eyes.2c Reviews

Death Meets Cute (Deluxe Edition)  by J. Penner       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ What to do when your evil witchy powers are flagging, when you bodyguard disappears, and your finding yourself kindly disposed towards your neighbors? What Iris Weyward does is worries herself silly trying to solve the problem, brings an orc back to life and binds him to herself as her new bodyguard, and the other? Well… ! With her world turned upside down Iris and her familiar Quince (a hedgehog)(I know even I wondered at that!!) Then there’s her orc bodyguard who despite his size is cute, endearing…and bakes! Iris feels all is lost when her sisters visit her. Why? It seems all of the sisters are experiencing magic failure. How to get back their powers? An absurd bouncy love story with a difference, a cosy romantasy, that leaves you smiling. A Poisoned Pen Press ARC via NetGalley.                                    ...

Tartufo  by Kira Jane Buxton        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A slight wind originates in the depth of the forest imbued with a pagan secretive scent. It winds through the undergrowth  stimulating and sensual, quietly and gently whispering in and around the small and charming medieval village of Lazzarini Boscarino. All have left but a few. Mayor Delizia longs for the fortunes of the village to be different.  Thanks to the chemistry, the magic of a truffle, change comes in an unexpected way. A slow start, gathering interest as the rather special story unfolds. A Grand Central Pub. ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

The Relic Master: A Novel by Christopher Buckley Set at the time of the Reformation and Luther's famous Ninety-Five Theses, Buckley has treated us to a walk through history (in this case, religious) that equals '1066 and All That'. Witty, humorous and telling. We are privy to the vagaries and voracities of the powerful--archbishops and electors, their purchases of artifacts that will increase the big business of indulgences and line their coffers. Buckley's portrayal of Frederick the Wise seems slightly more sympathetic. His collecting of relics appears more that of a genuine interest in the relics themselves, and a concern for their authenticity--he has the soul of a true collector. For Albert of Mainz indulgences are his way forward, they are about competition and power, the road to the Vatican and the supreme position. And now that Rome has issued a 'bull' decreeing that all indulgences sold by Albert have a special dispensation, indulgences in other...