eyes.2c Reviews

Ordinary Bear : A Novel  by C.B. Bernard      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This tale crept up on me and wouldn’t let go. From Nanuqmiut Village in Alaska where a lonely giant of a man, Farley, lost all he cared about to a bear; to the darkside of Portland, Oregon, where the “under housed” are organizing and occupying space outside apartments. The apartment tenants have to run a gauntlet of harassment and more entering and leaving the building. One tenant, Lissa nearly looses her daughter Olive after being menaced by a homeless man.  Lissa is  startled by his  dog tied to the bus shelter. It’s raining and  a  domino effect ensues. Lissa bumps into Olive who falls into the watery gutter just as a truck’s coming.  Olive is rescued by Farley. It’s the beginning of a new mission for Farley, not that he knows it at the time.  Olive goes missing, the police ignore Lissa’s pleas, and Farley takes up her cause. The plot is relentless, empathetic and fascinating.  An unusual story that has attitude and compassion

The Sleuth of Blackfriars Lane  (Blackfriars Lane #3) by Michelle Griep    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Kit Forge (née Turner) has opened a detective agency with her Father, retired police sergeant Graybone. Her husband Jackson, now Chief Inspector Forge, of course encourages her. He understands the gift Kit is. Oh, not your usual housewife. Oh no! Kit is a law unto herself, a child of the streets, a fighter who’s learned to lean on God and trust, albeit she sometimes goes her own route. Kit takes on the plight of a mother whose husband has taken their babe and run. Her father is against it but Kit can only see through her own emotional response. How she’d react if her daughter Bella was taken from her. There’s a murky situation evolving around Mrs. Coleman and Kit, with shadowy figures beyond the edges. Jackson has his hands full as the Chief, Graybone has taken on another enquiry. When the three cases dissect and overlap things become volatile. Kit is going to be surprised, Jackson is going to be on

Damned If I Duke  (Drop Dead Dukes #2) by Anna Bradley    ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 As neat an opening line as to be had. There’s more than a surfeit  of tension between the main characters,  Jasper St. Vincent  and Miss Prudence Thorne.  Added to the mix is a wicked ex-mistress, Lady Selina Archer, causing trouble. Then there’s Jasper who just doesn’t feel women can be trusted. Selina certainly can’t! Prior to this story Jasper’s been a bit of a swine gambling with an older gentleman at a ball last season, who couldn’t afford the stakes that Jasper had proposed in his usual careless drunken state. The older gentleman it turns out was Prue’s very upright father who of course sells part of his estate to pay off most of his debt.  The balance will be paid after he sells the family home, Thornewood.  A terrible outcome, especially for Prue. She’s come to London as the guest of her friend the Duchess of Basington to find a husband wealthy enough to pay off the last of her father’s debt. When Prue sees the

A Governess's Guide to Passion and Peril  (Ladies Most Scandalous #4) by Manda Collins       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ When Jane Halliwell’s father, a high ranking diplomat, committed suicide due to his gambling debts Jane was shocked.  Jane and her mother returned to England from Rome, unable to endure the ostracism they experienced from the diplomatic community. That included Lord Adrian Fielding, who’d been in and out of their home in Rome, and for whom the young Jane had conceived a crush. With no funds to support them Jane’s mother had fled to a cousin in Scotland. Jane stayed in London determined eventually to make her way as a novelist  Now, five years later, Jane is working as a governess in the home of a diplomatic friend of her father’s, Lord Guilford. Guildford’s wife was not pleased and made Jane’s life difficult, treating her as a servant. Jane meets Adrian again  at a symposium on roses being held at the Guilford's home. Disaster strikes. Jane discovers Lord Guilford's body

Sincerely, The Duke  (Say I Do #2) by Amelia Grey    ⭐️⭐️⭐️ An interesting plot. Three sisters, triplets, all with red hair and green eyes. The eldest, Edwin, had promised her dying her father to have her sisters introduced to society and married. Meanwhile up in London, Roderick Cosworth, the Duke of Stonerick, (Rick to his friends)  promises his mother to finally marry and beget an heir. He chooses a name from his mother’s list of eligible parties. Yes, one Edwina Fine. The duke who’s nearly insensible with a fever on this occasion totters off and forgets all about that decision. That is, until his peace and quiet is shattered by a disturbance in the entryway between a feisty red headed lady and his butler.  It’s his intended Fiona, paying a call to see if the offer is a hoax or true. Rick as you can imagine has forgotten all about what happened with his mother. What with having been struck down by this mysterious recurring fever for a time. Looking at the note Edwina produces he re

The Duchess  (The Scandalous Ladies of London #2) by Sophie Jordan      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Valencia, the Duchess Dedham, was relieved when her husband fell down the stairs and died. No loss as the man she’d married was very different after his accident, often brutally so. She’d waited eleven months as the grieving widow and was looking forward to being out and about in society. Unconcerned at that moment that the family solicitors had finally found an heir—in remote Wales.  Valencia ignored this fact, determined to put of her bereavement clothes and enjoy life, beginning with an attendance at Vauxhall. Floating down the river on her father’s yacht ended in disaster when she went overboard. Rescued by a stranger on a passing barge full of revellers, all male, was both a relief and discomforting, especially with regard to her rescuer, and her dampened dress. Never mind, she’d never see them again. Imagine Valencia’s shock when the very next day the new Duke’s mother and a gaggle of six sisters

The Duke's Enforcer  (Duke’s Guard #8) by C.H. Admirand    ⭐️⭐️⭐️ My guilty pleasure continues, but sadly I was not as enamoured of the Duke’s Enforcer as I have been other titles in the series. I love the Guards but the storylines have become somewhat repetitive the last several times. You know, hero with a backbone of steel and a heart of gold rescues a damsel in distress from a really bad situation. In this case it’s Darby Garahan who falls in love with the much terrified young woman, Miss Aimee Anderson. Down on her luck, Aimee has answered an advertisement to work as a milliner, only to find she’s destined for a brothel. After rescuing Aimee, Darby proposes marriage to save her. The marriage is strewn with boulders of self doubt and it’s our hero’s job to cast the rescued damsel’s fears out. The marriage is a work in progress. Of course there’s more! Despite my quibbles, despite the well worn plot, I must admit I just can’t stop reading any new additions to the series. A Drag

The Soldier's Impossible Love  (One Night in Blackhaven #3) by Mary Lancaster   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  I wanted some light historical romantic reading. This was just the ticket! A soldier, a survivor of Waterloo, Major Roderick Vale, is plagued by dreams and strong reactions to loud noises. He meets one of the daughter’s of their  neighbor, the Earl of Braithwaire, Lady Helen Conway, at the local Blackhaven Assembly Rooms Ball. Vale’s just ended an affair with a wealthy widow, Meg Maven (from trade). She’s been planning on using marriage to Roderick as her entree into high society. That’s nowhere on the Major’s radar. He’s already ended the relationship.  Meg won’t take no for an answer. She sets her sights on Helen who has helped Roderick. There is more to Helen than meets the eye. One shouldn’t underestimate her. Suffice it to say we have the evil widow making trouble, the young innocent exploring her feelings, the injured soldier trying to heal, families concerned about their siblings, and

The Lost Book of Bonn : A Novel  by Brianna Labuskes       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gripping story about sisters who lived in Bonn just before WWII. Annalise the older loved to hike and party with her friends in a group called the Edelweiss Pirates. Later they took more and more subversive action against the ruling Nazi party Christina, the younger sister liked to follow rules. She became a member of the  Bund Deutscher Mädel, promoting young Aryan women who followed rules, who fit in, who presented the ideal woman who embraced her place in the social fabric. Widowed Emmy Clarke is a librarian who’s sent to Berlin in 1946 to look through the acres of books seized by the Nazis. Many are valuable. The scope of looting by the Nazis is phenomenal. Here she meets Major Wesley Arnold, part of the Monuments Men team. Emma chances upon a book on her first day that has an inscription, beginning “to Annelise” ending with Eitan.” Emmy senses a deeper story behind the inscription. Emmy is inspired to see if she

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?  by Nicci French      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1990 December, Etty Salter walked to a family friend’s barn where they were holding a fiftieth birthday party for her father Alec. She was looking for her mother Charlie. Etty is concerned. She looks everywhere and finally contacts the local police. Charlie never arrived. Her children never saw her again A few days later Duncan Ackerley disappeared and was found in the river against a buoy. Suicide was the verdict. The general consensus is that Duncan murdered Charlie and then killed himself. Now, thirty years later the case is being looked at again. Police procedure had not been followed and basically mistakes—many missteps had happened  Now it’s 2022 and Detective Inspector Maude has been asked to reopen the case. Difficulties arise with lost evidence and files, and the attitude of the local police Another deadly occurrence happens that’s possibly linked to the 1990 case. The woman who was clearing out the Slater home

The Phoenix Bride : A Novel  by Natasha Siegel     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Don’t get me wrong, I love a good historical novel. When I first picked this up I just wasn’t in the mood, for something quite as deep. So I read a few lighter novels and then returned. I’m so glad I went back. The story has it all, illicit love, tragedy and rebirth. I loved the sound premise to this story. Set in 1666 London. Time of the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy and King Charles. Cecilia Thorowgood’s husband has died of the plague. Cecilia is distraught. She’s suffers various doctors paraded before her trying to cure her of melancholy. David Mendes is a physician come Portugal, now living in a Jewish neighbourhood in Aldegate.  He has been asked to treat Cecilia.  The story extends into a burgeoning friendship between Cecelia and David,  Cecilia’s increasing fear of entrapment, a  proposal of marriage from her sister’s husband’s nephew, her growing love for David, his fear of the harsh opinions of others (with goo