The Family Farm by Fiona Palmer
The Family Farm’s blurb shows promise, but a slow plot and lacklustre romance make for a rather dull read.
I really, really wanted to like this book. I’m always on the lookout for good outback romances and at first glance The Family Farm fits the bill.
Isabelle Simpson returns to the family farm, eager to help her parents and show her father that she’s more than capable of managing the farm. But her father is convinced that farm life is too harsh for his remaining daughter, and this causes some conflict between then. When her father is hospitalised indefinitely, Isabelle surreptitiously takes over managing the farm.
Her father thinks their neighbour, Will Timmins, is in charge. For years Isabelle has blamed Will for her sister’s death, but gradually she learns the truth behind her sister’s tragedy and she discovers that Will has changed from the skirt-chasing prankster she knew as a child.
Read the rest of this post.
Love Bites by Lynsay Sands (Argeneau Vampire, Book 2)
This guest review is courtesy of Buttercup, a self-confessed Lynsay Sands fan.
The story begins rather bleakly in a morgue where our hero, Etienne Argeneau, is lying on a metal table about to be examined by our heroine, coroner Rachel Garrett. She is feeling a little puzzled at her attraction for the good looking, but dead, guy. She feels even more puzzled when the corpse starts talking to her.
Etienne is not in fact dead—he is a vampire with a bullet in his chest. Unfortunately for Rachel, whoever killed Etienne follows him to the morgue and she is caught in the crossfire, and is mortally wounded. Etienne wakes up just in time and saves Rachel from death by biting her. This turns out to be a great sacrifice on Etienne’s part as vampires are bound by law to turn only one human in his lifetime, an honour usually reserved for a possible mate. He brings Rachel home and takes care of her while she is transitioning, and takes a softly, slowly approach in introducing Rachel to the world of vampires. Sometimes with hilarious results…
Read the rest of this post.
Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale
Laura Kinsale’s long-awaited new release is a bit of a romp and a laugh—the Kinsale book for readers who don’t like Kinsale.
Laura Kinsale is my favourite romance author bar none, so when I found out that Sourcebooks was releasing her Regency romance this year, and then AnimeJune offered to lend me her ARC for review, I lost my mind just a tad.
That said, Lessons in French isn’t my favourite Kinsale.
Callie Taillefaire is a thrice-jilted spinster who suddenly finds herself reunited with her childhood friend and almost-lover, Trevelyn. Callie’s father once caught them in a compromising situation and Trevelyn disappeared soon after. She later learned that he had gone to France to reclaim his family estate.
When Trev returns to take care of his dying mother, Callie becomes embroiled in a madcap scheme involving a not-technically-stolen bull, a suitor who seems intent on unjilting her, and conflicted feelings about Trev.
Read the rest of this post.
Solace & Grief by Foz Meadows (The Rare, Book 1)
If you’ve ever wondered what Sydney would be like with paranormal beings lurking about, Foz Meadows’s debut YA novel pits vampires and psychics and a swan-obsessed cat in a medieval dungeon under Hyde Park.
BOOK GIVEAWAY: Read on for a chance to win a signed copy of Solace & Grief. Ends Wednesday, March 24 AEST.
In all my years at Sydney Uni, I’ve always wondered about this door. It’s hidden in a little garden between the Main Quad and the Pharmacy building. Every time I walked past it I wondered. So imagine my delight when I realised that Foz Meadows opens that door for me in Solace & Grief … and leads me to a world of magic, vampires and prophecies.
Solace Morgan walks out of her foster home the day she turns 17, convinced she’s a vampire and that she no longer belongs to her old life. She ends up at the Downstairs Club and meets a bunch of squatters, gets drunk, and before she knows it she’s living with her new set of best friends.
Read the rest of this post.
Ravishing in Red by Madeline Hunter (The Rarest Blooms, Book 1)
A sweet love story based on a marriage of convenience, Ravishing in Red is a strong start to Madeline Hunter’s new historical romance series.
Audrianna Kelmsleigh’s father was accused of treason, resulting in disastrous consequences. Her family shunned by society, she goes to live with her cousin in a boarding house of sorts called ‘The Rarest Blooms’. She sees an ad in a newspaper relating to information in her father’s case, and wishing to clear her name she rushes off to meet the would be informant. Instead of meeting him, however, she meets Lord Sebastian Summerhays, who is investigating the same issue. He is shot accidentally, leading to a scandal and eventually their marriage. Their marriage is further complicated by the fact that it was Sebastian who led the case against her father, leading her to distrust him.
The good, the bad and the rec
At first look, this appears to be another marriage of convenience story, but Madeline Hunter’s craftsmanship reveals the story beautifully,
Read the rest of this post.
Moon Craving (Children of the Moon, Book 2)
A paranormal Scottish historical featuring a werewolf laird and a deaf English heroine that won’t leave you wanting to hit the characters on the head.
Talorc, laird of the Sinclair clan, is a Chrechte, part of an ancient tribe of werewolves that integrated itself into the clans of the Picts in Scotland to preserve their heritage. As the laird, he’s a subject of the King of Scotland, who orders him to marry an Englishwoman. Abigail became deaf through a childhood affliction. As a survival mechanism, she has learnt to speak clearly and to read lips. Her relationship with her family has led her to believe that she will be shunned because of this affliction, and as a result she has learnt to hide it well, and continues to do so with her new husband.
This is a beautiful love story of two people coming together. Talorc is tough and gruff, like the typical Highlander in most novels but he has a gentleness about him, despite his wolf nature that is well interpreted. Monroe also does a good job of showing Abigail’s vulnerability and how she holds herself together and tries to be strong.
Read the rest of this post.
Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins
(Otherwise known as OMG, Wandergurl is reading a contemporary that is not also a paranormal and is not written by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.)
Grace Emerson is history teacher and civil war buff whose ex-fiancé is now dating her baby sister whom she loves and adores. Tired of the pitying looks and parental nagging, she invents a hot boyfriend to appease her family. In the meantime, Callahan O’Shea, a rugged bad boy with Irish heritage, moves in next door. Now … should she or shouldn’t she?
We all know what happens next, but Kristan Higgins does a good job of reinventing the (bad) boy next door and making the whole story appealing. Too Good To Be True is a hilarious mix of well thought out characters—including a cute West Highland terrier—in an easy to read page turner that kept me grinning.
The upside
Grace is a very relatable character. As a history nerd with an equally nagging family. (Mum asks me if I’ve met Anyone Interesting no matter where I go.
Read the rest of this post.
Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin
When I realised I couldn’t, in good faith, review this book—the reasons for which are outlined below—I asked my friend Gutsy if she’d be interested in reading it. Gutsy and I share a love of beautifully written fantasy novels. She’s the only person to whom I’ve ever lent my Patricia A. McKillip hardbacks. Gutsy is currently doing her PhD in Children’s Literature.
Anyone who’s read The Aeneid would have learned that Vergil had considered it an unfinished work. Ursula K. Le Guin spun that concept into her version of the events that led to the founding of Rome and moved beyond Vergil’s ending, beginning from an ending she herself imagined of what had become of the heroes of The Aeneid after the war had been won.
Lavinia, princess of Latium, tells us the story of how she came to be promised to a foreign hero causing a war to be fought in her name. We walk with her through the forests of an Italy far removed from even the ancient Rome we are familiar with, from the innocence of her girlhood to the burdens and joys of an awakened womanhood and to her days as the mother of Rome.
Read the rest of this post.
