Review: The Rose Code

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Welcome to Bletchley Park, home of Britain's codebreakers in WW2. In the white hot crucible of the race to break the Nazi enigma codes three very different women forge deep friendships which are then ripped apart.

Osla is a wealthy debutante, god-daughter to Lord Mountbatten and girlfriend to Prince Phillip of Greece, fluent in German and tired of doing nothing she wants to contribute to the war effort, she is invited to Bletchley Park, or BP, in 1940 to help break the German military codes. Mab(el) is an Amazon from Shoreditch supporting her mother and little sister. Her total focus is to find an intelligent, financially stable man to marry. Beth has grown up subservient to her religious fanatic mother. These three women meet up at Bletchley Park and their lives are changed forever.

The Imitation Game meets The Crown, told in flashbacks between 1940 and 1947 on the eve of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, this is a dramatisation of historical truth, a spy thriller, a romance. Utterly engrossing, even though I didn't really understand how these women helped to decrypt encoded messages from the enemy, my heart was in my mouth as the team of plucky geniuses worked around the clock to try to decode messages from German high command.

Thrilling, heart-rending, gritty and vivid, a great read.

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

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Review: How To Save A Life

How To Save A Life by P. Dangelico
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

I liked this, but I didn't love it.

Riley James is working 24/7 to make a living. She owns her own construction/renovation business and works as a waitress to cover expenses because her mother has been in a depression since Riley's father died and struggles to keep a job. Riley owns three properties, the one she lives in with her mother, a rental property and one she is in the process of renovating.

One night in the restaurant she encounters one of those stand-offish, blank-eyed, rude, billionaires; literally walking into her, and then later that night she rescues him from being mugged and beaten up by a couple of guys. In return the billionaire, Jordan West, offers her a job as his personal assistant.

Riley has no intention of taking up Jordan's offer, even for $4,000 a week, until a childhood friend gets into trouble and needs money fast. So Riley accepts the offer, only to discover that being Jordan's personal assistant involves acting as nanny to a two-year old toddler called Maisie.

I generally love Paola Dangelico's novels, sexy heroes and sassy heroines with loads of sarky banter but this felt a little too much by the numbers. First off, I had trouble remembering whether Riley was a man or a woman (so very binary of me) and ditto Jordan - why choose androgynous names for both characters? Then Jordan and Riley both had things in their past which made them behave the way they did, and I guess you could say we all do, but it was all very NA/YA (you know everyone has been raped/is an orphan/killed their best friend/has some incurable disease yadda yadda). Finally I thought there were two very large plot holes/inconsistencies. First, the job offer as a PA and then as a nanny. Why? And who in their right mind can just leave a small business and not come back for months? Did Riley even consider how she would rebuild her business or what her crew would do for money while she was swanning around in Manhattan? Clearly the waitressing job was just a plot device to get the two of them to meet because it is never mentioned again. The second issue occurs right near the end (view spoiler)[ when she is forced to sell all three properties. Why isn't the rental covering the mortgage on that property? How was she managing the mortgages on the other two properties if she was giving Tommy all the money she got from her nanny job? (hide spoiler)]

So, I read it in a single day and I enjoyed the Billionaire and the Nanny vibe, but I have loved some of Paola Dangelico's other books, like Wrecking Ball more.

And what's with the cover? It's set in Manhattan.

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

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Review: Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains

Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ha, so much for my prediction - 100% wrong! And yet irritatingly I did have a slight feeling about the real culprit.

Our amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver receives a letter from an Edinburgh lady, accusing her husband of trying to kill her, she begs Dandy to come and work undercover as her maid in order to help her escape. In disguise as Miss Rossiter, ladies maid, Dandy finds her employer Lollie Balfour (real first name Walburga!) to be a sacred waif of a woman, but surprisingly her husband Phillip doesn't appear to be the sort of monster who threatens to kill his wife. Yet talking to the other servants Dandy finds that each of them has a tale of the spiteful, cruel things that Mr Balfour has done to them. Unsurprising then that he is found dead, stabbed in the neck with one of the kitchen knives.

This is a classic golden age locked door mystery. Because the butler meticulously locks all the door every night the murder must be an 'inside job', certainly nearly everyone has a motive, but it seems that everyone also has an alibi!

As always this was a cracking read, I was totally convinced the murderer was someone completely different and yet the clues were all there ready to be unpicked, just little nuggets dropped carelessly into conversations.

Overall, very satisfactory mystery with a plausible ending that I did not see coming.

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Review: Fierce at Heart

Fierce at Heart by Zoe York
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Adam Kincaid and Isla Peterson were squaddie and commanding officer back in the day. Now they've both left the military, he's training to be a firefighter like his father and she is hoping to open her own bakery once she graduates from culinary school. They meet by chance at a Farmer's Market where Isla is selling her cakes, get to reminiscing about old times and end up having a spectacular one-night stand. But living in different parts of Canada and their nascent careers leave little time for a relationship so they agree to be friends only.

Adam returns to his home (small) town of Pine Harbour where three of his four older brothers still live. He may be 30, but as the youngest, and having been brought up by his elder two brothers after their parents' deaths, none of his brothers seems to see it that way. Heck, they even seem to think they have a voice in where he lives and who he dates and how he does his job!

After her ex-husband tanked her credit rating Isla knows she will be lucky to be able to start her own bakery but she doesn't want to be a chef working for someone else forever.

When Adam buys his fixer-upper he overhears the owner of the local cafe/diner offering to sell her place for $1, one catch; the owner must be a ling-standing resident of Pine Harbour, or married to a resident. It's a crazy plan but if it helps out his BFF Adam thinks he could enter into a fake marriage for a few years, after all he's never going to fall in love anyway.

I was surprised that I hadn't read any of Zoe York's books before, but the books are similar to Cora Seton's mail-order bride series, or indeed any small-town series featuring a large family.

Adam and Isla provide each other with much-needed support and validation, but as they get closer can they still ignore the growing attraction?

My biggest gripe was that there was a sub-plot involving Isla's ex-husband that didn't really go anywhere and was a bit cliched/ overdone in this genre. Otherwise, I enjoyed this sweet small-town romance.

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


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Review: Fool Me Twice

Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Olivia Mather is on the run from Lord Bertram, who hates her so much he wants her dead. She has been hiding/working as a ladies' maid and uncovered some letters between Lord Bertram and the late Duchess of Marwick which refer to the Duke, Alastair de Grey, holding dossiers on members of the ton for blackmail purposes. She determines to find employment as a maid in the Duke's household and steal the dossier which she hopes will provide sufficient dirt to force Lord Bertram to leave her alone.

Alastair was an up-and-coming politician, widely tipped to become the next British Prime Minister, until his wife's death. Shortly after his wife's death he found correspondence between her and four men which indicated that not only had she loathed Alastair and been having affairs with each of the men, but she had also actively plotted against him politically, telling his political enemies secrets to foil his proposals etc. The realisation that he had been cuckolded and betrayed by a woman he thought was the perfect wife has had a profound effect on him and he has become a recluse, hiding in his London mansion.

When Olivia tries to get work as a maid the staff think she is there to replace the housekeeper and she seizes upon the opportunity. She is the only member of staff who will stand up to Alastair's bullying and bottle throwing. This reminds me very much of the film The Secret Garden, Alastair hiding away like Colin until an uppity madam comes to tell him off good and proper. Of course Olivia gradually shames Alastair into washing, stopping drinking, opening the curtains etc, etc, but as their friendship grows can she betray him by stealing information to blackmail Lord Bertram?

I enjoyed reading this but I have to confess it did feel like one coincidence after another and I have seen the wider plot line used in other books before so it didn't feel particularly shocking or different.

If you like your heroines sassy and resourceful, your heroes grumpy and brooding then I'm sure you'll enjoy this.

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Review: Witherward

Witherward by Hannah Mathewson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 28%.

Yet another book which sounds great on paper. Ilsa is a secret shapeshifter, earning her living as a magician's assistant in what feels like Victorian London. Then one night someone catches her performance and realises who/what she is and drags her into the Witherward, an alternative London filled with six warring magical groups and a destiny she could never imagine.

There was a lot of posturing adolescents, talk about dresses and wandering about in the gardens, a missing Changeling Alpha and this just felt like The Princess Diaries meets Vampire Diaries. I feel that there was loads happening but not a lot of plot development, just running around waving swords and being sulky. I'm clearly in a bit of a book strop at the moment but I just couldn't bring myself to read any further.

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 Monster MASH

The Monster MASH by Angie Fox
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 25%.

This sounded intriguing, a human doctor conscripted to work in a MASH unit with a group of werewolves, vampires, etc in a war between the Gods. And of course our heroine is special, because she can see the dead but she keeps it to herself until she accidentally pulls back a soul from a dead man into his body and brings him back to life. Now doesn't that sound great?

Sadly, I just felt thrust into a plot with very little explanation and then it degenerated into our heroine lusting after Galen, the warrior she saved and everything being a little bit like High School.

I stopped and started this several times over the last month but I am now admitting defeat, it just hasn't grabbed my interest.

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

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Review: A Winning Betrayal

A Winning Betrayal by Louise Guy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Two very different women share the lotto jackpot AUD 10 million each.

Frankie and her husband Tom are hard-working and decent, but broke. They can't afford to pay their utility bill and they buy clothes for their two daughters at charity shops. But Frankie sees the win as more of a curse than a blessing and doesn't want to keep the money.

Shauna is a single career woman, she has no trouble accepting her win but will it bring her closer to her mother who can be difficult? Then when a magazine article makes it clear she has won the lotto people from her past start re-appearing, can she trust them or are they only after her money?

The two women meet at the lottery headquarters and bond at the weekly meetings for previous winners where people who have had similar luck share their good (and bad) experiences.

I enjoyed this but it was a bit predictable, also several of the characters are either too good or too bad to feel real, more like caricatures with no light and shade to make them interesting.

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Review: The Promise

The Promise by Lucy Diamond
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A family tragedy, Dan's brother Patrick dies suddenly. Just before his death he quarrelled with Dan and with his (Patrick's) wife Zoe. Patrick leaves Zoe to look after three children and his small property rental business. Dan was supposed to be on a three month sabbatical from his accountancy job, touring South America, but Patrick's death leads him to cancel the trip.

With three months on his hands, and tired of wallowing in guilt and sorrow, Dan determines to help out Zoe and the children, taking over the jobs that Patrick can no longer do. Dan starts with the business but progresses to taking more of an interest in his nephews and niece. But very quickly Dan learns things about Patrick, secrets, that he wishes he'd never discovered.

I really liked this at first. Dan, the younger brother, trying to step into Patrick's shoes, trying to make up to his family for Patrick's death. My biggest issue was Patrick. During the course of the book Patrick is revealed as a lot of bad things (trying to be discreet) but there doesn't seem to be any logical reason for it. Surely someone in his family and friends would have noticed if he was selfish or a narcissist or psychotic? So I was left with the overwhelming feeling that he was simultaneously a good guy, a great father, a wonderful husband and none of those things. He didn't seem a real character.

I would say up to about 60%, maybe 65% of this book I was loving it. The remainder dragged and the ending just kind of deflated 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: First Comes Scandal

First Comes Scandal by Julia Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So is it good or bad when nearly 400 pages feels like a novella?

I had totally forgotten that the Rokesbys series pre-dates the Bridgertons time-wise and was astonished that yet another Bridgerton bride had named her children alphabetically and with the same names until I realised that I was seeing Lady Bridgerton as a young woman!

This concerns the previous Georgiana Bridgerton. A impecunious rascal took her on a totally innocent date in central London then kidnapped her and tried to take her to Gretna Green in a forced marriage. Georgie escaped but he has spread rumours around town and she is soiled goods in the eyes of the world.

Nicholas Rokesby has known Georgie since they were children, her brother was his best friend and his father is Georgie's godfather. He is summoned back to Kent by his father and ordered to marry Georgie to save her from having to marry the cad who kidnapped her. Aren't we all grateful we don't live in that age?

I have read other reviews of this book (frankly looking for the name of the fortune hunter because my Kindle is charging downstairs) and I think they are mostly in line with my thoughts. It's a nice enough story but there just isn't much dramatic tension. We don't see the attempted abduction, we just see Georgie back at home with her family afterwards. Then, to be frank again, nothing much happens. Nicholas resists his father's command at first but then realises he must do this for Georgie. Similarly, Georgie rejects Nicholas' proposal initially because she hates people pitying her, but then she realises how kind Nicholas has been. I think this gives you a flavour of the blandness of this novel, there's nothing awful about it and Georgie and Nicholas are very nice but I kept waiting for something dramatic to occur.

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Review: For the Love of Friends: A Novel

For the Love of Friends: A Novel by Sara Goodman Confino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you loved, or even liked, the film 27 Dresses then I think you will love this - same same but different.

Lily Weiss is a writer, working for a prestigious science institute. It's her job to make complex (and often boring) science accessible to normal people. She's good at it, but it's not what she dreamed of when she used to write stories at night under her duvet as a child.

Her work BFF Caryn asks her to be a bridesmaid when she finally gets her boyfriend to propose. Caryn and Lily don't really mix in the same circles but Caryn begs Lily to save her from the toxicity of her other bridesmaids, including her sister-in-law-to-be, and Lily can't say no. But then things snowball, her college BFF also announces she is getting married and asks Lily to be a bridesmaid to protect her from her overbearing mother. Then her closest friend Meghan also announces she is getting married and guess what? You got it, she wants Lily to be a bridesmaid. Next her younger brother announces his engagement, and as a way to get her new sister-in-law he wants Lily to be a bridesmaid! Lily is at Meghan's engagement party when her baby sister, who still lives at home with their parents, announces she too is engaged. Suddenly at 32, Lily feels over the hill if even her foetus of a sister is engaged. The only solution is to mainline Chardonnay which leads to her waking up in bed with one of the groomsmen and no recollection of the night before.

At first things are hectic but manageable, Lily even manages to become adept at helping brides to choose their favourite dress (and not just the one their bitchy friends or controlling mothers like). But then the bridezilla demands start: buy this hideously expensive bridesmaid's dress; dye your hair; lose weight; fly to Chicago for dress shopping; fly to Mexico for a wedding; fly to Paris for a bachelorette party; etc. In frustration, because Lily would never say these things out loud, and in an attempt to earn some money to help her pay for all the dresses, shoes, gifts, parties etc, Lily starts up an anonymous blog called Bridesmania where she recounts the more absurd things her brides are doing.

Oh, and one of Meghan's groomsmen, Alex, is really sweet and charming but Meghan has ruled no drama, and after sleeping with one groomsman Lily can't risk any more disruption to the wedding so Alex must go firmly into the friend zone.

I think it will be fairly obvious to any reader/watcher of rom-coms, what is going to happen. But it's a fun read and Sara Goodman Confino walks a thin line between making the brides-to-be unreasonable but also showing that Lily's decision to take out her frustrations by writing a vitriolic blog was not the most appropriate response.

After DNFing so many books already this year (and with more on the horizon), this was a delight and proved to me that it's not me, it's the books. So if you fancy a light-hearted, hilarious, snarky wedding-themed rom-com that is absolutely ripe for being made into a movie then look no further. Highly recommended.

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

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