Saturday, August 31, 2019

ARC Review: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

Well Met
Author: Jen DeLuca
Publication: Berkley (September 3, 2019)

Description: All's faire in love and war for two sworn enemies who indulge in a harmless flirtation in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author Jen DeLuca.

Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?

The faire is Simon's family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn't have time for Emily's lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she's in her revealing wench's costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they're portraying?

This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can't seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.

My Thoughts: Emily has moved to Willow Creek, Maryland, to take care of her sister and niece who were in a major car accident. She could do this because her life took a bad turn when the fiance she quit college for to put him through law school has decided that an up-and-coming lawyer doesn't need to be hooked up with a college dropout. Emily is feeling both betrayed and adrift since all of her plans for the future were derailed.

Emily is between the ages of her fourteen-year-old niece and her thirty-eight year old sister at just coming up on twenty-five. She really doesn't know her sister very well because of the large age difference but she is eager to help. That's her personality. She sees a problem and wants to fix it.

When her niece wants to be part of the summer Renaissance Faire in her town, she needs an adult to volunteer with her. Emily volunteers and finds herself filling the role of a wench at the only tavern in the faire. Besides her niece's need, Emily is intrigued by Mitch who is well-muscled and spends the faire in a kilt. She is less than intrigued with Simon who is one of the organizers of the faire. She finds him rigid and humorless.

It takes the whole summer and quite a few misunderstandings before she finds the right guy and the right future for herself. I loved the banter between the characters. I loved the Renaissance Faire setting. The romance was slow-building but heated up nicely.

Favorite Quote:
"Why do you want to see happy couples? I'm still in the ice cream and brownies and booze phase of my breakup, you know. This could set me back weeks."

"Ah, the holy trinity of heartache." She grinned at me over her shoulder. "Shut up and come on."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Friday Memes: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

Happy Friday everybody!
Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City ReaderThe Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:
I didn't choose the wench life. The wench life chose me.
Friday 56:
"Not much." I checked the wine bottles that had already been set up by the volunteer staff and tried to come up with something else unnecessary to do. "We ran into each other on the way." Technically this was true.
This week I am spotlighting Well Met by Jen DeLuca. I got this eARC from NetGalley. Here is the description from Amazon:
All's faire in love and war for two sworn enemies who indulge in a harmless flirtation in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author Jen DeLuca.

Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?

The faire is Simon's family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn't have time for Emily's lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she's in her revealing wench's costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they're portraying?

This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can't seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

ARC Review: The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier

The Harp of Kings
Author: Juliet Marillier
Series: Warrior Bards (Book 1)
Publication: Ace (September 3, 2019)

Description: A young woman is both a bard—and a warrior—in this thrilling historical fantasy from the author of the Sevenwaters novels.

Eighteen-year-old Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player. Her brother has a voice to melt the hardest heart, and is a rare talent on the harp. But Liobhan's burning ambition is to join the elite warrior band on Swan Island. She and her brother train there to compete for places, and find themselves joining a mission while still candidates. Their unusual blend of skills makes them ideal for this particular job, which requires going undercover as traveling minstrels. For Swan Island trains both warriors and spies.

Their mission: to find and retrieve a precious harp, an ancient symbol of kingship, which has gone missing. If the instrument is not played at the upcoming coronation, the candidate will not be accepted and the kingdom will be thrown into disarray. Faced with plotting courtiers and tight-lipped druids, an insightful storyteller, and a boorish Crown Prince, Liobhan soon realizes an Otherworld power may be meddling in the affairs of the kingdom. When ambition clashes with conscience, Liobhan must make a bold decision—and the consequences may break her heart.

My Thoughts: This is a pretty standard start to an epic fantasy well-told by a master of the genre. It takes three young people - Liobhan, Brocc, and Dau - who are students at an elite academy where they are training in weaponry and other skills in the hopes of being chosen to join the company. Liobhan is a warrior who also has skills and a musician and singer. She is talented and tricky. Her brother Brocc is the more gifted musician but is also a smart and skilled warrior. Dau is their competitive rival who is determined to be the finest warrior so that he will be chosen to stay with the company.

The three are chosen to go along with two elders to find a missing harp that is needed for the coronation of the new king of Breifne. They will be going undercover, complete with new, fabricated identities, to locate the harp and restore it before midsummer when the coronation will be held. All of the roles are difficult but Liobhan, who has to become shy and diffident, and Dau, who has to play the role of a mute stable hand, have the hardest time.

They learn rather quickly that the presumed heir - Rodan - is a cowardly bully who feels entitled to whatever he wants when he wants it. He has been abusive to his younger sister and his sister's nursemaid. When his attempted assault on Liobhan is thwarted, she is the one who is forced to make a public apology. Worst of all, Rodan will make a terrible king because he doesn't have any respect for the Fair Folk who also inhabit his land. In fact, he doesn't believe in them.

Each chapter is the story is told from the viewpoint of one of the three young people. In each we not only advance the plot but learn about each one's past and the reasons for their behavior. It was an enjoyable story that is the first in a new series.

Favorite Quote:
I've taught myself to joke about such matters -- the lusts of the flesh, the games men and women play -- in order to be accepted as a man among men. But the future I plan for myself has no room for such things. The forbidden door must stay closed. Locked and bolted forever. I learned my lesson early. To open your heart is to invite pain. It is to lose yourself. 
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

ARC Review: The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

The Long Call
Author: Ann Cleeves
Series: The Two Rivers Series (Book 1)
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 3, 2019)

Description: In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his estranged father’s funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed, and his new life is forced into a collision course with the world he thought he’d left behind.

From Ann Cleeves, bestselling author of Vera and Shetland, beloved by readers and TV viewers alike, comes a spectacular new series, told with deep compassion and searing insight.

My Thoughts: This story begins with Detective Matthew Venn standing outside the venue where his father's funeral is being conducted. He has long been estranged from his parents who belong to a restrictive religious sect. While there, he receives a phone call telling him of a body found on a nearby beach.

The man is discovered to be Simon Walden. As they trace back his life, they find many connections to the Woodyard which is the brainchild of Matthew's husband Jonathan. The Woodyard is a sort of community center with space for classes, a cafe where Simon worked, and a facility for the care of adults with learning difficulties. Walden has a troubled past; he was driving just under the alcohol limit and had an accident that killed a child. He chose to try to drown himself in alcohol and leave his old life behind.

Walden was taken in by Caroline Preece, who is a social worker involved with a charity for the homeless and whose father is on the board of the Woodyard, and her roommate Gaby Henry who is the artist-in-residence at the Woodyard. Other trustees include a man who is big in the church his parents belong to and a man Matthew has known since he was a child.

The story also involves some of the adults with learning disabilities. Luce Braddick who has Down's and who is friendly and happy knew Simon as the man who rode the bus home with her frequently and fed her sweets. Christine Shapland also has Down's but is much quieter. She is kidnapped shortly after Simon's death but found alive and confused.

The story shifts through a lot of viewpoints as the clues to the murderer are slowly revealed. All of the characters are well-rounded and complex. This was a promising start to a new series.

Favorite Quote:
Here it seemed hope and the possibility of redemption abounded. It made Jen feel like punching someone.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

ARC Review: Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

Bringing Down the Duke
Author: Evie Dunmore
Series: A League of Extraordinary Women (Book 1)
Publication: Berkley (September 3, 2019)

Description: A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford Rebels in which a fiercely independent vicar's daughter takes on a powerful duke in a love story that threatens to upend the British social order.

England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.

Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring...or could he?

Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke....

My Thoughts: Since taking over his dukedoom at the age of 19, Sebastian Devereux had been determined to clean up the mess his father left and reclaim all of his ducal property. He married but his wife ran off with another man. He divorced which should have meant social ruing but Queen Victoria was on his side because she wanted his strength and talents for her Tory cause. Now, he has been tasked by the Queen to work for the election of a Tory government and keep Disraeli in power. His reward will be the opportunity to buy back the ducal seat now in the hands of one of Victoria's cousins.

Annabelle Archer is a rather reluctant sufragist. She is brilliant but poor and under the control of a cousin who is using her as an unpaid servant in his household. When she is offered a scholarship to a college in Oxford that is newly admitting women, she persuades him to let her attend. To repay the sufragist leader who is paying her fees, Annabelle has to try to persuade influential men to support the Married Women's Property Act.

Circumstances bring the two together and they fall in love. However, their social classes are so far apart that the Duke feels he cannot propose marriage. He does offer to take her as his mistress and care for her. She refuses because she has already had experience with a man who was above her station. At seventeen, she fell for a gentleman who seduced her and abandoned her leaving her pregnant.

This was an engaging and entertaining historical romance. I liked both Sebastian and Annabelle and could particularly understand her point of view.

Favorite Quote:
Somewhere in her diary, his former wife said that he had a lump of ice where others had a heart. He was inclined to agree. He turned cold from the inside out when faced with adversity, a reflex, like another man's pulse might speed up in the face of danger. If that was being heartless, so be it. It had advantages that a part of his brain kept cool under all circumstances.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Monday, August 26, 2019

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (August 26, 2019)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

Other Than Reading...

I had my semi-annual gastroenterology appointment last Tuesday which essentially told me to keep doing what I'm doing. Tests were all good and my symptoms are well-controlled with my medication. I don't have to see him again until February.

I got to Curves three times this week but otherwise spent a lot of time at home reading and watching baseball. I also set up all my blog posts for October this week. Right now I have 38 draft posts including this one and 41 that are scheduled.

I am taking a break from my reread of the Mary Russell series until I catch up a little to my calendar. Any more that I would read would be reviewed in late November because those are the next open dates on my calendar. I have a bunch of review books to read for October release books. I only have two books to read to finish out my September calendar and I'm at 80% of the one I'm currently reading.

Next Tuesday is my semi-annual dentist appointment. I have a feeling that I'm looking at replacing a crown that I have had for years.

Solar Production

Here's a look at the sunshine this past week.
We hit peak production every day but Friday was the day it stayed at peak the longest. I'm pretty sure this is the week that our next power bill should arrive. Our billing period ended on the 17th. I'm really eager to see this one since it is the first full month where we produced some electricity every day.

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)

  • Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King (Mine) -  This is the 8th book in the Mary Russell series and takes place in San Francisco. Mary and Sherlock uncover some of the past that Mary had forgotten. My review will be posted on Sept. 19.
  • In a Badger Way by Shelly Laurenston (Mine) - This new release is the author's latest in her humorous paranormal series. My review will be posted on Oct. 15.
  • The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King (Mine) - Sherlock and Mary are back in England and helping Sherlock's son Damian find his missing wife and child. My review will be posted on Oct. 5.


  • The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King (Mine) -- This is the direct sequel to The Language of Bees and is very exciting. My review will be posted on Oct. 26.
  • The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (Mine) - This was also a reread. I got the audiobook this summer from SYNC and combined listening and reading. This is a great YA paranormal mystery with a wonderful main character. My review will be posted on Sept. 25.

DNF

  • Now Entering Addamsville by Francesca Zappia - I quit this one at 22% I'm having trouble getting into YA lately and this one was a little too slow-paced for me. I also didn't feel engaged with the main character. 

Currently

  • The Mary Russell Companion by Laurie R. King - I am dipping into this one to read more about the books I've already read. I've set it aside until I have time to read more of the novels.
  • The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer - This has been on my Kindle since Jan. 29, 2018. I'm reading it now because I have the next on my review stack.

Next Week




Reviews Posted




Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Bought:

  • Fuzzy Navel by J. A. Konrath - This was a Kindle Daily Deal and joins the first three books on my Kindle. I'm waiting for a deal on the 4th book in the series.
  • The Mary Russell Companion by Laurie R. King - This fits in nicely with my current reread of the Mary Russell books. Unfortunately it is only available for the Kindle which makes the maps a bit too small for easy viewing.
  • Cruel Fate by Kelley Armstrong - This is a Kindle copy of a book previously published in hardcover by Subterranean Press. While I wanted to read it, the price for the hardcover was more than I wanted to pay.


  • Lost Souls by Kelley Armstrong - This is a Kindle copy of a book previously published in hardcover by Subterranean Press. While I wanted to read it, the price for the hardcover was more than I wanted to pay.
  • The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King - This is a trade paperback of a book I already have on my Kindle. 
  • Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King - This is a trade paperback of a book I already have on my Kindle. 


  • Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts - This is the second in her futuristic dystopia. I read the first book but wasn't blown away. I was waiting for this one to be less expensive. I bought it when it was a Kindle Daily Deal.
  • O Jerusalem by Laurie R. King - This was also a Kindle Daily Deal. I already have both a hardcover and a paperback.

Review:

  • The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz (Jan. 7) -- Last evening there was a knock on my door. When I got to the door, I saw an elf in brown heading back to his UPS truck and found an intriguing package leaning on my porch. I found a print ARC of this book. I think I won a giveaway at Goodreads or at the publisher's site but I'm not sure which. I had entered at both places and asked for the book at NetGalley which shows how much I want to read this one.
  • Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little (Feb. 25)

What was your week like?

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Book Review: Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Out of the Deep I Cry
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Series: Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries (Book 3)
Publication: St. Martin's Paperbacks; 1st edition (May 3, 2005)

Description: Award winning author Julia Spencer-Fleming does it again in this third mystery featuring Rev. Clare Fergusson and Sheriff Russ Van Alstyne in the small town of Millers Kill, N.Y. As the small town's gossip increasingly speculates about the Rev.'s ambiguous relationship with the married Sheriff, a more urgent problem is the disappearance of the doctor of Millers Kill's free clinic, a town institution with roots in events from the 20s and 30s. Digging into the roots of these disturbing happenings, Russ and Clare find that painful events from the town's past can still roil the peace of Millers Kill.

My Thoughts: This one starts with a leaky roof at St. Alban's Episcopal Church. Clare is the new pastor. When the vestry gets together to figure out how to fix a problem they have been debating for a number of years, Clare is surprised to learn that one of the vergers is Mrs. Lacey Marshall who controls a trust that she can liquidate as she wishes. Currently the trust is funding a free clinic that is named for her father. If she liquidates it and donates it to the church for roof repair, that will cut into the clinic's funding.

Clare has just become aware of the clinic. She passed it by one day on her way to volunteer for the historical society and walked into the middle of a very small protest. Debba Clow is protesting because she believes her son became autistic after receiving a vaccination at the clinic. Dr. Allen Rouse has been running the clinic for more than 30 years. He began after Mrs. Ketchum, Mrs. Marshall's mother, paid his way through medical school and his residency.

This story has a number of flashbacks going back to the 1920s and 1930s and tracks the story of Mrs. Ketchum whose first contact with the police was when her husband Jonathan went missing. It also has a brief flashback to when young Russ Van Alstyne saved Mrs. Ketchum from drowning herself just before he went off to join the Army. The flashbacks tell about the loss of four of the Ketchum's children to diphtheria within days of each other in 1924. It talks about rumrunners and the buying up of lots of farmland, including the Ketchums, to put in a flood control reservoir.

These stories all weave together and come to a head when Dr. Rouse goes missing and Debba Clow becomes a suspect in his disappearance. Meanwhile, people have begun talking about Russ Van Alstyne and Clare's relationship even though they are trying to be above board and open about their friendship. Both are still in denial that they love each other since he's a very married man.

This story was intriguing and suspenseful. It is a great addition to an already strong series.

Favorite Quote:
He groaned. "I shouldn't have told you that, should? It's like showing a dog raw meat. You'll take her under your wing, give her anger-management counseling, get up a committee to send her to art school, and do her picketing for her while she's in class." She laughed. He went on, his voice more serious. "Just try to cool it a bit and get a sense of what's going on before you leap into someone else's life. Okay?"
I bought this one March 27, 2009. You can buy your copy here.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

ARC Review: How to Love a Duke in Ten Days by Kerrigan Byrne

How to Love a Duke in Ten Days
Author: Kerrigan Byrne
Series: Devil You Know (Book 1)
Publication: St. Martin's Paperbacks (August 27, 2019)

Description: These men are dark, bold, and brave. And there is only one woman who can bring them to their knees...

Famed and brilliant, Lady Alexandra Lane has always known how to look out for to herself. But nobody would ever expect that she has darkness in her past―one that she pays a blackmailer to keep buried. Now, with her family nearing bankruptcy, Alexandra strikes upon a solution: Get married to one of the empire’s most wealthy eligible bachelors. Even if he does have the reputation of a devil.

LOVE TAKES NO PRISONERS

Piers Gedrick Atherton, the Duke of Redmayne, is seeking revenge and the first step is securing a bride. Winning a lady’s hand is not so easy, however, for a man known as the Terror of Torcliff. Then, Alexandra enters his life like a bolt of lightning. When she proposes marriage, Piers knows that, like him, trouble haunts her footsteps. But her gentleness, sharp wit, independent nature, and incredible beauty awakens every fierce desire within him. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe in his arms.

My Thoughts: This story begins with a Prologue in which we meet Lady Alexandra Lane who is a student at an elite private school in Switzerland. She is a young lady with two good friends. Both are red heads as she is. The have formed their own club and a very strong friendship.

When the headmaster calls her to his study late in the evening and rapes her, she manages to kill him with a razor lying on his desk. She and her friends along with a gardener who is close to one of her friends manage to bury him in the garden.

The other two - Cecilia and Francesca - also share secrets about their lives and promise to keep her secret forever.

Ten years later, Lady Alexandra has obtained a degree in history from the Sorbonne and works as an archaeologist. She is very wary and sometimes terrified by men. She is also being blackmailed over those long past events. Also, her father is going bankrupt which she fears mostly because she won't have funds to continue to pay off her blackmailer.

When she receives a note from Francesca asking for her help and telling her that she is to be married to the Duke of Redmayne, Alexandra catches a train - second class - and heads off to help her friend. There she meets the Duke of Redmayne who is also known as the Terror of Torcliff. Piers Atherton, Duke of Redmayne, has been a world traveler and explorer and is scarred from an encounter with a jungle cat in South America. Piers almost died and his fiance threw him over for his cousin while he was ill. Piers is determined to marry and have children to block his cousin from ever inheriting the dukedom.

Alexandra decides that she should be the one who marries the duke because Francesca doesn't want to and Alexandra needs his money. Of course, she is also fascinated by him though terrified of being intimate with him.

Someone, however, doesn't want them to marry. There are multiple attempts on both their lives. Both think that they are the intended target and neither is willing to confide in the other.

This was an entertaining romance with just enough suspense to add the spice of danger to their courtship.

Favorite Quote:
"Very well." Alexandra stepped out from behind the barrier of the chair feeling somewhat akin to Joan of Arc or Ann Boleyn. Brave. Unsure. And...something else A little curious?

Better to face the gallows now than to dread them for a month. Best to get this over with.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Friday Memes: How to Love a Duke in Ten Days by Kerrigan Byrne

Happy Friday everybody!
Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City ReaderThe Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:
"Do you know why I called you to my study at such a late hour, Lady Alexandra?" Headmaster Maurice de Marchand's hand disappeared beneath his imposing desk at her approach, but Alexandra dared not glance down to note it.

She didn't want to imagine what his hands were up to, concealed from her view.
Friday 56:
Piers had to force himself not to lock her in their rooms while he booked immediate passage back to Devonshire.

Where he could secure her in the tower of Castle Redmayne.

Something about the whiff of impending danger made a man want to cosset those closest to him in a fortress.
This week I am spotlighting How to Love a Duke in Ten Days by Kerrigan Byrne. I got this historical romance from NetGalley. Here is the description from Amazon:
These men are dark, bold, and brave. And there is only one woman who can bring them to their knees...

Famed and brilliant, Lady Alexandra Lane has always known how to look out for to herself. But nobody would ever expect that she has darkness in her past―one that she pays a blackmailer to keep buried. Now, with her family nearing bankruptcy, Alexandra strikes upon a solution: Get married to one of the empire’s most wealthy eligible bachelors. Even if he does have the reputation of a devil.

LOVE TAKES NO PRISONERS

Piers Gedrick Atherton, the Duke of Redmayne, is seeking revenge and the first step is securing a bride. Winning a lady’s hand is not so easy, however, for a man known as the Terror of Torcliff. Then, Alexandra enters his life like a bolt of lightning. When she proposes marriage, Piers knows that, like him, trouble haunts her footsteps. But her gentleness, sharp wit, independent nature, and incredible beauty awakens every fierce desire within him. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe in his arms.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Book Review: No Matter How Improbable by Angela Misri

No Matter How Improbable
Author: Angela Misri
Series: A Portia Adams Adventure (Book 3)
Publication: Self-Published (March 23, 2017)

Description: Be careful what you wish for.

A certain amount of celebrity is inevitable when you're Sherlock Holmes's granddaughter, especially when you're also a consulting detective. But for Portia Adams, it’s getting to be a little much. She decides to escape the rabid London press by chasing a case all the way to Italy.

When she gets back, it seems that the media frenzy has finally run its course — but now she’s got bigger things to worry about. Sherlock Holmes is missing, his apartment burned to the ground. Her boyfriend, Gavin Whitaker, is acting strangely and spending too much time with unsavory people. And as if that weren’t enough, her best friend Brian isn’t speaking to her.

Can Portia right all that has happened in her brief absence or will she lose someone she loves to the gray London streets?

My Thoughts: This episode is the third in the series and talks about three more of Portia's cases. Having announced herself to London, Portia has had to deal with a lot of interest in a young female private investigator which she finds very irritating. When a friend asks she to travel to Italy with her to solve a problem for her young friend who happens to be a princess, Portia leaps at the chance to get away from the unwanted publicity at home.

Hampered by the inability to speak Italian, Portia still finds herself deep in the case of who is blackmailing the young princess. She does solve the problem and makes a new friend in the princess.

Returning home, she gets involved investigating supposed suicides of young prostitutes. The case was brought to her by the sister of one of her young irregulars. She finds herself attending a church with a hellfire and brimstone preaching minister where supposed miracles are happening. Her scientific and rational nature helps her solve the case but not before she and Constable Brian Dawes are both attacked by assorted villains.

The next case has to do with the supposed suicide of one of her first mentors with Scotland Yard. In this one we see the way she deals with her grief and what she sees as abandonment by another person she cares about. She also has issues with her boyfriend Gavin Whitaker who has become even more secretive and who is hanging out with unsavory companions.

As she works on this case, she also becomes closer to Brian who is dating her best friend Annie. Portia thought the opportunity to have a relationship with Brian passed her by because of her lack of knowledge of relationships but it looks like Brian is also interested in her. This causes a problem for Portia because she doesn't want to hurt her friend Annie.

I liked that Portia finally gets a chance to know her grandfather Sherlock Holmes through this final case. With her grandmother Mrs. Jones away in New York, she is feeling a little lonely and more curious than ever about her famous grandfather.

This was a fun story and another interesting addition to the Sherlock Holmes saga.

Favorite Quote:
I considered that my attraction to Gavin was almost unemotional, but I had come to believe that was the type of romance my personality was destined to enjoy. I, too, could be taciturn and cold, and most men found me either intimidating or unfeminine once I spoke my mind, which I did often and without preamble. Looking at the relationships I had actually studied up close, I thought ours the most well-conceived.
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Book Review: Thrice Burned by Angela Misri

Thrice Burned
Author: Angela Misri
Series: A Portia Adams Adventure (Book 2)
Publication: Self-Published (March 22, 2017)

Description: If you play with fire, you could get burned

Portia is still reeling from finding out that her guardian, is actually the infamous Irene Adler and her grandmother. As if finding that out wasn’t shocking enough, the revelation that Sherlock Holmes is her grandfather has Portia feeling betrayed by her mother who took the secrets of Portia’s lineage to the grave with her.

As a diversion Portia throws herself into work and continues to consult with Scotland Yard on their hard-to-crack cases including a brazen theft that the perpetrator boasted about before it took place as well as the disappearance of prostitutes. While on the case of an arsonist who’s plaguing London she meets Annie Coleson, a disgraced reporter who has clues that can help Portia solve the mystery. The women strike up a friendship and Annie starts to report on “P.C. Adams”, the consulting detective helping to keep London safe, with the promise to keep Portia’s true identity secret.

Downstairs neighbor and friend Constable Brian Dawes takes a shining to Annie just as Portia starts to question her feelings for the him. At the same time Portia garners the attention of Gavin Douglas Whitaker, a medical student and by all accounts Portia intellectual equal, who may just be the distraction from Brian that she needs.

As the press starts to show an interest in P.C. Adams, an impostor comes forward claiming to be the consulting detective and Portia must choose between remaining anonymous and letting the world know who the real P.C. Adams is.

My Thoughts: This episode has Portia working on, and solving, three cases that are baffling the officers at Scotland Yard. These cases include an arson case during which she meets disgraced reporter Annie Coleson. She solves the case even though it puts her in great physical danger and makes a friend in Annie.

Annie convinces her to let her write about Portia's cases while keeping her identity a secret. Portia is torn between her desire to be a lawyer and her desire to be a consulting detective. She's also torn between her downstairs neighbor Constable Brian Dawes and Dr. Gavin Whitaker who is more her intellectual equal though maybe they are too much alike.

When Brian begins courting Annie, Portia is torn between wanting his happiness and wanting his happiness to be with her. Meanwhile, she is coming to terms with her guardian turned grandmother Irene Jones who was once Irene Adler. Learning that Sherlock Holmes is her grandfather is also rocking her world.

But the cases keep coming along too. From a bold thief who threatens to remove a famous statue from the venue that is being used for a society wedding with over three hundred guests while the wedding is going on to disappearing prostitutes, Portia finds herself busy with cases that challenge her mind.

I like that Portia is becoming less of a recluse as these stories continue. It is good to see her building a circle of friends from many levels of society and connecting more with the world around her. And her new circle of friends comes in handy when an unscrupulous reporter finds someone to impersonate the new Consulting Detective P. C. Adams and just about ruins Portia's reputation with the police and threatens her anonymity.

Favorite Quote:
She glanced over my way, the wrinkles around her hazel eyes multiplied as she squinted. "Sherlock Holmes knows what he wants to know. He ignores what he doesn't. It was easier to believe the lie than accept the truth."
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

ARC Review: Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews

Sapphire Flames
Author: Ilona Andrews
Series: Hidden Legacy (Book 4)
Publication: Avon (August 27, 2019)

Description: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrew comes an enthralling new trilogy set in the Hidden Legacy world, where magic means power, and family bloodlines are the new currency of society…

In a world where magic is the key to power and wealth, Catalina Baylor is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, and the Head of her House. Catalina has always been afraid to use her unique powers, but when her friend’s mother and sister are murdered, Catalina risks her reputation and safety to unravel the mystery.

But behind the scenes powerful forces are at work, and one of them is Alessandro Sagredo, the Italian Prime who was once Catalina’s teenage crush. Dangerous and unpredictable, Alessandro’s true motives are unclear, but he’s drawn to Catalina like a moth to a flame.

To help her friend, Catalina must test the limits of her extraordinary powers, but doing so may cost her both her House–and her heart.

My Thoughts: Catalina Baylor is doing a good job as the head of House Baylor. She's a Prime with a unique and very strong talent. But House Baylor is small and just coming out of their three years of protected status. She really shouldn't get involved with Runa Etterson and the case she brings. She is first brought in when Runa's fifteen-year-old brother Ragnar is threatening to jump off a hospital roof. Catalina uses her power of beguilement to coax him off the edge and then has to bring him home with her to remove the magic she used.

Runa has a major problem. Her mother and sister died in a fire and she is sure they were murdered. She wants to hire Catalina's investigation agency to find out the truth. She's already been turned down by the Head of House Montgomery who runs a much larger investigative agency. Catalina feels that she owes Runa a debt because Runa prevented the whole wedding party at Catalina's sister Nevada's wedding from being poisoned. She also sympathizes with someone who has lost her family is such a tragic way.

But the investigation gets complicated fast as Catalina learns about Runa's mother's past and someone would very much like the Baylors dead before they uncover more secrets. Fortunately, Catalina has a dubious sort of guardian angel in the person of Alessandro Sagredo who happens to be Catalina's long-time crush. He's a Prime; he's beautiful; he's a playboy; and he's way out of her league. At least that is what she thinks. But Alessandro is a man with a bunch of secrets of his own and he isn't at all what Catalina expected.

I loved the banter between Catalina and Alessandro. I loved that way they are very tentatively building a romance. The story was filled with all sorts of magic and magical creatures. It was filled with the politics that governs the Houses. The story was fast-paced and filled with action. My only complaint is that it is apparently the first book in a trilogy and leaves the romance and Alessandro's secrets as threads that are left dangling.

Favorite Quote:
My brain did that thing again, the one where I lost all ability to reason and form complete sentences. 
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Monday, August 19, 2019

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (August 19, 2019)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

Other Than Reading...

We has a rather gray and gloomy week which didn't do much for solar production but did give me a chance to do quite a bit of reading. I was going to read Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope series but their World War II setting, especially the one I was reading the had Maggie parachute into Germany, were a bit too graphic for what I was looking for in my reading. I decided to read another Mary Russell and see what has been on my Kindle for a while.

Friday finished a billing cycle for solar production. We created 1.2 MWh. I'll be eager to see our next bill to see the impact. This will be the first one with solar production every day of the billing cycle.

I received a check from my car insurance that covers my deductible for the minor accident I recently had. They will be paying the people who are fixing it the balance and I'll be writing a check to cover the deductible using the money they recovered for me from the other party's insurance company. ABRA is busy. So I'll be waiting until August 26 before dropping my car off for repair. I'll be using our other Outback while mine is in the shop. I haven't driven that one for years since it is my brother's winter car but I'm sure it'll all come back to me.

This week sees my semi-annual visit with my gastroenterologist but no other appointments. Hopefully, I'll get to exercise three days like I did this past week.

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)

  • The Game by Laurie R. King (Mine - reread) is the seventh in the Mary Russell series and takes place in India. My review will be posted on Sept. 29.
  • Tamiko and the Two Janitors by Forthright (Mine) is the third book in the Amaranthine Saga and was an enjoyable urban fantasy/paranormal romance. My review will be posted on Sept. 18.
  • The Scargill Cove Case Files by Jayne Ann Krentz (Mine) has also been languishing on my Kindle. This is a brief collection of short stories the provide tidbits about a couple of her current series. I won't be reviewing this one on my blog.


  • The Orphans of Raspay by Lois McMaster Bujold (Mine) is her latest novella in her Penric series. I won't be review this one on my blog but have posted some thoughts on LibraryThing and Goodreads. 
  • Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen (Mine) begins a new Victorian historical mystery and was engaging. My review will be posted on Sept. 21. 


  • Rough Justice by Kelley Armstrong (Mine) - This book in the Cainsville series has been languishing on my Kindle. I thought it was a novella but at 190 pages is more like a short novel. I won't be reviewing this one on my blog but I posted a few quick thoughts on LibraryThing and Goodreads.
  • Silver Linings by Jayne Ann Krentz (Mine) was another that has been on my Kindle for a while. I read this originally in 1991 or so. My review will be posted on Sept. 17.

Currently

  • Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King (Mine) is book 8 in the Mary Russell historical mystery series and a reread. I'll be pausing in this series for a while. I don't have a copy of the next book but just ordered one from Amazon Marketplace.

Next Week




Reviews Posted




Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Bought:

  • Look Alive Twenty-Five by Janet Evanovich - I'm gradually collecting the Stephanie Plum books I've missed when they go on sale as Kindle Daily Deals.
  • In a Badger Way by Shelly Laurenston

Review:


What was your week like?