- Alison Winn Scotch -
Wow, finally. I've had this from the library for over two months, and I just kept putting it off because it's such a confronting subject matter - a thirty year old woman fighting breast cancer.
Ultimately though this was a very uplifting book - as she made her way successfully through treatment, Natalie learned how to rely on her family, her friends and how to open herself up, accept help and realize what she really wanted and needed out of her life.
This is also a great example of first-person POV working really well, because the journey Natalie is going through is such a personal one, the intimate perspective and occasional use of the diary allow a deeper insight into the ups and downs of her journey, and allow the reader to really revel in the catharsis and the happy ending that Natalie experiences.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
What She Doesn't Know
- Beverly Barton -
Am only a couple of chapters into this, but so far it has a couple of plot points that I haaaate so, in the hopes of the author defying expectations and going in a different direction, I want to write about them here and hope I am pleasantly surprised later.
Jolie Royale was sent away from home after an attempt on her life, a second attempt that followed the murders of her mother & aunt and their gardener and the almost fatal injuries she suffered in the same attack. When her father marries his mistress, the same woman he was screwing whilst the murders where taking place, six months after her mother's death, Jolie refuses to returned home to the family plantation again and has been estranged from her father and most of her extended family for almost 20 years.
When her father finally dies, Jolie returns home for the funeral and reading of the will in the hopes of finally enacting revenge on her stepmother, Georgette, and reopening the investigation into the murders. Georgette's son, Max, who Jolie once had a childhood crush on, is there to protect him mother and the half sister he and Jolie share, and try to prevent Jolie from hurting his family.
The part of all this set up that I strongly object to is the suggestion, already spoken via entreaties from her aunt and an old family friend, that Jolie is wrong to have hard feelings, or be unwilling to accept her step mother, whilst the step mother is so far being portrayed as weak, but essentially in the right.
If the narrative of this plot follows through to the conclusion that seems to be coming so far, Jolie will ultimately forgive her stepmother, shack up with Max and all the rest of the family and they will all live happily ever after.
Again, I really, REALLY hope I am wrong, because it just drives me insane that a woman who went through seeing her father shagging another woman, discovered the bodies of her aunt and mother, was shot herself, packed off to boarding school only to have her father marry the other woman, all within a period of six months, isn't entitled to some majorly negative attached to the whole experience.
I want to see Georgette, as well as Max and the little sister, Mallory, for that matter, acknowledge that she was, and continues to be with her petulant attitude towards Jolie, in the wrong.
I also want Max to drop his self-righteous 'how dare she not forgive and forget' attitude and acknowledge that Jolie is entitled be plenty pissed off with her dad over his actions.
Fingers crossed any of it actually happens!
And the verdict is....
Mixed. While there wasn't quite the prostration of "OMG, I am so terrible" from Jolie that I was afraid of, it was never really explored in all that much depth. She just sort of...got over it.
Depth was pretty much the problem with the whole book - there was no depth to any of the relationships. Max and Jolie never appear to really even get to know each other much beyond the sexual attraction between them, yet all of a sudden there are very impassioned declarations of true love for ever.
I also really, really disliked the way the storyline for the younger sister, Mallory, was dealt with on pretty much every level. In a deeply uncomfortable scene she gives up her virginity to a 23 year old playboy, RJ, who comes across as an opportunistic sexual predator (case in point: the first time they are having sex, even though Mallory is telling him she is uncomfortable, his internal monologue consists of "Oh well, too late too stop now. You asked me to do this.") He then decides the sex would be even better bareback, so without a word to Mallory he forgoes a condom the next time, leading to the inevitable teenage pregnancy storyline, which is also resolved absurdly easily with Mallory having the baby just in time for RJ to return (having ditched her and taken off before she discovers she is pregnant) and vow to be there for Mallory and the baby forever.
This resolution is all taken care of in a matter of sentences in the epilogue, in conjuction with Jolie also discovering she is pregnant (Max and Jolie's relationship is all of nine months old at this point. But of course they are already married). I am beyond irritated with the recurring theme in romance novels where the author feels the need to tie the entire story and/or relationship up a in a happy little bow and, instead of just giving us the happy ending of the two people finding love together, feel compelled to add the obligatory marriage/babies/perfect life, irrespective of the time lines involved and the riduculousness of the assumption that marriage and babies would be the ultimate happy ending, as opposed to just leaving us with two adults, happy and content with each other and their relationship.
I also felt the massacre resolution was spectacularly anti-climactic here, especially considering the emotional stakes involved. And really? Georgette knew her brother had killed multiple people and was just totally fine with that? Ugh. So much ugh.
The writing itself here was fast pace and engaging, but without the character, relationship and plot development to back it up, it's just not enough.
Am only a couple of chapters into this, but so far it has a couple of plot points that I haaaate so, in the hopes of the author defying expectations and going in a different direction, I want to write about them here and hope I am pleasantly surprised later.
Jolie Royale was sent away from home after an attempt on her life, a second attempt that followed the murders of her mother & aunt and their gardener and the almost fatal injuries she suffered in the same attack. When her father marries his mistress, the same woman he was screwing whilst the murders where taking place, six months after her mother's death, Jolie refuses to returned home to the family plantation again and has been estranged from her father and most of her extended family for almost 20 years.
When her father finally dies, Jolie returns home for the funeral and reading of the will in the hopes of finally enacting revenge on her stepmother, Georgette, and reopening the investigation into the murders. Georgette's son, Max, who Jolie once had a childhood crush on, is there to protect him mother and the half sister he and Jolie share, and try to prevent Jolie from hurting his family.
The part of all this set up that I strongly object to is the suggestion, already spoken via entreaties from her aunt and an old family friend, that Jolie is wrong to have hard feelings, or be unwilling to accept her step mother, whilst the step mother is so far being portrayed as weak, but essentially in the right.
If the narrative of this plot follows through to the conclusion that seems to be coming so far, Jolie will ultimately forgive her stepmother, shack up with Max and all the rest of the family and they will all live happily ever after.
Again, I really, REALLY hope I am wrong, because it just drives me insane that a woman who went through seeing her father shagging another woman, discovered the bodies of her aunt and mother, was shot herself, packed off to boarding school only to have her father marry the other woman, all within a period of six months, isn't entitled to some majorly negative attached to the whole experience.
I want to see Georgette, as well as Max and the little sister, Mallory, for that matter, acknowledge that she was, and continues to be with her petulant attitude towards Jolie, in the wrong.
I also want Max to drop his self-righteous 'how dare she not forgive and forget' attitude and acknowledge that Jolie is entitled be plenty pissed off with her dad over his actions.
Fingers crossed any of it actually happens!
And the verdict is....
Mixed. While there wasn't quite the prostration of "OMG, I am so terrible" from Jolie that I was afraid of, it was never really explored in all that much depth. She just sort of...got over it.
Depth was pretty much the problem with the whole book - there was no depth to any of the relationships. Max and Jolie never appear to really even get to know each other much beyond the sexual attraction between them, yet all of a sudden there are very impassioned declarations of true love for ever.
I also really, really disliked the way the storyline for the younger sister, Mallory, was dealt with on pretty much every level. In a deeply uncomfortable scene she gives up her virginity to a 23 year old playboy, RJ, who comes across as an opportunistic sexual predator (case in point: the first time they are having sex, even though Mallory is telling him she is uncomfortable, his internal monologue consists of "Oh well, too late too stop now. You asked me to do this.") He then decides the sex would be even better bareback, so without a word to Mallory he forgoes a condom the next time, leading to the inevitable teenage pregnancy storyline, which is also resolved absurdly easily with Mallory having the baby just in time for RJ to return (having ditched her and taken off before she discovers she is pregnant) and vow to be there for Mallory and the baby forever.
This resolution is all taken care of in a matter of sentences in the epilogue, in conjuction with Jolie also discovering she is pregnant (Max and Jolie's relationship is all of nine months old at this point. But of course they are already married). I am beyond irritated with the recurring theme in romance novels where the author feels the need to tie the entire story and/or relationship up a in a happy little bow and, instead of just giving us the happy ending of the two people finding love together, feel compelled to add the obligatory marriage/babies/perfect life, irrespective of the time lines involved and the riduculousness of the assumption that marriage and babies would be the ultimate happy ending, as opposed to just leaving us with two adults, happy and content with each other and their relationship.
I also felt the massacre resolution was spectacularly anti-climactic here, especially considering the emotional stakes involved. And really? Georgette knew her brother had killed multiple people and was just totally fine with that? Ugh. So much ugh.
The writing itself here was fast pace and engaging, but without the character, relationship and plot development to back it up, it's just not enough.
Romeo, Romeo
- Robin Kaye -
Eh. Fairly uninspiring.
I really do not enjoy the over the top Italian stereotypes. Maybe it is true to life, but it has been done a million times before in a million different ways and there was nothing original or interesting about this.
My other big issue was that the relationship between the two leads (whose names I have already forgotten, which says it all) was written such that I completely did not understand why they had the inevitable separation. After essentially moving in together, Nick and Rosalie (there we go! Names! Also, wtf was up with Nick giving Rosalie a nickname she flat out told him she did not life? Not so much charming as arrogant and annoying) kept finding out all these supposedly life changing or relationship threatening "secrets" (fairly innocuous ones at that) about each other that they promptly rationalized away themselves without ever discussing it with each other. The conflict felt completely manafactured and worse, completely unimportant. Add in a very bizarre encounter with a former boyfriend of Rosalie's turned priest turned Mafia goon, plus a ridiculous subplot involving Rosalie losing a bunch of weight for no apparent reason, affording Nick to act all macho again, and I pretty much put this down thinking "what a waste of a book".
Eh. Fairly uninspiring.
I really do not enjoy the over the top Italian stereotypes. Maybe it is true to life, but it has been done a million times before in a million different ways and there was nothing original or interesting about this.
My other big issue was that the relationship between the two leads (whose names I have already forgotten, which says it all) was written such that I completely did not understand why they had the inevitable separation. After essentially moving in together, Nick and Rosalie (there we go! Names! Also, wtf was up with Nick giving Rosalie a nickname she flat out told him she did not life? Not so much charming as arrogant and annoying) kept finding out all these supposedly life changing or relationship threatening "secrets" (fairly innocuous ones at that) about each other that they promptly rationalized away themselves without ever discussing it with each other. The conflict felt completely manafactured and worse, completely unimportant. Add in a very bizarre encounter with a former boyfriend of Rosalie's turned priest turned Mafia goon, plus a ridiculous subplot involving Rosalie losing a bunch of weight for no apparent reason, affording Nick to act all macho again, and I pretty much put this down thinking "what a waste of a book".
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Beauty Like The Night
- Liz Carlyle -
So reading this historical back to back with "Every Night I'm Yours" definitely reinforces how much better the genre works for me when there is a more balanced relationship between the protagonists.
Helene is a woman of dubious background who understood that her only hope in life was to be well educated and make something of herself that way, rather than being utterly dependent on men as her mother was.
Camden is the oldest child of a dissolute man and as such has had to bear the brunt of the responsibility for his siblings and their estate for most of his life.
The two, who have an intense history together, whilst not equals in social standing perhaps, have both had significant obstacles to overcome and work through and consequently some understanding and respect for what the other has accomplished.
This forms a basis for their relationship that, when coupled with their past history, makes the relationship feel very believable even as the inevitable obstacles and misunderstandings come up between them.
The family relationships where a nice addition here as well - they way Camden and Helene interacted with his brother, sister and daughter all gave clear insight into their characters and they dynamics of the home, and the background mystery that came to light through the story regarding why Cam's daughter would not speak, highlighted the family bonds and was very believable rather than seeming contrived.
Enjoyed this much more than the previous Liz Carlyle I had read too (One Little Sin).
So reading this historical back to back with "Every Night I'm Yours" definitely reinforces how much better the genre works for me when there is a more balanced relationship between the protagonists.
Helene is a woman of dubious background who understood that her only hope in life was to be well educated and make something of herself that way, rather than being utterly dependent on men as her mother was.
Camden is the oldest child of a dissolute man and as such has had to bear the brunt of the responsibility for his siblings and their estate for most of his life.
The two, who have an intense history together, whilst not equals in social standing perhaps, have both had significant obstacles to overcome and work through and consequently some understanding and respect for what the other has accomplished.
This forms a basis for their relationship that, when coupled with their past history, makes the relationship feel very believable even as the inevitable obstacles and misunderstandings come up between them.
The family relationships where a nice addition here as well - they way Camden and Helene interacted with his brother, sister and daughter all gave clear insight into their characters and they dynamics of the home, and the background mystery that came to light through the story regarding why Cam's daughter would not speak, highlighted the family bonds and was very believable rather than seeming contrived.
Enjoyed this much more than the previous Liz Carlyle I had read too (One Little Sin).
Every Night I'm Yours
- Christie Kelley -
Meh. I really liked the concept for this one (spinster writer seeks lover to teach her how to write love scenes through experience), but the execution was mostly pretty boring.
The characters all felt fairly cardboard cutout and flat, with a few undeveloped complications thrown in here and there for good measure.
One thing I am definitely finding as I read more historicals is that I really strongly prefer stories where the man and woman are on more equal footing. Not in terms of social standing - that can work well for me in any combination - but in terms of experiences and confidence. I really do not enjoy the innocent virgin being seduced and/or tranforming the worldly man tropes. It just comes off as too unbalanced for me (even if this is probably fairly representative of the dynamics of many relationships of the time), I must prefer it when the heroine is more unconventional or scandalous and experienced.
Meh. I really liked the concept for this one (spinster writer seeks lover to teach her how to write love scenes through experience), but the execution was mostly pretty boring.
The characters all felt fairly cardboard cutout and flat, with a few undeveloped complications thrown in here and there for good measure.
One thing I am definitely finding as I read more historicals is that I really strongly prefer stories where the man and woman are on more equal footing. Not in terms of social standing - that can work well for me in any combination - but in terms of experiences and confidence. I really do not enjoy the innocent virgin being seduced and/or tranforming the worldly man tropes. It just comes off as too unbalanced for me (even if this is probably fairly representative of the dynamics of many relationships of the time), I must prefer it when the heroine is more unconventional or scandalous and experienced.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Just the Sexiest Man Alive
- Julie James -
This was an unusual and refreshing romance, in that the two leads had virtually no physical contact until the very end of the story. No sex = insta-love, no constant making out one minute and hating each other the next, just lots of tension, sexual and otherwise, and arguing and actual getting to know each other as people.
I also really like that neither Jason or Taylor had to undergo and personality revolutions to get to their happy ending, but rather as they got to know each other really well, they each came to appreciate one another flaws and all.
The story was also just really fun, and funny, to read as they dealt with their respective jobs, Jason's fame (I particularly enjoyed reading the friends' reaction to Jason's presence in Taylor's home) and how they interacted with each other and the world around them.
Really, really enjoyable book.
This was an unusual and refreshing romance, in that the two leads had virtually no physical contact until the very end of the story. No sex = insta-love, no constant making out one minute and hating each other the next, just lots of tension, sexual and otherwise, and arguing and actual getting to know each other as people.
I also really like that neither Jason or Taylor had to undergo and personality revolutions to get to their happy ending, but rather as they got to know each other really well, they each came to appreciate one another flaws and all.
The story was also just really fun, and funny, to read as they dealt with their respective jobs, Jason's fame (I particularly enjoyed reading the friends' reaction to Jason's presence in Taylor's home) and how they interacted with each other and the world around them.
Really, really enjoyable book.
Thirty Nothing
- Lisa Jewell -
This was an extremely interesting experiment in finding a book both awesome and excruciating all at the same time.
Awesome: Jewell creates amazingly realistic and believable characters, and captures completely the feeling of indecisiveness and 'what now?' that comes with reaching a certain age and realizing nothing is how you thought it would be or how you want to be and having no idea what to do about that fact.
Exruciating: Because the characters felt so real, when they fucked up it felt very real too - to the point where it made me cringe with embarrassment and regret on their behalf. A sign of good writing? Absolutely. Extreme humiliation as only the Brits can render it? Absolutely.
Overall, I really enjoyed Dig and Nadine's story, and enjoyed the fact that the 'other woman' Delilah was also a three dimensional character with her own story, not just a complication.
This was an extremely interesting experiment in finding a book both awesome and excruciating all at the same time.
Awesome: Jewell creates amazingly realistic and believable characters, and captures completely the feeling of indecisiveness and 'what now?' that comes with reaching a certain age and realizing nothing is how you thought it would be or how you want to be and having no idea what to do about that fact.
Exruciating: Because the characters felt so real, when they fucked up it felt very real too - to the point where it made me cringe with embarrassment and regret on their behalf. A sign of good writing? Absolutely. Extreme humiliation as only the Brits can render it? Absolutely.
Overall, I really enjoyed Dig and Nadine's story, and enjoyed the fact that the 'other woman' Delilah was also a three dimensional character with her own story, not just a complication.
Accidentally Yours
-Susan Mallery-
In general I really enjoy this writer. She creates great characters, believable stories and her writing style is very easygoing and readable.
So that being said, there were things I really enjoyed about this book and one major thread I did not.
Kerri is desperate to find a cure for her son's terminal (made up, I think) disease, and she turns for research funds to Nathan King, a billionaire who lost his son to that same disease. When Nathan refuses her the funds, she has no problem indulging in a little blackmail to get the money if that is what is needed to save her son.
I really enjoyed the way the blackmail went on - it was generally presented in such a good humored way. Kerri needed the money, Nathan needed good publicity, so she forced him into a position where they both got what they want and was cheerfully unrepentant about doing so. Once it was fait accompli, and Nathan was forced out of the emotional retreat and lack of engagement with the world he had retreated into after his son's death and earlier tragedies in his life, Nathan also took the situation and stride and generally showed a willingness to grow and ultimately deal with his emotional hangups and issues that generally you don't see as readily in romance novels. There are usually more 'complicatations' before they get to that point.
The thread that I really had a problem with here was Kerri and the way she dealt with her son's illness, which was to take a total head in the sand approach with regards to the ultimate outcome (we are told it is a degenerative, terminal illness). I totally get wanting to believe and hope for a miracle, and wanting to give your kid hope and inspiration too, but the Wonder Mom stuff was just irritating to me the way it seemed to be more for Kerri than for Cody, and I really disliked that Kerri's attitude meant her son, in exruciating pain or so we are told, was left feeling guilty about potentially leaving her alone. Talk about a crappy burden to put on a kid who already has too much crap to deal with.
Anyway, after we go through the emotional turmoil of Kerri being forced to realize what is happening and what a burden she is putting on her child, of course, the researcher her blackmail funded pops up with a cure. I just felt like it was too easy and too abrupt. The whole story takes place in a matter of weeks, all we see of the researcher is some whinging about the pressures and how he can't find the cure fast enough, and then boom! All better.
It sounds liked I was rooting for the kid to die, which of course I was not, but the way the story presented the facts, the cure and the subsequent 'miracle' of Cody's survival felt like they weren't earned, but just thrown in so as not to spoil the happily ever after.
I think the moral of the review may possibly be that kids with painful terminal illnesses and romance novels are a hard, if not impossible, combination to get right.
In general I really enjoy this writer. She creates great characters, believable stories and her writing style is very easygoing and readable.
So that being said, there were things I really enjoyed about this book and one major thread I did not.
Kerri is desperate to find a cure for her son's terminal (made up, I think) disease, and she turns for research funds to Nathan King, a billionaire who lost his son to that same disease. When Nathan refuses her the funds, she has no problem indulging in a little blackmail to get the money if that is what is needed to save her son.
I really enjoyed the way the blackmail went on - it was generally presented in such a good humored way. Kerri needed the money, Nathan needed good publicity, so she forced him into a position where they both got what they want and was cheerfully unrepentant about doing so. Once it was fait accompli, and Nathan was forced out of the emotional retreat and lack of engagement with the world he had retreated into after his son's death and earlier tragedies in his life, Nathan also took the situation and stride and generally showed a willingness to grow and ultimately deal with his emotional hangups and issues that generally you don't see as readily in romance novels. There are usually more 'complicatations' before they get to that point.
The thread that I really had a problem with here was Kerri and the way she dealt with her son's illness, which was to take a total head in the sand approach with regards to the ultimate outcome (we are told it is a degenerative, terminal illness). I totally get wanting to believe and hope for a miracle, and wanting to give your kid hope and inspiration too, but the Wonder Mom stuff was just irritating to me the way it seemed to be more for Kerri than for Cody, and I really disliked that Kerri's attitude meant her son, in exruciating pain or so we are told, was left feeling guilty about potentially leaving her alone. Talk about a crappy burden to put on a kid who already has too much crap to deal with.
Anyway, after we go through the emotional turmoil of Kerri being forced to realize what is happening and what a burden she is putting on her child, of course, the researcher her blackmail funded pops up with a cure. I just felt like it was too easy and too abrupt. The whole story takes place in a matter of weeks, all we see of the researcher is some whinging about the pressures and how he can't find the cure fast enough, and then boom! All better.
It sounds liked I was rooting for the kid to die, which of course I was not, but the way the story presented the facts, the cure and the subsequent 'miracle' of Cody's survival felt like they weren't earned, but just thrown in so as not to spoil the happily ever after.
I think the moral of the review may possibly be that kids with painful terminal illnesses and romance novels are a hard, if not impossible, combination to get right.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
One Little Sin
- Liz Carlyle -
Started off very slowly and I almost gave up, but once it got going it was a fun story.
Both characters really went on journeys - getting to know each other and themselves and what they wanted, and there was real growth which was nice to read instead of the magical romance 'now we love each other so we're perfect saints' style transformation that often happens in romance novels.
Will probably read more in the series.
Started off very slowly and I almost gave up, but once it got going it was a fun story.
Both characters really went on journeys - getting to know each other and themselves and what they wanted, and there was real growth which was nice to read instead of the magical romance 'now we love each other so we're perfect saints' style transformation that often happens in romance novels.
Will probably read more in the series.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Impulse & Initiative
- Abigail Reynolds -
OMG, it's Pride and Prejudice fan fic in published form.
Once I'd managed to disassociate from Jane Austen's characters and basically pretend this book was about entirely different people with coincidentally similar names, it was't the worse book I've ever read.
As the Darcy & Elizabeth I know from the original of course, it was wildly implausible. I just can't see those characters acting the way they do in this book and more importantly, I wouldn't want them too. One of the most beautiful aspects of Pride and Prejudice is the slow build between Darcy and Elizabeth as they move past first impressions and preconceptions and truly get to know one another. Yes, the implicit attraction is there between them from the start as they converse and disagree, but the way they circle each other and come to know one another with the broader contextual knowledge of each of their circles of families and friends is what makes it such a beautifully developed relationship.
So assuming we are pretending this is just a regency-set romance novel? Eh. As alternate universe Pride and Prejudice fan fic? Gigantic thumbs down.
And finally, all of the above being said, the author completely and 100% lost me with the final few chapters - the most ludicrous pregnancy/childbirth/oh noes, Darcy is scared crap, and totally unnecessary. Ugh.
OMG, it's Pride and Prejudice fan fic in published form.
Once I'd managed to disassociate from Jane Austen's characters and basically pretend this book was about entirely different people with coincidentally similar names, it was't the worse book I've ever read.
As the Darcy & Elizabeth I know from the original of course, it was wildly implausible. I just can't see those characters acting the way they do in this book and more importantly, I wouldn't want them too. One of the most beautiful aspects of Pride and Prejudice is the slow build between Darcy and Elizabeth as they move past first impressions and preconceptions and truly get to know one another. Yes, the implicit attraction is there between them from the start as they converse and disagree, but the way they circle each other and come to know one another with the broader contextual knowledge of each of their circles of families and friends is what makes it such a beautifully developed relationship.
So assuming we are pretending this is just a regency-set romance novel? Eh. As alternate universe Pride and Prejudice fan fic? Gigantic thumbs down.
And finally, all of the above being said, the author completely and 100% lost me with the final few chapters - the most ludicrous pregnancy/childbirth/oh noes, Darcy is scared crap, and totally unnecessary. Ugh.
Three Nights of Sin
- Anne Mallory -
Decent mystery combined with an opposites' attract sort of scenario for the romance. I hated how often the difference in the physical attractiveness of the hero and heroine where brought up, but on the other hand I really liked that Gabriel immediately appreciated and came to respect Marietta's ability to read people and adapt to situations.
Gabriel had some fairly significant emotional trauma that I wish had been explored a bit more, and not just glossed over, and I am still a little unclear on the resolution of what happened to the murdered, but overall a good read.
I am getting into the historical romances big time!
Decent mystery combined with an opposites' attract sort of scenario for the romance. I hated how often the difference in the physical attractiveness of the hero and heroine where brought up, but on the other hand I really liked that Gabriel immediately appreciated and came to respect Marietta's ability to read people and adapt to situations.
Gabriel had some fairly significant emotional trauma that I wish had been explored a bit more, and not just glossed over, and I am still a little unclear on the resolution of what happened to the murdered, but overall a good read.
I am getting into the historical romances big time!
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