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Showing posts from May, 2016

The Grand Duchess takes charge!

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Vicky Peterwald: Rebel (Vicky Peterwald #3) by Mike Shepherd. I am in two minds about this spinoff from the Kris Longknife series. More a Gilbert and Sullivan space operetta than a grand space opera. In the end, I did like it. I did find the dialogue straying perilously close to wooden, if not verging on something from a B grade detective novel. Sometimes I felt like I was reading the cartoon balloons from a Superhero graphic novel.  Her Imperial Grace, The Grand Duchess, Lieutenant Comander Victoria of Greenfield, otherwise known as Vicky could be a carbon copy of Samantha B. (Sex in the City) in 'space.' (That is, intelligent, sexy, and marches to the beat of her own outrageous drum). That's ok 'cause our girl is growing up and coming through the spoilt princess brat stage, albeit with her own particular twists. So there's planets to save, Admirals to jolly along, aliens threatening and bad old step-mom thinking up new and devious ways to take out Vic

... 'rest in power'!

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Company Town   by  Madeline Ashby Oh my! This book is so unexpected that I'm still scrambling to catch up with and relive what went down. Hwa is an amazing character. Her strengths and weaknesses, her very humanness in a world where people embrace bio-engineering stands in sharp contrast to those around her.  Her world  is narrowed down to a huge oil rig in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canadian coast--a city (Company Town) owned by a huge corporation: Lynch Ltd. ... and wasn't the original US nuclear testing site a prototype of 'the Company Town' ? Ah! the nefarious doings of large corporations rears it's ugly head!  Hired to be the bodyguard for Joel, the heir apparent and youngest of the 'family', Hwa comes face to face with truths that are disturbing. The drive and ambition of the family is both bizarre and frightening, Orwell's '1984' meets David Weber's 'Mesan Alignment' in the Harrington Books with, I don't know,

... re-focus and re-energize!

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It's Never Too Late to Begin Again: Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond   by Julie Cameron and Emma Lively A lively and extremely accessible foray into discovering new directions. I have been following this program and found it helpful. I found the practice of daily journaling already extremely helpful as a tool to contemplating changes of direction. I also found that I had to adjust my length of pages to fewer when I began. But to me that's ok because otherwise I might not have persevered.  This certainly offers ways to help me turn my energies in new directions. I am quite cross with myself that I didn't start reading it earlier. (But maybe I wasn't ready earlier.) In essence this is a twelve week course to help set you on a refocused path as you enter retirement. Determined to take advantage of the gift I've been handed, I am taking up the reigns of my life using this book as a guide post. 'Trusting my inner wisdom' is

Daring, dashing and devious! A wonderful female hero!

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Spy Fall (Rebellious Brides #1) (Regency Spymasters #1)   by Diana Quincy  Mari Lamarre's aeronautic jump from her hot air ballon falls somewhat short of her target, although others might say she was spot on! She lands on top of the drunk Lord Cosmos Dunsmore, son to the Marquess of Aldridge, in a somewhat compromising position. Off to a hilarious start this novel of spies, traitors, deceit and love has it all. Half French Mari Lamarre is a spy tasked with searching for compromising materials known to be in the hands of the Marqess. The practice of her craft is the lure, the cover to getting herself inside the walls of the home of the Marquess. What she doesn't count on is Cosmos his rake and debauched son, her liking of the Marquess of Aldridge and deeper family tragedies concealing secrets that will both complicate and shed light on the whole taught situation. Lives are depending on her success, and as it turns out, lives that are closer to the Aldridge

Dangerous liaisons!

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The Beautiful Pretender (A Medieval Fairy Tale  #2)   by Melanie Dickerson  I am quite enjoying  Melanie Dickerson's Medieval Fairy Tales.  Avelina is in the unenviable position of being a lowly servant girl (though she can read) being thrust into a highly charged political situation with very little support and no real choice. She only has her faith, her pleasant personality and her wits to try to come through the situation unscathed and undiscovered. Well, we know that's not going to work! But the unlooked for betrayal of her position, the weight of the falsities she has to present, the pain of lying to a man she has come to admire, all take a toll. The Margrave of Thornbeck has been instructed to marry by his King. Having no choice but to obey, he invites eligible young high born women to Thornbeck Castle for two weeks so that he can chose his bride. Unfortunately, Avelina's mistress, the daughter of the Earl of Plimmwald, has run off with one of her f

Amusing romp!

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A Spirited Affair   by Lynn Kerstan  Amusing romp with a icy hero hiding behind an indifferent shell and a boisterous hellion doing all she can do upset that infuriating exterior.  I really enjoyed the interplay of characters and the tension garnered from the varying circumstances. Thwarted ward besets annoying guardian. All Jillian Lamb wants is for her allowance to continue to make a go of her farm. It seems her unlooked for guardian the supercilious  Mark Delacourt, Earl of Coltrane has other ideas. Clash of the Titans has nothing on these two. A revealing and absolutely delightful read as feelings ramp up and attraction mounts. A NetGalley ARC ****

... love unlooked for

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A Most Delicate Pursuit (A Hunt Club Novel  #2) by Pamela Labud The Hunt Club series continues. This time with the  Earl of Blandon, Michael Carver taking center stage. Beatrice Hawkins, sister-in-law to Michael's friend Ashton Blakely, the Duke of Summerton has been reluctant to marry. Now, her one male relative, Sir Alfred Danbury, who had appeared to have been persuaded to leave Bea in her sister's care, has outrageously betrothed Bea to a nasty piece of work, one Richard Bainbridge, without consulting Bea.  Bainbridge's massive wealth and dubious abilities had gained him some cache in Society. He has fingers in a great many pies and it seems tame judges and other officials in his pockets. Bainbridge hates the aristocracy and yet has sort to buy himself a bride from among their members. Previous wives seem to have died, some from natural causes, others not. Whatever, the thing is Bea needs to go into hiding, and as the Ash surmises to Michael, if she can be pe

Wonderful and warm!

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Kit's Hill (The Howarth Cycle #1) by Jean Stubbs Reissue of 'By Our Beginnings' Ned Howarth's letter to the beautiful Miss Dorcas Wilde is wonderful. Heartfelt and hesitant it reveals his heart. After all a man can dream and a 'cat can look at a queen'. This rare look into the rural life of a farming family in the high hills of Lancashire County in the late 1700's, over thirty years, is a treat. Dorcas and her adjustment to the life and the adjustment of others to her shows Dorcas' tenacity in this life changing journey she undertakes. The inhabitants of Kits Hill are hesitant about her and no-one more so than the housekeeper, Betty Ackroyd, who until now has held a position of power. And this is just the beginning!  The first in a quartet originally published in 1980. The passing of time has not diminished the appeal of this enjoyable story of the Howarth generations at the farm on Garth Fells. A NetGalley ARC ****

Wagered love!

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The Dastardly Duke   by Eileen Putman My attention w as captured and ensured right from the first line in the short prologue little gems from  Julian LeFevre, Duke of Claridge as he considered his lot,  'A reformed rake led a miserable existence ...  This hair shirt he had am fully donned only left him itching to be rid of it.'  And rid himself he does with flair and subterfuge as he confronted his truth through the bottom of a brandy glass, 'He was a bastard at heart." Despite the fact that I've read variations on this plot before I enjoyed this telling of a  bet conceived to foist an unknown lady from a dubious background on the unsuspecting ton! The bored and renown rake Julian LeFevre, Duke of Claridge, is the man who will offer up this Pygmalion transformation. Hannah Gregory has a secret of her own. Suffering from hearing loss she is willing to enter into this plot to earn money to obtain a new form of treatment. As Julian and Hannah are

... dashed hopes and daunting gossip!

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Rivals of Fortune / The Impetuous Heiress  by Jane Ashford  A pair of stories that both start of with what seems like very shallow minded ladies as the heroines who fortunately develop into more than thought at first glance. Gossip at both the village level and within tonnish circles certainly comes to fore in some way in both novels. Rivals of Fortune. The story of a young woman whose marriage hopes are dashed in no uncertain terms when her childhood sweetheart goes to London Town and very quickly marries another. A quite superior and sure of herself wealthy woman. Broken hearted and convinced that this is the end of the world Joanna Rowntree is positive that she will never recover. Can she survive the village gossip surrounding her dashed hopes? As time goes on she eventually does, particularly with the advent of an  attractive  new neighbour,  but perhaps not so compelling as the man of style and tonnish manners, Sir Rollin Denby, the brother of her true love

Perfectly and weirdly wonderful!

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Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel   by  Fredrik Backman Britt Marie is such a wonderful anti hero. We meet her as she finds herself traded in for a younger model by her 'perfect' husband Kent, who is referred to throughout the book by Britt in the hushed tones of the subdued and oppressed. Let's face it--Britt Marie is a difficult woman. A woman who keeps 'living' at bay by rules. She is a woman exhibiting all the signs of Obsessive  Compulsive Disorder, and a woman who finds it hard to express emotions in the normal way. What she does express, at out of place moments, are her decided rules about behaviour and tidiness and her compulsive obsession with cleaning--everything! Continually! Somehow her remarks, out of left field, often seem to others as meaningful. To Britt they are statements of fact. Her check list of determining a person's character includes how they arrange their cutlery drawer and whether or not they place coasters under their drinks

A delightful fairy floss romp!

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The Untamed Earl  (Playful Brides #5)   by  Valerie Bowman Lady Alexander Hobbs (Alex) in  fell in love with Lord Monroe when she was fifteen, just after she'd written her list of the things she wished to accomplish in her life. '1. Become brave and daring like Thomas. 2. Become beautiful, willowy and poised like Lavina. Never stain my gowns with food, et cetera. 3. Have a come-out during which an exceedingly eligible gentleman asks me to dance, thereby making the affair a smashing success. 4. Marry my true love. Must be handsome, dashing, witty, kind and honrable.  Name to be determined later.              Lord Owen Munroe.' Now three years later at the ripe old age of 18 with her list not even begun, she's discovered that her father and Owen's have decided her true love, Lord Owen, is to marry her older sister, the perfect (and horribly spoilt) Lavina. And that's when Alex decides to fight for her one true love, who has very litt

Love at first sight!

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Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply (Silver Town Wolf)  (Heart of the Wolf #19) by  Terry Spear Great story of love and endurance alpha wolf style. This story is woven around alpha wolf Eric Silver and an unknown pack leader, alpha female, Pepper Grayling. The Grayling pack is a surprise to Eric and the rest of Silver Town. He only became aware of it when he rescued an injured member, Susan, carried her back to her pack's home, and is completely smitten by one of the women playing around in a rock pool. In his mind he fancies her a goddess. That goddess is Pepper Grayling who has no intention of mating with anyone. There are too many traps in that path. Her pack could suffer too much. What with a group of unknown wolves planting marijuana crops in the park; a nasty character, Waldron, leader of another mystery pack forcing his attentions on Pepper; a bit of arson and other high jinks, things are mighty hectic around Silver Town. The dance between Pepper and Eric is subtle yet

Intrigue, murder and the mystical!

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The Night Wanderer (An Aelf Fen Mystery #7)  by  Alys Clare I must admit to confusion as I first entered the Aelf Fens world, but no more than that of the inhabitants of 11th century Cambridge. It seems a mythical figure had arisen from the dark past and this figure of horror is randomly gouging out the throats of its victims. There appears no rhyme or reason to the deaths, except perhaps the waterfront. Lassair and Jack  Chevestrier  are thrown together (the quiet, effecient and handsome lawman  and the winsome healer apprentice who is more than she seems) as the situation escalates, both politically, and as reflected in the panic of Cambridge's inhabitants. Together they unlock the mystery, discover the looting perfidy of the sheriff's grasping nephew and find the terrible answers to the ravaged bodies, not without cost to them both. The  nature of Gurdyman and Lassaire's mentor-mentored relationship, and the mystical works that stretches beyond the healing call