eyes.2c Reviews

An Unquiet Peace  (Bishop & Gallagher Mystery #2 ) by Shaina Steinberg            ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Groan! This was so good! I realize I’m now going to have to read the first in the series. That’s what the groan is for because my TBR list is out of control and adding one more just might tip it, and me, over the edge. Talking of which, this an edgy read complete with post war gangsters, corruption, and questions left over after field operations during WWII didn’t go as planned. Set in the Los Angeles in 1948 with flashbacks to Europe in the latter days of WWII, aeronautics heiress Evelyn Bishop and her fiancé Nick Gallagher (both former undercover operatives of OSS) find themselves contending with the past as it impacts the present. Berlin has been blockaded by the Soviets, the airlift is struggling, and General Henry Gibson, Evelyn’s commanding officer during her Service days is asking for her.  A genuinely immersive read!  A Kensington ARC via ...

Hardly a Gentleman  (Accidental Brides #2) by Eloisa James           ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Having slapped Prince George because  he’d groped her and made a mockery of her, the  Honorable Miss Clara Vetry  had been banished by her mother to live with an elderly great aunt. Except Clara did the unexpected. Making a break for freedom, she hurtles into a carriage and announces that she is indeed Mrs. Post the newly appointed housekeeper for  Caelan Eneas MacCrae, Laird of CaerLaven. And so Clara’s highlander adventure begins, gaining momentum when she finds the laird naked, fly fishing in the loch. Oh my! Caelan finds himself with  a  very irregular housekeeper who insists on having her own maid, and Clara finds a Laird presumably cut to the quick by the loss of his dear wife. Hmmm?! Among other things, like an unkempt castle gone literally to the dogs. Well all that becomes moot as we follow the hilarious times these two have as they move t...

Friends are Forever (Sgt. Windflower #16) by Mike Martin        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Once more Martin has placed us squarely inside Windflower’s circle of relationships. Relationships that like a rock cast upon the water begets patterns as it spreads in ever expanding concentric circles sweeping all before it. At its center is Sgt. Windflower and his family. He is grounded by them, and by his relationship with the spirits of his ancestors. Truly wonderful, and sometimes a painful orbit. This title is if nothing else is a portrait of the friendships that have grown over the years. There’s an array of people, including a former biker and drug addict who’s trying his best to lead a new life. It’s the small pleasures that take center stage alongside the larger issues of law enforcement. It’s the meditative act of berry-picking, a reminder of Windflower’s childhood, the act of preparing and cooking meals for family and friends, walking the dog, his daughters—Stella and Amelia Loui...

A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic  (Adenshire #1) by J. Penner       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Delightful tale of a young woman who lives to bake (and bakes to live) whose world is turned upside down when her adopted father orcs enter who into the famed Bake Off—the Langheim Baking Battle. Arleta Starstone’s problem is that this is a magical baking competition. Only elves and persons imbued with magic can enter, can’t they? Arleta is human. Can she even compete? Arleta’s baked delights are loved by all her taste them in her home town of Adenashire. She adds little touches of her human magic to the mix, a dash of thyme, or a touch of lavender, wild blueberries, bay leaves… Before she’d been orphaned at sixteen Arleta’s greatest delight was to bake with her mother, herself an avid baker, who’d taught Arleta everything she knew from the time she could hold a mixing spoon. Arleta is fetched to Langheim for the Baking Competition by a very handsome elf.  She’ll make friends with so...

Six Days in Bombay  by Alka Joshi         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ As India moves towards independence so does Sona Falstaff. Sona is a nurse in the Wadia Hospital in Bombay. Europe is galloping towards war, India towards freedom from the British Raj, Sona finds herself also on the cusp, taking steps into the unknown. Sona is a compassionate and dedicated nurse with a lively sense of humor. Amongst her  patients number a vivacious painter, Mira Novak and a charming elderly rascal, Dr. Ralph Stoddard. Both will figure into Sona’s search for herself. Sona is an Anglo-Indian. At a time when India is looking to govern itself, that mixed heritage becomes a barrier for her. She’s neither fish nor fowl. As usual, Alka Joshi draws us into the colors of life in late 1930’s India. The emotions are all captured, brimming with reality. Sona’s journey from the hospital in Bombay to Europe, on a quest for her painter friend, is a journey of self awareness, of independence, and of...

Betrayal From Beyond  (Keir and Levett Mystery #6) by Deb Marlowe         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Deeply ensconced in her determination to bring down Kara and Niall (now the Duke and Duchess of Sedwick) Petra’s nefarious plans have far reaching consequences. A body is fished from the river. It is Petra Scott. Kara feels somethings not quite right but it is definitely Petra. So what’s Kara feeling uneasy about? Danger and tragedy surrounds the couple and their friends as they work their way through a mass of lies, falsely laid paths, realities and counter truths. An edge of the seat read from Marlowe that had me glued to my screen! A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

The Book of Lost Children  by Jenny O'Brien       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The islands of Guernsey were occupied by the Nazis during World War II. The population suffered and were under the yoke of an unforgiving invader. Evelyn Nightingale lost the love of her life, Joseph in the early days of the war. Through a series of happenings she’s now  nursing (not registered) at the  Emergency Hospital in Câtel. It’s here she meets the pregnant collaborator Marise and her friend Camille. Marise is having a child to an SS officer. An angry man who wants his unborn child to be sent back to Germany to become a child of the Reich. Why these things happen are never straightforward. Unerlieutenant Jannick Klein is a dreadful man. He has the habit of beating his women when they didn’t please him. Evelyn is determined to help thwart him. Fast forward to Dublin of 2018 and we have Kitty White, an antiques and second hand dealer, buying  a  violin from a woman off the streets. It...

T he Maid's Secret  (Molly the Maid #3) by Nita Prose         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I found this slow moving in parts but it still packed a punch as the story of our favorite Maid’s familial life’s history comes into focus. The treasures Molly has in a box are indeed treasures but so is what’s in her heart. (We love her for the upright, quirky person of integrity she is!)  When her box of treasures are shown live on a reality trash or treasure TV show being held at the hotel, Molly is in for a huge shock! Alongside this, the complications of Molly’s grandmother’s life are slowly revealed as a very tangled web is unraveled. And what a process that is! A journal left by her grandmother speaking to Molly of her life’s journey, alternatively punctuated by Molly’s life today, draws us into the depths of her Gran’s regrets and subsequent events. An absolutely fabulous drawing of all the strings to the now of Molly’s life, complete with theft, blackmail and treachery. A gre...