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obsidian_blue's reviews
3097 reviews
Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn
5.0
The main protagonist of this novel is Jillian Kane. A well respected architect and a mother of two children with a handsome husband Jillian appears to have it all to the outside world. However, Jillian is keeping a secret that her picture perfect life is nothing but a fraud. With a husband who works in the police force Jillian has no one to turn to when her perfect husband starts abusing her.
Just a word of warning to potential readers. This is a very tight thriller centering around domestic abuse. At times the story made me physically cringe and at times I got felt ill reading about the ways in which Jillian was mistreated by her husband Gordon. I think it is because the author, Suzanne Redfearn, manages to write so well that you feel as if you are a silent witness to everything that Jillian is going through. Ms. Redfearn rights this character so well I honestly felt as if a real live friend was going through this and I was afraid that she would eventually be killed by her husband. I gave this novel five starts because I thought it perfectly encapsulated what a woman goes through while she is being abused and what happens to her afterwards even when she manages to get away. I now that this a reality that many women have gone through in their lives and reading about how Jillian does her best to protect her children--Addie and Drew--from Gordon and doing her best to not antagonize and at times to antagonize Gordon just so that either way she would have some peace manages to allow readers to feel just as helpless as Jillian.
Just a word of warning to potential readers. This is a very tight thriller centering around domestic abuse. At times the story made me physically cringe and at times I got felt ill reading about the ways in which Jillian was mistreated by her husband Gordon. I think it is because the author, Suzanne Redfearn, manages to write so well that you feel as if you are a silent witness to everything that Jillian is going through. Ms. Redfearn rights this character so well I honestly felt as if a real live friend was going through this and I was afraid that she would eventually be killed by her husband. I gave this novel five starts because I thought it perfectly encapsulated what a woman goes through while she is being abused and what happens to her afterwards even when she manages to get away. I now that this a reality that many women have gone through in their lives and reading about how Jillian does her best to protect her children--Addie and Drew--from Gordon and doing her best to not antagonize and at times to antagonize Gordon just so that either way she would have some peace manages to allow readers to feel just as helpless as Jillian.
The Vintage Teacup Club by Vanessa Greene
5.0
Three women and one teacup service is the start of a beautiful friendship in The Vintage Teacup Club. When Jenny Davis comes across a teacup service at a market she thinks she has finally found the service that she can use at her wedding themed vintage teacup party. However, two other women also want the service--Maggie and Alison--and the three women together come up with a solution to share the service while also hunting down more vintage teacups to use.
I know that this book was released in November 2013 but since I did not have a chance to open this book until 2014 I am still counting it as one of my favorite reads of 2014.
I think that the author Vanessa Greene managed to make write this novel very well with three distinct female characters and juggle their story-lines and not manage to make it feel overcrowded. That is a very hard thing to do I think and she manages to do so deftly without making it look hard at all. Usually when I read a novel with multiple characters I end up really loving one and just kind of ignoring the other ones I don't identify with at all. However, this time I really did identify with Jenny, Maggie, and Alison. All three women were so distinct and at different phases of their lives (about to be married, married for a long time, and divorced) so you could definitely see where they were coming from with their experiences. I also thought it was a very smart way to set up these women like female archetypes maiden, mother, and crone.
I would love to read a follow-up novel with these characters some day or at least a subsequent novel with all new characters with some sneak peeks at these three.
I would definitely recommend picking this up to read!
I know that this book was released in November 2013 but since I did not have a chance to open this book until 2014 I am still counting it as one of my favorite reads of 2014.
I think that the author Vanessa Greene managed to make write this novel very well with three distinct female characters and juggle their story-lines and not manage to make it feel overcrowded. That is a very hard thing to do I think and she manages to do so deftly without making it look hard at all. Usually when I read a novel with multiple characters I end up really loving one and just kind of ignoring the other ones I don't identify with at all. However, this time I really did identify with Jenny, Maggie, and Alison. All three women were so distinct and at different phases of their lives (about to be married, married for a long time, and divorced) so you could definitely see where they were coming from with their experiences. I also thought it was a very smart way to set up these women like female archetypes maiden, mother, and crone.
I would love to read a follow-up novel with these characters some day or at least a subsequent novel with all new characters with some sneak peeks at these three.
I would definitely recommend picking this up to read!
Vintage by Susan Gloss
4.0
I am starting to really like the "vintage" genre romance and chick-lit novels that are coming out lately. I think it's because most of the clothes, appliances, dishes, harkens back to an earlier time and people like imaging themselves as debutantes at a ball.
This novel focuses on three women who come into contact due to a vintage store, Hourglass Vintage, that is located in Madison, Wisconsin. These women are Violet, April, and Amithi.
Violet owns Hourglass Vintage, but due to an unexpected development by the owner of her building may found herself without a home or store in a few short months. April is 18 years old, pregnant, and alone. Dealing with the death of her mother a few months earlier and her fiancee breaking off her wedding, she interns at Violet's store. Amithi comes into Violet's store trying her best to give away clothes that she feels are tainted by her husband's betrayal.
I loved all three of these women as characters. However, Amithi's storyline really did not flow with the rest of the story lines in this novel. I think her storyline would have made a great standalone novel or a sequel to Vintage: A Novel. April and Violet's story lines are more closely entwined since they both are working at the store and becoming closer to each other. Amithi would drop in here and there but was not really involved with them at all. A side character, in this novel, Lane, was more interesting to me and actually would have fit in nicely with Violet and April's storyline. I found myself more interested in Lane since she seemed to have such a surreal life as an actress that had her giving that up to be a wife and mother.
I can't wait to see what Susan Gloss writes next.
This novel focuses on three women who come into contact due to a vintage store, Hourglass Vintage, that is located in Madison, Wisconsin. These women are Violet, April, and Amithi.
Violet owns Hourglass Vintage, but due to an unexpected development by the owner of her building may found herself without a home or store in a few short months. April is 18 years old, pregnant, and alone. Dealing with the death of her mother a few months earlier and her fiancee breaking off her wedding, she interns at Violet's store. Amithi comes into Violet's store trying her best to give away clothes that she feels are tainted by her husband's betrayal.
I loved all three of these women as characters. However, Amithi's storyline really did not flow with the rest of the story lines in this novel. I think her storyline would have made a great standalone novel or a sequel to Vintage: A Novel. April and Violet's story lines are more closely entwined since they both are working at the store and becoming closer to each other. Amithi would drop in here and there but was not really involved with them at all. A side character, in this novel, Lane, was more interesting to me and actually would have fit in nicely with Violet and April's storyline. I found myself more interested in Lane since she seemed to have such a surreal life as an actress that had her giving that up to be a wife and mother.
I can't wait to see what Susan Gloss writes next.
Party Girl by Rachel Hollis
5.0
The main character in this novel, Landon Brinkley, is excited that she landed an internship with Selah Smith, an event planner to the stars. Landon gets to mix with the rich and fabulous while also dealing with a soul killing, puppy kicking boss. Having a surly roommate with a hot brother is also making things interesting in her life.
First off, I want to say that I thought that this entire novel was firing on all cylinders. The characters were flesh and blood people to me. The plot really worked. The love interest was a good one and thankfully though I was initially afraid of some ugly love triangles rearing their ugly heads there was nothing to be concerned about in the end.
I think what really works though is that with the little details and factoids that are sprinkled throughout this novel you can tell that an industry insider wrote this book. I had a lot of fun guessing who might some of the stars be that were referenced in this book.
This novel is being compared to The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel due to it being written as a roman a clef. I think that the main reason why I didn't care for "The Devil Wears Prada" as a novel that much (besides the grammatical errors galore) the main character in that novel was not likable at all to me. Landon was likeable and competent in her job and she killed herself to make sure that she did good work so I felt a vested interest in seeing her succeed. Towards the end I was so dissatisfied with "The Devil Wears Prada" I honestly didn't care what happened to anyone in that book.
With the addition of interesting side characters such as Landon's roommate Max and her co-worker Miko we also get to break things up a bit with their insights into Hollywood and the craziness that is Landon's job. It would be really great if we get some follow-up on those two in any subsequent sequels starring Landon.
First off, I want to say that I thought that this entire novel was firing on all cylinders. The characters were flesh and blood people to me. The plot really worked. The love interest was a good one and thankfully though I was initially afraid of some ugly love triangles rearing their ugly heads there was nothing to be concerned about in the end.
I think what really works though is that with the little details and factoids that are sprinkled throughout this novel you can tell that an industry insider wrote this book. I had a lot of fun guessing who might some of the stars be that were referenced in this book.
This novel is being compared to The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel due to it being written as a roman a clef. I think that the main reason why I didn't care for "The Devil Wears Prada" as a novel that much (besides the grammatical errors galore) the main character in that novel was not likable at all to me. Landon was likeable and competent in her job and she killed herself to make sure that she did good work so I felt a vested interest in seeing her succeed. Towards the end I was so dissatisfied with "The Devil Wears Prada" I honestly didn't care what happened to anyone in that book.
With the addition of interesting side characters such as Landon's roommate Max and her co-worker Miko we also get to break things up a bit with their insights into Hollywood and the craziness that is Landon's job. It would be really great if we get some follow-up on those two in any subsequent sequels starring Landon.
Steal Me, Cowboy by Kim Boykin
3.0
Girl (Rainey Brown) has hot boyfriend (Adam) who wants to be a baseball player. Boyfriend after not realizing his dream moves to mid-west and coaches a minor league softball team. Girl decides to surprise boyfriend and car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Girl meets hot dude (Beck Harnett) in a cowboy hat.
I have to say romance novels taking place in the mid-west with men in cowboy hats are always hands down going to be a guilty pleasure read to me. That said, though this romance worked well at times, there were enough things that didn't gel with me while reading this which is why I rated the novella three stars.
First, the timeline for the hero and heroine to meet and fall in love made things way too unbelievable to be believed. Beck decides he is in love with the Rainey after about three days. Rainey starts to have feelings for him too in the same timeframe. I know that this is a novella clocking in at only 102 pages. However, there could have still been a way to weave in a longer timeframe or something so that the reader doesn't go from Rainey meeting Beck to having feelings for him in just a day or two after having us believe she is desperately in love with Adam and wants to make a family with him.
Additionally, though the character of Rainey was very enjoyable, Beck was not. Beck's character did not interest me at all. He seemed sulky and just acted like a jerk a few times and I really could not understand why Rainey was attracted to him at all. I didn't really get an everlasting love vibe from him at all. He just seemed intent on "stealing" Rainey from her boyfriend because she was short and cute. Neither of them really shared hopes, dreams, what they wanted out of life. I can't truly enjoy a romance read when in the back of my head I start thinking how the two leads will be divorced in a few short years.
Finally, there was a side plot with Rainey's boyfriend was brought up and then vanished out of thin air. I think that could have made it more interesting and could have added some meat to the overall story.
All in all, I found this to be a quick easy read.
I have to say romance novels taking place in the mid-west with men in cowboy hats are always hands down going to be a guilty pleasure read to me. That said, though this romance worked well at times, there were enough things that didn't gel with me while reading this which is why I rated the novella three stars.
First, the timeline for the hero and heroine to meet and fall in love made things way too unbelievable to be believed. Beck decides he is in love with the Rainey after about three days. Rainey starts to have feelings for him too in the same timeframe. I know that this is a novella clocking in at only 102 pages. However, there could have still been a way to weave in a longer timeframe or something so that the reader doesn't go from Rainey meeting Beck to having feelings for him in just a day or two after having us believe she is desperately in love with Adam and wants to make a family with him.
Additionally, though the character of Rainey was very enjoyable, Beck was not. Beck's character did not interest me at all. He seemed sulky and just acted like a jerk a few times and I really could not understand why Rainey was attracted to him at all. I didn't really get an everlasting love vibe from him at all. He just seemed intent on "stealing" Rainey from her boyfriend because she was short and cute. Neither of them really shared hopes, dreams, what they wanted out of life. I can't truly enjoy a romance read when in the back of my head I start thinking how the two leads will be divorced in a few short years.
Finally, there was a side plot with Rainey's boyfriend was brought up and then vanished out of thin air. I think that could have made it more interesting and could have added some meat to the overall story.
All in all, I found this to be a quick easy read.
Wallbanger by Alice Clayton
3.0
The main character Caroline settles happily into her boss's old apartment when she is awakened by wall banging. Finding out that she shares a bedroom wall with her next door neighbor who has a harem on call when he is in town is keeping her up all the time. Christening her neighbor as "Wallbanger" she decides she wants nothing to do with him though he is a hot globe trotting photographer. Eventually, due to "plot" Caroline officially meets her Wallbanger neighbor and finds out his name is Simon. The entire novel is Caroline getting to know Simon and fighting her growing attraction to him.
So to start what really did work for me was the beginning of the novel and how Caroline first grew aware of Simon. Reading her descriptions of what was going on with three of Simon's girls and her cat Clive's responses to one of them had me laughing out loud. I thought it was interesting and really funny how readers learned how Caroline lost her "O" and that she had not had a relationship with a man in a really long time. I even initially loved the introduction of her two best friends Sophia and Mimi and thought I would get a chic lit/raunchy romance which sounded good to me. I do want to say the sex scenes are quite explicit and I loved them a lot. The only thing I would quibble about regarding the sex scenes is that those scenes went on and on and on (and not in a good way) to the point that I did get a bit bored while reading.
Now, that said, I still only gave this novel three stars. This was due to the fact that about a third of the way through the novel Caroline started to work my nerves. A lot. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times Caroline acted like a brat because of Simon. He was not much better in my mind and after the first official meeting of these two surrounded by their friends I was seriously embarrassed. I think after a while the whole book just turned really juvenile. The constant double entendres between Caroline and Simon stopped being interesting and funny and just got repetitive quick. Caroline constantly dickering with herself over what should she do next got really boring. I wish that Alice Clayton had worked in more information on Caroline's job as a designer. Her job just seemed set up to have her squeal like a girl with her boss or be sad about Simon. Any work she had to do or was doing was quickly glossed over in a sentence or two.
Additionally her two best friends were really not that well drawn and both of them were strictly one dimensional characters. I could not tell you one thing really important about those two except Sophia had auburn hair and Mimi was short. I wish that we had more time to delve into her friend's a bit more especially a good portion of the novel is taken up by Caroline trying to "fix" her friends relationships. Even at the end of the novel I could not tell you much more about these characters.
I know there is a sequel to this novel, Rusty Nailed (The Cocktail Series) is coming up and I will probably purchase it since I am curious on how Simon and Caroline are doing. I am just hoping that the kinks that I noted in the novel get worked out in the follow-up.
So to start what really did work for me was the beginning of the novel and how Caroline first grew aware of Simon. Reading her descriptions of what was going on with three of Simon's girls and her cat Clive's responses to one of them had me laughing out loud. I thought it was interesting and really funny how readers learned how Caroline lost her "O" and that she had not had a relationship with a man in a really long time. I even initially loved the introduction of her two best friends Sophia and Mimi and thought I would get a chic lit/raunchy romance which sounded good to me. I do want to say the sex scenes are quite explicit and I loved them a lot. The only thing I would quibble about regarding the sex scenes is that those scenes went on and on and on (and not in a good way) to the point that I did get a bit bored while reading.
Now, that said, I still only gave this novel three stars. This was due to the fact that about a third of the way through the novel Caroline started to work my nerves. A lot. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times Caroline acted like a brat because of Simon. He was not much better in my mind and after the first official meeting of these two surrounded by their friends I was seriously embarrassed. I think after a while the whole book just turned really juvenile. The constant double entendres between Caroline and Simon stopped being interesting and funny and just got repetitive quick. Caroline constantly dickering with herself over what should she do next got really boring. I wish that Alice Clayton had worked in more information on Caroline's job as a designer. Her job just seemed set up to have her squeal like a girl with her boss or be sad about Simon. Any work she had to do or was doing was quickly glossed over in a sentence or two.
Additionally her two best friends were really not that well drawn and both of them were strictly one dimensional characters. I could not tell you one thing really important about those two except Sophia had auburn hair and Mimi was short. I wish that we had more time to delve into her friend's a bit more especially a good portion of the novel is taken up by Caroline trying to "fix" her friends relationships. Even at the end of the novel I could not tell you much more about these characters.
I know there is a sequel to this novel, Rusty Nailed (The Cocktail Series) is coming up and I will probably purchase it since I am curious on how Simon and Caroline are doing. I am just hoping that the kinks that I noted in the novel get worked out in the follow-up.
Night Broken by Patricia Briggs
3.0
Mercy's mate and husband Adam receives a phone call from his ex wife (Christy) begging for help. She has a stalker and he has already killed someone to get her back. Moving back in with Adam and Mercy ends up bringing lingering tension between Mercy and the Pack. Also there is a new enemy that will stop at nothing to get back Christy.
I was waiting to savor "Night Broken" for a weekend when I would have nothing to do but re-read "Frost Burned" and then this novel. This is Patricia Brigg's eight novel in the Mercy Thompson series. Long-time fans know that Patricia Briggs only plans two more novel in this series and though I will be sad to see Mercy go with novels like this one it will be a little easier to take.
Though the character of Mercy has grown and changed since she has been mated to Alpha werewolf Adam a lot of other characters in the series have not. I ended up only giving this novel 3 stars though at times I wavered between 3 and 4 stars. This was due to too many plot points, pacing issues, and a total re-write of certain characters that are in the Pack.
There seemed at times way too much going on in the novel for me to focus on just one thing. For example, the vampires make an appearance and threw a new wrench into Mercy and Stephen's relationship. The plot already had a lot going on with Mercy and the Pack trying to figure out who Christy's stalker is without involving the vampires. I really wish this could have waited for the next novel or just left out all together. I think why it bothered me so much is that we have Adam just shrugging off this new wrinkle and acting like it's no big deal. Yeah the same Adam who about lost it when he thought that Stephen was taking over Mercy's mind in "Bone Crossed." The addition of the fae scrambling around also made it hard to concentrate on the bigger plot which was taking down Christy's stalker.
The pacing was off a bit too. Instead of Mercy and Adam finding out more about Christy's stalker we get an info-dump via a character that really should not have known anything about this person. It would have made better sense if the friends she made around the Columbia River in "River Marked' would have provided this information. Or better yet anyone else. We also get a welcome surprise via Mercy's family and I wish we could have spent more time developing that new person then jumping back and forth among three plot points.
The members of the Pack that are still against Mercy is getting to absurd proportions. I could have sworn in "Frost Burned" that everyone in the Pack had finally accepted Mercy and there was no more of this she's just a coyote and doesn't belong nonsense. However, this novel re-sets all of that and we have Pack members who I could have sworn were all for Mercy (Daryl, Aurielle, and Mary Jo) now siding against Mercy for Christy. There were at least half a dozen times I wanted to slap the fictional character of Christy and it just made no sense to me that werewolves that are trained to spot a lie were letting themselves get manipulated by an ordinary human woman. The ending with Christy and Mercy made me really upset. I can only hope that we don't get a re-hash of this nonsense in the next novel.
Finally, I really loved that Patricia Briggs decided to tell "Frost Burned" from Mercy and Adam's point of views. I really wish she had kept that up for this novel since it would have been nice to see what Adam was thinking about things.
I still recommend and think long time fans will enjoy.
I was waiting to savor "Night Broken" for a weekend when I would have nothing to do but re-read "Frost Burned" and then this novel. This is Patricia Brigg's eight novel in the Mercy Thompson series. Long-time fans know that Patricia Briggs only plans two more novel in this series and though I will be sad to see Mercy go with novels like this one it will be a little easier to take.
Though the character of Mercy has grown and changed since she has been mated to Alpha werewolf Adam a lot of other characters in the series have not. I ended up only giving this novel 3 stars though at times I wavered between 3 and 4 stars. This was due to too many plot points, pacing issues, and a total re-write of certain characters that are in the Pack.
There seemed at times way too much going on in the novel for me to focus on just one thing. For example, the vampires make an appearance and threw a new wrench into Mercy and Stephen's relationship. The plot already had a lot going on with Mercy and the Pack trying to figure out who Christy's stalker is without involving the vampires. I really wish this could have waited for the next novel or just left out all together. I think why it bothered me so much is that we have Adam just shrugging off this new wrinkle and acting like it's no big deal. Yeah the same Adam who about lost it when he thought that Stephen was taking over Mercy's mind in "Bone Crossed." The addition of the fae scrambling around also made it hard to concentrate on the bigger plot which was taking down Christy's stalker.
The pacing was off a bit too. Instead of Mercy and Adam finding out more about Christy's stalker we get an info-dump via a character that really should not have known anything about this person. It would have made better sense if the friends she made around the Columbia River in "River Marked' would have provided this information. Or better yet anyone else. We also get a welcome surprise via Mercy's family and I wish we could have spent more time developing that new person then jumping back and forth among three plot points.
The members of the Pack that are still against Mercy is getting to absurd proportions. I could have sworn in "Frost Burned" that everyone in the Pack had finally accepted Mercy and there was no more of this she's just a coyote and doesn't belong nonsense. However, this novel re-sets all of that and we have Pack members who I could have sworn were all for Mercy (Daryl, Aurielle, and Mary Jo) now siding against Mercy for Christy. There were at least half a dozen times I wanted to slap the fictional character of Christy and it just made no sense to me that werewolves that are trained to spot a lie were letting themselves get manipulated by an ordinary human woman. The ending with Christy and Mercy made me really upset. I can only hope that we don't get a re-hash of this nonsense in the next novel.
Finally, I really loved that Patricia Briggs decided to tell "Frost Burned" from Mercy and Adam's point of views. I really wish she had kept that up for this novel since it would have been nice to see what Adam was thinking about things.
I still recommend and think long time fans will enjoy.
The Wanderer by Robyn Carr
5.0
I was of two minds when I started this series by Robyn Carr.
First, that I would end up being disappointed since the Virgin River series that Ms. Carr started ended up going from must read books for me to eventually just going through the motions books. I didn't engage with any characters and I started to get annoyed by all of the pointless and recycled plot lines.
My second thought was that these books could be a return to what drew me to the Virgin River series and I would fall in love all over again with a fictional town.
Thank goodness my second thought bore out and I purchased the first book in this series, "The Wanderer"
For those that started reading the Virgin River series, Robyn Carr always managed to work in romance with very serious topical issues. Somehow she weaved in real issues such as rape, STDs, rape, battery, and managed to make you believe that the main hero and heroine were falling in love with each other.There were no dumb misunderstandings going on where problems could be resolved if two characters would only just talk to each other.
Then around book #14 of her series things started to go downhill (Wild Man Creek). By the time I finished the last book in the series, #25 My Kind of Christmas I was sorely disappointed with all of the characters and wished that they had gotten a better ending than what they did. There was no more tension or real world issues. Just characters sleeping together but running around all angsty with each other (for no reason) it was maddening. These were grown men and women. If I ever act this dumb while in a relationship with a grown up man someone beat me over the head with a shovel. That said, the sex scenes were boring and I never felt any chemistry between any of the hero or heroines. There was no follow-up with certain characters and by the end I started to really hate some of the characters.
"The Wanderer" is a spin-off of The Virgin River series featuring former Army helicopter pilot, Hank Cooper who fans of the previous series will remember him appearing in #19, Sunrise Point. [Sunrise Point (Virgin River) - Robyn Carr]
Cooper goes to Thunder Point in Oregon to investigate how his former Army mechanic Ben died. Once at Thunder Point Cooper trying to organize Ben's affairs finds himself getting embroiled and attached to those who live in the small town.
What I liked was that there were three plots going on that Ms. Carr managed to juggle with ease. We have Cooper who ends up meeting a bullied kid, Landon, and grows to care for him and his sister, Sarah.
Coop meets Mac, a deputy sheriff, who comes with a lot of baggage and three kids. Mac finally starts to wonder if she move forward with his long time best friend Gina. Gina is mom to Mac's eldest daughter's best friend.
We also have the character of Landon trying to deal with being bullied and new in Thunder Point.
Due to certain events in the book we also still keep coming back to Ben's death.
I think this novel did a very good job of setting up the foundation of the series. I didn't feel lost or confused with so many characters running around. This was probably because each character had a very distinct voice.I think that all of the characters had very real issues to deal with and for once we didn't have grown men and women running around acting like idiots with one another. The love scenes in the novel were nicely done and I actually felt the chemistry between all of the romantic pairings. We had realistic dialogue and scenes with teenagers being attracted to each other and yes acknowledgement that 16 year old kids do run around and have sex with each other.
It was nice to see Robyn Carr get back to world building an entire series. I actually find myself quite excited to read the next book in this series to see how everyone is doing. I hope she keeps it up.
First, that I would end up being disappointed since the Virgin River series that Ms. Carr started ended up going from must read books for me to eventually just going through the motions books. I didn't engage with any characters and I started to get annoyed by all of the pointless and recycled plot lines.
My second thought was that these books could be a return to what drew me to the Virgin River series and I would fall in love all over again with a fictional town.
Thank goodness my second thought bore out and I purchased the first book in this series, "The Wanderer"
For those that started reading the Virgin River series, Robyn Carr always managed to work in romance with very serious topical issues. Somehow she weaved in real issues such as rape, STDs, rape, battery, and managed to make you believe that the main hero and heroine were falling in love with each other.There were no dumb misunderstandings going on where problems could be resolved if two characters would only just talk to each other.
Then around book #14 of her series things started to go downhill (Wild Man Creek). By the time I finished the last book in the series, #25 My Kind of Christmas I was sorely disappointed with all of the characters and wished that they had gotten a better ending than what they did. There was no more tension or real world issues. Just characters sleeping together but running around all angsty with each other (for no reason) it was maddening. These were grown men and women. If I ever act this dumb while in a relationship with a grown up man someone beat me over the head with a shovel. That said, the sex scenes were boring and I never felt any chemistry between any of the hero or heroines. There was no follow-up with certain characters and by the end I started to really hate some of the characters.
"The Wanderer" is a spin-off of The Virgin River series featuring former Army helicopter pilot, Hank Cooper who fans of the previous series will remember him appearing in #19, Sunrise Point. [Sunrise Point (Virgin River) - Robyn Carr]
Cooper goes to Thunder Point in Oregon to investigate how his former Army mechanic Ben died. Once at Thunder Point Cooper trying to organize Ben's affairs finds himself getting embroiled and attached to those who live in the small town.
What I liked was that there were three plots going on that Ms. Carr managed to juggle with ease. We have Cooper who ends up meeting a bullied kid, Landon, and grows to care for him and his sister, Sarah.
Coop meets Mac, a deputy sheriff, who comes with a lot of baggage and three kids. Mac finally starts to wonder if she move forward with his long time best friend Gina. Gina is mom to Mac's eldest daughter's best friend.
We also have the character of Landon trying to deal with being bullied and new in Thunder Point.
Due to certain events in the book we also still keep coming back to Ben's death.
I think this novel did a very good job of setting up the foundation of the series. I didn't feel lost or confused with so many characters running around. This was probably because each character had a very distinct voice.I think that all of the characters had very real issues to deal with and for once we didn't have grown men and women running around acting like idiots with one another. The love scenes in the novel were nicely done and I actually felt the chemistry between all of the romantic pairings. We had realistic dialogue and scenes with teenagers being attracted to each other and yes acknowledgement that 16 year old kids do run around and have sex with each other.
It was nice to see Robyn Carr get back to world building an entire series. I actually find myself quite excited to read the next book in this series to see how everyone is doing. I hope she keeps it up.
The Newcomer by Robyn Carr
3.0
One of the problems when one chooses to read books in a series back to back some things that really don't work are more easily seen. I posted an I totally love this book review with regards to the first book in this series, The Wanderer (Thunder Point). The book really did remind me of the best of the Virgin River series that I started to read a few years back. I really hoped that Ms. Carr would manage to keep up the momentum and have a second book that would either meet or exceed my expectations. However, that was not the case.
The second book in the series,The Newcomer (Thunder Point) takes place in the town of Thunder Point. It has been a couple of months from the events in the last book. We have Cooper feeling settled running his beach bar with his new girlfriend Sarah by his side. Sarah's brother Landon is feeling more settled in Thunder Point now that he is dating Mac's daughter Eve. Mac and Gina are exploring what it means to go from friends to lovers. Ashley, Gina's daughter, is dealing with the aftermath of being dumped by her high school sweetheart.
I ended up giving this novel 3 stars for a couple of reasons.
Ashley:
As you can see from the above once again this novel has several plot lines going on. However, due to the serious subject matter involved in Ashley's plot line, I found myself focusing on that plot more than the others. I kept wanting to get back to Ashley and check in with her and found myself getting exceedingly irritated by all of the "filler." I think it would have been smarter to just have Ashley's story be the main story and have the other plot lines slowly be unraveled in the next couple of books. I have to say that Robyn Carr hands down writes very smart teenage dialogue and scenes in all of her books. One of the reasons why I was so disheartened with the later Virgin River books was because the teenagers started getting ignored and subsequent books really focused on the adults. I wish that Robyn Carr would consider writing contemporary romance for young adults because she really gets inside's Ashley's head in such a way that either speaks of real life experience or she talked to some professionals. Either way everything dealing with Ashley's storyline I thought was a winner. This storyline really didn't fit the romance genre, but I didn't care since the other two couples in this novel bored me to tears.
Coop and Sarah:
I found myself completely annoyed by Cooper and Sarah doing the whole I have a secret, but won't tell you, therefore I will act extremely weird and aloof from you which will cause you to think that I no longer want you dance. I am sick of seeing this particular characterization play out across romance novels. You can write a couple that actually discuss when something is going on in their lives instead of having them regress to teenagers. I am just going to come out and say that I really ended up despising Coop's entire storyline. I am sorry there is no way outside of a soap opera the events that happened to him would occur. Sarah's storyline was a non-starter and a reappearance of someone from her past was 100 percent not necessary. There was already enough going on with her I have no idea why Robyn Carr threw all of this stuff at her in this book.
Mac and Gina:
One thing I was really glad of was that Mac and Gina really did talk to each other and let one another know what was going on. Robyn Carr could have went another way and made them running around and keeping secrets from each other and I am glad she decided to not do that. What did make me sad was that I was able to call these two characters exact plot lines from what I read in the first book. I had hopes that Ms. Carr would not go there but she did. She should have focused more on them being a couple and learning how to fully integrate their two families.
Romance:
What romance there was was just not good. I honestly don't understand what happened between this book and the last one but I was not feeling any of the sex scenes between the two couples in this novel.
I plan on reading the next book in the series and if there is not a marked improvement I think I am going to be done with any follow-up books.
Please note that I received this book via the Amazon Vine Program.
The second book in the series,The Newcomer (Thunder Point) takes place in the town of Thunder Point. It has been a couple of months from the events in the last book. We have Cooper feeling settled running his beach bar with his new girlfriend Sarah by his side. Sarah's brother Landon is feeling more settled in Thunder Point now that he is dating Mac's daughter Eve. Mac and Gina are exploring what it means to go from friends to lovers. Ashley, Gina's daughter, is dealing with the aftermath of being dumped by her high school sweetheart.
I ended up giving this novel 3 stars for a couple of reasons.
Ashley:
As you can see from the above once again this novel has several plot lines going on. However, due to the serious subject matter involved in Ashley's plot line, I found myself focusing on that plot more than the others. I kept wanting to get back to Ashley and check in with her and found myself getting exceedingly irritated by all of the "filler." I think it would have been smarter to just have Ashley's story be the main story and have the other plot lines slowly be unraveled in the next couple of books. I have to say that Robyn Carr hands down writes very smart teenage dialogue and scenes in all of her books. One of the reasons why I was so disheartened with the later Virgin River books was because the teenagers started getting ignored and subsequent books really focused on the adults. I wish that Robyn Carr would consider writing contemporary romance for young adults because she really gets inside's Ashley's head in such a way that either speaks of real life experience or she talked to some professionals. Either way everything dealing with Ashley's storyline I thought was a winner. This storyline really didn't fit the romance genre, but I didn't care since the other two couples in this novel bored me to tears.
Coop and Sarah:
I found myself completely annoyed by Cooper and Sarah doing the whole I have a secret, but won't tell you, therefore I will act extremely weird and aloof from you which will cause you to think that I no longer want you dance. I am sick of seeing this particular characterization play out across romance novels. You can write a couple that actually discuss when something is going on in their lives instead of having them regress to teenagers. I am just going to come out and say that I really ended up despising Coop's entire storyline. I am sorry there is no way outside of a soap opera the events that happened to him would occur. Sarah's storyline was a non-starter and a reappearance of someone from her past was 100 percent not necessary. There was already enough going on with her I have no idea why Robyn Carr threw all of this stuff at her in this book.
Mac and Gina:
One thing I was really glad of was that Mac and Gina really did talk to each other and let one another know what was going on. Robyn Carr could have went another way and made them running around and keeping secrets from each other and I am glad she decided to not do that. What did make me sad was that I was able to call these two characters exact plot lines from what I read in the first book. I had hopes that Ms. Carr would not go there but she did. She should have focused more on them being a couple and learning how to fully integrate their two families.
Romance:
What romance there was was just not good. I honestly don't understand what happened between this book and the last one but I was not feeling any of the sex scenes between the two couples in this novel.
I plan on reading the next book in the series and if there is not a marked improvement I think I am going to be done with any follow-up books.
Please note that I received this book via the Amazon Vine Program.
The Pursuit of Mary Bennet: A Pride and Prejudice Novel by Pamela Mingle
5.0
Most readers are familiar with the five Bennet girls from Pride and Prejudice. Most came to love fiery Elizabeth and sensible Jane and cheered at the end when these two got their happily ever afters. I admit that Lydia always bothered me in the novel and I felt that in the end she was not really impacted by how her behavior could have ruined her family. Kitty seemed to just be giggly and Mary was a non-entity. There really was not much to Mary in Pride and Prejudice except that she acted like a prig and was annoying to me. I was then wholly surprised to see that author Pamela Mingle decided to do a sequel to Pride and Prejudice with the focus on Mary Bennet.
I have read a few other spin-offs from Pride and Prejudice but I think this is the the first one that really worked for me on all levels. At times I felt as if Pamela Mingle was channeling Jane Austen. I really loved the character of Mary and liked how Ms. Mingle added depth to what to me was always a very shallow character in Pride and Prejudice. Frankly it made sense to me that Mary as a middle child was often ignored and overlooked due to her two older sisters who were beautiful (Elizabeth and Jane) and her younger sisters who were spoiled rotten (Lydia and Kitty).
It was great to see her falling in love and despairing at times that the man she had fallen for may not love her back. It was interesting to see a romance develop just between people having conversations with one another and just a look are a piece of music being played could make someone's heart dance.
The only thing that really did not work with me was the storyline with Lydia and Mary and why I gave this novel 4.5 stars instead of 5. I don't want to spoil potential readers so will speak of the storyline in general terms. At first I sympathized with Mary and all of her interactions with Lydia. However, there was one scene that was so weird to me and seemed out of place in this novel that for a moment I thought I had started to read another novel. Everything else as written in this novel was fresh and really seemed to evoke Jane Austen to me. That scene that was included really did not work and it actually messed up the flow of the novel in my eyes.
I have read a few other spin-offs from Pride and Prejudice but I think this is the the first one that really worked for me on all levels. At times I felt as if Pamela Mingle was channeling Jane Austen. I really loved the character of Mary and liked how Ms. Mingle added depth to what to me was always a very shallow character in Pride and Prejudice. Frankly it made sense to me that Mary as a middle child was often ignored and overlooked due to her two older sisters who were beautiful (Elizabeth and Jane) and her younger sisters who were spoiled rotten (Lydia and Kitty).
It was great to see her falling in love and despairing at times that the man she had fallen for may not love her back. It was interesting to see a romance develop just between people having conversations with one another and just a look are a piece of music being played could make someone's heart dance.
The only thing that really did not work with me was the storyline with Lydia and Mary and why I gave this novel 4.5 stars instead of 5. I don't want to spoil potential readers so will speak of the storyline in general terms. At first I sympathized with Mary and all of her interactions with Lydia. However, there was one scene that was so weird to me and seemed out of place in this novel that for a moment I thought I had started to read another novel. Everything else as written in this novel was fresh and really seemed to evoke Jane Austen to me. That scene that was included really did not work and it actually messed up the flow of the novel in my eyes.