eyes.2c Reviews

An Oath Broken (The Oath Trilogy #2 ) by Diana Cosby   So what can you do when you are being used as a political pawn in the shifting game of power between nations? For Lady Sarra Bellacote very little. She is being escorted against her will to her betrothed in Scotland, the place where her parents were killed by reivers. A place for her of dark continuing memories and fear. In the manoeuvres between Scotland and England Sarra's fortune is looked on as a sweetener for support of the English.  The man escorting her, Giric Armstong, an ex reiver (and unbeknownst to Sarra) the Earl of Terrick, has hired himself out to escort the heiress to her destination to gain much needed capital for repairs to his castle. Plots within plots and treachery threaten Sarra's safety. Fate and men's inequity will take a hand in the lives of Terrick and Sarra. Cut off from the larger escort body by marauders they are forced to flee into the highlands for safety. The laws and customs of Sco...

Cocktails at Le Carmen by Isabelle Andover I had a smile on my face all the way through this book. Chloe Saddler finds herself transferred to Paris (pinch me now!) It does mean leaving the live-in boyfriend Scott but Paris is only a couple of hours away. Nothing simpler! (Grinding of teeth about said boyfriend p..leaze. That does rhyme with sleaze doesn't it?) We sashay through Paris with Chloe as she hunts for a flat, makes friends and ventures into an oh so different culture.  Her forays into the nightclub scene are memorable along with the cocktails and subsequent hangovers including the random memories of what might have happened. And then there's her hunk of a boss Jean-Luc boss, whom every one swoons over, including Chloe and me, the reader. As a would be affeciando of vintage designer clothes I do appreciate Chloe's reference to articles of clothing she either finds in out of the way stores or has on loan from girlfriends. The mention of various designer s...

Warrior of Ice (Warriors of Ireland #1) by Michelle Willingham   Wonderfully written! Ireland in 1172. I was held spellbound by the developing relationship between landless Killian McDubhand, illegitimate son of the Rory O'Connor, the Irish High King and Taryn Connelly, a King's daughter, who has terrible facial scars. She has no memory of how she came to have the scars. The memories she does have centre around her brother being killed when thrown from his horse. Her father King Devlin has been imprisoned by the High King for treason and will be put to death. Taryn will risk all to rescue him. When Killian looks at Taryn he sees a courageous striking woman, not a disfigured one, blemished beyond redemption. Taryn sees in Killian a fierce warrior with a tender heart, not a slave that sleeps amongst the dogs and horses. Killian is part of an escort conveying his beloved adopted sister, Carice Faoilin to marriage with the High King. Something Carice is determined to avoid...

The Dalai Lama's Cat and the Power of Meow (The Dalai Lama's Cat #3) by David Michie  HHC (His Holiness' Cat), a Himalayan, a cat of many names amongst them Snow Lion, Rinpoche and  Little Sister is a wonderful character. Life in Dharamsala is viewed through this important little personage's eyes. A cat of consequence, although humble, HHC is working on becoming more 'mindful' cat, on exercising the power of the moment, the power of meow as the path to enlightenment is trod. A cat who 'couldn't change the world but could change how he experienced it.' Today 'Mindfulness' seems to be a buzz word cropping up all over the place. In 'The Power of Meow', we see this concept discussed between the Dalai Lama, Serena and Mrs Trinci,when they talk about the exercising of meditation cultivating awareness and creating space of the mind,  'Little by little, you become more mindful, more aware of every action of your body, speech and m...

Roses in the Tempest: A Tale of Tudor England by Jeri Westerson   Jeri Westerson does it again! Another wonderful piece of writing. A novel that looks at the other side of Henry VIII's destruction of places of religion, the pettiness and politics involved. The real hardship for those religious folks who had been cloistered for many years and then torn from all they knew and  forced back into a society that they had been apart from for so long. Partly also a love story, of love known too late. A story of women as bargaining chips in the building of  power and political alliances, and of enduring friendship. Isabella Launder is a woman of courage with a will of steel, daughter of a local yeoman farmer. Sir Thomas Gifford is at first the arrogant courtier who is her friend, then a would be lover, would be husband, and lastly a long term supporter and friend. I had little idea that some nunneries were so small. This one contained only four women and their servants an...

Watch the Lady: A Novel (The Tudor Trilogy #3) by Elizabeth Fremantle A compelling novel of the Elizabethan Court, the interactions of Elizabeth favourites, including Robert Dudley, the Earl of Essex and his sister Penelope Devereux. We are treated to a tale that exposes the jealousies and jostlings for Elizabeth's favour of the major and minor satellites that surround her. Penelope Devereux remained one of Elizabeth's preferred ladies-in-waiting for more than twenty years. Elizabeth, ever jealous of her favours arranges marriages to her accord. Woe betide those maids who marry outside her will. Banishment, the tower, penury--all are weapons Elizabeth employs against those who thwart her will. As Lettice Devereux, Essex and Penelope's mother, can attest. The pages are riddled with examples of Elizabeth's grasp upon those she favours. Essex and Penelope are no less touched by this control. Penelope at a young age is promised to Philip Sidney (portrayed as a chival...

A Marquis For Mary (The Notorious Flynns Book 5) by Jess Michaels   I had great hopes for Edward, the Marquis of Woodley, after meeting him in The Widow Wager. As sympathetic as I am to both Edward and Mary, I found their story just a tad vapid. It was like watching a Potential blockbuster devolve into a B grade movie. I wanted much more. Edward and Mary deserved more. The situation should have been fraught with tension. All the ingredients were there but it just didn't quite come together for me.  Mary, Crispin"s sister-in-law is now living with Crispin and Gemma, but the threat of her father, Sir Oswald Quinn, and his venality, his attempts to use her for his own needs and inclinations, haunt her. This, despite the fact that Rafe and Crispin have bargained with Quinn to not trouble Mary. Mary doesn't feel assured of her father actually leaving her alone. Edward was the cuckolded husband of Crispin's love Alice. Many believe Edward murdered  his pregnant wife ...

Never Resist a Rake (Somerfield Park) by Mia Marlowe  Basically an illegitimate son is discovered to be not so 'born on the wrong side' after all. The new Lord Hartley takes to his mantle by galloping though all the lowest of low places, drinking, fornicating, fighting along his merry, dissolute, hell bent way as a response. Why? Are that is the question! See, it's about the lack of love! Sure he was placed with a gentile family, cared for, schooled. Does that count. Never, not for John.  I kept thinking, 'Really, were you sent to the workhouse?' 'Discarded completely?' 'No!' See for John, it's love that will make the difference. And even now there's little acknowledgement of him other than being a bad mistake. I do get it. The being discarded like a bad smell and then taken back as though the past can be in some way expunged by an 'Oh, We were wrong. Sorry! Now get back here and do your 'duty!' So John Fitzhugh Barrett is ...

The Major's Faux Fiancee (Dukes of War #4) by Erica Ridley   There was passion hidden within Miss Daphne Vaughan. Passion for more than displaced weavers and children’s rights. Passion waiting to be explored with Major Bartholomew Blackpool, if only they both knew it. Bartholomew hasn't put his single foot outside of his London abode since returning from the battlefields of Waterloo minus a leg. But when 'daffy', his childhood friend calls for help he responds and finds himself in a fake engagement to a challenging beguiling friend. Daphne plans to quietly fight for her various causes rather than marry. Her guardian has other ideas. Daphne is to find a man marry before she is able to become an independent woman or he will choose her groom. So a false engagement is planned. The problem is who will jilt whom. And does either really want to? I enjoyed this tale of another cohort from that select group of friends--the Dukes of War. A NetGalley ARC

Night of the Highland Dragon (Highland Dragons #3) by Isabel Cooper William Arundel (a special agent from D Branch which I gather deals with the arcane, exotic and X files of the English Government of the times) is off in the Scottish Highlands tracking down unexplained human and animal deaths, encountering demons and a certain mysterious Judith MacAlasdair Lady of Loch Aranoch. An area that everyone agrees is remote, with tight lipped villages and not much in the way of communication. Arundel finds that the inhabitants don't gossip much about the Lady. A lady he finds attractive and compelling. But when animals are killed and parts of their bodies taken in ritualistic ways he knows that the village hides secrets. The only question is will Lady MacAlasdair help or hinder him? Or even more significantly is she part of the problem? I quite enjoyed this and having read neither of the previous novels in the series I am sure that I am going to make up for that deficit in the very...

The Beautiful One (The Scandalous Sisters #1) by Emily Greenwood I must admit to being on tenterhooks for a goodly part of this read. When, oh when, would the truth about Anna finally be disclosed? What stance will Will Halifax, Viscount Grandville, take. Already he's attracted to Anna's impertinent, without artifice character, her matter of fact defence of all things. Will the disclosure of the scandal surrounding her being matters to an unforeseen head? Anna is bright and betrayed. The dastardly coward who spied on her and drew her naked body only spared a thought for his career and not of the horrendous position he places Anna in. Now she is being pursued by a powerful Lord to be paraded before the ton, alongside a naked portrait, as part of his unveiling of the book, 'The Beautiful One' and the sketches of Anna. Something she must avoid at all costs. Anna has accompanied Viscount Grandville's ward Lizzie when Lizzie is sent down from school. Grandville...