2017 Book #95 – Deja Who by MaryJanice Davidson

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Paranormal comedy by rebeccabook17

Title: Deja Who
Author: MaryJanice Davidson
Date finished: 11/24/17
Genre: Fiction, fantasy
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: September 6, 2016
Pages in book: 285
Stand alone or series: #1 in the Insighters series
Where I got the book from: I bought this book, I’m a huge fan of this author

Blurb from the cover:

You couldn’t arrest for murder someone who had killed in his last life. You couldn’t bring a civil suit against such people, either. They could only be legally penalized for what they did this time around—and what a dark circus the legal system had been before that legislation passed! (It was still a dark circus, but perhaps not as dark.) But you could spot them, and watch them. You could set traps for them.

Leah Nazir is an Insighter. Reincarnation is her business. But while her clients’ pasts are a mess, Leah’s is nothing short of tragedy. She’s been murdered. A lot. If left to that bitch, destiny, it’ll happen again. Leah wants to know who’s been following her through time, and who’s been stalking her in the present…

P.I. Archer Drake has been hired by Leah’s mother to keep an eye on her. But the more time he spends watching, the more he finds himself infatuated. Before long, he even finds himself agreeing to help find the person who wants her dead. Over and over again.

Now going full-on “rewind,” Leah hopes it can stave off the inevitable. After all, she’s grown fond of this life—and even fonder of nerdy Archer. But changing her pattern means finding out who her killer is today. And as Leah fears, that could be anyone she has come to know and trust. Anyone.

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was approved to read the second book in this series on NetGalley and I had (coincidentally since I really enjoy this author’s previous books) purchased the first book when it was released so I decided to read this so I’d know what was going on going into the second book. And I’m sure glad I did because the plot line in this book is so creative and different that I think I might have had a little more trouble just jumping into the second book, though I’m sure there is enough background info in the second book to get readers up to speed. This book is about Leah Nazir, an Insighter who is trying not to get murdered during this lifetime. An Insighter is a certified person, almost like a therapist but in this world they can also help the person discover who they were in past lives (using a specific medication) and hopefully help them figure out how to break the cycle of their wrongdoings in this lifetime. I thought this was a really creative and interesting plot.

Overall I liked this book. As I’ve said I thought it was a creative and interesting plot. The characters tended to babble a little though, which I didn’t love all the time. And the way their conversations jump around can sometimes be confusing and hard to keep up with. For the most part I stayed engaged throughout the whole story, although in a couple points it did get a little dry. One of the parts that I found particularly interesting was that the author used a lot of real historical references for people’s past lives, including Westley Allan Dodd and Gilles de Rais. I always like when a book can tie in a historical aspect. This was a pretty good book, though dark at times. I would recommend it though, it was very interesting.

The bottom line: I really liked this book, the story line was creative and interesting. I always love seeing an author’s out of the box idea about life and how they can create a whole new reality. There were a few drawbacks but overall it was in interesting read and I would recommend!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

17Nov2017

2017 Book #94 – Romancing the Scot by May McGoldrick

Posted in Blog tour, Book reviews, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

Title: Romancing the Scot
Author: May McGoldrick
Date finished: 11/16/17
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Swerve
Publication Date: November 14, 2017
Pages in book: 284
Stand alone or series: #1 in the Penningtons series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Hugh Pennington—Viscount Greysteil, Lord Justice of the Scottish Courts, hero of the Napoleonic wars—is a grieving widower with a death wish. When he receives an expected crate from the continent, he is shocked to find a nearly dead woman inside. Her identity is unknown, and the handful of American coins and the precious diamond sown into her dress only deepen the mystery.

Grace Ware is an enemy to the English crown. Her father, an Irish military commander of Napoleon’s defeated army. Her mother, an exiled Scottish Jacobite. When Grace took shelter in a warehouse, running from her father’s murderers through the harbor alleyways of Antwerp, she never anticipated bad luck to deposit her at the home of an aristocrat in the Scottish Borders. Baronsford is the last place she could expect to find safety, and Grace feigns a loss of memory to buy herself time while she recovers.

Hugh is taken by her beauty, passion, and courage to challenge his beliefs and open his mind. Grace finds in him a wounded man of honor, proud but compassionate. When their duel of wits quickly turns to passion and romance, Grace’s fears begin to dissolve…until danger follows her to the very doors of Baronsford. For, unknown to either of them, Grace has in her possession a secret that will wreak havoc within the British government. Friend and foe are indistinguishable as lethal forces converge to tear the two lovers apart or destroy them both.

My rating: 3.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I also participated in the Blog Tour for this book, you can see the post here. This book tells the story of Grace Ware, the daughter of one of Napoleon’s most trusted military men. Grace’s only family is her father and she has traveled with him throughout her life, even as far as the battlefields. Grace’s amazingly perfect memory has made her a valuable asset to her father as well, she can remember literally everything – everything she reads, sees, and hears and exactly where it originated and can even sort these items chronologically. Its quite amazing. Anyways after her father is murdered, Grace ends up hiding in a crate and ends up being shipped to Scotland, where she arrives 5 days later almost dead. She’s been shipped to Hugh Pennington, a decorated war veteran himself only on the British side. After nursing Grace back to health, Hugh begins to have feelings for her without knowing who she is. But can they overcome their differences and find happiness together?

Overall I thought this was an ok book. The plot like was fairly interesting and I liked both the main characters. There was a little bit too much mush-y stuff for me, the hero and heroine profess their undying love, multiple times. Which is fine but just not something I usually go for. Other than that though it was a sweet story and I found it interesting. It was a fairly quick read and I would recommend giving it a try!

The bottom line: I liked this one, I thought it was a good and quick read. It got to be a little too cheesy for me but if you’re looking for over the top ooey gooey love this one definitely has it. I would still recommend it though, it was a sweet story!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

13Nov2017

2017 Book #93 – The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers

Posted in Book Clubs, Book reviews, Fiction, For the love of books, Historical fiction, Online Book Clubs by rebeccabook17

Title: The Second Mrs. Hockaday
Author: Susan Rivers
Date finished: 11/10/17
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Publication Date: January 10, 2017
Pages in book: 254
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: BookBrowse NOTE:I received this book for free from BookBrowse in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

All I had known for certain when I came around the hen house that first evening in July and saw my husband trudging into the yard after lifetimes spent away from us, a borrowed bag in his hand and the shadow of grief on his face, was that he had to be protected at all costs from knowing what had happened in his absence. I did not believe he could survive it.”

When Major Gryffth Hockaday is called to the front lines of the Civil War, his new bride is left to care for her husband’s three-hundred-acre farm and infant son. Placidia, a mere teenager herself living far from her family and completely unprepared to run a farm or raise a child, must endure the darkest days of the war on her own. By the time Major Hockaday returns two years later, Placidia is bound for jail, accused of having borne a child in his absence and murdering it. What really transpired in the two years he was away?

Inspired by a true incident, this saga conjures the era with uncanny immediacy. Amid the desperation of wartime, Placidia sees the social order of her Southern homeland unravel as her views on race and family are transformed. A love story, a story of racial divide, and a story of the South as it fell in the war, The Second Mrs. Hockaday reveals how that generation–and the next–began to see their world anew.

My rating: 4.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I was provided with this copy from BookBrowse and will be participating in an online book discussion, feel free to join us and participate in the discussion! This book tells the story of a courageous woman named Placidia. Placidia was still so young when she married, and after 2 days of marriage her new husband (Gryffth) is called back to the front lines of the Civil War. Placidia is then left with a massive homestead and farm to oversee as well as a young stepson. Barely able to keep her head above water, the corruption inherent in human nature becomes evident in the pillaging and thefts that Placidia must endure. And then after two years apart, Gryffth returns home to rumors that his wife bore a child while he was away. Only the timing doesn’t add up, as the baby was born over a year and a half after he saw his wife last. And the baby is now buried, having died in an unexplained accident. Gryffth charges his wife and persecutes her to the full extent of the law, wanting to bring justice for her crimes both against him and the defenseless baby. But things aren’t always as simple as they appear.

Overall I loved this book. It was heart-wrenching and an engaging read. I loved the author’s language and writing style, it was beautifully written and very touching. This was a perfect example of a haunting love story, the ending really created a tumult of emotions within me that I find hard to describe. There are definitely some tough parts to the book, Placidia was one of the bravest character’s I’ve ever encountered and endured so much for the sake of her family and some pieces of the book were traumatic to get through. But it really was so touching to see such a deep love exist between her and her husband Gryffth. The book is set up as journal entries and letters, and as I’ve mentioned on this blog before the epistolary style really appeals to me as a reader. I didn’t want to put this one down and each time I picked it up I was sucked right back into the story. I would definitely recommend this one!

The bottom line: I loved this book, this book was haunting and touching and great and I loved it! Definitely a super engaging read, I would recommend!

Favorite Quotes from the book:

“Our enemy is (a bad guy, don’t want to give it away) and all the people like him, who never question their motives or doubt their desires. They are put on this earth to cause misery, because what they take so freely for themselves comes always at great cost to others.”

“That was the first time I felt pity for Father. He showed me what a fine line divides love from misery. Sometimes, in fact, there’s no line at all.”

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

7Nov2017

2017 Book #92 – The Scandalous Flirt by Olivia Drake

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Cinderella Sisterhood series, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

Title: The Scandalous Flirt
Author: Olivia Drake
Date finished: 11/5/17
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: October 31, 2017
Pages in book: 349
Stand alone or series: #6 in the Cinderella Sisterhood series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Scandal begins with just one kiss…

Aurora Paxton was once the belle of the ball, the most sought-after debutante of the season—until a scandalous mistake ruined her. Shunned by her family, Rory was banished to the country to live in disgrace. Now she’s been summoned back to London by her stepmother, who is being blackmailed by the least likely person Rory can imagine: Lucas Vale, Marquess of Dashell.

Lucas is someone Rory’s known for years—a man as devastatingly handsome as he is coldly disapproving of her. What in the world could he want from her or her family? Rory intends to find out as soon as she comes face to face with her old foe. What she never expects, however, is that the icy aristocrat has a soft spot for her—and a secret plan to redeem her status. Could it be that Lucas has been in love with Rory all along. . .and has finally found a way to win her heart?

My rating: 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of a young woman (Rory) who was caught by her parents with a man in a compromising position 8 years ago and was subsequently scuttled off to the country to try and save her from making any future dire mistakes. Now though, she is back in London to help her selfish and jerk of a stepmother (Kitty) figure out who is blackmailing her. Kitty apparently has some love letters from years ago that have been taken and someone is now using them to force substantial payments from Kitty. Believing the son of the author of the letters to be the culprit (Lucas), Rory gets a position in his household as his mother’s companion. The more time she spends with Lucas however, the more she realizes that he could never have done this. And the more she falls a little bit in love with him everyday. Unfortunately Lucas needs an infusion of cash to help save his debt-ridden properties, and since Rory comes with no dowry, their relationship is doomed to fail. This doesn’t stop the feelings of passion that ignite when they’re together.

Overall I liked this book a good amount. There are some pieces of the story line that didn’t fit super well. I kept forgetting about the shoes because it it wasn’t well highlighted in the story and kind of didn’t fit within the plot line. Lucas’s character was brooding and romantic and I liked him but he was a little too proud for my tastes. Some of the supporting characters in the book were ridiculous, like Lucas’s mother who was so obnoxious I wanted to punch her. Other than that it was a sweet and romantic story. I would have like to know what happened to Alice but maybe she’ll be featured in a future book even. This was a cute story with interesting characters and I would recommend it,

The bottom line: This was an ok book for me. I thought the ending was a little anticlimactic and there were some pieces of the story line that didn’t quite fit for me. Other than that this was a sweet story and I would recommend it.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

31Oct2017

2017 Book #91 – The Right Kind of Rogue by Valerie Bowman

Posted in Blog tour, Book reviews, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

Title: The Right Kind of Rogue
Author: Valerie Bowman
Date finished: 10/30/17
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: October 31, 2017
Pages in book: 314
Stand alone or series: #8 in the Playful Brides series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Can two star-crossed lovers come together—until death do they part?

Viscount Hart Highgate has decided to put his rakish ways behind him and finally get married. He may adore a good brandy or a high-speed carriage race, but he takes his duties as heir to the earldom seriously. Now all he has to do is find the right kind of woman to be his bride—ideally, one who’s also well-connected and well-funded. . .

Meg Timmons has loved Hart, the brother of her best friend, ever since she was an awkward, blushing schoolgirl. If only she had a large dowry—or anything to her name at all. Instead, she’s from a family that’s been locked in a bitter feud with Hart’s for years. And now she’s approaching her third London season, Meg’s chances with him are slim to none. Unless a surprise encounter on a deep, dark night could be enough to spark a rebellious romance. . .for all time?

My rating: 3.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I also participated in the Blog Tour for this book, you can see the post here. This book tells the story of Meg (Margaret) Timmons, a wallflower who desperately wants to be noticed by her friends brother. Hart Highgate, Sarah’s brother (Sarah was the heroine of The Legendary Lord, where we first meet Hart and Meg) has recently decided its high time he settle down and find a wife. Even though Meg knows that Hart hates a scheming manipulator, she enlists Lucy’s help (Lucy was the heroine of the first book in the series) to at least get Hart to notice her. Lucy, of course, takes things a bit too far and ends up ensnaring Meg and Hart in a sticky situation. Plus even though they both have feelings for each other, their families hate each other and have refused a match between the two. So do they really have any hope of being together?

Overall I liked this book ok. I thought that both Meg and Hart’s characters could have been developed a little more than they were but their story was still a sweet love story. Lucy in the story compares Meg and Hart to Romeo and Juliet, due to them being star crossed lovers, which I mostly understood except for how hard-headed and not in love Hart was for most of the book. It got to be a little frustrating that no one could talk about their feelings or tell the truth. And the few times someone actually told the truth they weren’t listened to. It got to be quite irksome after awhile. They (obviously) worked it out in the end though and it was a sweet ending. This one wasn’t my favorite but it was a sweet, easy and quick read so I’d recommend it.

The bottom line: I liked this book, it was a sweet story and a quick, light read. I would recommend it!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

28Oct2017

2017 Book #90 – The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Women's fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: The Dirty Book Club
Author: Lisi Harrison
Date finished: 10/26/17
Genre: Fiction, women’s fiction
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
Pages in book: 321
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Clique series comes a novel about the importance of friendship, and, of course, the pleasure of a dirty book.

M.J. Stark’s life is picture-perfect—she has her dream job as a magazine editor, a sexy doctor boyfriend, and a glamorous life in New York City. But behind her success, there is a debilitating sense of loneliness. So when her boss betrays her and her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she trades her cashmere for caftans and gives it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to fend for herself in a small beach town, with only the company of her elderly neighbor, Gloria, and an ocean that won’t shut up.

One afternoon, M.J. discovers that Gloria has suddenly moved to Paris with her friends to honor a fifty-year-old pact. And in lieu of a goodbye, she’s left a mysterious invitation to a secret club—one that only reads erotic books. Curious, M.J. accepts and meets the three other hand-selected club members. As they bond over naughty bestsellers and the shocking letters they inherited from the original club members, the four strangers start to divulge the intimate details of their own lives… and as they open up, they learn that friendship might just be the key to rewriting their own stories: all they needed was to find each other first.

My rating: 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of M.J. Stark, a woman still recovering from the tragic death of her family three years earlier. M.J. works for The City as an editor and is looking forward to an upcoming promotion. When she finds out that she will have to share her position with another employee though, she runs off to be with her boyfriend while she figures out what to do. Her boyfriend is a doctor opening a practice in California and is happy to have her there, but their up til now long-distance relationship is tested when they start living together. M.J. befriends their neighbor, an older woman named Gloria, who soon after meeting M.J. moves away and leaves a legacy behind. The Dirty Book Club, where they gather to read scandalous books. M.J. doesn’t have girlfriends and welcomes this chance to be a part of a group. But with such different women, can they really come together as friends and survive the drama that is life?

Overall I did like this book a lot, it was really interesting and I really connected with M.J.’s character with all her odd quirks. I loved the author’s dive into women’s relationships and how they’re formed and how they struggle. All the characters in this story were flawed but the reader still ends up liking them (for the most part). I loved how brave M.J. was and how much she was willing to risk for her friendships and her relationship. The story line was not too graphic despite the title and it was actually heart-warming and very sweet, but there were some holes and things that didn’t quite add up. By the time we get to the end especially there were a couple scenes that I found somewhat anti-climactic, like when Jules “finds out” Britt’s secret. Other than these few things though it was a good book and I enjoyed it a lot.

The bottom line: I liked this book a lot, although there were some holes to it. I thought it was an interesting book about female friendships and I found parts of it laugh out loud funny. I would recommend giving this one a try!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

21Oct2017

2017 Book #89 – The Duke of Desire by Elizabeth Hoyt

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Historical Romance, Maiden Lane series by rebeccabook17

Title: The Duke of Desire
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Date finished: 10/21/17
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: October 17, 2017
Pages in book: 353
Stand alone or series: #12 in the Maiden Lane series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

A LADY OF LIGHT

Refined, kind, and intelligent, Lady Iris Jordan finds herself the unlikely target of a diabolical kidnapping. Her captors are the notoriously evil Lords of Chaos. When one of the masked-and nude!-Lords spirits her away to his carriage, she shoots him . . . only to find she may have been a trifle hasty.

A DUKE IN DEEPEST DARKNESS

Cynical, scarred, and brooding, Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore, has made it his personal mission to infiltrate the Lords of Chaos and destroy them. Rescuing Lady Jordan was never in his plans. But now with the Lords out to kill them both, he has but one choice: marry the lady in order to keep her safe.

CAUGHT IN A WEB OF DANGER . . . AND DESIRE

Much to Raphael’s irritation, Iris insists on being the sort of duchess who involves herself in his life-and bed. Soon he’s drawn both to her quick wit and her fiery passion. But when Iris discovers that Raphael’s past may be even more dangerous than the present, she falters. Is their love strong enough to withstand not only the Lords of Chaos but also Raphael’s own demons?

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This series is one that I’ve been following for a long time and overall have really enjoyed. In the last book in the series, The Duke of Pleasure, we met Lady Iris Jordan, a friend to Hugh , the Duke of Kyle. Iris thought that she might marry Hugh because of their friendship and their common values. After Hugh finds Alf though, Lady Jordan is kidnapped on the way home from attending their wedding. The Lords of Chaos believe her to be the new Duchess Kyle, and have kidnapped her to strike back at Hugh for his involvement in trying to bring down the Lords. Once the Duke of Dyemore (Raphael) sees her there though he knows he must save her. He had infiltrated their revels to overthrow the whole group, as even though his father once led them he can not stand the thought of their existence. To protect Iris, Raphael marries her. He doesn’t expect to fall in love with her though, and he tries to keep her separate so that she won’t be tainted by the darkness that consumes his family. Iris is determined that he won’t keep her at bay though, and she’s ready to fight for their relationship in a way Dyemore never expected.

Overall I liked this book. I thought it was a good addition to the series and I liked hearing Iris’s story after being introduced to her in the last book. She was brave and proud (in a good way) and so generous with Raphael with her love. Raphael’s story was fairly tragic and it made me quite sad but it turned out alright and Iris was able to kind of save him in a way. Which is fairly common for the Maiden Lane series actually but not a common theme for romance novels. I have said this in previous posts but Hoyt does an amazing job of making the reader fall in love with a flawed man or at times even a villain. This book stays true to that idea, Raphael is a very damaged person but the reader will end up rooting for him to find love. This was a good book for the series, and even though it wasn’t my favorite in the series I still enjoyed it!

The bottom line: I liked this book ok. Raphael’s character was a little too brooding for me and the whole story line was a little tragic. This was a good read though and a good additional to the series, I would recommend.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

18Oct2017

2017 Book #88 – Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Women's fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Date finished: 10/17/17
Genre: Fiction, women’s fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: October 17, 2017
Pages in book: 231
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley
NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe from New York Times bestselling author, Melissa de la Cruz, is a sweet, sexy and hilarious gender-swapping, genre-satisfying re-telling, set in contemporary America and featuring one snooty Miss Darcy.

Darcy Fitzwilliam is 29, beautiful, successful, and brilliant. She dates hedge funders and basketball stars and is never without her three cellphones—one for work, one for play, and one to throw at her assistant (just kidding). Darcy’s never fallen in love, never has time for anyone else’s drama, and never goes home for Christmas if she can help it. But when her mother falls ill, she comes home to Pemberley, Ohio, to spend the season with her family.

Her parents throw their annual Christmas bash, where she meets one Luke Bennet, the smart, sardonic slacker son of their neighbor. Luke is 32-years-old and has never left home. He’s a carpenter and makes beautiful furniture, and is content with his simple life. He comes from a family of five brothers, each one less ambitious than the other. When Darcy and Luke fall into bed after too many eggnogs, Darcy thinks it’s just another one night stand. But why can’t she stop thinking of Luke? What is it about him? And can she fall in love, or will her pride and his prejudice against big-city girls stand in their way?

My rating: 1.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Darcy Fitzwilliam, of Pemberley, Ohio. This information may sound familiar but that’s only because of the Darcy from Pride and Prejudice (who **spoiler** doesn’t live in Ohio). The Darcy in this story though is a woman, currently residing in New York City, but is currently home to visit her mother, who recently had a heart attack. While home she keeps running into Luke Bennet, a guy who made her life hell in high school. Add in some ups and downs, some misunderstandings, and a best friend named Bingley Charles and we’ve got a story!

Overall I didn’t like this book. I wanted to so very badly because the idea for the story line was such a great one. And I loved how creatively the author started out and how the story came together as its own story while also having so many fun parallels to the classic Pride and Prejudice story. I just had so much trouble with the character development in this novel, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. The conversations were awkward and I thought that Darcy was wildly immature for such a successful 29-year old woman. I couldn’t picture a woman like that obsessing over whether a guy liked her or not. Overall the book felt more teen angst-y to me than I would have expected for an adult novel, but this may work for some readers. It wasn’t for me but it was a creative story and I can see how it would appeal to many.

The bottom line: I didn’t particularly care for this book. The premise behind the story I thought was really creative and I liked how the story line went overall. I just didn’t like the character development much and I thought the characters were all really unrealistic and in many areas immature. Interesting story but overall this wasn’t my favorite.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

16Oct2017

2017 Book #87 – First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

Posted in Book Clubs, Book reviews, Fiction, Magical realism, Terryville - Fiction Lovers by rebeccabook17

Title: First Frost
Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Date finished: 10/15/17
Genre: Fiction, magical realism
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: January 20, 2015
Pages in book: 291
Stand alone or series: Seems to be a sequel to Garden Spells
Where I got the book from: Terryville Public Library

Blurb from the cover:

Two magical sisters.
One cranky apple tree.

It’s October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to turn, the Waverley women are made restless by the whims of their mischievous apple tree…and the magic that swirls around it. But this year, first frost has much more in store.

Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley’s Candies. Though her handcrafted confections — rose to recall lost love, lavender to promote happiness and lemon verbena to soothe throats and minds — are singularly effective, the business of selling them is costing her the everyday joys of her family, and her belief in her own precious gifts.

Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. With each passing day she longs more for a baby — a namesake for her wonderful Henry. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has.

Sydney’s daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to…if only he could see it, too. But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke?

When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells, lose yourself in Sarah Addison Allen’s enchanting world and fall for her charmed characters in this captivating story that proves that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. It’s where the real story begins.

My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I read this book for the Terryville Library’s Fiction Lover’s Book Discussion group discussion for this month (October). This book has been on my “to read” list for a long time, one of the girl sin my Mom’s quilt guild has been recommending this author to me for years and with my reading schedule in recent years I haven’t had time to pick it up. I’m so glad that someone picked it for book club though and I got to read it this month! This book tells the story of the Waverly women, each of whom have some sort of special ability. Sydney is really good with hair, Claire is good with food and Bay knows where things belong. But knowing where things belong doesn’t help a teenage girl trying to find her way through high school. Nor does it help Bay navigate her suddenly emotional relationship with her mother. This book tells the story of the Waverly women leading up to the First Frost, when the apple tree in the back suddenly blooms. There was so much interesting about this book and I loved the magical realism and how seamlessly the author tied it into the story and made it seem real. This book reminded me a lot of The Simplicity of Cider by Amy E. Reichert and The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee. I would definitely read more by this author in the future!

The bottom line: This book was very good, I love magical realism and this author did a great job of it. I can’t wait to read more by this author and I would recommend giving this one a read!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

11Oct2017

2017 Book #86 – The Highlander Is All That by Sabrina York

Posted in Book reviews, Historical Romance, Untamed Highlanders by rebeccabook17

Title: The Highlander Is All That
Author: Sabrina York
Date finished: 10/10/17
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Swerve
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
Pages in book: 257
Stand alone or series: #4 in the Untamed Highlanders series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley
NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Elizabeth St. Claire has always been hard to please. Dreaming solely of Highlander men her whole life, no prancing London Lord can stand a chance at winning her heart…

… But perhaps a Scotsman can.

Elizabeth watches intrigued as the Highlander of her dreams, a Scotsman named Hamish Robb, arrives to oversee her season at the behest of her cousin, the Duke of Caithness. Elizabeth doesn’t hide her feelings for the striking Scot. But Hamish, determined to obey his order to protect the St. Claire sisters, steadfastly rejects her every seducing lure.

Believing that the debutante Elizabeth deserves a better, wealthier man, Hamish continues to turn away from her affection, even though he doesn’t exactly want to. Can this Highlander Scot resist the tempting seductress’ attempts to win his heart?

My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Elizabeth St. Claire and Hamish Robb. Hamish has arrived in London at the bequest of his friend and business partner, Lachlan Sinclair (a duke). Sinclair’s wife is pregnant and can’t travel, and so he sends his friends Hamish and Ranald to watch over his four female cousins as they fight for husbands this Season. Elizabeth and her three sisters, Anne, Mary, and Victoria, are all very charming and lovely women. Elizabeth has always had a fondness for Scotsmen, even though she’s lived her whole life in London. She did visit Scotland once and found it to be entrancing, as she has also found the brawny men of Scotland as well. So when an especially handsome one shows up on her doorstep, she isn’t about to let this opportunity pass her by. And even though Elizabeth’s sister Anne doesn’t particularly care for Scotsmen (dislikes them in fact), she can’t seem to help herself when it comes to Ranald.

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot. It was definitely a quick read and so of the plot pieces were a tad unclear (like the timing once we got to the last couple chapters, it sounded like months went by but then we were talking as if weeks went by or days and it was a little confusing). I really liked that this story line incorporated the lives and romances of all four St. Claire sisters, it added an extra layer of interest. This was definitely a quick and easy read but still kept the reader interested. The story had a sweet ending and I thought this was a good addition to the series! I would recommend it.

Also make sure to check out my Blog Tour post on this book here!

The bottom line: I liked this book a lot. I loved how well the story lines were woven together. This was a quick, fun and sweet read and I would recommend it!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page