Review: No, We Can't Be Friends

No, We Can't Be Friends by Sophie Ranald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sloane is a successful businesswoman, jointly owning a celebrity PR business with her friend Megan, happily married to Myles, a successful architect. Then one day she discovers what would make her life complete is a baby, but after months of trying it seems like she and Myles are further apart than ever.

Sloane and Myles have decided to totally remodel their house and have brought Bianca in to do the interior design. Unfortunately, Bianca's designs tend towards the award-winning cutting-edge show home rather than the cosy family home that Sloane envisages. Every decision about the house becomes a stand-up row, and Sloane begins to suspect that Bianca and Myles may be more than just colleagues. In her mid-thirties has Sloane left it too late to start again?

I enjoyed this, there are precocious children, aged actresses, reality TV stars, thirsty builders and friends where you least expect them. A solid Sophie Ranald women's fiction/romance.

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Review: Garrett's Destiny

Garrett's Destiny by Rebecca Zanetti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

This tells the story of Garrett Kayrs, nephew of the King of the Realm, vampire-demon hybrid, and member of the Seven. If none of that makes any sense to you then I suggest you start reading one of the earlier books because for me the romance is very much inferior to the overarching storyline about the ongoing war between the Kurjans and the Realm over the fate of Enhanced human females. The Kurjan leader, Ulric, who sacrificed one hundred enhanced females to make himself invincible, was trapped by the Seven in a demon realm but the barriers are weakening and it is only a matter of time before he breaks free.

Destiny Applegate has just left her sheltered life at an exclusive boarding school on a remote island, she runs into Garrett when the man she is with tries pushing her around in a diner, which just happens to be full of Garrett's motorcycle club, the Grizzlies (which is 90% actual Bear shifters). Destiny immediately recognises Garrett as the man of her dreams, a man she has been in love with most of her life, but Garrett suspects that she is a trap set by the Kurjans.

The series arc is driving ever closer to the big showdown and there are a lot of really good reveals in this story. Unfortunately, for me, the rinse-and-repeat nature of the romance is becoming a bit tedious. Every single member of the Seven has to be bossy and force their mate to their will, they always have to be dominant, they always have to display their dominance through spanking (which to me has an icky parental punishment vibe - using your greater strength to punish someone smaller and weaker), there is alway hair-pulling and growling and metaphorical peeing on the woman to show ownership. Honestly I just skim through all the sex scenes as quickly as possible because they are all the same from book to book - I could not tell you in fifteen books if a single male made love in a different way (loads of people are about to prove me wrong). Couldn't just one of them be gentle and respectful, maybe even not sure she could like him? It's all a bit one-dimensional.

Every time I start one of these books my eyes roll at the repetitiveness of the sex and I think, 'this is the one I can't finish, this is where it ends' and then I get sucked into the story arc and carried along until I rock up at the end of the book shouting 'what a ride!'

So, in summary, series arc gets four, maybe four and a half stars, romance gets three, maybe even two and a half stars. Averages out to three and a half stars.

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

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Review: Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble

Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Paris Daillencourt is crippled by self-doubt and anxiety. Despite living rent-free in a glossy London flat that his parents no longer use, with a designer wardrobe, he is lonely and spends most of his time with his cat. A classics student who loves to bake and travelled the world with his wealthy parents as a child, his mouthy Glaswegian flatmate/tenant has secretly entered him into the reality TV show Bake Expectations (basically The Great British Bake-Off).

Despite constantly dripping with tears and fearful of being sent home, Paris is actually doing very well, winning the first week, even though he did smash a fridge door into another contestant's head, accidentally.

The unfortunate other student, Tariq, is a good-looking, beautifully dressed, nail varnish wearing, Muslim student. Together they form a friendship, which could be more if Paris could believe that Tariq actually likes him for himself.

I liked this, Alexis Hall has a knack for showing the reader the characters' vulnerabilities whilst also filling the novel with humour and dreadful baking puns. Having said that, Paris felt awfully similar to a few characters in other books, maybe it's just they have a tendency to write young, damaged, gay men as lead characters?

What made me knock half a star off was what felt like a very rushed ending in terms of Paris' journey. For most of the novel Paris was a guy who would smile across the room at Tariq then agonise that he had embarrassed himself, and then he would stop looking at Tariq in case he had come across like a stalker, then worry he appeared to be giving Tariq the cold shoulder, and basically constantly apologising for everything, including apologising too much. Then bish-bash-bosh he's got confidence and is giving bants with the best of them. It felt too quick, too easy, and too advanced. However, I will confess that I was bone tired as I got to the end of the book so if I missed the long-drawn-out changes in behaviour and relapses forgive me. Also, anyone who cries as much as Paris does in this novel is clearly in need of support.

Overall, like the first book in this series, this mixes a well-known cosy, comic reality TV show with romance and some more serious issues. Can't wait for the next one.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: A Very Merry Bromance

A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Colton Wheeler (country music star) has a one-night stand with immigration lawyer Gretchen Winthrop at their mutual friends' wedding. He was enthralled but she ghosts him and refuses to return his calls for a year.

Gretchen's family own a hugely successful whisky distillery and are looking for a famous person to be the 'face' of their whisky, when they hear that Gretchen knows Colton, they offer her a seat on their charitable foundation in return for approaching him to take the role. Even though she detests her family, Gretchen can't turn down the opportunity to do some real good for her clients, so she accepts the task. Imagine her surprise when Colton says he'll consider it, if she goes on three dates with him.

Gretchen's family are all about appearances, but nothing of substance, so Christmas to her is just a commercial event, whereas Colton is slightly obsessed by all things Christmas and bought a huge house in Nashville just so that he can host his entire family for the holidays. Can opposites attract?

I'll be honest, the Bromance Book Club has grown very stale to me. It's like a kid who keeps repeating the same joke over and over again until you want to scream. I thought the first book was clever, but the concept has become increasingly ridiculous and now there is this other romance which is interwoven with the story (a book which Colton suggests Gretchen reads), it doesn't go anywhere and just confused me when I picked the book up after a couple of days. I just wish Lyssa Kay would write her romances and ditch the Bromance Book Club, that brand of slapstick comedy leaves me cold.

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

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Review: A Cast of Falcons

A Cast of Falcons by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Dr Nell Ward's best friend Persephone (Percy) is getting married in a hurry because the groom's mother is dying of cancer, Percy's parents are bitterly opposed to the wedding, so Nell generously offers to host the wedding at her family's estate, including having both families staying for a few days.

Nell is still dating DI James Clarke, but things are a bit strained because she still has feelings for her colleague Rav and everyone except Nell can see that he has feelings for her. FYI, Rav stormed off to India for six months when he discovered that Nell was actually Lady Helen, fabulously wealthy and a member of the aristocracy and he had no idea.

After a tense wedding, and an explosive wedding breakfast in which Percy's mother slapped the groom, everyone is just starting to wind down for the evening when the groom is seen falling from one of the balconies, did he slip or was he pushed?

This is very much along the lines of a classic golden age country house murder mystery, complete with bigoted Lords, jealous cousins, shady businessmen, and more secrets than you can shake a stick at. The plotting was good and held together well, in hindsight of course it had to be that person. It also answered the question I posed after the first book of how this could be a detective series when Nell's profession is such a niche one and the police would not need to call upon her expertise very often. However, there were a few irritations which brought down my rating.

First, the author has a very odd writing style, switching between first and third-person POV in the middle of a paragraph, one minute the narrator is telling the story and then it switches to Rav or Nell's inner musings without warning, It's the author's style, I noted it in the first book but every time it happened it threw me out of the story, and I had to reread the paragraph to understand it.

Second, Nell and Rav ran amok investigating things in the presence of several police officers, even if one of them was her boyfriend, eavesdropping on discussions, breaking into rooms, etc. All a bit implausible.

Third, the love-triangle was a mistake from the first book, very early on in this book I noted that the only way to resolve it would be for James to die or to turn out not to be the straight-up, honourable man he was portrayed to be, and I was pretty much proved right, so unnecessary.

It will be very interesting to see where this goes next.

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

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Review: Making the Deal

Making the Deal by Shelby MacKenzie
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 20%.

Rayna "Ray" is apparently an entrepreneur, a lawyer, and she's developed some amazing software for law firms which is in great demand. She has been offered a merger with a large law practice which will give her more money, success and power.

Jax is the founder of said large law practice, apparently, he needs this merger to take his business to the next level, but he seems intent on sabotaging the deal. When he meets Rayna he is shocked that she is female (poor little brain can't cope) and does everything in his power to antagonise her, despite her software being in huge demand. Then he abruptly ends their merger discussion after about fifteen minutes and arbitrarily demands that they resume discussions at his home, in the evening, and sets a casual dress code. WTAF?

Instead of calling off the merger and complaining about his unprofessional behaviour, Ray is struck by how good looking he is and how much she wants to kiss him. Like a big ol' schmuck she rocks up to his house like she's going on a date, where he's prepared a romantic dinner complete with candles (RED FLAG) and they kiss FFS.

The next morning, she flip-flops over his unprofessional behaviour and wanting to kiss him again. I just can't even, it's so juvenile and unrealistic. How either of them could possibly have built up their own successful law firms is inconceivable. It also feels very icky to make it seem that this sort of behaviour is romantic or sexy rather than creepy.

I thought I could finish this because I saw that it was quite a short book, but life is too short.

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

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Review: The Quantum Curators and the Missing Codex

The Quantum Curators and the Missing Codex by Eva St. John
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ho hum, where to start?

(view spoiler)[After uncovering the ring of senior Alpha officials looting Beta for profit at the end of the second book (hide spoiler)]Julius and Neith are set to look for the mysterious codex (Leonardo da Vinci’s original design for the Quantum Stepper), oh and King Arthur has come back looking for Excalibur (which Neith liberated after it was thrown in the lake at the start of book one). Arthur is a minor deity trying to get promoted and he is being egged on by notorious tricksters Loki, Lucifer, and Anansi.

Soon Alpha is divided in two, both sections are tasked with recovering the codex, but is Julius the only one to question the way in which the Quantum Stepper works? Why are the Alphas so resistant to the idea that there might be more than two Earths?

I just feel that the books in this series pivot 90 degrees from each other. The first book was an alternate Earth meets National Treasure. The second book was more about uncovering who in the Alpha society was stealing Beta arts for profit (although it seems as though anyone could have whatever they wanted anyway so I didn't really understand that point). This third book brings in a whole load of gods, goddesses and mythical creatures, a civil war, and more alternate earths.

Overall, I'm liking these books less and less as I continue in the series, in fact I started book four and have left it in my TBR pile.

Reading on Kindle Unlimited.

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Review: The Quantum Curators and the Enemy Within

The Quantum Curators and the Enemy Within by Eva St. John
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the first book in this series (thank you Amazon Prime), it was like a budget Just One Damned Thing After Another, or at least it looked like it might be. The basic premise is that there are two alternate Earths: Alpha Earth in which the African nations overthrew the Romans, this has developed along ore peaceful lines, favouring science and development over war; and Beta Earth (ours) which is more primitive and violent, but also produces greater works of art. Alpha has developed time travel to Beta where it specialises in rescuing priceless works of art before they are destroyed/lost forever.

Julius Strathclyde was a Beta Cambridge Professor, academic, and researcher who got drawn into the Alpha world when his best friend was murdered over a priceless Faberge egg and he became acquainted with Neith Salah, an Alpha quantum curator. At the end of the first book (view spoiler)[Neith's partner was shot, her lover turned out to be a traitor, and Julius was pulled through into the Alpha world by Neith which led to the two of them being 'spliced'. (hide spoiler)].

This book starts some months after the first book ended. Julius is now training/studying to be a Quantum Curator, Neith is mourning the loss of her partner and blaming her former best friend Ramin. The Director of the quantum curators, Sam, decides to pair Julius up with Neith, partly because none of the other trainees wants to be his partner, and partly to get Neith back into the fold. But it seems as though someone wants to kill Julius, and there is a mysterious group on Alpha plotting to take over the Quantum Field for their own purposes.

As the title suggests, this book is concerned with uncovering (some of) the plots on Alpha Earth, although it seems that there is more than one group up to no good. Although there is some time-travel (mainly as part of Julius' training) this feels more centred on Alpha.

What I liked about the first book was that Julius was extremely good-looking, but totally oblivious to it, and an academic whereas Neith was the gun-toting (well stunner), athletic, special forces type. Well, after their splicing incident and because of all his quantum curator training, Julius is now also ultra-fit and able to fight which kind of makes Neith redundant.

It all got a bit confused with different plots and plotters, I also felt that this was a very different book from the first book, maybe I wanted more world-building and character establishment before we launched into conspiracies, you know a few light-hearted time-travel adventures?

Read on Kindle Unlimited.

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Review: The Christmas Wish

The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Gwen Baker and her cousin Manny are travelling home to spend Christmas with Gwen's family. It's been a rubbish few months, she's been dumped by her boyfriend of four years, for his receptionist, as a consequence she's had to leave his luxurious house and move into a grotty flat, and she's currently suspended from her job as a lawyer in a Magic Circle firm pending a disciplinary hearing for attacking a client. Her father was also a lawyer and he's so pleased about her job she hasn't plucked up the courage to tell him that she's very unlikely to make junior partner any time soon!

Christmas Day is an absolute nightmare, squabbling with her sister Cerys, getting drunk, and making a fool of herself in front of the boy next door, her childhood crush Dev. But then Gwen wakes up and its Christmas Day all over again, like Groundhog Day but with turkey, Christmas pudding and family drama.

Although this was a little bit OTT in the madcap things that Gwen does each Christmas Day (and let's face it Stargate did the unbeatable version of Groundhog Day), it was funny and sweet, and I read it in one day. Highly recommended for those who enjoy raucous family Christmases, Christmas crackers, and a screaming row between grown-up siblings.

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

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Review: You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince

You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 34%.

Not even all the gushing reviews could persuade me to finish this book. Matthew Prince is a spoilt rich brat, who went too far when he bought an actual island, and he has now been cut off from his trust fund/limitless credit cards and sent to stay with his kindly grandparents in a small town just before Christmas. To add insult to injury, his grandparents are hosting a young man, Hector Martinez, who is studying at the local college, and they have to share the basement (bunk beds) because his grandparents are just so dargone humble that they didn't want a bigger house.

Matthew has some anxiety issues, but he's opinionated, a snob, entitled, and frankly not as clever as he thinks he is. He also suffers from having an obnoxious BFF who generally ignores him. In order to try to escape this hellhole and get back to New York city, Matthew and Hector agree to take over organising the town's annual charity gala, Matthew thinks it will be a breeze because he is always organising lavish parties in New York, he's just never had to do it on a shoe-string budget.

I'm over a third of the way through this book and it's not funny or cute, I don't like Matthew and Hector comes across as a paragon of virtue - what he can see in Matthew I don't know.

So, there it is, maybe I'm the wrong age group for this book but it's not for me.

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

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Review: The Murder Museum

The Murder Museum by Alice Castle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second book in the series about Beth Haldane, a single mother living in affluent Dulwich Village, who solves mysteries with the help of Detective Inspector Harry York.

It has been several months since Beth found her boss murdered and her role at Wyatt's boy's school has expanded, not only because of her promotion, but also because she uncovered that the school's founder Thomas Wyatt financed the school with profits from the slave trade, now Beth is curating an exhibition from the school's archives uncovering the horrible history.

Wandering around Wyatt's Museum of Art Beth finds an unconscious young schoolgirl lying on a stone plinth, posed in a flimsy dress with her hands crossed theatrically over her chest. Barely alive, the girl is rushed to hospital, but no-one knows who she is, surely her parents would have reported her missing? Beth uncovers a dark side to the equally prestigious girl's school College School, there seems to be issues with anorexia, cutting, posing on social media and bad behaviour. Could this be a suicide attempt? An inadvertent overdose? But what about the posing of the body - surely that was done by someone else? And then another girl is hospitalised with the same symptoms. Is there a serial killer or a batch of bad drugs?

I felt that this book was a bit all over the place, there were two 'suspects' (for want of a better word) but the way in which the stories were played out made me feel that even the author hadn't decided who would be the killer until near the end and Beth didn't so much uncover the truth using detective work as catch them in the act. I've seen this dual story done before and better.

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