Reading Update: Page One

 

Fantasy and cheesecake, what more could you ask from a Sunday afternoon?

1890 in an alternative Paris, Talents are precious gems that gift unrivaled skills to their owners. The most Elite Talents are claimed by the aristocracy. 

Cleodora dreamed of inheriting her father's Tailoring Talent but the magic died with him. She's left with a sinking dress shop and bed-ridden younger sister to take care of. 

It's when a Lady Dahlia offers Cleodora a Singing Talent that she might be able to rewrite her fate. 

But as she becomes a rising star, she meets Vicomte Lenoir who's infuriating but teasing smiles are starting to win her over. 

Cleodora's torn between two people and fighting to not lose it all. 

The Kiss of the Nightingale by Adi Denner purchase link

Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cheesecake recipe 

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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Reading Update: Page 1

 

Aurora's book! 

If you've been reading the Las Leonas series, you're as excited as I am to finally see our physician and duke come together. 

Aurora runs an underground women's clinic, and Apollo, Duke of Annan, finds himself suddenly stepping in to help when danger nips at her heels. 

Apollo has his own stresses, new to being the Duke, he has people watching his every move and wanting him to fail. 

These two have been known to snap and crackle, but they find themselves being each other's best confidante, and bed partner. 

Historical romance with danger, context, bed sport, romance, and the French Riviera, can't wait! 

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera purchase link (Releases Today!)

Honey Lime Basil Peach Fruit Salad recipe 

Review: Lochs & Legends

Lochs & Legends by Andy the Highlander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

You'll find her in the Highlands, among the heather and the stone, 

You'll find her in the Highlands, where her heart has found it's home. 

A love letter, history and geography lesson, and tale telling, Lochs and Legends was a fun trip through parts of Scotland travel guide. 

Our travel guide, Andy the Highlander (may recognize him as a supporting actor from the Outlander tv show), obviously loves his homeland and it comes through each tale and description of the land. Starting off in Fife, we get tales of a haunted palace, witch trials, and a 500 year old Inn that travelers could visit. The guide then journeys through Edinburgh, Perthshire, Gateway to Highlands, Stirlingshire (The Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel may be known to many), Cairngorn, Inverness, Outer Hebrides, Isle of Skye, Western Highlands, Argyll, Clydeside, and Glasgow, among others. 

Each stop highlights Scottish heritage sights tourists might want to see, on the well trodden path and off-beaten. From nature walks, sharks, castles, book shops, and pubs, there's plenty here to entice you to make the trip. Andy's knowledge and gift for gab, with help written from Lily Hurd, made this an entertaining read, whether it was relaying of historical events, people, and places, or more whimsical with fairy and ghost folklore and stories. As an American, the sheer amount of historical places fascinated. The ending also gave us a Scottish Culture section where recipes and music could be found and a Resources section to give starting places if planning a trip. 

Definitely recommend if wanting to learn about Scotland, for going on a trip or just personal enjoyment. 

Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time 

Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home. 

If I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad 

Caledonia's been everything I've ever had.

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Review: Order of Swans

Order of Swans by Jude Deveraux
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 

“What if I told you that my country is on another planet and it takes three years of Earth time to get there?”

Order of Swans starts us in a prologue from Jobi's point-of-view, he's an alien from the planet Bellis who's currently on Earth. As the third most powerful being from the Order of Sight, he can see parts of the future and he knows that Kaley, a half-light, a baby born of a Bellisian and Earthling, is going to end up being vastly important to his world, if not knowing exactly why. As he manipulates circumstances that has Kaley's Bellisian mom sent back to their planet and growing up with her father and grandparents on their farm with himself guiding her and teaching her things he foresees she'll have to know, he plans for her future. After the prologue, we're jumped twenty-six years into the future and Jobi has once again manipulated things so that Kaley, unknowingly, is traveling with him back to Bellis. 

Those fairy tales had been written decades ago. But here, on these isolated islands, they were happening now. 

The majority of this was told from Kaley's pov, and she's one of those female main characters that takes everything in stride, a little too well. She thinks she's just in a different country and does not know that she was knocked out for the three years it took to travel from Earth to Bellis. However, she has some kind of chip in her arm that at different points, helps her instantly understand languages and heal her when activated by others and, oh yeah, there's a dragon and events and people that curiously seem to follow the fairy tales and folklore stories she has spent studying for her PhD, the reason she agreed to go to Jobi's home “island”, to learn new stories to study. Kaley's had an unnatural ability to bond with animals all her life, so every few pages, she's making some kind of new animal friend, too. This had a curious mix of fantasy and scifi that didn't quite gel right for me. Kaley gets to Bellis early on and then the story became a road adventure pretty quickly as she and her two companions, Sojee, a tree of a man sent as body guard, and Tanek, who communes with swans and who Kaley has the physical hots for while emotionally dipping into growly with each other to lovers (no bedroom scenes here, only a kiss), are sent to bring back the King's son, so he can be married. 

“Flush toilets but no computers,” she said to herself. “Crossbows but no guns. Spaceships but no cars.” She didn’t think she would live long enough to understand the planet. 

The road adventure had Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and other fairy tales popping up for our little crew to encounter. Around halfway, Kaley learns that she's not on a wild island adventure but in fact on a different planet, she, in character, handles it with little fuss other than some brief anger over being lied to. The world building was a little weak but we do know that the kingdom does seem to be a little in disarray and there are hierarchies of Orders: Sight, Swans, Royals, Kings, and Peacekeepers. This is the first in a Duology, so while the setting and characters are introduced, not a whole lot is explained, except that Jobi knows Kaley is important to their world. Tenak's son, Mekos, at one point gets kidnapped and the latter second half has them working to rescue him, which brings in a couple new characters and more reveals that leave you nothing but more questions. 

“This isn’t how fairy tales are supposed to end.” 

The ending delivers a kiss between Kaley and Tanek, they were together the majority of the time but there still, to me, wasn't a strong build up to their romantic relationship and while we get declarations of love, I didn't feel the depth. We're also left with a cliffhanger, remember, duology, and the future of our couple is in question, along with Kaley's foreseen purpose by Jobi and, honestly, what is actually happening on this fantasy scifi planet. While this had some interesting mashups of concepts and ideas, this kind of read more like a roughly filled in outline and I wanted more of a filled in and shored up story.

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Review: She Doesn't Have a Clue

She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke
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 

“A truce,” she said. “And then we can each go on our own separate way again. Just like before.” 

She Doesn't Have a Clue was a locked room cozy mystery that not only gave our female lead character a chance to solve a murder, but also a second chance at love. Kate's surprised at the weekend wedding invite, it's her ex-fiancé getting married, even though he's still her editor. She's even more surprised when she has to make a flying leap to catch the ferry to get to the secluded island the wedding is being held and lands in the arms of Jake. A hot Australian surfer her mother initially set her up with but became fast friends with as she authored two books of photos and stories about his Wandering Australian life. Drunk one night, she finally gets the nerve to make her move but he turns her down. This leads to her breaking their professional relationship, starting her own set of fictional mystery books, which go on to be a huge success and not talking to Jake for two years. When they both show up to the wedding, they're forced to share a room and solve a murder, because the real murderer is working hard to frame Kate and is using the storyline from her books to do it. 

“Is that what you think?” Jake asked. “That you’re not enough of a thrill for me?” 

Told all from Kate's point-of-view, her character brought a left-of-center, goofy, and clumsy but earnest vibe. She occasionally lapses into Loretta povs, the main character from her fictional books, which I found kind of amusing different but also wasn't the biggest fan as it went on because it took me out of the story I was reading too many times. Even though it's a small wedding, family and friend/work acquaintances from the Indie publishing house, there were still a good number of secondary characters to keep track of. The main gist is that Kate's ex is marrying into an extremely rich family dynasty, who's matriarch, Rebecca, is pretty much hated by all. There's cousins, uncles, brothers, and sisters who all are vying for a piece of the family wealth that Rebecca controls. It's when Rebecca makes an announcement that she's donating the family wealth that things get heated and motives for nefarious maneuverings start to paint herrings red when an attempted murder and actual murder kick off the mystery storyline around the halfway point. 

“We’re just going to hang about on an island with a murderer who’s trying to frame us?” 

Why aren't the police called? Well, it's a secluded island and there is a storm that has knocked the power out and cell phones don't work, you know how it goes. Kate feels she has to solve the case because she thinks she has the skills through Loretta and someone seems to be setting her up. Jake wants to help her, because it's obvious that he has feelings for her. So while, they're running around pretty much trying to pin it on everyone, they're also trying to fight their physical attraction. They were together enough that I'd say this had a good romance storyline and we do get some flushing of Jake's character out with background on his family dynamics and personality issues from that but mostly, their issue is that obvious could be solved so easily communication conversation that they just can't ever seem to get around to having. There wasn't an incredible amount of emotional depth between them but they had some cute byplay and an open door scene. 

Jake paused on the stairs, gripping the railing hard before pivoting and surging up to the step just below her. The height difference put them at eye level, which meant she was staring directly into the storm of his gaze when he spoke. 

The murder mystery will probably keep you guessing for most the book but I'm not sure if that was fully because it was good or strung out and scattered with Kate running around too much and accusing too many. The rich family characters were a few too many and I found myself not caring a whole lot about them, so when the mystery centered around them, I wasn't as drawn in as I would have liked. However, if you're looking for some cute and cozy, there's murder but it still felt low stakes, and some cute with Kate and Jake finally finding their way to each other, this would be an easy read pick up.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

It's miserable cold here, so hunkering down with some mystery and romance! 

Kate's wound up at her ex-fiance's wedding, he's still her editor, and trying to finish up her latest book. But she finds herself with a real-life mystery when the bride dies. Eek! 

Also scary, the only one helping her trying to solve the murder, Jake, who just happens to be Kate's biggest romantic regret. 

There's murder, storms, redherrings, and second chance romance 

She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke purchase link (Jan. 21) 

Lemon Fettuccine with Mascarpone sauce recipe

#TBRChallenge Review: A Cowboy to Remember

A Cowboy to Remember by Rebekah Weatherspoon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion. 

“Do you want me to put my hat back on?” 

He was joking, but she didn’t care. “Yes.” 

He chuckled a bit, then grabbed his cowboy hat off the hook near his bedroom door. He slipped it on his head, then climbed in the bed. 

Starting the year off with a late #TBRChallenge, how sooo unlike me. January's theme was New Year, Who Dis?, which I took to mean a new to me author. I've had this author on my tbr for a couple years now and when I was going through my books on my Kindle, well, the cover caught my eye you could say. 

This is an amnesia story, which on paper, I'm burnt out on but there was an interesting angle that drew me in as I got into the story (and no, it wasn't All due to the cowboy hat, lol). We start off with our female main character at an event where we learn Evie is a chef who won some reality tv competitions and is now co-hosting her own show, she's essentially made it. We get some clues that she's a bit tired, over worked, and is actually playing the game to save enough money to open her own restaurant. Things come to a crashing halt when someone she beat out on a competition show, ends up pushing her down a flight a stairs. Evie survives but has amnesia, she can't remember anything about herself. 

With some secondary character bestfriends and inner circle, Evie's emergency contact is called, a Jesse Pleasant, a rancher from Southern California. Readers have a little knowledge that Evie grew-up on this ranch with the Pleasant brothers when her grandmother had to take her when her parents died when she was a kid. Jesse is the oldest, Sam the youngest, and the one who keeps appearing in her spotty dreams, Zach. With povs from mainly Evie and Zach, but also some of the secondary characters, we get a well rounded look at how Evie had a crush on Zach and they fooled around as teenagers only to have a crushing break-up ten years ago and the two haven't talked since. 

With Evie's celebrity but memory loss, everyone thinks it's best to kind of hide Evie until she can recover, there's also some side worrying about how she ended up at the bottom of the stairs. Evie ends up leaving New York and going to stay at the Pleasant's ranch in SoCal. The interesting angle I talked about is how Evie and Zach are still essentially in a fight but Evie has no clue about it, so this leads to a different take on how they're going to work it out. Zach is pretty honest up front and tells her about it, he gives an apology and with Evie's memory loss, she's able to hear it, if not fully internalize it, because she's missing the blocking wall of pain and anger. Their forced proximity at the ranch has them spending time together with Evie physically attracted to Zach and having the lingering residue of emotionally having once been attached to him, some of her dreams work as mini flashbacks to moments they had growing up. 

Zach's family is very cautious about him and Evie being together but Zach see's this as his second chance and Evie is growing to like him, so they get together, with the looming, is Evie going to get her memory back and then be mad all over again. It takes until around the 80% mark for her to eventually remember all but by then, she and Zach have bonded again, so most of the work has been done, with a brief moment of Evie having to work through that past anger but equipped with Zach's apology. Zach does apologize again, when it's more meaningful for Evie and readers get more of how they were early twenties and Evie's grandmother was in Zach's ear about not holding her back career wise. It's all easy and understandable why they disconnected but also why it's now easy for them to fall into this second chance. 

I liked how the amnesia angle worked to deliver a different spin on a second chance forgiveness, I liked all the secondary characters who delivered (Miss Leona novella or supplement or something, give me more about this woman's life!) and have me anticipating their own books, I loved the cowboy hats, I did want more of the ranch but I have a feeling older brother Jesse may deliver that for me, I wanted a little more time spent together and developing Evie and Zach's new romance, I loved all the doggies running around, and I greatly enjoyed the friends and family relationship dynamics.

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Review: This Cursed House

This Cursed House by Del Sandeen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.5 stars 

I buddy read this over on a Horror Discord, if you like stories that will exhaust you about pushing a forgiveness narrative (to the point of insanity) with some ghosts, this would be your bag. Oh, and cousin banging. 

Jemma lives in Chicago and grew up with adoptive parents, when she catches her boyfriend cheating and the other woman is pregnant, she has a breakdown that leads to her losing her teaching job. When she answers a call to be a tutor for a family down in New Orleans, well, she thinks a tutor, it's never really said, just the amount a week is crazy good, so she doesn't ask a lot of questions and heads on down. There she lives with the Duchon family, who she eventually learns is her family and they're cursed and she thinks she's cursed too, it takes her a ridiculous amount of time to test if she's cursed. 

As the story goes on, it's clear that colorism has lead to the Duchon's being cursed, a curse put on them by Jemma's mother but that's not all there is to the story, ghost are also around and with Jemma's ability to see them, the Duchon's think she's the key to breaking the curse. The Duchon's are aholes who deserve nothing from Jemma but Jemma thinks the curse that kills a Duchon on her birthday could effect her too, so she keeps staying to try and help break the curse. The curse keeps the Duchons on their property so cousins end up together (they initially thought they were brother and sister and were happy to learn, nope, only cousins) and Jemma feels sorry for them, even though they constantly think they're better than her because they're lighter skinned. 

The story constantly pushed a forgiveness narrative, Jemma and her mother have to forgive the family for what they did and then the curse will be broken and other various ways it's weaved in. Character motivations were hard to believe in and made it hard for me to get into this story. The latter part when the ghosts came in was more interesting and I did like how some of the plot lead to Jemma building to loving herself. However, things were just never developed enough for me or didn't make much sense SPOILER Jemma has spent her whole life wanting to know her biological family, when she meets them they're aholes and honestly she should have bounced first chance but then it's revealed her mother is alive but they end up hardly talking and when there's a chance for her to leave with her mother, she ends up staying and it felt very off that this key person that Jemma has always wanted to know and the story used to build up to a big reveal, just ends up flittering off never to be heard from again. END SPOILER

Felt directionless, character motivations didn't always make sense, and the push of forgiveness NO MATTER WHAT, made this an unsatisfying read for me.

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Review: Window Shopping

Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey
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 

This man smiles constantly. 

I hate him. 

Window Shopping was a quick steamy holiday read about second chances. Stella is just out of jail after serving four years for armed robbery, the story is a little more complicating and forgiving than black and white, when she's looking at a department window display and gets a dual chance of a lifetime. Intrigued by her and her opinion on the window, Aiden, the general manager and majority shareholder of the store, encourages her to apply for newly vacant job opening to design the windows. This kicks off a “We can't, but boy do we want to!” relationship as second chances and taking chances fill the season. 

I think because...this is a man who pays attention. This is a man who doesn't miss anything. 

This was fairly typical Tessa Bailey, steamy and hot, but with some very careful, “he's her boss” maneuvering. Aiden was pretty much all in for Stella but she was cautious with not wanting to be seen as “given” anything because of her relationship with Aiden. They both had some family issues to work through on the side, Aiden feeling abandoned by his father when younger, leading him to always want to be pleasant and not cause waves, and Stella feeling guilty for how she acted out to her parents and feeling “lucky” compared to her friend Nicole, who liked to get her into trouble and guilt trip her. These issues created some keeping the two from ultimately coming together but not from their hands always being on each other. 

For now, I'm going to let myself have Aiden and this moment. 

Aiden was a sweet goofy guy who was the calm that our tightly held together Stella needed and Stella helped Aiden be more solid with who he was. Around seventy percent, Stella joins Aiden with allowing herself to be all in and all that's left is her dealing with issues relating to her friend Nicole, which got brushed through very quickly, and an epilogue showing their HEA. This was great for lighter, quick and steamy holiday fare reading.

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