ancient pot. He first mistakes her for a boy since she's covered in mud and wearing breeches and weird goggles. The hilarity and fun ensues from there. What I loved most about this was that while we got to see this couple slowly fall for each other we also got to see them become friends first. I found that very significant and so dear considering Effie never had a real friend before this. Her "big brain" and tendency to ramble out whatever comes to her mind and debate topics always scared people off and society labels her as odd. Her scholarly father died so that left her completely alone in the world with nothing but her and her passion for antiquity to distract her. I just found her so endearing and sweet. Both hero and heroine are recluses for different reasons but need distractions from the whirling questions and thoughts plaguing them in their loneliness. They both needed unconditional love and that's exactly what they found in each other.
"Can I ask you a question, Max?" "You can always ask me anything, Effie. In fact, I insist upon it. I find your honesty and your undisguised curiosity refreshing." "Then that is a first. Most people loathe it." "Then most people are daft. What’s the question?" "Are we friends now? I feel as though we are, but I am never entirely sure. And experience has taught me that if I assume, then I am doomed to be disappointed when my perceived friend starts to avoid me." She said it so matter of factly, but his heart wept for her. It was so ill deserved. Effie was a breath of fresh air, not an irritation. "I suppose we must be." Her delighted smile was like a balm to his soul. "That’s nice. And you don’t mind all the questions?" "I don’t want you to ever think you shouldn’t ask questions, Effie. You can always ask me anything..."
Ugh. Just so adorable. ❤️ This scene honestly made me want to cry I found it so touching and vulnerable. I loved how patient and kind Max was with Effie. Her intelligence and how quick her mind works fascinates him. And him going from grumbly put-out neighbor to intrigued assistant helping her dig up treasures and artifacts on his land was really cute and hilarious. Their banter is the greatest thing. I loved the endless nicknames he came up for her when he was angry or wanted to tease her. Miss Naive, Miss None-of-your-business, Miss Ninnyhammer, etc. ...more
Sometimes I really really really wish I just stuck to the books I originally wanted to read from a series as a standalone without going back and readiSometimes I really really really wish I just stuck to the books I originally wanted to read from a series as a standalone without going back and reading previous installments. Ugh, why did I do that?
Merged review:
Sometimes I really really really wish I just stuck to the books I originally wanted to read from a series as a standalone without going back and reading previous installments. Ugh, why did I do that?...more
Single dad-nanny books really do it for me. And a Hockey sports romance on top of all that? Yes please. This hit all the right buttons. Gru4.75 stars
Single dad-nanny books really do it for me. And a Hockey sports romance on top of all that? Yes please. This hit all the right buttons. Grumpy Goalie widower Will Perry and kindergarten teacher Chloe Knot were adorable. And his little girl Ava was cuteness overload. I loved that she wanted to play Hockey just like her Daddy. ...more
He stroked her hair and her back, kissed her temple and her cheek. "When you're gone, half of me is gone. Why do ye suppose the firs
3.75 stars
He stroked her hair and her back, kissed her temple and her cheek. "When you're gone, half of me is gone. Why do ye suppose the first thing I do is find ye?"
I just adore this series so much. So much to sink your teeth into. Adventure, family, humor, lowkey magic, suspense, sexual tension, passion and yearning in spades. No one does yearning anymore like Elisa Braden does. While this wasn't my favorite installment, I still had trouble putting it down. Alexander MacPherson and Sabella Lockhart made quite the pair. I loved the whole forbidden/sworn enemy dynamic here with a bitter hollowed-out jaded angry hero pining over the sister of his family's sworn enemy. Kenneth Lockhart terrorized, tortured, falsely imprisoned and nearly killed Alexander's brother Broderick a year ago and nearly killed Alexander too. So the grudge is deep and for good reason. While the already established "I've wanted you for so long" feelings didn't work for me in Campbell's book it worked well here because we actually got to see it play out in real time in Book 2 when Alexander and Sabella meet and the fallout of him nearly getting killed. So that underlying tension has been simmering in the background for two books so it held weight. You feel that anticipation going into this book already. Was there insta-lust and tripping over things quickly to get to a marriage of convenience? Yes. But the sexual tension, pining and chemistry saved it for me. And yes there was a quite lot of tup, tup, tupping. These two are so insatiable and smitten with each other and while I wish some beats played out differently and paced out better, a fun time was had nonetheless. I just loved how obsessed Alexander was with her. He hates that he's wanted her and couldn't have her and thought he lost her to someone else. His desperation in wanting to keep her and fear of losing her was so great to see. There's just something about lovesick obsessed "I'll do anything to keep her" heroes even if they have to play a little dirty to do it. He starts off mean to her because of a misunderstanding but even underneath that bitterness you see how much he worships her. All bark and no bite is the best kind of brooding hero. I mean the switch mode from broodacious rawr! to losing his shit over her getting hurt? Ugh. INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS RIIIIGHT NOW.
“But first, I want to know why ye call me Duchess. Early on, I assumed ye intended to mock me, but I no longer think that’s true.” “Ye should be a duchess,” he answered. “But as ye’re mine, and I cannae offer lofty titles, I call ye what ye are to me—my wife, the mother of my bairns. A woman too fine for aught that’s ordinary.” He shrugged. “Ye’re my Duchess. That simple.”
The weakest points for me were two things. Their first time having sex I didn't really love. I mean it was hot but felt kind of anticlimactic; I didn't love the whole fucking her against a tree for their first time (after all that build up) and to continue to just go at it after finding out she's a virgin without pause was little WTF for me. Considering he thought she was mistress to a man he loathed for 1 whole year, yeah I wanted the coming together to be little more explosive or meaningful or at least freak the fuck out realizing how wrong he was. That moment just lost something for me and fell a little short. And second, the whole random villain conflict and resolution with the bad guy Cromartie in the end with her brother's mistress wasn't great. Considering Cecilia's role in my baby Broderick's downfall in Book 2 I really didn't care for a revisit of this character. I don't care what a sad tragic life she's had, she nearly got my man unalived and mutilated for it. ...more
This was ok but it lost my interest in the last leg of it. The last 100 pages really draaaaaaged for reasons that didn't really make sense. 2.75 stars
This was ok but it lost my interest in the last leg of it. The last 100 pages really draaaaaaged for reasons that didn't really make sense. The conflict felt really silly and forced and dragged on for too long. Being a professional caddie to your boyfriend or running your family's golf shop? Oh. the. suspense. What will she do! ...more
Flawless indeed! This was everything I needed and wanted. Hilarious, smart, witty, sweet, emotional, sexy, yummy,As the book title itself says: [image]
Flawless indeed! This was everything I needed and wanted. Hilarious, smart, witty, sweet, emotional, sexy, yummy, angsty, steamy, fluffy good times. I can't even label this as light fluff. The hero is a professional bull rider. Need I say more? This is my first Elsie Silver book and it won't be my last. Her writing and characters are stunning. So much heart and depth. If grumpy alpha heroes with soft vulnerable underbellies and filthy mouths and filthier imaginations are your thing, give this a go. Rhett and Summer were insanely sweet and the sex scenes were fucking hot as hell. ❤️...more
I'm just gonna call it, Catherine Cowles is not for me. Her writing is way too formulaic especially with the characterizations. Considering the heavy I'm just gonna call it, Catherine Cowles is not for me. Her writing is way too formulaic especially with the characterizations. Considering the heavy trauma and dark backstories both hero and heroine are dealing with? It's an issue for me. The tension should have been thicker, the angst should have been angsting and things should not have been skipped over like it’s just another fluffy small town romance.
-Cowles doesn’t write her characters like they carry trauma. Not letting your heroines react to anything that is remotely dangerous because it might make them look weak is really lame and unrealistic AF. People don't talk like this and don't treat their trauma this way, especially with the kind of build up we've gotten for it. Everyone handles trauma differently and I hate sounding like the obnoxious police bregrade telling anyone how a person should react and process things, but having your characters act and react to everything the same way as you would a scraped knee isn't really doing what it should be doing. The heroine Shiloh was kidnapped and kept in a shed and beaten by a psychotic man Howard Kemper when she was ten years old. For seventeen years she can’t stand human touch and being around people for too long, you see that struggle through the previous books leading up to this. The hero Ramsey was sent to prison as a teenager for a crime he didn’t commit and suffering at the hands of his abusive stepfather who beat him and his mother. So it’s a lot. Both hero and heroine carry a lot of trauma and are guarded but the walls came down much too quickly. I had the same problem with Everly and Addie’s books. Cowles wrote Shiloh like every other heroine in this series, brushing off concerns and acting like nothing bad will happen. It made no sense. A kidnap survivor who got letters from her abuser for 17 years saying she doesn’t think it’s necessary to file a restraining order against her attacker and thinking it's "extreme" made zero sense and made her look idiotic. A violent man threatening you and you think it’s just “all empty talk”? Girl what? O_o Cowles forgets basic logic. I get this is a Romantic suspense and the stage needs to be set up for The Danger™ which means common sense is sometimes missing but this is different. Having your traumatized heroines willfully ignore threats because “they can take care of themselves” knowing full well what violent men are capable of is not showing strength, it’s wilfully foolish. And I can't say this enough: it made no sense here. Especially for Shiloh who supposedly doesn’t trust easily and has severe PTSD. She has over a decades worth of severe trauma and PTSD but that seems to up and vanish in this book entirely. Getting assaulted TWICE in a matter of 2 days should trigger memories of some kind, not grumbling about not needing protection and walking around like everything is fine. Half her face is black and blue but she's fine y'all! She's so brave and made of strong stuff and anything less than that is absolutely not brave. That's the underlying message that's screamed at you in every story and I just really don't care for it. The withering glares when family or friends show even an ounce of concern or reamed for simply asking "are you ok?" is a little bit much and overkill. I get needing space and not feeling smothered, but give me a break with the OTT snappy reactions from your heroines. It's childish at best and unreasonable at worst. Also, a super protective half-wolf dog sees his master on the floor getting physically attacked, charges up to the attacker only to growl at him? Really????
-Every book reads exactly the same. From plot points, to character reactions, to even the dialogue. Just change out the hero and heroine's names and it's the same story. It's always the same exact beats: Heroine has a mysterious stalker ✔︎ Heroine gets a threatening note taped to the windshield of her car/bike ✔︎ Heroine is grabbed from behind and knocked out at least once while walking alone ✔︎ Heroine refuses to get a bodyguard or have the hero shadow her cause that means "the bad guy wins" ✔︎ Heroine has run in with the bad guy while in town with the hero getting shoulder checked for good measure! ✔︎ (view spoiler)[ Heroine gets kidnapped in the end much to everyone's shock (not) ✔︎ Heroine is kept in an abandoned cabin of some kind ✔︎ Hero comes charging through bushes of some kind to the rescue right in the nick of time ✔︎ (hide spoiler)] It’s the same exact thing literally in every book with zero differentiation. For transparency, I skipped books 2 and 4 but I can just take a wild guess it's not much different? Because this certainly felt like an exact replica of Everly and Addie's books right down to the mannerisms and dialogue. You're really telling me 5 books in a series has to be the exact same thing? Really? I'm sorry but please come up with something else. ...more
This was a mixed bag. What do you do when you start really enjoying the book 70% in? lol
My very first time traveling romance and it was inter3.5 stars
This was a mixed bag. What do you do when you start really enjoying the book 70% in? lol
My very first time traveling romance and it was interesting. I'm not a fan of this trope and generally avoid it so to have the heroine herself put into words exactly why I’m not a fan I thought was funny and rather ironic:
I didn’t want to be in a place where he didn’t exist. I couldn’t go back knowing he was long dead and buried, while I still had decades of life left to live, and I couldn’t chance going back for even a short time because I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to return.
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It's so morbid and exactly why I generally avoid this particular trope. And it's brought home even harder near the end. I've been trying to spread my wings and try new things this year with my reading choices and the cover and the blurb of this intrigued me so I took a chance. This started off strong but this had serious pacing issues that ruined whatever intrigue I initially had. The first 30 pages is the heroine Meggie moving from NY to Scotland to lick her wounds after an ugly break up with her fiance and helping her Nan do chores on her farm and describing the landscape, the weather, tea drinking, market shopping and how lonely she is in navel gazing detail. Only for her to fall through a cave portal and end up in 1658 Scotland with barefoot, bare chested, kilt wearing brawny Highlanders (why do these guys go hunting barefoot and bare chested…?) with a hero Colin who is all smiles and easy charm. My first immediate red flag and complete surprise was when we have the hero spitting out sweet nothings not even 5 minutes after meeting the heroine in the woods:
"Ask me for the stars, and I’ll pluck them out o’ the sky for ye."
[image]
Whiplash anyone? Instant-lust is an instant mood killer for me. The pacing is odd because the author is so meticulous in setting up the plot and world building and building up scenes and yet the romance for more than half the book is rushed as hell and underdeveloped. You can give me lengthly detail of Colin going on hunts in flashbacks (I didn't understand why this was so important?) and how the heroine describes all the ingredients to put in her macaroons and figure out how to make ice cream using a barrel but you can't do the same with the romance? The heroine is a baker and she loves her sweet tooth. We get it. But if you are gonna give me a time traveling romance I'd rather more page time spent on the hero and heroine together than her love for cooking and her bond with the castle's ornery cook. Honestly it almost felt at times like Meggie and Cook's love story than Meggie and Colin's. lol There was just so much talk about her baking and what ingredients were used and descriptions of food that it got a little absurd. Like I said this didn't really grab my attention until 70% in and that was in large part because of the action and kidnapping and the adrenaline suspense of the heroine trying to escape a hellish dungeon and nearly getting raped by her captor. This author is very talented in involving all your senses and descriptive prose but she really needs to work on her pacing. She takes her time with scenes but you need patience. I won't lie I skimmed parts because of this. The endless expositions and meandering long winded monologues are a lot. I finally managed to feel something for our couple when things got really dire near the end. Which comes to my next issue and why I struggled to rate this.
This did that thing in the end that I hate which was disappointing. Yes there is a HEA but (view spoiler)[ at the expense of the hero's history. (hide spoiler)] This is the other reason why I don't like time traveling in my romances because there's always the difficult choice of one half of the pairing having to give up literally their whole life just to be with the person they love in a different century. I can overlook it if the compromise/sacrifice feels fair, for me it didn't here. (view spoiler)[ I felt Colin had more to lose than Meggie considering he will never see his brother, his family or his clan ever again. Meggie literally has no one but her Nan and nothing to go back to, not even a job. She had no ties left in the present day and we see her build relationships and connections with the entire clan in Colin's time for the majority of the book so to have all that be for nothing in the end felt wrong and dissatisfying. This is also where I point out that Meggie always had that option to go back to her time, every solstice the cave opens up that portal. Colin does not have that option to ever return and that just breaks my heart to pieces. The fact that Colin and Malcolm will never get to see each other again really guts me. (hide spoiler)] It's just depressing as hell and just puts a cast over the happy ending for me. Like oh sorry boo your whole family and friends are long dead and compost but welcome to the future! Now lemme show you how to drive!
[image]
Anywho, first half was a long winded boring mess, second half was better. I want to give Malcolm's book a go. Arranged marriage to a witch sounds super intriguing. The main reason I dug my heels in and kept going was because I wanted to see how the end would play out but also because I was intrigued by the hero's older brother the Laird of the keep, Malcolm. I loved this dear sweet man and how lonely but selfless he was. I've never seen a sibling go to such lengths to save his brother like this character does. (view spoiler)[ This is the first time I've seen a male sibling showing zero hesitation in trying to nurse his ill hypothermic brother by giving him body heat. That was well done by the author IMO. (hide spoiler)] It was so touching and bittersweet. ...more
In the event of a nuclear war, the first thing I’d do is eat.
If I was rating this book on just the first half alone, I would have given it a 1 staIn the event of a nuclear war, the first thing I’d do is eat.
If I was rating this book on just the first half alone, I would have given it a 1 star. It was that bad. If you want to read a romance about a curvy full figured woman finding love, this is not it. The first 150ish pages at least. The last 30%? Cute. Adorable. I wanted more.
The heroine Joellene Bixby is everything self-loathing, sad, body shaming, fat-shaming, self-pitying, weight obsessed, every negative thing you can think of all rolled into one. It's quite miserable. A rock has higher self-esteem than this woman. She compares herself to a farm animal, a rodent, Shrek, etc. The constant references to food and how she eats all the time and her size is uncomfortable to say the least. She's a hermit who hates drawing attention to herself but some moments that are supposed to be funny just come off awful and mean. I saw some drawing Bridget Jones comparisons and while I could see it in some parts, Bridget Jones's self-deprecating humor and clumsiness had charm and was never mean or dark. Breaking an office chair by simply sitting down just to show how awkwardly clumsy and "hefty" the heroine is was really too much and made me want to question how Geissinger pictures her own heroine. I really have no idea what the heroine looks like, all I know is she is fat, wears glasses and has "mousy" brown hair. No details are given beyond that.
Joelleen is a 36 year old plain jane copy editor who has been secretly in love with her boss the CEO, Michael Maddox for 10 years while working at Maddox publishing house. He's everything perfect and dreamy in her eyes, the British version of Clark Kent is how he is described. Her new rugged "Mountain Man" neighbor Cameron McGregor is the complete opposite of her crush. Cameron is a famous Scottish rugby player who is visiting the states for 1 month and staying at his cousin's apartment which happens to be right across the hall from the heroine. He's a brash bad boy with a lot of bad press back home but underneath that image he's a total cinnamon roll sweetie pie who manages to lure his grumpy cat lady neighbor out of her cocoon of self-loathing and loneliness. Honestly, Cam is a delight and I really wish we got more focus on him and got his POV. This whole book is from the heroine's POV which is a shame, I don't know why Geissinger chose this route for this book since Book 1 is dual POVs? I was seriously having my doubts if he even would get the girl given how slow it took to get there and how much time Joellen spent pursuing Michael.
Not that I’d blame him. I’m such a loser, it’s probably hard for someone like him to breathe the same air as me.
Mr. Bingley makes a meal of his hind paw, going at it like I go at a rack of ribs.
Then Cam performs a miracle and picks me up in his arms. I’d protest, but I’m too tired, so I allow him to carry me over to the sofa while I marvel at how effortless he makes lifting the weight of a baby elephant seem.
I seem to be not having the best luck with love triangles this year. This book suffered what some love triangle tropes fall victim to, where the “third party” gets more attention than the poor hero for a good chunk of the book. It’s kinda infuriating why authors would think this is fun to sit through. Because of course I wanna see the heroine send flirty emails back and forth with her boss at the 76% mark right? I mean at one point I started to question who the hero of this book was, Cam or Micheal. This is very much a slow burn but you can tell the hero is developing feelings for the heroine and making excuses to spend more time with her and she's so oblivious to it. Once the antagonism dies down from the heroine, the bickering banter becomes cute and friendly and you just want her to drop her interest in her boss who suddenly is showing interest in her out of nowhere after announcing he's getting a divorce. I'll give it to the author because normally you can tell the other guy has scrupulous shady motives from the start or half way in but that wasn't the case here which had me continuing to read to figure out how it would all play out in the end. Michael shows his true self near the end which makes you want to scream FINALLY! but it's a shame because all that time and energy could have/should have been spent on the lovely hero Cameron.
Once the third wheel is out of the equation, these two are adorable and pull at your heartstrings. Joelleen's growth in this book is another thing I will give the author credit for even though I don't like how she went about it. Deciding you need to lose 40 lbs by starving yourself for your dream man is just asking for some therapy and self-love, not romance. Joelleen learns to love herself and not try to change herself for others with a lot of help from the hero cheering her on and calling her out on her self-loathing toxic bullshit. He can't stand when she puts herself down and gets huffy and angry with her every time. It's really sweet. He's 7 years younger than the heroine but you would never think that with how he carries himself. Yes at times he did sound like an arm chair therapist with some of the stuff he would spout but considering the heroine was living in a cloud of negativity all her life with awful toxic parents who shamed and gaslit her all her life, I looked the other way. I just wish this book was filled with more of that sweetness we got in the very end. The hero is adorably sweet and sexy and seeing a woman finally be confident in her skin and giggly and happy for the first was so sweet and almost worth the whole Michael drama.
Also I just have to point out that whole thing with HR near the end drove me a little insane with how ridiculous it was. (view spoiler)[ What kind of HR personnel overhears an employee getting sexually assaulted by their CEO in a bathroom and doesn’t intervene????? The heroine believes she's going to get fired because she was caught in a very compromising position with her boss Michael in the ladies bathroom by her bitchy supervisor even though she was actually assaulted. Turns out the kindly HR lady Ruth happened to be in one of the bathroom stalls the whole time and overheard the whole thing. I know this reveal was used to corroborate the heroine’s innocence and not get fired but it was insane to me why this woman just sat in a bathroom stall and let it get THAT far to begin with...? What the ever living fuck, Ruth? She made a point of calling an emergency meeting with Joelleen's supervisor and company lawyers right away to have Micheal removed so it's not like she was afraid for her own job. That’s just grounds for a lawsuit on it’s own. The heroine not even asking why HR didn't intervene when she was seconds from getting raped also bugged me. (hide spoiler)]
For a Paranormal romance this was colorful and light but some things fell a little flat for me. It's definitely on the lighter side as far as angst anFor a Paranormal romance this was colorful and light but some things fell a little flat for me. It's definitely on the lighter side as far as angst and plot. I had high hopes for this since I've been dying to stretch my wings in the PR world and heard so much about this series in particular. For one thing I felt this was more NA than adult Paranormal, in tone and how the characters acted. Which isn't necessarily a huge negative (unless it's super glaring) but considering these are 300+ year old vampires/fully adult supernatural beings it did feel a little off. The 37 year old heroine sounded like a naive sheltered 20 year old. The heroine Isadora and her sisters are powerful witches with varying skills but they acted green in quite a few things about their own world and other supernaturals, especially Jules the oldest sister and Enforcer of their district. As an Enforcer Jules oversees everything and supposed to keep all supernaturals in her district of New Orleans in check. And yet she had no idea a vampire's bite can be addictive. She dated a powerful vampire overlord but didn't know this? O_o That made zero sense. Isadora couldn't seem to understand how the hero a Stygorn vampire had super sonic hearing and could overhear conversations in a room, etc. At first I thought she was being deliberately obtuse for laughs but no she really doesn't understand or know that he has a heightened sense of hearing. Shouldn't these ladies know more about the supernatural world they live in? There was just a lot of inconsistencies. And the glamour thing. Glamour is what vampires use to entice/seduce someone, to persuade someone to do something, to wipe memory, to move at lightning speed, to create illusions, etc. So on and so on. All of that is considered glamour. I felt it was too broad a term to describe all the varying and wide range of skills these vampires had. "Tracing" from one place to another is not glamour in my mind.
When I think glamour I think this: [image] [image] [image]
This is Juliette Cross's world and I'm just visiting but I felt her world building wasn't fleshed out in places it needed to be or contradicted itself at times. The Savoi sisters and their wide-eyed inexperience for one. Supernaturals and humans coexisting ....sort of? Some humans are aware of supernatural existence and cool with it while others are oblivious to it, some establishments are literally built around that. How does that even work? That's maybe explained better in Book 1 which I didn't read. The mystery subplot of human women going missing also really wasn't as exciting and just took up page time. It really wasn't much of a mystery for one thing.
I did love that Cross had a blend of varying supernaturals living in the same world: witches, Grims, Werewolves, vampires. That made it fun. It kind of reminded me of a paranormal Zootopia just minus the class divisions. I loved that you get diverse characters as well. Which comes to the highlight of the book and the lowlight that made this a mixed bag for me. The hero, Devraj Kumar is an ex-Bollywood actor, 300 year old Indian Stygorn warrior vampire. He was absolutely delicious. [image] Major points and snaps there. He's an alpha hero but total Beta material in how sweet, gentle and considerate he is. I loved his backstory and that he's a practicing Hindu. The fact that he was turned into a vampire at a young age I found intriguing and surprising. Another interesting element to Cross's world. The guilt he carried over having to drink blood when he first turned and trying to hide it from his mother I thought was very compelling and gave this character weight and nuance. On the flip side, where the hero was fully fleshed out, dynamic and layered the heroine was....not.
I found the heroine Isadora so flat in comparison and I just struggled to connect with her unfortunately. On paper I usually adore shy, socially awkward, introvert heroines but I just couldn't click with her and her grumpiness. I don't do well with grumpy heroines. :/ She's an introvert who likes her quiet time and space and doesn't like interacting a lot with people and as a fellow introvert I get that but she just irritated me even when the author tried to make her likable. She loves plants and spending time in her greenhouse creating herbal remedies to sell at her shop and stops by the animal shelter but even so I struggled. Her unreasonable dislike and judgement of Devraj at the beginning felt a little overblown and extreme. Their meet cute was him hitting her with his car and he does everything to get her to forgive him. Once they get over that hurdle she was more tolerable but she just never wowed me for some reason. She also felt extremely underdrawn in comparison to the hero. All I could picture of Isadora was green eyes and blond hair. You get detailed obsessive depiction of the hero, down to his trimmed beard, long thick hair, his silver ring and mother's bracelet, stacked muscles and pierced tongue. But quiet Isadora is a hazy undefined blob in a summer dress. :/ I almost want to say she didn't have much of a personality outside of her standoffish demeanor and shyness. So that's what made this disappointing for me mostly, when you can't click with one or both of the main characters then it's hard to buy into the romance or chemistry. The sex scenes were steamy but overall I wanted more.
The only sister that intrigued me was Clara and that interesting snippet between the 2 guys Charlie and JJ. So I'll probably try the novella and wait for Clara's book if I'm in the mood. But overall this felt like a miss when I wanted it to be a hit like it was for everyone else. :( I'm clearly in the extreme extreme minority on this one....more
This started off strong. I thought I was going to discover a new old school HR favorite. Unfortunately, half way in I realized this was more2.75 stars
This started off strong. I thought I was going to discover a new old school HR favorite. Unfortunately, half way in I realized this was more campy medieval romantic comedy rather than dark Beauty and the Beast-inspired medieval romance. Or at least the writing style gave it that feel. Which is fine, and if you are fan of Amanda Quick and Julie Garwood then maybe this will work for you. But for me personally, it wasn't a good combination and very odd at times. When the plot stalls out and characters are doing the same thing over and over again and fumbling about and being hopelessly inept for laughs it's not very exciting or interesting. I needed the plot to move forward and stuff to happen after the 200 page mark. The last 100 pages took forever to get through. I lost count how many clouds of dust "tussles" happened with the hero stepping over grown men fighting in the mud like kids over a lady's favor. I felt the author spent more time trying to make a funny scene rather than focusing on her couple and the overall plot. Having your heroine choke on her own spit while kissing and getting the wind knocked out of her from aggressive back thumping just leaves something to be desired. Things are over exaggerated for a laugh. Her characters oddly started to take on a one-dimensional feel the deeper I got into the book. I've never seen characters regress into comical flat caricatures like they do here. I don't mind comedy in my HR but this felt more slapstick humor with a dark backdrop and it felt weirdly...odd.
This is my first Lynn Kurland book and I've been meaning to try her for some time. This definitely has dark elements with a blind cantankerous "The Dragon of Blackmour" hero and a shy timid heroine who has been badly abused by her father and pretty much given away to the hero in a marriage pact. I thought the hero Christopher was a sweet cinnamon roll with a snarky sense of humor and big soft spot for the heroine Gillian who is terrified of him for a good half of this story. I enjoyed seeing him try to get a rise out of the heroine and trying to put her at ease. That was probably the part I enjoyed the most. You need patience with how Kurland writes the timid mousy heroine who is so naive and helpless and bursts into tears at the drop of a hat whether she's terrified, upset or happy. I was intrigued at the beginning because I thought we were going to get a scrapy tomboy heroine who loves to fight (she owns a sword and practices with it since childhood) and we'd get to see her learn to stand up for herself and find her independence. We technically get that but 100 pages too late and with a looooooot of hand holding and "magic" potions to help her along the way. Gillian is terrified of her own shadow, doesn't like new-comers and men to the point she hides, believes her new husband is a warlock who is going to beat her and sacrifice her for a good half of this story. She turns to 3 witches for potions to give her beauty and courage. She believes what anyone tells her or overhears and takes it as fact and runs with it so you could well imagine the numerous misunderstandings that take place here. The number of times this girl attempts to run away or go to the witches to help her made things go from serious to just silly and ridiculous. Her inept naivety while at first made for some hilarious moments, the longer it went on the charm wore off for me and my patience was long gone. Gillian is a sweet girl who desperately wants to be loved and she's had a very difficult sheltered life but I would qualify her as TSTL with how Kurland wrote her.
Another thing that I found surprising was there was no sex scenes in this. I wasn't expecting this to be closed door considering all the heavy lifting Kurland does with all the sexual tension. I don't know if no sex is a thing of Ms. Kurland's or she was trying to be clever but it didn't work for me here because all the sexual tension and angst hinged on it. Considering Gillian is terrified of the marriage bed and believes babies are conceived through kissing and all the slow build up to get to the actual act....well let's just say I was expecting more than gasping, kissing and afterglow being shown. It felt like a blanket was being held up and you are trying to make out what's going on through hazy light behind the cloth or just listening through a closed door. ...more
This came very close to a DNF for me a few times. The last 40% saved this from being a complete dumpster fire shit show. Sweet, wise, mature2.75 stars
This came very close to a DNF for me a few times. The last 40% saved this from being a complete dumpster fire shit show. Sweet, wise, mature Auntie Arro from the previous book just disappeared and was body snatched and replaced instead with a childish, immature, spiteful, petty, belligerent, insecure woman who doesn't understand boundaries but expects it in return. 'No means no' goes both ways and I just didn't care for the narrative here.
This was a surefire plan for getting Mac to give in to his feelings for me. The bracelet told me he wanted to, but just in case he still had reservations, I wanted to make it as difficult as possible for him to say no.
Samantha Young's idea of "confident" assertive women kinda scares me. And if I never have to read another humiliating failed seduction attempt I will be happy. Surprising a man who you aren't in a relationship with by going to his house and getting naked is never a good idea. Throwing yourself bodily while naked at a man even after he says no is not heartbreaking, it's fucking awful and icky. PERIOD. Why do authors do this?? ...more
I'm rating this with an extreme curve for the last 20% alone. As for the rest of the story...
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I feel like the blurb is misleading. Cause the "reI'm rating this with an extreme curve for the last 20% alone. As for the rest of the story...
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I feel like the blurb is misleading. Cause the "realization" part takes too long to get to. That and I guess I was just expecting full on secret mutual pining between two friends. But that's not really what I got. This is a 275 page book where 190 pages of it the hero and heroine are with other people. The opening scene of the book is the heroine getting railed from behind by her dance partner. I should have taken that as my first red flag. I usually don't mind love triangle equations but this was a bit much even for me. It just went on for way waaay too long. The heroine Lily is hellbent on dating her douchehole sleazy dance partner who keeps using her as a bootycall and she's too stupidly oblivious and in denial to see it. It's unbearable to say the least because all her friends clearly see it and trying to gently warn her but she just keeps insisting on seeing it through and live out her fantasy cause Blane Baker has been her "dream man" since 15. Oh brother. A guy who can't even make her orgasm. ...more
For a Vikings story this was mind numbingly boring with an author telling you everything instead of showing you. There was just way too much expositioFor a Vikings story this was mind numbingly boring with an author telling you everything instead of showing you. There was just way too much exposition and very little dialogue in this. 90% of this story is just exposition and explaining things that don't need explanation or repeating things to death. It's whole chapters worth of just paragraphs of internal monologues and navel gazing. There's little to no dialogue in the entirety of this book. The first two chapters is just the hero and heroine standing in the middle of a road mentally sizing each other up while throwing odd verbal parries here and there and the hero telling her he's going to kidnap her....for two whole chapters. -_- I have never seen a kidnapping scene take that fucking long and be that slow to actually get through. It takes forever for the characters to actually do something since so much time is spent in their heads. If your hero is a badass Viking who wants to kidnap the heroine then don't have him stand in the middle of the road giving us a whole long winded history lesson on his forefathers and his King. And summarizing all the times the hero had sex with the heroine off the page doesn't count as love scenes. It just felt so utterly pointless. If you are going to have your characters tell me what happened the night before including what was said word for word then why not just show the scene?? Either show it or don't even bother. It drives me insane when authors do this. I don't want a play-by-play summarization just give me the fucking scene.
Also the couple's first sex scene was rude and in poor taste and gave me Bodice Ripper vibes. There is no rape here but even so, that shit was not romantic and I don't know what Crews was thinking with that "You may thank me for this privilege" crap with the hero ordering the virgin heroine to not cry out in pain. I usually love alpha Viking heroes who love to dominate their heroines but this was not sexy and I don't think Crews knew how to toe that line. Having your hero gloat how he enjoys her suffering while taking her maidenhead is a really weird flex and not something I want to read. Clearly, I hated the hero. The epilogue wasn't even good, it's a whole meandering summarization of things that aren't even interesting. And this was in serious need of an editor because some of the dialogue made absolutely no sense. (ex: Mouths that were only a part of what touched in dark corners, one more strange, writhing sort of panic she little understood.) It felt like Caitlin Crews was trying very hard to make her characters sound historical but with a lyrical tilt to it and it didn't work....more
This had strong potential and strong beginning but the momentum and plot was ruined near the end for me with the stubborn as hell hero refus3.25 stars
This had strong potential and strong beginning but the momentum and plot was ruined near the end for me with the stubborn as hell hero refusing to sleep with the heroine after marrying her. The annoying "I have bad blood running through me" card was milked within an inch of it's life and it didn't hold enough weight for me considering Hamish never once showed a bad bone in his body or temper through the entire story. Growing up his father was abusive with a volcanic temper who abused his mother. His father ended up dying in a house fire where Hamish left him after rescuing his mother and he's been guilt ridden and brooding over it ever since. I just struggled to see how he calls himself a villain and bad man for not saving his sire who treated him and his mother like shit and who he hated. It was too much and the more he pushed the heroine Olivia away, the more frustrating it was. I love push/pull but the author wasted too much time on the pushing part. Like 90% of this book is literally him keeping her at a distance and turning her down all the time because he thinks he's not good enough for her. He's a burly Highlander with an eye patch but he's a big sweet teddy bear with manners to match so I really didn't see the issue with all his self-loathing. It felt overblown especially with how long it took him to finally explain to the heroine what's wrong. It was like pulling teeth. I thought the heroine was a sweetheart who had the patience of a saint. Also for a renown rake with a reputation for sleeping around, he wasn't really much of one here given his self-restraint. :/ I mean if you are gonna make your hero a rake, then show it even when he's trying to resist the heroine who is begging him to bed her.
I thought Amy Rose Bennett used a lot of great character faucets in here that kept the story engaging. Olivia has a stammer that she’s struggled with all her life. She’s shy and insecure because of it. I found this charming and liked how the author didn’t have her stammer just magically go away half into the story. It’s consistently there throughout the story during high stress. Her stammer comes out when she’s nervous, anxious or scared. She's shy but she's got heart and speaks her mind when she's frustrated or wants something which I really loved. She communicates, unlike our stubborn-as-an-ox hero, Hamish. I found both characters back stories intriguing. This had underlying depth that really surprised me. Olivia's whole situation with her family gives you Cinderella vibes. She's been living with her Aunt and Uncle and cousins who treat her no better than a servant and lock her in her room for the smallest things and are forcing her to marry her awful cruel cousin to keep her inheritance within the family. Which is where the hero steps in and offers a MOC to protect her until she's 21 so she can take control of her life and money. Hamish for his part is battling severe PTSD, insomnia and drinking to deal with his nightmares from the trauma he experienced during war and the accident that killed his father. So it's a lot between the two. But the author did a pretty good job showing nuance, I just wish the later half of this book held up or this definitely would have been a 4 star. But overall, I liked her writing and loved the heroine.
Also Hamish's little ward Tilda acted and had the vocabulary of a much older child. This girl did not sound like a 3 year old. More like a 6 year old. What 3 year old toddler does Ms. Bennett know who speaks so eloquently using big words and can perform perfect curtsies? O_o That felt a little odd and very inaccurate....more
Very strong writing but Liz Carlyle did too much in here and it got in the way of the pacing and my overall enjoyment. I love a good slow bur3.5 stars
Very strong writing but Liz Carlyle did too much in here and it got in the way of the pacing and my overall enjoyment. I love a good slow burn and this is exactly that with two complete opposite people from different worlds and lifestyles falling for each other with a lot of trepidation, weariness, insecurity and curious hope between them. So I understood why the gradual build up. However, even so, the pacing is horribly slow especially in the second half with excess ruminations and navel-gazing that are disruptive in scenes. It felt like every hour was covered in this book. Characters keep going off on tangents internally right in the middle of a scene for a few pages which makes it hard to stay engaged. That and there are constant breakaways to secondary character POVs and the murder mystery side plot. There are just too many characters in here to keep straight. Too many POVs, too much internalized angst, too much exposition. Also the 2 ex-mistresses who I kept confusing up got annoying. Jeannette and Antonnette. So confusing that at one point I thought one of them came back from the dead and I was utterly confused that I had to go back and double check names. :/
This could have been a 5 star read if Carlyle didn't pad the story so much. She's very detailed and an intricate writer which is usually a big plus for me but I feel that worked against her here with a plot such as this. I found the dissolute rake hero Elliot really intriguing given how messy and awful he started out. He's not a very nice person but he's very aware of that and has his reasons for being so jaded and distrustful but he tries to do better. Carlyle did a nice job of setting up the opening prologue scene to explain why he is the man he has become now and what made him go down that path. Elliot is the very definition of a HR cynical rake whose life is a mess with carousing, petty revenge, mistresses, whoring and countless duals which sullied his reputation to the point of no return. He's not favored or liked in the ton for good reason and even his own staff fear and hate him. Which I honestly got a kick out of cause again it underscored his awful treatment of others and volcanic temper and to see that slow progression of him trying to be better I thought that was great to see. I love character explorations like this so so much when it involves grey anti characters. Messy characters coming into their own and evolving is hard to pull off and the author did a fairly good job of it here.
In contrast, Evie the heroine I thought was drawn a little too perfectly that at times she bored me with how many times and ways she's described as everything perfect and angelic and pious in comparison to Elliot who is a man slut with a black heart who doesn't deserve to touch her. Evie and her stitched-together family are Flemish foreigners living in the English country in their own little world in their quaint 3 story cottage. I loved that she was a painter (a successful one at that!) and made a point of making sure her younger siblings and cousins were educated and learning the arts and history. Elliot is immediately intrigued and charmed by this lively family when he accidentally shows up on their doorstep during a rainstorm. He's not used to such warmness and kindness and he just wants a little piece of that. I think what would have really made this story hold is if more time was spent with the hero and heroine getting to know each other outside of his false identity (yes it's that trope) and if the MOC (marriage of convenience) that played out in the last 100 pages happened a little sooner. There were moments I did enjoy in this. I honestly loved the MOC part of the book the most for obvious reasons cause you got to see these 2 finally bring their walls down and be vulnerable together and openly vocal/demonstrative about their feelings and being all domestic and cute. I loved that. And Elliot's Scottish brogue coming out when he's flustered or angry had me snorting a few times. So hilarious! LC's touch at humorous moments is well done. Seeing a huge, world-weary, rakish Scot being all soft and in love was sweet to see.
Seeing Evie interact with Elliot's adorable little girl Zoe was sweet but I thought that relationship should have happened sooner for instance. Especially considering how guilt ridden Elliot is over not spending enough time with his shy daughter who he adores and clearly yearns to make happy. It didn’t really speak volumes about his character when he kept leaving his little girl in his big “lonely house” as he put it to go spend time with Evie and her family for weekends. Like sir….you have a lonely child at home who wants to spend time with her Papa. GO HOME. It almost felt like Carlyle kept forgetting that beat in the story to make up for all the endless pages the hero and heroine aren’t spending time together (see comment on doing too much) and in the process made her hero look like a hapless knave in the process. :/
So points for effort and thoroughly fleshed out writing and an extremely compelling complex hero but the execution wasn't fully there for me in parts. I would still recommend this for those who love slow burn and strong crisp writing. You just need patience....more
This was good but wish some parts were better paced and resolved. Like the relationship with her parents. What was that all about? I had such a di3.75
This was good but wish some parts were better paced and resolved. Like the relationship with her parents. What was that all about? I had such a difficult time wrapping my head around how parents who were supposedly so loving and protective just completely giving up and distancing themselves from their daughter who returns after being kidnapped for 11 freaking years. It almost felt like they blamed her for her own trauma and it made me furious. That part didn't ring true for me. Holly was kidnapped by a pedophile at the age of 5 and kept prisoner for 11 years. You would think she would be wrapped in love and comfort when she returned home. Nope. Her parents instead ship her straight off to a live-in facility where she can adapt to real life and learn life skills on her own. Did I mention they do this right after she's discharged from the hospital after she's rescued? Nothing about that was even remotely realistic for me. What kind of parents would do that? That mother of hers was a real pill who makes you homicidal in her complete lack of awareness or concern over her daughter and disregard for her feelings. I mean who the hell cares more about town gossip over what happened to your child than your daughter's emotional and mental well being? And telling her little sister she's dead when she went missing? Ugh. A mother not knowing how to "tell" a little girl how her older sister is back from the dead and keeping her away from her sister when they have a therapist on hand just felt so contrived for me. What are y'all paying that doctor for then during all those monthly sessions? That drove me insane and made absolutely no sense. Her mother never wants to talk about what happened to Holly but at the same time keeps reminding her of what happened, she wants Holly to just "get over it" and move on with her life like an "adult" but also baby's her and restricts her life in every capacity. It just makes your head spin in trying to understand this character.
But I did enjoy seeing Holly and Tyler slowly bond and connect. Seeing his soft side come out when he's around Holly and trying to make her happy with his 2 pets Polly and Boomer was adorable. Just wish we got more development and closure on Tyler's side with all his demons he's clearly still battling. That part felt unbalanced for me. We never got to see him reunite with his family or let go of his guilt over what happened to his father. It just felt like Cole wanted him to stay "damaged" as he called it, just like how Holly kept feeling isolated by the people who supposedly love her so she could rely only on Tyler. That didn't sit right with me. Also the whole wearing horror masks while driving around town and while he fucks random women cause he gets off on fear.... not my jam. That creeped me out and ick for me. So glad it didn't play into his relationship with Holly.
Also that epilogue? No. WTF was that? I'm sorry but (view spoiler)[ I really don't want to read a death announcement as an epilogue. It felt like a bucket of cold water for me. Having your hero and heroine die at old age of cancer is not romantic to me. I don't care how old they are and lived a happy long life. It just ruins the visage and HEA for me. I like to keep them happy and alive in my head forever when I finish a book, thank you. (hide spoiler)] But I hope Cole means it when she noted she wants to do a follow up book with them. I wanna see how Holly and Tyler are doing in the next phase of their life together....more
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