Business rivals Corryna and Colin have a one night stand, but it's when they start working together to secure the contract for a star-studded wedding Business rivals Corryna and Colin have a one night stand, but it's when they start working together to secure the contract for a star-studded wedding that they really start getting along.
Sometimes your brain needs a break, and it's in that state of mind that one often turns to a Harlequin contemporary romance - certainly you're not often disappointed.
This is the third in a series of intertwined books surrounding a wedding, but each stands alone as well which was convenient for me as I dived into the book. This is a sweet, straight-forward story about a pair of people who, despite getting off to a tense start, end up falling in love. There was a lot to like about it - the low angst, the emphasis on camaraderie between lovers, and the way in which Corryna and Colin are very good at their jobs. There was also some unexpected plot points dealing with forgiveness for people who are not really sorry, which I found unexpectedly refreshing.
However, I thought the story got off to a rocky start - the way that Colin and Corryna are thrown together in the first few chapters felt kind of forced and out of the blue. That first encounter was more of a common Harlequin plot point than anything else, and it showed. I also had somewhat mixed feelings about the surprise pregnancy. While I thought the scenes surrounding it were well-written, its inclusion really felt more like ticking off another common Harlequin plot point that something that was necessary to move the plot along.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Merged review:
Business rivals Corryna and Colin have a one night stand, but it's when they start working together to secure the contract for a star-studded wedding that they really start getting along.
Sometimes your brain needs a break, and it's in that state of mind that one often turns to a Harlequin contemporary romance - certainly you're not often disappointed.
This is the third in a series of intertwined books surrounding a wedding, but each stands alone as well which was convenient for me as I dived into the book. This is a sweet, straight-forward story about a pair of people who, despite getting off to a tense start, end up falling in love. There was a lot to like about it - the low angst, the emphasis on camaraderie between lovers, and the way in which Corryna and Colin are very good at their jobs. There was also some unexpected plot points dealing with forgiveness for people who are not really sorry, which I found unexpectedly refreshing.
However, I thought the story got off to a rocky start - the way that Colin and Corryna are thrown together in the first few chapters felt kind of forced and out of the blue. That first encounter was more of a common Harlequin plot point than anything else, and it showed. I also had somewhat mixed feelings about the surprise pregnancy. While I thought the scenes surrounding it were well-written, its inclusion really felt more like ticking off another common Harlequin plot point that something that was necessary to move the plot along.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
Celeste Rossan is an aspiring amateur naturalist, but when her father goes bankrupt, her dreams seem ever farther away. Her only recourse is to try anCeleste Rossan is an aspiring amateur naturalist, but when her father goes bankrupt, her dreams seem ever farther away. Her only recourse is to try and track a mysterious beast in the woods.
Firstly, the cover is beautiful. The writing is just as lovely. This is a sapphic retelling of Beauty and the Beast that puts enough enough of a spin on the familiar story that I was well-entertained. The heroine Celeste is endearing, and even minor characters are extremely well-drawn. The 'villain' is three-dimensional.
There was also a certain grittiness to the story that I really enjoyed, especially in the section set in the beast's house. It helps blend historical realism with the more fantastical elements. That grittiness also means that plot threads go untied, elements remain tragic and unfixable, and realism prevails.
My only complaint is that it takes us a rather long time to actually meet the beast. Still, an excellent read that I highly recommend.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Merged review:
Celeste Rossan is an aspiring amateur naturalist, but when her father goes bankrupt, her dreams seem ever farther away. Her only recourse is to try and track a mysterious beast in the woods.
Firstly, the cover is beautiful. The writing is just as lovely. This is a sapphic retelling of Beauty and the Beast that puts enough enough of a spin on the familiar story that I was well-entertained. The heroine Celeste is endearing, and even minor characters are extremely well-drawn. The 'villain' is three-dimensional.
There was also a certain grittiness to the story that I really enjoyed, especially in the section set in the beast's house. It helps blend historical realism with the more fantastical elements. That grittiness also means that plot threads go untied, elements remain tragic and unfixable, and realism prevails.
My only complaint is that it takes us a rather long time to actually meet the beast. Still, an excellent read that I highly recommend.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
After a job gone wrong, Murdock and her gang of con artists are tithed to a sentient warship that’s styled itself into a punitive god. Escaping the shAfter a job gone wrong, Murdock and her gang of con artists are tithed to a sentient warship that’s styled itself into a punitive god. Escaping the ship would be hard enough - but when the Justice takes a personal interest in Murdock, the stakes only get higher.
I have been slowing dipping my toes into the space opera genre, mostly via the wonderful Becky Chambers, but I am always on the lookout for more. And the premise of this book immediately sold me - a cult surrounding an AI? A prison ship that's become its own society? A queer rivals-to-lovers romance? Sign me up!
The world-building in this book is incredible. The Justice is a huge ship and is populated by a great many people who have slowly built up their own isolated societies, and over the course of the book Murdock and the reader get to know plenty of them. Murdock may be a brash heroine, but she's also got a great wellspring of compassion, as well as a great many insecurities, which makes her viewpoint satisfyingly nuanced.
I was also intrigued by the depiction of the 'found family' of con artists, which has plenty of internal issues without ultimately giving up on the value of the relationships. Even if I felt like Hark's depiction was somewhat heavy-handed at times, it was still an interesting approach.
My main quibble with this book was the pacing, which unfortunately detracted a fair bit from my experience. After a leisurely, detailed first half of the book, things sped up unbelievably, rattling us through oodles of character development and important plot points. I wish that the author had slowed down and spaced things out better - another hundred pages or so would have allowed for much needed breathing room. I also wish we got to know Hark, Bea, and the banded faithful better in that time.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Merged review:
After a job gone wrong, Murdock and her gang of con artists are tithed to a sentient warship that’s styled itself into a punitive god. Escaping the ship would be hard enough - but when the Justice takes a personal interest in Murdock, the stakes only get higher.
I have been slowing dipping my toes into the space opera genre, mostly via the wonderful Becky Chambers, but I am always on the lookout for more. And the premise of this book immediately sold me - a cult surrounding an AI? A prison ship that's become its own society? A queer rivals-to-lovers romance? Sign me up!
The world-building in this book is incredible. The Justice is a huge ship and is populated by a great many people who have slowly built up their own isolated societies, and over the course of the book Murdock and the reader get to know plenty of them. Murdock may be a brash heroine, but she's also got a great wellspring of compassion, as well as a great many insecurities, which makes her viewpoint satisfyingly nuanced.
I was also intrigued by the depiction of the 'found family' of con artists, which has plenty of internal issues without ultimately giving up on the value of the relationships. Even if I felt like Hark's depiction was somewhat heavy-handed at times, it was still an interesting approach.
My main quibble with this book was the pacing, which unfortunately detracted a fair bit from my experience. After a leisurely, detailed first half of the book, things sped up unbelievably, rattling us through oodles of character development and important plot points. I wish that the author had slowed down and spaced things out better - another hundred pages or so would have allowed for much needed breathing room. I also wish we got to know Hark, Bea, and the banded faithful better in that time.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
Bethany Joy Lenz is famous for playing Haley James Scott in the cult TV show One Tree Hill, but her experience of this time is even stranger than one Bethany Joy Lenz is famous for playing Haley James Scott in the cult TV show One Tree Hill, but her experience of this time is even stranger than one would expect - she was in an actual cult at the time.
I never watched One Tree Hill, but with a premise like that, who cares? Besides, TV show fans should be warned that Lenz doesn't go into her on-set experience very much.
I've read a lot of books about cults, and even a few written by former members of cults about their experiences. Of all of them, I feel that this is the one in which I've gotten a better understanding of how it feels to be move deeper and deeper within the isolation of the group, until one reaches the point where logic breaks down and an alternate reality consumes all.
At that point one can only laugh or cry, and Lenz made me feel like doing both. But at the same time, she writes with such compassion for her younger self and for those who became caught up in the cult alongside her that it really impressed me. And, as was one of her stated purposes for writing the book, I found it easy to understand how one might slip down the slope to end up in such a situation.
However, I did wish I learned a bit more about Lenz's experiences on One Tree Hill and in Hollywood. While we do see how her experience in the cult affected her career, pulling her away from the cast and crew, these sections are fairly brief. Perhaps it was meant to preserve their privacy, but I wished we'd gotten a better sense of how being in the cult affected those in other parts of her life, and how she'd managed to rebuild the connections she nearly never had a chance to form.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
The world's first AI house has been sealed up so that it will only admit one person - the erstwhile protégé of its sinister, now deceased architect. BThe world's first AI house has been sealed up so that it will only admit one person - the erstwhile protégé of its sinister, now deceased architect. But when the local precinct receives a call reporting a dead body within, police officer Maritza must take charge of the investigation.
It was immediately obvious how this book echoes and refracts Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Like in the former, the central house is an eerie place with a mind of its own, though here it's a science fiction take with the house having an AI mind of its own. The writing was beautiful and tense, creating that same sense of claustrophobia and impending doom.
However, the story was frustratingly obscure. I probably wouldn't have minded if it weren't for the jarringly different perspective set outside the house, which only serves to cast us some half-hearted red herrings and make dull jokes. That the two parts are so disparate only serves to weaken both. The big issue I had is that the mystery part of the book did not really work out, and without that central scaffolding we are left with vibes and not much else.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
When Quint goes to the Aleutian Islands in search of his estranged half-brother, the last person he expects to be drawn to is McKenna, Clayton's step-When Quint goes to the Aleutian Islands in search of his estranged half-brother, the last person he expects to be drawn to is McKenna, Clayton's step-sister - and the only person who knows where he's hiding.
This was a quick read about a pair of people who butt heads a-plenty even as they acknowledge how much they like each other. I liked the wild, windswept setting of the Aleutian Islands, and learning more about how people lived in such an isolated place. The central scene where Quint and McKenna take shelter from the cyclone is written in a striking, cinematic way.
I also liked the inclusion of a revenge porn subplot in McKenna's past, and how it is handled - the author does not go into gory details, but instead focuses on how it affected McKenna's life and led to her taking going to ground in Alaska.
However, I did feel that the romance felt somewhat shallow. While McKenna is a vivid heroine, Quint felt harder to know. He was likable but somehow colorless. I also didn't quite see what drew the characters to each other so powerfully. While Quint does plenty to show McKenna how he cares for her, I didn't really know what sparked such ill-advised attraction in him towards her, and did not really feel that the characters had really fallen in love by the end of the book. I also thought the surprise pregnancy twist was kind of unnecessary as it didn't really add to the story.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Merged review:
When Quint goes to the Aleutian Islands in search of his estranged half-brother, the last person he expects to be drawn to is McKenna, Clayton's step-sister - and the only person who knows where he's hiding.
This was a quick read about a pair of people who butt heads a-plenty even as they acknowledge how much they like each other. I liked the wild, windswept setting of the Aleutian Islands, and learning more about how people lived in such an isolated place. The central scene where Quint and McKenna take shelter from the cyclone is written in a striking, cinematic way.
I also liked the inclusion of a revenge porn subplot in McKenna's past, and how it is handled - the author does not go into gory details, but instead focuses on how it affected McKenna's life and led to her taking going to ground in Alaska.
However, I did feel that the romance felt somewhat shallow. While McKenna is a vivid heroine, Quint felt harder to know. He was likable but somehow colorless. I also didn't quite see what drew the characters to each other so powerfully. While Quint does plenty to show McKenna how he cares for her, I didn't really know what sparked such ill-advised attraction in him towards her, and did not really feel that the characters had really fallen in love by the end of the book. I also thought the surprise pregnancy twist was kind of unnecessary as it didn't really add to the story.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
Women may be less likely to commit murder, statistically speaking, but that does not mean there haven't been plenty of female murderers through the ceWomen may be less likely to commit murder, statistically speaking, but that does not mean there haven't been plenty of female murderers through the centuries, and their stories show how different their experience has been compared to male murderers.
This is a short, informative book about female murderers in Great Britain in the last six hundred or so years. I appreciated how Fetterly selected the cases she covered as representative of how the law dealt with female murderers over the centuries, and how we got to see how that evolved over time.
Alongside these case studies, Fetterly also discusses how criminal justice in the different areas of Great Britain changed to slowly become more standardized, and how the regional differences in law on the way there affected how female murderers were pursued and punished.
However, I did find the writing dry and somewhat repetitive on occasion, the tone more like an academic essay than a book. While I enjoyed learning more about the topic my progress was rather slow at times.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
It’s estimated that there are around 7.8 millions animal species on the planet, many of which we know little about. Unfortunately, some may vanish befIt’s estimated that there are around 7.8 millions animal species on the planet, many of which we know little about. Unfortunately, some may vanish before we can learn much more – which is a pity, because the variety of life on this planet is far more wondrous and strange than anything our imaginations could conjure up.
This is a quiet and contemplative peek at the natural world in easy bite-sized installments. Each essay discusses an animal species which threatened in one way or another, covering a range of animals from those as seemingly ordinary as the hare to those as unusual and mysterious as the narwhal. Rundell’s writing is bright and playful but also entirely filled with awe – each chapter thrums with wonder.
I’ve always been an animal lover. Some of it is the overfamiliar cuddly fondness one can safely have only toward domestic animals (and I mean specifically my dog), but just a general admiration and interest in all our fellow denizens here on Planet Earth, all going about their business with little interference from us busybody humans – or so I’d thought when I was young.
It’s pretty obvious now that we cannot help but leave an outsized imprint on the natural world, for better or for worse. It’s still good to be reminded every so often of it. And I looked around with fresh eyes at all the wild creatures I see around me every day, and marveled anew.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
Ethan is afraid of everything, so when his best friends Olivia and Harvey insist on him joining in on a screening of a mysterious film considered to bEthan is afraid of everything, so when his best friends Olivia and Harvey insist on him joining in on a screening of a mysterious film considered to be the scariest movie ever made, he refuses outright. However, when the movie turns out to be a monster bent on destroying the town, Ethan must brave his fears if he is to save everyone and everything he loves.
There's a difficult balance to reach with middle grade horror, which I hadn't thought much before I started reading this book. The best sort of horror, in my opinion, is underpinned with the horrors of daily life, but as a result middle grade horror writers have what seems a smaller pool to draw upon. Wendig does a good job at dredging those depths though.
Ethan is a great lead - his anxiety, his art, and his determination to stick by his friends makes him easy to root for, but beyond that he just sounds like a twelve year-old boy, tiptoeing somewhere between his careless childhood and his very first more mature realizations about life and other people. The horror too is innovative, walking the tightrope between creepy and truly irredeemably terrifying. There's plebty imagery is vivid, whether it's the headless townsfolk, the filming scenes, or Ethan's artwork.
However, I did think the pacing could have been tightened up, as it takes a fairly long time establishing the setting and characters, and consequently the final sequence felt like it went too fast. I wished we'd had more of a denouement too - the cheeky twist at the ending is fun but left me with plenty of questions still.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
English widow Emma has settled comfortably into her new life in 1920s Hollywood as her silent movie star sister-in-law's companion and part-time scripEnglish widow Emma has settled comfortably into her new life in 1920s Hollywood as her silent movie star sister-in-law's companion and part-time script doctor. When a child star and her mother are kidnapped, she gets swept up in the mystery, if only because she and Kitty may be the only ones who really care if Susy gets home or not.
There has been a surprising number of mysteries centering around staged kidnapping plots going awry that I've read published in the last few years. That's all I can say while avoiding spoilers.
This is the third book in the series, but despite having not read the earlier books I was able to find my footing quickly enough in this story. 1920s Hollywood comes alive in all its sleazy glory, but for all that Hambly isn't afraid to face its dark side there's plenty of dry humor to be found here too. I loved the unlikely bond between professor's daughter Emma and the free-spirited Kitty, as well as the low-key romance between Emma and Zal.
There are one too many coincidences for my liking though, subplots twining together so neatly that it threatened my suspension of disbelief. And maybe it's because I've seen plenty of this plot recently, but I didn't find the mystery very compelling. Indeed, it drifted in and out of focus throughout the book, with the historical aspects even eclipsing it at times. Luckily, those aspects are still fascinating on their own.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
David is serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his young son five years ago, but he is adamant that he did not commit the crime. When his fDavid is serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his young son five years ago, but he is adamant that he did not commit the crime. When his former sister-in-law Rachel visits with what may be a photograph of his son – still alive – he becomes determined to break out of prison and figure out the truth.
This is my second Harlan Coben book, and while they are very different from each other I was suprised to see a small link – the recovered painting in Win is on display when we first meet the rich villains of this piece. The serendipity amused me. But then, coincidence is the name of the game in this book, so perhaps it was apt.
This is a straight-up action thriller, the kind you end up getting sucked into like you’re watching a movie. David makes for an engaging main character (how can you not root for a dad trying to reunite with his child?) and I was on the edge of my seat throughout, wondering how he would get out of the latest bind. Despite the dark subject matter there were plenty of flashes of humor as well.
However, while it’s an enjoyable ride, it’s a pretty cheesy one, full of heightened emotions, high-octane drama, and not very much realism. The characters are more quick sketches than anything nearly realistic figures, and the amount of coincidence needed to keep the plot going is rather mind-boggling. In the end, it was an entertaining read, but a forgettable one too.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review....more
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