Review (quick and dirty #1): Marry Me at Willoughby Close by Kate Hewitt

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I’m behind on book reviews, so here’s my attempt at redemption: Five quick and dirty reviews on a Friday night. 🙂 

This is the BEST of the Willoughby Close novels — light, fun, witty, believable. Loved Alice’s story, including her realistic fears about feeling settled after being a drifter for so long, and her reactions to handsome-but-snobby Henry. Alice was the perfect companion to elderly and frail Lady Stokely, unobtrusive and kind. I liked the cameos by the Willoughby Close neighbors from previous books in the series, and Hewitt did a fabulous job having them stay true to themselves — as did Alice, even when she fell in love. This is one of my favorite summer British chick lit reads, but you might want to prep by reading book 1 first. 

-calliope

Buy Marry Me at Willoughby Close ($3.99!)

Review: Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

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firefly-laneThis is the story of two best friends and follows their 30 year friendship. This was an alright read..it’s not the best I’ve read but certainly it isn’t the worst either….it’s just that it seemed like it went on and on for 30 years as I was trying to read it! Yammer Yammer Yammer…that’s all I heard in my head…the longer it went on the more I was annoyed. Honestly, no matter how good a book is (or isn’t) you don’t want it to feel as if you are actually experiencing every single one of the 30 years…

Have you guessed yet? I didn’t much like this book. It was a miss for me…

Until next time…
Urania xx

Buy it now Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Review: The Secret of India Orchid by Nancy Campbell Allen

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What a fun story! I was not expecting this at all.

Two years ago Sophia Elliot received a letter from Anthony Blake that changed her whole world. She was stunned and hurt and never thought she’d see him again. But when her travels bring her in the path of Anthony, she tries to keep her heart hardened to him, but it’s just not possible. She loves him and knew he still loved her, so she was always trying to get a rise out at him. It was cute to watch as he suffered so much.

Anthony has regretted leaving Sophia, but he had no choice. He left to protect her and her family. When she shows up on his doorstep, he tries to maintain his cover, but that doesn’t seem to work out as well as he’d hoped. He loved her with all his heart and knew he broke her heart when he left. But when her life is put in danger, he has to solve this investigation and fast, or else she’ll be taken away from him permanently.

I loved Anthony and Sophia. They were the perfect team to solve this. She was determined to help, even thought he wanted her far away from danger. She knew she could help so she jumped right in. Stubborn girl. 🙂

I thought this story would be just a second chance romance, or sorts, but it was so much more. It was filled with lies, intrigue, kidnapping and murder, plus a nice little romance tossed in.

~Melpomene

Buy The Secret of India Orchid: http://amzn.to/2vYKitA

Review: Secondborn by Amy Bartol

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Fantasical and exciting! I was sucked in from the very beginning. Amy Bartol knows how to write fantasy that is gripping and emotional.

Roselle has lived her life in front of cameras. Being a secondborn, her life is not her own. When’s she’s transitioned, it seems that very few people are on her side. She must find a way to survive and make this new life her own. Each decision she makes not only affects her, but the world around her as well.

I liked Roselle. A lot. She’s 18 and had this new life thrust upon her and had to choose to give up or fight. She’s got a lot of spunk and it’s quite wild to watch her. What I most especially like is that I know this is the type of book my daughter will love. A girl who isn’t the damsel, but the knight. I can’t wait till she reads this!

“I want to write the story of my life to suit me. I want to see the world without restrictions. I want to use my mind to obtain freedom, like she had.”

I really enjoyed diving into this new world. As with most first books in a series, there’s a lot to cover and introduce you to. I’m happy to say that I wasn’t overwhelmed with all the information. I tend to struggle with first books. My brain can’t seem to keep up. On top of that, the scenery was described in a way that I could imagine being right in the midst of it all. There are quite a few characters for you to love, and perhaps a couple to hate. My mind is turning with all my theories for the future. I’m gonna need the second book ASAP.

Well done, Ms. Bartol!!

~Melpomene

Buy Secondborn http://amzn.to/2vp2tMM

Review: Enrage by Rachel VanDyken

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I love this mafia family. They aren’t perfect, but they’re family. When one of their own starts to go down a path that’s not what the majority wants, it’s up to them to reel them in and point them in the right direction. But sadly, sometimes that isn’t always easy to do.

When we first met Dante, I was very curious about him. I knew they were going to train him, but I didn’t know how much of an participant he would be in the family. Man, oh man, did he make his presence known.

My heart was in my stomach by the end of this book. I had NO IDEA what direction it was going to go. Frankly, I was shocked. Utterly shocked. But after I had a few days to think and ponder it, I realize why this happened. What people project on the outside isn’t always what’s going on on the inside. Lives will forever be changed. Hearts will be broken. The family will never be the same.

Rachel is the master at this mafia gig. Truly. I could read and reread these books and never be bored. You should really start from the beginning and read all the books. You won’t fully understand all the emotions that are packed into this one until you do. They’re filled with such fantastic characters with wild and crazy stories. They’re family and family always sticks together, even during the hard times. Blood in. No out.

~Melpomene

Buy Enrage HERE

Review: See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt

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Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks.  When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.

Most of us are familiar with that eerie little rhyme, maybe not being completely aware of the meaning.  Some of us even know the story behind it, knowing that it’s based on a true crime occurring in the late 1800s.  But have you ever wondered about the dynamics behind the family tragedy?

When Lizzie discovers first her father and then her stepmother brutally murdered, everyone immediately feels sympathy and concern for her.  To have witnessed the aftermath of such a gruesome scene surely must have been a shock.  As time goes on, however, events come to light casting doubt on her innocence.  And the family itself surely wasn’t a happy little group.  There’s enough suspicion to go around.  Was it Lizzie?  Or was it the mysterious man sent by her uncle?  Or maybe one of her father’s business associates?

The story weaves itself back and forth between the day of the crime, the days leading up to the murders, and the aftermath.  It’s fascinating for the criminal investigation procedures of the time if nothing else.  The author does a great job of creating an entirely believable story that very well could be the true story behind an unsolved crime.  And it absolutely made me want to read more about it!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  See What I Have Done

 

Review: The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams

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30037263-1This was like some patchwork quilt that you’ve imagined in your mind. You can see just how beautiful and perfect it will turn out. In your mind’s eyes, all the colours and patterns mesh perfectly and you can follow it through with your eye, each sweep of you vision leads you to a more perfect piece…and it’s not only beautiful but you know it’s warm and comfortable as well.

However, once you actually sit down to join all the colours and bits together, you completely lose the vision and once you finally finish it, you can see all the stitches, and not in a good way. The colours don’t flow, they clash. It’s not warm and comfortable at all. It’s a bit thin and scratchy.

Do you think I am happy to write a review like this? Errrrr…no! I wanted to love this book. My first Beatriz Williams book. I started this book and NEEDED to love it. I so enjoyed it so much at the start. But as it went on it just went way off track for me. I became completely lost along the way. Bits that were meant to tie it all together were just thrown in to complete a picture…but you CAN’T just throw bits in…you have to explain how you go there…and it has to make sense! You can’t teach a Maths class by giving a final number and expecting the students to know how you reached that number! You can’t present a problem in a novel, then some farfetched solution and expect the reader to be able to sort it out either.

The ending wasn’t an ending at all…it was a rushed (felt like it) positioning of several characters that you really don’t know how they ended up there. I am guessing there’s another novel in the works and the ending was a set up for that novel…BUT STILL…you can’t just leap forward and put characters in sudden situations. Situations, that you’ve hoped the entire novel was working towards, but suddenly happen…it’s like they jumped from point A to B to C and then are now all on F skipping over D and E…

So gutted….

Until next time…
Urania xx

ARC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams

Review: Guilty by Laura Elliot

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I’m going to preface this review by saying that this one didn’t grab me right away as many psychological thrillers do.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at the beginning.  In fact, I almost gave up on it.  I’m glad I didn’t.

Constance is missing.  When the thirteen-year-old suddenly disappears, all efforts are put into finding her.  Her much loved uncle Karl soon finds himself the focus of the investigation.  Through a series of circumstantial pieces of evidence along with a determined journalist, he quickly becomes suspect number one.

Fast forward six years…

And I’m stopping here.  If you read the blurbs on various book-related sites, you’ll find more details leading up to this point.  But I’m not going to give them to you.  Part of the pleasure of this story was the discovery, the itchy inkling feeling I had as I got deeper and deeper into the story.  And I’d like for you to have that same experience.  So go forth and enjoy!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  Guilty

 

Review: The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe by Mary Simses

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I love a good love story that includes food and baking and New England locales, but this one didn’t make the grade. The main character leaves her fast paced NYC lifestyle to deliver a letter from the past for her late grandmother. That plot line worked, but not so much the romance (in one week when she spent the first three days annoyed) or the baking (I waited so very long for the bakeshop to make an appearance). I’m not from Maine, but I could think of a dozen ways to get more blueberries into a book with blueberries in the title and on the cover.  I wanted to want to root for the main character but she wasn’t likeable enough. Would’ve loved more of Roy and his family, though!

Cute premise, but the execution fell short. 

-Calliope 

Buy THE IRRESISTIBLE BLUEBERRY BAKESHOP & CAFE

Review: Before Everything by Victoria Redel 

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This book is a lot of work to read. It’s emotionally taxing (although I didn’t even cry until near the end) and, frankly, depressing. Anna is dying of cancer. And that’s no spoiler, pal. That’s the premise of the book. 

Before Everything is also about love and friendship and family and a few secrets. Victoria Redel designs Anna’s friendships so realistically that the secrets the women have make me remember secrets I have with my friends … not contrived or hyperbolic or beyond belief, but just stuff we know about each other because we’ve been friends for so long. 

I read this book in hopes that I’d come to a better understanding of what it’s like for the family of a person dying of cancer. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let myself feel it 100%. So instead I read with my shoulders tensed, my mind rushing to get to the next scene, and only half my heart with Anna. 

It’s a good read if you can let your guard down. I held back because otherwise it would’ve been too painful. Thinking about that, well, maybe I did learn what it’s like to be close to someone who’s dying. 

-calliope

Buy BEFORE EVERYTHING