Review: Mine to Keep

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Mine to Keep by Wendy Hudson is a thriller/romance. There’s Erin, who’s recently lost her mother and now trying to find her father, of whom she only has vague memories – and nightmares. There’s Abigail, a chef and part owner of a hotel (in a castle, in Scotland! see why I got interested?), who along with her brother, strike up a friendship with Erin. Mysteries, leads and rumours about Erin’s relatives abound…

Part of the story is from the villain’s point of view, so there isn’t really a big mystery or suprise for the reader – but that doesn’t mean you won’t be hanging on the edge of your seat, wondering how it will all turn out.

I loved the setting – small town/village and the castle – and the characters were great; I especially liked the (at first) withdrawn and taciturn Erin. And the villain was super creepy!

Now I have to get my hands on other works by Hudson…

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Review: Falling into Her

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Two women, one a minor celebrity burned by love (Kathryn) and now only into one-night stands, one a widow and supposedly straight (Pam). First meeting and already sparks fly – this leads to a coffee date, friendship and …well, you know. Falling Into Her by Erin Zak is a romance, pure and simple.

Pam starts to wonder if she’s straight after all, Kathryn finds her courage again – although it takes a while before they take that leap.

I enjoyed the dialogue, the characterization, everything about this book (even that one annoying supporting character). The relationship development is beautifully written and completely believable.

This is such a feelgood story, perfect for reading and rereading.

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Review: Who’d Have Thought

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Who’d Have Thought by G. Benson is fake marriage story – except these characters do actually get married! There’s an aloof but excellent surgeon, Samantha, who needs to get married for a year and puts out an advertisement for it, promising a large sum of money. Hayden, a nurse who at work hates Sam, but who also needs the money, answers the ad…

I was totally hooked by chapter 6! Great characters – one nonbinary, one pansexual, one bad at reading social cues. There’s lots of fun dialogue but also moments that make you think.

There’s also a mention of checking out someone’s collarbones! And of course the fake relationship trope *hearteyes*! LotR! Another one bites the dust! And all the other little pop culture references and cool details!

Stopped reading around 4 in the morning (couldn’t keep my eyes open any more), finished the book sometime after 8 and then took a nap. Loved it – the book, I mean. 

🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯 

Review: Journey’s End

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The third part of The Flight Series, Journey’s End, by A.E. Radley is a great read! I loved Flight SQA016, liked the sequel, Grounded, very much (but not as much as the first book), and this last one is at least as good as the first.

Olivia and Emily get married in a refreshingly short and sweet episode (after all, the marriage ceremony is not the point of this story) and have arranged their lives anew: this time the one to commute between New York and London is Emily. Olivia has to adjust to being the stay-at-home mother, which brings about some misunderstandings and funny situations.

There’s a lot of humour and warmth, plenty of longing, but also a subplot that’s a bit unpleasant (not to read, mind you!) – but it can’t all be flowers and sunshine ‘cos that would make a pretty boring story.

Good things: the love, the humour, theatre stuff, Fluffy!

Bad things: er… that it ended – or did I just read it too quickly?

Anyway, loved it.

🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯 

Review: Lucky 7

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Lucky 7 by Rae D. Magdon is an excellent science fiction – cyberpunk – story, and why the hell isn’t it more popular?

Elena, a jacker (think hacker in virtual reality) joins a new crew and – well, actually, joins a crew leader whose mission is to get the crew back together. They’re up against a big corporation, and their gang is as diverse as you can imagine. No, more.

At times breathtakingly fast-paced and edge-of-your seat suspenseful, this is truly a great sci-fi story. I liked it very much even though first-person narration usually isn’t my thing.

There are twists and turns, action and sex, humour and even silliness. But I probably wouldn’t recommend this to someone who isn’t a sci-fi buff.

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Review: The Road Ahead

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When all planes from Faro, Portugal are grounded and the only way home is a shared car, Rebecca and Arabella, who have only just met, must try to get along. Both want to be home for Christmas and time is running out. That’s the opening premise of The Road Ahead by A.E. Radley.

Two completely different women, thrown together by circumstance, on a long road trip… You’d think this is a complete clichéfest? Nope, no potholes on this road!

Both characters have their quirks and hangups, good and bad sides. But a tentative acquaintance starts to very slowly develop into friendship. There are arguments and pauses along the way, and I loved every detail.

The bigger, more serious themes – loss and grief, living up to expectations, discovering one’s sexuality at a later age – nicely balance out the humour and dare I say, fluff (which is not a bad thing at all!). I love fluff and when this book was finished, I wanted to hug it.

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Review: The Lily and the Crown

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The Lily and the Crown by Roslyn Sinclair is brilliant, that’s all you need to know. If you haven’t read it, stop reading this, buy it, borrow it – just go and read it.

The story starts when introverted botanist Ari gets a slave from her father, a bigshot officer on an imperial space station. Ari is opposed to slavery and makes this new slave her assistant.

Sinclair creates thoroughly intriguing and believable characters and tells the love story just beautifully. The backdrop is simple, rather like a watercolour sketch: here’s the station, here the surrounding space and a few planets, and there are space pirates who operate around there.. but it’s enough for the setting. It’s also general enough not to put anyone who’s not really into sci-fi off.

Of course the reader will realise Assistant’s identity well before Ari has any idea, but that’s to be expected. All the better to see how things progress!

I love this book and have gushed about it to anyone willing to listen! I actually had to take a few days to gather my thoughts and think of what to say, or else this so-called review would have been just keyboard smashing and multiple exclamation marks (OMGsogood asdfasdgolkjeryhjj!!!!1111).. yeah, no. Wonderful book.

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Review: Shades of Blue

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Shades of Blue, part two of The Loudest Silence by Olivia Janae, starts soon after where the first book left off. Kate and Vivian are juggling family and work life together. Of course it isn’t all fun and games…

This time the biggest problems arrive in the shape of one Jacqueline Kensington, Vivian’s mother. If you thought Ash was irritating (in the first book) and wondered why Kate went along with her, well.. Jacqueline is much worse.

I suppose it’s a good sign that a book makes me really invested in the story – enough to want to kill one of its characters, and gets me ranting out loud about why someone just doesn’t see what is going on 🙂 My poor spouse got to hear it all, murder fantasies included. 

Shades of Blue takes the reader to quite an emotional journey, through anger, frustration, heartbreak and sadness to eventual love and happiness… whoo, what a ride!

The characters stay true to themselves and “in character” all the time, we get more insight to some of them, get even more info on deaf culture and perhaps some knowledge about careers in the world of classical music. The auditions, for example, were written so well that I felt I was there.

Olivia Janae: I’m a fan. Next task – have to read both books back to back! 

🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯 

Review: The Loudest Silence

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The Loudest Silence by Olivia Janae is one of those books you can’t stop reading until they’re finished.. and then you immediately check for the release date for the next part. This is a long story, made into two books. DON’T wait for the second book to be published – read this first one (and then wait)!

It’s just so good! At first, it seems like a fairly common story: single mother gets a chance at something bigger and better, makes friends along the way, maybe falls in love, too, all the while balancing family life and career. The usual stuff, right? Nah.

The single mother, Kate, is a cellist who moves to a new city – Chicago, having made it into the Windy City Chamber Ensemble. She has a rocky start (to put it mildly!) with her boss, Vivian, who is seen as cold-hearted and almost inhuman. Vivian, however, is deaf, and Kate – very intrigued.

There is a nice ensemble of other characters, some pleasant, some so grating I wished I could throttle them. The setting, the world of classical music, is what originally got me into this story (been a fan for as long as I can remember). The book also gives plenty of insight into deaf culture, which for me, was – apart from the romance – the most interesting part of the story.

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