Book Reviews

REVIEW:  Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

REVIEW: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

Dear Mr.Westerfeld, Following an enthusiastic recommendation from Lou of The Book Pushers, I picked up your Leviathan Trilogy, a YA steampunk series, to read with my husband. The series is set in a fun, detailed and engaging if not 100% believable world where World War I is a clash between two technologies, one DNA based(…)

GUEST REVIEW:  For the Horde! – The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook

GUEST REVIEW: For the Horde! – The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook

NB: This review from AJH is the fourth in his series of “I’m getting to know the romance genre.” His introduction is here. You can buy the book with these links.  The Iron Duke takes place in an alt-history steampunk England, some nine years after the revolution which evicted the Mongol Horde. This had me(…)

REVIEW:  A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn

REVIEW: A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn

Paris, 1923 The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even amongst Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather’s savannah manor house until gossip subsides. Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded(…)

REVIEW:  Assassin’s Gambit by Amy Raby

REVIEW: Assassin’s Gambit by Amy Raby

Dear Ms. Raby: I love a good enemies-to-lovers story. What also helped pique my interest in this book was the gorgeous cover of a strong woman NOT in a bizarre contorted supposed-to-be sexy pose. On its face, this is the story of a super-assassin who falls in love with her target. Vitala Salonius is trained(…)

REVIEW:  Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

REVIEW: Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

  Lottie just knows that her boyfriend is going to propose during lunch at one of London’s fanciest restaurants. But when his big question involves a trip abroad, not a trip down the aisle, she’s completely crushed. So when Ben, an old flame, calls her out of the blue and reminds Lottie of their pact(…)

REVIEW:  Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster

REVIEW: Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster

Dear Ms. McMaster: Your first gaslight fantasy/steampunk novel took my pleasantly by surprise and I was excited to read the follow up, Heart of Iron, which paired Lena and Will. Will is a wuthvern in Britian where shapeshifting is outlawed. The English wiped out the Scottlish clans in the battle of Culloden and what’s left(…)

REVIEW:  The Seduction Hypothesis by Delphine Dryden

REVIEW: The Seduction Hypothesis by Delphine Dryden

Dear Ms. Dryden: The Seduction Hypothesis is the sweetest book I’ve ever read involving stainless steel butt plugs and a spreader bar with a set of neoprene ankle cuffs. The hero Ben is just adorable. A few months ago he stupidly broke up with his now ex-girlfriend Lindsay because he’d panicked, an act he’s regretted since(…)

REVIEW:  Midnight Secrets by Ella Grace

REVIEW: Midnight Secrets by Ella Grace

Dear Ella Grace: I found this book to be rather bland. The heroine is nice. The hero is nice. There is a certain Robyn Carr Virgin River tone to it which made sense when I learned that Ella Grace was a penname for Christy Reece, whose work I had tried in the past and put(…)

REVIEW:  Her Hesitant Heart by Carla Kelly

REVIEW: Her Hesitant Heart by Carla Kelly

On the frontier of a new life… Tired and hungry after two days of traveling, Susanna Hopkins is just about at the end of her tether when her train finally arrives in Cheyenne. She’s bound for a new life in a Western garrison town. Then she discovers she doesn’t even have enough money to pay(…)

REVIEW:  Never Too Late by Amara Royce

REVIEW: Never Too Late by Amara Royce

Dear Ms. Royce: I have talked to you a bit on Twitter and wanted to read your debut, so when I saw it was available on Netgalley I snapped it up. Never Too Late is set in 1851 Victorian England, an increasingly popular time period, and it features one of my favorite pairings: older woman/younger(…)

REVIEW:  Smoketown by Tenea D. Johnson

REVIEW: Smoketown by Tenea D. Johnson

  The city of Leiodare is unlike any other in the post-climate change United States. Within its boundaries, birds are outlawed and what was once a crater in Appalachia is now a tropical, glittering metropolis where Anna Armour is waiting. An artist by passion and a factory worker by trade, Anna is a woman of(…)

REVIEW:  Stealing Home by Jennifer Seasons

REVIEW: Stealing Home by Jennifer Seasons

Dear Ms. Seasons: This is one book wherein I think the grade looks harsher than it really is but I had so many problems with this book, I felt like it was the best reflection of my interaction with the story.  Others may have had a much different experience. The story begins with Lorelei Littleton spying(…)

REVIEW:  Beauty and the Blacksmith by Tessa Dare

REVIEW: Beauty and the Blacksmith by Tessa Dare

Dear Ms. Dare, I may have had it with Spindle Cove, your Regency-era haven for unusual young women and the men who love them.* The place has become nettlesomely toothsome, rather like Gwyeth Paltrow gushing over adorable organic baby blankets. This novella, Beauty and the Blacksmith, is a quick, easy read, the equivalent of a(…)

GUEST REVIEW:  OW- To Have and To Hold by Patricia Gaffney

GUEST REVIEW: OW- To Have and To Hold by Patricia Gaffney

Wow.  Okay.  So, this book sort of ripped out my heart, threw it around a bit, tore it to shreds and then tossed the wreckage to the small purple flowers.  I should probably warn you straight off that this review/article/column/discussion/thingy will be low on lulz and contains absolutely no pictures of pandas, sad or otherwise. (…)

REVIEW:  The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abé

REVIEW: The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abé

Dear Ms. Abé, As a longtime reader of your fantasy-romance Drakon series (books aimed at adults), I was eager to read your newest book, The Sweetest Dark, which is both related to the Drakon series, and the first book in a new series aimed at readers of YA. You state on your website that The(…)