Tag Archives: reading challenge

Bout of Books 16 Day 4 – If You Like This, Try This

Posted in 2016, Bout of Books 16, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

So the challenge for Bout of Books 16 – Day 4 is a post about “If You Like This, Try This.” I liked this idea behind this post, though I didn’t end up doing what I had originally planned. So below are my suggestions for books by genre:

1. If You Like Romantic Suspense, then try:

Now You See Her by Linda Howard
Deadline by Sandra Brown
The Liar by Nora Roberts

2. If You Like Historical Fiction/Romance, then try:

The Vintner’s Daughter by Kristen Harnisch
Maiden Lane series by Elizabeth Hoyt
MacKenzie Family series by Jennifer Ashley

3. If You Like Contemporary Romance, then try:

Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee

4. If You Like Epistolary novels, then try:

Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Every Boy’s Got One by Meg Cabot
The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger

 

If any of you have more suggestions, I am always looking for new things to add to my TBR list!

2016 Book #45 – Kill or Be Kilt by Victoria Roberts

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Bout of Books 16, For the love of books, Historical Romance, Reading Challenges by

51zuZ+efm4L._SX302_BO1,204,203,200_Title: Kill or Be Kilt
Author: Victoria Roberts
Date finished: 5/11/16
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablance
Publication Date: May 3, 2016
Pages in book: 352
Stand alone or series: #3 in the Highland Spies 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:

It’s been three years since Lady Elizabeth Walsingham ended her childish crush on Laird Ian Munro, the fierce Highlander who scared everyone but her. She’s a grown woman now, heading to London to find a proper English gentleman. But when the wild Highland laird walks through the door, she’s that breathless youth all over again.
Ian tries hard to avoid the young lass who’s confounded him for years. But now that they’re attending court, he must keep watch on her night and day. Danger is at every turn and advisors to the Crown are being murdered. Ian soon realizes the girl he’s been protecting is a beautiful lady who needs his help, almost as much as he needs her.

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 is my second book that I’ve finished during the Bout of Books 16 read-a-thon and was also the second one on my goals list. This book tells the story of Elizabeth Walsingham, who lives with her sister and the rest of her family at her brother-in-law’s house in the Highlands. Elizabeth and her sisters receive the news that their Uncle has died, and they travel with the Highlander men to England to grieve with their aunt. While in England, Elizabeth decides that she would like to be presented at court to see if she can find a suitable husband.Laird Ian Munro is not too keen on this idea. Even though Ian doesn’t think he wants Elizabeth for himself, he doesn’t seem to want her flirting with anyone else either. Through their experiences though, Ian comes to realize that the reason he’s so jealous over Elizabeth’s suitors is that he is in love with Elizabeth himself.
Overall I liked this book. The hero was clueless and arrogant but also ended up being charming and chivalrous. .The heroine was a little naive but she was younger so that wasn’t overly surprising. I liked that this book can be read as a stand alone, though it does reference things from the previous two books. The book itself doesn’t need to be read as part of the series though and can be read on its own. It was a good book and I liked it but nothing really grabbed my attention as overly exciting. This wasn’t one of my all time favorites but it was a good romance read. I would especially recommend to historical romance and Highlander fans.

The bottom line: I liked this book, it was a nice and interesting story. I wouldn’t say there was anything overly interesting  or thrilling but it was a definitely a good read. I thought it 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

Bout of Books 16 – READ-a-thon, contests, giveaways, and more!!

Posted in Bout of Books 16, For the love of books by
Bout of Books

So over the past year I’ve periodically seen fellow bloggers participating in something called “Bout of Books” and reading their posts it has always seemed interesting/fun to me. So I decided to sign up for this coming one! I am excited to try it, though I’m still not 100% sure how it works. I do know that I’m supposed to read, which works out well for me since that is one of my favorite things to do! 

For those of you who don’t really know much about Bout of Books (including me), it is basically a week-long, no pressure read-a-thon that has been going strong since 2011! Here is a description directly from the Bout of Books blog:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

All in all it sounds like a great time to me! It isn’t required but I am nothing if not goal-oriented so I’ve decided to set some goals for the week. And luckily this time of year is pretty much my only slightly-slow season so I was able to take a couple days off to devote entirely to reading!! If you’d like to participate and would like to post goals (optional) they have a nifty template/help page that you can find here. Below are my TBR/Other goals for the week: 

Time Devoted to Reading

I plan to read at least 2 hours each day, with additional hours on the 2/3 days I am home during the week. Also the Saturday during Bout of Books is Goal Day for me so I can read all day (approx. 8 hours). 

My Goals

My goals for this read-a-thon are pretty much to learn the ropes. I’d like to participate in as much as I can: the daily posts plus reading every day plus whatever else there is (if there is anything else?). 

Books to Read

 

SO! That is Bout of Books and that is my plan! I am really looking forward to participating, it lined up perfectly with my busiest ARC month to date so I am really appreciative of the extra encouraged reading time!!! Hope you guys check it out and join up! If you do want to join make sure to add yourself to the page’s Sign Up Post by Tuesday, May 10th at 11:59pm! Happy reading!

2016 Book #29 – Change of Scene by Mary Kay Andrews

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Fiction, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by

51qm6DOU2bL._SX344_BO1,204,203,200_Title: Change of Scene: A 100 Page Novella
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Date finished: 4/3/16
Genre: Women’s fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Pages in book: 144
Stand alone or series: Prequel to Beach Town
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:

This 100 page prequel novella to Mary Kay Andrews’s bestselling novel Beach Town is sure to delight fans and new readers alike.
Greer Hennessy is a movie location scout whose latest project has literally gone up in flames. After an avocado field accidentally catches fire on the set of her new movie, she is out of a job and practically run out of town. With her feisty grandmother Dearie, a Golden Age starlet who still has a lot of vigor left in her, complicating her life, Greer needs a bit of a rest. But Greer’s own mother then drops a bombshell on her that will change Greer’s life completely, and raise questions about her own father that she can’t ignore. In desperate need of a second chance, can Greer find what she’s looking for in the one last job she can get: a movie called BEACH TOWN? But first, she needs to find the perfect spot…

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. Also, this book will count towards my “PopSugar 2016 Checklist” reading challenge, marking off the “a book and its prequel” square. Technically I’m marking off 1/2 the square since I haven’t read Beach Town yet but I own it so I am hoping to read it whenever I have a spare moment in my reading schedule. Definitely before the end of the year. Anyways this novella is about Greer Hennessy, who is a location scout for the film industry. At the beginning of the novella, her job goes up in smoke and then she has trouble finding any more work. During this time, she finds out that her mother is sick and spends time caring for her as well as trying to find a new nursing home for her grandmother, who was kicked out of the last home for breaking a handful of rules. Luckily, Greer’s friend CeeJay has recently started dating a film producer who wants Greer to be the location scout for his next project, Beach Town.
Overall this was a good novella. The author did a good job of setting up the stage for the next book, Beach Town. The reader becomes invested in the story and in Greer’s character. If I didn’t already have a JAM packed reading schedule, I would be reading Beach Town next! I want to find out what happens next. And not having read Beach Town I can’t be sure, but I think that this novella adds a good amount of background and context to Greer’s character and her motivations in the next book. I would recommend this for any one who has read or is planning to read Beach Town. I bet these two would be great reads for the beach!

The bottom line: This was a good novella, it caught my interest and got me invested in the characters. I wish I could read Beach Town next, but hopefully will read it soon.

Link to author website

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

2016 Book #26 – Tales of My Childhood by Anna Lillian Young

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Non-fiction, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges by

Title: Tales of My Childhood
Author: Anna Lillian Young
Date finished: 3/26/16
Genre: Autobiography
Pages in book: 313
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Author’s relative NOTE: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

 

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. Also, this book will count towards my “PopSugar 2016 Checklist” reading challenge, marking off the “an autobiography” square since it is is an autobiography. This books tells the story of Anna Lillian Young’s life as written by Anna Lillian Young. There is a foreword included in the book that was written by my Uncle Will, who is Anna’s great-grandson. This book begins during Anna’s childhood and chronicles the journey of her life up through her 89th year. Anna had a difficult childhood at times and struggled at different points during her life but her life was full of family and love and many times adventure. It was a very interesting story and I’m glad that my Uncle found the manuscript and was able to bind it. Anna traveled a lot, when she was younger traveling between other family member’s households and when older she traveled to where her husband was able to find work. Anna had an astounding memory and recorded many details not only from her later years but also from her childhood in her manuscript. I’m glad I was able to experience pieces of her life, thanks Will for sharing with this one with me!

 

2016 Book #11 – Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonegut

Posted in 2016, Book Clubs, Book reviews, Fiction, Literary Greats, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges, Terryville - Fiction Lovers by

610pDdsNz1LTitle: Slaughterhouse-Five (or the Children’s Crusade)
Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Date finished: 2/8/16
Genre: Fiction, science fiction, literary fiction
Publisher: Delacorte
Publication Date: 1969
Pages in book: 215
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Terryville Public Library

Blurb from the cover:

Unstuck in time, Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut’s shattered survivor of the Dresden bombing, relives his life over and over again under the gaze of aliens; he comes at last to some understanding of the human comedy. The basis of George Roy’s great 1972 film and perhaps the signature student’s novel in the 1960’s embracing protest and the absurdity of war.

My rating:  2.75 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 (February). Also, this book will count towards my “PopSugar 2016 Checklist” reading challenge, marking off the “a science-fiction novel” box since this is a science fiction novel. Obviously this is a well known book, popular for many high-school reading lists. I never happened to read this book in high school so I was interested to read it now. It was… weird. Not what I expected it would be. I said this at my book club tonight, but for anyone that watches Family Guy it felt a lot like a Family Guy episode to me, with pretty much any random thing you can think of all thrown into one story line. That’s mostly what this book felt like to me.
Overall this book left me feeling like I missed something. I felt like there should’ve been more of a point or an ah-ha! moment, but I didn’t find one. It was a quick read and kept my interest but other than that I just wasn’t thrilled with the book. Its a classic though, even included on Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime listing. So I can’t say that I don’t recommend it but be prepared for a good dose of weird.

The bottom line: I have to say I would recommend mostly because this is one of those things that I think everyone should read. Like I said before though, be prepared for some just odd stuff.

Link to author website

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

2015 Recap and 2016 Goals

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, 2016, ARC August, Book Clubs, Book Riot Read Harder Reading Challenge 2016, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Bookish Bingo: Jan-March 2015, For the love of books, Penguin Random House: Challenge Your Shelf A-Z Challenge, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges, TBR Pile Reading Challenge (Roof Beam Reader), Terryville - Fiction Lovers by

New Year 2015

When I set my goals for 2015 at the beginning of the year, I knew I had a lot to accomplish but I thought that the extra motivation would help me stay focused. My goals overall were more about trying new things and being more open to different types of books. And I can honestly say that I’ve read some books in 2015 that I would not have picked up on my own volition and I think I am a better reader for it. I just had no idea that becoming a book blogger was going to end up as a part-time job for me. I am so grateful to all of the authors and publishers and other media outlets that have allowed my blog to grow this past year and allowed me to grow as a reader.

So to recap how I did for my 2015 goals, I didn’t complete all of them but I think I did a fairly good job and I accomplished some extra things that a) distracted me and b) I never even knew existed. One lesson learned this year is that NetGalley approves most, if not all, of your review requests, so don’t request like 15 that are all being published in the same month (August & September were BIG NetGalley months for me, ha!). Another thing I learned this year is that if you have a blog where you review books, eventually authors and publishers will start contacting you asking you to review something for them. I was very honored to review a number of books for authors and publishers this past year and it was a great learning experience for me. Not only that but I read a lot of books I might not have heard of otherwise and I would have missed out on some great reads! So anyways, my original post about my 2015 goals you can find here. Below I’ll talk about how I did!

1. Read at least 20 different types of the books on the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist – This one I did manage to finish! I read over 20 of the checklist items, you can browse through the ones I used to check off on this list here.

2. Post at least 2 non-book review related posts per month – I think I did pretty darn good on this one, though I have to admit I was better about coming up with ideas at the beginning of the year. Some of my favorite posts from this goal include my post about Gretna Green, post on my annual Reading Retreat, and my Author Interview with Andrea Lochen who is such a sweetheart!! I did end up skipping multiple months on this goal because I just ran out of time but I’m glad I tried writing about different topics and expanding my knowledge on certain areas.

3. Participate in one book reading challenge (on an external site) per quarter – Did this one too! For Q1 I did the Bookish Bingo challenge, Q2 I participated in #ReadingMyLibrary, Q3 I participated in ARC August challenge, and Q4 I am currently doing the Bookish Bingo holiday edition!

4. Post at least two posts per month concerning various book memes – Oh gosh I only missed one on this!!! Ugh if I knew it would end up this way I would’ve just done that one so I could check this one off. Anyways the one I missed was my second October post, monkeys! As you can probably tell by my posts I tend to favor the Top Ten Tuesday posts, followed closely by Friday Finds and Waiting on Wednesday ends in third. If anyone has suggestions for fun book memes that they participate in I am open to new ones!

5. Read at least 5 books from Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime – I don’t think I ended up doing this at all, which is unfortunate but I have a lifetime (ha) still to read them so I’m sure it will happen someday!

6. Participate in Roof Beam Reader’s 2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge – I ended up only reading 7 of the 12 in my pile for this challenge, but I am still really glad I participated since I read some books that I had on my book shelf for quite a while! You can see the books I read for this challenge here.

So overall I think I ended up accomplishing A LOT this year, though the things I accomplished didn’t end up all being things I had planned at the beginning of the year as my goals. I had no idea that I would get so involved in NetGalley and also in author/publisher requests, and while they definitely side-tracked me from my original goals, I think that I grew a lot as a reader and a blogger because of these events. Another thing that came into my life this year that I’m really enjoying is joining a book club! I’ve found some great reads so far through my library’s fiction book club and I’m looking forward to the books we’re reading in 2016! You can see the books we read this past year for the book club here.

I ended up reading 125 books during 2015, which was an increase over my last year’s number. And I hadn’t really set a number goal for 2015 since i didn’t think I could read more than I did last year but I ended up doing just that. I’ve summarized the number of books I read per month for not only 2015 but also 2014 & 2013, below is a depiction of the data:

Per month chart for end of year post

635845200979031950-1693487873_2016yay

And so on we move to 2016!! Very excited to embrace the coming New Year and continue on my reading journey. I’m going to be trying to consolidate some of my 2016 goals so that I’m more able to achieve them while also tying in requests from authors/publishers and my NetGalley reads. I am also hoping to expand my reach in 2016 in terms of Advanced Reader Copies and hopefully establish a couple contacts/relationships with some of the publishers that I like. Below is a summarized listing of what my goals are for 2016:

  1. PopSugar 2016 Reading Challenge – Read at least 20 books off this checklist. I really enjoyed doing this checklist for 2015 so I decided to participate again for 2016
  2. Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 – I heard a lot about this checklist this past year at the Book Riot Live conference and online and I’m excited to try this checklist this year!
  3. Penguin Random House Challenge Your Shelf: Books A-Z Challenge – This was technically a 2015 challenge but I liked the list so much that I’m going to use it for 2016 just for my own purposes. I’m going to try and read at least 10 books off this list.
  4. Participate in one shorter reading challenge per quarter. And since I’m a planner by nature I’ve already picked out which ones I plan to participate in:
    1. Quarter 1 – I’m currently participating in Bookish Bingo: Holiday edition which runs through end of February 2016 so this one will be my Quarter 1 reading challenge
    2. Quarter 2 – I’ve been wanting to participate in a Bout of Books challenge for a while now but the timing never lined up for me in 2015 so I am planning on definitely participating in the one in May 2016.
    3. Quarter 3 – I really liked participating in the ARC August challenge this past August and I am sure I will have a bunch of ARC’s on my schedule at that point so I am planning to participate again this year.
    4. Quarter 4 – I found this listing of the 24 Best Books About Witches to Get You in the Halloween Spirit and I noticed a lot of the books on the list were already in my TBR list so for Sept/Oct I am gong to work my way through this listing (this will be my own reading challenge hosted by my site).
  5. Other general goals that are less defined but are just overall goals I’d like to work on:
    1. Establishing contacts/relationships with publishers
    2. Continue to review ARC’s from authors
    3. Try doing some shorter reviews on books that I don’t necessarily have as much to say on. I’ve been having trouble keeping up with all the reviews I have to do and I’m hoping to write some shorter reviews this year for the books I’m just reading on my own
    4. Try to wrap up some of the series that I’m in the middle of, I feel like there are just so many and I lose track of the characters. I know its unreasonable but I almost wish authors would release a full series at the same time and be like “ok that’s it I’m not doing anymore.” I’ll start reading a series because the “finale” is out and then there’s somehow another sequel released and while excited it is also incredibly frustrating.

SO! That is everything. Gosh that was a lot of typing but that is my 2015 wrap up and my 2016 beginning. I will also be posting my WordPress summary in a separate post as well. And for anyone interested here is a link to my Goodreads summary for the year. I hope everyone had a successful 2015 and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

new-year-wallpaper-hd

2015 Book #125 – Before the Claiming by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Posted in 2015, Beautiful Creatures, Book reviews, Book series, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges, Young Adult by

51hfe2A1SHL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_Title: Before The Claiming
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Date finished: 12/31/15
Genre: Young adult
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 13, 2015
Pages in book: 44
Stand alone or series: Novella in Beautiful Creatures series
Where I got the book from: Amazon purchase

Blurb from the cover:

While looking through her grandmother Emmaline’s keepsakes, Lena Duchannes comes across a little blue book with a big history–a book that changed Macon Ravenwood’s life and saved Lena’s.
When Lena was a baby, Seer and gifted card reader Amma Treaudeau saw a terrifying future in the cards that sent her to Emmaline’s door. When a powerful Dark Caster sets fire to Lena’s house with baby Lena and her father trapped inside, Amma, Emmaline, and Macon vow to protect the child. Lena’s grandmother and her Uncle Macon whisk Lena away, protecting her and moving her to a new place at the first sign of trouble. But a Caster can only hide for so long, and Macon must rely on the teachings in an ancient book to control his Dark nature. Ultimately, it will be his job to protect Lena–and keep her from surrendering to a Dark fate.
My rating: 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5
My review: This book will count towards my “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Fantasy” square, since this book/novella is based around a plot line with a lot of magic.
Overall this was a good story, it was interesting to hear some of the back story for Lena and how her father died. If you’ve read the Beautiful Creatures series I would definitely check this one out.
The bottom line: I would recommend this book if you’ve read and enjoyed the Beautiful Creatures series, it was a good addition to the series and was nice to visit with some of my favorite characters!
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2015 Book #124 – The Restaurant Critic’s Wife by Elizabeth LaBan

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by

51ZVq3pdcrLTitle: The Restaurant Critic’s Wife
Author: Elizabeth LaBan
Date finished: 12/27/15
Genre: Women’s fiction
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: January 5, 2016
Pages in book: 313
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:

Lila Soto has a master’s degree that’s gathering dust, a work-obsessed husband, two kids, and lots of questions about how exactly she ended up here.
In their new city of Philadelphia, Lila’s husband, Sam, takes his job as a restaurant critic a little too seriously. To protect his professional credibility, he’s determined to remain anonymous. Soon his preoccupation with anonymity takes over their lives as he tries to limit the family’s contact with anyone who might have ties to the foodie world. Meanwhile, Lila craves adult conversation and some relief from the constraints of her homemaker role. With her patience wearing thin, she begins to question everything: her decision to get pregnant again, her break from her career, her marriage—even if leaving her ex-boyfriend was the right thing to do. As Sam becomes more and more fixated on keeping his identity secret, Lila begins to wonder if her own identity has completely disappeared—and what it will take to get it back.

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 will count towards my “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Free Space” square. This book tells the story of Lila Soto, who recently moved with her husband and young daughter to Philadelphia where Lila’s husband, Sam, has a job as a restaurant critic of a local newspaper. Sam had been temporarily writing as the restaurant critic in New Orleans and was able to find a permanent position in Philadelphia. He is so paranoid about keeping his identity a secret though that he doesn’t want Lila to make any friends or have a job or pretty much be seen in public at all. And when he thinks the restaurant owners start recognizing him, he begins to wear disguises when he’s going out. And while Sam is dealing with all of his paranoia issues, Lila has a new baby boy and is struggling with how to care for two young children.
So this book follows Lila’s story over the course of just about a year. During that time she has many ups and downs. Lila had been a very career-driven and successful woman before her move to Philadelphia, after which she and Sam decided that she would stay home with the kids for a while so that Sam could focus on his job. Lila ends up having more trouble with this than she thought she would though, and misses being in the work force.
Overall I liked this book. To be honest I had a lot of issues with Sam’s character. He was so unbelievably frustrating because he was constantly telling Lila that she couldn’t have any friends that are in any way involved in the restaurant industry. And she can’t work. And she has to take care of two small children with basically no help because even the babysitter will figure out who he is. About halfway through the book I just wanted to scream because Lila says repeatedly that she wants to go back to work and Sam just kept saying that they would talk about when the right time might be for that to happen but it wasn’t now and she couldn’t be interviewed at all for any reason and she couldn’t do FREAKING ANYTHING!!!! What does he want her to do just hide in the house for the next 30 years? He didn’t even want her to make friends with her neighbors. I wanted to punch him in the face, he kept talking about how she was making it impossible for him to do his job but why is his job the only one that is important? Why is his job more important than hers? Anyways, other than that one sticking point for me this was a good book. I think that mothers especially will connect with Lila’s character as most will probably identify with the struggle LaBan describes in many scenes where Lila is alone taking care of her two small children. Good book and I would recommend giving it a try!

The bottom line: I would recommend this book, it was a good story and kept me interested. I had some trouble with the husband’s character but not everyone may have my same issues. I would recommend giving it a try!

Link to author website

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

2015 Book #122 – A Match For Marcus Cynster by Stephanie Laurens

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Book series, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Cynster family series, Cynster Next Generation, Historical Romance, Reading Challenges by

71KvxKVNqYLTitle: A Match for Marcus Cynster
Author: Stephanie Laurens
Date finished: 12/20/15
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Mira
Publication Date: May 26, 2015
Pages in book: 442
Stand alone or series: Cynster family series #22, 3rd in Cynster Next Generation series

Blurb from the cover:

Duty compels her to turn her back on marriage. Fate drives him to protect her come what may. Then love takes a hand in this battle of yearning hearts, stubborn wills, and a match too powerful to deny. #1New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns to rugged Scotland with a dramatic tale of passionate desire and unwavering devotion.
Restless and impatient, Marcus Cynster waits for Fate to come calling. He knows his destiny lies in the lands surrounding his family home, but what will his future be and with whom will he share it?
Of one fact he feels certain: his fated bride will not be Niniver Carrick. His elusive neighbor attracts him mightily, yet he feels compelled to protect her—even from himself. Fickle Fate, he’s sure, would never be so kind as to decree that Niniver should be his. The best he can do for them both is to avoid her.
Niniver has vowed to return her clan to prosperity. The epitome of fragile femininity, her delicate and ethereal exterior cloaks a stubborn will and an unflinching devotion to the people in her care. She accepts that she cannot risk marrying and losing her grip on the clan’s reins to an inevitably controlling husband. Unfortunately, many local men see her as their opportunity.
Soon, she’s forced to seek help to get rid of her unwelcome suitors. Powerful and dangerous, Marcus Cynster is perfect for the task. Suppressing her wariness over tangling with a gentleman who so excites her passions, she appeals to him for assistance with her peculiar problem.
Although at first he resists, Marcus discovers that, contrary to his expectations, his fated role is to stand by Niniver’s side and, ultimately, to claim her hand. Yet in order to convince her to be his bride, they must plunge headlong into a journey full of challenges, unforeseen dangers, passion, and yearning, until Niniver grasps the essential truth—that she is indeed a match for Marcus Cynster.

My rating: 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count towards my “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Romance” square, since (duh) it is a historical romance novel. I have been waiting and waiting to read this one and even though I bought it months ago I’m just getting around to it. My schedule from August through November was really just packed full of ARC reviews so I didn’t have time to read this one until now. Obviously I very much enjoy the Cynster series, and after being introduced to Niniver and hearing a little more about Marcus in the last book The Tempting of Thomas Carrick (about Marcus’s sister and Niniver’s cousin) I couldn’t wait to dive into this book. Niniver’s father was murdered in the last book and after a series of unfortunate (but fast-moving) events she is left in charge of the Carrick Clan.
Fast forward to a year later, and Niniver is encountering a problem that she can’t handle on her own. Remembering Marcus’s vow to help her should she ever need it, she traipses on over to his house and persuades him to assist her in her situation. In order to do that Marcus basically has to pretend to be her boyfriend. Marcus originally doesn’t think that this is a good idea because he knows that they are attracted to each other and he doesn’t want to be tempted but once he realizes that the Lady might be making something happen, he decides to go along with the plan.
Overall I thought this book was ok. I honestly had some trouble with the plot line now that I’m looking back on it. The whole thing seems just a little far-fetched to me I guess. I still enjoyed it and I am excited to read more in the series but the plot just didn’t pull me in this time.

The bottom line: I would recommend this book, especially if you like historical romance. I would probable preface that with saying that some of the other books in the series I enjoyed more than this one, but I love the Cynster series and I am excited that it is continuing with the Next Generation.

Link to author website

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