Run Around by Bernadette Franklin

3 Stars

Hope is determined that her brother will be marrying a five-time thoroughbride.  No matter what he will be marrying his bride.  Everything went off as planned until she took a baseball to the head.  Her brother’s friend Rick takes care of her and then asks her to plan his cousin’s wedding.  When hope’s brother is a dick to her she’s had it and decides to shake things up and move away to a new job and home.

This book was hard for me to review for a couple of reasons.  The writing was good and I enjoyed most of the plot.  There were major issues with the plot that needed to be addressed.  Like legit it seemed like we came into the book a couple chapters in.  It was confusing to feel like you were missing something.  It wasn’t in a previous book because I’ve read those and other then a couple of reappearances of past characters Hope and Rick were new.  I also didn’t like Hope and her brother.  He was a massive jackass to her and she just forgave him.  There were also plot points started that weren’t concluded.  I don’t know if they will be addressed in the future but they weren’t concluded in this book.  The book also ended and felt unfinished.  Like there should have been another chapter or two to conclude the story and I would have been happy with it. I will say she had her facts straight on cost of living in Manhattan and holy shit who can afford to live there.

Eyes of Tamburah by Maria V. Snyder

5 Stars

Disclaimer on the book today.  This book is originally published in Australia.  I am a fan and had to order this book from an independent book store in Pennsylvania to read this book.  All of this and the book was well worth the wait to get the book and I’m going to have to wait until sometime next year for it to be released in the USA but if you are interested in the book you can order from this website:

https://www.cupboardmaker.com/

And you will get it signed.  Now onto the book review.

Shyla was born sun-kissed.  She should have been left out to die when she was born but she was taken in by the monks.  They raised her until adulthood where she was given the option to join the monks or be cast out.  She would still be acknowledged but not family or allowed past the first library.  She chooses to go out and see the world.  Shyla tries to start a business finding lost artifacts but because she is sun-kissed finds it difficult to find work until the princes’ archaeologist, Banqui, asks her to find things for him.  He continues to use her serves and sends people to her until the Eyes of Tamburah are stolen from him.  They are believed to have magical powers that many people wish to have to gain control of the water resources.  This would allow them to control the city and take power away from the prince.  Shyla is forced into tracking down the thief to save Banqui from the tender mercy of the Water Prince.  With the Water Prince’s Captain Rendon following her she is determined to find the eyes and save lives as soon as possible.

Like all of the other books Maria V Snyder has written the writing was spot on.  The pacing was spot on.  I never felt there was any lag in the story.  Even though it was the first in a new series there wasn’t a lot of world building lag.  You get the whole story and the world building as we went and it made sense.  I know some people didn’t like Shyla with Rendor but I liked them together.  They just worked.  He was willing to take a backseat to her wants so she could grow and become the person she was meant to be.  He sets aside his wants to help her.  Even though he had done some bad things in his life he was trying to make amends for those bad things.  I can’t wait for the next book to come out to see how the story is continued.  Highly recommend reading this book.

Book 1 Archives of the Invisible Sword

Double Trouble by R.J. Blain

3 Stars

Recovering addict, Layla is in trouble again.  In and out of prison her entire life she’s caught stealing a cupcake.  She’s afraid this is her one-way ticket straight to prison.  Instead she is given ninety days of community service and her entire file reviewed.  Her community service job is simple keep two unicorns out of trouble.  One who wants to take over the world and the other just wants her.

The description doesn’t really explain the book.  I think R.J. Blain was planning out a different story but about halfway through the book it went off track and never really came back.  In fact the first half of the book was excellent and I wish the whole book had been like this.  The first half was setting the scene for Layla being neglected and abused by people in authority.  You learn about what history was and is confirmed by an angel.  It is a tragic up bringing that Layla is just resigned to her life being this way.  It was awesome that the people were interested in finding out why her life had turned out.  I would have been more interested in seeing how it all went down but about halfway mark instead of continuing the story it veered to OMG this poor girl has been neglected for so long let’s go shopping.  We stayed there forever until about the last chapter. Then it was rush to explain everything.  I am still confused as to what happened to her and by who did it.  Plus there was a character introduced who then kind of just disappeared.  The writing was good but it just was so frustrating to veer into this weird shopping trip.  Plus in the description it talks about the unicorns bringing trouble but the only trouble that happened was because of Layla not the unicorns.  It was still worth reading if you’ve read the rest of the series it just wasn’t my favorite.

Book 13 of Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count)

All of Me by Heatherly Bell

1 Star

The life of a small town resident is always under a microscope.  For Ivey Lancaster her hometown of Starlight Hill never completely forgave her for leaving their favorite son Dr. Jeff Garner.  They’re both back. He’s working as a resident in the ER and she is trying to set up a Midwifery program.  They’re forced to work together to put forth a proposal to the board for the Midwifery program.  Secrets will be revealed and the town will have a say in their relationship.

This had one of the few tropes I hate.  The secret baby.  If it weren’t for this trope the book would be rated differently.  I also had issues with the midwife who trained Ivey talking about her medical information with some random guy.  Yes it was Jeff and they were sleeping together but there is such a thing as HIPAA and she would have had to follow that per California regulation.  In addition to all of this Jeff never really defended her to the people in town.  He broke up with her because he was freaking out over life.  Instead of being honest with everyone about how it all went down he laid low and let her be the bad guy.  There were issues with their relationship they never really addressed.  The writing itself was good and it moved smoothly but I didn’t like the story or the characters.  I will probably try the author again because the writing was their just not this story.

Book 1 of Starlight Hill

Always on My Mind by Jill Shalvis

3.5 Stars

Leah dropped out of pastry school.  She messed up her big break on a reality baking show and now she’s back in her home town of Lucky Harbor working at her Grandma’s pastry shop.  Hoping to cheer up her best friend Jack’s mom she tells Dee they are happily dating.  He isn’t happy Leah told his mom they are dating but the more they pretend to date the more he wishes it were real. 

I really didn’t like either character.  Jack blamed Leah for pretending they were in a relationship because it ruined his playboy ways but he went along with it.  At any point he could and should have been honest.  He throws accusations at her for always running away but he doesn’t take any responsibility for their screwy relationship.  He also doesn’t fight for her.  He is willing to let her run instead of being honest with her.  All it would have taken was him saying I love you and I don’t want this to be fake and a lot of their problems would have been resolved.  Leah didn’t want to force him into anything because of things he had already said to her so she felt her only option was to leave.  They never even considered having a long distance relationship.  If she left town they would be done.  Please explain to me why?  As long as they were willing to work at their relationship it shouldn’t have matter.  I was and still am mad about this book.

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He stays mad at her until she nearly dies and then finally admits that he doesn’t want her to go.  It really took him that long to get his shit together.  I was so freaking mad about that.

Lucky Harbor book 8

Hot Winter Nights by Jill Shalvis

4.5 Stars

People have been trying to protect Molly Malone since she was a teenager.  She’s tired of being sheltered and wants to break out and be more than an office manager for Hunt Investigations.  When her neighbors ask her to investigate Santa at their job she takes it against the wishes of her brother Joe and her Boss Archer.  Knowing her like they do the bribe Lucas into helping her with her investigation.  This leads to them having to confront their feelings for each other.

I loved this story.  The book starts with them in bed together and Lucas can’t remember what happened.  Mixing whiskey and pain meds bad.  Molly was just mean enough to keep him guessing and I loved it.  I also really liked that she wasn’t willing to put up with the men in her life protecting her.  I love that Molly puts the men in their place about their protectiveness and she does end up getting promoted to investigator. 

Audio Book:

4.5 Stars

The book was narrated by Vivienne Leheny.  I think she did an amazing job with the different characters.  There weren’t any weird breathy bits.  Highly recommend listening to this book.

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Lucas ends up getting an infection and stuck in the hospital for an extended period of time.  Even though Molly was mad at him for not telling her about shadowing her she still was with him through his infection.  It was super sweet and made me love them as a couple even more.

Book 6 of Heartbreaker Bay

Accidentally on Purpose by Jill Shalvis

3.5 Stars

Archer game up his police career to save Elle Wheaton.  They’ve had an interesting relationship since.  She wants him but not because he wants to save her but because of her.  She thinks all he remembers is the night of her rescue.  Archer needs to stay far away from Elle romantically because it will be a disaster.  After a rash of bad dates and tired of seeing her with other men he’s decided he’s going to fight for them.

I liked the story but there were times that I wanted to bash their heads together.  Archer didn’t want Elle to be with him because she owed him and she didn’t want him to be with her because he felt he owed her.  Neither of them felt this way but instead of talking it out they just let it simmer.  There was a lot of I have to be with you and after they had sex this never happened.  It got old very fast.  The writing was spot on and there weren’t any other big issues with the book. I just got tired of the relationship drama.

Book 3 of the Heartbreaker Bay series