Review: A Christmas Feast

A Christmas Feast by Katie Fforde
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An anthology of stories written by Katie Fforde.

I have to say that while I enjoy a Katie Fforde novel occasionally, I am aware that she has a motif which can become a tad repetitive. Unfortunately, reading a series of short stories brings that into sharp focus, the shorter the story the less I liked it as a general rule of thumb as without character development and background details everything was a bit of a caricature.

However, in the foreword Katie Fforde suggests that these are little snippets to read when you manage to get 15 minutes to yourself in the chaos that is Christmas and I can see that it would work well for that idealised setting where everyone lives in a small cottage in the Cotswolds (or equivalent) and somehow has to conjure up Christmas dinner for 16 people on an hour's notice with a can of peaches and a bottle of cherry brandy. Sorry. my snark is strong today.

Anyway, my advice is read one a day as a palate cleanser or if everyone is grinding you down.

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Review: Sunrise by the Sea

Sunrise by the Sea by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marisa enjoys her life as a births, deaths and marriages registrar until the death of her beloved Italian Nonno sends her into a pit of despair which creates a form of agoraphobia, forcing her to work from home. Her mother thinks Marisa is putting it on, so they have stopped speaking to one-another and her sort-of boyfriend Mahmoud wouldn't notice anything was amiss unless he was surgically removed from his computer games controller. Then her wealthy feckless landlord decides she is no fun anymore (especially since she is too sad to cook him delicious Italian food) and arranges for her to stay in a small holiday cottage owned by his (fabulously wealthy) uncle Reuben on the Cornish island of Mount Polbearne.

Next door to Marisa in the attached cottage is a Russian piano teacher called Alexei, a great big bear of a man who plays discordant modern classical music all night which reverberates around Marisa's cottage because there's no insulation to soundproof the rooms.

Despite living on a small island, Marisa lives like a hermit, ordering food and supplies online and never venturing out of her cottage, until she gets referred to a cognitive behavioural therapist who coaches her via Skype. Although they had never been close, Marisa reaches out to her Italian Nonna looking for someone to commiserate with over her grandfather's death. Through an almost permanently open Skype link the two of them go about their daily business and Marisa's Nonna sends her food parcels from Italy, ripe tomatoes, parmesan cheese, truffles, garlic, etc and encourages Marisa to cook proper food rather than microwaving ready meals. A word of warning, the wonderful food descriptions will have you drooling over your Kindle and longing for some home-cooked italian food.

Marisa comes to know some of the islanders through their piano lessons, which she can clearly hear through the paper-thin walls, and befriends Polly, the mother of five year old twins, who lives in the lighthouse and owns the local bakery. Polly and her husband are struggling to make ends meet so Marisa offers to cook Alexei dinner every night if he will continue giving the twins piano lessons for free.

Gradually Polly and Alexei and Marisa's Nonna help to draw her out of her grief and take baby steps towards life in the light.

I liked this, the combination of a small island and an Italian family had the potential to get uber-cheesy but somehow the randomness of the pet seagull, the gazillionaire and his Ritchie Rich son, the Skype calls, etc kept this the right side of sentimental for me.

All in all, a great book to finish 2021 with.

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Review: House Swap

House Swap by Olivia Beirne
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 41%.

Twin sisters Katy and Rachel live very different lives. Katy is a career girl in the city while Rachel is happily married and living in the countryside, or so they think. Each is jealous of what they think the other has and so they've been embellishing their lives/downright lying to each other. But when they unexpectedly housewap for a week the lies are revealed.

I'll be honest, I couldn't get into this at all so I jumped ahead a way to see if I could get interested in the novel once the plot had developed. Unfortunately, I heartily disliked both Rachel and Katy, their lies were stupid and pointless and I couldn't understand why I was supposed to have sympathy for either.

Sorry, just 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: It’s Not Me, It’s You

It’s Not Me, It’s You by Mhairi McFarlane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Delia Moss' life has fallen apart before her eyes. She proposed to her boyfriend on their tenth anniversary and got a kind of begrudging agreement, but he just wouldn't do all the romantic things she had planned, then to top it off he sent her a text by mistake which was clearly meant for another woman. When tasked to identify and neutralise an anonymous mischievous commentator on the local Council's website rejoicing in the name of Peshwari Naan, Delia attempts reasoning which only escalates matters and results in her resigning her job.

Homeless, jobless and alone for the first time in a decade, Delia agrees to go to stay with her best friend from university, Emma, who is a lawyer in London, thinking at least that way she can't run the risk of meeting her ex and/or his new girlfriend.

Delia soon finds that her CV is less than impressive and whilst her skills might be transferable her lack of experience isn't, the only job she can find is for a PR company run by a shady guy called Max. Delia doesn't know what is worse, her boss' inability to recognise the truth or a certain investigative reporter who is blackmailing her into revealing Max's secrets. The only good thing in her life is thar sadness has revitalised her teenage dream of writing a comic strip featuring a fox detective.

But when her ex-boyfriend begs her to come back Delia must make a decision: stay in London or return to Newcastle, old life or new.

I liked this, it suffered slightly because I literally read it the day after Here's Looking at You, which also features a heartfelt letter towards the end of the book, but otherwise it was funny, sad and a bit of a caper.

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Review: Here's Looking At You

Here's Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aureliana (Anna) Alessi is a history lecturer at UCL and a specialist in the Byzantine period, particularly the Empress Theodora. She might be single but she's loving life, she has great friends and a job she loves. She's trying internet dating but so far everyone she's paired with has been a disaster. When she's invited to a school reunion she can't think of anything more excruciating than mingling with the people who bullied and humiliated overweight Anna as a child, but her friends persuade her it would be a big eff-you to show up looking a million dollars. Despite losing all the weight, the braces and learning how to tame her wild hair, Anna still feels like that Billy-no-mates little Italian girl who was mocked and bullied at school.

When she gets to the reunion no-one recognises Anna or even speaks to her, until her secret crush, nemesis, and the architect of her most humiliating moment, James Fraser, turns up looking just as gorgeous as ever with his evil side-kick Laurence. Laurence might be sixteen years older but he still has a teenage boy's mentality when it comes to women (lots of phwoar get a load of that kind of comments) and he tries, unsuccessfully, to chat up Anna.

James works for an aching hip and trendy digital company, starting to feel his age he wishes his colleagues would turn the volume down on their incessant music, stop gabbing about their antics the previous night and buckle down to do some work, not a very popular opinion. His wife has left him after just a year of marriage, because she feels stifled, leaving him with the house she chose and furnished, together with a grumpy pedigree cat. James has always been the smug married guy at work with a screensaver montage of pictures of him and his wife Eva, he can't bear to tell everyone they've split up. James' firm has been engaged to do the digital marketing and communications for an exhibition at the British Museum on the Empress Theodora that Anna has helped to curate. It's their second meeting and James still hasn't made the connection between Anna Alessi and the girl he humiliated at school.

As someone else says, this book hits the cliché button hard, there's a nagging Italian mother, a bridezilla little sister, a grumpy cat, secret identities, enemies to lovers, fake relationships, and dreadful first dates. Yet I loved it, I just liked James and Anna.

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Review: Five Leaf Clover

Five Leaf Clover by Mark Hayden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

It's been over a year since I read the last book in the series and I have to confess I am just as confused (if not more) about who's who so I would definitely counsel against starting the series with this book LOL.

Some fae and other magick users have been perpetrating despicable crimes using information gleaned from an ancient text called the Codex Defanatus. A book which Conrad Clarke's ancestor thought he had hidden for all time. To stop further foul magic being performed against humans and other lesser fae, Conrad must track down who kept Morwenna Mowbray as a serf for years and performed forbidden magic to give her the appearance and memories of other beings.

Conrad's quest takes him to Ireland to confront two fae queens, he'll have to be extra Conrad to weave his way through the trickery of fae politics when (like Jackie Weaver of 2021 zoom fame) he has no jurisdiction.

Very much like my review of the last book, I feel that this had a cast of thousands, most of which I can no longer distinguish from one another, and seemed like a filler leading towards a final showdown soon.



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Review: Am I Allergic to Men?

Am I Allergic to Men? by Kristen Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

The fifth and final book in the series about the Callaghan sisters turns to the youngest, Lucy. Lucy, I'll be honest, has not been my favourite character in this series, she's loud, brash, sweary, promiscuous, and lacking in basic social niceties. A budding actress she makes do by working as a Disney Princess at children's parties, waitressing and tending bar. At thirty years old she's still living in a flat share/commune, no significant other, and no career.

Then a freak accident involving a costume, a hired bicycle and a collision with a double decker bus lands Lucy in hospital. She wakes with amnesia thinking she's only seventeen years old, with dreams of marring her boyfriend and having a couple of kids.

As Lucy struggles to marry up her memories of over ad ecade ago with today's realities she tries to reach out to people in her past to understand how she got to where she is.

For me the earlier books were more romance driven whereas the last 2/3 have been women's fiction. In this book we see how Lucy might see herself as a failure when compared to her sisters, but they value her for her honesty, her bravery, and her commitment. I have to say, I still don't really love Lucy but I do like her a lot more 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: Dark Legacy: Raven Crawford, Book 4

Dark Legacy: Raven Crawford, Book 4 by J.C. McKenzie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maybe 3.25 stars.

It's six years since the last book. raven has grown into her role as Queen of Corvids. There's also been a whole lot of things going on with her siblings in other series that I DID NOT know about. Bane, the Lord of War is still being a nuisance and has managed to engineer/take advantage of circumstances to bind Raven's younger sister Juni his caomhnóir (aka blood-bound guardian). Now Raven's younger sister is bound to her mortal enemy and is demanding that Raven drop the barriers she erected between the Mortal Realm and the fae realms.

Added to which, the trolls have come to seek Raven's assistance to find a missing troll prince, her brother Mike needs help finding a mortal boy who has been kidnapped, possibly by his mother who is estranged from his father. Also Raven's fox family have suddenly developed strange new physical attributes which are somehow linked to the issue which caused Juni to bind herself to Bane.

I love, love, loved the last book in this series. In retrospect t was clearly the finale of the series and this is the start of a new series. Hence this felt (to me) like scene setting, leading to lots of fun facts at the end of the novel but not really action-packed enough or with enough emotion to carry me along.

This is still a great series and I am definitely interested in where it is going next, but I also don't really want to read Raven eulogising about sex with Cole any more.

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

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Review: The Twyford Code

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Steven Smith gets out of prison after spending eleven years inside for armed robbery and murder. Determined to go straight after a lifetime working for a London gang he tries to reconnect with his son, a maths professor at Brunel University without success. Dyslexic and practically illiterate, he uses an old iPhone his son gave him to record a sort of diary and also interviews with other people. These audio files have been retrieved and transcribed by a computer which sometimes mistakes Steven's London accent so that the words 'must have' is transcribed as 'mustard'.

Steven's criminal life began forty years earlier, he found an old children's book on a bus and took it with him to school, hoping he could sell it and buy some fish and chips. His Remedial English teacher Miss Iles catches him with the book and reads it aloud to the class. The book's author Edith Twyford was an Enid Blytonesque character, her books were beloved of children but loathed by academics as being elitist, racist, sexist, xenophobic and pretty much every other label you care to mention. One day Miss Iles took the Remedial English class on a school trip to visit Edith Twyford's home, Steven's memories of that day are foggy, what happened to Miss Iles? How did five schoolchildren get home? After that day Steven never returned to school and fell in with the notorious Harrison family.

The reader goes on a journey with Steven, through reading the audio files, to discover what really happened that day with Miss Iles with the help of the four other children who were in his Remedial English class. Along the way he discovers that there is a persistent rumour/urban myth surrounding Edith Twyford and her husband that they were variously: German spies sending coded messages in her books to Nazi Germany; English spies sending coded messages to allies; thieves who stole billions in British gold bullion which was supposed to have been shipped to Canada for safe-keeping during WW2; people trying to stop the theft of the gold bullion.

I don't know how I feel about this book. Part of me feels like I've been Keyser Söze'd (from the film The Usual Suspects) because there are so many stories within stories, stories which turn out not to be true, gotcha moments etc. The trouble with this sort of book/film is that once it ends the (this) reader is left suspecting that if they dissected the book carefully it would all fall apart and/or it was all a waste of time.

It was clever, but not for example in the same way as The Eighth Detective which was twisty and turny and made my head hurt but had a structure to it.

Overall, I enjoyed reading it, but I think I would have preferred the less complicated story.

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

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Review: Asking for Trouble

Asking for Trouble by Rosalind James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alyssa Kincaid has always felt like a loser compared to her high-achieving big brothers. After quitting her job in medical sales when her boss told her to push the most expensive, not the best, drugs and do whatever it takes to get a sale and dumping her boyfriend when he was not only unsympathetic but also selfish she is stuck in San Francisco with no job, no home and no boyfriend.

Then her brother's wife suggests Alyssa's sales experience would be a great fit for a role in the charity to which her brother's foundation has just made its first big donation, Project Second Chance. The charity is close to her brother's best friend and business partner Joe Hartman's heart as he was kicked out of home by his mom's boyfriend and spent his teenage years in a bad situation. Luckily he got a full-ride scholarship to Stanford where he met Alyssa's brother Alex.

For fifteen years Joe has been spending the holidays with the Kincaids, treated like a member of the family (although as Joe rightly points out, they might say that but he still has to be on his bets behaviour, no temper tantrums for him), and for all that time he has had a massive crush on Alex's baby sister Alyssa. At first she was too young, then it was bro-code, now he just feels despite his millions (yuck, yuck), he's not good enough for the preacher's daughter.

Alyssa has always wanted Joe, but he's always treated her as a kid sister, it doesn't help that he and her brothers are all so successful while she fails time and again, needing bail-outs and nepotism to get a job.

This book is seven years old and I think time is beginning to tell. Joe's backstory is sooo familiar, seems like the plot to every angsty NA/YA book ever written, and the spanking scene was just too cringe-y for words.

There were some redeeming features. First Joe's reaction/comments on the spanking, hurrah. Second, Joe and Alyssa really had each other's backs 100% and there wasn't that awful moment where one person decides they must part for the good of the other (yawn).

Overall, my score might have been higher if I wasn't in a Grinch-worthy mood about the sex scenes.

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Review: Rogue Alpha

Rogue Alpha by K.N. Banet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series is just so great, not a dud amongst the seven books so far!

Jacky Leon is now werecat liaison for North America and sharing her territory with former Alpha of the Dallas pack Heath Everson together with his werewolf son Landon, his human daughter Carey, and her barmen Dirk and Oliver. Her werecat family are furious that she has chosen to date/love a werewolf and are hounding her (with love) to drop the relationship, suggesting that maybe she wasn't thinking straight after her fiance died and has latched onto the first available male. Added to which, the close bond between Jacky and Carey has begun to weaken as Carey distances herself, an issue compounded when Jacky discovers that Oliver is arranging Carey's birthday party - and no-one asked her for help, the only woman in their circle!

In the middle of Carey's birthday party, a large pack of werewolves attacks Heath's home, they knew it would be coming one way or another but when Heath interrogates the sole survivor it seems the truth is more shocking than they could have imagined.

What I like about these books is that they are action-packed and plot-driven, but no-one is infallible and there is a progression in the underlying relationship between Jacky and Heath. In addition, the secondary characters have their own storylines which also develop.

Overall, a great escapist read, fast and furious, acknowledging the way in which Jacky has developed as a leader.

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Review: Summer Nights with a Cowboy

Summer Nights with a Cowboy by Caitlin Crews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Janie is a live-in geriatric nurse looking after a sprightly eighty-something year old widow called Damaris Gardiner in her big old house in Cold River. Janie has been resolutely friend-zoned by almost every man she's ever met and thinks of herself as an adult Pippi Longstocking, so it's a bit of a shock that the local sheriff Zack Kittredge thinks she's a femme fatale up to no good. Janie thinks she should be outraged at being judged so harshly, but actually she's thrilled that a woman wearing no make-up and sensible slacks with flat shoes could even be considered one iota dangerous.

Zack has always held himself and others to a high standard, when he was eighteen years old he left the family ranch and moved into his own home, leaving his inheritance for a job in law-enforcement. Ever since then there has been a coldness between Zack and his father Donovan, but that doesn't stop Zack from regularly going out to the ranch for Sunday lunch with his family, because that's what an honourable man does. When this flame-haired temptress with the bewitching freckles moves in with his elderly neighbour he's highly suspicious, especially since he can tell she's lying about something. Zack doesn't do relationships, even his flings are far away from Cold River and they are more like business arrangements with women who know the score. Yet every time he tries to shut down his feelings about Janie they just get bigger and messier.

This feels like the end of the Kittredge family saga. We finally discover what has kept Donovan and Zack at loggerheads for so many years, and Zack finally takes that stick out of his butt. TBH I don't think anyone comes out of this well, but that's just my opinion.

I had been waiting impatiently for Zack's book, but as is often the way the great unveiling of the secret was a bit of a damp squib. Also, I've come to the conclusion that writing a series of books about brooding cowboys from the same family just means the family seems highly dysfunctional and in need of family therapy. Even the reasons behind Zack's mother's behaviour sound frankly like some kind of psychological warfare rather than the actions of a rational mature adult.

An enjoyable end (I think) to the series, perhaps those no-good Hills will be the focus of the next series? But didn't quite hit the highs I was hoping for. Closer to my feelings for the second book rather than the emotion-fest of the first 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: The Most Eligible Bride in London

The Most Eligible Bride in London by Ella Quinn
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 56%.

Nate, Viscount Fotherby, thought he was saving his best friend, Lord Merton, from a gold-digging, scheming, fortune-hunter, aided and abetted by an ill-wisher, when he kidnapped Dorie Stern. Unfortunately he almost ruined Dorie's reputation and interfered in a love match. Forced to leave town and rusticate at his family's estate he has since come to see the error of his ways in almost every respect. Formerly a tory he now advocates reform, formerly an absentee landlord he has now become involved in all aspects of his tenants' lives. Assisting a local landowner to find a missing young woman in London he is of assistance to a young lady of quality, who turns out to be Dorie's younger sister Henrietta Stern. Instantly captivated Nate schemes as to how he can effect an introduction to Henrietta given that her family must loath the very sound of his name.

It is Henrietta's second season, last year none of the young bucks took her fancy, this year there are three: Viscount Fotherby, Lord St Alban, and Lord Bolingbroke. VIscount Fotherby shares her taste for rescuing women and children but would her family ever contemplate forgiving him for his past transgressions?

This is only the third book in the series (although I suggest it is a spinoff from another series) but already appears to be laden with back story references. It feels like at least six of Henrietta's friends have just got married/are pregnant/have just given birth and we as the reader are given the story of each romance. I'm over halfway through the book and very little seems to have happened, just one soiree/walk/visit/ride after another with nothing much decided.

I have enjoyed Ella Quinn's books previously but this one missed the mark 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: You Had Me at Chocolate

You Had Me at Chocolate by Amy Andrews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Clementine always wanted to a librarian in her home town of Marietta and she's been very happy. But recently she's been feeling stuck in a rut and the urge to spread her wings so she's got a short-term job in New York and then she's going to do some serious travelling.

Jude was a celebrity chef on a hit TV show (I'm thinking Gordon Ramsay style bad behaviour) until he realised that he was being encouraged into bad and self-destructive behaviours. So he quit his celebrity lifestyle, sold his New York restaurant and volunteered overseas. In a come to Jesus moment he decides what he wants is to open a restaurant in a small town, something like the inns he used to stay in with his parents as a child, where better than rural Montana, home of the little girl he met at Summer Camp all those years ago. Because he's a man, Jude decides nothing could be better than to marry said childhood friend, herself an antidote to all the glamorous models, actresses and wannabes he's dated/married in the past. So he proposes on bended knee in front of half the town!

It seems as though that is that. Jude wants to settle down and live the small town life while Clem is ready to spread her wings, then Clem's mother has a stroke and her bright shiny plans are cancelled. Clem and Jude realise they can help each other. He will cook for her and her father while they travel to visit her mother in hospital, in return Clem will let him stay in her spare room and help him search for the restaurant property of his dreams.

When Clem propositions Jude to help her forget her anxiety over her mother, they agree that this is a one-time thing, but as they spend more time together the lines seem to get a bit blurred.

I liked it but I didn't love it, I just don't think I was in the mood for a sexy Hallmark movie style book TBH.

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

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Review: Immortal's Honor

Immortal's Honor by Rebecca Zanetti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Vampire-Demon Sam Kyllwood is The Keeper, part of the secret ritual to banish the evil Ulrich forever. Since the ritual which made him The Keeper Sam has been plagued by uncontrollable fire and being dragged into other realms by vicious creatures.

Honor McDovall doesn't realise she's an Enhanced human, she just knows she has a special sense about when someone is lying, a skill that she uses in her job as an interrogator with Homeland Security. When a suspected arsonist/terrorist is apprehended Honor is brought in but finds herself in over her head.

I have loved this series but honestly, enough is enough. There is so much infilling of back story and re-introducing previous couples plus furtherance of the overarching plot that the romance is pretty superficial. And that's the real problem, PNR really relies on the reader (well me) investing in the powerful feelings overcoming reason and honestly I didn't feel it. Also, not only did we have the trope of exerting dominance through doggie-style sex and hair-pulling, but also the dominance and physically hurting the woman (oh, yeah, hurts so good). I am just not comfortable with that any more, even in fiction. I truly hope that the next book has a woman who doesn't accept any of that macho BS and literally bitch slaps Garrett (or whoever) into next week when he tries it.

What I want, what I realy, really want (hello, Spice Girls) is a book that drives the overarching plot forwards, maybe Honor finds out about Drake and Paxton' extra-curriculur activities, maybe another male also comes onto the scene (a prophet?) just something other than couple #99 having marginally abusive sex and blowing things up and the plot advancing by miniscule degrees.

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

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Review: Side Effects

Side Effects by L.J. Greene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ally Michels has got a job at a start-up video game developer called Jet Stream Studios which is set to shake-up the industry when its new game is launched. The company was founded by two young entrepreneurs who are as different as night and day. Julian Dannen is blonde and charming, the CEO and frontman, Marcus Abby is more like a wasp at a picnic, although his is the creative mind behind the game. Ally got the job through her uncle Dave, a Venture Capitalist who owns a stake in the business. Eager to prove her worth, Ally pipes up in a huge meeting and earns Marcus' wrath. Unbeknownst to Ally she has acted as a catalyst for a coup for control of the company, her uncle introducing her to the man who will be parachuted in over Marcus' head.

Ally might not know everything that's going on, why is Marcus pretending the game is far less advanced that she knows it is? But she knows that the game is 100% Marcus' baby and no-one works harder than him and his team.

But does Ally really know Marcus, or is he using her just as much as her uncle is?

I really enjoyed this, I had no idea it was part of a series until the bonus chapter which refers to unfinished business between Marcus and Dan so it can definitely be read as a standalone, but I have already bought the first book in the series (featuring Dan).

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

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Review: Scammer Girl

Scammer Girl by Michelle Dayton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What can I say, well-written, cleverly plotted, engaging characters and a few twists along the way.

Jo Harper was destitute after breaking up with her long-term boyfriend and snapping her achilles heel. Homeless and broke she resorted to online romance scamming. Although she sits in a grey area because she only scams married men who are cheating. Now five years later she has a team of four women and a unique concept; her mark meets the girl, but once only in some kind of engineered meet-cute, designed to appeal specifically to the mark. Thereafter they engage via texts and emails, with maybe an occasional videochat - so the guys can't be being scammed because they met the girl right? She has some rules, no politicians or politics adjacent and no-one famous, that still leaves lots of rich cheating guys who are happy to buy a girl a diamond ring or stump up her college tuition.

Then on a makr fishing trip to California Sloan, one of Jo's team, tries to use her initiative, picks on the son-in-law of a high-profile, relentless tech billionaire and follows through rather clumsily, revealing true information about herself instead of a carefully curated persona.

Beyond peeved at Sloan's mistake Jo goes to drown her sorrows at a local dive bar where she meets a cute guy. They get to talking and are really getting along, when Jo realises from some things he said that he is the mark's older brother Jamie March and a famous campaigner for ethical internet behaviour. He saw his brother with Sloan and is mightily angry that his brother is risking his marriage. Sloan has put the entire operation in jeopardy, she's gone after a famous family of tech experts and she's been seen. Not only that, at the airport while discussing the disaster with the girls and how to rectify the issue JO realises that Jamie has been watching and listening to their conversation. Now he knows its a scam and he's seen all the girls.

But with righteous indignation warring with instant attraction can the grifter and the white knight find romance?

Loved it, loved it, loved it.

I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher Tule in return for an honest review.



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Review: Dark Whispers

Dark Whispers by Helen Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

DC Emma Bellamy is the only detective in the Supe Squad, she's responsible for the first Supernatural Summit which is taking place in a London hotel and it's imperative for her professionally but also for Supes in general that the summit is a success. It's been difficult enough to persuade the different Supe factions to come under one roof, now she has to worry about human protestor and a scurrilous gutter journalist who will stop at nothing to get some dirt on the Supes.

Added to which an omega wolf has just returned to London after a decade's banishment and is nearly beaten to death outside Lord Horvath's house, and a random human has decided to run around naked in Central London claiming he's a vampire. Funnily enough, both claim to know something about a mysterious man called The Chief.

Then if things weren't tense enough The Chief is found murdered in the hotel, it could only be one of the Supes - but if word gets out that a human was murdered by Supes, there will never be any peace between humans and Supes.

Yet another engaging, funny and intriguing mystery in this series. Less reliance on Emma's phoenix abilities this time and the identity of the murderer was a surprise - so that's good.

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Review: Safety in Numbers

Safety in Numbers by Sophie Penhaligon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 42%.

Seraphina Ellis received a traumatic brain injury in a car accident which has made interactions with others difficult. Faced with spontaneous choices she panics and so her life has become highly regimented with a daily meal plan, clothing selections and set routines for every part of daily life. her stilted speech and social awkwardness mean that despite her brilliance as a mathematician she has a lowly cubicle job in a tech firm.

Milo Grant is a billionaire CEO of the tech company where Seraphina works, young, handsome and good-looking of course he comes with a bad personality, sacking assistants regularly and shouting/swearing at people.

Seraphina originally interviewed for the role as Milo's assistant but failed the interview. Having seen how Milo bit the head off of the HR woman when she tried to introduce them Seraphina is sort of glad she didn't get the job, even if the alternative is that she has an unfulfilling job and no friends. She even meets him in a lift one day on the way to her cubicle and he makes an unkind joke at her expense.

After firing yet another assistant Milo decides to get the head of HR to trawl their employees qualifications to find someone who can handle the work - surprise, surprise it is the mousey woman from the lift. When she starts work it turns out she is perfect for the role, far better than Milo could ever imagine and he finds the time he spends in the lab with her the best parts of his day.

All this sounds great right? STEM heroine meets flawed billionaire yadda, yadda, yadda.

Sadly, the execution was lacking. First, I got the distinct impression that this had been written as a serial because things were repeated. For example, Milo uses escort agencies because he got his heart crushed and he likes his romance transactional (what a charmer!). The reader gets told this more than once, I'm like I know he's a sleazebag you don't have to repeat it. Similarly, we hear about the girl in the next cubicle to Seraphina who reads out bits from gossip rags more than once as if this is news.

Second, Milo is rude to his employees and thinks that's okay, similarly Seraphina is very scathing about her fellow cubicle drones, who all made an effort to befriend her but she gave them the hard shoulder and speaks ill of them behind their backs (in her head but it totally counts.

Third and finally, the book feels as though it is almost entirely written as interior monologue of Milo and Seraphina, first he thinks about something, then she thinks about something. There's a lot of unnecessary descriptions of her hair and his hair etc, etc.

Overall, I began to dislike both characters so I decided to stop reading.

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

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Review: How to Belong with a Billionaire

How to Belong with a Billionaire by Alexis Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Slightly disappointing end to this trilogy which is like FSoG but better and with an actual plot and likable characters (and 1000% better writing).

Caspain's self-loathing is so strong that it's the only voice he can hear. He leaves Arden (for his own good) because he doesn't like the person (Dom) he is with Arden, instead he's gone back to his passive aggressive ex who is trying to change Caspian into a better man.

Meanwhile, Arden has moved into Caspian's sister's loft apartment (or do we mean derelict warehouse) and is starting to make headway as a journalist.

But the heart wants what the heart wants ...

I would have enjoyed this, but for the sinister cartoon villain figure who makes Jeffrey Epstein look like a choir boy.

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Review: Ancient Vendetta

Ancient Vendetta by Katie Reus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Welcome back to post-apocalyptic New Orleans. Ancient dragons came and laid waste to humanity and finally exposed the supernatural world to the humans. King, half-wolf shifter, is Alpha of the New Orleans pack and his vision has united the other supernaturals behind him. Slowly he is rebuilding a better, more ecologically sound city, in harmony with nature, and has raised the land to reduce the risk of flooding.

Aurora is one of the rarest shifters, a phoenix whose blood had regenerative properties. Having recently escaped from a crazed man who kept her captive for her blood for over a year she is suffering PTSD and fears that she will never trust another male enough to be intimate.

King knows Aurora is his mate, but as the Alpha he has to wait for her to come to him, meanwhile an ancient foe has arisen and wants to kill King. With powers beyond anything King has seen before can he and his allies defeat the vampire and save New Orleans?

Years ago I gave up on most PNR because it was all so same-same (J.R. Ward's 'mine, mine mine' epitomised the predictability of the genre) but there are a few authors that made it through the great PNR cull and Katie Reus is one. And I honestly don't know why, she throws every PNR cliche in the book into her novels and I just nod and smile and say 'yes, yes, yes very good, very good' Maybe it's the fight scenes? Or the epic list of characters? Who knows, I just lurve them and I'm never disappointed.

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

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Review: How to Blow It with a Billionaire

How to Blow It with a Billionaire by Alexis Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The FSoG but better trilogy continues.

Arden St Ives has left Oxford and Caspian has set him up in a Penthouse apartment with an Amex Black card and hot and cold running services (gym, swimming pool, spa, cleaners, food delivery etc). They could be happy but Caspian keeps his past a secret and seems ashamed of his Dom tendencies.

Arden is struggling with his identity as a kept man and what to do with his life, he's comfortable in his own sexuality and wishes that Caspian could be the same. But as he gets drawn into Caspian 's world he discovers that Caspian's ex may not be as ex as he thought.

I enjoyed this but I agree with other reviewers that the push-me, pull-me of the relationship got a bit wearing.

On to book 3.

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