eyes.2c Reviews

Dangerous Waters (Sgt. Windflower Mysteries #12) by  Mike Martin  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Dead bodies and smuggling shakeup Grand Bank, Newfoundland, and there’s a change of pace for Sergeant Winston Windflower. He’s resigning from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but is currently on leave using up his accumulated overtime. Windflower, his wife Sheila (former mayor) and the girls have settled back into Grand Bank  and have been busy getting their B&B into shape. The pandemic has put everything on hold. As always beneath the cosy family times, the descriptive food preparations, the mixing with friends, and the dreams, there’s are pieces of home cooked wisdom about life, relationships, goals, and happiness. Windflower is of Cree First Nations heritage and is a Dream Weaver from a family of master Dream Weavers. Interestingly it seems Acting Corporal Eddie Tizzard might be exhibiting something similar.  Eddie is stuck with a problem of three missing men, staffing problems,...

The Lady Loves Danger (Maidens of Mayhem #2) by   Anabelle Bryant ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pleasing characters made this an equally pleasing read. Although I felt the end was a trifle rushed, as was the romance. Still two hearts were electrified, two noses discerned the fetching aromas surrounding their equally as interesting counterparts. A few small details that I wondered about, including, did I miss something? Has Sebastian St. Allen, a peer’s by blow, product of the streets like the Seven Dials neighborhood, become a peer whilst my eyes were closed? The ending brings that question up for me. Although to be fair Sebastian always says he’s just St. Allen, never Mister! Hmm! Anyway we have stolen children, stolen dogs and some very nasty happenings. St. Allen meets his match in the aforementioned surrounds when Lady Delilah Ashbrook investigates the disappearance of her maid’s son, for which she holds herself responsible. An adventurous woman, in more ways than one, sizzling even, who ends u...

Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder by Catherine Lloyd   ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 A family reunion of a sort, a dead body, seemingly troubled staff, plus an unforgiving ex fiancé makes for a satisfying read.  After her father’s untimely death revealed habits unbecoming a member of the ton, Lady Caroline Morton and her sister Susan had been living with their aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood. Treated more as an unpaid servant, rather than a family member, Caroline left to charter her own course. As Miss Morton she steps out and become a paid companion. Caroline returns to Greenwood Hall for her cousin Mabel’s birthday party and ball, and to see her young sister. Her employer a wealthy widow, Mrs Matilda (Marry) Frogerton and her daughter Dorothy will accompany Caroline. Matty sees this a chance for Dorothy to rub shoulders with loftier members of society. Caroline’s  former fiancé’s presence,  Lord Francis Chatham’s is disturbing, as is that of Dr. Harris for entirely differen...

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle   by  Jennifer Ryan  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Three women face the buildup of WW11 in London. The measures to do with food and clothing, and the changes they face, including the overturning of their expectations go beyond what they’d envisioned. Cressida Westcott is an acclaimed couture designer and business woman. Violet Westcott is the rather spoilt and seemingly airheaded debutante expecting to marry a title. Grace Carlisle is the vicar’s daughter who’s made the choice to be metaphorically less than she can be and who’s chosen to marry her father’s curate . Unfortunately, the tunnel visioned Lawrence sees Violet as the perfect helpmate, rather than a woman to be loved. All three women will discover who they are and more importantly, who they can be. The tale is centered around Violet’s marriage and her mother’s wedding dress. A dress that needs careful attention, reworking and mending. Where else to go but to the local Sewing Circle. A challenge, but th...

A Duke for Diana (Designing Debutantes #1) by  Sabrina Jeffries ⭐️⭐️⭐️ A clever read but not what I expect from Jeffries. Mostly she’s a five star read for me. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked all of the characters but the events became a tad predictable. Lady Diana Harper and her sisters operate an event planning concern, Elegant Occasions. The women have been forced to make hard decisions, hovering as they are on the edge of society. Why? Well their mother ran off with a General, and their father is suing for divorce. Absolutely scandalous to the ton. Their mother is “married but courting.”   The three sisters all have a gift for various aspects of what is important to polite society—food, fashion and music. Talents that translate to tasteful and interesting ton functions for ladies needing or seeking advice.   As it so happens engineer Geoffrey Brooke has inherited the dukedom of Greenwood. (I love that the Duke make sure to cross the Thames at different bridge...

The lioness: A Novel   by Chris Bohjalian  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1964. An African safari in the Serengeti area for newly wedded Hollywood star Katie Barstow, and her guests, turns into a nightmare of kidnapping, terror and death in the vast hinterland jungle of Northern Tanzania. T he guides and porters are not immune to the horrors endured. Bohjalian gives some insight into some of the politics of the time is presented.  International politics and money play a part here, but it’s the individual’s stories, told over this time of tribulation, revealing who they are, that intrigues. How the entourage came to be here, how they relate to each other, how they respond to the grave, often deadly situations they confront, all combine to give the novel voice. This loosely knit group of people, who’d named themselves the Lions of Hollywood, who were part of Katie’s pride, truly discover themselves. A bloody thriller embedded in the African landscape. A Doubleday ARC via NetGalley 

Desperately Seeking a Duchess (All the Duke’s Sins #2) by   Christi Caldwell   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pleasing story about an illegitimate duke’s daughter who grew up in a mining community. Cailin Audley, is a young women without artifice, a strait shooter—mostly. When Cailin meets  Courtland Balfour, the seventh Duke of St. James,  pretending to be his twin brother and her father’s  secretary, Courtland is thrown in more ways than one. Humorous! Did I mention the Cailin has brothers! Mmm! Bentley and his new wife want Cailin to have a London season. Courtland is but a thread away from debtor’s prison. He is trying to hold things together to give his three young sisters the opportunities that is theirs to have (if only the estate can come out from under the looming spectre of bankruptcy). Keira’s employment is important to this plan. To assist Keir, Courtland decides to engage in the way the twins have always done, swap identities. So Courtland meeting Cailin, in guise ...

The Wicked Wallflower (Duchess Society #3) by Tracy Sumner    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Romance never seemed so hard. When you’ve adored your Dukely brother’s business partner forever, then making him notice you is a problem. Although he did give you an unusual birthday present a couple of years back—a bejeweled knife. Lady Phillips Darlington doesn’t want flowers, the knife however was pure joy. All Pippa wants is a little adventure, but this smuggler from the rookeries turned business man and gambling establishment owner had her covered. This is the man who recognises that you’re trouble. Like calling to like? Xander Macauley has had Pippa watched, guarded really, for eons.  I must admit I did enjoy the dance between this couple in Sumner’s Duchess Society series. Pippa is unusual, but then so was her upbringing. Xander was all you could want of a bad boy with hidden hurts, loyalty, and a loving heart waiting to unfurl. Some amusing scenes added enjoyment. Looking forward to the...

Wild Prey ( Inspector Lu Fei #2)  by  Brian Klingborg  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Klingborg has taken up various themes and run with them through this continuation into the exploits of the very unusual Deputy Chief  Inspector Lu Fei a police officer with the Public Security Bureau,  in the township of Raven, Heilongjiang Province in Northern China. When we first see Lu he’s staking out a local market looking for a fugitive involved in the black market trade of exotic animal products that will be made into medicinal remedies. What with the increasing pressure from international conservationists and in the wake of the ravages of coronavirus, the Peoples Republic of China is serious about stamping out this centuries old trade. Meanwhile a young girl, Tan Meirong, haunts the Raven police station   (the paichusuo)  insisting someone find her older missing sister, Meixiang.  It turns out Meixiang was working for a restaurant that sold illicit bushmeat’s for those ...

The Lawless Land (Tales of the Lawless Land #1)   by  Boyd Morrison; Beth Morrison  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A knight looking to right wrongs and avenge his mother, a lady guarding a sacred item handed down from the women of the family over generations, an avaricious Monsignor who would be Pope, a lord looking to become a King. All these machinations play out across England and France, from Canterbury to Mont-Saint-Michel, to Avignon and beyond. A tale of ideals, of friendship, and a condemnation against the might that corrupts, the unyielding power that kings and church can wield. Can a single knight and a desperate woman change the outcome?  A gripping epic adventure written with finesse, upheld by an historian’s rigour. A  Head of Zeus  ARC via NetGalley 

The Last White Rose: A Novel of Elizabeth of York    by  Alison Weir  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ah! Tudor times! I’ve always been fascinated by those Tudors, tantalised by the cut and thrust and their political jousting, and the sheer ruthlessness of those who would be King, or kingmakers. After all the stakes were high.  Technically, this is a fascinating look at the life of Elizabeth of York and the plots surrounding her family as the highest role in the land is grappled for. Thoroughly researched and explained, the complexity of regal politics is well described. I must say I found the characters  difficult to relate to and harder to engage with as events unfolded. The conversations between them were often stilted. The result for me? Somewhat flat and my interest flagged. A  Random House - Ballantine  ARC via NetGalley 

Such Big Dreams   by Reema Patel    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a BIG gutsy story. The real world behind slum Dog Millionaire is whatI kept thinking. We follow aspects of the life of a street kid in Mumbai, from the moments she arrives there as a child of seven, until she finds her voice.  Colorful, honest, and often confusing, Rakhi’s (Bansari) story moves from simple humor in the small things, to outrage and compliance when forced, but never to acceptance. Rakhi never loses sight of who she is despite the many things that happen. I was absolutely engaged with her story, her friends, her living accommodations, the Farangis she comes into contact with and their ridiculous double standards (the reality of India seen through a hazy screen of misunderstanding and arrogance). Little by little Rakhi’s life is explained. We first meet her undergoing treatment as part of her rescue by Gautier Verma (Gauri Ma’am) head of the NGO Justice for All. An organisation dedicated to helping t...

Death in a Blackout   (WPC Billie Harkness #1) by Jessica Ellicott   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1940 and the War has been raging. The British are feeling it. There’s a clear call to arms for all. Wilhelmina (Billie) Harkness, the local Vicar’s daughter, wants to volunteer for whichever branch of the auxiliary services that would have her. This puts her at odds with her recently widowed and very conservative mother. A harsh confrontation between the two has BIllie regretting that estrangement. Unfortunately her mother dies before their differences can be resolved. Billie moves to live with an unknown cousin in Hull. Enroute she’s caught in an air raid, and after the all clear is given, finds the body of young woman in a cafe. The young woman, Audrey, Billie noted previously when she stopped at the establishment for a cup of tea. A Special Constable, Peter Upton is there. An interesting man Peter. Billie catches the eye of WCP Crane, the woman in charge of employing a new extension of the poli...

Hungry Death (Cragg and Fidelis Mystery #8) by  Robin Blake  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A family murdered on their farm, a young witness without speech, a strange religious group that approaches the tenets of scripture from a very different perspective—all this is the background for a gruesome crime in Warrington, Cheshire, 1747. As the County Coroner, Titus Cragg is called by the local magistrate, John Blackburne, to investigate the deaths As fate would have it Dr. Luke Fidelis is staying as a guest at Blackburne’s manor with two French gentleman, one of whom Fidelis had studied with. Serendipitously, or by chance, a reasonably preserved body is discovered, buried beneath a drainage area in the hothouse of the Hall. Now two seperate incidents of murder will exercise Titius’ investigative powers. His wife Elizabeth joins him for a few days, and as always proves to be helpful in bringing Titus’ thoughts to fruition. I had a glimpse, a fleeting idea of who the culprit might be early on, but...