eyes.2c Reviews

The Unexpected Duchess (Playful Brides #1) by Valerie Bowman        I really liked the character of Lucy, lady Lucy Upton that is.  She is feisty, passionate and a true friend, and at heart a victim of rejection by her parents. Her guilt at surviving her brother and therefore having the family fortunes pass to another due to the inheritance laws cuts her deeply. In trying to be a son she from childhood did the unexpected and embarrassed her parents. Yet all she wanted was their approval. Her loyalty and determination to rescue her shy friend Cassandra from the unwanted attention of the Duke of Claringdon is laudable. Unfortunately neither young woman know that Lord Derek Hunt had made a promise to his dying friend to marry Cassandra. And Hunt is an honourable man. Well that is until the sparks ignited between himself and Lucy. The dance between these two is hilarious as they try to deny their mutual attraction, are caught in its web, withdraw, only to be ...

Never Entice an Earl (One Scandalous Season #2) by Lily Dalton   Foolish innocent brave girl! How could she know that her eager effort to save her friend would end with her being half naked on the stage of a brothel just as the police raided it. I must admit I really liked Lady Daphne Bevington. Her character was loyal and naive. That naivety was totally dangerous, to her! Yet her loyalty to her friend and lady's maid Kate Fickett, means that Daphne is willing to cut across the class boundaries with a disingenuous disregard for her own safety and reputation. One could view her action of taking Kate's place and descending into such a lewd place of entertainment as an action taken due to her  protected environment, or of a mistaken sense of her abilities to deal with problems. I think there's a bit of both. Really Daphne's inability to recognize the truth of social conditions outside her class, leads her into trouble with a capital 'T'.  Daphne just did not con...

Heaven's Queen (Paradox #3) by Rachel Bach   I really enjoyed this series. I loved the way Deviana Morris always sought options that did not neccesitate using others as tools. The evolution of Maat as a live and  in person figure, the plague of the phantoms and the mysteries of plasmex, even the involvement of Mabel and Commander Brian Caldswell were resolved at various levels. The lead up to saving the universe is honed with lots of scary action, threats of demise, fear for loved ones, alien mind games, bared honesty, and a closer look at the follow the rules 'eyes', those human symbionts, who are as it ensues, are hampered by their own rules and boundaries, their very real fears, and their loyalty without question expectations of each other.     Along the way we renew acquaintances with a few old friends, and old enemies. The fight against the phantoms reaches new heights. Maat, who wants freedom, even if that freedom is death, is constrained in new ways, imp...

The Highland Henchman (Highland Force #2) by Amy Jarecki  Ah, Bran! I remember him when he was just a lad, the cabin boy who was with Laird Calum MacLeod when he captured the English ship with Lady Anne on board. Lady Anne made a sling for his injured arm. Then Bran had 'stood on gawky legs in a moth-eaten kilt, his face caked with dirt and sea-salt.' With Lady Anne he learnt to read, trained as a falconer with the eaglet Swan, and has become an important part of Calum's fighting forces. It's now 1658 and this is Bran's story. A story that includes Enya Ross, the youngest daughter of Sir Ross, a lowlander Baron. Some of the Highland clans have agreed to join forces with Ross. Together they plan to free Mary, Queen of Scots and help her regain her rightful place. Ross, an atrocious man would sacrifice his daughter Enya on the altar of ambition and eventually will incarcerate her in a nunnery on Iona. A wicked place that represents cold religious judgement and ...

Desiring Lady Caro (The Marriage Game #4) by Ella Quinn   This time it's Lady Caroline Martindale and the rake Huntley who fall into true 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 godmother, Lady Horatia Laughton in an effort to protect Caroline. Lady Horatia will leave Venice duplicate...

A Promise of More: The Disgraced Lords Series #2: A Loveswept Historical Romance   by Bronwen Evans   So, Lord Sebastian Hawkstone, Marquis of Coldhurst, is a member of the Libertine Scholars' clique/ club. Libertine is right! The Oxford dictionary assigns further synonyms. A libertine in the sense used here (yes, there are other meanings!) is 'a person who is morally or sexually unrestrained, especially a dissolute man; a profligate; a rake.'Likewise descriptions were lecherous, licentious, lewd, really the list goes on... Seconds into reading, and in keeping with said libertine behaviour, I'm already into a highly descriptive encounter between Sebastian and a courtesan Clarice that is more mechanics than intimacy. Really, I'm feeling quite jaded by the time I've read the second page. Just how many more bouncing body parts are going to be trotted out I wonder? The crux of the matter is that this sexual encounter serves as the basis for the ongoing story...

Cauldron of Ghosts (Honor Harrington - Crown of Slaves) by David Weber and Eric Flint Once more Mesa and the doings of the Alignment are the core targets. All the usual suspects are in play with a few new characters added.    The Alignment is cleaning house and exiting Mesa to regroup somewhere else after the latest breach of their facilities. That last episode had ended in complete havoc and destruction, a nuclear detonation being blamed on Zilwicki and Cachet. Operation Houdini is underway with highly placed minions disappearing under the cloud of mass killings, again being attributed to terrorists from Torch. Modelled on an onion the layers of the Alignment are stripped back, but the core is yet to be breached. Peeling the onion has become the task of  Victor Cachet, Anton Zilwicki and Thandi Palane. These three are right in the thick of the action. And what action it is! I really enjoy the stories where these three are central. The references to Victor and h...

The Scandalous Love of a Duke ( Marlow Intrigues #3)  by Jane Lark   John Harding is the Duke of Pembroke. Traumatized by his upbringing under his grandfather's gimlet gaze, John knows only harshness, undergirded by a deep sense of abandonment. Poor John, a product of his upbringing! Yet I cannot like him as he toys with Katherine. Katherine who is unloved, a Cinderella figure in the household into which she has been adopted.  Despite that or because of that she gives all to her childhood hero, John.    Oh, she tries to hold back but she is so tempted. This is where, to me, John falls into selfish behaviour. He uses Katherine as an escape. As he admits, it was ridiculous hiding out and escaping with his oldest friend. She is not a courtesan and yet he is treating her as one. But then John has had to fight from turning into a carbon copy of his grandfather - cold and distant. I thought his seduction of Katherine indeed showed him as just that. In this he ...

Waiting for Wednesday: A Frieda Klein Mystery (Frieda Klein) by Nicci French A murdered woman, missing girls, a vengeful psychiatrist, lost young people, disillusioned cops. Packed to the rafters with bizarre coincidences that lead to difficult situations upon difficult situations. Throughout is the sub plot question: Who really is this person named Frieda? She's hard to grasp hold of, undeterred by obstacles, a juxtaposition of knowing and intuition, a shadow that flits in and out of the action, enfolding it, following it, a veritable warren of wisdom and chaos. I love the title. I was up to where Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Karlsson and Detective Constable Yvette Long went to interview the lover of the murdered woman when I really focused on the title. Yes, Wednesday I thought! We're all waiting for Wednesday, the happenings of Wednesday, the significance of Wednesday. Us readers, the detectives on the case, the lovers, the family, all of us, either were, or are, wa...

Bordeaux: The Bitter Finish: A Vengeance in the Vineyard Mystery (Vengeance in the Vineyard Series) by Janet Hubbard  Travelling from New York to Bordeaux as a bodyguard for the famous wine critic and friend of her mother's Ellen Jordan, Max Maguire is not expecting her charge to be dead before the trip has barely started. The searing question, apart from the guilt Max feels is, did Ellen die of asphyxiation or was she murdered?   Max has a french mother. Her father is a New York detective. Max is also a detective, although she's supposed to be chilling out whilst the controversy over her latest antics, caught on video, die down. France has further problems for Max.  There's the fact that her mother and consequently Max have been estranged from their French relations for many years. Only now is that fence being mended. Max does make contact with her grandmother, but her uncle, the Minister of Justice Philippe Douvier, is somewhat unnerved by this contact. Maybe...

Blades Of Magic: Crown Service #1 by Terah Edun  Once more a mesmerizing novel from the very talented Terah Edun. The moments of surprise, the twists and turns as the story of Sara Fairchild unfolds held my complete attention.  Edun now gives us the back story to the Initiate Wars that 'divided Algardis society.' Sara Fairchild is the daughter of a disgraced and executed Commander and Battle Mage of the empress's armies accused of desertion. Sara is herself a Battle Mage. Trained from her early years by her father, Sara's skills are formidable.   To me this series holds is a touch of Tamora Pierce's writings with a waft of early Mercedes Lackey. As both are some of my all time favourite authors this is high accolade from me.  I certainly revel in the creation of the characters and situations that Edun reveals to us. Particularly with the character of Sara, a stubborn, feisty and achingly lonely person whose emotional hardships would have crushed a lesser p...

The Husband Campaign (The Master Matchmakers #3) by Regina Scott    I found John a fascinating character if somewhat underdeveloped. We come to know him through his horses and his treatment of them rather than through himself. In fact his knowledge of horse, his commitment to them is awesome. If only he could transfer that knowing to his marital self. I felt very impatient with him in his behaviour towards Amelia. We do see that he is an honourable man, albeit damaged and lacking self confidence in relationships. I know, he was forced into marrying Amelia. Maybe he should have left her in the barn in the first place, but he was acting out of concern and with integrity.  And let's not forget the era. Amelia is rather a lovely person who has been disappointed constantly by family and then by John. She works unerringly to overcome John's coolness towards her. I hate that she has to keep proving herself time and again.   All the aspects are here. Brooding misun...

Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom (Renegade Royal) by Vanessa Kelly  I must confess that I love all the titles so far produced in this series. The golden thread that links them all together is that in each one, an illegitimate son of one of the Royal Princes (Regency period), confronts the hardships of his birth, discovers true love and enters the ranks of society. Of course for each son the way is strewn with brambles and thorns, if not shards of glass. This episode is no less riveting with all the necessities for a sparkling and often tense read. We have the Extremely Bad boy, Griffin Steele, with a tender heart and a rock hard exterior that keeps the world at bay. Owner of a brothel he's about to dispose of, Griffin's world is disrupted when a baby is left on the doorstep with a note asking him to protect the infant from grave danger.  Justine Brightmore is the lovely heroine, who's badly put upon, selfless, and independent. She is goddaughter to Sir Dominic ...

Unlacing Lady Thea by Louise Allen So I was ready to give Lady Thea 5 stars before I'd even finished the first chapter. The rest of the novel did not disappoint! I am captivated by Allen's dialogue.  Her dry humour leavens the story. Smart and amusing lines such as when Rhys, in his cups, scolds the ginger tomcat for ungentlemanly behaviour is just one example. Rhys Denham, the third Earl of Palgrave is a rake, though capable of redemption. He has decided that it's time to do his duty and marry, but first he will do the Grand Tour he missed out on due to the war years. After all, as he solemnly confides to his cat, he is twenty-eight and will appreciate it more. Lady Althea Curtiss, daughter of the Earl of Wellingstone, has known Rhys forever and appears at his bachelor household dressed as a boy. Rhys is five sheets to the wind, and 'thoroughly foxed not drunk' he reassures the cat. Thea is entrancing, winsome and a madcap! She is fleeing an unwanted marria...