Reading Update: 30%

 

Really enjoyed the first in the series, can't wait to see another Red Rogue fall in love :)

All Scot and Bothered by Kerrigan Byrne pre-order (Sept. 29) link

Spicy Apricot Slow Cooker Meatballs recipe

Review: Nowhere to Hide

Nowhere to Hide by Leslie A. Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Nowhere to Hide continues the Winchester brothers' story, this time following Rowan as he rescues Evie and becomes attracted and entwined in murder mysteries. If you haven't read the first in the series, Rowan's twin brother Reece's book (I'll Be Watching You) introduced readers to the Winchester family, brothers that grew up in Hollywood. Rowan is out of the acting business and is a detective now. The author does a good job rehashing important points, the brother's sister's death that impacted them all and learning a secret about their Hollywood agent, Harry Baker, and his murder. You could easily start here as Evie is a new character to the series and while the story continues some plot threads from the first, it also takes on new ground.

What secret was Rowan hiding about Harry Baker that made him pretend he felt nothing for her when she knew damn well he did?

Evie was a great character, she's a true crime novelist that survived her own entanglement with a serial killer. Her roommate was killed by Evie's mechanic, Evie put together the puzzle pieces to discover he was a serial killer. She's now in Hollywood to research infamous murders for a new book she is writing. Through her research she also thinks she might have discovered a new serial killer, yeah, there is a lot of murder in this book. Along with Evie's baggage of having a serial killer in her life, the killer is trying to get a new trial so she might have to testify again, research for her infamous murders book, investigating a possible undiscovered serial killer, she also wants to do a chapter on Harry Baker. This brings in the conflict between her and Rowan, he wants nothing brought up about Baker because of how it could put the spotlight on his brothers again and bring possible ramifications.

And here he was, about to spend another glorious day with the woman he wanted an insane amount but had to pretend he did not.

From their first meeting when Rowan helps to save Evie from a possible mugging, physical attack, he and Evie had some heat. He's fully aware that it is not the time to come on strong to her but as circumstances get them to spend more time together, they both lean more towards each other. When he learns that Evie wants to write about Harry Baker, he gives her the deep freeze. These two move from hot to cold and the middle of the book is filled more with redherrings and murder mystery. The latter half then moves to the bedroom (there is some credible emotional work to move Rowan there) and then they jump to love pretty quickly. I ended up feeling like the romance was only around twenty percent of this book; Evie and Rowan do spend a good amount of time together, the focus just wasn't enough on the relationship side as the murders plot.

He covered her hand with his. Their fingers entwined. Finally, he said, “Okay, Evie. I'm in.”

While redherrings are great and keep the guessing and mystery alive, some of them in the story ended up feeling pointless and clogging. When reveals happened, it made me feel misled in some secondary characters that had me questioning the point of them because of how their conclusion was wrapped up or just left to fade away. There really was just too much on the murder plate and it hampered not only the romance between Rowan and Evie but also the continued plot thread involving the Winchester brother's sister's death and the murder of Harry Baker. There is still an intriguing readability to this author's writing and with some unanswered questions for the last Winchester brother Raine to discover, I'll be reading the next in the series.

View all my reviews

Reading Update: Page 1

 

It's Friday!!

Missing being able to go out for happy hour, so decided to make my own at home. 

Bang bang shrimp and romantic suspense!

Enjoyed first in series, can't wait to catch up with character and see them fall in love.

Nowhere to Hide by Leslie A. Kelly pre-order link

Bang Bang Shrimp recipe

Review: Say Yes to the Duke

Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

In the fifth Wildes of Lindow Castle series, Viola, who is the duke's stepdaughter is making her debut into society. She's the extremely shy one, who pukes when she gets nervous, and just rather become a wallflower. Viola's nervousness comes from feeling like she isn't a true Wilde, because of her 'step' status. I'm new to the series and found I had no problem jumping in here, in fact, I wish there had been more scenes with Viola and the Wilde family. She spends a lot of time with her sister, Joan who is also debuting but I wish we could have seen her with her mother and especially stepfather to get some heartfelt scenes where he explains that he feels she is his daughter, no 'step' to it. 

He had found a treasure in the Lindow library, and he merely had to win it away from a vicar. How hard could that be?

When Viola meets the new vicar, she can't believe how handsome he is and how she feels comfortable around him, so she decides that he is who she should marry, even though the vicar is already engaged. This issue was handled a bit unwieldy where the vicar's fiancee is uptight and has an offputting personality, so Viola feels vindicated in “saving” the vicar from the fiancee and the story kind of stays away from judging Viola for going after him. Our hero the Duke of Wynter, Devin, comes into the picture when Viola overhears him saying he wants her sister for a wife because Viola isn't a true Wilde. Devin doesn't make the best first impression, to Viola or readers, but from the first conversation he has with Viola, his character comes alive. 

Then he thought about the way her eyes sparkled when she scolded him. It was an outlandish thing to find attractive.

I really enjoyed the first half, these two had good byplay and the way Devin kept trying to grasp Viola as she flittered away kept me locked in. These two had some sweet moments and I do think their journey to love, especially Viola, Devin falls first, came across in the pages but the second half slowed way down for me. There were long scenes of them just focused on the wanting to kiss and just when I was starting to really delight in them, sex scenes took over and I lost some of their good conversational play. 

“No one would have arranged a marriage between us, which I think is to our benefit. And I think you would be a marvelous duchess.” Her eyes were shocked, so Devin added firmly, “I am going to woo you.”

I also thought the second half spent too much time focused on the vicar's romantic troubles; it really felt like the author ran out of steam for the main couple so moved onto the vicar. Even though Viola and Devin had pleasing chemistry, I still felt like Devin wasn't developed enough. He had an abusive father, lost his mother young, and then had an uncle and two cousins for his only family. It is also brought up that he likes, is good at math but so little was done with this, I'm not sure why it was even included. These were plot points to his character but he still only felt sketched out, like I said, he does come alive more in Viola's presence but when we lose them in the second half, he becomes even less memorable. 

He was in love with his wife, desperately, wildly in love with his wife, and she was telling him that he was the reason for the greatest anguish she’d ever experienced.

The beginning half was sweet but when I was really starting to sink into the story and enjoy the couple together, the second half slowed down, had more sex scenes than the conversational byplay I was delighting in, and focused more on a side character's romance issues. I think some emotional moments were missed on not having scenes with Viola and her stepfather and even more with her step-siblings. I do think Viola will reach the heart of some who never feel they quite belong or feel dull in the presence of others who shine so effortlessly; it was lovely to see Viola, who feels that way, become the shining star in Devin's universe. 

View all my reviews

Reading Update: 30%

 

My first book in the Wilde series, starting with book #5 shouldn't be a problem, right? Usually like to start a series at #1 but just worked out this way.

Monday nights are for historical romance, good food, and, currently, NHL playoffs :)

Have a good week, all!

Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James purchase link

Spicy Shrimp and Tomato Cream pasta recipe

Review: What You Wish For

What You Wish For by Katherine Center
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

 I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

 After uprooting her life because of a going nowhere crush, Samantha finally feels like her life is on track. When tragedy strikes and fate brings her crush back into her life, her flight or fight instinct takes over. Her crush is completely different though and now they're enemies, maybe. Sam thought she had it all figured out but even though her wardrobe now is full of color, she still is emotionally hiding in the corners. 

  It made me wish I didn’t have to try so hard with everybody all the damn time. It made me miss my mom —again, as always. It made me wish I had somebody— anybody— in my life who would love me no matter what. 

  What You Wish For, is a standalone Chik-lit told in first person from our heroine Samantha's point of view. When we first meet her, she dresses in drab colors and tries to just blend into the background. As an elementary school librarian she develops a huge crush on a fourth grade teacher, Duncan. He dresses is zany rubber duck ties, wears flamingo pants, and takes every opportunity to juggle. When he starts dating and there are rumors they are going to get engaged, Sam decides she can't bear it and decides to uproot her whole life and move to Galveston, Texas. A bit much, reaction wise, but I went along with it. At Galveston, Sam comes into herself with the aid of an older couple who established the school she now works at and she feels like she has herself on track. 

  That was my takeaway: somehow, for some reason, Duncan Carpenter had become completely deranged, and I couldn’t leave until I understood why. 

 Four years later tragedy strikes and through a whimsy of fate, Duncan becomes the new principal at Sam's school. She's frantic at first, thinking he's married and probably has a gaggle of children but excited for her school to get such a fun guy who will be great for the school. Except when Duncan shows, he's in a three piece suit, completely rigid, and can only speak of keeping everyone safe, making their school into what Sam deems a prison. Sam at first was going to quit because she didn't want to get sucked into her crush again but then decides to stay to fight the changes Duncan wants to make. It's a hardcore crush to enemies story plot. 

  This moment would change everything. I didn’t know how, exactly, but I knew it would. 

 I think Sam was supposed to come off as a Mrs. Frizzle (Magic School Bus) and while aesthetically she makes the cut, Sam more often than not came off as immature and lacked the gravitas to deal with some of the issues brought up in the story. The chatty, conversational first person pov gave the story a lighter tone and when issues like grief, abusive marriage, and school shootings were incorporated, the emotional depth was missing for me. One of Sam's big hang-ups is her epilepsy and while it is understandable that there could be emotional baggage, Sam thinking Duncan wouldn't want anything to do with her because elementary children made fun of her in school for it and her father told her he left her mother because of it, felt a bit childish. It was so forced how she pushed Duncan away because of it.  

“Joy is an antidote to fear. To anger. To boredom. To sorrow.” “But you can’t just decide to feel joyful.” “True. But you can decide to do something joyful.” 

 Duncan was a little hard to get a grasp on at times because we never get his pov but it was pretty obvious why he had a change of personality and I thought Sam should have clued in a bit earlier because of her profession. The use of Duncan being drugged up after a surgery to finally reveal his feelings was somewhat an easy out to progress their relationship and lessened some satisfaction with it for me. The romance is more central in the story, why I would call this Chik-lit more than Women's fiction, but the steam level is lower. 

  The world keeps hanging on to this idea that love is for the gullible. But nothing could be more wrong. Love is only for the brave. 

 The secondary characters are more snippets and lean towards shallow but I would love to read about Sam's pseudo adoptive parents, Babette and Max, their romance, and how they created their school; they seemed so delightful. Sam's friend Alice was almost solely defined by her love of math quotes and Duncan's sister and her husband appear so briefly, they might not even be considered secondary. This story had quick readability but it came off immature and lacking depth, especially when addressing school shootings, but I live in America and maybe other country readers wouldn't have the sensitivity I do about it. If looking for a Chik-lit that has a pretty good focus on the romance and wanting a lighter touch to some serious issues, this could be a pick for the afternoon. 

View all my reviews

Reading Update: Page 1

 

Happy weekend!

Early lunch, some reading, and then watching NHL playoff games.

Any exciting weekend plans?

Happy reading, everyone :)

What You Wish For by Katherine Center purchase link

Cheesy Stuffed Turkey Meatballs w/ Cauliflower Rice recipe

Review: Lethal Redemption

Lethal Redemption by April Hunt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Grace's job as a FBI profiler has pitted her up against some of the most dangerous people. When the Vice President of the United States asks for her help in rescuing his daughter she can't say no, even if it involves going back to the cult she escaped seventeen years ago.
Cade will never stop loving his bestfriends' cousin Grace, even if he felt he had to walk away from her nine years ago. When she has to put herself in danger for the mission, he's going to be right there beside her.
Grace and Cade may have their second chance at love but they'll have to stop the murderous rage of a cult first.

Her worst fear---or one of them---was about to come to fruition. The other had been watching the man she loved---and trusted---walk away and out of her life.

Lethal Redemption is the second installment of the Steele Ops series, a group of former military men and women who have built their own security business. They operate out of a beer distillery and do operations that the U.S. government doesn't want their name attached to. The Vice President's daughter has fallen into The New Order of the Dawn, a cult, and needs to be rescued but the Vice President doesn't want any media attention. If you read the first in the series (Deadly Obsession) you'll remember Grace and Cade as the antagonistic twosome that obviously still had feelings for each other. Even though we got glimpses of these two in the first, you could still comfortably start here.

After seventeen years of being free of Father Teague's daily Blessings and her mother's nonstop disapproving lectures, she was headed back to New Dawn...and back to the people who stole eight years of her childhood.

Grace came to live with her four male cousins when she escaped from the Order of the New Dawn cult. Her father had died and her mother had dragged her into the cult. Cade and his sister Zoey (heroine from book one) were friends with the four Steele cousins and thus Cade and Grace grew-up together. They dated while in college and had big plans put Cade decided to reenlist in the Army without telling Grace and they broke up. I really missed watching Grace and Cade grow to be in love. Their second chance romance didn't get as much page time as I would have liked because of the cult storyline dominating the plot. The two did have a nice flow to their interactions but the feelings and attraction build-up has already happened and we get more of “well, let's try this again”, some fear from both sides, and then “we're together again”. These actions and emotions don't necessarily cycle through quickly, but they didn't have the number of steps and depth I need to really get involved with a couple.

She trusted him.
Now it was up to him to make sure she never regretted it.

Grace was the much more shaded in character, with her time in the cult, escaping, adjusting to living with cousins, Cade issues, and then having to go back into the cult and seeing her mother again. There is some ground work laid from the first book about the issues Cade has with his father but Cade was mostly in the story to support, get protective if Grace put herself in danger, and be there for the sex scenes. The fact that they had previously developed feelings of love and the cult plot really stole any page time from their romance.

The New Dawn cult, their workings, was interesting but the conclusion to how the Vice President's daughter fit in and the threads that untangled to reveal the who and what, made for a somewhat muddy and trying too hard to be clever climax. There are still some Steele Ops members that need their happily ever after and a possible Vice President's daughter and Secret Service Agent. This author does always manage to pull me into the story, there's an easy of flow and movement to characters that I enjoy, so I'll still be checking out the series next romance and adventure.

View all my reviews

Reading Update: 30%

 

Cloudy and rainy, looking to brighten my day with some second chance romantic suspense and shrimp tacos!

Lethal Redemption by April Hunt purchase link

Blackened Cajun Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Salsa recipe

Review: Heiress for Hire

Heiress for Hire by Madeline Hunter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When the Duke of Hollingburgh dies suddenly, his will reveals that he has left the bulk of his money and business interests to three women, women the family has never heard of. One of the duke's nephews, Chase, is tasked with finding these three women and with investigating the duke's death. A former soldier who was cashed out under a cloud of suspicion, Chase will only go by the facts in a case and not let his emotions affect him ever again but dealing with family and one of the mysterious heiress, it's harder said than done.

He opened his eyes to see the end of a pistol mere inches from his head. His gaze traveled up the arm that held it, until he looked into the furious dark eyes of a very handsome dark-haired woman. She held the pistol like she knew how to use it.

Heiress For Hire was a leisurely mystery with a mature, tranquil romance and engaging characters. As a first in the series, the set-up for the storyline, that will obviously continue throughout at least what I can discern for three books, takes up a lot of the page time. The former duke's death that our hero Chase is investigating for probable murder is not resolved in this book and will obviously be the thread that ties the series together. While the introduction to the family members and how they are all set-up as red-herrings to keep you guessing was well thought out, it did steal too much time from our main characters and their romance.

It had been stupid to allow herself to taste that which she dare not enjoy in full.

Our heroine, Minerva, is one of the three mysterious women the duke left money to. I found her character and background more flushed out than Chase's and therefore she became the stronger character. Minerva is a widow who has changed her name to distance herself from any possible negativity to do with a trial that tried to convict her of murdering her husband. This is what sparks some of the conflict in keeping Chase and Minerva wary of each other. Chase believes his uncle was murdered and Minerva doesn't want her past dredged up and understands that she would be a prime suspect in the duke's possible murder. Minerva's husband was also abusive and this leads her to being slightly fearful of intimacy with Chase but the agency and control Chase gives to her during their moments of closeness have her healing and moving forward in this regard.

He hated how being disillusioned once had him guarding information now.

Chase's background and cloud over his leaving the army is kept secret for the majority of the book and while his friendship with his cousins, the new duke Nicholas and Kevin and his calm deliberate care towards Minerva, give insight to his personality, I still felt he wasn't colored in enough. I think I was around one-hundred pages in and I realized because of Chase and Minerva's background still kept secret and the focus more on the murder mystery set-up, I felt like I still didn't know these characters. Towards the end when Minerva and Chase get more time together, I enjoyed their by-play and interactions, which were smooth and calm. There really is no angst or dramatic flares to the story or characters, if you're looking for a more mature and comfortable romance, this would be the couple to read.

Secondary characters filled this story out wonderfully but the romance was overtaken by the series set-up too much for me. Minerva and Chase were a couple where the gradual friendship definitely built the trust to make acting on their mutual attraction believable. I just wish I had felt closer to them and the pace of the story was picked up a bit. I am curious to see who the other two mystery heiresses will be and if Chase's cousins Nicholas and Kevin will be paired with them.

View all my reviews

Reading Update: Page 1

Starting the week off nourishing body and soul.

Heath and happy reading, friends!

Heiress for Hire by Madeline Hunter purchase link

Vegan Spanish Rice Bowl w/ Taco Spice Roasted Cauliflower recipe

Review: A DUKE, THE LADY, AND A BABY

A DUKE, THE LADY, AND A BABY by Vanessa Riley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Widowed Patience Jordan is fighting to gain control of her son and home after a nefariously opportunistic Uncle Markham sends her to Bedlam. On a night she is sneaking out of her former home, her late husband's cousin, Busick Strathmore, the Duke of Repington, storms the gates and takes his legal position of being Patience's son's guardian.
Busick is trying to heal and keep his own secrets after being injured at Badajoz and hiring a young beautiful nanny for his new ward doesn't seem like a good idea in a house now full of ex-soldiers. He knows all about Markham and his fiendish ways and is set on finding his cousin's widow.
Patience and Busick will have to learn to trust if they're going to find love again.

It was a universal truth that no matter her background, face, or charms, a widow in possession of a fortune would be targeted for theft.

First in the Rogues and Remarkable Women series, this drops the reader right into Patience's struggles and life. I couldn't help feeling I was missing some introduction novella or prologue. I wish I could have gotten even a few scenes with Patience and her first husband to get a feel for their relationship and the troubles that seemed to plague him. I think this could have filled out the Uncle Markham villain storyline more. We also miss Markham sending Patience to Bedlam, how she became friends with Jemina (a character that is by her side constantly throughout the story), their escape from Bedlam, and how Patience gets saved/involved with the Widow's Grace. Lady Shrewsbury, the leader of the Widow's Grace, could have also been utilized, explained more. All the threads I mentioned seem vastly interesting but the reader comes into the story when all that has passed and I missed out on the depth of experience with Patience for them. Coming into the story when we do, left me at sea for a while but there was still a sense of undertaking that drew me in.

They dragged me, the mistress of Hamlin Hall from this place, from Lionel.

Our heroine Patience is originally from Demerara (modern day Guyana) and was brought to England by marriage. Her late husband, Colin, seems to have struggled with depression, lack of willingness to endure slights given overtly and covertly to Patience due to her mixed heritage, money issues, and a conniving Uncle Markham. They have a son, Lionel, but Colin abandons Patience in the country side. Patience's father left a trust for any offspring she may have and when her son turns a certain age, he will receive four thousand pounds, this money seems to be the catalyst for Markham conspiring against Colin and trying to dispose of Patience.

Our hero Busick is a soldier who fought and was injured in Badajoz, an injury that he tries to hide how badly affected him. He grew up with Markham and is aware of his villainous nature. In a structural choice, not seen often, Patience's pov is first person while Busick's pov is third. They each have their own chapters and until the end at some spots, the pov's are separated by chapter breaks. This helped me greatly in maintaining the flow of the story with the switching povs. I favor third person, so Busick's povs were easier for me to follow but Patience still was the better flushed out character because of more detail and emotion given to her personality and struggles.

“What’s not possible? For me to love or for me to love you?”

These two had some playful moments but overall I felt they were lacking chemistry and some heat. I like open door romances and sexually intimate moments on the page, this had some kissing but would definitely be categorized as very low heat, in regards to intimate scenes on page, this lack could have definitely affected how I felt about this. I also thought Patience not revealing her identity to Busick didn't ring true and was just keep some angst in the story. Patience actually returns to character and deals with this fairly quickly but what came before still felt forced and dragged out. These two had to deal with Markham issues, a possible ghost (seriously, why was this story thread put in there when it amounted to nothing??), and Lionel not liking pap milk and wanting milk (if I never have to read the words “pap milk” again, it will be too soon) for the majority of the story that their developing feelings weren't showcased enough for me.

There was no denying it. He was my beloved, and I was his.

There were some intriguing side characters, Busick's friend Viscount Gantry and his separation from his wife, who is also from Demerara, Patience's friend Jemina and her amnesia, and Lady Shrewsbury the leader of the Widow's Grace that look to have enough story to get books of their own. I missed having been with Patience on some of her past experiences and I would have liked more romance between her and Busick but this did have some venture and mystery that kept me reading.

View all my reviews