Review: The Gilded Heiress

The Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

The Pendeltons ruined my father's life and my family's future. I'd never forgive it. And someday, I'd find a way to even the score. 

The Gilded Heiress had the beats of the Anastasia cartoon movie, with great historical additives but the romance lacked intimacy and depth for me. Told in dual first person pov's, Leo lives in Boston, hustling as a confidence man to try and take care of his mom and five sisters. His father used to be a gardener for a rich family in New York but when their toddler daughter was kidnapped, an investigation started to point fingers at him and he was sacked without references. This made it hard to find a job and he ended up drinking himself to death. Leo knows his father was innocent and holds a huge grudge against the Pendletons, so when he sees a young woman singing on a corner in Boston that closely resembles Mrs. Pendleton, a scheme is hatched. 

I would need to be more careful with Josie. She had a strange power to make me confess things, apparently. 

Even though this told in both Leo and Josie's povs, I got more of a sense of Leo's character, his scheme to pose as Josie's singing manager to get her to New York and then somehow introduce her to Mrs. Pendelton, convincing both Josie's the kidnapped baby and collecting the reward money, is the plot of the book. We get the bare bones of Josie's character, she grew up in a Boston orphanage, she has a bestfriend Pippa, who we barely see, and she's very judgmental about Leo's past and how he's made money to help his family survive. Josie can hardly lie, could barely understand what would possess someone too, and is that all round sweet, good-hearted character that comes off a little too goody-two shoes, to me anyway. The reader knows the third-act break-up is going to be Josie finding out about Leo's original plan, even though Leo falls in love with her and plans on telling her his original scheme but, obviously, not in time. 

“Careful,” I warned, my voice husky. “Or I might attempt to corrupt you.” 

Her mouth twisted slyly, like she had a secret. “Perhaps I'll let you, tomcat.” 

The romance was pretty much insta-lust, a lot of gazing at lips and body parts that make them have the hots and want to jump into bed together. I struggled with feeling the depth in their romantic relationship, I believed them as friends, but if you're more into the physical, these had some good open-door scenes. If you've been a historical romance reader for years, this will feel like a clearly written stylistic choice to try and catch a newer reader, if the dual first person povs didn't already tip you off. I'm not sure how years long fans of the subgenre will take to it and I'll be vastly interested if the change to pick up new readers works. 

Looking down, I used my pinkie finger to lightly touch the back of her hand---and her breath hitched. 

Shupe is always great with her historical additives (Lotta Crabtree plays a decent part!) and I had a fun time catching things I knew and going on to learn about things I didn't. I wish we could have gotten more scenes with Leo and his family, who he's doing this all for, and gotten Joise's character a little more flushed out, more out of the “I'm here to be lusted after by Leo and shame him for having been a confidence man”. Romantic relationship depth wasn't really here to be found for me, but if third person historical romance hasn't worked for you, this would be something different for you to pick up and if you were looking for some Anastasia movie beats.

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Review: The Gods Time Forgot

The Gods Time Forgot by Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.3 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

Why couldn’t she remember her name? 

The Gods Time Forgot had an intriguingly mystery start with leads that had catch your attention flickering chemistry but stagnated too much in the middle and delivered a rushed ending. Told from the leads, Emma/Rua and Finn's point-of-view, readers come into the story as a girl awakes lost in the woods, without her memory. A search party is crowding her and calling her Emma, but she doesn't recognize or feel that name. When the searchers express horror at her standing in a river, without harm, and she flicks water at a man, which in turn burns him, she's frightened into going where they want to lead her. She's brought back to her home and is impressed by the grandeur but still doesn't recognize anything. A portrait on the wall looks exactly like her and we learn she is supposed to be Emma Harrington, the only daughter of a rich tycoon in Gilded Age New York. 

After what they’d just done— after what Badb had made Rua do? How dare she speak of love. Rua let out a sob. 

“I have done this for us,” Badb said, desperate to make Rua believe it. She cupped Rua’s cheek, blood lust swirling in the gold of her eyes. “I will protect you, always.” 

Lies. Rua jerked her head away. 

While Emma goes along with the identity everyone has given her, she starts to have memories of a different place, time, and called Rua. In that place and time, she loved a man called Cú Chulainn (Irish mythology is woven into the story). It's hard for Emma to act proper and she has the looming threat of her mother telling her if she doesn't act right, she'll be sent to an asylum. Her maid, Mara, seems to know what happened in the woods but is cagey about giving Emma any true answers. When the Harrington family arrives in New York City, Emma meets a Lord Donore, Finn, and they are instantly drawn to each other. We don't get much about Finn, except that he's trying to get in with society's elite so that he can gain enough money to support his charitable works. He's in business with one of the top families and is about to propose to their daughter. After the beginning of the story's allure, who is Emma really?, what happened between the time she entered the “hellmouth” and left it?, and what do these memories/dreams mean?, the middle stagnated with Emma/Rua contemplating the same questions over and over without many trickling answers given, and Finn constantly saying he couldn't have anything to do with Rua because it would ruin his reputation and thus money flow. 

She continued walking, flexing her palm, wondering why she could still feel the touch of his hand on her skin. 

As we get a little more from Finn in the latter second half, we learn that he is also having dreams of a different time and place and when Rua and Finn finally confide into each other about their dreams, the story and pace finally leaves the embedded in place of Rua trying to behave to appease her mother and Finn trying not to be drawn to Rua so he can marry rich and high society, and we get movement on the Irish mythology woven in plot. If Morrígan; Macha, Badb, Nemain are names that mean anything to you, then you'll have some knowledge to where the story is heading and if it's all new to you, you'll probably enjoy some of the reveals. I liked the Irish mythology inclusion and general plot idea but it stagnated far too long. I know the middle is supposed to be where Rua and Finn are falling in love but after that initial spark of chemistry, it felt more like words telling me they were made to be together instead of providing the emotion. 

The man was quarrelsome and arrogant, born to be her adversary. But there was something else there, something warm and familiar, and it felt like hers. 

The ending will give you the hows and whys of Emma/Rua and Finn but, for me, left out some dynamic scenes of confrontation and overcoming with key characters (Badb). I don't know, it just felt like the ending was left dangling, even though it was sort of wrapped up. The Irish mythology was a delightful additive but the story's pace stagnated too much for me in the middle.

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Quickie Review: Escaping from Houdini

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.5 stars 

"The show must go on." 

NO00000. 

This was a locked boat mystery where a carnival full of contortionist, fire breathers, palm and tarot readers, and Houdini (???) perform every night on the trip from England to America. The beginning was flashy and mystical with the carnival and it's people, the mysterious ringmaster who gets involved in a love triangle with our couple, kept me intrigued but when a murder occurs each night of the show and the whole point of this series, with the romance, is that our couple are forensic detective apprentices and there was barely any detecting going on and no one seemed overly concerned about the murders, enough to stop the shows, it all began to feel deeply unserious and I had a hard time investing in the story and characters. 

Ok, I did start this continuous same couple series at book 3, so I missed some foundational emotion between this young couple but, meh, to feeling much between them. 

The carnival delivered some flashy described cool scenes but the plot was structurally messy af and the characterization was wonky; a lot of elements didn't track. 

I'm exhausted trying to figure this book out and so thankful I buddy read it with thevintagechronicles over on Fable because I had someone to whine, complain, and get my frustrations out with, would have lost my mind otherwise, lol.

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Review: The Kiss of the Nightingale

The Kiss of the Nightingale by Adi Denner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“I need you to become my thief.” 

In a magical realism late 1800s France, The Kiss of the Nightingale was a story of what you're willing to give up for the life you think you want. Told in first person, present tense, Cleo is a nineteen year old who is trying to keep her father's tailoring business going while caring for her sick younger sister. In this world, Talents mean everything. Centuries ago, gems infused with magic that greatly enhanced a person's gifted talent, were mined and then distributed among the population. A few decades ago, the mines dried up and Talents became impossible to get, unless you inherited them from your family. This has created increasingly lopsided economic statuses, especially when Elite Talents are horded by the aristocracy. Cleo's father was supposed to pass on his Tailoring Talent but after his emotional spiral downward after Cleo's mother's death, his body was found drowned in the river, with the Talent gem missing from his ring. Knowing that Cleo doesn't have a Talent, customers abandon her father's once flourishing business, leaving Cleo and her sister to poverty. 

In our relationship, I'm the dangerous one. 

Desperate to find a way to pay for a doctor for her sister has Cleo attempting to rob an aristocrat, but she's found, kidnapped and brought to Lady Sibille, better known as Dahlia and the Queen of the underworld that deals with stolen Talents. Cleo is seduced by Dahlia, physically and emotionally, and ends up agreeing to become a thief and steal Vicomte Nuriel Lenoir's Mathematical Talent in exchange for Dahlia gifting Cleo with a singing Talent and becoming Lady Adley. Unfortunately for Cleo, she feels drawn to the arrogant Nuriel and starts to develop feelings for him, leading her to feel guilty for her subterfuge and how she's going to betray him. 

But Cleo, it's not worth it if it keeps you from home. 

The beginning was interesting with the magical realism world set-up and obvious in it's message of resource hoarding, social status hierarchies, and what you should want out of life. However, the middle really sagged for me as Cleo did a lot of rinse and repeat of feeling guilty and battling enjoying her riches full new life with missing her sister. Since we're only in Cleo's head, the stagnate wishy-washy gave no escape and slowed the momentum of the story for me. The scenes with Cleo and Nuriel had some banter that you could feel and believe in their budding relationship but not quite enough depth to really delve into their romance. With the inclusion of magic, it felt obvious that Cleo's feelings were probably being manipulated by Dahlia in some way, so even though there seemed to be flashes of conveyed realness, I didn't quite feel the tormented pull Cleo was supposed to be in. Dahlia seemed like a very interesting secondary character that I would have loved to have seen more of, but again, all in Cleo's head, we only get those flashes. 

Light and darkness. Safety and danger. Integrity and deceit. But under it all is desire. And the realization that, deep inside, I'm torn. 

The ending worked to draw me back in when Cleo finally has to make a decision regarding who's side she's going to be on and what she wants out of life and we get some action. The world-building was adequate, I could have used a little more in regards to the magical Talents but it was magical realism intriguing enough. The secondary characters were plentiful and each brought something to the table; I can see Cleo's sister possibly getting her own romance. The romance, between Cleo and Dahlia and Cleo and Nuriel was there but lacked romance genre depth for me. Where this excelled the most for me was in it's underlining message of how resource hoarding hurts not only individuals but holds back societies as a whole and how talents can come from anyone and all corners of the world. This had a, mostly, wrapped up ending, but some characters were left in the wind and while some relationships were getting started, there is definitely room to add to character journeys. At points intriguing, meandering, left me wanting more depth, and thought-provoking.

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Review: A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

From that first meeting, she’d found herself equally appalled and intrigued by him. 

Readers of the Las Leonas series have been waiting for this book ever since Aurora and Apollo first sizzled on page. You could start the series here, you'd miss out on a little bit of groundwork laid between our two leads but there was enough here to understand and feel the connection between the friends and their relationships in this one. The prologue gets us going right away when the key Apollo put into Aurora's pocket months ago, finally has her showing up at his door. They have heat between them and they act on it but they're both also emotionally going through it for their own reasons, Apollo's revenge against his father has been meted out, only for him to die and now Apollo finds himself the Duke of Annan, while Aurora's family has cut off her payments from her trust fund. They physically let out some steam but too in their own heads to finally deal with their emotions. 

The long and short of it was that the fastidious, forbidding, scrupulous Aurora Montalban was spending her nights committing crimes under everyone’s nose. 

After the prologue we jump a few months where Apollo is back in England and learns that Doctora Aurora is working at the Le Bureau (brothel) and uses it as an excuse to go back to Paris to check up on her. Through their friends (main characters from the previous two books in series) they meet back up and we get Apollo and Aurora striking a deal that Apollo will donate a building for Aurora to have a women's clinic in, so she's not in danger running around Paris trying to meet-up with patients, and teach her some self-defense moves (capoeiragem). For Aurora's end, she'll give her advice and expertise on how to run a clinic and she wants sexual lessons from Apollo, mainly help her learn what she likes. These are the reasons for keeping the two in each other's orbit, what is trying to pull them apart is the lingering part of Apollo's revenge, he wants the aristocracy to accept him and gain some feeling of respect through that for his mother who has died, this is pushed a lot by his tia who is trying to set him up with respectable heiresses. There's also an in the wings aristocrat villain that works to discredit Apollo. Aurora's issues are from when she was taken advantage of when she was a teen by an older man, she felt ignored and unloved in her family, and is eventually forced into a decision that has her going against her family and distances her even more emotionally from them. It's what caused her parents to send her to a finishing school, which series readers know is where the Las Leonas meet and form. Why must you always be so angry? These two pretty much like each other right off the bat, sure there's some friction from two hard-headed people, but the physical and emotional attraction is baked in. Apollo chases her a good amount, Aurora has a lot on her plate with being a doctor and trying to get around men to best serve her women patients. This is very much a historical romance of the time and I can see future generations centering and pointing to it. There was a lot of passages and lines that I highlighted, ex.: This was a woman of means, and yet in her letter to the clinic she’d indicated her inability to pay for her visit because she could not spend any money that could not be explained to her husband. The plot and romance are there but what grabbed me the most was the we've had these battles before and we found ways to win vibe and underlining message. 

The prickly, censorious doctor who behind closed doors became his Fiera. 

I really enjoyed how Luz Alana and Manuela, together with Aurora make up the Las Leonas who the series is about, made many appearances in this. Their friendship is written so beautifully and I enjoyed seeing them together. I did think the ending did get somewhat drawn out, because of the past decision Aurora made and the reason she didn't feel love from her family, she feels she'll only be a hindrance to Apollo's need to fit in with the aristocracy. The whole book felt like a showing by Apollo all the things he was willing and did do because he loved Aurora, even if there was some, feeling like, forced spouting of I need a respectable debutante. I guess I didn't completely still buy into what was keeping them apart around the 70% mark. 

“I’m the Duke of Annan, and I’m using my power, my position and my money to give you what you deserve. What about it?” 

These two were spicy together and I believed in their emotional connection, but what I really fell for was the historical-ness of this. You'll get setting and atmosphere, 1889 Paris with bonus lavender fields and French Riviera and historical shout-outs, Sarah Loguen Fraser (considering the day I'm writing this review, let me give my own shout-out, Rebecca Lee Crumpler). It was a great series send-off and I definitely spotted some characters that could be spin-off material. If you're looking to get into a new historical romance series, this has been my recent favorite.

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Review: The Hostage

The Hostage by Susan Wiggs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

 The pan on the stove caught fire at the precise instant that Tom Silver came into the house. He looked tired, his face and hands chapped by the wind, but he moved swiftly toward the blaze. Deborah was quicker, dumping some of the hot water from the potatoes onto the fire even as Tom shouted, “Don’t do that!” In a split second, she understood why. Some alchemy between water and burning fat made the flames flare even higher, licking black tongues of soot onto the ceiling. Swearing, Tom grabbed the frying pan and rushed outside with it. She heard more cursing, then silence. 

He returned, holding the pan with the charred fish in it. “I take it supper’s ready,” he said. 

Look, I'm a goofball for scenes like this, fish out of water trying because they like the person they're trying to impress/show value to. 

Anyway, I didn't plan on writing a review for this but I play enough bingo games that I can't let the chance to call this one out go by, there are a good amount of little additives that could help someone for a hard to find square. 

The gist is Deborah is a spoiled Gilded Age princess living in Chicago. She grew-up with her clawed his way to the top father, her mother dying when she was young. She's engaged to a low level aristocrat, which is the one thing her father's money can't buy and he's ecstatic that he's going to get into those societal rooms through Deborah's marriage. Except, Deborah's fiancé rapes her (there is a scene at the end where Deborah has a flashback to the moment as she works through her guilt, blame, and understanding that yes it was rape, for content warning), and she goes to her father to tell him that she won't marry him. Unfortunately, for Deborah, she picks the night that Tom comes for revenge. Deborah's father owned a mine that with poor regulation, ended up killing a bunch of people, one who was Tom's adopted son, and he's decided to come kill the dad. Unfortunately for Tom, he picks the night of the Great Chicago Fire. 

The first 25% of this was Deborah and Tom trying to escape the fire and I liked a book that delved a decent amount into the, beginning, of the Chicago Fire. Unfortunately, the first half of this was kind of rough getting started, Deborah the spoiled “princess”, Tom the big meanie, and a smoke smelling doggy. Fortunately, the second half came on better with Deborah's fish out of water learning and trying and Tom's reluctant liking of her gumption and falling for her. The latter ending half where Deborah is working through her pain about the rape also has Tom being supportive in a good hero way, too. But what really made this stand out was the possible different bingo square elements I mentioned. 

The Chicago Fire 

Sault Sainte Marie, and going through the Soo Locks 

Mostly, takes place in the Greak Lakes region on an island 

Tom does kidnap her 

President Grant! 

Pinkerton's detecting around 

Tom runs his own Trading Post 

He also fought for the Union and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor 

But also importantly, While he worked at his bookkeeping, he wore delicate gold wire-rimmed spectacles. He wears glasses to read! 

Deborah learns how to gut a fish 

The Soo Locks and a heroine gutting a fish, not something you read everyday

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