The book has many layers and three different timelines that we alternate to. Each timeline is interesting and there is also the mystery eleme3.5 stars
The book has many layers and three different timelines that we alternate to. Each timeline is interesting and there is also the mystery element to it. Overall enjoyed the book. Skimmed through the intimate scenes. More than the couple I found the surrounding story interesting. Still a good read and I would say [image]...more
This book is a soothing romance but not as plain and easygoing as Neels other books. The star in this story is the evil other woman- Diana. O3.5 stars
This book is a soothing romance but not as plain and easygoing as Neels other books. The star in this story is the evil other woman- Diana. Our hero- Tane is engaged to her and to be honest totally into her for more than 50% of the book.
Finally Tane sees the good in Euphemia and shows Diana the door but I couldn't wait for the moment and would have been happier if it happened a little ahead in the story.
Still a good read with a strong willed and clear headed heroine and a delicious other woman....more
I had been on a Betty Neel book marathon and read several of her books back to back. This is one of them.
This again is a hospital romance. Doesn't staI had been on a Betty Neel book marathon and read several of her books back to back. This is one of them.
This again is a hospital romance. Doesn't start as one but ends up with Daisy eventually working in the hospital where Valentine is a pediatrician.
Daisy is the definition is a simple mousy girl who doesn't think very highly of herself and makes do with whatever is in hand, literally (one of the memorable scenes is where she makes a skirt out of curtains).
Valentine meets Daisy and there is an instant liking for Daisy from his side. This liking eventually turns into love. Now here I found Betty Neels diverting a bit from her general story-line because I can recall 2 clear instances where Valentine actually openly flirts with Daisy (quiet unheard of in Betty's romances)
This is a decent read. Not her best and not my favorite but still good enough to make me go [image]...more
This romance is very different from the one's that Betty generally writes. First of all our heroine- Serena is not a nurse (which is not that unusual This romance is very different from the one's that Betty generally writes. First of all our heroine- Serena is not a nurse (which is not that unusual in Betty's romances as she has written some where the heroine is not in medical profession) and secondly our hero- Ivo is in love with Serena from very early on and we as a reader are aware of this!
I love all the heroines from Betty's books. Serena is no exception here. She is clear-headed, sensible, kind, generous and hard-working. It is always a delight to read a main protagonist with all these qualities.
Ivo likes her and Serena is undergoing a difficult phase in her life. Ivo comes to the rescue (without Serena's knowledge) and helps her out of a tight spot. Ivo suggests a marriage of convenience and gently woos Serena into falling in love with him.
This is not an earth shattering romance but more of a slow, easy and clean romance and I enjoyed reading it.
**A Note about Betty Neels books**
Unlike many other older romances the heroines in Betty's books are not ditzy idiots who make stupid decisions.
The hero's in Betty's novels are never ever cruel. They may have been rude to our heroine a time or two but never are violent or pig-headed. In short her hero's are generally Beta and make for a soothing romance.
I have read few other books from the Sedikhan series and liked them.
I have actually read The Trustworthy Redhead and the hero from it made his first appearance in 'The Golden Valkyrie' and that's the reason I decided to go for it. Frankly this book was a bit of a let down compared to the other books of this series (that I have read till date)....
Our hero Prince Rubinoff is more of a Beta hero. He is supposed to have depth to him and he is not just the flamboyant playboy that the media portrays him to be. Our heroine- Honey is a P.I who later on acts as Prince Rubinoff's bodyguard. But here's the thing, I never got a tough strong vibe from Honey, the title was just for the sake of it and didn't feel real in the story.
As per me the whole bodyguard angle was just to make the story interesting but was very under-utilized. She could have literally been a housekeeper for all that it mattered.
The romance was very tepid and something that you will read and forget after sometime. It's not a story that will stay with me for very long....more
I didn't like this book for the first half, I mean it was okish nothing mind-blowing but then as it progressed it madeBuddy Read with Ashlin and Pooja
I didn't like this book for the first half, I mean it was okish nothing mind-blowing but then as it progressed it made me feel emotional and towards the end it just gutted me.
This one made for a quick read. I finished this in one sitting.
This is one of those books where boy meets the girl and it's all about courtship where This one made for a quick read. I finished this in one sitting.
This is one of those books where boy meets the girl and it's all about courtship where they eventually fall in love with each other. In this story, Anna and Saxon are already in a relationship at the beginning of the book and the relationship felt very imbalanced, Anna being the vulnerable party here.
But as the book progresses the relationship balance changes when Anna takes a decision to move on and here we start looking at things from Saxon's perspective. This is one of the older romances where I could actually understand why Saxon behaved the way he did (as generally in such romances the hero is a douche-bag and behaves like a dick for no apparent reason). This one kept well away from this trope. By the end we root for them to have a happy life and no spoilers here they do.
There is also a short part where Saxon and his earlier life comes into picture and Anne helps him sort out all his issues. I enjoyed reading this bit....more
I love Betty Neels and her stories are my ultimate comfort read. Lately I have been reading a lot of Betty Neels this being the first in a series of hI love Betty Neels and her stories are my ultimate comfort read. Lately I have been reading a lot of Betty Neels this being the first in a series of her other books that I have read.
This book is a love story about a mousy receptionist and a dashing doctor. A clean romance even though Ruerd (our hero) is engaged to someone else throughout the book, the relation between Reurd and Emmy (our heroine) does not feel cheap at all.
To be frank there no relation per se but more of an attraction and gradual growing of feelings on both the ends.
Emmy is so plain looking that Reurd does not even think that he can ever be really interested in her but he does go a lot out of his way to make her life easier.
'No. At least partly.' She frowned. 'It was the bomb which...' she sought for the right words'... was the reason for you speaking to me. In such circumstances that was natural. There is no need--' He said sikily, 'My dear Emmy, you do not for one moment imagine that you are a serious rival to Anneliese? For God's sake, all I have asked of you is to help me choose a dog.'
Even though Reurd is at times rude to Emmy, Emmy handles the situations really well and I really loved the simplicity of her thoughts. She is the kind of person I will want to be friends with in real life.
Overall I liked the- romance, how the story progressed and the ending....more
I did not have very high expectations from this book and picked it up for a quick read. I have got to say that I was pleasantly surprised by 3.5 stars
I did not have very high expectations from this book and picked it up for a quick read. I have got to say that I was pleasantly surprised by it.
This may not be my first read by Barbara Cartland (as I distinctly remember reading some books by her but I do not remember which ones). After reading this one I would like to explore more romances written by Cartland.
This is a historical romance where an innocent orphan heroine and a powerful wicked Marquis fall in love eventually. Sounds very run of the mill but I still liked it. It is a clean romance with a satisfying ending. The star of this book for me is Orelia our heroine. Darius (our hero) wasn't that bad either but he was more on the sidelines as we see the story unfolding through Orelia's eyes.
Orelia was fairly well developed character. I loved her simplicity, honesty, warm and caring nature. She held on to her values and principles without coming off as stuck-up or prudish. I really liked how she handled the different circumstances that she was thrown into.
Also this is not a love at first sight but Darius falls in love with Orelia over the course of time after getting to know her sweet nature better.
The only pitfall in this story was Caroline (Orelia's cousin). She is soo over the top selfish that it is hard to believe that someone like Orelia would toe along with Caroline's mad schemes. The ending was a bit out of the blue in order to give Orelia a happy ending with Darius.
But apart from the above mention gripe, this was a delightful read....more
This is the 5th book of the series and I expected something to actually happen in the book such that the story moves forward tBuddy Read with Nameeta.
This is the 5th book of the series and I expected something to actually happen in the book such that the story moves forward towards the ultimate end. But somehow after finishing this book I felt we haven't made any great progress and the story is somewhat in the same place as at the start of this book. Few things were revealed but most of it was something I assumed was going to happen anyways and did not really add much to the story.
The only reason this is not lower than 2 stars are Manon and Elide!! I really liked reading parts where these two characters were involved. They were the high-light in this story for me. I also enjoyed the witches and the whole part of Manon and her grandmother. But that's it! The rest of it was downhill for me.
The character development is still happening for most of the characters. I would have liked it much more if the story would have progressed with a fixed set of characters that have already been fully developed in the earlier books. Because c'mon this is the 5th book and the story should be in much better shape!
The main focus of this book should have been on Erawan, wyrdlock and wyrdkeys.
"A reminder that she might be the heir of fire... but Erawan was King of the Darkness."
But all it does is focus more on relations between each of the characters and definitely more on building up the romance. There is literally no character that is not paired up and I am sure the few that are single would soon be paired up!
I had really started liking Aelin in the previous books (in fact I really liked the 3rd and 4th book of this series) but somehow in this book Aelin started being irritating. She has these elaborate plans which she does not trust anyone with (even Rowan, Lysandra and Aeidon). Why oh why! Is it just to create more shock factor and drama for the readers??
The whole relation of Lysandra and Aedion is really really not required. Dorian is just being wasted. Chaol is sadly missing from this book. I know there is this whole next book dedicated to Chaol, but why? Alternative perspective of what is going with Chaol could have been written in this book itself. Why do we need a new book in the series just for him?
This book is more than 600+ pages and it could have been much shorter. If half of the unwanted posturing would have been removed , the book would have been half the length!!
Every male and female in this book is drop dead gorgeous. After reading about this for 600+ pages, it frankly started grating on my nerves. Why can't there be some normal people in this story?? I wouldn't have minded this much if there would have been good progress on the story-line.
Writing this review is bringing back all the frustration I felt while reading this book.
I am not sure I want to read the next book but I want to know what happens to Manon and Elide so I may read this series.... I will probably pick up the next book but not anytime soon....more
I started this book thinking it is going to be humorous with some moments that may even be laugh out loud but this book has noBuddy Read with Nameeta.
I started this book thinking it is going to be humorous with some moments that may even be laugh out loud but this book has no humor. At least I did not find anything funny in this story.
To start with the plot look interesting (reminded me of the movie Prince and Me) but the book could have been better written. For one this is a huge book and the story dragged a lot. It could have been 50% shorter without changing the storyline or the ending!
The book flows a lot like a K-Drama but what looks good on screen isn't necessarily good on a page. Sometimes what could be shown can be more effective than when pages after pages are filled with descriptions of clothes, shoes, bags and houses. This did not happen once or twice but every alternate page had these descriptions. I just lost interest after reading pages and pages of designer names and description of all things fancy.
The focus is not on people and their emotions so all the relations in the book felt two dimensional and the relation between the main characters felt very under-developed. The only character I found remotely interesting is Astrid but she wasn't enough to hold the whole thing together. She is the only reason this book is not lower than 2 stars for me.
Because of all that description by the end I was skipping pages and skimming through the unwanted descriptions just to read ahead and find out what happens next.
The ending is not complete or satisfactory and the story continues in the 2nd book of the series. For now I do not plan to read this series ahead....more
First published in the 1980's, this book does give the feel that it is not from this era.
The story-line is no surprise. The heroine- Caroline is pretFirst published in the 1980's, this book does give the feel that it is not from this era.
The story-line is no surprise. The heroine- Caroline is pretty misunderstood by the hero- Nick. She does not even try to clear the misunderstandings. She just goes along being treated horribly by Nick and bears it silently- in true martyr style. It goes to say I did not like Caroline.
Caroline has a history of domestic abuse which is not the focus area in the story and is just something that happens in the background. I just can't understand why she does not give Nick a piece of her mind but instead continues to accept the almost mental and physical abuse he caters out.
The ending was too abrupt and their love unbelievable.
There were some nice characters in the book though like Helen- the ex-mom-in-law of Caroline and Dr.Frey. These characters made the book definitely more bearable.
All in all an OK read, just something to pass some time....more
This is the second book I have read by this author (the first being The Wrath and the Dawn) and I have got to say the author iBuddy Read with Nameeta.
This is the second book I have read by this author (the first being The Wrath and the Dawn) and I have got to say the author is really good in writing stories with strong cultural references.
The first book that I read by this author had an Arabic setting, whereas this was set in old age Japan. I may not be an expert on cultures but this felt authentic (Atleast, I did not at any given point feel that the author is not from Japan and is trying to write about something she has no idea about).
And simply for writing a story set in Old Japan with royal family, Samurai's and where magic exists-- [image]
One of my favorite Disney Movie is Mulan. This definitely has a Mulanish feel to it. I am not sure if this is a re-telling of Mulan...
What better than a kick-ass heroine (Mariko) who disguises herself as a male and does not want to get classified in the societies box of expectation-
"She'd wanted her body to be her own. The decision to be hers and hers alone. Her body was not for sale. It did not belong to her parents to sell to the highest bidder. Nor did it belong to Minamoto Raiden or to any other man."
Also Mariko is one of the strong points of this story.She is a likable character. I could understand her motivations and actions. She was not always sure of what to do but she always tried to be strong and do what's right. I like her for her strength and individualism.
"She remembered Chiyo telling her that finding one's match was like finding one's other half. Mariko had never understood the notion. She was not a half. She was wholly her own."
The storyline is good and makes me want to know what happens next. Definitely going to read the next book....more
This is my Book Of the Month- May 2017, with GR group- Nothing But Reading Challenges- Category: Young Adult BOM.
"His nose was broken by a falling This is my Book Of the Month- May 2017, with GR group- Nothing But Reading Challenges- Category: Young Adult BOM.
"His nose was broken by a falling volume of fairy tales his first day on the job, and that, they said, told you everything you needed to know about strange. Lazlo Strange: head in the clouds, world of his own, fairy tales and fancy."
This book has such raving reviews that my expectations were literally sky high. I did like the overall story but it was not as AMAZING as I expected.
The start of the story was different and interesting. I really liked Lazlo Strange. He has this innocence and helplessness that makes him really endearing. And then there is the journey to the lost city of Weep. I can't say much because what happens next is something to be experienced.
So where did it fall short for me? Well, what Strange is and what he turns out to be became a bit predictable. And when a story becomes predictable, it loses some of it's intensity.
But I will still recommend this book to all fantasy lovers because if nothing else, this story is really unique and Lazlo Strange likable.
I will be reading the next book of this series as I am curious to find what happens next....more
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