Sophie’s Halloo by Patricia Wynn
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
This is a rather lovely braincandy comfort read. There’s very little conflict, and what there is is pretty easily resolved. Even the characters that caused that conflict are well-meaning. Sophie and Tony are charming, and sweet together. All in all it’s an enjoyable, gentle and light-hearted romance.
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The Paper Princess by Marion Chesney
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
A fun, light read laced with some gentle satire – society believes Felicity’s masquerade because no-one wants to risk looking stupid by admitting they’ve never heard of ‘Brasnia’ or its royal family. Several characters – the stepfather, the butler, the stuck-up fiancée – deliberately lean towards caricature, and Miss Chubb(inski) is clearly living her best am-dram life. The hero is aware of Felicity’s secrets pretty much the whole time, so there’s barely any conflict caused by that.
All in all, it’s cheerful braincandy, and well worth a read if you’re looking for a light-hearted Regency romance.
Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon
(Vatta’s War #1)
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
I loved this book when I first read it, and I still do now. I can’t remember now if it was the first of Elizabeth Moon’s sci-fi books I read, but I’m pretty sure it was one that made me keen to read the rest of her work.
I really like Ky – she doesn’t let anything outwardly phase her, but she admits it’s a learned tactic rather than a personality trait. She has plenty of self-doubts and frustrations – not surprising considering the shock of being booted from her military academy in chapter one. But she’s very determined to prove herself, and she’s shown to be good in a crisis. I think she grows through the book, and I’m looking forward to seeing where she goes next.
The supporting cast has some interesting characters who seem to have plenty of potential to develop more. The plot kept me interested through the whole thing, and the ending tied up the immediate story nicely with the reveal of the Chekhov’s Gun device that was dropped in early on. There are a lot of story threads left dangling, so it’s very clearly the first of a series. It definitely makes me keen to read on. (I maaaay have opened up the next sequel already – it picks up directly from the ending of this book.)
It’s been a while since I’ve read this, so of course I can’t remember all the details of the story. So I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen with Ky and the crew, with the rest of the family (including eccentric Aunt Grace), and with MMAC and the ISC – the events of TiD are bound to have an effect on Ky’s relationships with those organisations. Oh, and of course, will there be appearances from characters who’ve only been mentioned? Ky deserves the chance to clobber Hal at the very least!
In short, if you like space opera sci-fi with strong, likeable (but not “perfect”) female leads, I can definitely recommend this. I’m pretty sure I’ll be re-reading again in the future.
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Those Endearing Young Charms by Marion Chesney
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
He’s an arse who can’t admit when he’s in the wrong; She’s a sheltered teenager with her head in the clouds. Together, they jump to ridiculous conclusions! And eventually, learn to have an actual conversation.
Essentially, this is a series of epic misunderstandings, people being idiots, and not communicating. To be fair, they start off on a bad footing, and continue being arsey / ditzy from there. I found it an amusing, quick read though. Not as good as other books by the same author, but fun to roll my eyes at the idiots nevertheless.
Also, I choose to believe that Peter the Feline Overlord will continue to be in charge, no matter what the Earl thinks.
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My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh
(Union of Rakes #1)
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
Oh, those oblivious nerds-in-love. Their dorkiness made me grin, I enjoyed their chemistry, and I even liked their obstinate insistence on sticking to the plan and thus making themselves miserable. It seemed in character.
I think what I liked most about this book was the equal weight it seemed to put on the various friendships, alongside the romance. It was that more than anything that would make me pick up another one of this series.
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“Jane looped her arm through Grace’s. “Come. Let us seek out two things that never fall short of our expectations.”
– My Fake Rake, Ch 10
“Books and cakes?”
“Precisely.”
Lady Sparrow by Barbara Metzger
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
This was a fun read. It has plenty of those little tongue-in-cheek moments and wry asides that I like about Barbara Metzger’s books. It’s not all fluffy braincandy, but even the more serious subjects are kept fairly light. Not so much that it glosses over them, though.
Will probably read again one day.
An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
I thought I’d gone off the SFR genre lately, but when I finally went through and got all my old palm-reader books from Fictionwise converted so that I can read them on my current e-reader, I opened this one to check it all looked ok, and was hooked all over again. I’m pretty sure this was also the first book of the genre I’d read back in 2005 and, yep, I still really like it.
The romance does feel very sudden, or rather becomes serious very very fast, but I love the characters and all the little details about the station and culture, and the adventure part of the plot feels equally as important to me.
I found Gillie’s reasons for hiding her full identity were valid, and it made sense that she’d got a bit tangled up in her omissions as the plot went on – she hadn’t intended to stay on the station, but then things snowballed and it all got a bit awkward. She was rather stuck between a rock and a hard place with the choice between fibbing and undermining a major part of the Khalaran culture.
If there had been more in this universe, I’d want to see more of Simon, especially now he’s got himself a corporeal form. Note to self: look for fanfic. All in all, well worth the re-read!
Never Tempt a Rogue: A Rogues’ Rulebook Novella by Christy Carlyle
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
I vaguely remember reading this when I first bought it, and I’m fairly sure I enjoyed it then. This time… ehhh. I just wasn’t feeling it. Quick read (in terms of actual reading time!), nice HEA ending. Don’t expect I’ll read any more of this series, but I do tend to prefer a regency setting.
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In the Bed of a Duke by Cathy Maxwell
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
I quite enjoyed that – I’m in the mood for undemanding braincandy, and that’s pretty much what I got. It wasn’t the longest book, and I think I’d have liked to see some more interaction between the twins, and a longer build up to the romance (!) but the chemistry between the characters was pretty good. I suppose there’s more of the twins getting to know each other in the rest of the series, but I’m not so interested that I’ll track them down.
Hell’s Gate by David Weber
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars
In the almost two centuries since the discovery of the first inter-universal portal, Arcana has explored scores of other worlds . . . all of them duplicates of their own. Multiple Earths, virgin planets with a twist, because the “explorers” already know where to find all of their vast, untapped natural resources. Worlds beyond worlds, effectively infinite living space and mineral wealth.
And in all that time, they have never encountered another intelligent species. No cities, no vast empires, no civilizations and no equivalent of their own dragons, gryphons, spells, and wizards.
But all of that is about to change. It seems there is intelligent life elsewhere in the multiverse. Other human intelligent life, with terrifying new weapons and powers of the mind . . . and wizards who go by the strange title of “scientist.”
I wanted to like this book so very very much! It’s a great premise, and sounded like something that I’d particularly enjoy… but reading it felt like slogging uphill through liquid clay. I don’t know why, but it’s just not for me. So, I give up, and I’m counting it as officially abandoned / Did Not Finish!