5 stars I don’t think I’ve ever had anything bad to say about a Zoe York book, which is why I was so excited to receive an ARC of the book from the author. This one does not disappoint. It’s about another one of the Kincaid brothers, Seth. A second-chance love story (my favorite kind), Seth comes back to Pine Harbor and runs into his high school best friend/girlfriend whom he has avoided for the past twenty years. Her name is January. Now, I’ve never met anyone with that name, but okay. What I thought made it extra weird is that her sister was named August, and August named her daughter Summer (and her son Levi). Was February unavailable? I know families can be weird about how they make the choices for their childrens’ names, but I would have liked to know WHY her parents named them after months (and why did August name her daughter after a season?). I mean, I wouldn’t be able to ask a real person, so it would have been nice to have fictional characters’ names explained to me. My quibbles with the female character names did not affect my review, which is really based on the story itself, and on character development (names aside). Zoe York tells stories in a casual voice, like someone would retell a story of something that happened to them, combined with explicit sex scenes and emotional interactions. Still, it’s easy reading, and you shouldn’t expect to run into advanced vocabulary or convoluted sentences. It’s very reader-friendly. It’s told in third-person, past-tense, by an omniscient narrator. I’m not one to include an overview of the story in my reviews because, honestly, the author takes a lot of time crafting a blurb, so who am I to reword it? What I do like to do is share some of my favorite quotes from a story, so here I go. January is quite smitten with Seth, but doesn’t want him to know. In her head, she makes an excuse for why she should take a picture of him (for someone else), and denies that it’s because she wants it. Then the narrator says: “No. Did she? Maybe. Probably not. Possibly.” Seth is also fighting his growing feelings for January, reminiscing, “She was the best part of his life, at the worst time of his life…” There are many questions of what-if? It’s natural to wonder about what could have happened in our lives if we’d made different decisions. Seth and January naturally wonder what could have been if Seth hadn’t enrolled in the Royal Military College and they had stayed together. In the end, they come to realize that the love they shared for one another when they were young was too much for them to cope with when they were young, and they both needed to go off and live their own lives. They needed to mature to truly be thankful one another. January says: “I used to tell myself that we didn’t love each other when we were young. But that’s not exactly true, is it?” He shook his head. “I loved you so much, it was too bright for me to see it as love. And you loved me—so much that you helped me to leave you. Maybe you’re right. Maybe that was a grown-up kind of love we couldn’t appreciate at the time.” The story ends with a teaser for Josh Kincaid’s story next. I’m looking forward to Rebel at Heart. June 17, 2022
0 Comments
5 stars I received an ARC of this book from the author, the fourth in the Popov Bratva series. I’ve been enjoying this series so far, and I enjoyed this book too. It focuses on Dom, Lev’s twin brother, and his budding relationship with Leah, a famous country singer whom he does not know. I must confess, I loved the circumstances under which Dom and Leah meet—when he tries to steal her car. Not many would be stupid enough to confront a carjacker, but then, not many are like Leah. Dom is surprised, to say the least. Obviously, he doesn’t kill her, as most carjackers would probably do, so don’t try this at home. Dom and Leah are both similar in their unwillingness to allow anyone to get too close to them. Dom is still mourning the loss of his mother a year ago (in Lev and Siena’s story) and Leah lost her mother at 14, and ended up in a series of lousy foster homes. The final one was the worst. Leah has some BIG secrets in her past, although once we know the main ones, we have a pretty good idea about the one she really doesn’t want to tell anyone. And now, some bad people are after Leah, and it’s because they recognized her when following Dom. Even if he doesn’t want a relationship with her (spoiler: he does), he feels responsible and determined to protect her. Lev and their cousin, Sacha, immediately offer to help. To no one’s surprise, Dom and Leah overcome their fear of commitment and learn to trust one another. It’s a simple story, but it’s well told with compelling characters. Plus, it’s part of a series and each one leads you to want to read the next. 5+++ stars Thanks to Amazon Prime Reading for this book, which I now want to share with everyone. This review is going to be long because this book is so, so good. This is the kind of book I’ll always remember, at least snippets of it, because it is so expansive and all-encompassing. It covers generations, or maybe it just seems that way because it jumps back and forth between centuries and characters, connecting them in unforeseeable and shocking ways. It’s a masterpiece of writing, and the research that went into it is epic. In fact, as soon as I finished it, I immediately launched into the notes at the back and learned the true extent of Kadish’s efforts to not only understand, but also to impart the lives and philosophies of Jews in London during the 1600s. She does a truly amazing job of sharing what she learned, and I chuckled when I read how she struggled to understand the religious philosophies and confided to her agent that she felt like “the Milli Vanilli of metaphysics.” Prompted by the question posed by Virginia Woolf in A Room of One’s Own: if William Shakespeare had had an equally talented sister, what would her fate have been? Kadish creates Ester, a young girl of the 1600s, nearly forbidden (though not completely) from learning, yet fascinated by the Torah and other religious teachings. Through several cruel twists of fate, she becomes the scribe for the renowned Rabbi HaCoen Mendes, and this allows her to pursue her desire. It also causes her to question faith itself and to lie to the rabbi to conceal her writing. This, despite the love she feels for him, and the unquestionable love he feels for her which, at times, is poignant. At one point, she considers, “Lying had become her clothing—without it she’d freeze.” The two other main characters are Helen and Aaron, living in 2001. Helen is an aging history professor, preparing to retire, and filled with regret for choices made in her youth. Like Ester, Helen chose knowledge over any other desires she might have had. Aaron is a postgraduate history student, struggling with his thesis, and with his life. He struggles with self-doubt and strives to become a man he can be proud of. He and Helen make an unlikely pair, neither particularly liking the other, but as they come to know one another better, and as they come to know Ester, they gain respect and care for one another. In fact, later in the story, Aaron reflects: “...he knew that he would never be able to tell her that he loved her as a foundering ship loves a lighthouse, even though the lighthouse is powerless to save it.” Kadish tells this story with sentimentality that never veers into the maudlin, and with poetry that never becomes arcane. Helen is described thusly in chapter one: “On a narrow window beside the door, a reflection of her own bent figure. As she leaned closer, it rippled as though on the dark surface of a stream: a pale, aging professor in her outdated suit. Tilted to one side, leaning on her cane.” Sitting through a stilted meeting over tea, we’re told, “The amber liquid was loud in the silent room.” Not long after meeting Helen, Aaron describes her: “She’s the sort of person you can’t imagine having an actual home. It’s as though she turns a corner leaving her office and is shelved overnight in some storage unit for the terminally pedantic, and only materializes again on her return to work the next morning.” This reminds me of what children often think about their teachers, and as one teacher told me, they are often shocked to find that same teacher at the local grocery store or out enjoying life with her own family. Helen is struggling with Parkinson’s and her doctor prescribes a medication that “had left long, dark spaces between her thoughts, each thought an island in a sea of nothing, the islands few and far between. The feeling had not been unpleasant, and that was the problem. Waking in the middle of the night to an inky peace that stretched on and on with no break, she’d become frantic. She could not recognize her own mind. The quiet in her head was the silence of defeat. She’s spent the night shivering in her thin nightdress, terrified. Unable to lie down lest she lose what remained of herself as she slept, her hands climbing at her throat, her temples.” She decides she prefers her tremor. Obviously, history is a recurring theme, and it is depicted as a living being—actually, another character. Aaron, long frustrated by “lifeless months of dissertation research” feels “History, reaching out and caressing his face one more…The gentle, insistent touch of something like a conscience, stilling him. Waking him to a lucid new purpose….his bones had balked at supporting his weight…” And now, we’re also introduced to another recurring character: death. “He’d felt himself waver, almost fail as he caught his balance—as though they (the papers discovered under the stairs) understood already decades ahead of Aaron, about death.” They did. Not surprisingly, Ester is quite familiar with death and finds herself longing for the end of each day for “the sweet sleep she now craved more than almost all else. The death of each day’s life.” And as she witnesses the death of the rabbi, she realizes “For death—so it seemed to Ester now—awaits agreement, even where it must persuade and threaten and insist without mercy until agreement is granted.” Ester struggles with the desire for death and the desire to live. Later, she tells someone, “Death tarries and tarries, then speeds when we beg for just another hour.” Kadish’s description of Ester traversing London Bridge is spellbinding, but too long, and too good in its entirety, to quote it here. However, it is here that she wants to warn people: “never let your true thought be known, for it is by truth that you are noosed and for truth burnt.” Most of the noteworthy phrases come from Ester’s portion of the story, probably because Helen and Aaron are simply reacting to it and applying it to their own lives. Ester is warned by her friend Mary’s mother, “If you find a way to live as you wish, unnatural though it might be, you’ll carry on your shoulders the weight of thousand wives’ wishes. Though aloud all may curse you as a very devil.” Ester’s thoughts on the nature God and of life take up a good portion of the story: “How could desire be wrong—the question seized her—if each living being contained it? Each creature was born with the unthinking need to draw each next breath, find each next meal. Mustn't desire then be integral—a set of essential guideposts on the map of life’s purpose? And mightn’t its very denial then be a desecration?” “A woman’s body, said the world, was a prison in which her mind must wither.” “The greatest act of love—indeed, the only religion she could comprehend—was to speak the truth about the world. Love must be, then, an act of truth-telling, a baring of mind and spirit just as ardent as the baring of the body. Truth and passion were one, and each impossible without the other.” “Yet how can a kindness that blights the life of even one—though it benefit others—be called good? Is it in fact kindness to sever oneself from one’s own desires? Musn’t the imperative to protect all life encompass—even for a woman—her own? Then must we abandon our accustomed notion of a woman’s kindness, and forge a new one.” She sounds like one of the original feminists, although the term would have been foreign to her. There are also a few situations in which Ester finds herself in danger, with Rivka (the rabbi’s housekeeper) at her side. Stuck in the darkness, she has an out-of-body experience: “No candle, no light from the street. Ester had the sensation that neither she nor Rivka was real—that were she to try to locate her own body in the room, try to touch her own arm or leg or shoulder, she’d touch nothing.” Of course, that’s nothing compared to the eternal darkness experienced by the rabbi, who was blinded by the Inquisitors in Portugal. He tells her the first thing he realized after losing his sight, and continued to realize every day, “The distances between things are vast.” He understands her love of the written word because “the weight of ink” is one of the first things he realized he would miss. She reads to him, but it’s only a substitute for what he really loves. When London is afflicted by the plague, a frightening man decides he will have the house and everything within it, even though Ester and Rivka are living inside of it. “Through the mullioned panes, Bescos looked like a man assembled out of tiles, each laid alongside the next to form the semblance of a man.” She goes on to surmise that he is suffering, probably from the loss of the woman he loved, and has tried to piece himself back together, with partitions to protect himself from the pain. Understanding him doesn’t mean she lets down her guard. He’s dangerous and poses a great risk to the women. Aaron has the ultimate realization at the end: “He’d always pitied those ensnared in the time periods he studied—people captured in resin, their fates sealed by their inability to see what was coming. The greatest curse, he’d thought, was to be stuck in one’s own time—and the greatest power was to see beyond its horizons. Studying history had given him the illusion of observing safely from outside the trap. Only that’s what the world was: a trap. The circumstances you were born to, the situations you found yourself in—to dodge that fray was impossible. And what you did within it was your life.” This book has one of my favorite endings of any book because, although it doesn’t tell the full story and I would have loved for it to go on, it ends simply and with a message of hope. Ester realizes she doesn’t need to carry her load alone. There’s someone else offering her rest. And after the many tragedies she has endured, she truly deserves this. If someone like Ester could find hope in her life, surely, the rest of us can. June 11, 2022 5 stars I received an ARC from Wolf Publishing, and I was excited to read about Clarity's younger sister, Purity. I loved it! Truth be told, Purity seemed like the better match for Clarity’s eventual husband, but he needed someone fun and willing to break the rules and Purity needed someone like that as well—Baron Matthew Foxford, dubbed the Bachelor Baron at times, and at other times Foxy or the Fox. Needless to say, he is a rake who sets his sights on Purity, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and determines she will be his bride. Of course, being exceedingly proper, she wants nothing to do with him. Similarly to the storyline in Clarity, Matthew begs Purity to teach him to be proper, and the more time she spends around him, the more she comes to see the man underneath the persona. What I noticed immediately about this book was the author’s frequent use of archaic terms that were popular at the time. Although I could figure out words based on context, I nevertheless found myself looking up words and phrases simply because I wanted to know more information. There were things like: “beard-splitter,” gimcrack ewes, tipping the velvet, royster, nip-cheese, tweague, rantum-scantum, spoony loggerhead, grinagog, fustilugs, lewd bobtail, game pullet, green gown in a dark garden, looby, lobcock, danced the blanket hornpipe, having a proper smack, pully hawly, “a muff is a tuzzy-muzzy is a quim all the same,” flourish in the bushes, whore’s bird, primsy-pate, thundering buck, “landing a nosegay or even a full floorer,” feather bed jig, buttered bun, wapped, “cove of a man,” toss off, “long-tongued, chaff-cutter of a mouth,” given him the mitten, tweague, swabbers, “half seas over,” “living under the cat’s foot,” sway a-plenty, betwattled, aigrette, rantipole, buck dangler, rum husband, bandbox, Carvel’s ring. At one point, I wondered where Bailey found a dictionary of these terms and why she was using so many of them, almost to the point of showing off. But I was so amused by them, I really didn’t mind. It encouraged me to learn a few new phrases and do some additional research of my own. I wonder, did she use the 1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose? Even if she did, there were many phrases not included. For example, there was this complete sentence, “He was drunk as David’s sow, sucking the monkey for a fortnight straight before he sobered up.” Although it was easy enough to figure this out, I still wanted to look up the various elements of the sentence to understand the origins. I loved Matthew, the polar opposite of stuffy and proper Purity (who turned out not to be, after all). He was surprisingly pure for someone so impure. With a nickname like Fox, it’s no shock he was frequently featured in the gossip section of the newspaper. Still, he managed to bounce through life happily as if every day were a new adventure, and he didn’t seem to have a mean bone in his body. He genuinely never intended to hurt anyone. Meanwhile, Purity was, in a word, pure. She did everything properly and would never end up in the gossip pages. Until she did. The two of them are a perfect balance, with him encouraging her to push the boundaries while she strives to teach him the importance of societal limitations. Early on, she admonishes him that he must not be flippant. “‘Flippant?’ Matthew asked. He might have to remain silent for his normal everyday parlance was ripe with flippancy.” And that’s what made him so much fun. Matthew is a fan of the double entendre, but he cannot get a rise out of Purity. She explains to him, “When presented with a double entendre, a lady has two choices. She can remain silent because she has not heard you, even if she has, or she may say ‘I do not understand you.’” Her voice rose. “And then she can only pray you shut your vulgar potato trap!” This was funny, but I found it much more amusing when, during a different conversation, she simply said, “Cease your nonsense.” Matthew is not one to be easily discouraged. When he suggests they go for a walk in the garden, Purity responds sarcastically that she’s sure her mother won’t mind them wandering around in the dark. He questions whether the book of etiquette she is so fond of quoting offers some kind of warning about sarcasm. “Probably,” she said. “Accordingly, if you can behave, I will curb my tongue. He responds, “Without access to your tongue, I suppose I shall have to behave.” By the time they are married, Purity is no longer shocked by his comments. She worries about her hairpins allowing one of them to be pricked, and that she will be to blame. He replies, “I assure you, lady wife, you shall be pricked, but the blame will be mine.” This time she laughs, finally acknowledging she understands. Matthew teases Purity mercilessly, nicknaming her “Kitten” the first time he meets her, which she repeatedly asks him not to do. But it’s all in good fun. During a dance, he calls her Purity and she is aghast because he uses her “given name. He grinned at her. ‘It slipped out. Do you prefer kitten after all?’” The conversation continues until she accuses him of going too far, saying, “Now I know you are testing me with your impudence.” And he says, “Or is it imprudence?” It is with great difficulty that she remains serious. Because every romance must contain an element of uncertainty, often through some kind of misunderstanding between the main characters, Matthew goes to his club to get drunk and is found there by his friend Quinn. “‘Another,” he (Matthew) called out to the waiter. ‘You're speaking to a floor lamp,’ Quinn said. ‘Blast!’ He looked again. No wonder the chap hadn’t moved the last two times he’d demanded liquor. ‘I don’t think the lamp knows where the best brandy is stored.’” There is not really any subterfuge with Matthew. What you see is what you get, and I think that’s what makes him so lovable. He doesn’t hide what he wants and he asks for it, which is probably why he has had so many conquests prior to meeting Purity. Even in his interactions with her, he pretends to need her help with etiquette, but he quickly admits it’s because he wants her to be his wife and that was the best way he could think of to be near her. Lucky Purity. May 30, 2022 5 stars I love this story (this series, really), and it’s not because I edited it. James and Laura were introduced back in Billionaire Trifecta and they’ve been mentioned in subsequent books, so I’ve been dying to read their story. It turns out to be way more complicated than I could have imagined. And the road to their happy ending, though it doesn’t include any villains trying to disrupt their happiness, is a rocky one nonetheless. They do a sufficient job of impeding their own happy ending; they don’t need the help of any bad guys. Because the story has many surprises, I hesitate to say much of anything in this review. Suffice to say, Laura and James are the kinds of heroes you root for, hoping they’ll find their way to one another, and their story is great. I highly recommend it—although I definitely think it should be read after the author has tortured you with hints of what’s to come in other books. ;) May 28, 2022 5 stars I knew I would love this story because Kate Meader wrote it, and I was thankful to receive an ARC. I didn’t expect it to hit me as hard as Gunnar and Sadie’s story, so I was surprised when this one hit me right in the feels. Although I shouldn't have been. Now, it didn’t make me cry like Gunnar and Sadie, but Tara was a remarkably sympathetic and relatable character, and her story did bring tears to my eyes. And Hale astonished me with the depths of his feelings and his openness to admitting them, even to his friends. Most of us have suffered at the least the occasional bout of self-doubt and unworthiness, but Tara takes it to a new level. Part of the reason she comes across as she does, a gold-digger looking for a jock who’s “young, dumb, and hung,” is because she thinks her only assets are her looks and her ability to make men feel good about themselves. It’s not necessarily what she wants for her life, but she has her reasons for thinking this is the only path for her. And she more than makes up for it with her generosity and cheerfulness. She’s one of those people who brings sunshine with her every time she enters a room. Hale Fitzpatrick is the new GM of the Rebels hockey team and not on Tara’s radar. Not only does he judge her and her goals (a rich, famous, athlete husband), but the more she gets to know him, the more she also becomes convinced that she’s not worthy of someone like him. And although he’s extraordinarily attracted to her, he doesn’t seriously consider her as a long-term partner. Clearly, the two of them are about to discover some unexpected things about themselves, and each other. Tara shows some exceptional wisdom, which bely her dumb blonde persona. At one point, she tells Hale, “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.” And this observation was along the lines of something I’ve always thought myself. Receiving texts from O’Malley, the man she’s being paid to pretend-date, she thinks, “The texts were along the lines of ‘Where R U?’ and ‘UOK?’ (It actually took more energy not to let the words autofill, but whatever.)” Tara feels an uncontrollable attraction to Hale, and for that reason, she feels uncomfortable around him. While talking to him, she told herself to stop talking, but instead she “babble(d) like there was a sale on words in the word store.” During another uncomfortable conversation, during which she found herself unable to stop talking, this happened: “‘Trains entering tunnels are all about sex,’ she continued because apparently she needed to finish this very important TED talk.” This here made me laugh out loud: “When had she made the switch from ‘you irritate the f— out of me’ to ‘please f— the irritation out of me?’” And when Tara tries to resist Hale’s charms, but especially his thoughtfulness and kindness because they endanger her heart, he does something over-the-top, remembering something she told him about her childhood, and the narrator says, “The hits, they kept on coming.” The story is told from alternating POVs so Hale has some observations of his own. I loved the alliteration in this: “The taste of her still lingered on his lips. The scent of her was lodged in his lungs.” As he begins to realize his feelings for Tara are more than anything he planned, “Time slowed as he moved inside her, every tiny nudge bringing him closer to a place he’d never visited.” And then there were the observations about players on the Rebels team. Of course, every time Hale sees Tara with Dex O’Malley, he sees red. At one team party, he thinks, “O’Malley was standing and talking to Tara, who must have arrived in the last couple of minutes. Though standing was more like “looming” and “talking” was closer to leering.” And because all of the players from previous books make an appearance in this one, Theo Kershaw is acknowledged as he enters a conversation already taking place. “Kershaw appeared out of nowhere as if he was waiting to be summoned to the perfect entry point.” Bottom line. I love Kate Meader and I’m forever impressed by her ability to create characters who wiggle their way into my heart and make me feel for them. Her writing is clever, witty (without being outrageous), and poignant. Any time I have the opportunity to read one of her books, I’m there. I suggest you read her books also. May 28, 2022 4 stars I read the first book in this series, Duke of Madness, and rated it five stars. Somehow, I missed book #2, until I received this one, book #3. The nice thing is that each story is free-standing and doesn’t require knowledge of the others. I’m not sure if I’ll go back to book two, mostly because I have so many ARCs in need of review that I can’t see myself purchasing one of these books to review it. On the other hand, if the author gave me an e-copy and requested a review, I’d be happy to do so because the series is enjoyable. As in book one, and I assume in book two, the story is told by the current heroine in the form of a story of how she met her husband. Diana Kendricks, another student from Mrs. Rutley’s school for girls, comes to visit Mrs. Rutley on her deathbed, and at Mrs. Rutley’s request, she recounts the story they all know. The thing I like most about this method of storytelling is that there is no doubt that the two main characters will end up together, so even though there is tension and uncertainty about how things will unfold, there’s a certain sense of calm as well. The problem is that the POV switches to allow the narrator to tell the story from the POVs of both main characters. Once you get into the story, it doesn’t matter, but if you analyze it, it doesn’t make sense. Diana’s neglectful father sends her gifts rather than giving her his attention and this turns her off to men, especially those who give gifts. Additionally, she remembers a time when her parents were in love, but now they’re estranged and she fears a similar fate. She’s afraid of trusting a man because “what if he promises her the moon only to giver her its reflection?” As a result, Diana is determined to be a spinster, until she meets James. James Barrington, a local marquess, is the man she didn’t know she was looking for. I’m not entirely sure how likely it is that so many of the landed gentry class can live in such a small geographic area, but putting that aside, the books are fun. Although James is not against marriage, he has some personal issues that prevent him from seeking one. Once he meets Diana, he tries to find a way around those issues because he so enjoys her company. Meanwhile, Mr. Stonebrook plays the villain. He cozies up to Diana’s father and gains his blessing to court Diana, despite the fact that she has told him she doesn’t want that. He manipulates her into believing this is what her father wants and it would be a great way to please him, thus gaining his love. James has his own history with Stonebrook and despises him, and we find out what a jerk he is as the story unfolds. Baldwin, James’ butler, serves as his confidant. As such, he can be a bit saucy with James and has the freedom to implement plans without his approval. I loved one conversation between them for Baldwin’s dry wit: “Would you like me to send for a rug maker, my lord?” Baldwin asked James. “I believe I can find one willing to call from London.” James turned and scowled at the butler. “Why would I need a rug maker?” “Forgive me for saying so, my lord, but you’ve been pacing the room so much over the past two days that I’m afraid the one you have is wearing thin. And once the rug is gone, you may want to consider getting your shoes resolved.” I also loved the banter between Diana and James, as she demonstrates her intelligence and cleverness, and impresses him. And this bit of internal dialogue from James when he first meets Diana was quite amusing: “What woman ran from a marquess? How dare she! Surely, society was on the brink of disaster when a woman was so inconsiderate toward a man of his station.” Mrs. Rutley features prominently in this story, as Diana’s confidant and her biggest advocate. The theme of secrecy is a bit heavy-handed. Every character seems to be holding a secret, and every character seems to suffer the consequences of those secrets, some more than others. For the most part, things work out well in the end and everyone achieves their just ending. May 22, 2022 5 stars I’ve been editing for L Steele for a few years now, and her books continue to improve. In this one, the author delves so deeply into the motivations, thoughts, fears, and passions of Jeanne and Luca, it’s difficult to remain detached. These are real people suffering through real problems, with the added twist of an enemy of the Mafia trying to kill them. And it’s mostly believable, at least, based on my little bit of knowledge from books and movies. Jeanne comes across as a goody-two-shoes at the beginning, even admitting she attended school at a convent and that’s why she can’t use any bad words. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that she’s a strong woman who knows how to take care of herself and won’t put up with anyone’s bull. Along comes Luca. The second-oldest of the Sovrano brothers, who has featured fairly prominently in the rest of the Mafia stories, Luca turns out to be a huge revelation. This guy who came across as a major a-hole, and the kind of man I’d be inclined to avoid at all costs, turns out to be a romantic with a tender heart. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s one of Steele’s talents: she takes unlikable, domineering men and transforms them into loving partners through the power of love. She still manages to hold onto the animalistic and base tendencies of her heroes, and it helps to reveal their innermost feelings, the things they cannot express in words. What we learn about Luca is that he’s intense—he throws himself into everything he does, he’s volatile, he’s loyal, and he loves everything without restraint. One of the things I like best about this book is the relatively slow build of sexual tension between Jeanne and Luca. I’ve become accustomed to these books starting with a “bang,” pun intended. In a move unusual for this series, the couple doesn’t do anything more than flirt and kiss until almost page 50! God knows, Luca tries, but Jeanne seems to be resistant to his charms. Of course, like all of Steele’s heroes, he won’t force himself on her until she clearly tells him she’s ready. Then, like all of the others, he’s super-bossy. I enjoyed Luca’s internal dialogue, in which he was surprisingly self-aware, as when he thinks about Jeanne: “She seems like one of us. Only she isn’t. She’s someone who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the right place, if I’m being honest. Which I’m not.” And this, when he’s starting to realize the depths of his feelings for her: “She tries to burrow into me, as if she wants to crawl under my skin and live there. Doesn’t she know? She already has.” I love the banter between Luca and Jeanne and would love to add lots of examples, but I found this one, from Jeanne’s POV, particularly amusing: "If you think I’m going to simply fall in line with your command, then you have another thing coming." "Think," he drawls. "Eh? What do you mean?" "You have another think coming. It’s think, not thing." "No, it’s not. Think?" I scoff. "That makes no sense at all." I try to brush past him, and this time, he grabs my arm. "Have you been crying?" He peers into my face. "You have been crying." His voice hardens. "What happened?" Damn him, and his over-attentive gaze which never seems to miss a thing. And this time, it is thing. Not think. It couldn’t have been think in that previous sentence, could it? May 20, 2022 5 stars I was so excited when I found the hardcover edition of this book in the Goodwill Store because it’s a book I’d heard about and hoped to read at some point. Apparently, someone read it and thought to share it with someone else, and I was the lucky one to find it. If you think you know the full story of Donald Trump and his connections to Russia, you don’t. And if you think you’ll know everything by the end of this book, you still won’t (since much of it is still classified), but you’ll certainly know more. It’s a fascinating view into the investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails and Trump’s relationship with Russia, specifically Putin, and Peter Strzok’s role in both. There were a couple of times he made me laugh, like when he said, “Historically, trying to get DOJ to prosecute mishandling of confidential-level information was like trying to persuade a fraternity house that spiked seltzer is a real drink.” And if you’re more attracted to ironic humor, there’s this: “The fact is that if Clinton’s email had been housed on a State Department system, it would have been less secure and probably much more vulnerable to hacking.” While describing FBI laptops which constantly dropped their secure connection the author states, "Chinese or Russian intelligence would have been hard-pressed to develop a more infuriating product." And this bit of sarcasm was priceless while describing his interrogation in Congress: “I learned some things—for instance, at least one congressman trained as a dentist believed that his profession conveyed an expertise in reading body language…” Overall, I found the book both discouraging and hopeful. I feel hopeful because he shed some light on what the FBI was doing when we couldn’t see anything and were convinced no one was doing was paying attention; it makes me think that perhaps that’s what’s happening now. And I’m comforted to know there are many people within the intelligence community who truly care and have honor. It’s depressing because there were so many times when people in positions of power were given the opportunity to demonstrate that honor and they failed, fearful of the potential personal repercussions. In fact, there’s one particularly depressing comment toward the end. Strzok reminisces about words from a former FBI mentor: “Understand that we don’t have a truly equal system of justice. Some crime is too complex, and with enough money and political clout, the bad guys can bury us, or just wait us out. Worse, with enough power, they can find ways to make the injustice legal. Don’t forget that.” It really is a great book for anyone who wants an inside look at this shameful period of US history and how the FBI worked diligently and tirelessly to do the right thing. Even if you are well-informed and have a decent understanding of current events (since 2016), you will find some of the gaps in your knowledge filled. May 12, 2022 4 stars I received an ARC of this book from Wolf Publishing. It’s part of The Dubutante Dares’ series, and finally tells the story of Edmund and Katherine. I’ve given the book only four stars because, while I thoroughly enjoyed the writing, I found parts of the plot and actions of the characters absolutely infuriating. Christiana (step-mother of Edmund and Jane) was incredibly annoying in A Dare Too Far, but in this story, the steps it up to a whole new level. In fact, the prologue, during which we are introduced to Christiana and Thomas, as well as Edmund and Katherine had me ready to pull my hair out. I could not have imagined more self-aborbed and self-centered characters than Christiana and Thomas, but I think it was Edmund’s tendency to make excuses for his father and Katherine’s tendency to coddle her sister that pushed me to my limits. It was difficult for me to have any respect for any of them—Christiana was self-centered, Thomas was self-entitled, Katherine was a doormat, and Edmund was helpless. Really, both Edmund and Katherine allowed themselves to be victims, and I find it difficult to feel compassion for people who refuse to stand up for themselves. I like strong heroes. So, from the start, I had a problem. I didn’t like the characters. However, I reminded myself that I had liked them in the previous book, so I decided to give them a chance to prove themselves to me. They both had a journey to make, and ultimately, they did make it. One of the things that impresses me about this author’s writing is her ability to echo certain metaphors throughout the book, creating a kind of metaphorical theme. In this metaphorical theme, love takes the shape of a curve of the body. When Katherine and Edmund are just beginning to know one another, not long after his mother has died, she observes this about him. “‘There’s a certain inward hollow of your shoulders when you’re thinking of your mother. Like a fallen tree.’ She whispered the last words, and they fell right on top of him. One by one, hammering him into the ground.” Not only does love take the shape of a curve, but the curve is also compared to a fallen tree, and then it is used to hammer him into the ground, where the tree would be growing. Much later in the story, Edmund finds himself admiring Katherine. “He kept his gaze trained on the curve of her back. If love had a shape, it would be that curve.” Unfortunately, I’m afraid my attempts to dissect the imagery and highlight its reappearance only serve to emphasize my inferiority in this regard. The important thing is that I’m impressed by the author. I loved the banter between Edmund and his best friend George. Edmund confides the feelings he has for Kathrine, and during a gathering of male friends, George reveals it to them. Edmund complains, “...I’ve invited you merely for emotional support and, apparently, to spill to one and all my deepest secrets…” But they have a serious problem to resolve: Lady Edith has her sights set on Edmund and seems determined to place herself in a position that will force him to propose, the last thing he wants to do. He schemes to find a replacement suitor for her, and muses about the kind of man she’d want. “She obviously likes a man older than herself, kind and gentle, yet intelligent...” “I’m not quite sure,” George said,” but I think you just complimented yourself three times over.” “Can’t be helped sometimes, Georgie.” This was a beautiful description of Edmund after making love to Katherine. “His mind seemed broken, blank, and incandescently happy.” Katherine desperately wants to be free from taking care of her sister, Chrissy (Christiana). Edmund wants to help her to do that, even if it means she will leave him. That would devastate him, but he loves her enough to want her to be happy. She’s writing a book and hopes this will be her ticket to freedom. “This” —her arms tightened around the folio— “this could be it.” Her gaze wandered over an ocean of dreams he wanted to cross with her. At the very least, he’d build her a boat, paint it the same color as the sea and make it tight and safe. “This could win me my independence, my future,” she continued. And he stood stranded on the shore, watching her shrink in her bobbing blue boat, her stormy myriad-colored hair streaming behind her. Edmund, envisioning Katherine leaving him, is broken-hearted but silent, because he wants her to follow her dreams. This part made me giggle out loud. What a visual! Edmund finds out that Katherine has gone to Jane and George’s home and is impatient to be with her again. He…ran all the way to George’s townhome. He arrived sweaty and windswept and entirely out of breath, falling through the door and laying in a puddle on the foyer floor. The butler looked down at him, no concern showing on any lines of his face. “Lord Escher. Shall I alert the earl to your presence?” And this also made me chuckle. Katherine finally stands up to one of the villains of the story. “‘We will not invite you to the wedding,’ Edmund said, waving exuberantly beside her.” And finally, there’s this line in the epilogue which is everything to me. They’ve put the children to bed and lay upon their own. Edmund asks Katherine, “So, shall we unmoor ourselves from the earth a bit and revel in the clouds?” May 5, 2022 |
Elizabeth J ConnorWriter. Editor. Proofreader. Archives
September 2022
Categories |