Hooked

Review:

Rodney, AKA Roderick Andrew Murray Fitzclarence the 12th Duke of St Charles (he's also an Earl), works in the US at a gaming company as a coder. Stacy is the office manager. She also hds a trust fund and trusted the wrong guy and was conned out of $$. She's also leery of men and her judgement.
This was nice and sweet. Yes, Rodney didn't clear the air, but I understood his reasons. Nicely paced with a HFN.

Original post: RachelGoodbyeBorders.booklikes.com/post/1984010/hooked

Enchanted Warrior

Review:

Once upon a time, Arthur and his Knights, the witches, fae fought a war against demons. One of Merlin's spells had an unfortunate cost. It took the fae's souls and left them emotionless husks and power from the witches, reducing their power. Of course this lead to them becoming enemies.
Interesting take on the popular Arthur and Knight of the Round Table. Arthur and his knights were frozen/turned to stone and are awakened in the modern age to fight again. The difference is there are no longer in England. They are in the US. Washington to be more precise.
Gawain at first was not a likable character for me. I thought he was rude, demanding. I was also annoyed at the explanation for his adjusting to the modern age (magic). I like him by the end, but it took me the whole book to get there. I did like Tamsin; she was able to defend herself and showed her strength, kindness.
Gawain whole thought process where witches = bad got old. I also thought it interesting that modern day covens had strict rules- ie need permission to travel, they arranged marriages. Men have roles and women have theirs. Tamsin would be the first "Loremaster." This was never dived into and was nothing more than a few paragraphs.

Original post: RachelGoodbyeBorders.booklikes.com/post/1983075/enchanted-warrior

All I Want for Halloween

Review:

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this one. Sadie is a baker and perfectly content with her life working in her family's bakery. Gear is the star (now ex-star) of his own reality TC show featuring his work on bikes.
There's snark and banter in this one. Both Sadie and Gear are enjoyable. What makes this memorable is both families; Sadie's dad, brother Eliott, her sister Rose and Gear's mom and dad, brother Thor, sister Iris. Hilarious and I just enjoyed this one.

 

 

 

Original post: RachelGoodbyeBorders.booklikes.com/post/1983072/all-i-want-for-halloween

Calling It

Review:

Nate is a baseball player from a small town that has had a rough patch. He found out his fiance was cheating on him and he got into a severe car accident that could have ended his career. He though he did nothing wrong to cause the accident there is speculation he did, so he takes off to crash in his town to be with family.
Dorie (Lucinda) is the youngest with 6 older brothers. She took a job as the town librarian and gets to (essentially) start from scratch re-building the towns library that was harmed by recent weather (and neglect). Unbeknownst to Nate, his sister has rented his apt to Dorie.
They meet and things take off from there. I enjoyed the secondary characters, Nate's family/friends, Dories family/friends. I liked that Nate make mistakes and I felt he owned up to them (regarding family and not having much contact for a few years). While I understood Dorie's reluctance and fear, it did get old. I did find I had a hard time putting this down and was thoroughly entertained and invested in the story.

 

 

 

Original post: RachelGoodbyeBorders.booklikes.com/post/1980350/calling-it

His Dark Kiss

Review:

Emma is a sheltered orphan who takes a job as a governess to a young boy. She is desperate to escape her aunts her plan to sell her to the highest bidder (they see her as less because she is illegitimate). Lord Anthony Craven is a doctor and also happens to be dark and broody (this is a gothic after all). It's rumored dark things happen in the tower and he is a murderer.
I really liked the gothic atmosphere, but the whole tower plot (there is death in the tower!) was so meh. A simple conversation regarding the tower and all question/conflict would have been fixed. I really, really wish there was more focus on the mystery, because that was a good plot-line. It could have been explored much more and wasn't because of the (dark) tower.
I also didn't quite get on board with the romance in this one. Emma was focused on the suspicions of possible murder, but look how attractive he is! Anthony was frustrating due to his woe-is-me attitude. Yes, you lost a patient. That's sad, but you are a doctor and shit happens. Get over it please.
First book was better.

[spoiler]

Anthony researches diseases caused by bacteria. Since the last 2 governesses died because of curiosity regarding the tower, you'd think more info would be shared up front. But no! 

[/spoiler]

Halloween Bingo: Gothic square

Original post: RachelGoodbyeBorders.booklikes.com/post/1978510/his-dark-kiss

Silent Bite

With the 1001 Dark Night series of novella's I can get introduced to something new to me that either works, or in this case doesn't. This is my first foray into this series (and author) and I admit to being a little lost in regards to the "world" and characters. This is Ursula and Oliver's wedding (who met in a previous book). I did like the attention to Chinese wedding customs (an unlucky # of bridesmaids so most get more! to an unlucky birth date, to the wrong color of flowers). This was both interesting and aggravating. However, I found I really didn't care about either character or the vampire security firm.

Original post: RachelGoodbyeBorders.booklikes.com/post/1978446/silent-bite

Captured in Surrender

Review:

Naya and Lane met a year prior when Naya's brother came to town. She followed the brother to take him back with her so he could go to trial. Naya is an ex-cop turned bounty hunter. Lane is ex-military turned small town cop. Even though I hadn't read any of the previous books in this series, I didn't need to. There was enough here that I was able to jump right in. I liked both Naya and Lane, there's conversation (and hot sex) with the right amount of conflict.

Original post: RachelGoodbyeBorders.booklikes.com/post/1978443/captured-in-surrender