eyes.2c Reviews

Duke with Benefits (Studies in Scandal #2)   by  Manda Collins A bit of a slow start leads into an interesting plot where a somewhat OCD heroine who has difficulty lifting her gaze from mathematical pursuits into the real world. Lady Daphne Forsyth has led a difficult life hampered by a father who used her mathematical genius to line his own pockets. Now, having been left a share of her benefactress' estate and relishing the puzzle set for her to solve Daphne, finds herself with acquaintances, other young women equally as gifted in differing areas of expertise. For a lonely focused young women this is 'passing strange.' The challenge concerns the legendary Cameron Cipher that supposedly relates to a fortune in a hidden Jacobite treasure trove. What Daphne wants most though is to develop different skills. An entanglement with her benefactress' nephew the Duke of Maitland (not though marital) she feels will be a useful experiment. Well that just thr...

Good Dukes Wear Black: A Lords of Anarchy Novel (The Lords of Anarchy #3)   by  Manda Collins What I found most fascinating about this story was the practice of psychiatrists of the time committing to asylums those whose family's wanted them out of the way. Great research by Manda Collins, and pulling this in as the raison d'être gives an excellent  hook for the plot. For me the actual execution just didn't live up to that premise. I liked Ophelia, I liked Trent and yet for some reason their story didn't come together with the verve it should have. I wasn't grabbed by it. I truly wanted to be.  There just didn't seem to be the electricity between Ophelia and Trent that I expected. There were disconnections. And yet as I rerun the plot in my mind it had it all. Super plot, feisty heroine, hunky Duke, wonderful friends, villains, annoying mother and loving father  à la  Jane Austen. The dots just weren't joined with enough oomph. However ...

Once Upon a Christmas Kiss by Manda Collins  Miss Winifred Nightingale, a gentlewoman turned governess, has along with her sister Cordelia, been invited to a Christmas house party.        Sir Lucien Blakemore has come to the same house party. He and Winnie know each other from Yorkshire and have a friendly acquaintance. Things of course change and Lucien and Winnie find themselves thrown together in an unsuspected manner.  Both Sir Lucien and Winnie are well developed characters that demonstrate both human frailties and strengths. We have a bad man in the form of an uncaring womanizer from Winnie's past, a dreadful local lady who is a major force, well a bully really in the social circle of the local village, her daughters, and various other house guests.  Nasty and strange things keep happening to Winnie. Both she and Lucien are perturbed. What is happening and why? A NetGalley ARC