Reading Update: Page 1

 

Garlic fries is totally a lighter meal, right? 😉 Trying to save room for all the holiday cookies floating around. 

Have heard good buzz around this book, can’t wait to read!

Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase purchase link

Baked Fries w/ Garlic Sauce recipe

Review: The Twelve Dogs of Christmas

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Lizzie Shane
My rating: 4 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. 

Feeling restless and lonely, Ally decides that with a canceled photography gig and her apartment lease up, that now is the perfect time to leave New York and spend some time with her grandparents in small town Pine Hollow, Vermont. She loves helping out with their dog rescue shelter and is heartbroken when the city council decides to cut funding for the shelter. 

After his sister and brother-in-law died in a car accident, Ben assumed responsibility for his niece, Astrid. Two years later and he still feels like his head is under water and he's not doing enough of a good job. Even though he has no time in his hectic schedule, he feels bad about being the deciding vote on the city council to defund the town dog shelter and agrees to help their twelve dogs find homes before the end of the year. 

Ally's loving Pine Hollow's big holiday celebrations and Ben is nicknamed “Ebeneezer” but the more time they spend together, the more they want the New Year to include each other. 

 It was sort of adorable, the gruff man with the scruffy beard holding himself so stiffly aloof. Determined not to let the dogs into his heart. 

The first in the Pine Hollow series, this introduces us to this holiday obsessed small town in Vermont. If looking for a festive read, this delivers with mistletoe, snow, and holiday celebrations. With more of a Hallmark than Lifetime movie feel, some kisses but that's the extent of the heat, this was leisurely and sweetly paced. Even with Ben's backstory of losing his sister and now caring for his niece, I would still call this very low angst. It was easy to feel for Ben, all the responsibilities he took on to try and be a mother and father to Astrid, while never cracking under the pressure so Astrid never thought he might resent or not want her. His walled up exterior and not wanting to accept help, thinking it was a sign of defeat or he couldn't hack it, made me want to shake him a time or two but overall, you're going to like this bearded gruff but softhearted guy. 

Where they dating and she hadn't even known it? 

Since Ben's story is so strong, Ally's character fades a bit but I liked how strong and willing to put herself out there for Ben, especially towards the end, she was. I wish we could have gotten even more scenes with her grandparents as I think that could have colored in her character more but I liked the women relationships she started to develop in Pine Hollow and how that gave us a look at different facets of her personality. For awhile, Ally thinks Ben is engaged, and I liked how that brought out conflicting emotions in Ally that in turn showed us how much she was starting to really like him.  

“Look, you two! You're under the mistletoe!” 

With the more leisure pace and low heat, Ben and Ally spend the majority of the story developing their friendship and I enjoyed the focus on this aspect of a relationship; I felt these two did have a lasting future together as they seemed to actually know one another. Ben has a circle of friends ranging from the town sheriff, a lawyer, and baker and with Ally's teacher and princess party organizer friends, the series future looks to be in good hands. If you're a dog person, you'll greatly enjoy the rescue shelter's residents, especially Partridge, who I'd let drool on my foot all day. If looking for a sweet romance with some doggies and festive cheer, this will be a holiday favorite. 

She laughed, stepping out in the wintry softness of the night, and turned to face him, hooking one finger into the lapel of his coat. “You can pretend to be as curmudgeonly as you want. I see you, Ben West.” 

He met her eyes---and that thing came alive again, that spark that always seemed to be lingering between them, waiting to be ignited. “I see you, too.”

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50%

 

"Just because it's not the worst-case scenario doesn't mean it isn't hard. Hard isn't relative. It doesn't get easier because someone else has it worse. It's just hard. You don't need to make your hard seem smaller that someone else's." She glanced up at him, lightening the moment with a quick flashing grin. "Just don't make it bigger."

Reading Update: Page 1

 Stomping out any lingering bah-humbug feelings with holiday delights 🥰 

I’m always a sucker for holiday themed books 🎄

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Lizzie Shane purchase link

White Chocolate Peppermint Fluff recipe

I make this every Dec (ok, 2x every Dec) and love how easy to how amazingly delicious it is

Reading Update: 50%

 

Who knew Tate Rasmussen, the no-nonsense hard-ass, could be devastatingly sweet?

Reading Update: 50%

 

"I wish someone would look at me the way he looked at you." 

 Lilith paused, very curious as to what her friend had seen in the Marquis of Dansbury. "How did he look at me?" 

 "As though he was absorbing everything about you, inside and out."

Review: The Fiery Crown

The Fiery Crown by Jeffe Kennedy
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. 

The Fiery Crown is second in the Forgotten Empires series and can not be read as a standalone as it continues the story of Queen Euthalia and the Slave King, Conri. The first introduced readers to this fantasy world, a world that was ravaged twenty years ago and ruled ever since by the self-proclaimed emperor Anure. Conri was the prince of a kingdom called Oriel that was the first to fall. He was sent to the mines where his thirst for revenge grew until he was old enough to do something about it. He has a friend named Sondra from Oriel with him, a former General named Kara, and wizard named Ambrose, who claims Conri is part of a prophecy that will topple the kingdom. The first ends with Conri completing another part of Ambrose's prophecy, claiming the hand, marrying, the Queen Euthalia of Calanthe. 

All my promises to protect her were as empty as my blackened soul. She’d called me a caged wolf, and she was more right than she knew. A trapped animal can never be trusted. 

Euthalia was an aloof solitary figure in the first book as she is the only independent ruler left in the land and only because her father betrothed her to Anure. In this second installment, we get to see her open up more as her and Conri become closer through dealing with how to defeat Anure. Again, there was time dedicated to Euthalia's clothing and make-up choices but those were kept more brief as the focus started to turn to why she has such an elaborate get-up. Euthalia is an elemental, she would grow flowers and vines instead of hair if she didn't shave it and can share thoughts and feelings with her land Calanthe. This along, with brief appearances by Ambrose and some other wizards is really the only fantasy elements we get. There really isn't any new worldbuilding as this stagnates on Conri and Euthalia pushing and pulling at each other as Conri works to get his revenge and Euthalia tries to protect her land. 

A final joke from the gods who’d abandoned me. It changed nothing that my heart had come to life. It only meant I’d bleed more when I died. 

I really felt the first seventy percent of this could have been condensed down to 10-20 percent as I was, quite frankly, bored for the vast majority. The last 30% finally gives us a glimpse of the major villain Anure and has some action and heartbreak that moved the story along. There were times that I felt the vernacular felt a bit modern or off for the time and place this world is set in; it just didn't jive with the medieval feel. With some secrets revealed but more still unexplained and Anure not defeated, this ends with somewhat of a cliffhanger. I don't feel there was enough story here to drag out to three books but if everything is going to be wrapped up in the third, that should be full of revelations and action. 

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