eyes.2c Reviews

Furyborn (The Empirium #1) by Claire Legrand The fantastical story of two women separated by generations who contain within themselves the power to manipulate the elements. Figures of legendary powers who will either save or destroy their world. The plot alternates chapter by chapter from Reille  Dardenne  to Eliana Ferracora, separated by a thousand years, having in common the legends of the  prophesied queens of light and blood. Reille hides from herself the truth about her powers until she must let them blast forward to save her best friend Audric.  Eliana too hides in plain sight with her brother Remy Ferracora (a rather extraordinary young boy) and mother. Eliana or Dread, who carries the knife, Arabeth, is an assassin who is thrust into a further world of fear and darkness when girls and young women start disappearing. What she discovers is shocking, insane and monstrous. Certainly a world full of darkness and despair that draws you in. A NetGalley ARC

The High Season     by Judy Blundell Oh my! The opening paragraph describing the detritus sitting around Ruthie Beamish's household was so aptly familiar I was hooked from the get go!  Those "post-it's with phone numbers marooned from their meaning."  What could I do but read on, beckoned by an understandable world into something completely different. Fast, witty and acidic, a look at relationships ending and new beginnings in unexpected ways.  A glittering story of the summer invasion of the Hamptons. Only this time the quiet remote  village of the Orient is invaded by the rich and famous. Add in the competitive world of art blazing into being,  a teenager's unhappy foray into sexuality, a separated woman finally facing some hard truths, and you have a winner. The story revolves around Ruth Beamish, the local museum director,  her ex husband, their celebrity summer house renter, and various side characters as they interweave throughout the sto

The Duke of Hearts (The 1797 Club #7)      by Jess Michaels                                     Mrs. Isabel Hayes  is looking for some sort of adventure before her family once again marries her to an aging suitor. Hence her voyeuristic attendance at the risqué  Donville Masquerade. That was before she encounters Matthew Cornwallis, Duke of Tyndale, who used to be her cousin's fiancé. A man who stirs her blood. A man with his own demons. Isabel's cousin died in a tragic accident and her uncle blames the Duke. Nothing short of bringing about the Duke's downfall will suffice. Can a relationship begin under such illicit circumstances blossom between Isabel and Matthew? Or Is it doomed before they start? I was not as enamored of this Duke's Club story as I have been of others. A NetGalley ARC ***

After the Wedding  (The Worth Saga #2)   by Courtney Milan     These are two phrases that struck me as significant inferences in this story.  As the opening action, two people who scarcely know each other are getting married--at gun point!  The groom had dreamt of a different way of marrying, like his parents, a falling in love. The bride just wanted someone to care. Neither was having those dreams fulfilled. A recurring theme in this very different story from Lauren's is about going on, not giving up hope. Tigerish! This state of being is beautifully enlarged on later. Then there's things people say and do in the heat of the moment and how that can impact life directions. At the time when they were orphaned, Judith Worth literally lost her sister when she took her sister Camilla to task for choosing the  promise of a wonderful life from their uncle over the family. Judith wanted to keep family together. Camilla, at only twelve was seduced by her uncle's words

The Judge Hunter       by   Christopher Buckley Another brilliant parody of history depicted by Christopher Buckley. This expose, the story of Stuvyesant and the English attainment of New York, within the context of the Dutch-English casts our eyes back in a refreshingly new way. Samuel Pepys, his position and his diaries are the hook to begin with. His brother-in-law gives us the subtext. Baltasar “Balty” St. Michel is an annoying nincompoop whom Pepys manages to have dispatched to the new world to track down the judges who'd sentenced Charles 1. Charles II is still determined to see them pay. To cut a funny story short Balty, fumbling in the best traditions of '1066 and all that', or a Mel Brooksian movie at the very least, manages to shape history, along with the taciturn spy Huncks, whom one can't help but feel sorry for, being saddled with this Rowan Atikinson type figure. The commentary on the practices by the 'godly' is illuminating bringing

A Duke Like No Other (Playful Brides #9)   by Valerie Bowman                                    Master spy General Mark Grimaldi must take a wife to ensure his promotion as the Home Secretary. The only trouble is he already has a wife whom he hasn't seen for ten years, living in France. Nicole Huntington Grimaldi has put her life with Mark behind her, although in her heart--never! When Mark seeks her out to make a bargain and return to England for three months, she acquiesces. She has a bargain too! A bargain that is more a contract with the Devil. And Nicole certainly isn't 'supping with a long spoon.' It only takes one kiss for Nicole to miss even more the husband she'd fled. Add to this a murder, the ramifications of which shake Mark to his core, and we have an explosive romance that right to the end keeps at least Mark and Nicole guessing. Super read! A NetGalley ARC *****

The Scandalous Widow (Gothic Brides #3)     by Erica Monroe                                       What more can you want in a novel? A beautiful widow,  Lady Jemma Forster, the Countess of Wolverston. A  'rogue runner',  Bow Street Runner Gabriel Sinclair, the love Jemma forsook for the sake of her family. Now Jemma needs Gabriel's help. Her husband, Gabriel's best friend was murdered. Anguish exists on both sides and as the plot plays out that emerges. All the time we wonder, can the past be healed? When their search takes them to Jacob's Island, "If futility could be defined by a place, then it was here, in this strange maze of decrepit bridges and slopping muck, “ one can't help but be drawn irrevocably into the conditions of this place and time, as Jemma and Gabriel struggle to find answers on many different levels. This tightly written, intricately woven novel is another jewel in Munroe's Gothic Bride series. A NetGalley ARC **

The Luck of the Bride (The Cavensham Heiresses #3)    by Janna MacGregor        A young woman struggling to make ends meet for her family resorts to various tasks, mostly honest, but now, out of despair, quite the opposite. March Lawson and her siblings were orphaned just as March was about to make her come out. Various trustees had failed to provide for them, so March made what shifts she could. Brilliant at figures, she eked out the family income by doing bookkeeping Add to that running the estate and shearing sheep they'd somehow made do. But times are desperate so March forges a trustee's signature in order to embezzle from her own trust fund. And that's when her world came crumbling down. Michael Cavensham, the Marquess of McCalpin, who unknown to him, has become a trustee for the orphans, discovers the game and decides to investigate. After all, it's his signature that's being forged! More problems arise, especially as March and Michael are so awa

Someone to Care (The Westcotts #4)     by Mary Balogh                               Screaming from loneliness the  Countess of Riverdale, Viola Kingsley runs, well really by happenstance falls  into the arms of a former 'never happened adventure' in the person of the well practiced rake, the Marquess of Dorchester, Marcel Lamarr , in this funny/serious autumn romance. An invigorating plot where two souls who decide on a spur of the moment romantic adventure embark on more than they bargained for. At last the story of the wife who found herself trapped in a bigamous relationship and lost all. The emotional toll and how she's not managing behind that oh so proper facade rings so true. And then there's the family who see her, but don't really see her--their shock and horror about her disappearance and the disapproval of who she disappears with. I really just wanted them to leave Viola alone to work out her own destiny. And that's why she ran, beca