Review: The Battersea Barricades

The Battersea Barricades by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: The Wedding War

The Wedding War by Liz Talley
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 30%.

What happens when two former best friends turned enemies discover that their children have fallen in love and are getting married. Secrets are revealed as these two mothers battle over the planning of the wedding.

I didn't find a single one of these characters sympathetic, in fact I'd go further and say I found all of them extremely irritating and obnoxious. I didn't even find this funny, just sad and full of selfish characters.

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 Earl Not Taken

The Earl Not Taken by A.S. Fenichel
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 40%.

I started reading this four months ago and at first I really enjoyed it. The idea of four young women, friends from school, looking out for each other is society is not a new one, think of Lisa Kleypas's Wallflowers series.

Poppy Arrington is a bit of a modern woman shoved into a historical novel, she has been put off marriage by the bad examples she has seen and she is determined to remain single, when one of her friends is about to be married to a Duke that none of them know she determines (in the best Nancy Drew tradition) to investigate on her friend's behalf.

Poppy's nemesis is Rhys Draper, an early encounter where Poppy stumbled upon Rhys and a young woman indulging in some afternoon delight has coloured their entire relationship, added to which he is the older brother of one of her best friends.

Rhys cannot believe that he was oblivious to his sister being abused by her husband, now he understands Poppy's desire to ensure that nothing similar happens to their other friends. Together the two of them will investigate whether this duke is hiding a secret.

So far, so good. I love an enemies to lovers historical with a determined heroine and a strong, but mistaken hero. Poppy looks down on Rhys but when they meet again years after their first encounter Rhys starts to look at Poppy in a different way.

Then it all went a bit off the rails for me. Poppy and Rhys go off into the country to investigate the Duke and end up having to stay the night with a mysterious Middle-Eastern gentleman. This jarred with the way in which young women had to behave at that time, then Poppy rescues the man's horses from a burning barn while all the men just stood around and watched. I could just about get over that, but then Poppy asks Rhys to teach her about sex, to make love to her just once so she understands what it is all about.

From a promising start this just degenerated for me, then I started to find the characters' speech a bit false and forced and that was the final straw.

Sorry, not 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: Plan for the Worst

Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Full disclosure, having read and loved the first eight books in this series I gave up part-way through the ninth book as I felt the ongoing Clive Ronin story was a bit rinse-and-repeat and Max was falling into the TSTL heroine character. But I loved the first book in the new Time Police series so when I saw this ARC available on NetGalley I thought I'd request it and try to get back into a world that I had loved.

Sadly, I didn't regain the love. What I loved about the early books was the the humour and the multiple ventures into history. In this book, even though there are some interesting forays into history my overwhelming feeling was that there was a lot of time spent at St Mary's navel-gazing and that the characters had lost the 'heart' that made the first books so joyous. Instead I felt like there is a growing checklist of things that Jodi Taylor feels she needs to put in every book and as a consequence it's a bit same-same eg the fights with Rosie Lee, the disastrous R&D experiments etc. (view spoiler)[And bloody Clive Ronin is back FFS. One of the reasons I requested this was because I thought we were finally free of the cartoon villain who always manages to be there before St Mary's and outwit them. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, for me, the time travel (and yes I know they don't call it that), which I still enjoyed, didn't make up for the overwhelming feeling of deja-vu. I struggled to start this and that feeling never really went away. I read a review which said the last 30 pages made the book for them, sorry I can't even say that, in fact they raised more questions than anything else.

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

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Review: Escape to the French Farmhouse

Escape to the French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm torn by this novel, the grumpy cynical side of me says this is a typical rose-coloured glasses view of living in a foreign country where the locals are only too happy to help out a complete stranger, just because they smile and attempt to speak the language. Even the attempts at showing that not everything is picturesque is done in a soft-focus way.

And yet the other half of me, the one that wells up when she sees a 99 year old man walking round his garden to raise money for the National Health Service, tells the cynical side to back off bi-yatch because we loved this. The chance to start a new life, albeit at the eleventh hour, in rural Provence, France against a backdrop of lavender (even though I can't stand the smell of the stuff) comes to Della just as she realises her marriage to Ollie is over. As he returns to the UK, as so many expats do after only a short time, Del chooses to stay. Del and Ollie's life in Provence had been about eating at the fancy bistro and meeting the other expats in the pub for a quiz night, it had nothing about becoming part of the local community. On her own Del quickly makes friends with a young man at the local brocante (half junk shop, half antiques shop, half flea market - hey, I'm an accountant I can make numbers do whatever I want), the local estate agent and a local restauranteur and her mission to find a new career to pay the mortgage on the crumbling French farmhouse they bought leads her to start baking biscuits and cakes infused with the local lavender.

This was feel-good stuff, the sort of novel where everyone is friendly and helpful, the only nasty people are the British expats who don't see the irony of trying to push people out 'who don't belong' in their idealised version of Provence The descriptions of the food that Del bakes are really mouth-watering (despite the addition of lavender) and I am only sorry that the ARC did not have the nine pages of recipes which are promised for the final book.

Overall, if you are looking for an escapist romance where the sun always shines and you change your life on a whim this is definitely the novel for you. It's warm, gentle, life-affirming and just the sort of thing to read on the beach (or in lockdown) or even on a cold winter's day when the idea of sunshine and warmth seems a distant memory.

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

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Review: Wolf's Curse

Wolf's Curse by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Conclusion of this two part novel.

So, at the end of the last book, (view spoiler)[Logan and Kate Danvers, werewolf twins and their friends had been attacked by half-demon children at their future leaders Summer camp. Together with Holly the witch, Mason the vampire, Allen the witch, and Elijah the other werewolf, they escape into the forest. Attacked by a demon and her hell hounds they take refuge in a creepy cottage which clearly belongs to a dark witch. And (hide spoiler)]our plucky group of teenagers were alone in the woods.

The action in this concluding half (although to me it felt much longer and more substantial than the first half) is almost relentless. There are tricksy bargains with demons, a Hansel and Gretel feel about the creepy cottage, some very earnest discussions of sexuality in all its forms which (as others have said more eloquently and from a more personal perspective) felt a little forced and almost too Pc (eg the black kid, the gay kid, the kid who has been bullied by their so-called friends, the kid who isn't sure, etc). In addition, I don't think there is anyone who isn't/hasn't pretended to be someone/something that they aren't.

Putting all that aside, this was a supernatural romp akin to a cheesy teenage horror film from my youth and I loved it. There, it was fun and fast-paced and I got to see Derek and Chloe and Paige and Savannah again (yey). This is definitely YA/NA but hey, who cares if you enjoy it.

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Review: Sunny Days and Sea Breezes

Sunny Days and Sea Breezes by Carole Matthews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jodie Jackson has left her husband and her high-flying interior design job in trendy Shoreditch and retreated to her brother's newly renovated houseboat on the Isle of Wight. What she craves is peace and quiet, a time to reflect and heal her metaphorical wounds, instead she gets a loud, colourful cleaner called Marilyn, a nextdoor neighbour who likes to carve with a chainsaw and a guy who pretends to be a statue.

It seems that what Jodie wants isn't what she really needs, soon the stresses and strains of her life in London are replaced by yoga on the beach and the Isle of Wight festival, but just as her life seems to be turning around her old life comes a-calling.

I enjoyed this novel, not least because I think this is the first novel I can recall reading which is set on the Isle of Wight. However, I thought it was also very predictable. But definitely a lovely summer romance read.

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Review: Asking for Trouble

Asking for Trouble by Amy Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So difficult to decide how to categorise this novel.

Della was rescued from an abusive marriage by her half-brother, Credence Colorado's policeman Arlo. She has spent the last three years living in his shadow and having therapy and finally she feels she might be ready to start dating.

Arlo's best friend Tucker owns the local bar, LumberJack's, which is frequently just shortened to Jack's. Over the past few years Della has spent many an evening propping up the bar, initially drinking too many Pina Coladas, one of the few places she felt safe. Lately Della has had some inappropriate feelings about Tuck, a guy eleven years older than her, but that is what has spurred her to explore the idea of dating.

Tucker can't believe Della is brave enough to try dating, but he's horrified that she's using Tinder and seems unable to spot the douchebags. What starts as being her wingman weeding out the jerks turns into teaching her to drive and then acting as a pseudo-chaperone on her Tinder dates. Then after one steamy, drunken kiss Della asks Tucker if he would be her sex and dating guru - just in case anything triggers any bad memories, she trusts Tucker and knows he will take things slowly.

This could have been a best-friend's-little-sister slash dating-guru romance if it wasn't for the edge given by Della's previous history. It is certainly verrrrry different to the two previous books which have been far more Goldie Hawn-esque romantic comedy. Which isn't to say that this doesn't have its funny moments. What with octogenarian sex lives and a visit to a sex shop there are definitely some signature Amy Andrews laugh-out-loud moments, but they act as light-relief to the slow-burn of Della's sex-life.

I really liked this, a broken but plucky heroine and a gruff but tender-hearted hero having secret liaisons and sex lessons and falling in love. My only criticism? I want Arlo and the erotic novelist's romance and I want it now!

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

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Review: A Secret for a Secret

A Secret for a Secret by Helena Hunting
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Two people meet in a bar, both feeling incredibly low, what follows is an out-of-character one-night stand, until six weeks later when she turns out to be his general manager's daughter.

Ryan is almost pathologically a rule follower, he drives five miles below the speed-limit, dresses like a summer camp leader, drinks milk with his meals, and is focused on his hockey career. Until a vengeful ex spills family secrets he really didn't see coming.

Queenie has been drifting through life, she's given up on several college courses, got fired from several catering jobs and is reduced to living in her father's guesthouse and working as his assistant. Her mother abandoned them when Queenie was just a baby, unable to cope with bringing up a baby when she was only a teenager herself. When Queenie does speak to her mother theirs is not a healthy relationship.

This series is a bit of a see-saw for me, couldn't finish the first one, loved the second and in two minds about this one. I think my issues are with Queenie's character, she is so bold and outspoken in her sex life yet so insecure and suffering from feelings of inadequacy in most other areas of her life - the two sides of her didn't seem to belong to the same person. Similarly, I think for this to have been a successful opposites-attract romance Ryan should have been too regimented in sticking to the rules, too uptight, maybe missing out on something at work because he couldn't colour outside the lines. Instead, he was just this amazingly sweet guy, thoughtful, caring, polite and so when Queenie persuaded him to cut loose it was actually to do something potentially detrimental to his career.

However, not to be all negative-Nelly, there were things that I did like. Queenie's relationship with her father was sweet, her interactions with the other WAGs were fun and their children were adorable. There were a lot of 'drama' plot lines which kept the novel pacey and helped to tie this book into the previous ones. There was also a surprise pot twist that I didn't see coming, so that was good.

Helena Hunting knows how to write a fast-paced, engaging romance, sometimes her characters work for me and sometimes they don't - but I keep reading them anyway.

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

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Review: Woo Me

Woo Me by Karina Bliss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Three best friends, one in love with a man who doesn't see her that way, one whose husband cheated on her with a series of women and one whose boyfriend has announced he is getting back together with his ex-wife and wants her (the girlfriend) to quit her job as it makes his ex-wife uncomfortable that they work together!

To cheer themselves up they decide to attend the local Outback Bachelor and Spinster Ball. Our heroine Jen (she with the boyfriend who is getting back together with his ex-wife) gets double-dared to wear a cow costume to the ball by her friends (mainly to stop one of her other friends from wearing it).

I had thought I had read this book, but perhaps I had read one of the other novellas in the trilogy, Jen finds it oddly freeing to hide behind a costume which hides her face, so many people assume it's a man inside the costume, one man in particular catches her eye - the guy checking IDs at the door.

Ex-Special Forces soldier Logan Turner was expecting to be a guest at the ball, right up until his sister volunteered him for security duties. He had doubts about admitting the guy in the cow costume but it was wearing a black tie so he let it slide. Now every time he looks round the cow seems to be in the middle of some kind of bother. The woman in the cow suit might be a magnet for trouble but she's also kind of cute and feisty.

Romance over one night, but since Jen is going to New Zealand for a job, is there a future for Logan?

This was a cute, short, fun read and a Kindle freebie at the moment.

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Review: Yours to Keep

Yours to Keep by Lauren Layne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Carter Ramsay is about to be splashed all over Citizen magazine as its Man of The Year, unfortunately he's also broken his arm and got some serious damage to his shoulder which may mean an end to his career as a professional baseball player. Bribed to return to his hometown by his twin sister with the lure of his high-school sweetheart, who herself is returning after her divorce from a Hollywood film director, Carter is feeling a bit sorry for himself.

Enter Olive Dunn, who lives in the house next door to the place Carter has rented for a few months while he recuperates. Olive has always marched to the beat of her own drum and she doesn't let other people define who she is. When she and Carter get roped into organising their school's ten year reunion they have a friendly bet to see who has the harder job, organising a party or playing a game for a living.

Olive isn't the ethereal, petite, model-type that Carter has dated in the past, she's brash, interfering, organising and strong. But as thy spend time together friendship turns into something else. But when Carter's first love returns to town will a decade's-old promise change everything.

Who doesn't love a small-town high school reunion romance? Especially when this time its the Prom King and the high school nerd. This was a break from Lauren Layne's more typical stylish New Yorker romances and I loved the slower pace, the gossipy town, the interfering family, the minutiae of small town life. And yet … I can't help feeling it lacked a bit of oomph, it was cute like a Hallmark movie but maybe (whispers) Carter and Olive were just too nice?

Overall, a cute slice of small town romance, makes you feel good and fun to read.

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

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Review: Maybe One Day

Maybe One Day by Debbie Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to start? First, while I really enjoyed this, it is not your typical Debbie Johnson novel which really threw me because I kept expecting the novel to be something it isn't.

Jess returns to the family home after her mother's funeral and discovers that for the past 17 years her parents have deliberately hidden letters and cards from her first love, Joe, addressed to her. Her sense of betrayal is only surpassed by her need to find Joe, to assure him that she didn't ignore him, to see if the spark is still there.

Using Joe's cards and letters Jess, her cousin Michael, and one of Joe's friends Belinda travel from place to place, piecing together Joe's life and the people he met along the way.

This vaguely reminds me of the film P.S. I Love You, mainly I suppose because Joe leaves a series of letters for Jess. We also see flashbacks to when Jess and Joe first met, and the events that led to them being separated.

I don't want to say too much more because the journey is part of the experience with this novel. It's sad, and uplifting, funny and poignant, touching and charming, different from Debbie Johnson's normal style but engrossing nonetheless.

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

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Review: Boyfriend Material

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

This is another one of these books that everyone is talking about that actually turns out to be worth the hype. Now I'm old enough to remember reading Bridget Jones's Diary when it was first published and this gave the same sort of vibe. It's fresh and funny and cute and totally different to all the other stuff out there - which BJD was at the time.

So our hero and narrator Lucien O'Donnell is what we'd call a z-list celebrity, famous only because he parents were famous back in the 1980s and his father is now a judge on a Saturday night talent show (think X-Factor or The Voice). After his ex sold him out to the tabloids Luc has mainly just been binge-watching series on Netflix and snuggling under the duvet in his pigsty of a flat, but drawn out by his friends to a party he overreacts to an overture from a guy and then gets papped falling over in the street, which the tabloids translate into drunk and out-of-control. Worse, Luc works for an unfashionable charity (I won't spoil the surprise) and some of its more conservative donors have pulled their funding because of his dubious lifestyle choices (its not the gay thing, oh no (eye-roll), its the drugs and the booze etc). In the fashion of all romantic comedies, Luc decides the only way to get the donors back is to be seen with a sensible, respectable boyfriend.

Enter Oliver Blackwood, handsome, clever, gainfully employed, obsessively tidy, and a friend-of-a-friend, pity he dislikes Luc intensely. But the guys come to a fake-relationship agreement, Oliver will rehabilitate Luc's image, and attend his upcoming charity dinner, if Luc will accompany Oliver to his parents' ruby wedding anniversary party.

What ensues is a funny, clever, charming romantic comedy - thoroughly enjoyed every second of this and loved Luc and Oliver, such a cute couple.

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 Last Protector

The Last Protector by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A friend of mine recently recommended this series as he knows I enjoy the C.J. Sansom Shardlake series so when I saw this ARC available for request on NetGalley I immediately clicked the button.

Despite not having read the first three books I found it quite easy to follow the plot which relates to Charles II, the Duke of Buckingham and Richard Cromwell (son of Oliver and the Last Protector of the title).

Our hero/detective James Marwood is occasionally required to act as a spy for the King. His master, Joseph Williamson, the Under Secretary of State to Lord Arlington and Lord Arlington are desperate to find evidence (cough, manufacture) against the Duke of Buckingham and send James to spy on a duel between Buckingham and Lord Shrewsbury, which leaves one man dead and Lord Shrewsbury seriously injured.

Our heroine, Cat Hakesby, is married to an elderly architect and seems to be prospering when she runs across an old acquaintance, Elizabeth Cromwell, a meeting which turns out to be anything but coincidental. Drawn against her will into intrigue involving her husband, Buckingham and the Cromwells, Cat's world collides with James' (and not for the first time I understand).

Based on certain historical facts Andrew Taylor has woven a gripping tale of plots, favours and the sheer wretchedness of life for women, servants and the underclass. Learn about the Bawdy House riots, the half-life of the last Protector, the mazer-scourers, and how absolutely foul people can be to others.

A cracking read, I will get the previous books and read them shortly!

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

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Review: Pippa's Cornish Dream

Pippa's Cornish Dream by Debbie Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another charming feel-good romance from Debbie Johnson.

Pippa gave up her dreams of Oxford to look after her siblings and her parents' holiday rental business after they were killed in a car accident when she was only 18 years old. Three years later she is shocked to find that her latest guest is a crush from when she was 7 years old, but Ben has a secret that he is trying to hide from her.

Ben might have a secret but he's gorgeous looking, helps out with the children and the farm and doesn't mind getting his fancy city clothes all mucky - what more could a woman want?

Debbie Johnson weaves romance, tragedy, comedy and angst so easily that this book felt more like a novella, I could easily have read more about Ben and Pippa's romance.

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Review: Beach Read

Beach Read by Emily Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What happens when a romance writer challenges a 'serious' writer to swap genres?

January Andrews is a fairly successful writer of women's fiction, but ever since the death of her father she has been lost in a sea of grief and anger, especially when she discovers he had a secret life. A year ago she had a perfect life: sexy boyfriend; happily married parents; and a successful career. Now none of those exist except in her memories and she has come to her father's secret beach house love nest to write her overdue fifth novel.

Unbeknownst to her, January's beach house is next door to Augustus (Gus) Everett, a writer of dark highbrow novels and also her college rival, formerly known as Sexy, Evil Gus or SEG for short. Thrown together in a small town January and Gus snipe at each other, he thinks she's all rainbows, unicorns and happy endings whereas she thinks he churns our dark and dreary worthy novels. Both of them are suffering writer's block so January challenges Gus to a bet, who can write the more successful novel in the other's genre?

I've read this plot device before, or seen it as a Hallmark movie, but this is nothing like those stories. January is struggling to come to terms with her father's secret life, Gus has his own demons. Gus is researching for a book about a cult which involves interviewing relatives of people in suicide cults and survivors of a fire which destroyed another cult. It's deep, and grown-up, and funny, and sad, and sweet, and small-town, and a wonderful opposites attract romance.

I loved every second of this rollercoaster novel and January and Gus were such vivid, rounded characters it was a pleasure to see them reframe their teen years and events closer to home over the course of the novel.

My first novel by Emily Henry and I loved it, look forward to reading more by this author.

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

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