eyes.2c Reviews

Rock ‘n’ Rose   by   Suzan Holder  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Daisy’s quest is filled with missteps, adventure, and shining lights until the truth is revealed. I so enjoyed the idea of Daisy, with her grandmother Rose’s assistance, running a vintage clothes shop with the name ‘Blue Moon Vintage’. I was caught right there.  I could live with Daisy searching for the truth about her grandfather, the hype around Elvis and Graceland, but after the initial whoha I ‘ALMOST’ lost interest. Then I honed in. Along with Daisy’s purchase of the cowboy boots “that felt as though she was destined to have them. The unusual rose pattern embossed into the leather would be a fitting tribute to her music-loving nana,” just as Daisy’s search to solve the mystery of her grandfather was a tribute.   I was hooked! What a fabulous concept. Lost generational love! ❤️The search for the man who was that lost love, and all that follows. And let’s not forget the cop called Blue— Officer Joe Cody. A love story for the ages! A Harp

The Bride of Blackfriars Lane   by Michelle Griep ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Once again Griep gives us a London Dickensian backdrop, the seedy underbelly of so many stories. Here Kit Turner and Jackson Forge are forging more than a working partnership they’re committing to a “have and to hold” proposition. There’s just a few problems. Jackson thinks his Kit will go into the place where all wives go, the home—gracefully. And though Kit wants to do this, tries to—she just can’t. Plus there’s loose ends.  There’s some sort of mystery around her mother’s death.  Jackson and Kit’s joint effort at stopping a thieving ring had supposedly payed off, and yet it hasn’t.  There’s still stolen silver and goods showing up in these controlled rubbish dump. As Kit “ suggested—that maid had been pilfering items and tossing them in the dustbin, [then] who was collecting them here and hawking them to Skaggs? Someone wants Kit and Jackson dead and has made several efforts. Then Kit misses her wedding. Oh dear! What’s a

A Certain Darkness : A Riveting World War 1 Mystery (Verity Kent #6)  by Anna Lee Huber          ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Darkness surrounds Verity and Sidney. Glimmers of hope are hard to see. The question is who will shine through? Verity is once again swept up into the games Intelligent Agency plays. The war is over but the jockeying amongst the International Powers continue. Lord Ardmore continues to be a thorn in their side. He’s ruthless and in his pursuit of his goals the bodies are mounting up. The world is changing and Ardmore wants control over the various Intelligence Agencies. Sidney takes a call from the Provost Gendarmerie. They have detained a Miss Adele Baverel for looting. She. will only talk to him.  Sidney and Verity sense somethings wrong with her arrest and their search will take them to France, Belgium and Holland. What began as something simple becomes more complex. There’s rumours of  a report is in the wind that if ever released holds upsetting news for the British forces and

A Lark's Tale : a Regency Cozy   by   Lynn Messina    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ So I enjoyed Messina’s cosy Regency style mysteries, the Beatrice Hyde-Clare series. Lark’s Tale however is something else. At first I felt confounded by it. I couldn’t get a handle on the story. It was as slippery as an eel, much like Mr Twaddle-Thum. It did my head in. Verity Lark is a gossip columnist, a chameleon. Nobody knows who she is. She’s a master of disguise, so much so, even she forgets who she is. I certainly did. I think this is the first book I’ve read in a long time where I’ve had to take notes Verity btw is the Duke of Kesgrave half sister by the courtesan La Reina (and that complex!) That’s not an alter ego, that’s fact. Let’s look for instance at some of Verity’s disguises, or maybe I should say Verity’s alter egos. *Mr Twaddle-Thum the gossip columnist ( most important) *Robert Lark another reporter, with a house and housekeeper—Verity herself. Writes occasional serious columns *Mr Quales an opport

A Scot to Love and Protec t (Once Upon a Scot #3) by   Maeve Greyson.  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Traitors and treachery, fighting the English and some Scotsmen. Lady Elspet Maxwell, widowed and alone except for her daughter Beitris, has been forced to stand against all since her husband died. Now she’s no longer alone. Constable Valan MacDougall, a leader of the Gallóglaigh,  has been sent by the king to Caerlaverock Castle to protect the Lady Maxwell and her concerns. Mind you, Valan did think that the Lady might be somewhat elderly and infirm. Hmm! Not so! Opinionated, sprightly and stubborn, more like. Nothing is easy. When treachery driven by greed and lust comes in the form of Elspet’s brother-in-law all might be lost. Call me squeamish, but I did find the assault on Beitris just too visceral. I finished this but it was a near run thing. At times, too predictable. A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher

Murder in Westminster : A Riveting Regency Historical Mystery (Lady Worthing Mysteries #1)  by Vanessa Riley  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An interesting and puzzling new Regency mystery from Vanessa Riley. I swam about in a maze of questions before deciding to just go with the flow and hope all would be revealed. Lady Abigail Worthing is wife to absentee sea captain, Captain James Munroe, Lord Worthing  Here’s the thing, she keeps referring to having saved her husband from Newgate, in doing so she somehow  lost or was lost to her sister Dinah, and become Baroness Worthing. I’m no closer to this story—did I miss something, or will all be revealed in the next in the series? Lady Worthington is a woman of color, a Blackamoor with a Jamaican mother  and a Scottish father, and has to be careful, too careful, about where she goes and who she sees. There are those like her godfather Mr. Vaughn who keep waiting for the gift of foresight to blossom. Annoying to Abbie. This time though she sees, as in really the

The Liar’s Crown  by Abigail Owen    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enter into this fantastical world. A place of shadows and gates that traverse the country—if one can make them.  For generations the kingdom of Aryd has had a deeply kept secret. When twin daughters are born to the Queen only one is acknowledged as the ruler, in this case, the Princess Tabra Eutheria I of Ayrd. The other is dead to all, never known, never acknowledged. Her duty, to act in the princess’ stead when the princess / queen is in danger.  “A second-born princess in a long line of royal twins—one to rule, the other to serve as nothing more than a secret body double in dangerous circumstances.” Mereneith Evangeline is brought up in a modest place, not quite a hovel, but sequestered away. Meren has trained as a warrior and is a figure of stealth and deception. She is in regular touch with her sister by hidden ways. Their sworn enemy is Eidolon, the King of shadows.  There’s rumours of the shadowraith abroad in the city. Meren ignor

Heartbreaker  (Hell’s Belles #2) by   Sarah MacLean   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ From the depths of London’s South Bank to the ballrooms of Mayfair, Adelaide Trumbull has become a woman wth a mission. Daughter of the leader of the cutthroat gang, the Bully Boys, with tentacles throughout London, the ‘Princess of Thieves’ becomes Adelaide Frampton, invisible cousin and secretary to the Duchess of Trevescan. She belongs to a group of women who are dedicated to helping others in situations of abuse, standing against lords who tyrannize their families, employ child labourers, everything, the worst of the worst a… “mysterious quartet of women who meted out justice to men who were too powerful for regular channels.” Currently they’re trying to protect a young woman who witnessed her father murdering another Lord. Adelaide is known as The Matchmaker. She compiles files on persons of interest for the group. This time her plans are disturbed by Henry Carrington, the Duke of Clayborn, a man who really sees her

A Duke at the Door  (Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde #3) by Susanna Allen  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ This just wasn’t up to the standard of the previous in the series. Yes, I liked it because I’m following the series. However things became quite confusing, and keeping the occupants of Lowell Hall in Sussex, who they were, and how they fitted in, was a struggle. What we have is a Welsh lion trapped in his lion body for years, never able to change, until a thief prized the gold chain off from his paw. Then, what a surprise! The thief was left a gibbering mess and the lion/human might just as well have been. The Honorable Miss Tabitha Barrington, a female apothecary, is asked by the Prince of Wales (head of all S hapeshifters—versipelles) to take Alwyn ap Lewin, the Duke of Llewellyn in hand, to restore him if possible. After his years of being trapped as a lion, he’s now wedded to his human body, and yet he finds it hard to operate as a human. The slightest thing like holding a fork adds to his confusion.

Desiring Lady Caro  (The Marriage Game #4) by   Ella Quinn  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reread mass market paperback 8/18/2020 I still love this title! 🥰 Have upped my stars to 5 …and the games continue! Lady Caroline Martindale and the rake Huntley! Will they fall in love? Gervaise, Earl of Huntley, heir to the Marquis of Huntingdon, is a man of infinite patience and strength once having decided that it is Caroline whom he wants as his Countess. This Marriage Game begins with a marriage of convenience that slowly grows to something more, defying Caro's tragic past. The ravishment and rape of young women by scoundrels is a danger that one doesn't think about. I suspect us readers have been anaesthetized by Jane Austen. This is Caroline's darkest secret and deepest nightmare. A nightmare she constantly relives with fear and loathing. Fleeing Vemice and the unwanted attentions of the deranged Marchese di Venier, Caroline and Huntley are thrown together by Huntley's aunt and Caro's g

The Couple at Causeway Cottage   by  Diane Jeffrey  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ A young couple, Kat and Mark, buy a house, ‘Causeway Cottage’ on an island off the coast of Northen Ireland. Their plan, to be close to Mark’s mother who has dementia and is in a care home. And to start a family. Kat was gong to take her photography to the professional level, Mark would catch the ferry across to work in Belfast, But they both have secrets. Secrets that laboured and destroyed, and in the end, those secrets did me in as well. Kat’s had something to do with her childhood friend and tragedy. I’m so conflicted about this story. It was a page turner that’s for sure, I couldn’t put it down. I understand the actions of Kat but the morality gives pause. And the ending! I’d be running! And—is that really the ending? But all that aside Kat is a conflicted mass of should she, shouldn’t she tell Mark, tell Darragh. Who’s hiding secrets from whom? Too many secrets. And yes, I’d guessed Mark’s big secret, mind you he had two

Die Around Sundown   by  Mark Pryor  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was anything but! Paris when the Germans marched in! (The Germans wore grey. She wore blue!) Inspector Henri Lefort had been in the French army in the first war, this time round he’s a French detective who’s been given a task by the Germans to find a killer in five days. No going to the place where the body was found (the louvre btw), and—a list of the suspects all neatly typed! What fresh hell is this? Solve a murder without investigating? We go from a murder, to the saving of paintings from rapacious German hands, to the startling revelations of events that happened in the last war, and oh! more bodies littering the scene. Told in the world weary tones of a gumshoe detective, or just someone disgusted by it all happening again, with nary a shot fired—as Paris rolled over. Small signs of rebellion are a score for all. Indeed if this was a film Humphrey Bogart would not be out of place as the lead. Still the ending was to die for! Oh

  Abandoned Train Stations   by   David Ross ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Why is there romance in the idea of abandoned railway stations ? I guess it’s the idea of the stories, the dreams of times past.  I must admit to being fascinated by old railway buildings. In their day sturdy, decorative and staunch. Who can’t help but appreciate the progress advancement they stood for. I recall a program I watched where, amongst the many gems, have been such buildings renovated with care (and sometimes heartache) but today stand proudly. I love it! I recall travelling through Berlin and the train whizzing by those stations of the East not used. It’s a bit like the magic of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That sense of wonder!  And the decorativeness, the architecture of stations in St. Petersburg. A touch of class for the masses. The fascination of the stories these places could tell whips out into the ether with a sense of amazement.  This title feeds into those recollections. Divided into five world regio

Every Rogue Has His Charm  (Love and Let Spy #4) by Susanna Craig ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Dark and ruined Maximilian Grant, Lord Chesleigh, Marquess, and unwanted heir to a dukedom, (Duke of Hartwell) has spent his life vanquishing his country’s foes. His latest assignment, as a spy for the crown, is to discover what he can about the Earnshaw household.  At a house party he lets himself into the library only to confront a wayward daughter of the house who’s crept downstairs to read a novel. This doesn’t bode well, and bodes even less when they’re discovered together, Lady Caroline Brent, in barefeet and nightgown after midnight. Well he does what most gentleman would do (and why our hero should do what any man does is rich?) and declares his interest. Within four days Maxim’s left the country and is not heard of until six years later, upon his grandfather’s death . When he returns has a wife to confront, a role to take up (Duke of Hartwell), papers to deliver and a spy to uncover. Caro finds she is no

Death at the Manor  (Lily Adler Mystery #3) by Katharine Schellman ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lily Adler once again has her hands full. This time investigating the ghost of Belleford Manor. And surprise, surprise, the matriarch of the Manor is found dead in her bed.  The widowed lady sleuth is taken with their neighbor Mathew Spencer and this holiday in Hampshire is a chance to get to know him better. Which she does. But what about the Captain? … some would ask, indeed I ask the same! However now our regency lady detective has something to get her teeth into, a haunting and a murder. Who knows what else will happen? Except the investigation, the clues, the raison d’être has little of the excitement and adventure I was looking for. All a bit ho hum really. Maybe the next in the series will be more defining. I hope so! A Crooked Lane Books ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I am definitely a fan of Taishi. An old woman who was marking time finds a new passion. Hilariously underplayed, the spoilt Jian, securely anointed as the child prodigy who will defeat the immortal god-king, the Eternal Khan, has nothing more to show for his training than his knowledge of how to hold a sword, and even that is in doubt. So when this brat decides to put down an old lady (who is btw the greatest grandmaster of magical martial arts) he truly has his comeuppance. Still with the way he’s been fawned upon ever since the prophecy it’s no wonder he’s more than a little wet behind the ears and behind the times. And Taishi is only too delighted to have a focus that will enliven her latter years. Little does Jian know what he’s in for! Tropes are given a different look. Hero's are unmade or made anew. A twisted tale that turns Jian upside down and inside out as he prepares to face a destiny he’s no longer sure about. A  Random House