eyes.2c Reviews

What Happens Under the Mistletoe by Sabrina Jeffries, Karen Hawkins, Candace Camp and Meredith Duran Christmas time brings forth those traditions that can be employed to advantage for many a tardy or fledgling romance. This mix of seasonal stories sparkle with wit, humour, and romantically subdued longing. An enjoyable selection of Happy Ever After (HEA) works. I do like to have short, sweet stories from time to time, able to be read in bite sized chunks. The Heiress and the Hothead by Sabrina Jeffries Answering a friend's call to help stir a would be suitor into action, Lord Stephen Cory found himself kissing a different young woman under the mistletoe by mistake. Oh my! Twelve Kisses by Karen Hawkins Once more the delightfully autocratic Grand Duchess Natasha Nikolaevna plays a role in uniting two lovers who find it hard to make a start. Any Other Name by Candace Camp Rylla is intent on finding her brother Daniel and persuading him to come home for Christmas. Her sea...

Bearing It All: A Highlander's Beloved Novel by Vonnie Davis  Those handsome brawny Matheson men are back with their loveable wives and their precious niece Collen. Not to forget the pink encased hippie witch, Effie!   This time it's Ronan who is front and centre. Taking a couple of days off, Ronan has headed to his lonely cabin in the highlands for a time of release and repair. Let the bear run free! Instead he's catapulted into the midst of a CIA internal investigation that includes the gorgeous French intelligence agent Anisa Brosseau, accused of treason, and who's being pursued by deadly agents. Crashing her drone in the highlands and meeting a luscious highlander is not what Anisa set out to do. And when a delectable female pursued by dangerous thugs turns up on your doorstep what's a red blooded man whose bear is equally enthralled supposed to do? I do like it that Ronan's bear, like a naughty child, sneaks away from time to time, and takes contr...

Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante: A Maggie Hope Myster y by Susan Elia Macneal  Special agent Maggie Hope accompanies Churchill to meet with Roosevelt as the war effort tide takes a hopeful turning. The bombing of Pearl Harbour has become a catalyst for American troop support against Hitler and Churchill is anxious to gain an alliance between the two nations. This could make the difference between defeat and victory! England and her allies are exhausted, pushed on all fronts. However Mrs Roosevelt's aide is found dead--murdered, and Maggie is to give the enquiry all the help she can muster. The trail leads to highly placed groups that seek to impair the Anglo-American nexus. Maggie was hoping her journey would help her to make headway in her damaged relationship with John Sterling, her almost fiancé. This event puts that on the back burner. Maggie's skills have never been more important to the world political stage and when duty calls romance looks like it must take a bac...

A Choice of Treasons (Treasons Cycle) by J. L. Doty   Lieutenant York Ballin, a naval combat lifer, with more experience and determination in his little finger than the whole Imperial Fleet commanders put together is caught in a cat and mouse game of pursuit spanning deep space--and the pursuers are mounting. The Federal Directorate of the Republic of Syndon and his own Imperial forces want to blast his ship, the cruiser Cinesstar, into nothingness, and for what? True on board is the Empress and the Princess. Who wants them dead? A let's not forget the silent hunter who's tracked him from the beginning. Then there's the mysterious references to Ballin's antecedents that he himself has only just gotten a fix on. Oh, and let's not forget Ballin's arch enemy on the deck, Sierka. Political and economic power and greed are accompanying contributors behind this situation those on the Cinesstar are subjected to. This war has dragged on for over two years. Milli...

Conqueror's Kiss by Hannah Howell   Jennet Graeme is a delightful character, spunky and abrasive, not at all subdued by her violent history. When Sir Hacon Gillard drags her from a convent and claims her as plunder during the sack of Berwick she rises to the challenge and Havon finds himself with a delightful armful of spitting kitten that continues to give him more grief than he had even conceived.  Trapped in the Scottish wars, Jennet is just one more causality in the battle of kings and conquests in the Scotland of1318. This re-release of Howell's novel is a treat for those of us who never met her early novels. I enjoyed Jennet's feistiness, Hacon's inherent understanding and goodness, the battles between the two of them, and the loyalty of the various secondary characters, including Jennet's father.  Of course there's a decided dastardly foe. One whom Jennet has good cause to remember, and one who Hacon knows is a treacherous enemy. A story told thr...

Say You'll Love Me by Ally Broadfield  What do you think when you see your childhood friend and betrothed arguing, and more, in the darkened hallways with a young woman during your engagement ball, and then later that same young woman is found dead? You cannot cry off as that would display a belief in your fiancé's guilt, you dread to believe the worst! You can decide to investigate! The Marquess of Longcroft, Edmund Townsend finds himself aiding his sister's friend, Lady Abigail Hurst. Generally engrossed in mathematical concepts, Longcroft finds himself drawn into a situation and prey to emotions he finds hard to compute. He does try to mathematically calculate what love is much to his sister's despair. As the scent of the hunt draws the proponents on, Edmund finds that even the scent of Lady Abigail leaving him more than just a little bemused. I really enjoyed the characters of Edmund and Abigail and their interactions as they seek to unravel fact from fictio...

Reese: The Rock Creek Six, Book 1 by Lori Handeland  I actually don't read Western romances, so it was a huge surprise to me as to how much I enjoyed 'Reese'. The series tells the stories of six crack confederate soldiers, special forces, bound by their experiences, in the post war years. It hints at their secrets and their nightmares. They have vowed that when one calls the others will come. Reese's is their reluctant leader.This first in the series captured my attention, and against my normal inclinations in reading material, after this introduction, I will be reading through them. I can't wait to discover the stories behind the men. I do so love those strong, silent types with inner anguishes who find their defences pierced by managing females with their own internal bedevilments. Reese and his comrades are hired by Mary McKendrick, the teacher from Rock Creek to frighten off a band of desperadoes who are hassling the town. The folk are leaving, the town dyin...

The Little Bookshop On The Seine (The Little Paris Collection #1) by Rebecca Raisin   I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Sure, the whole exchange thing I was at first sceptical about, but I soon found myself being drawn into Sarah Smith's life. Drawn into and identifying with her insecurities. An exchange to Paris for six months. Yea! Her love of books and reading habits Idefinitely associated with. Her views about bookshops are fascinating. I was reminded of the private lending library and secondhand bookstore I belonged to as a young child. A place of mystery and musty book smells with hidden corners. But this is so much more--Paris and all the wonderful things we identify with this icon of Romance. There'll always be Paris! And of course there is the continued romance, with the fabulous Ridge Warner, and mystery and trying to fit into new situations with new people, exploring a fairy tale location and as an added extra--Christmas! An HEA story with sentiment...

The Duke and Miss Christmas (The Heirs' Club of Scoundrels Trilogy #2.5) by Amelia Grey  Escaping from his family to attend the Duke of Drakestone's Christmas Ball, and using this as a chance to escape his family and contemplate his bachelor situation, Crispin, the seventh Duke of Hurst, and member of the Heir's Club (before he was thrown out) finds more than he's bargained for.  Well, the best of good intentions etc. etc! Crispin is in the midst of helping a young child of the female persuasion who's fallen out of a tree whilst cutting down Christmas decorations, when he's battered over the head with a basket of mistletoe by her sister thinking the worst!  Miss Gwen Prim is unaware that it's a Duke she's raging against--not only that, one well known to her brother-in-law Bray. Crispin is quite an interesting character who displays just the right amount of acceptance of children and their ways and a wry sense of the absurd. Gwen is a mixture of ...

The Adventuress: A Lady Emily Mystery (Lady Emily Mysteries #10) by Tasha Alexander Attending the engagement party of her childhood friend, Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge, Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves are looking forward to a restful time of gaiety and celebration in the French Riviera and then Cairo. Not to a time overshadowed by suicide and possibly more. Emily is unsure of the suicide verdict. Things aren't adding up. Then there's her friend Jeremy's fiancé, Amity Wells who seems to have fixated upon Emily as a threat to her happiness, and the brother, Augustus, who's a very strange fish. As the party continues it seems that there is a malevolency simmering underneath. Emily is determined to find the truth, but that search proves to be as twisted and dangerous as anything she's encountered before.  I particularly enjoyed Emily's delicious and restrained putdown to the obnoxious Mrs Wells, having held her cool after so many times against Mr...

Trouble on the Thames: A British Library Spy Classic (British Library Spy Classics Book 1) by Victor Bridges   1930's pre World War II and Naval Lieutenant-Commander, Owen Bradwell, freshly returned from the China station, has just been diagnosed as colour blind. A disorder apparently acquirable at a later stage of life given appropriate stimuli, and in this case, a writer's  raison d'être for the commander having to resign his post. This leads to Bradwell becoming tied up with the secret service and Nazi spies.  The language is that of a bygone time, lending a certain piquant attractiveness to the story. Somehow it colours the thrill of the chase with a different brushstroke to what we are used to. I did feel like I'd fallen into The Thirty-Nine Steps or Foyle's War. Owen Bradwell's belief in his sidelined new life is given a certain cachet. His task is dangerous yet honourable, for 'King and Country.' As Bradwell refelects, he is looking forward ...

First Season / Bride to Be by Jane Ashford   This compilation of two early novels by Jane Ashford are a treat. Well crafted and engaging, you can see the Heyer influence, particularly in some of the secondary characters such as Emily Crane's mother. Both novels are succinctly written and still a pleasure to read more than 15-30 years on.  First Season 1983 A young widow, Lady Anabel Wyndham, joins her mother for the London season. Having married at a young age she has never experienced the social whirl and gaiety of this social event. A confirmed rake, Sir Charles Norbury is attracted by Anabel's looks and conversation. Here is no simpering chit out of the school room or jaded widow. He sweeps Anabel off her feet. Much to the disgust of her young children and the chagrin of her long time friend, Christopher Hanford. Christopher has loved her from afar and been a stalwart companion in her time of need. Christopher is determined to leave London but something is not quite r...

Dark Before the Rising Sun (Dominick Trilogy #3) by Laurie McBain   Dante and Rhea and their band of stalwart friends return to England. Rhea is reunited with her beloved family and home, Camareigh, with Dante a barely tolerated misalliance. However, Dante must move on to his ancestral home and the problems that await him, including accusations of murder. Those problems include an old enemy with a powerful grudge, leader of a band of rapacious smugglers. The situation is exacerbated by the presence of the man who led to Dante's fall into hell as a young man. Friends are present though, including Captain Morgan fresh from the West Indies. Treachery is afoot and Damte must do all he can to protect his loved ones and regain his heritage. I must admit that are times the situation become almost too melodramatic. But I rolled with it. Although I did not see the particulars of the last surprise coming, something about that first meeting had made me wonder. This novel stands al...

Chance the Winds of Fortune (Dominick Trilogy #2) by Laurie McBain  Old quarrels and revenge reach out after years and strike at Lucien Dominick's family. The focus of these attempts is his daughter Lady Rhea Claire, sold as an indentured servant and incarcerated in the bowels of a ship bound for Charles Town. Rhea, a breath of golden jessamine, manages to escape but in the hue and cry of the chase hides out in a dangerous place--the cabin of privateer Dante Leighton, Marquis of Jacqobi and captain of the Sea Dragon. Dante might be sceptical that this isn't some complex ruse but everyone from the cabin boy to the first mate, including the turncoat cat Jamaica are won over by Rhea. Of course the sparks fly between the two, those of temper and those of attraction. However Dante will not be gulled and Rhea will not be deterred from charting her course for home. An enthralling story that stretches across oceans, colourful in its telling and beguiling in its imagery. Mul...

Lord Fenton's Folly (Proper Romance) by Josi Kilpack   Alice Stanbridge was only a young girl,when Charles Fenton walked into her life. This is a charming episode that should have been the avenue that led towards a happy life for them. Years later, when Alice has her come out season, she thought that the Charles she'd glimpsed then was the Charles of now.     Lord Fenton has done all that he can to cause discomfort to his father. He dresses like a Marconi, is perpetually drunk, gambles and takes part in ill advised pranks. This time his father has demanded he change his ways or be disinherited. As marriage is part of the requirement, Charles' eyes fall upon the newly acquainted Alice. It is only after the marriage that Alice realizes that Charles does not care for her. How can she comport herself, how can they present to the world the face of a happily married couple when the truth is so disheartening. When her mother-in-law, Lady Chariton falls ill, Alice accom...

I Spy a Duke (Covert Heiresses #1) by Erica Monroe   Heart wrenching from the opening scenes. My sympathies went out to James Spencer as he contemplated his failures with regard to his sister's safety. His pain, his feelings of awful responsibility for her death are palpable. Louise's last words 'protect them' have burnt themselves into his heart. But will they become a hindrance if his memories lead him to hesitate? A covert agent with Clocktower, a highly secret organization within the Alien Office , James Spencer, the Duke of Abermont has to marry in order to maintain his cover. Not just a covert agent but the Spymaster, the Mastermind behind the organization--The Falcon. This is the true family business and has been for generations. Vivian Loren is searching for answers to her brother's death. Her placement in the Dukes household as governess is not by accident. Unwittingly she has become a pawn in the hands of Sauveterre, Louise's torturer and a dea...

A Perilous Alliance: A Tudor mystery featuring Ursula Blanchard (An Ursula Blanchard Elizabethan Mystery #13) by Fiona Buckley  Ursula Blanchard, illegitimate half sister to Queen Elizabeth, is once again called upon to serve Queen and country. This time the requirement is to marry for political reasons. Ursula has already buried three husbands and remarriage is not on her horizon--although it seems to be taken for granted by those arounds her, Sir Francis Walsingham being the main proponent. Ursula is already fighting off neighbours with an eye to her lands and possessions, and now the court takes a hand.  The proposed alliance is with Count Gilbert Renard, the illegitimate son of King Henri II. A big question for Ursula is just how much does she have to keep giving, how many times is her life to be disrupted due to her relationship with the Queen. The dangers of childbirth for women, including Ursula and the Queen are referenced. Other issues include the problem of ...