Only Enchanting

Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mrs. Agnes Keeping, a young widow, lives quietly with her sister, a spinster music teacher, in the English village Inglebrook. She had married an older gentleman for comfort and convenience and doesn't expect or wish to ever fall in love. In fact, she rather fears it, thanks to her mother's scandalous behavior and consequent abandonment of the sisters when Agnes was a small child. However, when she goes to a ball given by her new best friend, Sophia, Lady Darleigh, Agnes accidentally falls in love with Flavian Arnott, Viscount Ponsonby. Thankfully, he doesn't live in the area, and she believes she'll never see him again. This being a romance novel, she of course sees him again five months later when he and the other members of the Survivors' Club journey back to Middlebury Park for their annual gathering.

Flavian was shot in the head and trampled by a horse while fighting Napoleon's army in France. He has recovered from most of his wounds, thanks the the ministrations he received at Penderris Hall, home of the Duke of Stanbrook, but he still suffers from gaps in his memory, stuttering, and unexpected flashes of anger--symptoms familiar to many of today's soldiers as well. One of those frustrating holes in his memory relates to his former fiancee who jilted him to marry his best friend after he was wounded in battle. News that she's widowed and finished with her mourning period inexplicably sends him into a panic, where only marriage to Agnes feels safe. The difficulty lies in stitching together enough pieces of the past to understand the present and salvage their future together.

Mary Balogh does such a fantastic job writing multi-dimensional characters. It's one of the things I like best about her books--you feel like the people in them are real, and you enjoy spending time with them.

My only quibble with book #4 in this series is that I could have used some sort of chart or character list to help me keep the names and relationships straight. I thought I had read all three of the previous novels, but thanks to Goodreads, I just discovered that I'd only read the first one...which helps explain why I struggled mightily to connect titles, first names, and last names. My husband is in the military, and I have the exact same difficulty with his colleagues--it's taken me years in many cases to link a face with the three separate things she or he might be called, according to the circumstances. I have often wished for a cheat sheet with my husband's friends & coworkers, and I definitely wished for one while reading Only Enchanting.

For readers' advisors: character and setting doorways. Mild historical swearing and eventually a couple of sex scenes.

I received a free e-galley copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Waistcoats & Weaponry

Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book #3 is a fast-paced romp of a steampunk story with misbehaving mechanical servants, party crashers, werewolf pack politics, a stolen train, a love triangle, tangled loyalties, a power-grab conspiracy, disguises, revelations, desperate decisions, and so much more. This time, most of the story takes place away from Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies. A year has passed since the end of Curtsies and Conspiracies. Not long after Sidheag receives bad news regarding her family, Sophronia, Dimity, and Pillover head to Sophronia's home to attend her eldest brother's engagement ball. All seems to be going swimmingly until Sidheag and two werewolves show up, and not long after the werewolves leave, all the mechanical servants suddenly freeze in their tracks and begin singing. The confusion provides the perfect cover for Sophronia and her friends to escape and help Sidheag head north, but none of them has the slightest inkling what chain of events this will set in motion.

This series just keeps getting better and better! Now that I've gotten more of a feel for who/what "Picklemen" are, I have no complaints whatsoever. Well, aside from the fact that I now have to wait for the next installment to be written and published.

For readers' advisors: story, character, and setting doorways are all strong. There is no sex or swearing (what Dimity considers "bad language" hardly counts).

Many many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher who let me read a free eGalley copy in exchange for my honest review.

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Seventh Grave and No Body

Seventh Grave and No Body by Darynda Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am so frustrated with this series right now!  It used to be one of my favorites, but after the first few books, the novelty and humor of Charley's particular brand of cavalier recklessness started wearing off, and now it grates on my nerves.  There is zero character development in book seven.  None.  Charley does not learn from her (gigantic!) mistakes.  At. All.  I listened to the downloadable audiobook version in my car on my commute, and so many times I found myself quite literally yelling at my stereo, "You are an IDIOT!!  No!  Nonononono!  Stupid stupid STUPID!!!"  My fellow motorists must have thought I'd lost my mind.

You would think that Ms. Jones would have Charley grow up at least a little bit over the course of the series.  Use some common sense every once in a while.  But no, despite being hunted by 12 Hellhounds so dangerous they terrify even the uber-powerful Son of Satan (Reyes) and the Champion Gladiator Demon (Osh), Charley repeatedly sneaks out, trying to evade her self-appointed bodyguards, putting everyone's life at risk...even AFTER her folly nearly kills said bodyguards.

You would think that Ms. Jones would have Charley learn to use her newfound powers strategically.  But faced with a human villain in a house with a human victim, does she take advantage of her supernatural talents and friends, slowing time long enough to capture the murderer and free the prisoner?  No, instead she starts a fight with her protectors on the front lawn.

It's as though she goes out of her way to be self-absorbed and childish.  She never takes seriously Reyes' admonition to learn to use her special abilities to fight for her life against the Hounds, and in the climactic showdown, it's like she basically forgot everything Reyes taught her and just sat frozen and useless for most of the battle while everyone else was ripped to shreds.

One of my other pet peeves with this book is that you could create a new drinking game based on the number of times Charley says, "affianced," "sweet," and "It was weird."  Repeated words and phrases stuck out like sore thumbs in audiobook format, as did the excessive explicit sex scenes.  All of which really got in the way of the story.  When Ms. Jones got out of her own way and focused on the fast-paced story, the book was really exciting and enjoyable.

For readers' advisors:  story doorway.  Lots and lots of sex and profanity.  Some humor (or attempts thereof).

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Rocky Mountain Miracle

Rocky Mountain Miracle by Christine Feehan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Someone has been spreading rumors that, to get his hands on millions of dollars in inheritance money, Cole Steele killed his father and intends to kill Jase, his fourteen year old brother. Itinerant veterinarian Maia catches Cole's attention when he hears her defend him to the locals, and he starts hanging out in the bar watching her play drums several nights a week. Cole is doing his best to convince her to sleep with him when he gets a call from Jase, frantic because his favorite horse has been severely injured. Cole insists Maia go with him to the ranch. As they drive through the increasing snowstorm, animals swoop down from the darkness and run into their path, frantic to warn Maia of danger ahead--men and blood and violence.

However, between the snowstorms, the injured horse, and a wounded mountain lion, Maia isn't leaving the ranch any time soon. Thank goodness for Jase's presence because Cole gets sexier as his secrets come to light and barriers soften and collapse. When she learns Christmas is a traumatic time of year in the Steele household, Maia is determined to do what she can to banish the hateful ghost that permeates the house. But it isn't a ghost causing the dangerous accidents, and Cole soon realizes that whoever killed his father is still out there.

Seriously, I got it the first time--he's a sexy bad boy inexplicably obsessed with the traveling vet, and even though she knows better, she's attracted to him, too. Despite the obnoxiously repetitious beginning, I eventually enjoyed this story of abused brothers learning to trust each other and heal with the help of a vet who can communicate with animals. I kind of wanted the mountain lion to have a bigger role in the story, though.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. There is a fair amount of swearing; some pretty explicit sex scenes; and a ridiculous number of descriptions of the main characters' potent attractiveness destroying all good intentions of self control, liquid fire of desire, careful defenses not working, branding kisses, yada yada yada.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I really wish all romance authors would take Alison Armstrong's Queen's Code workshops (see www.understandmen.com) before they wrote any more novels. Lust does NOT equal love, and too much sexual chemistry is a bad thing, not the fire that keeps a relationship going as so many people seem to believe. Which is not to say that attraction isn't critically important, just that both parties need to feel comfortable enough to be their true selves in order for a relationship (of any kind, really) to grow and strengthen over time. Desperately twisting oneself into a pretzel in an effort to be what one thinks the other wants never works in the long run, and neither does invading someone's personal space with blatant sexuality. Ms. Feehan does eventually get her characters to the point of showing their true selves to each other, but I almost didn't read far enough to find that out because the beginning of this novella was so full of raging lust and hormones.

I received a free eGalley copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.  Apparently this novella was published a decade or so ago as part of a couple of story collections and is now being repackaged on its own in ebook format.

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Heroes Are My Weakness

Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I almost quit reading within the first few chapters because I really didn't much care for any of the characters, but I'm glad I kept going because they eventually started to grow on me.

The novel opens with Annie Hewitt, a debt-ridden ventriloquist stricken with pneumonia, driving through a blizzard on a small island off the coast of Maine to a cottage she must live in for the next 60 straight days lest ownership revert to her ex-stepfather. The sudden appearance of a man on horseback causes her to skid off the road into a snow-filled ditch, and things don't improve even after she drags her feverish self and her suitcases of puppets through the cold night to the dark cottage where the caretaker hasn't turned on the utilities as requested. The rider turns out to be her former step-brother and ex-boyfriend whom she hasn't seen in 18 years--since he tried to kill her. Theo Harp is now a famous author and recent widower, but this time she has the courage to stand up to him, in the process learning that all wasn't as it seemed back when they were teenagers.

Annie's mother never treated her very kindly, but on her deathbed, she promised Annie that the cottage contained "her legacy" and there would be plenty of money, so Annie begins the search, hoping to discover something that could help pay off the bills she incurred catering to her mother's dying whims. Annie spends hours up at Harp House trading housekeeping labor (to prevent Theo from firing her friend who can't do the work due to a broken foot) for wi-fi access so she can research the art and objects she finds. None of it seems valuable, but someone sure wants to scare Annie away because there is a series of break-ins, vandalism, threats, and once someone even shoots at her.

My favorite part of the book, I think, is the subplot about Jaycie's four-year-old daughter Livia who became mute after witnessing her mother shoot her father. Annie's talent for ventriloquism helps draw Livia out and start the healing process.

For reader's advisors: character and setting doorways. There is some swearing and eventually some sex scenes.

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Curtsies & Conspiracies

Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book #2 in the series kicks off with the girls in Sophronia's class at the floating Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality undergoing their six-month evaluations, the results of which put everyone out of sorts. Sophronia is grateful for the friendship of Vieve and the sooties in the boiler room, and visits them even more frequently. It's with their assistance that she begins to work out the threads of the complicated machinations afoot regarding a new guidance valve and a test of aether travel. Many factions seem to have a stake in the outcome, from Picklemen to flyway men, vampires to government agents, and it's up to Sophronia to figure out who is trying to kidnap her friends Dimity and Pillover, and for heaven's sake, why?

Although I still haven't managed to work out exactly who the Picklemen are and what their agenda is, I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced romp through an alternate 19th century England where werewolves and vampires live side by side with ordinary humans, and most of the servants are mechanical. It was interesting to watch Sophronia grow and learn the hard way that sometimes her actions have unexpected consequences--a lesson all teenagers need, even the exceptionally mature ones.

For readers' advisors: setting and story doorways are primary. No sex or bad language. Sophronia is in a bit of a love triangle, but so far everyone is very formal and respectful.

I received a free ebook copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Sixth Grave on the Edge

Sixth Grave on the Edge by Darynda Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book #6 picks up only a few days after Book #5 ends. Charley's life hasn't become any less chaotic or complicated. Since Reyes proposed, Charley has been stalling and trying to uncover more information about his background, namely his human family. As a favor to FBI Agent Carson, she's looking into a long-unsolved kidnapping where the missing child just happens to be the one and only Reyes Farrow--a fact Agent Carson does not know. However, it's not as straightforward as Charley thinks: there is more than one kidnapping in this particular story, which mucks everything up.

While she's trying to figure out what to do, gunmen break in and threaten to harm her nearest and dearest if she doesn't track down a witness to a murder who is being kept in protective custody. Again, there is more to this story, and not everyone will escape unscathed.

She also gets a visit from a panicked man who lost his soul to a demon in a card game and needs her to get it back for him so he can someday go to heaven to be with his 3-year-old daughter who just died. Over Reyes' objections, she goes to meet the demon and makes her own bargain with him. A demon with an ulterior motive? What a shock!

Then there is the ghost who so terrifies her teenage friend Quentin, that she traps him on a tram car until Charley can come to his rescue and help the girl cross over. The child's abusive life and horrible death prompt Charley to make it her mission to discover what really happened and ensure supernatural justice takes place.

In the midst of all this, Angel's mom tracks Charley down, demanding a truthful explanation for the money Charley has been depositing into her bank account every month. Angel is furious when (some of) the truth comes out, and it leads to more revelations of what really happened when he died.

Add to that Charley's "ingenious" plan to make Uncle Bob jealous enough to ask Cookie out...by setting her up on several consecutive blind dates. As with all of Charley's plans, it goes awry. It's a busy week in Albuquerque.

There is actually so much going on in this installment of the series, that it felt very much like a middle book--a way station enroute to a larger climactic moment in a later book. Lots of loose ends that don't get tied up, especially with Charley's dad's mysterious behaviour. It feels to me like it ended mid-scene, in fact. I was a little startled when the credits music started playing, as I had been expecting another chapter to follow.

While I still enjoy the author's style, I did find myself a little frustrated that there really wasn't any character development for Charley. Despite all her catastrophes and near-death misadventures, she just never seems to grow up at all. I appreciate that much of her attitude and banter is a defense mechanism, yet I really wished she would learn to think things through a little more, to heed other people's warnings and not barrel head-down into danger all the time, forcing others to come to her rescue. She's got a big heart, but I'm growing a little weary of her foolish recklessness.

I wonder how much of my dissatisfaction has to do with the fact that I listened to the book instead of reading it? The narrator, Lorelei King, did an excellent job, I thought, of giving each character a distinct voice and personality. I'm not sure why Cookie's voice was so deep as to sound masculine, but otherwise I thought Ms. King did an excellent job of bringing to life the words on the page. However, when read out loud, I really noticed the repetition of certain elements, like Charley asking, "What can go wrong?" or all the ways to talk about Reyes being hot--in all senses of that word. I found myself much more impatient than with earlier books. I think I'll go back to print rather than audio with Book #7.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. There is a great deal of swearing and sexual content. I've seen this book characterized as "urban fantasy," which makes a certain amount of sense--it's too chaotic and lacking a central mystery to call it a "mystery." I listed it as "suspense," but it's also not terribly suspenseful, although "humorous romantic paranormal suspense" is more or less how I'd describe it.

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