Tag: books

Book Review:  The Sultan’s Court, by R.A. Denny

Image belongs to the author.

Title:  The Sultan’s Court
Author:   R.A. Denny
Genre:   YA, fantasy, historical
Rating:  4.0  

Left behind as a slave in Morocco while Daniel journeys to the New World with the fearsome corsair Ayoub, Peri gives birth to a daughter. The drive to protect the imperiled lives of those she loves leads Peri to the court of the ruthless sultan, Moulay Ismail. In a city built on the backs of slaves, Peri’s rescue plot hangs by a thread, dependent on a dubious disguise and the man she despises. It will take all of her wit and perseverance to survive.

 This spellbinding 2nd novel in the Pirates and Puritans Series takes the reader on a journey from Algonquin villages to Moroccan palaces, during the time when Morocco’s most feared leader rose to power and the American colonies sank into a bloody war named after Metacom.

 I really like the premise of this series:  time travel to the time of the early Puritan settlements in America. In the first book, I enjoyed getting to know Peri and Daniel. This takes their story further…but not their story together, as they are separated for almost two decades in this novel. I didn’t enjoy that aspect as much as I enjoyed the first book.

There’s a lot going on here:  Peri’s story, Daniel’s story (in several different locations and cultures), things set in the future (where Peri’s from), and even scenes from their enemy’s point-of-view. The author weaves these threads together to make a coherent whole, but don’t let the POV switches make you miss out on the nuances of this well-rounded adventure.

R.A Denny has a law degree from Duke University but chooses to do just what she loves:  write. The Sultan’s Court is her newest novel, the second in the Pirates and Puritans series.

(Galley courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  The Paradox Hotel, by Rob Hart

Image belongs to Random House/Ballantine.

Title:   The Paradox Hotel
Author:   Rob Hart
Genre:   Fantasy
Rating:  3.0 out of 5

 January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder.

 Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing’s simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights” to the past.

 Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion—and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls.

 None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see.

 On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. Because the U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology—and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.

 January is sure the timing isn’t a coincidence. Neither are those “accidents” that start stalking their bidders.

 There’s a reason January can glimpse what others can’t. A reason why she’s the only one who can catch a killer who’s operating invisibly and in plain sight, all at once.

 But her ability is also destroying her grip on reality—and as her past, present, and future collide, she finds herself confronting not just the hotel’s dark secrets but her own.

 I kind of wish I hadn’t bothered to finish reading this. I think the only reason I did was for the velociraptors. (Yes, really.) January was a horrible person. Seriously terrible to everyone she interacted with. Every single time she opened her mouth, I knew something ugly was going to come out (and she knew it but did it anyway.). She was the worst, so I felt basically no sympathy for her. I didn’t care about anything going on in this story—except the dinosaurs—and the ending felt like…no resolution was reached, things just stopped.

Rob Hart lives in Staten Island. The Paradox Hotel is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Ballantine in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Full Flight, by Ashley Schumacher

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:   Full Flight
Author:   Ashley Schumacher
Genre:   YA
Rating:  3.5

Everyone else in the tiny town of Enfield, Texas calls fall football season, but for the forty-three members of the Fighting Enfield Marching Band, it’s contest season. And for new saxophonist Anna James, it’s her first chance to prove herself as the great musician she’s trying hard to be.

 When she’s assigned a duet with mellophone player Weston Ryan, the boy her small-minded town thinks of as nothing but trouble, she’s equal parts thrilled and intimidated. But as he helps her with the duet, and she sees the smile he seems to save just for her, she can’t help but feel like she’s helping him with something too.

 After her strict parents find out she’s been secretly seeing him and keep them apart, together they learn what it truly means to fight for something they love. With the marching contest nearing, and the two falling hard for one another, the unthinkable happens, and Anna is left grappling for a way forward without Weston.

Solid writing in this, and I enjoyed the story, until tragedy occurred. Up until that point, this was a light, fun YA read. The tragedy felt pointless and completely unnecessary. It accomplished nothing in the storyline, as people’s perceptions had already been changed before it happened. And…the story ends shortly after it happens, so it’s not liked the reader gets to see Anna finding her way forward. The story just ends. Sorry, but this just didn’t work for me. It felt forced and manipulative, not believable.

Ashley Schumacher lives in Dallas. Full Flight is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

 

Book Review and Blog Tour:  Last Duke Standing, by Julia London

Image belongs to Harlequin.

Title:   Last Duke Standing
Author:   Julia London
Genre:   Romance
Rating:  4.5 out of 5

When Crown Princess Justine of Wesloria is sent to England to learn the ropes of royalty, she falls under the tutelage of none other than Queen Victoria herself. She’s also in the market for a proper husband—one fit to marry the future Queen of Wesloria.

 Because he knows simply everyone, William, Lord Douglas (the notoriously rakish heir to the Duke of Hamilton seat in Scotland, and decidedly not husband material), is on hand as an escort of sorts. William has been recruited to keep an eye on the royal matchmaker for the Weslorian Prime Minister, tasked to ensure the princess is matched with a man of quality…and one who will be sympathetic to the prime minister’s views. As William and Justine are forced to scrutinize an endless parade of England’s best bachelors, they become friends. But when the crowd of potential grooms is steadily culled, what if William is the last bachelor standing?

 I’ve enjoyed the Wesloria books I’ve read, and I highly enjoyed this one, too. I thought Justine’s mom—and her cronies—were horrible, but I really liked the matchmaker. William was a fun character, and the banter between him and Justine was a lot of fun. I liked seeing some of the characters from previous Wesloria books in the background, too.

Julia London is a bestselling author. Last Duke Standing is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Sword and Shadow, by Michelle Sagara

Image belongs to Harlequin/MIRA.

Title:   Sword and Shadow
Author:   Michelle Sagara
Genre:   Fantasy
Rating:  5.0 out of 5

In exchange for information about his past, Severn Handred joins a Barrani lord on a mission to the West March—an enclave well outside the boundaries of the Empire. Granted a leave of absence from the Wolves, Severn is in danger the moment he steps outside the reach of Imperial law. But the instincts that led him to the Wolves and the sense of duty that keeps him there can’t be discarded as easily as the tabard he wears.

 In the heart of the West March, enmeshed in a tangled web of secrets that have been kept for centuries, Severn’s belief in justice is going to be tested. There are murders to solve, people to protect, and truths to uncover. It’s one mortal man and his single Barrani friend against a community of immortals who will die and kill to keep their secrets. But they’re up against the Wolves now.

I do love Michelle Sagara’s The Chronicles of Elantra series, and I think this spinoff series is fantastic as well. Severn is one of my favorite characters in the original series, and it’s lovely to get to know him better here. I love the verbal back-and-forth in these books, and the characters are such strong presences that I feel like I’m there with them. Detailed worldbuilding, nuanced plot, and plenty of action makes these books a must-read.

Michelle Sagara is a bestselling author. Sword and Shadow is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/MIRA in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Good Girl Complex, by Elle Kennedy

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:   Good Girl Complex
Author:  Elle Kennedy
Genre:   Romance
Rating:  3.2 out of 5

Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot is a people pleaser. Her demanding parents. Her prep school friends. Her long-time boyfriend. It’s exhausting, really, always following the rules. Unlike most twenty-year-olds, all she really wants to do is focus on growing her internet business, but first she must get a college degree at her parents’ insistence. That means moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay, a community made up of locals and the wealthy students of Garnet College.

 Mac’s had plenty of practice suppressing her wilder impulses, but when she meets local bad boy Cooper Hartley, that ability is suddenly tested. Cooper is rough around the edges. Raw. Candid. A threat to her ordered existence. Their friendship soon becomes the realest thing in her life.

 Despite his disdain for the trust-fund kids he sees coming and going from his town, Cooper soon realizes Mac isn’t just another rich clone and falls for her. Hard. But as Mac finally starts feeling accepted by Cooper and his friends, the secret he’s been keeping from her threatens the only place she’s ever felt at home.

 If you’re looking for something unique and unpredictable, this is the wrong choice. All of it was predictable. The writing was solid, but there weren’t any surprises, and the “townie” characters were pretty much all horrible and selfish people who just wanted to get drunk or high and complain about the wealthy kids, or, as they deprecatingly call them, “clones.” I liked Mac, but there weren’t any surprised with her, either.

Elle Kennedy is a bestselling author. Good Girl Complex is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Love & Saffron, by Kim Fay

Image belongs to Penguin Group Putnam.

Title:   Love & Saffron
Author:   Kim Fay
Genre:   Fiction
Rating:  4 out of 5

When twenty-seven-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter–as well as a gift of saffron–to fifty-nine-year-old Imogen Fortier, a life-changing friendship begins. Joan lives in Los Angeles and is just starting out as a writer for the newspaper food pages. Imogen lives on Camano Island outside Seattle, writing a monthly column for a Pacific Northwest magazine, and while she can hunt elk and dig for clams, she’s never tasted fresh garlic–exotic fare in the Northwest of the sixties. As the two women commune through their letters, they build a closeness that sustains them through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the unexpected in their own lives.

 Food and a good life–they can’t be separated. It is a discovery the women share, not only with each other, but with the men in their lives. Because of her correspondence with Joan, Imogen’s decades-long marriage blossoms into something new and exciting, and in turn, Joan learns that true love does not always come in the form we expect it to. Into this beautiful, intimate world comes the ultimate test of Joan and Imogen’s friendship–a test that summons their unconditional trust in each other.

I enjoyed this short novel told almost exclusively in letters. The growing friendship between Joan and Imogen is sweet and uplifting as the women’s lives both change and evolve. They inspire each other as they go through major life changes, and despite their differences, their love for each other continues to grow.

Kim Fay lives in L.A. Love & Saffron is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Penguin Group Putnam in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  The Bright Side Running Club, by Josie Lloyd

Image belongs to Alcove Press

Title:   The Bright Side Running Club
Author:   Josie Lloyd
Genre:   Fiction
Rating:  5 out of 5

When Keira first receives her breast cancer diagnosis, she never expects to end up joining a running group with three women she’s only just met. Totally blind-sided, all she can think about is how she doesn’t want to tell her family or step back from work. Nor does she want to be part of a group of fellow cancer patients. Cancer is not her club.

 And yet it’s running – hot, sweaty, lycra-clad running in the company of brilliant, funny women all going through treatment – that unexpectedly gives Keira the hope she so urgently needs. Because Keira will not be defined by the C-word. And now, with the Bright Side Running Club cheering her on, she is going to reclaim everything: her family, her identity, and her life.

 One step at a time.

 I enjoyed this book so much! I loved Keira as a character, and I loved all the secondary characters as well (except her horrible coworkers). Her journey was both terrible and inspiring as she deals with a terrifying diagnosis and the treatment that isn’t much better. I loved how much she learned about herself and the people in her life, and I’ll admit the book brought me to tears a time or two. I highly recommend!

Josie Lloyd is from Brighton. The Bright Side Running Club is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Alcove Press in exchange for an honest review.)

 

Book Review:  Beyond the Lavender Fields, by Arlem Hawks

Shadow Mountain Publishing.

Title:   Beyond the Lavender Fields
Author:   Arlem Hawks
Genre:   Historical fiction
Rating:  4.2 out of 5

1792, France 

Rumors of revolution in Paris swirl in Marseille, a bustling port city in southern France. Gilles Étienne, a clerk at the local soap factory, thrives on the news. Committed to the cause of equality, liberty, and brotherhood, he and his friends plan to march to Paris to dethrone the monarchy. His plans are halted when he meets Marie-Caroline Daubin, the beautiful daughter of the owner of the factory.

 A bourgeoise and royalist, Marie-Caroline has been called home to Marseille to escape the unrest in Paris. She rebuffs Gilles’s efforts to charm her and boldly expresses her view that violently imposed freedom is not really freedom for all. As Marie-Caroline takes risks to follow her beliefs, Gilles catches her in a dangerous secret that could cost her and her family their lives. As Gilles and Marie-Caroline spend more time together, she questions her initial assumptions about Gilles and realizes that perhaps they have more in common than she thought.

 As the spirit of revolution descends on Marseille, people are killed and buildings are ransacked and burned to the ground. Gilles must choose between supporting the political change he believes in and protecting those he loves. And Marie-Caroline must battle between standing up for what she feels is right and risking her family’s safety. With their lives and their nation in turmoil, both Gilles and Marie-Caroline wonder if a révolutionnaire and a royaliste can really be together in a world that forces people to choose sides.

The setting of this novel was a new one for me, and I really enjoyed it! I really like how both characters—but especially Gilles—grew during the course of the novel. He started off as a self-absorbed, oblivious jerk who hated his father, but he changed so much through. Their separate journeys to understanding and growth were even more enjoyable to me than their romance. This is a sweet read set against the French revolution.

Arlem Hawks graduated from Brigham Young University. Beyond the Lavender Fields is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Shadow Mountain Publishing in exchange for an honest review.)

 

Book Review:  The Lady of Galway Manor, by Jennifer Deibel

Image belongs to Revell.

Title:   The Lady of Galway Manor
Author:   Jennifer Deibel
Genre:   Christian
Rating:  4 out of 5

In 1920, Annabeth De Lacy’s father is appointed landlord of Galway Parish in Ireland. Bored without all the trappings of the British Court, Annabeth convinces her father to arrange an apprenticeship for her with the Jennings family–descendants of the creator of the famed Claddagh Ring.

 Stephen Jennings longs to do anything other than run his family’s jewelry shop. Having had his heart broken, he no longer believes in love and is weary of peddling the ÒliesÓ the Claddagh Ring promises.

 Meanwhile, as the war for Irish independence gains strength, many locals resent the De Lacys and decide to take things into their own hands to display their displeasure. As events take a dangerous turn for Annabeth and her family, she and Stephen begin to see that perhaps the “other side” isn’t quite as barbaric and uncultured as they’d been led to believe–and that the bonds of friendship, love, and loyalty are only made stronger when put through the refiner’s fire.

I don’t remember reading anything set during this period—definitely not recently—so I enjoyed the historical aspect of this. The Jennings men were both strong characters that I really liked. Annabeth’s father was a bit of a pompous, selfish jerk, but I loved her relationship with her sister. This was a sweet read with a lovely romance.

Jennifer Deibel lives in Arizona. The Lady of Galway Manor is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Revell in exchange for an honest review.)