Frequently I am intrigued with a book’s concept only to be disappointed in its execution. With everybody and their sister writing vampire stories these days it’s difficult to find something that stands out without fizzling or going off the rails completely. I am pleased to say that for me the latest instalment in the Tudor…
When I read the absolutely delicious prologue to The Lady of the Storm I thought perhaps I’d found an adult replacement for my childhood favorite, Tolkien. In it, the reader learns that the England of William the Conqueror has been taken over by seven mad elves. William himself has become a prize of sort, held…
Reviewing Paranormals, Fantasy, Steampunk, and, well, anything with a lot of world building is getting to be a somewhat dicey proposition. When I first started reviewing, there were a handful of authors that we insisted reviewers be completely up to date on before reviewing the latest. That number is growing progressively larger, and certainly includes…
Halfway through Liz Carlyle’s latest historical romance, The Bride Wore Scarlet, I put it down and went to reread the first book in The Fraternitas Trilogy, Ms. Carlyle’s latest slightly paranormal series. I enjoyed that book, One Touch of Scandal, but had forgotten its premise. I was glad I did — One Touch of Scandal…
I thought I was never going to finish this book. It took me ten days to read it, but it seemed more like twenty as I waded through the seemingly endless clunky prose. Add in a couple of uninteresting characters, very little romance, the paranormal staple of incomprehensible italicized names, and you have a recipe…
This is one of those books that’s incredibly difficult to grade because on one hand I liked it, but on the other there are problems that are extremely difficult to ignore. Often, the points that I enjoyed within the story were essentially the sources of the problems. Created as a killing machine during the Civil…
With the very first paragraph, Ms. Hendrix’ inventive, imaginative story captured my attention. While this is the third book in the series, I do feel like it can stand on its own. Just be sure to read the page titled The Legend. The Legend states that Cwen the sorceress cursed nine Norse men who killed…
I would have bought Scoundrel, the second volume in Zoë Archer’s Blades of the Rose series, for the setting alone: Most of its pages are spent on a small sailing boat island-hopping in the Aegean Sea – can you imagine anything more romantic? With lots of adventures magical and otherwise, it’s a ripping good yarn,…
This is the second in the author’s Dreamlight Trilogy. While the first had a contemporary, setting, this one takes the series back to Victorian England. I found the hero and heroine to be interesting and enjoyed this one more than the first in the series. The book features many of the author’s trademarks, including an…
Curiosity has led to some interesting reads in the past. In this case it was combination of an author I’ve heard to be unique and witty (Janet Mullany), writing about a subject I’m sick to death of (vampires), set in an overdone era (Regency), starring a heroine that made me think “oh good gracious me”…