eyes.2c Reviews

The Striker (Highland Guard, #10) by Monica McCarty Eoin MacLean's decision to become one of Robert the Bruce's strike force team, The Highland Guards, plays havoc with his personal life. But then Eoin wasn't expecting to be captivated by a wild, red headed, bewitching young woman, Margaret MacDowell, whose father's enmity is legend. Happiness is replaced by anger. Eoin's promise to not reveal the secret of the Highland Guards is ripe ground for mistrust between himself and Margaret to erode to the point of no return.  Margaret is all that is admirable in the way she seeks to support and understand him, but perceived rejection and frequent snubs worms away at her self confidence.  Convinced he has been betrayed by Margaret, Eoin turns his back on their marriage and takes up the mantle of his reported death. Some years later, when he learns that Margaret is about to remarry, Eoin has second thoughts, particularly as his Lazarus reappearance behind the En...

Cast in Honor (The Chronicles of Elantra #11)   by Michelle Sagara Wow! Complex, occasionally confusing and yet marvellous. What is it about Private Kaylin Neya that makes her at once vulnerable, impulsive, rash, yet able to see to the heart of things despite her imperfections. Maybe it's her big heart that encompasses all, her need to love, her compulsion to heal and to extend herself to others and on behalf of others.  She doesn't back down from what has to be done even when she wants too. She numbers dragons, Barranis and caste lords amongst her acquaintances. Children of all races are her especial joy.    Elantra  is recovering from a destructive battle between light and dark. A routine murder investigation has Kaylin and her friends being confronted by an even bigger anomaly. Elantra is in peril, parts are disappearing and time is involved. A mysterious being Gilbert appears from a future Ravellon with a child, Kattea, looking for healing that only...

Highland Heat  ( Highland Knights  #2) by Jennifer Haymore Lady Grace Carrington had no idea when she strode the battle lines after Waterloo looking for survivors, that the injured soldier (with the startling, blue-green aquamarine eyes) she finds will become more important to her than breathing. Duncan Mackenzie, enlisted soldier, little knows as he gazes upon Grace, that his heart is about to be lost to this determined, titled lady.       Grace's sister Claire has come to Waterloo on the eve of the battle to try to mend the rift with her husband, Major Sir Robert Campbell, and Duncan's superior. A love affair that stretches from Waterloo to Scotland is born. Along the way these two have to cope with Grace's testy father, the Earl of Norsey, a member of the older aristocracy. (That line says it all) A commoner is not the match for the daughter of such an Earl. After the battle Duncan returns to London having been reassigned to a newly formed, i...

The Lost Soul of Lord Badewyn (Order of the M.U.S.E.) by Mia Marlowe! The central story weaves around Meg Antony, now ward of the Duke of Camden and leader of the M.U.S.E.  Meg is a 'finder', her gift being that she can find people and objects psychically. When reality takes on biblical proportions, time and the heavens stand still. Meg is sent by Edward St James, the Duke of Camden, and mastermind behind the group, to Wales for protection from her cruelly recalcitrant family. Down on their luck since Meg has gone, they are looking to grab her back in order to continue the life of crime they had subjected her to. Little does Meg understand that she is fleeing from the devils she knows to the dark angel she doesn't. Samuel Templeton, Lord Badewyn is an unusual man--a watcher. But that is the most normal thing about him. Samuel's family history is shrouded in a mystery of biblical proportions enacted from the beginnings of time. Actually I was rendered spe...

The Golden Braid (Medieval Fairy Tale Romance #2)  by  Melanie Dickerson Featuring some intriguing twists to the Rapunzel story. I wondered how 'the tower' was going to fit into plot. Dickerson has very cleverly made the tower segment seem absolutely normal and believable, complementing all that leads to that moment. On the road to the town of Hagenheim with her mother Rapunzel meets a knight, Sir Gerek, who dismisses her as a poor peasant girl. Rather annoying really, as she ended up rescuing him from bandits after he'd just rescued her from the same bandits. Now he owes her, maybe! What Rapunzel wants more than anything is to learn to read. Gerek is placed in a position to help--which he does, reluctantly. The refrain we all know, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair," is not used in the way and place we envisage but nevertheless is referenced in many ways and for a variety of reasons to do with a young woman's place and reputation, of being ...

The Reluctant Duchess by Sharon Cullen   I knew this was going to be a five star read right from the opening pages. Mystery, murder and mayhem, my three favourite 'm's. Indeed I mostly smiled all the way through. Lady Sara Emerson has come to London to ask the help of her dead cousin’s fiancé, Gabriel Ferguson, Duke of Rossmoyne.  Her cousin Meredith had been fiendishly murdered two years ago and now someone was sending Sara scary letters that could be from the murderer. Recently returned from a two year stint in India, Rossqmoyne agrees to help her on condition that she stay in his home with his mother as chaperone. Of course that also opens up its own set of  problems.  Sara is totally different from Meredith--a fact Ross comes to appreciate the more he sees her. With him she is refreshing and challenging. At social events she fades into the background. Puzzling behaviour indeed! The pace is fast, one scenario tumbles after another gathering mom...

Miss Featherton's Christmas Prince (The Marriage Game #9) by Ella Quinn  This latest in the Marriage Game series, where titled bachelors meet their matches, and then some, has all the complexity and humour of an Oscar Wilde novel. Meg Featherton has been disappointed by two suitors and as a consequence has determined to settle for safety and comfort, not the unsteadiness of love. Her sights are set on Charles, Viscount Throughgood. Unbeknownst to Meg, Charles otherwise known as "Chuffy", has his eyes set on her best friend Amanda.  The man who has been struck by Meg from the beginning, is Damon, Marquis of Hawksworth, handsome and pleasing to all but Meg. Hawksworth's boredom on return from the wars finds some release by leading the dandy set a merry race. Viewing his efforts, Meg dismisses him as a mere fribble. So we are launched on a tale thick with missed opportunities, misunderstandings, interferences, and mistimed happenings; all underpinned by the meddl...

A Christmas Escape: A Novel by Anne Perry   I It took me a while to realize that this story is about Hester Monk's brother, Charles Latterly. Charles has decided to escape the harshness of a Victorian London Christmas and has journeyed to a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of three active volcanoes in Italy. His hostelry is perched against the upper reaches of the volcano. Here Charles hopes to attain a measure of inner healing, a different perspective. What he finds is a strange mixture of guests and a volcano that appears anything but benign. The dark grumbling of that entity are viewed differently by the guests. Some are drawn to it, others repelled. Languid days, the mystery of the volcano, the sense of something almost mystical beyond the grasp of mere mortals colours the background and enhances the electricity amongst the various guests, all calmed by the host, Stefano whose culinary abilities seem to act at times as ...

Lady of Intrigue Kindle by Sabrina Darby There are moments when the simplest of actions can be life changing crossroads. For  Lady Jane Langley, on her way to the Vienna of 1814, to join her father, it was just  an exchange of places into a another carriage. Who knew that this action would see her involved in an accident, be badly injured, witness a murder, and then...most startling  who  finds herself alone in a mountain cabin being cared for by the assassin. The visceral attraction between Lady Jane and her captor is astounding, best displayed in the holding back, the teetering on the edge of an undeniable passion, not the giving in, clearly described by each in their own reflective moments. Gerard Badeau, illegitimate grandson to Lord Lansdowne, spy and assassin is struck by the singular intelligence and determination of Jane. He captures the wonder he sees in Jane in this one restrained comment, 'Jane--such a name for this woman'. As time progresses...

The Irresistible Rogue (Playful Brides #4 ) by Valerie Bowman   Playful Brides continues, this time with a Swift sibling in the major role. Daphne had grown up in a household dedicated to the service of their country, and even played a part. She married Captain Rafferty Cavendish as part of an assignment. Daphne is on the verge of becoming engaged to someone else, when Rafe returns and she discovers that the marriage she had supposed had been annulled has not! She is both furious and relieved. It has taken her sometime to go on with her life after Rafe, and now here he is upsetting her well laid plans! What's to do! The Prince Regent was to take care of this! Rafe however has need of Daphne for one last assignment.  Rafe is on the trail of the French handler who imprisoned him and took the life of Daphne's elder brother Donald, the former  Earl. He needs Daphne's help. The go-betweens speak Russian, as does Daphne. There is a deeper game afoot though--a game of the ...

Bella and the Beast (Cinderella Sisterhood #4) by Olivia Drake From the opening I felt like I'd stumbled into a scene worthy of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Only set back a couple of hundred years to Regency England. Here it's the Cinderella Sisterhood and the magic artifact is not denim jeans but Garnett beaded slippers,  (to me) reminiscent of those Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz.   Bella Jones has returned from Persia with her younger brother and sister to a small cottage in Oxford, England. On his deathbed her father, a noted ancient civilizations scholar instructs her to find the other half of an Egyptian treasure map from Alwyin. Who this is remains a mystery until her 'fairy godmother' the Countess of Milford, sends her off to secure a position as a curator with the taciturn, withdrawn Miles Grayson, the Duke of Aylwin, an avid collector of ancient artifacts. Suspicious of all, Miles wants nothing to do with Bella. Despite his best intenti...

Daniel's True Desire (True Gentlemen #2) by Grace Burrowes   *Ten stars* for this latest True Gentleman episode. What a pleasure this latest of Grace Burrowes' novel is--fascinating, intelligent and complex.  'True Desire' is a gem! Daniel Banks  is all that one could wish for. A gorgeous man, inside and out--good, true and desirable. He's been well and truly deceived by his wife who has taken herself out of his life. She is a murky, vain, grasping, self-centred woman, whose actions reflect this. Being separated is not the best recommendation for a country vicar, hence his move to Haddondale and a living under the aegis of the Earl of Bellefonte.  Daniel is empathetic and honourable. He is a far cry from many of the vicars we come across in novels. This is a man who understands people out of the depths of his own humanness. Lady Kirsten Haddondale recognizes this about him. Kirsten has been protected by her family. They understand some of her challenges, no...

So I Married a Highlander (What Happens In Scotland #2) by Kate McKinley   Lady Evelyn Alexander seems to have found herself in an interesting situation in her flight to Gretna Green to marry her fiancé, Stephen Crawford. The relationship is such that they should be able to should be able to rub along well enough together. Evelyn is determined to set up her own household, out from under the feet of her managing ducal brother, Lucas.  Lady Evelyn chivvies the bridegroom along rather than the other way around. She is very a 'take charge' managing young woman. And when her plans look like being thwarted Evelyn hies off looking for a solution. Unfortunately: 1. Lady Evelyn is somewhat of a prima donna and feels the world is there for her to order around and assist her in pursuit of desires and she wants to be married before her brother can find them. 2. Lady Evelyn really shouldn't down strong drink when she's cross and trying to prove a point. 3. Lady Evelyn mana...

His Housekeeper's Christmas Wish (Lords of Disgrace) by Louise Allen     A timely Christmas story with just the right touch of sentimentality and humour. Our hero, Alexander Tempest, Viscount Weybourn has locked off his emotions and been estranged from his family for many years. Our heroine, Tess Ellery, is a delightful mix of gamine type wisdom with an innocence that sees through to the heart of things. Tess keeps rescuing the down trodden and uncared for--from humans to animals. And the human she wants to rescue is the one who effectively knocked her off her feet and then continued to make assumptions...dratted man, that were entirely off the mark and that led to Tess being Weybourn's temporary housekeeper.  Of course his staff love her and Tess' guilessness worms it's way underneath Alexander's indifferent mask and into his heart.  Ah! But things are never so simple as to immediately lead to a HEA. The route is twisted and captures attention in thi...