Review: Straight Up Irish

Straight Up Irish by Magan Vernon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Connor Murphy is the middle of three sons and the CFO of the Murphy' Pub group based in the USA. He has returned to Dublin for the reading of his father's will. Expecting the will to be a formality, leaving the business equally between the three boys, they are horrified that their father has made inheriting the business dependant upon all three of them being married within the year.

Connor is the playboy of the trio, a different girl every night. In fact the only woman he has any kind of relationship with is his older brother Jack's assistant. Fallon Smith seems to spend half her professional life phoning Connor to wake him up or to remind him about important calls/ meetings. The two of them have never met but they each know each other's direct dial number by heart.

Half-jokingly Connor asks Fallon to enter into a fake marriage with him, stay married for six months and she can have a massive divorce settlement. Fallon shouldn't agree but her poor old nana is in an expensive nursing home and needs costly dialysis which her medicare won't cover. Fallon's parents are drunks and wasters who won't help so Fallon uses nearly all of her extensive salary to support her nana and lives on PB&J sandwiches. Connor's offer would get her out from the mountain of debt she is sinking under and secure nana's future.

Having just read a book which also featured an Irishman I was pleasantly surprised that the brogue was kept to a minimum in this book. Enough to establish that Connor is Irish but not too much and no fake Irishness. Although having said that I thought his aunts were crudely drawn caricatures, surely they wouldn't say things like that in front of impressionable children?

Right from their first meeting Connor is struck by how sweet and kind and caring Fallon is. She is a bit sickly sweet TBH, the sort that farts perfume. When he sees that she has no furniture other than a bed in her rented flat he buys her a whole load of furniture as a surprise. In fact aside from the opening chapter Connor's reputation as a playboy is not in evidence. He's kind and caring and generous. He buys Fallon a new phone and sends a tablet to her nana in America just so they can Facetime each other.

Overall, this is a sweet romance between two endearing characters, even if they are both too good to be true. Both soon realise they are falling for each other but worry that they shouldn't get too attached because their impending marriage has an expiry date.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Final Siege

Final Siege by Scarlett Cole
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

So I quite liked the first book in this new series, the heroine had a brain and was unusual, I didn't really warm to the hero and heroine but the first book in a new series can often be a bit 'off' as the author finds their feet so I was looking forward to the second book.

Delaney Shapiro was madly in love with her older brother Brock's best friend Malachi 'Mac' MacCarrick until the day her brother died, being goaded to jump off a cliff by Mac. Her father died shortly afterwards and her mother became an alcoholic.

Fourteen years later and she has not seen or spoken to Mac since her brother's funeral. Mac is now a former Navy SEAL who has set up Eagle Securities with Brock's other friends. As usual, these are all military and do super secret security stuff. One day Mac gets a call from a military hospital in Germany, Delaney is a journalist and had been kidnapped, drugged and tortured in Tajikistan following a story about US companies being complicit in arming the Taliban. In her delirium Delaney asks for Mac and he comes to her aid.

Reunited after fourteen years Mac is still just as much in love with Delaney as he ever was, but she can never forgive him for causing the deaths of her beloved brother and father.

Delaney comes back to San Diego but soon believes that she is being followed and a man tries to break into her apartment whilst she is in there. Obviously she is on to something with her investigation but irritatingly she doesn't know what.

I didn't really enjoy this book, although I read it through to the end. Delaney (as many others have said) acts like a petulant teenager, refusing to listen to Mac's explanation of what really happened that day and insisting on hating him, whilst also relying upon Mac to keep her safe from the men following her. I didn't really understand why Mac loved her still, and if he called her Buttons once he called her it 49 times (okay all 49 instances in the book might not all be the annoying nickname) - it's a stupid nickname.

This book sat uneasily in that grey area between true romantic suspense and light-weight romance with a bit of a mystery. The plot was all over the place (and had to stop for frequent bouts of bonking as Delaney and Mac had sex on every available surface), I still don't have a grasp on WHY the men were chasing Delaney, because frankly until a source gives the team A REALLY BIG CLUE they are totally in the dark. So there was too much sex and feelings for a romantic suspense but too much plot for a mystery romance.

I don't think it helped that I have also confused the arc in the first book with another book (which I now have to try and find) where there are mysterious goings on in the town where the good guys have created their compound - I was looking for that arc!

I still love Scarlett Cole as an author, her recent book Nikan Rebuilt was a rollercoaster of emotions, but I'm afraid this book didn't do it for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Deserving It

Deserving It by Angela Quarles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Conor is the captain of a men's hurling team and Claire is a member of the women's team, she has fancied him from afar for ages but got no traction, until a cancelled flight in a storm brings the two of them together. Sharing a hotel room lets them get to know each other better and a competitive game of strip poker when the electricity goes out takes things to a new level.

This is the third book in a series, I haven't read the other two books and this can be read as a stand-alone, although I wonder how much back story to Claire and Conor's romance would be explained in them. Both Conor and Claire have issues with their mothers - issues that aren't really explored more, they come off as an after-thought.

The first chapter of the book assumes you have read the preceding books and just launches into a dialogue between players, the morning after winning the playoffs but all becomes clear.

Conor is Irish and Angela Quarles doesn't want us to forget it, every single sentence he utters seems to have some Irish brogue or 'saying'. I'm English and I've worked with Irish people, even ones with heavy accents and I've not heard half the things that Conor says on a regular basis. After a while it became a bit boring TBH, we get that he's Irish just ease up on the brogue!

Most of the action takes place in a very short period of time while Conor and Claire are in the hotel room and the resulting effect is one of claustrophobia with a lot of sex.

I have had Angela Quarles' Must Love Chainmail on my Amazon wishlist forever so when I saw this book available for request on NetGalley I jumped at the chance. Overall, while this was okay it didn't really grab me and I'm not sure I would want to read the previous books in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Playing House

Playing House by Amy Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Loved this!

Eleanor Davis's brother Ryder plays for the Sydney Smoke rugby team, she is hiding behind a plant at his engagement party when one of his super-hot team-mates, Bodie Webb catches her eye and tries to seduce her.

Eleanor (Nell to her family) is a 26 year old virgin, someone who loves Victoriana more than modern day clothes and manners, but she has decided that virginity is a pesky thing and she wants rid - if only she can pluck up the courage. Of course she knows that Brodie would run a mile in the opposite direction if he knew she was Ryder's little sister (and a virgin) so she keeps her identity a secret.

All my favourite tropes combined. Best friend's little sister? Check. V-card? Check. Accidental pregnancy? Check. Hot sporting hero? Check. Kooky heroine? Check.

Knowing that this was an Entangled Brazen imprint in advance prepared me for all the smexy times (and boy do they have a lot of hot raunchy sex, when Eleanor finally gives up that V-card she does it with a bang, phnarr phnarr) but honestly it felt right in the context of the story, two people who have a raunchy one-night stand and can't stop thinking about one another, even though they know it's a bad idea.

I loved Eleanor and her quirky, kinky dress sense, I love that Brodie is turned on by Victorian clothing and thinks Eleanor is beautiful when she and her sisters think she is not. I loved everything about this hot, sexy read.

So, I thought there was a pattern of liking/disliking these books, like I only like the even-numbered or odd-numbered but nope, I've now loved three out of five, roll on number six!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Beach Café

The Beach Café by Lucy Diamond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have no idea why I decided to buy this book, but buy it I did.

Evie Flynn is a bit of a drifter. She has artistic tendencies and wanted to be an actress but has settled for temporary office work. She lives with her boyfriend in Oxford and has two older, prettier, more successful sisters who love to condescend to "poor Evie".

When Evie's aunt dies in a car accident she leaves her beach cafe in Cornwall to Evie, her favourite niece. Evie soon discovers that she can't leave the cafe to muddle along by itself, the existing employees aren't capable or reliable. Soon she has to make a hard decision, sell the cafe or move to Cornwall. But can she escape from her daydreams of a bucolic existence wafting around the cafe being glamorous and successful, long enough to actually learn how to use the coffee machine and make a bacon sandwich?

This is a lovely feel good story, a triumph of hope over adversity as Evie learns what it takes to run a business and becomes embedded in the local community.

I look forward to reading more in the series.

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Review: Moon Over Soho

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

How to describe / review this book without either sounding demented or giving away the plot.

Our intrepid hero Peter Grant is a young English police detective constable of mixed-race heritage and the first apprentice wizard in 50 years. He works for a small, covert department (him and Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale) which investigates crimes with a supernatural origin.

In this, the second book of the series, young Peter is called upon to investigate after an otherwise healthy jazz musician drops dead from heart failure - the supernatural element being that his corpse had a strong vestigia of the dead man playing a saxophone solo. Vestigia are magical imprints, a bit like the spooky feeling you get sometimes walking into a strange house - the stronger the magic the object has been associated with, the stronger the imprint. Humans are bad at holding on to vestigia and therefore some pretty serious magic must have occurred for the corpse to be emitting such a strong imprint. A little digging reveals that relatively healthy jazz musicians have been dropping dead from suspected heart failure (which is a code for "we don't know, but his heart stopped") at a steady rate of two to three a year, shortly after playing a gig in the Greater London Area.

Peter's other case is a grisly one, involving a creature who bit off a part of the man's anatomy and allowed him to bleed to death (eww), as he traipses from jazz club to jazz club in Soho, he learns more about the reason there are so few wizards left in Britain and finds romance.

Peter's father is a famous trumpet player who never got his big break, consequently Peter knows a lot about jazz and jazz musicians. As he trawls the streets and areas of London, making his cynical and humorous asides about modern policing.

In a month of disappointing reads Ben Aaronovitch's first two novels have been shining beacons. Clever, funny, engaging, densely plotted and set in my beloved London. It's a treat to run through Soho with Peter, drive through the West End at rush hour and visit less famous areas such as Kentish Town to meet his parents. Someone described this as magic realism - not a term I had heard before - which perfectly sums up this series.

Highly recommended.

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Review: The Duke of Ice

The Duke of Ice by Darcy Burke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

And the reading meh continues.

Nicholas Bateman, Duke of Kilve, is known as the Duke of Ice because he is cold and distant. His only friend, Simon Duke of Romsey, known as the Duke of Ruin, persuades Nick to accompany him to a house party thrown by the Linfords. Simon has been ostracised from society because of his wife's mysterious death and hopes that this party might help him to find a new bride, but the invite clearly expects him to bring the Duke of Kilve. With bad grace Nick agrees to accompany Simon only to find that the hostess' best friend is none other that Violet Caulfield, Lady Pendleton, the woman with whom he had a brief but passionate fling when they were much younger, the woman he fully intended to marry until she threw him over for a man with a title.

I thought this book could have been over a lot earlier than it was. Nick spent most of the book metaphorically wringing his hands and bemoaning the fact that he was cursed because everyone he had ever loved, except Violet, was dead. To love is to feel and then when they die it is devastating so wall off your emotions and don't have any friends! Good plan. I was bored of him and his rinse and repeat 'get close to Violet then push her away' behaviour. In contrast, Violet started off as a great character and then at one point became a complete doormat.

Overall, meh. I am so tired of not enjoying books and I'm hoping that February will herald a new joy of reading.

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Review: When the Stars Come Out

When the Stars Come Out by Laura Trentham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jackson Abbott is Wyatt's twin. The silent kind, he has worked alongside Willa Brown ever since she came to Cottonbush, without really thinking about her as a woman. All the Abbott brothers know that Willa is keeping secrets, most of them have guessed that isn't her real name, but they value her work as a mechanic in their family business and they aren't ones to gossip.

Willa has been on the run since she was eighteen years old, running from what was an idyllic childhood she soon found that life away from her adored father was very different from the sheltered way she spent her first eighteen years. The Abbott family are different. Their father reminded her of her own father and she has been in love with Jackson forever. But when Willa's past looks to be catching up with her will she run like she always does? It takes the fear of Willa leaving for Jackson to wake up to the woman he has been working with for the past few years. Under the baggy thrift shop clothes, bad hair cut and cap permanent wedged on her head is a curvy, beautiful woman.

The romance between Jackson and Willa is set against several mysteries: what has happened to the oldest Abbott brother, Ford? What happened in Willa's past that necessitated her running? Who is trying to buy the Abbott Garage, and why? What happened to the Abbott brothers' mother?

Unfortunately, I have to say that I've come to the conclusion (based on reading two novels and a novella) that Laura Trentham's mysteries tend to evaporate into meh. This book and the last end on a cliffhanger/ teaser for the next book which kind of dissolves into nothing. Ford's story is dismissed at the start of this novel, frankly I don't understand Willa's issue at all, in fact I'd go further and say she acted like a spoilt brat and doesn't seem to have matured, the buyer mystery doesn't go anywhere and Mrs Abbott is also a bit meh.

I didn't like that Sutton decided to give Willa a make-over, kudos to Jackson for not caring.

Overall, I don't really understand how to categorise this. It didn't feel like romance, there wasn't much suspense/ mystery, although it is set in a small town it doesn't have that cozy small town feel. Possibly more damningly, I just didn't like Willa.

However, I'm on a bit of a book downer, I convinced myself that I didn't like the previous book and yet when I read my review I gave it "a solid four and a half stars", maybe read this review bearing in mind that I am clearly dissatisfied with everything I'm reading at the moment!

Do I want to read the next book? I know exactly who it will feature (okay, I'm guessing but I'd bet serious money), probably.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Dr Naughty: A Doctor's Baby Romance

Dr Naughty: A Doctor's Baby Romance by Tara Wylde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

First off I think the blurb AND the title are both misleading. Sort of.

Dr James Ashby is a super wealthy cancer doctor who founded a company called Dovecote Biotech. He is in clinical trials for a new cancer treatment which, if validated, could significantly improve cancer survival rates and make the company millions. Unfortunately, he is being harassed by an efficiency consultant called Sean Nasmith who was brought in by some of the investors. Nasmith is trying to invoke the morality clause in James' contract and expel him from the company he founded. James likes to work hard and play hard and has a bit of a reputation as a ladies' man, and maybe he has recklessly driven whilst under the influence ...

When he wakes up one Monday morning lying beside a stained toilet in a low-rent motel with absolutely no recollection of anything that happened on Sunday he realises he is on the brink of losing his company. His best friend and lawyer Tom tries to cover for him but suggests he needs some kind of image make-over, maybe a 'nice' respectable girlfriend to give the press and shareholders the impression that he's cleaned up his act.

Diana is the Uber driver who picks James up after his lost weekend. As she drives him home and then to work they chat and, half-asleep, James jokes that he should marry her when she offers her advice on a hangover cure.

Diana and James agree to a corporate marriage, possibly with benefits if they both agree, for up to 18 months. Diana will receive $1 million in compensation, which will get her out of her monetary difficulties, and James will get instant respectability. What could go wrong?

On the face of it, this looks like a billionaire playboy needs fake wife to keep the business - read loads of those before, one of my favourite romance storylines - but it isn't quite. First, James doesn't have the requisite long list of bitchy model ex-girlfriends/ mistress. In fact, other than the odd incident like his lost weekend, he really doesn't do more than work and look after his dog. Second, James and Diana's relationship become real pretty quickly, they got on well with each other right from the start and although there are the usual misunderstandings, secrets and arguments by and large the two of them act like adults and resolve them without all the usual angst.

Third, and this is a doozy, the plot thickens! I don't want to spoil this for anyone else so I won't say more but this is not just a standard marriage of convenience plot. Oh, and there's lots of random smexy times just thrown in every so often. Whilst this is in no way disjointed or rough, I definitely feel it is clear that it was written by two people because there seems to be two different stories here, perfectly blended together, it's a sweet marriage of convenience romance, a steamy billionaire romance, it has a subplot, there's a baby, I could go on!

Overall, this was engaging, sexy, funny and surprising. Recommended.



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Review: Let It Be Me

Let It Be Me by Jody Holford
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 58%.

On paper I should love this book. I like the author, I'm a sucker for single Dad and nanny romances, and the premise of the employer asking the nanny to set him with dates in order to find some woman who would be happy to have a polite, marriage-of-convenience in order to provide a mother for his little boy? Fraught with comedy opportunity.

Megan Carter is nanny to Charlie. His mother is an actress who valued her career more than her marriage or her child. His father Adam is a good Dad and does everything he can be home to put Charlie to bed and read him a bedtime story each night, but he is also fully committed to partnership at his job (can't recall if he's a lawyer/ accountant whatever) driven in part by his own childhood in which his feckless father couldn't be relied upon to put food on the table or clothes on his son's back. In fact, Adam is a tad obsessive on this point but feels that partnership will help him ensure that Charlie never wants for anything.

Sadly, this didn't work for me. Adam's ridiculous scheme needed to be grounded in something other than him being supremely disinterested in lifting a finger to find a mother for his son. Delegating to the nanny, no matter how competent and beloved by the family, is not cool. His poor-me shtick was tedious in the extreme and his priorities were skewed. My dislike reached a peak when he took his son and the nanny to a arcade (to make up for not attending his son's presentation) and then left to pitch to a new client at a moment's notice. Yet when he decides to bang the nanny he can suddenly turn off his work phone for the first time ever - nice priorities dude!

And the negative reading vibe continues...

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.


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Review: Dirty

Dirty by Kylie Scott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had high hopes for this but around the midway mark it fell into rinse and repeat sex and angst.

On her wedding day someone send Lydia an anonymous video of her fiancé and another guy. Distraught she runs away and hides in the cottage next door where she is eventually found by the homeowner.

Vaughan was in a band which has spectacularly combusted and he has come hose to North Idaho to lick his wounds and hopefully sell his parents' house to his sister Nell. He is not best pleased after a long journeyhome to find a half naked woman with crazy Panda eyes hiding in his bath, even if she does have a spectacular rack.

This started off zany and funny but after a while it seemed as though Vaughan and Lydia were woefully ignoring their own feelings and a host of other characters are introduced for later books.

I kept reading but it was nothing amazing.

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Review: Most Eligible Bastard

Most Eligible Bastard by Annika Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first heard about this book reading a href="http://dearauthor.com/need-a-rec/top-... 10 best reads of 2017, I loved the quote so took the plunge and got the book.

Vicky Nelson lives a fairly precarious life in Manhattan, pet-sitting and selling her quirky custom-made jewellery on Etsy. She is the sole carer for her 16 year old sister Carly. Oh, and she has also been suckered into pretending to be a dog whisperer for a cantankerous old woman called Bernadette Locke and her dog Smuckers. Vicky has a mysterious past, he real name is Vonda and she and Carly have fake identities after an incident in which Vonda became reviled nationwide, the details of this incident gradually unfold through the book.

When Bernadette dies she leaves her controlling shareholding in Locke Worldwide to Smuckers, Bernadette's son Henry, the CEO of Locke Worldwide, and nephew Brett suspects Vicky is a grifter and try to buy her off, unfortunately Vicky has had enough of rich, entitled, arrogant men trying to buy her off and digs her heels in. Soon Vicky and Smuckers are attending Board meetings, Smuckers ensconced on his custom-made throne, being condescended to. Vicky knows she needs to give the shares back to Henry, she never imagined Bernadette had money, let alone a controlling shareholding in one of the largest construction companies in the country, but the most she hoped from Bernadette's will was some assistance with Smucker's upkeep.

Henry and Brett design a two-pronged attack to wrest control of Locke Worldwide from Smuckers' little paws: Brett will hire an investigator to dig up dirt on Vicky to assist in a competency hearing, and Henry will go on a charm offensive. Of course the inevitable happens, opposites attract and Henry and Vicky fall in love. But she knows he will hate her once he finds out her real identity and how will she feel when she finds out about his plans with Brett?

Whilst I don't think this would necessarily have made my top 10 for 2017 I did thoroughly enjoy this, particularly when Vicky explains that most of New York has another name for Locke Worldwide and all of the ludicrous dog-whisperer nonsense.

Vicky's secret is fairly well signalled through the book, although the exact details are shocking. I also liked the way that the necessary moment of tension is built, ebbs and flows and finally comes right out of left-field, just when the reader has forgotten the looming issue and is feeling safe. Finally, I liked the way in which reconciliation is achieved - it's not fast!

Overall, a solid four stars. Maybe if I weren't in a book funk it could have scored higher.

Highly recommended and I will look for more books by Annika Martin.

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Review: Until You're Mine

Until You're Mine by Cindi Madsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Brooklyn Roth was born into a family of MMA fighters and her family owns an MMA gym/ training centre in San Diego. After living and breathing MMA her entire life she realised her father, three brothers and boyfriend Conrad all thought her dreams were subservient to MMA, and Team Domination, their MMA team. When Conrad cheated on her she declared enough was enough and left for San Francisco to pursue her dreams of being an artist. Shane left Team Domination and her family blamed her for mixing the family business with pleasure. Now her boyfriend Trey is the opposite of all those testosterone-fuelled alpha-male MMA fighters - and that's the way she likes it. Solid, dependable, safe.

Now, at her brothers' request Brooklyn is back to try to wrestle some kind of control over the finances of the business, apparently all four men are too busy to pay the bills and keep the books and have allowed a series of book-keepers to let the accounts get into a shambles. When Brooklyn arrives she finds her father still thinks her art is a waste of time and that she OWES the business - because Conrad cheating on her and then leaving the Team put the gym in a black hole. Basically Brooklyn is not a daughter, more of a business asset to attract and retain fighters and do the stuff the men can't be bothered to do.

When Brooklyn arrives her eye is immediately caught by a new fighter, Shane Knox. He's cocky, talented and pushy. No matter how much Brooklyn tells herself he's no longer her type, she is irresistibly drawn to him. But she's only in town for a few months to fix the books and she has a boyfriend.

Shane Knox was on his way to the big time when his mom caught cancer and he lost a few fights. Faster than a speeding bullet his girlfriend and his so-called friends and trainers deserted him like rats from a sinking ship. Now he's back and starting right at the bottom, but this time he won't let anything stand in his way. Although the boss' sassy daughter is certainly easy on the eye and he just lurves annoying her. But Shane has learned that people can't be relied on to stick around, and he can't risk his comeback on a woman who isn't planning on staying.

I love Cindi Madsen but I'm not a fan of MMA novels so I was interested to see where this novel feel - the answer is just about in the middle. I don't like alpha-male posturing as exemplified by Brooklyn's father, some of her brothers and her ex. This lacked the humour I associate with Cindi Madsen's other novels but, as I said, I'm not a fan of MMA novels generally so the above average rating is pretty good - if you like MMA novels you will probably rate this much higher.

Having said all that, I am intrigued about Brooklyn's brother Liam and his relationship with Chelsea - what happened there? So, maybe I'll request the next book in the series after all.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Accidentally in Love

Accidentally in Love by Anna Premoli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book returns to the Anna Premoli books I love after a couple of not so hot ones (Until Love Do Us Part and Stuck with You: A fun, feisty romance).

Sara Di Giovanni is an patent lawyer of Italian origins, her family run a restaurant in Brooklyn. She is tenacious, hard-working, a bit of a prude and has no social life to speak of.

Ethan Phelps is the ne'er do well youngest son of one of the founders of the Phelps & Phelps department stores to massive conglomerate. When Ethan's father dies unexpectedly Ethan inherits 15% of the family business. After a disastrous shareholders' meeting in which Ethan behaves appallingly he is given a Court-appointed guardian to oversee his finances and prevent him from making poor decisions in relation to his crucial shareholding (holding which gives the Phelps family control of the majority of the shares and therefore able to direct the company). Ethan is the epitome of a wealthy Manhattan Trustafarian, constantly drinking, constantly partying, spending money like water and mocking the hard work of others.

After the three previous guardians resign in quick succession after Ethan blackmails, infuriates or otherwise pushes them over the edge, Judge Richter decides that, despite her lack of experience in the area, Sara would be an ideal guardian (based on her dogged arguing of a patent infringement case and constant raising of objections).

What follows is kind of reminiscent of a Doris Day and Rock Hudson film, Sara is clever and although Ethan tries lots of ways to get her to quit she soon gets the better of him, every time (so okay that's probably the opposite of the Doris Day films where Rock Hudson's character always got the better of her character). It's funny, the characters are engaging and the story moves along briskly.

I also really liked the way the book ended, the HEA was measured, although it was a bit wordy I admit, and commensurate with the way that Ethan and Sara's relationship developed.

Overall, if you like a billionaire meets his match, romantic comedy, battle-of-the-sexes, Manhattan v Brooklyn kind of novel I think you'll love this.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Fair Game

Fair Game by Amy Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, last year I got mentioned by Amy Andrews in her newsletter because of my comments on one of her books (and not in a good way), TBH I was flattered but it did make me hesitate over requesting this book from NetGalley - would I be disappointed by the sex to plot ratio? Good news for me, I lurved this book, maybe not so good for those who like Amy at her raunchiest ...

Anyway, this is the third book in the series Women of W.A.R. (Women's Australian Rules football), each book is by a different author, I loved the first book but wasn't thrilled by the blurb for the second so I gave it a miss but liked the blurb for this and, usually, love Amy Andrews' books so I requested it and I can confirm that you can easily read these books as stand-alone novels. The back-story (which is explained) is that a brand new women's league has been created and the women in each novel are players in the inaugural season.

Darcy Clarke has shared a house with Levi Phillips, her ex-boyfriend Tony's ex-friend, since she and Tony were an item and for two years after that. In a bit of a gender stereotype reversal Darcy has a hard physical job as a market-gardener (think lugging huge sacks of compost) and plays the physically demanding game of Australian Rules football (which is not soccer) whereas Levi is a yoga teacher and is all about the wheatgerm and eating clean. However, he is also a total hotty and just the descriptions of him and his messy man-bun brought me out in a hot flush (although these days walking upstairs does that too!).

Darcy and Levi have spent the last two years in a great platonic friendship, eating cheese and Vegemite toasties while watching Netflix on their giant sofa is their go-to evening in. But everything starts to change when Darcy finds out she has been selected to play for the Brisbane Banshees. Everything looks good until Darcy discovers that the coach for the Banshees is none other than her ex, Tony Cameron.

I'm not going to spoil the development of the romance between Darcy and Levi, I mean who doesn't love a friends to lovers novel? Let me just say, I loved Levi passionately, he was kind, generous and totally deserving of Darcy. The sex was hawt (fans self) AND romantic and totally balanced with the plot. I loved the camaraderie between the women on the team, the interactions with Tony were brilliantly done and never strayed into unrealistic territory.

Overall, this was sublime. After giving out two and a half stars left right and centre for most of 2018 so far it was a joy to read this fast-paced, funny and romantic novel - I only wish it had been twice as long!

I received a free copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Player's Game

Player's Game by Desirae Clark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Wow, I'm a real Debbie downer so far this year - bad reviews left, right and centre.

Samantha Valentine, her mother and twin sisters moved from their home in Scottsdale to Manhattan six years ago. Although she was devastated when they left, Samantha has built a new life in Manhattan she has friends, a cute boyfriend and enjoys the city. So when her mom gets a promotion back to Scottsdale she is not happy, especially because it would mean returning to face her ex-BFF Parker Brady, she never got to say goodbye and he never responded to her calls, texts and emails.

Despite her fears, Samantha makes a group of new friends in Scottsdale, including, surprisingly, Parker. Apparently Parker has turned into a player while she has been gone: he smokes, he sleeps with random girls and gets into trouble. Although Samantha thinks he is playing her, she accepts his lifts to school and hangs around with him.

This is kind of a book about absolutely nothing. Samantha's ex turns out to be a douche, but there's no reason given, a girl at school is mean to Samantha, and nothing happens, there's a school exchange visit, and nothing happens. In fact, the biggest thing that happens in this book from my POV is that Samantha's mother should be reported to child services. Samantha apparently takes responsibility for feeding her twin sisters and helping them with their homework while the mother seemingly does nothing, in fact Samantha is happy that her mother can take the time to write a shopping list for Samantha! Then, partway through this short novel, Samantha's mother has to go to Europe on business. It might be for a couple of days or three months!! But it's okay because she met a couple recently who are happy to look after the twins. WTF?

Samantha was a stroppy, unpleasant girl, she occasionally made a big gesture to stand up against bullying while acting like a bully most of the time herself. She was aggressive and her idea of 'pranks' were way worse than silly pranks. But then she got angry because someone told the school about the large number of detentions and pranks she had pulled at her last school? I have no idea why Parker liked her. I had the feeling that maybe Samantha's immaturity and the unbelievable behaviour of her mother might mean that Desirae Clark was a young author and (I checked) I was right, I think it shows in the writing, although maybe a younger reader would find it more enjoyable.

It seemed as though ideas and people were brought into the novel and then discarded without resolving any plot - in the epilogue Samantha talks about her friends and I honestly couldn't tell you who was who, apart from Veronica who seemed to have an even worse issue with unnecessary violence. Overall, it was a book where there was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing.

Disappointing.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Package Deal

Package Deal by Charissa Stastny
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Where to start this review?

Spring Flowers (yep, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit writing that name) and her two year old daughter Emma are attending the wedding of her best friend Brandee to her fiancee Nick. At the wedding Brandee warns Spring away from the best man, Nick's brother as he is a terrible person, a womaniser yadda, yadda.

Hudson Sandel is the aforementioned best man. He is instantly attracted to Spring, who he constantly refers to as an Angel, but is immediately put off when he finds out she has a child. Hudson's internal monologue at the wedding is really odd, he veered between speaking like a teenage boy, an Edwardian gentleman, the American idea of how the British speak, and a sleazeball. With the benefit of having read the entire book I think that Charissa Stastny was trying to portray Hudson as a shallow, workaholic, womaniser, only interested in the shiny outside. The only trouble is, I don't think she really committed to the portrayal as even at the opening wedding Hudson is kind enough to carry Emma around on his shoulders, while she yanks on his ears and calls him horsey, during dinner and the speeches. In my experience, a man who dislikes children would never do that. In fact even men who like children and have children of their own wouldn't do that.

And maybe I've just explained to myself what was wrong with this book. It's full of stock characters and unrealistic behaviour, from the chirpy, opinionated receptionist at Hudson's law firm, his sleazy colleague, his vampish client, Spring herself, Hudson's money-grubbing boss, Hudson's Gram, Spring's ex-husband, the list just goes on and on.

Early on Spring decides that Hudson has a Knight in Shining Armour complex and just has to help those in need, even when he categorically tells her he doesn't she just keeps trotting out the same ridiculous platitude, "Hudson doesn't love me, he has a saviour complex", or words to that effect.

Spring keeps telling Hudson she doesn't need saving, she can stand up for herself and frankly, she's delusional. She can't tell when the office sleazeball starts hitting on her and she does something VERY stupid. (view spoiler)[To make Hudson jealous, she gets into a car with his sleazy colleague, even though she has started to finally see him for who he is, after he has had too much to drink. Instead of taking her to the office as she asked, he drives her to a deserted strip mall miles away and tries to force himself on her in his car, when she accidentally elbows him in the face he pushes her out of the car and drives off. First, why let him give you a lift when you can see he's not a nice man? Second, why get into a car, sober, with a drunk driver? Three, how can you be so unaware that you don't realise the driver isn't going back to the office? Four, why didn't she threaten to call the police? And then she didn't want to even confront him about his behaviour! (hide spoiler)]Overall, I thought Spring was one of life's natural victims, she can't tell the good guys from the bad guys, she won't take help and still thinks she doesn't need saving.

This is a clean romance (no warning on the cover) where the first kiss doesn't occur until 71% into my Kindle and veers a little into god bothering towards the end when Spring and Hudson start pontificating about God's will and his love which I could have done without.

Overall, I was hoping for a light, bubbly Lauren Layne-type romance or Sustained by Emma Chase, instead what I got was an unrealistic fantasy with a victim for a heroine and a nice guy pretending to be a shallow womaniser. Disappointing.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Crazy Love

Crazy Love by Kendra C. Highley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Charlotte Brown has got a job in Aspen at Christmas waiting tables at a family diner while she saves money and studies for her third retake (or is it the second retake after she took it?) of the MCAT. Charlotte's mother has MS and ever since her diagnosis Charlotte has know she wanted to be a doctor.

I think this is the second book in a series and I haven't read the first book. Actually, I've checked and it seems to be a follow on from the Finding Perfect duology. The reason for my rambling is that the hero of this book, Luke Madison apparently featured quite heavily in Defying Gravity and may have been a bit of a douche. Anyhoo, Luke has returned home from college to Aspen, where his parents run a sportswear shop, he has made the monumental decision to quit school and go all-out to make a career out of snowboarding or SBX. He's sunk all his inheritance into paying for a coach and dedicating his time to training, no matter what his parents have to say on the subject. He also still has a crush on his younger brother's girlfriend Zoey, but the (unknown) events of last year have led him to take a long hard look at himself and he didn't really like the player he had become.

Charlotte and Luke first meet at the diner, he is instantly attracted to her but she is put off, first because he looks like a pretty boy player and second because she wants to focus all her effort on studying. But after he comes to her rescue when a group of snotty, entitled, kids dine and dash Charlotte thinks there might be a better man underneath than she originally thought.

But when the stakes are high, do either of them have time for love?

I liked this but I didn't love it. Whilst I normally rail against the YA/NA need for excessive angst I felt this had too little conflict, too little grit. It all took place in such a short period of time as well so there was no development of conflict with Luke's parents or with Charlotte's mother's illness. Lots of things were hinted at ... and never happened. It was as though the book had a page limit and so all the sub-plots and angst got ditched just to get the basic story told.

Although there is sexual content it still felt very PG romance, complete with a cartoon villain SBX rival.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Glass Gargoyle

The Glass Gargoyle by Marie Andreas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Taryn St Giles is an archaeologist down on her luck, forced to resort to bounty hunting to make ends meet. She is the reluctant owner of three fairies who can usually be relied upon to get drunk and start fights. As the book opens Taryn is hunting for a bounty, although she collars him relatively easy he doesn't stay collared for long - and that is the start of a crazy journey. Soon there are mysterious disappearances, dead bodies, mysterious strangers, gypsies, jinn, elves, trolls, dragon-like creatures etc, etc.

Where to start? First, I received this ARC back in January last year, so my bad for not reading and reviewing earlier. However, the book was first published in March 2015 so I really don't understand why my copy has so many words runningtogether missing the intervening spaces. Also, there appears to be no formatting of the chapter headings which makes it difficult to 'feel' the breaks between chapters as they just merge into one long chapter. Previewing the Kindle version on Amazon doesn't look that much better either.

Second, there is waaaay too much stuff in this book and not enough world-building/ development. It doesn't help that Taryn hasn't a clue what is going on. I think it took half the book before the eponymous Glass Gargoyle was even mentioned. Taryn has a backstory and a mystery about her species which are just barely glanced upon. There seems to be a cast of thousands and the purpose of most of them seems vague at best. Villains drop in and out and we don't know why. The book even ends on a sort of cliffhanger - sort of.

I don't know whether Marie Andreas has got the idea for the whole series in her mind and has written the series as if it were one long book, or if she had so many ideas that she couldn't bear to to drop any, but the book ended up as a series of occurrences with no real conclusion. I still have no idea what species Taryn belongs to, I don't know who/ what Alric is (although I do have a good idea), I don't know who hired the jinn, I don't understand the Marcos plot, I don't know what set off all of these events, I don't see the purpose of Harlan, Covey, Cirocco, Dogmaela or Foxy, heck half the time I couldn't tell whether they were friends or enemies (obviously not the ones who were marked as enemies). There are extinct/ mythical elves, older more ancient races, lots of new creatures that I've never heard of, magical powers, although Taryn is a null, potions etc AND NONE OF IT IS EXPLAINED.

I think there is a really good series possibly lost in this but I just can't summon up the enthusiasm to try reading the second book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.


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Review: Heart on Fire

Heart on Fire by Amanda Bouchet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars. Oh dear, what a disappointment.

The climax to the Kingmaker Chronicles trilogy was, I'm sad to say, a bit of a yawn.

Spoilers ahead for the first two books.

At the end of the second book Cat and Griffin have conquered two of the three parts of the ancient Thalyria.

Griffin and his non-magical family overthrew the magical family which previously ruled Sinta, Griffin being the Beta Sinta and his elder sister being the Alpha. In the second book Cat, Griffin and their friends gain access to the ruling family of Tarva by winning the Agon Games and, with the help of two of the minor Tarvan royals kill the Tarvan Alpha and become the King and Queen. Now the only remaining realm is that ruled by Cat's psychotic mother Alpha Fisa.

Where to start? First, I couldn't work out which of Cat and her mother was the greatest fool. Cat's mother had the advantage of being more mature, having control of her magic, and being hard-hearted yet she signally failed to kill Cat on several occasions, because just like a Bond villain she liked to toy with her victims and gloat. On the other hand, Cat frequently had her mother at her mercy and then DID NOTHING. And don't get me started on the smexy times, I mentioned it in both the previous books as being excessive and out of place but jeez, you are supposed to be building tension for the grand confrontation and we kept detouring into kissy-kissy.

The gods and goddesses interfere so much in this book, and admit they have interfered time and time again that frankly Cat and Griffin just became puppets, puppets to whom the gods gave absolutely no instructions! I know the gods and goddesses are capricious and have vision beyond the ken of humans but it just left me with the feeling that nothing Cat did (or didn't do) had any meaning. Added to which Cat seemed to go off into deep navel-gazing sessions where she realised that she was a very special snowflake indeed and I just lost interest. Even the final confrontation was a bit meh.

In retrospect I wish I had left the series at the end of the first book.

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Review: The Mech Who Loved Me

The Mech Who Loved Me by Bec McMaster
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmm, disappointing.

I started reading this with such high hopes but from about halfway through I really just couldn't get into it and kept playing Candy Crush instead.

Ava McLaren is a diminutive, blonde blue blood virgin with a mechanical heart. She works as a laboratory assistant for the newly formed Company of Rogues (took me ages to realise that was what COR stood for). Liam Kincaid is a large human with a mech arm and fiercely anti-blue bloods. Together they are teemed up to investigate a series of strange black vein deaths. Kincaid is everything Ava isn't, and maybe because of that she finds him fascinating. Tired of always being in the lab, never in the field, tired of being a virgin, tired of being treated like a child instead of an adult, Ava makes a decision to lose her virginity - almost like an experiment. Liam is horrified that innocent, naive, trusting Ava could make such a stupid decision, could potentially be taken advantage of or hurt by someone who wouldn't take the time or trouble to make things good for her. So he volunteers, as you do.

In a nutshell, that is why I was disappointed in this book, there was far too much sex or thinking about sex or talking about sex. So much so that the plot seemed relegated to the background and now frankly I am mystified as to what was going on, why the people died from the black vein, who was behind the plotting and what the purpose was. Okay, that's exaggerating, I understand these things individually but not how they form a coherent plot or indeed how they stumbled across any of these things because it all seemed to happen off the page - Gemma's found a clue, Malloryn's found a member of SoG, Ingrid's located a factory etc, etc.

I wanted more steampunk, more skullduggery, more dhampirs, more plot!

Also, is anyone else tired of the sweet, innocent virgin getting matched to the Dom? Although this was more in talk than action (thankfully) part of me thought Kincaid's talk about others not being careful with Ava seemed slightly at odds with his actions when they did finally get it together. Also, there seemed one point after a BIG SCENE when instead of debriefing the rest of the team, or trying to stop an all out war between humans and blue bloods or something important, Ava and Liam decide that would the perfect time to make love! Sheesh. But that's okay because Malloryn was too busy for a debrief until hours later - doing what? I screamed at my Kindle.

However, there was one brilliant scene, one that restored my faith in Bec McMaster, KIncaid and Malloryn are stalking a bad guy and Malloryn says THAT line, "[He's] mine" and Kincaid makes the most brilliant response,

"That's the sort of thinking that gets people killed," Kincaid pointed out. "This isn't a duel, Your Grace, and we've got ladies in here. If I see him, I'll shoot him."
"Fair call"

I didn't realise how ridiculous that line was until I read Kincaid's response - but he is so right!

Anyway, in every series there is a couple that doesn't work for me, or where I think the plot/ romance balance feels off and this was it for me.

Also, I've just realised that the first three books in the series are all twisted spy film titles (Mission Impossible, The Spy Who Loved Me, You Only Live Twice ) - is the fourth one a riff on To Catch a Thief?

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Review: Mission: Improper

Mission: Improper by Bec McMaster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, I started reading the London Steampunk series but got bogged down in book 2 and never recovered but I love a steampunk story and I was sooo over contemporary romance so when I saw this on my shelf (well actually the second book but I backtracked and started this one) I decided a palate-cleanser was in order.

Despite not having read books 2-5 of the London Steampunk I didn't find it difficult to follow the story, indeed a revolution has occurred (presumably the climax of the previous series), the Queen has overthrown her consort and imposed some enlightened laws upon her citizens: recognising the rights of verwulfen and mechs; and removing the absolute power of the Echelon, the upper class blue bloods who formerly ruled. Blue bloods are similar to what we would normally term vampires, however in this world vampires are what happens when a blue blood goes to far into the blood craving - once a blue blood becomes a vampire they are creatures driven by their lust for blood and are supernaturally strong (stronger even than a blue blood or a verwulfen) and almost indestructible.

However, not everyone is happy with the Queen's reforms, especially the blue bloods who are no longer entitled to do whatever they want. A series of bizarre events have seen whole groups of people simply disappear: an entire street in the East End of London, 40 members of the Echelon at a private party in pleasure gardens etc.

Caleb Byrnes is the illegitimate son of a blue blood and his mistress, accidentally infected with the virus. A member of the Nighthawks, he is invited to join a mysterious elite group to investigate the disappearances. The elite group comprises: Caleb; a verwulfen called Ingrid Miller with whom he has a chequered history; Ava McLaren, a blue blood laboratory assistant with a mechanical heart; Kincaid, a giant mech who hates blue bloods; Charlie Todd, one of the rookery lads who has also been infected by the blue blood virus; Gemma Townsend, another blue blood who deals in information; and the Duke of Malloryn.

As Caleb and Ingrid fight their animal attraction whilst investigating the disappearances we are plunged into blue blood conspiracies, secret societies, underground chases, vampires, dhampirs, false leads and corsets galore. I loved it.

Off to read book 2 ...

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Review: Brew - A Love Story

Brew - A Love Story by Tracy Ewens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Boyd McNaughton is the oldest of four sons. The three eldest: Boyd, Cade and Patrick, own and run Foghorn Brewery and are in the process of opening a tap house to showcase their brews. Boyd is the brewer, Cade will run the tap house and Patrick does the marketing. Boyd is also the father of a 13 year old son, Mason, born of a short-lived college romance. Boyd is the primary care-giver and he balances his work with bringing up a son with aplomb, he just doesn't have time for a relationship.

Dr Ella Walters moved to the small city of Petaluma, California from San Francisco two years ago after a relationship went terribly wrong (fair warning, we don't find out exactly what went wrong for quite a long time - at page 126 I made a rather exasperated comment asking what had happened). Naturally reserved, her family are, at best snobs and at worst vicious sociopaths, distant and her recent romantic failure has caused her to shrink further into her shell of work, work, work. She doesn't believe in love and isn't looking for someone.

After a disagreement with Patrick over the latest brew results in Boyd cutting his hand on a keggle and needs a trip to the ER where he meets Ella. Although the sparks are there aplenty it is really Mason and Ella who hit it off as Ella gives him advice about the girl he likes at school.

What I liked about this book. I liked Ella and I liked Mason, I liked Patrick and Cade and West (the fourth brother who is a movie star), most of the time I liked Boyd. I liked the way in which a working dad was portrayed and I liked the tentative romance as it blossomed between two thirty-somethings who had been burned by love before.

So what didn't I like? At some point in the books I have read by Racy Ewens the characters just seem to get stuck in a loop of denial or self-doubt which goes too far, the point at which I start using more profanities and exclamation marks than are strictly necessary. Luckily Boyd only did this once, page 233 if you are interested, but I did feel he needed to pull his big girl pants up. But, as always, what I really didn't like was Ella's 'friend' Bri, her gentle teasing was more like a sledge-hammer, she overstepped the bounds of friendship and was a bit of a bully. Also the way in which the group of women friends talk is completely unnatural (in my opinion), I mean who asks their friend if they have told a man that they love him, particularly if that friend is in denial/ hasn't realised it herself?

Despite my loathing of all things Bri, this series is like catnip for me and I am gagging for Cade's story - is it with Bri, please tell me no?

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Review: Icing on the Cake

Icing on the Cake by Ann Marie Walker
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 27%.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series Black Tie Optional, and so, despite the Prince pretends to be a commoner premise, I jumped at the chance to request this book from NetGalley.

I just cannot believe that the two books were written by the same author. The first book was funny and challenged a few romantic tropes. This one, so far, is just such a cliche of a prince from a minor kingdom trying to go incognito at a friend's wedding where he meets a fellow guest, using the local bakery to cook cakes for the wedding.

I get that Prince Henry is supposed to come across as an entitled, thoughtless rich kid but he really had no redeeming features. Ann Marie Walker didn't seem to have even attempted to make him sound royal, an English accent doesn't cut it, and after three uses of the word 'vixen' to describe a wholesome baker (my Kindle tells me the word is used 26 times in the book and 'cock' is used 27 times) I decided I didn't want to read any further. I mean vixen, really? This isn't a Victorian novel FFS.

I have a filthy cold and a lowered tolerance for this kind of ridiculous fiction. Maybe if I read further I would get invested in the characters but I just can't drum up the enthusiasm to try.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Rivers of London

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, I'm a bit late to jump on the bandwagon I know. This has been on my TBR list for absolutely ages but it took Jodi Taylor mentioning that she intended to reread the series over Christmas to get me to open the book. I was hooked from the very first page1

How to describe this? So, it's set in contemporary London. Peter Grant is a probationary police constable stationed at Charing Cross police station. Like most young police officers he is keen to get off the beat and become a detective, perhaps with one of the flashy squads like the Sweeney or the Murder Investigation Team, he also has the hots for his fellow probationer, WPC Lesley May.

The book opens with a bizarre murder in Covent Garden (for those who don't know the area, this is a pedestrianised, tourist-friendly, shopping area with small shops and open air stalls selling wooden toys, blown glass and hand-knits, NOT a garden at all). Peter and Lesley are two grunts who are delegated to guard the area overnight after all the important Scene of Crime investigators and detectives have left. When Lesley goes off to get some coffee Peter encounters an unusual man who witnessed the murder, unfortunately it turns out that the man is a ghost.

Shortly after Peter is disappointed that his post-probation assignment is nothing as exciting as being a detective, in fact it is probably the antithesis of being a detective, he has been assigned to the Case Progression Unit - a team who basically fill out all the paperwork so that the detectives can get out on the streets to solve crime. Then, after yet another mysterious encounter late at night in Covent Garden, this time with a dapper gentleman who turns out to be Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, Peter finds himself reassigned to a a mysterious division run by DCI Nightingale which investigates crimes involving the paranormal.

This is laugh-out-loud funny, especially to a Londoner who recognises some of the traits described in this book, I especially liked the idea of good-Samaritanism being an extreme sport in London. I loved the setting of the book as I worked for many years just North of Tottenham Court Road and so I know many of the places described. But honestly, you don't have to be a Londoner, or even English to enjoy this book. Peter is soon embroiled in a supernatural world in which he meets vampires, the spirits of London rivers and the ghosts of dead thespians. For some reason this reminded me of Tim Powers' writing although MUCH funnier and I don't know why, when I tried to pin it down it kind of ran away and hid.

There are plenty of precedents for paranormal novels set in a contemporary police environment and yet this, with its mixture of historical facts, geographic detail, humour and the woo-woo seems different, maybe it's like C.E. Murphy's Walker Papers but set in London?

Anyway, this was fresh and unlike anything I'd read before and I am totally hooked.

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Review: A Spool of Blue Thread

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This book has been sitting on my TBR for two years and it's time to admit I'm not going to read it.

I can't really review the book because I didn't get past the first chapter, it didn't draw me in.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Lady of Fortune

Lady of Fortune by Graham Masterton
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I'm admitting defeat and DNFing this book, it's been on my TBR pile for 18 months, I couldn't get into it and I have no burning desire to give it another go.

I didn't really read enough to give a proper review, it felt like hard work wading through the first chapter or so.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Smooth - A Love Story

Smooth - A Love Story by Tracy Ewens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Patrick McNaughton and his three brothers run a craft brewery and pub. Whilst Boyd is the brewer and Cade is the bartender, Patrick is the salesman, the one who gets their beers stocked in bars and restaurants in other towns and cities. Although of course he is now a handsome, charming man when he was at high school he had a brace, glasses and was extremely tall and thin (Luckily he gave up playing a musical instrument or he would have entered total nerd oblivion), this has left him with a bit of a complex about always winning.

Aspen Pane is the whip-smart office manager for the Brewery. Patrick, or Trick, has been infatuated by Aspen since they were at school together but she has never thought of him that way at all. In fact, Aspen's father's desertion at an early age and her mother's subsequent chasing after one unsuitable man after another has left Aspen opposed to love and romance. So much so that she only dates men she isn't attracted to! Because Trick doesn't think he can succeed with Aspen he hasn't tried - he's all about the winning.

Then one day a series of coincidences mean that Trick and Aspen fly together on a business trip, Trick is terrified of flying and a combination of booze and anxiety medication lead him to confess a little too much information to Aspen. From then its merely a matter of waiting to see whether Aspen can overcome her antipathy towards mad, impulsive love and whether Patrick can ever put himself out there and make the first move.

I'll be honest, I'm suffering from a head cold so some of the finer nuances of the interactions between Patrick and Aspen may have passed over my head but honestly they talked in so many similes and metaphors that I got totally lost and, frankly, I think Tracy Ewen did too. There was a lot of talk about diving into the deep end, inching into a kiddie pool, being a good swimmer etc - one of them in my ARC got so muddled up that Aspen wondered what would happen if Patrick was a strong swimmer too when I think she was meant to worry if he was a non-swimmer too.

Frankly at 68% through I thought the two of them would never stop talking themselves out of everything, there's slow burn but this was ridiculous. If it hadn't been that I didn't want to start 2018 with a DNF I would have been tempted to give up at that point.

I must stop using Women's Fiction as a disparaging comment, particularly in relation to books by this author, but this does strike me as belonging to that genre. Lots of talking and examining of feelings and trying to have witty banter like the characters in the old TV series Moonlighting (Bruce Willis as a young man) and I just wanted to scream at the characters to just bloody get on with it. Also Patrick's brothers and Aspen's friends are all so flippin' insightful, yet I am willing to bet good money that if I read their books they would each have been just as clueless about their own relationships. Also, whilst I get the sibling cruel to be kind attitude, Aspen's friends would very shortly have ceased to be friends of mine if they didn't butt out of my private business, sheesh.

Apparently this is the 10th book in the Love Story series, I have also read the eighth book Exposure - A Love Storyand made some similar comments.

So,, I think you can tell from my review that my cold has made me a bit tetchy but overall I found the book was overlong for the plot. I would have wanted more things going on (or at least to see more of what was going on in the background) rather than the intense navel-gazing that went on and on.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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