Review: Rise of the Fallen Court: An addictive fantasy romance you need for 2024 inspired by the fairytale of Rapunzel!

Rise of the Fallen Court: An addictive fantasy romance you need for 2024 inspired by the fairytale of Rapunzel! by Lilly Inkwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Did I love it or hate? Did I even understand it? I don't know.

Blanche is King Etienne's sister. She has the ability to enter other people's minds while they are sleeping and rummage around their memories. Their society is very misogynistic, men from the Red Kingdom who have magic are taught to use it for attack and defence whilst women are taught to sue their magic for domestic purposes (eg filling wells with water), and women cannot ascend to the throne or hold power. Blanche's magic is very rare, there hasn't been another mind-walker for hundreds of years, and is a closely guarded secret.

But gradually Blanche comes to realise that her brother is using her gift to identify people who oppose his reign and then torture and kill them, so she tries to actively thwart him by both encouraging a distant cousin to build up an army to defeat Etienne and by warning dissidents before she 'informs' on them. For this trespass she is exiled to Mora's Tower in the middle of nowhere and the head of the magic school binds her powers. But deep in the forest, accompanied by other disenfranchised young women who have displeased their families, Blanche begins to ferment revolution.

Initially I thought my confusion with this book was that it was the second book in a series, but having read the blurb for the first book it appears to be nothing to do with this one (albeit it might be set in the same world). Then I thought the confusion was because the book jumps back and forth in time (and I never read the headers of chapters) between now, when Blanche was at court, and various times at Mora's Tower. But now I've finished I suspect that this could have been an epic fantasy (what is going on with the Blue Kingdom and the Green Kingdom) but not all of it made it to the finished book and so there is a whole load of back story/side story that we don't know, and what is that epilogue all about? Ah, I've just read a review by someone who read the first book and apparently this book is set 44 years before the first one - so apparently the epilogue made sense to them.

Fascinating characters, interesting world building, vague similarity to Rapunzel, confusing. I also felt it went on too long (without explaining how the pieces fit together), I was ready to finish reading a good hour or two before it ended. But I am intrigued as to the other book(s) in the series.

So I veered between a two star and a four star, so plumbed for the middle of the road three stars.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: A Skye Full of Stars

A Skye Full of Stars by Sue Moorcroft
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Warning - there may be spoilers for the first book in the series.

And now the turn of the middle sister, Ezzie Wynter. As a reminder, the three Wynter sisters were all adopted (separate families) and had a loving childhood until their adoptive parents were killed in a freak accident. Ezzie and her younger sister Thea live and work on Skye for the wealthy Swedish Larson family at Rothach Hall. After the old manager was sacked, Ezzie has stepped up to manage the Hall and has been reading/watching YouTube videos on how to manage an estate (most of which doesn't really apply). As a young woman Ezzie was a bit of a party girl, something which could have had serious consequences when she was involved in an accident. Thea took the blame and has been hounded by it ever since, a secret she and Ezzie have kept from their older sister Valentine.

Ezzie is surprise when Grethe Larson, the matriarch of the family, and her son Mats turn up unexpectedly, with Mats' two small children, several weeks before Christmas and announce that they are staying until the rest of the family join them for the Christmas break.

Mats has a lot to deal with, comforting his children while their mother has left them to spending the holidays yachting around southern Europe with her new boyfriend, looking after his mother and trying to understand why she has come to Skye alone, trying to balance childcare with being the CFO of a global fish export business, and his attraction to Ezzie. Unfortunately, he is also impetuous and eager to solve problems, which means he has trodden on Ezzie's toes more than once by unilaterally making decisions.

But the path of true love never did run smooth and since Mats lives in Sweden and Ezzie lives on Skye can this ever be more than holiday romance?

I enjoyed this, ut I felt it was all too predictable and just a wee bit too safe. I never had any doubts about how it would end, not even a slight concern about things would be resolved.

Prediction. (view spoiler)[I predict Valentine and the builder will be the third couple once she dumps her snobby husband Gary. (hide spoiler)]

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: You're the Problem, It's You

You're the Problem, It's You by Emma R. Alban
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Robert 'Bobby' Mason is the second son, his older brother Albert 'Albie' is Lord Mason recently married to Meredith who is expecting their first child. Bobby's cousin Gwen (one of the MCs of the previous book in this series) is in a relationship with Beth, who is Lord James Demeroven's cousin. Bobby and Albie's uncle (and Gwen's father) is Dashiell, Earl of Havenfort, just to make life complicated Dashiell has married Beth's mother. Lord Havenfort is trying to pass a bill in the House of Lords requiring doctors to have received some kind of medical training and he has enlisted Albie and James' help which maks Bobby (who doesn't have a seta in the House of Lords) feel excluded. Meanwhile, James is fighting to stay upright under the yoke of his stepfather's ire and caustic tongue.

As a consequence of all the above, Bobby and James are thrust into each others' company more often than they would like, especially since James had a crush on Bobby when they were at Oxford together, although luckily Bobby had no idea and doesn't recognise James at all.

Unfortunately, both james and Bobby fall foul of Lord Raverson, who likes to sleep with men and then blackmail them. Despite their differences they need to work together to get out of his grasping clutches.

Full disclosure, I read about a third of this, gave up, and then restarted several months later. My biggest problems were firstly the incestuous (figuratively speaking) relationships which made it difficult for me to work out who was who (especially since people were often called by several names eg Bobby, Robert, Mason etc), and secondly that they didn't seem to be any difference between Bobby and James' voices as each chapter was from alternating POVs but not a lot changed.

Overall, I just found it hard to keep the characters straight and there wasn't enough historical detail to really give me a sense of exactly when this was set (late 1850s apparently), although again that may be because I I don't have sufficient historical knowledge to know that the Medical Act (which was a real thing) was passed in 1858.

It was okay but I wouldn't go out of my way to read others in the series.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Slough House

Slough House by Mick Herron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the first test of Diana Taverner's external financing of discreet operations, she has financed the hit on a GRU team who came on to British soil to assassinate one of their own and managed to kill an innocent British citizen as well. But very soon Lay Di realises that those who lay down with dogs get up with fleas and she is soon snared by the obnoxious BoJo lookie-likee Peter Judd and his right-wing media tycoon friend Damien Cantor who now believe the First Desk dances to their tune.

In other news, Slough House has been wiped from the Park's digital records in a fit of spite by Lady Di. Luckily for the Slow Horses the wipe doesn't affect deep systems like payroll. But with significant losses recently everyone is feeling a bit paranoid, which isn't helped when they discover they are being tailed. Oh and a couple of former Slow Horses are found dead in questionable circumstances. Are these two things linked? Is Jackson Lamb going to make a lot of very offensive remarks? Well yes of course. Oe of my favourite zingers was Lara Crufts.

Unless I am being particularly dense I didn't see any instance of Mick Herron trying the old bait and switch that I have complained about so bitterly in the last two books, which was nice. I had higher hopes for Roddy but he is descending into his own fantasyland where he thinks he's better than James Bond and Jason Bourne rolled together LOL.

Overall, loved it and am trying to stop myself from immediately buying the next one just because its payday.

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Review: Coming Home to Starr's Fall

Coming Home to Starr's Fall by Kate Hewitt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Laurie Ellis has never really put down roots, or felt at home. Given up for adoption at birth she bounced around the system until she aged out, since then she's had an unremarkable job, lived in a pokey New Jersey apartment, and never really made any real friends. However, an unexpected legacy allows her to fulfil her dream of opening a pet shop and bakery (for the animals) and she has chosen the small town of Starr's Fall, not least because her birth mother gave it as her home town. Maybe, just maybe, she might find some clues to her family.

Starr's Fall is off the beaten track, and like most small towns its main street is suffering from the pervasive influence of online shopping so the opening of a new store is a blessed relief, even if the concept of a pet bakery is a bit 'out there'.

Whilst most of the townsfolk are welcoming, if not encroaching, Laurie's nearest neighbour, who owns the bookshop opposite is downright rude and unfriendly. Joshua Reilly escaped Starr's Fall for New York and a life as a composer, until his father's death forced him to return and run the family bookshop. His fiancee broke up with him by text, he hates the small town knowing his business, and he's not overly fond of selling books.

This was super sweet and has Hallmark movie written all over it. Whilst there is some dramatic tension, overall it was too sweet for me. Others will love it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Apprentice to the Villain

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Evie Sage is assistant to The Villain, aka Trystan Maverine. She's all sunshine and tweeting birds like Snow White or Pollyanna while he's all disembowelled enemies and getting interns to fight to the death on a slow Monday morning.

The book starts with King Benedict having captured The Villain, somehow magically supressing Trystan's death magic, and being very evil (think the prince in The Princess Bride). Can Trystan's Malevolent Guard plan a daring rescue?

To recap on the characters, there's Evie and her little sister Lyssa, their father sold them out to the King and pretended to be sick for years so that Evie would work to support the family. Trystan has a fearsome HR manager Becky, a frog with a crown called Kingsley (who is really an enchanted man), an ogre who makes cakes and sweets, a beast master called Blade who looks after two magical creatures called guvres and a dragon called Fluffy.

Basically, smash together the creatures and magic from Harry Potter, a little bit of folklore of Stardust, the aforementioned The Princess Bride and maybe a bit of Shrek, and a soupcon of Lothaire.

Evie's in love with her evil overlord, Trystan's in love with his sweet innocent assistant. They need to foil Benedict's evil plans, find Evie's mother, save magic, etc, etc, etc.

I did really enjoy this ... but in an effort to be clever and twisty there seemed to be a lot of people not really being dead, pretty much everyone is in disguise, and sometimes there needs to be a lot more progression between scenes rather than just abruptly launching into the next adventure, because it feels disjointed.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Start of the Story: A BRAND NEW beautifully uplifting romance from Jane Lovering for 2024

The Start of the Story: A BRAND NEW beautifully uplifting romance from Jane Lovering for 2024 by Jane Lovering
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rowan Thorpe collects folklore, she's even got a grant to collect folklore local to her home in Yorkshire, much of which centres around the Fairy Stane which is said to guard the entrance to fairyland/keep the little people trapped underground. She lives alone in a small cottage on the moors.

Then one day her academic research is rudely interrupted by an impossibly handsome Irish historian (the sworn enemies of folklorists). Connor O'Keefe has come across to Yorkshire to explore whether there may have been an ancient Roman town on the moors and he is convinced the Fairy Stane is the key.

Despite her better judgement, Rowan agrees to let Connor use her spare room, since he doesn't drive and there are no B&Bs close to the Stane. Rowan finds herself opening up to Connor, in return Connor shares his own reasons for leaving Ireland.

This didn't really work for me. I failed to see what Connor found so interesting about Rowan, he seemed to fall for her from the start - why? There were also a few historical vignettes which were randomly inserted and interrupted the story. I now know why they were put there but frankly they didn't add anything for me.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Look What You Made Me Do

Look What You Made Me Do by Amy Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ella Lucas escaped her bigoted small-town and her mother's less than squeaky-clean profession. She's Principal of Deluca High School, but things are looking bleak because student numbers are falling and the district wants to close the school. She's going to need a miracle. Two years ago she buried her mother and discovered she had a teenage half-brother, oh and she might have propositioned local bad boy Jake Prince.

Jake lived in the same small town, his Dad was a drinker and a gambler, so he knows exactly how Ella feels, he got out by virtue of playing football (American), but was booted out at the height of his career after a scandal. Co-incidentally, he's recently bought and refurbished Ella's favourite bar where she meets her friends after a hard day.

When Ella's friend recognises Jake he suggests they could get Jake to set up a football team at the school, if the team does well the district would find it difficult to close the school. At first Jake is reluctant, until he discovers that Ella is Principal of Deluca school where his friend Trish's daughter also attends - he knows she loves the school and he will do what he can to keep it open. After all, what else has he got to do with his time and his money? It doesn't hurt that Ella still has that smokin' schoolteacher look either.

If you love a small-town, opposites attract, plucky underdogs, romance then this is the one for you.

I understand that this is a rewrite of an Australian rugby story first published a decade ago.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Christmas at the Board Game Cafe

Christmas at the Board Game Cafe by Jennifer Page
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

It's Kate's turn for romance, the marketing guru who has helped the others launch their businesses, she might look like she's got it all but really all she wants is a family. Unfortunately she seems to have a habit of picking guys with all-consuming hobbies like fishing, or golf, and after witnessing her mother's loneliness as her father spent each and every day playing with his transistors in their garden shed, she knows she doesn't want a man like that.

When her friends start complaining that the rise of Airbnb is putting their businesses at risk, because the visitors don't come to the village in the cold months and there isn't enough custom to keep them afloat Kate comes up with a novel idea, create a real life advent calendar featuring window displays of local businesses. Each night in December they will unveil a new window, hopefully generating lots of publicity and bringing in visitors. There willa lso be a walking map so visitors can visit each window in turn.

Meanwhile, Kate is faced with not one but two possible suitors, the one who looks good on paper, and the one that got away.

This is exactly what I have come to expect from this series, a fell-good romance set against a charming Yorkshire village.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Fall-Out

The Fall-Out by Sophie Ranald
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 44%.

Naomi is married to Patch (Patrick) with two small children. She and three friends meet every month and chat on WhatsApp most days. They met while watching their respective other halves play football and while some of the other halves have been and gone, the Girlfriends Club remains constant.

The story opens with the friends preparing for the funeral of a close friend, as the group struggle to come to terms with their grief they are dealt another bombshell when a former friend, Zara, turns up at the funeral.

Zara has always been effortlessly glamorous, sophisticated, jet-setting around the world for work. Oh, and she was the one who was dating Patrick originally.

Zara's returns seems to fracture their tight-knit group, suddenly she's meeting up for drinks with individual members of the group, popping round to see Patch's mother, etc and Nami begins to feel increasingly isolated as the once busy WhatsApp group falls suspiciously quiet. Is Zara trying to ostracise Naomi? Is she trying to win Patch back?

This had Shari Low vibes, complete with flashbacks to when the five women were all still friends. Unfortunately I have fallen out of love with the way Shari Low keeps the reader n tenterhooks the entire book only for the 'reveal' to be a let down and I could see this going the same way. Also, TBH I didn't find Naomi a very likable character (or Zara) so I was rooting for Patch to go off with someone else LOL.

Anyway, I'm nearly halfway through and its just Naomi's insecurities swirling around and around so I'm giving up.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: & Then They Wed

& Then They Wed by Riya Iyer
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 37%.

Rian Shetty, up-and-coming chef, lives with his grandmother, Nanamma. He has no time for love or romance while he strives for those Michelin stars. Then his Nanamma springs an unwelcome surprise in the form of a houseguest, Dr Aditi Krishnan who has come to the city for a new job and to leave behind her disastrous love life. Despite his protests initially, Rian is soon smitten with Aditi but would it be crass to make a move while she's a guest in his house?

I was enjoying this, and then suddenly Aditi is asking Rian to teach her how to kiss and then they move onto safe words!!! I find the blushing virgin act hard to stomach, there is so much information in books and online these days (and was 40 years ago when I was a teenager) that asking to be taught feels fake. I tried to carry on but it seems like this is going to be a thing so I'm giving up at 37%.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Rom-Commers

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aspiring writer Emma Wheeler is beside herself with joy when her ex (now a fancy schmanzy LA agent) asks her to help famous screenwriter Charlie Yates polish up a romantic comedy script. Unfortunately when she arrives, it turns out that she may have been oversold the role, Charlie doesn't know she's coming and he definitely doesn't want her help. Rather ungraciously Charlie agrees to let Emma stay the night in one of his guest bedrooms before flying back to the midwest, where she has been the sole caretaker for her father for the past 10 years after he had an accident while rock-climbing.

Emma and Charlie really are a case of opposites attract, she's a true romantic, knows every rom-com movie off by heart, while he doesn't believe in love ... which is why his rom-com screenplay sucks. Even worse, his rom-com is an update to the all-time classic 'It Happened One Night', just without the romance, or the witty banter, but with added line dancing. Can Emma Obi-Wan Charlie to understand love and romance?

I don't know why, but the title of this book really put me off, so I didn't request an ARC, but waited until it was 99p on Kindle (yeah, I know makes no sense not to request a free book but pay 99p) and I still don't like it. But otherwise I really loved the book.

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Review: The Rom-Commers

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aspiring writer Emma Wheeler is beside herself with joy when her ex (now a fancy schmanzy LA agent) asks her to help famous screenwriter Charlie Yates polish up a romantic comedy script. Unfortunately when she arrives, it turns out that she may have been oversold the role, Charlie doesn't know she's coming and he definitely doesn't want her help. Rather ungraciously Charlie agrees to let Emma stay the night in one of his guest bedrooms before flying back to the midwest, where she has been the sole caretaker for her father for the past 10 years after he had an accident while rock-climbing.

Emma and Charlie really are a case of opposites attract, she's a true romantic, knows every rom-com movie off by heart, while he doesn't believe in love ... which is why his rom-com screenplay sucks. Even worse, his rom-com is an update to the all-time classic 'It Happened One Night', just without the romance, or the witty banter, but with added line dancing. Can Emma Obi-Wan Charlie to understand love and romance?

I don't know why, but the title of this book really put me off, so I didn't request an ARC, but waited until it was 99p on Kindle (yeah, I know makes no sense not to request a free book but pay 99p) and I still don't like it. But otherwise I really loved the book.

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Review: The Grandest Game

The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Where to start? I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it.

When the Inheritance Games ended with the announcement that there would be an annual competition hosted by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four Hawthorne brothers to solve riddles/puzzles and potentially win life-changing amounts of money I was intrigued. However, as someone else commented, all the competitors this year seem to be rich kids - so where's the incentive?

Very much in the style of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, participants can win an entry to the Grandest Game, but there are also invitees. Seven contestants make their way to a private island owned by Avery, including: twins whose father blamed his death on the Hawthornes, an elderly woman who was once on Tobias Hawthorne's legal team, two former contestants from last year's competition who also appear to have their own personal rivalry, a guy who wants to lead a criminal gang and needs the buy-in, and another girl who I can't even remember - did her Dad commit suicide or was it the twins' dad? And that my friends was the problem. Too many characters that didn't really shine out, too many proto-romances/hatings, too many puzzles that didn't really make sense, especially when the group were split into three and they all had different puzzles.

Overall, I want to read the next one but I'm not sure I'll pay release day prices.

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Review: Pansies

Pansies by Alexis Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alfie returns to his home town of South Shields (North of England) for his best friends' wedding. An investment banker, big, muscled and tattooed he looks the typical alpha Northern male, but he's also gay, something that his working class father is having trouble dealing with.

Overwhelmed by the contrast between his glamorous, superficial, wealthy life in London and the grittiness of his home town Alfie leaves the wedding and goes into a typical pub, only to see a delicate man wearing a pink jumper and hipster glasses with pink tips to his hair drinking a glass of rose wine. What starts off as a one-night stand turns strange when Alfie's lover turns out to be a boy he mercilessly bullied at school. He might have bullied Fen back then, but at least Fen knows who he is and is comfortable with himself whereas Alfie has no idea how to reconcile being gay with his inner voice and his ingrained beliefs.

In fact, this book is all about reconciliation for Alfie. Reconciling his career in the South with his home in the North, his relationships with his family and friends, being gay with his instincts, what he likes with what he thinks he should like.

I loved Alfie and I loved Fen, I loved their tentative relationship which is very much two steps forward and one step back, I loved everything about this romance.

I read this nearly four years ago, probably just about when I first discovered Alexis' writing. They have recently rereleased the Spires books with new covers and so I was eagerly looking out for this to drop on NetGalley. Despite me mis-recalling the original book, my review above remains 100% accurate for the updated version. I still love Alfie and Fen and I love their romance. I must reread the previous version at some point. And what is the book I've read where the big tattooed guy is the florist I wonder?

After all these years I still think this and Glitterland are my favourites.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Joe Country

Joe Country by Mick Herron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As someone else said, my least favourite of the series so far.

Lady Di Taverner is now First Desk and practically her first action is to sack the delectable Emma Flyte, who refuses to go quietly to Slough House. There's yet another new member of the Slow Horses, Lech Wicinski (although I don't give much hope for his chances the way the Slow Horses are dying in these books).

River Cartwright's grandfather has died, and his funeral at Spooks Corner is enlivened by the appearance of Lady Di, River's mother and his father Frank Harkness.

Meanwhile, Louisa is contacted by Min Harper's widow - her son has gone missing and she wants Louisa to find him - a job that takes her into the wilds of Pembrokeshire in one of the UK's rare white-outs.

Once again, Mick Herron plays sleight of hand, this time telling the reader at the outset that two Slow Horses have been killed and their bodies burned in a Welsh barn, you are then on tenterhooks the rest of the book trying to work out which ones. I do wonder how this suspense/play on the reader's imagination will play out in the TV series.

I am a bit disappointed with the way the series is progressing. Other than Jackson Lamb, Catherine Standish, and River Cartwright it seems to be a revolving door of Slow Horses (it feels like we lose two a book). Also Lamb is becoming omnipotent, I get that he's a bona fide ex-spy who has forgotten more than most spies have ever learned but even so ... is he ever wrong? Also, in the beginning River seemed to be a potential rising star who had been sacrificed by Lady Di - he showed great insight and seemed to be learning from Lamb (unlikely mentor as he might be), but lately he seems to have degenerated into a hot-headed idiot who only sees what is in front of him. Also, I really liked the two people who were killed off in this and I'm angry that they won't be carrying on.

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