C+ Reviews

REVIEW:  On the Island by Tracy Garvis-Graves

REVIEW: On the Island by Tracy Garvis-Graves

Dear Ms. Garvis-Graves, I picked up your book because it is everywhere lately. The concept of the teen boy-older woman romance is pretty repellant to me, but over 700 positive reviews on Amazon for a self-published book told me I should give this one a try. I read it, and I can see why it(…)

REVIEW:  Silent Surrender by Barbara J. Hancock

REVIEW: Silent Surrender by Barbara J. Hancock

Dear Ms. Hancock, After reading and reviewing your impressive novella, Ghost in the Machine, I was eager for more of your work and curious as to what your writing was like in other genres. Silent Surrender, your new Spice Brief, caught my attention and I decided to try it. Alexia arrives at the Rivera hotel(…)

REVIEW:  The Lady’s Scandalous Night by Jeannie Lin

REVIEW: The Lady’s Scandalous Night by Jeannie Lin

“Tang Dynasty China, 759 A.D. Yao Ru Jiang, known as River, has woven many romantic dreams of honorable swordsman Wei Chen from her brother’s stories. Their meeting should have been a happy event; instead, Chen arrives to tell River he is duty bound to kill her brother for rebelling against the warlord they both serve.(…)

REVIEW:  The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

REVIEW: The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

Dear Ms. Wasserman, I’m a sucker for an evocative title, even more so than I am for a striking cover. And for me, you don’t get more evocative than The Book of Blood and Shadow. It caught my eye immediately on NetGalley. On top of that, the premise sounded different. That’s not something you can(…)

REVIEW:  Party of Three by Lacey Alexander

REVIEW: Party of Three by Lacey Alexander

Dear Ms. Alexander: I read the first in the unfortunately titled H.O.T. Cops series “Bad Girl at Night.” I meant to review it but failed to do so until recently. Party of Three is the second in the series. I had read a few of your Ellora’s Cave publications previously but found them to be(…)

REVIEW:  Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins

REVIEW: Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins

Dear Ms. Higgins, I’ve read several of your books and, in general, have found them to be a bit too toothsome for me. I did however enjoy one of your earlier books, The Next Best Thing, so I was interested to read your latest novel, Somebody to Love, whose heroine, Parker Harrington Welles, was introduced in(…)

REVIEW: A Monster Calls: Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd by Patrick Ness

REVIEW: A Monster Calls: Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd by Patrick Ness

Dear Mr. Ness, I feel like quite the scrooge because while I liked your YA novel, A Monster Calls, I didn’t love it the way everyone else I’ve seen reviewing it seems to have done. The book has a powerful and moving story of how it came to be. The idea behind it was the(…)

REVIEW: About That Night by Julie James

REVIEW: About That Night by Julie James

Dear Ms. James, There’s no easy way to say this so I guess I’ll just come right out and get it over with. The bloom is off the rose. The last second basket rattled off the rim. I don’t love this book the way I’ve loved some of your other books. That hurt me to(…)

REVIEW: Taming an Impossible Rogue by Suzanne Enoch

REVIEW: Taming an Impossible Rogue by Suzanne Enoch

Dear Ms. Enoch: I appreciate what the Tantalus Club series is about. In the 19th Century, women held few rights. For many, there were only a few options for a life of independence. Almost all of those choices depended on the use of one’s own person as the form of currency, whether the transaction was(…)

REVIEW: Escape Velocity by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox

REVIEW: Escape Velocity by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox

Dear Ms. Crow and Fox. I would not have finished this book if I had not been listening to it on audio book instead of reading it. In fact, I tried multiple times to read it when it was released from Torquere Press and couldn’t. Now revised for and re-released through Carina, it was also(…)

REVIEW: Death, Taxes and a Skinny No-Whip Latte by Diane Kelly

REVIEW: Death, Taxes and a Skinny No-Whip Latte by Diane Kelly

Dear Ms. Kelly, I think most US citizens would agree with me that getting a visit from someone in professional attire who says, “We just need to speak with you a moment. We’re from the IRS.” is not a favorite way to start the day. Or end it. Discovering that your heroine, Tara Holloway, is(…)

REVIEW: Defying the Odds by Kele Moon

REVIEW: Defying the Odds by Kele Moon

Dear Ms. Moon: This book caught my eye on Twitter. KatiD recommended it and I can see why. The story featured two really sweet characters who had never been special in anyone’s lives before and who found, in each other, the perfect companion. As I read the book, I kept thinking of how much potential(…)

REVIEWS: Master Class and SUBlime by Rachel Haimowitz

REVIEWS: Master Class and SUBlime by Rachel Haimowitz

Dear Ms. Haimowitz. I’ve been remiss in not reviewing these books. I recommended them in November, but then the end of the semester and the holidays and then the beginning of the semester and and and…caught up with me. But I’ve been dipping into them again and again through the last few months when I needed(…)

REVIEW: Eternal Captive by Laura Wright

REVIEW: Eternal Captive by Laura Wright

Dear Ms. Wright: I read book one in the series and didn’t love it so I skipped the second, but I think you may have hauled me back into the fold with this one. The two characters are at daggers drawn (to use an old fashioned phrase) because the hero is destined to be a(…)

REVIEW: Sleepwalker by Karen Robards

REVIEW: Sleepwalker by Karen Robards

Dear Ms. Robards: One of the first AAR DIK books I ever read was one of yours: “Walking After Midnight.” Now here I am, years later, reading another “walking” book that involves a hero and heroine on the run and trying to stay alive. My questions for myself as I started the book were will(…)