Review - The Witness by Nora Roberts

Elizabeth Fitch is tired of living her life by her mother’s strict rules. So the minute her mother leaves for a medical conference, Elizabeth is out the door and headed to the mall. One new wardrobe, one new BFF, and two new fake IDs later, Liz finds herself at Chicago’s hottest nightclub. But before the night is over, Liz will be a witness to murder, when Alex Gurevich, the nightclub owner, is eliminated by two of his business associates. Twelve years later, Liz, now living as Abigail Lowery, has built a new life for herself as a freelance computer-security programmer in Bickford, Arkansas. Abigail’s first and only priority is staying one step ahead of the Russian Mob, who has never stopped trying to get rid of the one living witness to Gurevich’s murder. The only problem is that Bickford’s new chief of police, Brooks Gleason, simply refuses to let her live in peace, and nothing Abigail says or does seems to convince him that she doesn’t need his help (Amazon).

This is Nora at the top of her game.  In fact I think it is the first novel since Three Fates  that I really enjoyed and want to read again.  My attention was riveted from the first sentence to the last page.  The whole book could have focused on Elizabeth/Abigail in the first year or two after the murder and I still would have read it.  I found Abigail's character to be believable in light of how she was raised, what happened to her and how she had to live.  Although at times her mannerisms and social skills made me think she was a little Autistic.  Not sure if she was, or if Roberts portrayed her that way to show how stunted her upbringing was and the lack of social connections she had before meeting Brooks.  Brooks seems to be the typical Beta male lead, a take charge type of guy that does so while considering the feelings of others.  I did find him to be pushy and overbearing at the beginning with Abigail.  But I let that go, because she was so reclusive, if brooks wasn't pushy, there would have been no love story.

There were no unexpected twits or turns in this novel, but I enjoyed it all.

Review - On a Highland Shore by Kathleen Givens

In an age when Norse invaders threaten Scottish civilization, one woman will defend her clan's honor and claim her own exceptional destiny.

1263: As the Highland village of Somerstrath prepares for the joyous wedding of Margaret MacDonald, the laird's daughter, a dark storm of bloodshed and betrayal closes in.... Now, determined to hold her shattered clan together and locate her abducted younger brother in the wake of a brutal Viking attack, Margaret must choose between obeying the dictates of King Alexander's court, or placing her trust in Gannon MacMagnus, an imposing half-Irish, half-Norse warrior. Who is this stranger who vows not to harm her? Will he vanquish the barbarous killers who would continue to destroy the rugged, magnificent land she calls home? (Amazon).

I loved this book and spent most of the weekend reading it because I couldn't put it down.  I didn't want to put it down.  This book had a perfect balance of historical detail and romance.  I was drawn into the story and wanted to learn about the hero and heroine as well as other characters. This was the first book by Givens that I have read and I plan on glomming her backlist.  Unfortunately while looking up how many books she has written and what may be coming next, I discovered that the author has passed away.  I truly believe that the romance community has lost a great voice in Kathleen Givens.

Review - When Passion Rules by Johanna Lindsey

Alana Farmer enjoys a privileged life in London.  She spends her time either in fencing lessons with her uncle, or helping out at an orphanage.  Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, Alana discovers that her uncle is not a relative, but the assassin hired to kill her.  She is also the princess of Lubinia and must return to reveal herself to her father, the king, and help stop a rebellion.

I finished reading this book two days ago but have been procrastinating in actually writing the review.  I have mixed feelings about this book.  There are aspects of this book I really enjoyed and felt like the old Johanna Lindsey is finally coming back.  But on the other hand, there are things that pop up that are not quite Lindsey and make me question if there are ghost writers.  I question this because there seems to be such a disparity in the way Lindsey's newest books are written.  Some seem to have depth, feeling, and actual stories (A Loving Scoundrel) while others feel rushed, are amateurish, and boring (That Perfect Someone).  Also, in When Passion Rules, the way the love scenes were written just didn't feel like an authentic Lindsey work.  Looking around at other reviews, I see that other people have the same opinion.

I had a couple of issues with this book.  The big one for me was the timeline.  I tried to keep track, and I think once Alana is in the castle to the end of the book happens over one week.  Within this time, she willingly becomes Christoph's lover and they go from mistrusting each other to falling in love.  It felt too rushed for me, and I would have preferred if it was spread out over a month or two instead.  Also there were  a couple of WTF moments.  First, while Alana is Christoph's prisoner, he takes her outside of the castle to a fair in the countryside.  The main reason really was for Alana's former guardian to get a message to her but it still seemed highly unlikely that a guard of Christoph's standing would take an imposter to a country fair.  The other one was Christoph's wannabe mistress, Nadia.  What is it with the need to write in nasty, bitchy, always older than the heroine, mistresses?  When we first meet Christoph, she wouldn't take no for an answer, to the point of being pathetic.  Not sure why she had to be written this way, other than to show the reader how irresistible Christoph is.

Having said that, I did enjoy this book.  At one point I was reading this before bed and was getting really tired.  I kept telling myself that I would just read to the end of this chapter and go to sleep.  But every time I got to the end of the chapter, I had to go on and read the next one.  I did this for about three chapters. Alana started out a bit too much of a Mary Sue/Pollyana with her sweet disposition, love of children, and excelling at everything she does.  But she eventually grew on me once she left England and started her journey to Lubinia.  The hero, Christoph, has some flaws, but over all even as an alpha male, he does show humour, tenderness, and he's hot!  I was a little worried that Alana would have it really easy convincing the king that she is his daughter and be immediately welcomed into the castle.  So I was happy when the story turned instead to her being imprisoned for being an imposter with Christoph in charge of her.  Although I don't think When Passion Rules is comparable to Lindsey's best novels, it is getting pretty close and is a vast improvement over her latest books.  If you loved Once A Princess, you will like When Passion Rules as it does have some similarities.

Reading Slump

And I think my reading slump will continue on until I get Johanna Lindsey's newest book next week.  The books I picked up at the library last week just aren't holding my attention.

Against the Law by Kat Martin - I stopped reading at chapter 16 but left my bookmark in, so I might return and give it one more try.  So far Lark hired Dev Raines to help her find her niece that had been adopted a couple of years ago.  Within a couple of chapters they find her in her adoptive parents house, along with the dead parents and nanny.  They take the girl and leave.  Now Lark is raising her neice, but where are the CAS workers and anyone else you would think would be involved in this?  I'm pretty sure you can't just take a child, even if she is your niece.  The back cover leads the reader to think the story is about finding the child, but she is found even before the book is half way through.  It then begins to concentrate on the drug smuggling business the adoptive father was involved in.

Black Magic by Cherry Adair - I'm only on page ten, I don't think I am in the mood for a paranormal story right now, so I might come back to this book another time.

The Hellion and The Highlander by Lynsay Sands - A cute, readable historical set in England and Scotland during the Crusades.  History takes a back seat in this novel which is more character driven than plot.  I did finish reading it, there were a couple of humourous moments involving the heroine's inexperience in the bedroom.  However, after awhile, her lack of experience in certain acts became cringe-worthy rather than funny.  I lost interest in the story around chapter thirteen and skimmed through the rest of the book.

Conversations With The Fat Girl by Liza Palmer - This story is about two best friends, Maggie and Olivia, who grew up being the fat girls.  Olivia goes on to lose her weight through surgery, becomes engaged, and wants Maggie to be her maid of Honour.  I couldn't finish this book because I found the main character, Maggie, to be too immature for her age.  Although she is 27, I found her reactions to her "crush" at work to be similar to a fourteen year old.  Maybe it was because the author was trying to convey the sense that  Maggie did not have those experiences as a teenager.  I don't know, it just felt off.  I also found it unbelievable that Olivia, who is portrayed as being sweet and nice as a fat girl, suddenly becomes a raging bitch because she is thin.  I get that people change when their perceptions of themselves change, but I can't see someone suddenly treating everyone around them as insignificant and beneath them just because they have lost weight.  Perhaps if the author had kept Olivia's sweet character, but brought out her insecurities in a different way, I would have found it more believable.

Moonlight Road by Robyn Carr - Gah!  Why did I bother trying this author again???!!!  I obviously did not learn from the first time.  Once again, this book is chock full of previous characters, everyone is related to someone and practically all the female characters are pregnant.  Note to self - do not bother with this author again.

     

Hello!

Hi and welcome to my new blog.  I am a thirty-something teacher who loves to read romance novels, crochet, and eat chocolate.  My plan for this blog is to review and discuss everything related to romance novels - whether they are contemporary, historical, paranormal, or urban-fantasy.