authentic reviews and insightful interviews for inquisitive readers
Title: Entwined Author: Heather Dixon Series: n/a Enchanting and Heartwarming! I was complete taken with this novel! It might have gotten a tad tedious in the middle as the characters developed and I waited for something to happen, but I barely noticed, so swept up in the fairy tale. I wasn’t familiar with the tale of the twelve dancing princesses, but I googled it after and drew the parallels. I believe I much prefer this version. I usually read romance …
Title: Evermore Author: Alyson Noel Series: Immortals #1 Twilight knock-off, pathetic characters, ridiculous paranormal elements Well. I’ll start off by saying that I listened to the audiobooks of the first and second books of this series, and I’m not sure if I’ll listen to the others. They’re narrated by Katie Schorr, who has potential but was by no means skilled at the point when she recorded these. I hope she’s gotten better with practice. She reads in a pleasant, engaging …
Title: Cider Brook Author: Carla Neggers Series: Swift River Valley #3 boring with unlikable characters I couldn’t finish the book. It was SO. BORING. Usually when I start a book I’m a can’t-stop-until-it’s-done person. But I worked on this one for a week, unheard of for me. When I still had two hours left (of the audiobook) I decided to give it up, because I still didn’t care about the characters enough to want to know how they turn out. …
Title: The Untamed Bride Author: Stephanie Laurens Series: Black Cobra Quartet #1 Thoroughly confused by what Laurens was trying to do here First I’ll say that I’m not a regular Stephanie Laurens reader. While I’ve read a few, though I don’t remember which, she never caught my attention enough to find a spot on my keeper shelves. But my library’s digital selection is limited, and this happened to be available. It was not a wise choice. I was both intrigued …
Title: Ravished by a Highlander Author: Paula Quinn Series: Children of the Mist #1 If you like highlander romances, you MUST read this book! I LOVED this book! I’ve read a lot of romances, particularly a lot of highlander romances, and was prepared for a cheesy, unrealistically wanton portrayal of testosterone and damsels in distress. I was pleasantly surprised to find both of those elements, but in no way were they cheesy. I think they could have easily crossed that …
Title: Sinful in Satin Author: Madeline Hunter Series: Rarest Blooms #3 the good does not outweigh the bad I cannot tell you how many times I checked to see how close to the end I was, and how often I let out a bored groan when I saw how much was left. It…plodded…along…saving the “big” reveal for about three-quarters or perhaps two-thirds into the book. And either the reveal wasn’t all that exciting in itself or the time it took …
Title: Provocative in Pearls Author: Madeline Hunter Series: Rarest Blooms #2 read for the interesting plot, “hero” is no hero This book was bittersweet. On one hand, the plot that Verity (aka quiet Lizzie) was, lo and behold, Hawkeswell’s runaway bride presumed dead was exciting to me. Perhaps it’s somewhat of a cliché, but I didn’t mind. When Hawkeswell discovered her, I was like, Ohhhhhh….snap. While running away as a solution to a problem smacks of cowardice, it’s dramatic and …
Title: Ravishing in Red Author: Madeline Hunter Series: Rarest Blooms #1 a little cliche, otherwise fantastic! worth reading This book had just about everything—a plucky heroine, a down-to-earth hero (or at least in the last three books he’s the most reasonable of the four), a scene involving a gun, an original reason for how the women knew each other (at least to my knowledge), steamy love scenes, intrigue, a wealth of historical detail (though the extent of my knowledge cannot …
Title: Wicked Charms Authors: Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton Series: Lizzie and Diesel #3 A fun action-adventure-comedy (with a pinch of romance) that will make you laugh out loud 🙂 YAAAY AN EVANOVICH BOOK!! WHOOP WHOOP! There was quite a long hiatus between the last book of this series and this latest installment, but it was worth the wait. Only Janet Evanovich (and whichever co-writer she’s got tagging along at the moment) can pull off something this fantastically ridiculous. Her …
Title: Shadow in Serenity Author: Terri Blackstock Series: n/a In some ways masterful, in other ways amateurish. Overall worth reading. I’d never read Blackstock before, and borrowed it from my library because the cover, title, and synopsis made it seem like a romantic thriller or suspense novel, and I’d gone into it hoping for some action. While I wasn’t immediately curious about the plot, I thought it would be worth my time if there were plenty of shady deals gone …