eyes.2c Reviews

The Demon Girl's Song   by Susan Jane Bigelow I struggled with this. I just found it hard to relate to. Obviously though, plenty of others loved it. Basically the main character, Andin and subsequently the plot, did not draw me in. I took 7 days to read this. If I'd been engaged I would have taken a couple of hours. Because so many others were so positive, I can only conclude that this book was not a good fit for me.  A NetGalley ARC

The Advent of Lady Madeline: A Novella (The Lyons Pride # 0.5)   by  Pamela Sherwood Lady Madeline, eldest daughter of Harold Lyons, the Duke of Whitborough, has until now not been interested in any suitors, that is until she meets at Hugo Lowell, Viscount Saxby at her family's house party. Hugo has been contemplating marriage and has attended the house party at the behest of his sister to keep an eye on their younger brother. He is enroute to spend Christmas with a family whose daughter seems to be a promising bride. That was before he met Madeline. This pleasing novella bodes well for the series. A NetGalley ARC ***

Her Wicked Highlander: A Highland Knights Novella   (Highland Knights #2.5)   by  Jennifer Haymore Newly minted highland knight Maxwell White has been charged to safeguard Max Aila MacKerrick, a single highlands woman living by herself. Max is unthinking in his bundling up and kidnapping of Alia in the middle of the night from her lonely cottage--even if it is for her safety. A legendary dagger is the key point. A relic that will ensure the holder rallies the clans against the English crown. The highland knights must ensure that this doesn't happen. Alia is a feisty highland lass who will not go anywhere willing, least of all with a brawny warrior who hasn't the whit to disclose to her the dangers. Mind you the action moved quickly both in bed and out.  I did find Alia's quick acquiescence to sensuality surprising.  But then this is a novella and there's a lot to pack in just a few chapters.  Time lines aside, Max and Alia's story is deli...

A Study In Scarlet Women (The Lady Sherlock Series #1)   by  Sherry Thomas This Holmsian rewrite, well restructuring really, blew me away! Sheridan has taken the who of Sherlock Holmes and turned it on its head. Sherlock Holmes a woman! Conan Doyle might be laughing, but the Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch incarnations of Shelock, maybe not so much. The characters are present and believable, despite their various exchanges from what we know. Charlotte Holmes, Livia her sister, the clever Mrs Watson, Charlotte's benefactor, Lord Ingram, Scotland Yard Detective Treadles, and Lord Bancroft as Ingham's brother (think Mycroft). Everyone we know and love translates into someone slightly removed. The characters are like second cousins of the original with for some, their gender being skewed. Charlotte Holmes is somewhat OCD, with a brilliant mind, and definitely doesn't adhere to the strictures expected of the upper ten thousand. All she wants is to be able...

A Terrible Beauty (A Lady Emily Mystery #11) by  Tasha Alexander This is an important chapter in Lady Emily and Colin Hargreaves' life. I'm involved because I know what's gone on up 'til now. I re-live with Emily her feelings, fears and guilt. I must say though that what happens is a brilliant plot twist by Alexander, deserving of the Lady Emily story, and yet I am unsure as to how much the story stands by itself.  If this is your first reading of a Lady Emily mystery it certainly points the way back to some intriguing times prior to now.  Emily's dead husband Lord Philip Ashton reappears. A terrible shock. Colin Hargreaves, Ashton's best friend from childhood, is somewhat reserved throughout. Well, who wouldn't be. The ramifications are enormous. I picture Colin as a sophisticated man of his times, working for the British Government on hush hush business, the strong quiet type (still waters running deep etc. etc.) not easily thrown, but this ...

Daughters of the Dragon   by  William Andrews Searching for her Korean birth mother leads twenty year old American  Anna Carlson in to a dark story of suffering, anguish and despair that the Japanese nation still has to properly apologize for. This novel is a further example of women caught up into war and used and abused by those who think of themselves as more entitled and more powerful. An age old story. Andrews has woven a wonderful heart wrenching story, without apology, and without false emotions. What unfolds is the life of a young Korean girl, Jae-hee who is terribly and horribly brutalized during the Japanese occupation of Korea; and who is somehow able to emotionally stay strong, despite the dogs of despair nipping at her heals. This is not gushy, not over the top, simply a telling of the journey of one young woman who is used as a sex slave 'comfort woman' by the Japanese. Jae-hee  moves to North Korea in the hope of change and a better ...

To Kiss a Thief  (Runaway Desires #1) by Susanna Craig     What do you do when your husband and others discover you in the arms of of a handsome officer, apparently somewhat tipsy, disheveled and with the family heirloom necklace missing from around your neck? Sarah Pevensey Sutliffe tried to proclaim her innocence. No-one believed her, including her husband. And so she left, assisted on her way by her mother-in-law, with hints of transportation ringing in her ears. Sarah's marriage had been arranged. She had fled to the library on hearing her husband declaring his love for another woman. And that's when the action unfolded. Having disappeared and thought dead for three years, Sarah is found by her husband Lord St. John Sutcliffe, Viscount  Fairfax, who  upon returning from Antigua, learned that he is not a widower as he thought. The story of their reunion is fraught with misunderstandings and distrustfulness.  I must admit to being somewha...

Strange things done by Elle Wild Journalist Jo Silver has a history--of doubt and death. Fleeing a story she'd been following in Vancouver that went horribly wrong, Jo heads north to the Yukon and Dawson's Creek--a  town where mining and history walk hand in hand. Only, Jo finds herself once more embroiled in a series of murders that shake her to the core. What to do? Report on it or not? The tourist season is closing down and then only the Dawsonites remain. Once that happens there's no way in or out. Why aren't the Mounties (RCMP) letting the residents know that there's a killer in their midst.  Jo's past crowds her out and paralysis her actions.  Bowed down by self doubt about the killings and about her own behaviour Jo wonders who to confide in. There's Sally her housemate, dancer at the local bar, Christopher Bryne the handsome woodsman, and RCMP Sergeant Johnnie Cariboo the local law and order. If that's not enough Jo seems to be continu...

The Highlander (Victorian Rebels #3)   by  Kerrigan Byrn I love these dark men that Byrne presents to us. So much so that I've just reread them all. In fact I foresee that this series will be a regular re-read for me I enjoy them so much. Men who have been to hell and back--and survived, and the gutsy women who love them and believe in them despite their pasts.This is a gritty and poignant story. We first met Mena (Philomena St. Vincent) briefly in The Hunter. Millicent LeCour's son Jakob worried even then, “I think Lord Benchley hurt Lady Philomena, Mama.” And hurt Mena is. When the story opens she is incarcerated in a mental institution left to be a plaything for unscrupulous staff by her sadistic husband, Lord Gordon St. Vincent, the Viscount Benchley. Farah Leigh Blackwell, Countess Northwalk, (from The Highwayman) and  Millicent LeCour (from The Hunter) take action to rescue Mena. She must escape from her brutal husband who's  even now searchi...

Hero in the Highlands (No Ordinary Hero Novel  #1)   by Suzanne Enoch 1821. Major Gabriel Forrester, soldier and hero of battles against Napoleon, suddenly finds himself banished to England by a sympathetic Wellington. Why? Because he's apparently the next in line to a title that encompasses many responsibilities as Gabriel, the new Duke of Lattimer is finding out. That dukedom has Gabriel taking point and forging into the Scottish Highlands to seek answers to issues. When Gabriel's highlander steward deigns not to answer his solicitors' questions, it's time for the 'major' to take charge. Amongst his first acquaintances is Fiona Blackstock, an intriguing puzzle, and if that's not enough, the curse and history of his Scottish lands is reaching out from the past into the present. Part of the Maxwell clan became tenants and holders on the Lattimer property back in the past, and highlanders don't forget the wrongs around properties that the Engl...

My Brown-Eyed Earl (The Wayward Wallflowers #1)   by  Anna Bennett I loved all the characters in this story--well most of them. There were a couple of exceptions. Meg (Miss Margaret Lacey) is a person of great heart, a caring nature and a guilty soul. Will (William Ryder, Earl of Castleton) is a a strong minded man with a sensitive side. Meg and Will have known each other from childhood. Indeed there might have been more if Meg hadn't been so young, stubborn and proud.  Now Meg and her sisters are in straightened circumstances. There foray into polite society has been less than stellar and the term 'wallflower' is bandied about. Meanwhile Will has taken charge of his cousin's two small daughters. He needs a governess. Meg needs a job. Surely a match made in heaven. The past and the present collide and both Will and Meg are drawn 'willy nilly' into a set of circumstances that leave them both stunned by the flare of attraction that's sparked. And ...

The Queen's Accomplice: A Maggie Hope Mystery  (#6)   by Susan Elia MacNeal   With 1942 London during World War II as the backdrop another gruelling, exciting chapter in Maggie Hope's life emerges. Young women, SOE agents are disappearing and turning up as murder victims. Maggie Hope takes a particular interest in these missing women. Murdered in particulate gruesome fashion by someone labelled  the 'Blackout Beast.'  The murders seem to be building along a Jack the Ripper copycat trajectory.  The problem is that it takes time for people to even realize these young women are missing. As is explained, with so many missing during the bombings, keeping track of people is not easy. Maggie needs to bring all her considerable spy craft and mathematical skills into play to track down this monster--if she can! At the same time Maggie's half sister Elise Hess has been temporarily released from Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. Maggie is end...