Review: Someone to Trust

Someone to Trust by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lady Elizabeth Overton is a 35 year old widow. Colin Handrich, Lord Hodges is nine years her junior. When they meet at the Westcott Christmas party the age gap is very apparent and yet there is an undeniable pull between them. Both of them are looking for a spouse but at widely different ends of the spectrum. Colin is looking amongst the eighteen year old debutantes whereas Elizabeth is looking for a sensible, dependable man, very different from her husband.

When they meet again in London during the season they rely on each other for sensible conversation and laughter and glorious waltzes but as they both move inexorably towards marriage with other people will they realise they are perfect together before it's too late?

Hoo boy did this start slowly. It was practically halfway in before I got engaged with the storyline and the characters. But when it did ... it pulled me in like a rip tide. From two faceless, characterless mannequins Colin and Elizabeth transformed into living breathing characters, full of hopes and fears and anxieties. There were plotting relatives and sinister Dukes, society balls, fake engagements, fisticuffs in the library and family secrets galore. By the end I was totally invested in Colin and Ellizabeth's May to December romance (although that is a wild exaggeration) and the way in which their love may have been instantaneous but their relationship was built on friendship and trust.

If you like historical romances, if you have liked Mary Balogh's other Westcott romances I recommend sticking with this novel, it pays in the end.

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

View all my reviews

Review: Cocksure

Cocksure by Shiloh Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Who doesn't love a fake relationship with your boss romance? Sabrina has been Luke Cochran's assistant for four years and probably in love with him for all that time. Luke on the other hand, gorgeous millionaire actor that he is, doesn't have a clue. However, when his mother suffers a heart attack and tells him how much she worries about him he panics and tells her that he and Sabrina are secretly engaged.

But Luke is hiding a secret from the world, something that made him run from home at the age of eighteen and his trips back were non-existent until Sabrina pushed him to make the trip. Can a fake relationship turn real and can Luke tell the truth?

I liked the plot and the characters but I was put off by the incessant sex. Honestly, page after page after page, then there would be a snippet of plot and then page upon page of sex. I got bored and just flicked past it all wondering at times if there was any plot coming soon. Maybe I should have expected it given the title, I'm sure some people reading this are itching to go and buy the book - and good for them. It just didn't work for me.

However, I am really intrigued by Luke's large family, Devin in particular, and look forward to reading more in this series.

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

View all my reviews

Review: Christmas Secrets by the Sea

Christmas Secrets by the Sea by Jane Lovering
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tansy Merriwether has pretty much hit rock bottom, in the last year she has lost her successful cupcake business, her business partner/ lover, her home and her money. Now she's living in a decrepit caravan on a Dorset beach. When she befriends the single mother who runs an isolated cafe nearby she hears about a TV crew which is filing a series in a nearby cove who might need someone to run odd jobs. When Tansy approaches the crew she finds out that she knows the director from when she lived in London. He suggests she could help the crew enormously by scouting for locations for a new series and taking the obnoxious male star with her, he and his female co-star are impossible when working together.

Davin O'Riordan isn't the man the PR people make him out to be, he isn't the man he pretends to be, he has lots of secrets but for some reason he likes Tansy, she's the only woman who doesn't swoon at his feet and who sees more than just a former model turned actor. But can two people learn to trust each other?

If I say that this book contains a sexy Irish actor, a teenage boy with a bottomless stomach, a single mother, Christmas, a vegan actress, a beautiful whippet and a smelly stray dog, and quaint English villages would you be interested? Yes, me too. This was charming, funny and a saccharine-free holiday romance. Maybe if I was being really picky I would have preferred fewer flashbacks to Davin's past (which didn't generally seem to add much) and maybe more to Tansy's past which (to me) still remains somewhat shrouded in mystery.

Overall, if Poldark revs your engine then I think you'll like Davin, he's been described as looking like Chris Hemsworth and Aidan Turner had a baby!

Recommended for fans of Sue Moorcroft.

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

View all my reviews

Review: The Piano Man Project

The Piano Man Project by Kat French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Honeysuckle Jones hasn't had much luck with men so her two BFFs (as always when girls have friends in books there are two of them and they are extremely irritating) decide to try to set her up with a man, for some reason they decide that a pianist would be ideal, because he would be good with his hands, so they set her up on a series of blind dates with men who play the piano, or teach music, or something equally vaguely related to music. At the same time her boss announces that the company that owns the charity shop that she works for, and the old people's home attached to it, have decided to sell the buildings for redevelopment. Honey will be out of a job and the old people, many of whom are her friends, will be "rehomed". Nevertheless, despite all her bad luck Honey remains relentlessly optimistic.

A new man has moved into the flat that shares a hallway with Honey's, what she doesn't know is that the new neighbour is Benedict 'Hal' Hallam, former bad boy restaurateur and adrenaline junkie, Hal had a snowboard accident that left him blind and now he is hiding away from his friends and family, drinking whisky and unable to move on from the loss of everything that meant anything to him: his job; his fiancee; and his adrenaline-fuelled lifestyle.

Honey and Hal can't be more different but slowly an antagonistic relationship develops between them. Honey buys Hal whisky and food items, in return she sits at his door and talks at him, even though he rarely responds.

As Honey's plans to save the retirement home become increasingly eccentric Hal is drawn into the madness and starts to emerge from the prison he's made from himself. But when the press finds out where he's hiding, and his old life comes back to claim him, what will Hal choose.

If you are a fan of English romances featuring a cast of lovable but eccentric characters then this one is for you. The snarky banter between Hal and Honey is funny and the plot is enjoyable.

However, I'm afraid you do have to suspend a little disbelief. First that a blind wealthy celebrity would move into a block of flats that could be afforded by a woman who works for a small local charity shop. Second that the family that does know where Hal is make no attempt to check he is okay, they even send him letters! Third, Hal doesn't seem to have any issues wandering around his flat, or Honey's or various other places despite being blind.

Nevertheless, despite these minor niggles (and some issues I have with the age of the pensioners and the idea that they were adults at the time of the second world war - I'm an accountant deal with it) I really enjoyed the book and I will definitely look out for more books by Kat French.

View all my reviews

Review: Faith is Fearless: Normal is Overrated

Faith is Fearless: Normal is Overrated by D. Pichardo-Johansson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was gifted this book by a different author.

Fe Hernandez is a speech therapist, specialising in children. Despite what some might view as a difficult life she is eternally optimistic. Her only rule is that she will never ever date a doctor again.

Dr Shawn McDevitt seems to have everything anyone could ever want, but seems eternally dissatisfied. After his wife was murdered his son disappeared for a year and now appears to be developmentally stunted, perhaps on the autism scale. His father never stops criticising him, and praising his rivals, his peers dislike him and he's lonely. When he accidentally ploughs his bike into a beautiful woman in the park one day he is entranced and intrigued by her sunny outlook and gorgeous looks but devastated when he finds out she will never date a doctor, even worse when he finds out they actually work at the same hospital. But fate is with him and he is referred to Fe as a therapist who might be able to help his son.

Swirling around the romance and the therapy are professional rivalries, the mystery of Shawn's wife's death and the little matter of threatening letters that he keeps receiving.

This read to me like an old 1980s romance where the man is a big important doctor and the little woman has a caring profession like nurse or nanny and is totally self-sacrificing. Shawn has no clue how to look after his son and spends all hours at the hospital whereas Fe is deeply nurturing and caring, despite wearing skin-tight clothing and skyscraper heels (which I would have thought were impractical when working with children but what do I know).

I have to admit I was very close to DNFing this book, especially when Shawn kept referring to himself as a physician and such a catch that women threw themselves at him, not just women but gold-diggers. See why I thought it was a reprint of an older book? Also, why are female friends in al these books so god-awful? Fe's friends were ghastly.

But I persevered and overall it was an enjoyable romance but I think there were maybe a few too many plots swirling around.

Also, some interesting views on the way that the medical profession is quick to label people/ children as on the autism spectrum when there may be other contributing factors to development issues. I liked that and I would love to have seem more of Fe's work and less of Shawn's political dramas at the hospital.

View all my reviews

Review: Through Fire

Through Fire by Freya Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ruby is a former prostitute on the run. After spending six months in a safe house she has got a job at a bar called The Skipper and has moved into an apartment owned by one of her colleagues.

Tim is a regular at the bar and a friend of Viv's husband Ike. He barely even registers Ruby until one day she is left in charge of the kitchen (despite not being able to cook) and he comes to her rescue.

As the truth about Ruby's past and the murder she witnessed come to light it isn't only Ruby that is put in danger.

This reminded me very much of Scarlett Cole's writing, albeit with more mature (older) characters. Ruby's past is horrific and I can't even comprehend how such things can happen in real life (although I know they do), she fears for her life and has no-one to turn to. Yet the family she makes at The Skipper help her to start making a life, a life that could even include love.

Yet another winner from Freya Barker.

View all my reviews

Review: The Man I Fell In Love With

The Man I Fell In Love With by Kate Field
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mary Black's comfortable life is blown apart when she sees her husband (and childhood sweetheart) holding hands with another man at a Christmas Party. Suddenly her marriage to the boy next door is a sham and she finds herself not only the subject of small town gossip but separated from a man who was her best friend as well as her husband.

Juggling her 'marvellous' mother-in-law, who still lives next door, her mother, who lives in a converted garage attached to Mary's house, two teenage children, her soon-to-be ex-husband Leo, his brother Ethan, and his lover Clark, the dog Dotty, her BFF Daisy and the promotion for Leo's book on the little known Lancastrian author Alice Hornby Mary tries to please everyone all the time, after all that's what she's done practically her whole life, until Ethan points out that her life has been beige.

As the book progresses we see the secrets and lies that have pushed Mary down her life's path. The incidents that have shaped her behaviour and coloured her attitude towards others. I have to say by the end of the book the only character that I felt came out well was Ethan, everyone else appeared to behave very badly, to lie, and to keep secrets for, that terrible cliche, 'her own good'. Leo, in particular, seemed to be a cheating, selfish, egotistical, lazy waste of space - personally I would have set fire to his car. Mary on the other hand appeared to be a complete doormat, I did wonder if Mary would have been so accepting/forgiving if Leo had left her for another woman, and I did want to shake her at times and tell her to get a job.

I also thought there were too many coincidences, things tied together too neatly and everyone turned out not to be so bad after all, maybe its because Mary resolved her issues from the past.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this novel. I liked the unravelling of past secrets, I liked the romance and I liked the Mary Hornby sleuthing.

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

View all my reviews

Review: Fireworks

Fireworks by Sarina Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Not my favourite Sarina Bowen novel.

Skye Copeland is a TV weather presenter until an honest mistake puts her on forced holiday for two weeks. When her scatty step-sister claims she has a scoop and asks her to drive a rental car from New York to Vermont she reluctantly agrees to visit the small town she left 12 years ago. But when she arrives her step-sister gives her the slip and steals the rental car, saying she is mixed up with some dangerous men and Skye should talk to Benito Rossi.

Benito is the man she left town to forget and now she's forced into close proximity. Then Benito lets slip that her sister might be involved in a group smuggling drugs that he is investigating and he seems to want to start up again exactly where they left off as if nothing has happened.

Stepping back and looking at the reasons why I didn't enjoy this book as much as Sarina's other books, I have to say that I found Benito's attitude a bit odd. He hasn't seen or heard from Skye for 12 years and yet he is calling her "honey" right from the start. Also, we see more of Skye's POV so we feel as though Benito has behaved badly(view spoiler)[ even though we later find out he is totally innocent (hide spoiler)]. It is only at the end that Benito turned it around for me.

My favourite refrain, I liked it but I didn't love it.

View all my reviews

Review: Wish Upon a Duke

Wish Upon a Duke by Erica Ridley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Third novella in a series set in the English village of Cressmouth (Christmas).

Miss Gloria Godwin is a remarkable young woman, astronomer and mechanical engineer, she was traumatised by first her father's death at sea and then her fiance travelling to India and never returning. As a result, she has a pathological fear of water and travel. Despite this fear she loves to read about travel.

The Right Honourable Mr Christopher Pringle, previously the quiet overlooked Pringle brother, is getting a taste of what it feels like to be the most eligible bachelor in the village, he is swamped by eager single women desperate for his hand in marriage. Christopher loves to travel, he makes a point to never stay more than one month in one place, but he would like to share that life with someone so he engages a matchmaker to find him a wife.

Christopher's soon-to-be sister in law recommends Gloria as a matchmaker, and she does indeed find women who exactly meet Christopher's requirements, the only trouble is the infuriating matchmaker appears more and more attractive every day. It's a pity that their interests are so different.

This was a charming Christmas novella, Gloria takes delight in teasing Christopher and indulging her imagination, Christopher helps her overcome her fears.

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

View all my reviews

Review: A Nordic King

A Nordic King by Karina Halle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Suckered in by the cover.

Australian nanny to the rich and famous gets the opportunity to be a nanny to the KIng of Denmark's two little girls. In a palace and kingdom mourning the Queen's death in a tragic car accident, Aurora's youth, short skirts, and irreverent humour are a big hit with the two princesses, not so much with the disagreeable (but very hot) King Aksel. Of course both Aksel and Aurora have secrets that they keep from each other, of course it blow up in their faces. I was a bit disappointed that the middle of the book appeared just to consist of Aurora and Aksel having sex in closets and corridors and sneaking in and out of each other's rooms. It all felt a bit rinse and repeat and there was a lot of hair pulling and drenching. Overall, I felt that the emphasis on sex led to the 'plot' being shunted to the very end of the novel and there was so little angst generated by the big secret that it was fairly irrelevant.

Of course, I'm not a big fan of royal romances so that may colour my views.

View all my reviews

Review: Remedial Rocket Science

Remedial Rocket Science by Susannah Nix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had no pre-expectations of this book and it was one of the first books I have actually managed to finish this week.

Melody Gage, super intelligent, IT geek has spent her time at MIT working hard to be the best in her class, the only anomaly - a one night stand with a super hotty visiting from LA. Three years later she lands an entry level job with an LA aerospace company and calls up her one night stand to meet for a coffee and ask advice about places to live. Said hotty, Jeremy, turns out to work for the same company, also in an entry level job, but as the CEO's son his life is a little different.

This is nice twist on the billionaire bad boy meets poor geeky girl friends to lovers romance. Jeremy has a girlfriend, they break up, Melody becomes friends with his ex-girlfriend, Jeremy pretends to be Melody's boyfriend when her mom comes to stay, Melody returns the favour when Jeremy's ex-girlfriend gets engaged to his best friend and throw a lavish party.

What stood out most for me, and raised it from a 3/3.5 to a 4 rating, was Melody's inner critic, her ability to critique the BS spouted by the guys she meets (eg Jeremy's best friend's new film idea which sounds like every cookie-cutter action film ever made) made me laugh out loud. I will definitely be looking out for more books by Susannah Nix.

View all my reviews