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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
Had some interesting parts but also some fucked up parts. Didn't like it.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read a Jessica Gadziala book, I took a long break since he books had gotten a bit boring and formulaic. This one wasn’t any different unfortunately, it had the same basic cookie cutter story and nothing too unique about the main characters. I use to love he books, she use to have characters with unique and different personalities that you saw throughout series, but now I can’t even remember who is with who, let alone any specific characteristic about them.
This book at the typical editing and continuity issues that she’s always had in her books. I know she cranks them out fast, but for as many as she puts out I wish she’d spend just a little extra time and money on a really good editor that would catch these things. Or even change up her beta readers that don’t seem to catch these major issues.
I have more of her books I’ve not read, so I’ll probably read those at some point, but I think I’m done buying knew books from her unless she finishes up a few series she’s left on hold for too long. I know she just release the find book in the Rivers Brothers series, so depending on reviews I might but that one. But I’m not really interested in starting new/more series by an author/any author who has multiple unfinished series that they don’t have a plan to finish. This specific issues has been coming up a bit recently in the reading community as it frustrates readers.
ETA: Another reader summed up this series as “small town romance” and that fits so much better than MC romance. Her older books are darker and more focused on the MC or seedier side of NB.
This book at the typical editing and continuity issues that she’s always had in her books. I know she cranks them out fast, but for as many as she puts out I wish she’d spend just a little extra time and money on a really good editor that would catch these things. Or even change up her beta readers that don’t seem to catch these major issues.
I have more of her books I’ve not read, so I’ll probably read those at some point, but I think I’m done buying knew books from her unless she finishes up a few series she’s left on hold for too long. I know she just release the find book in the Rivers Brothers series, so depending on reviews I might but that one. But I’m not really interested in starting new/more series by an author/any author who has multiple unfinished series that they don’t have a plan to finish. This specific issues has been coming up a bit recently in the reading community as it frustrates readers.
ETA: Another reader summed up this series as “small town romance” and that fits so much better than MC romance. Her older books are darker and more focused on the MC or seedier side of NB.
A cute little Christmassy novella from the Spindle Cove setting, which I nabbed because it happened to be free on Amazon. 3.5 stars rounded down because romance novellas are always sorta off for me, though, their pacing too quick and the development too rushed (considering I’m an incorrigible fan of extreme slow burns, idk why I keep trying out novellas tbh). Admittedly it’s ameliorated by the fact that the heroine & hero do turn out to have a history, but it’s still all v rushed. Violet is a great wallflower-turned-tough-cookie, though, and I found myself wishing I could have read something in a slightly different setting with these two (spy shenanigans!!).
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise started out OK, but it quickly went downhill. The story didn't work. The romance didn't work. The ending didn't work. I'm just glad it was short.
Audiobook narrator Mary Jane Wells is very good but couldn't save this one. I bumped the speed up to 1.2x and still found myself skipping passages.
Audiobook narrator Mary Jane Wells is very good but couldn't save this one. I bumped the speed up to 1.2x and still found myself skipping passages.
Nice short little story. Not nearly as entertaining as the first but it had it own merits. I interested to get back to the series.
This was okay. Not a bad way to spend an hour, but I think I wanted a different story than it ended up giving me. I just never connected with the characters after I realized it was going to be a different story than I thought it would be after reading the first three pages.
Here's how it starts. Violet is a wallflower at a ball on Christmas Eve, when in comes a seriously injured man fresh from being shipwrecked or something. He's speaking some archaic form of French (we learn later it's Breton), and only Violet, a bit of a language prodigy, can understand him even a little. Why has he chosen Violet's lap to fall into, and Violet's hand to cling to? Who is he? Why does Violet feel inexplicably drawn to him?
The answers to these questions turns out to be pretty boring.
Here's what I wanted: the stranger and Violet to get to know one another despite a language barrier, Violet to comfort him, something conflicty happens I don't know what, then they fall in love and go smoochies. Obviously I would have wanted it more detailed and nuanced than that, but give me a break, this is my inner narrative monster talking here. It's not great at articulating things.
Here's what happened: it turns out Violet is drawn to him because she knows him. He just so happens to be her old next door neighbor who she surrendered her virginity to the year before. The very same man she fled to Spindle Cove to escape, and who is now a spy living in France and pretending to be a Farmer who only speaks Breton, because Napoleon. I don't know. He pretends not to know her for a while, she thinks it might be him except for a badly broken nose. They make up and smooch and go smoochies (and more) after a proposal. He escapes back to France. Yawn.
My way would have been so much more interesting. Also, it probably would have had to be a full length novel, and I will grant that this story is one that could be told in novella form because it was so simple.
Anyway, it was okay.
Here's how it starts. Violet is a wallflower at a ball on Christmas Eve, when in comes a seriously injured man fresh from being shipwrecked or something. He's speaking some archaic form of French (we learn later it's Breton), and only Violet, a bit of a language prodigy, can understand him even a little. Why has he chosen Violet's lap to fall into, and Violet's hand to cling to? Who is he? Why does Violet feel inexplicably drawn to him?
The answers to these questions turns out to be pretty boring.
Here's what I wanted: the stranger and Violet to get to know one another despite a language barrier, Violet to comfort him, something conflicty happens I don't know what, then they fall in love and go smoochies. Obviously I would have wanted it more detailed and nuanced than that, but give me a break, this is my inner narrative monster talking here. It's not great at articulating things.
Here's what happened: it turns out Violet is drawn to him because she knows him. He just so happens to be her old next door neighbor who she surrendered her virginity to the year before. The very same man she fled to Spindle Cove to escape, and who is now a spy living in France and pretending to be a Farmer who only speaks Breton, because Napoleon. I don't know. He pretends not to know her for a while, she thinks it might be him except for a badly broken nose. They make up and smooch and go smoochies (and more) after a proposal. He escapes back to France. Yawn.
My way would have been so much more interesting. Also, it probably would have had to be a full length novel, and I will grant that this story is one that could be told in novella form because it was so simple.
Anyway, it was okay.
Too bad it was just a novella. One of the more interedting and entertaining HR’s I’ve read.
