pickBalogh can be too painful for me, so I have been catious about the Survivor series. The Proposal was very good, and I risked the second book. Vincent was blinded in the Napoleonic wars and Sophie is a complete Cinderella. Their story deeply moved and satisfying. I need to get The Edge.
panI feel that I have enjoyed this title. A gentleman is determined to save his young relative from the clutches of the golddigger who runs the gaming house.
There is battle between them, and I think it's supposed to be passionate and funny. But what Deborah does is horrible (kidnaps him). I did the gender reverse in my head to see if I was being fair. It feels horrible if a man did it too.
pickNeels is my go-to comfort read. I read her when I'm sick or in a really low mood. Basically in 98% of them, the English nurse falls for the Dutch surgeon. I've started to collect them and have only 15 or so. The "uncrushable jersey dress" is a great fan site.
pickA friend had just finished an intense World War II novel, and wanted a break. So I suggested this as a fun, sexy, no-intensity read. It worked for her.
It's about a woman who is on an island in the path of a hurricane. She determines to rescue all the pets left behind.
pickShy librarian by day and wild waitress by night, Amber has two lives. But the bulk of the story is about family ties and expectations versus making a new life for yourself. The artwork is clear lines and appealing characters. One of the best of the Harlequin romance comics that I've read.
pickAn priestess of an alien planet seek a safe place to rebuild. A scifi short story that I enjoyed.
I am not enjoying this book and it's keeping from discover other books. I may return to it, but not for awhile.
pickMarjorie had a wartime wedding to a man who was shipped out immediately. She is dreading his return because she doesn't know him. But she feels pressured by society to be happy about it.
The second part is Marjorie adjusts to his home. I love people figuring out how to live and work in completely new circumstances. It's not as good as Rose Garden Husband, but it's good.
Francis and Marjorie were married, and then he was shipped off to war.
Finally, he's back, but Marjorie feels that he's a stranger, and she doesn't want to stay married. So, Francis abducts her.
In the end, everything's OK. Still, I felt uncomfortable with the first half. I loved the second half where she learns how to live in a logging camp.
So, there you go.
Still reading Evelina by Frances Burney. I read it years before and I remembered liking it. But this time it seems dry. Did I forget all the inheritance stuff? Am I watching too much tiktok? Evelina is the one with the monkey at the end, so I'm going to persevere.
pickKitty's guardian proclaims his fortune will be bestowed on Kitty if she marries one of his great-nephews. They both expect that Jack Westruther will present himself as a suitor but he doesn't show. So, Kitty persuades Freddy to agree to a fake engagement.
Kitty and Freddy are adorable and the crazy scrapes and confusions of the secondary characters are such fun. I can't wait to forget it enough to read it again.
Re-reading it. Don't remember it being a favorite back then. But now I love it. Freddy, with his slow change from empty-headed dandy to guardian of various hapless people, is completely satisfying.
pickElvina, a Cinderella character, stows away on the yacht of the handsome, titled Lord Wye during the Napoleonic wars. They have an adventure behind enemy lines and Elvina falls for Wye but she has not been entirely honest with him.
This was a fun historical romance. I'll probably read more of Cartland.
I have been reluctant to read Cartland because critics have led me to believe her books are imbecilic and illiterate. But this is a serviceable light historical romance. We'll see how it goes. Right now, I feel lied to.
pickBig fan of the show with Essie Davis, so I was a little worried. But this was a great read. If I were more of a mystery reader, I would gobble up the series.
It is set in 1920's Australia with a fun cast of secondary characters. Wealthy, free-spirited Phryne Fisher becomes a private investigator almost by accident. She is asked to check on an heiress who is suspected to be the victim of a poisoning attempt.
had to look it up. 🙂
Orotund: imposing and resonant.
here's a quotation:
“Anyone who could clothe a trite statement in such orotund periods was obviously born to be a politician.“
Reading the first book in the Phryne Fisher series. Absolutely delightful.
so-soSecond chance at love stories. Meh.
Take Two by Suzanne Enoch had a movie star heroine hiding out from bad press. She had broken up with her fiancee because he was “too perfect.“ Unlikable.
Pasties and Poor Decisions by Molly Harper has a vapid divorcing socialite who goes back home. Funny and sweet.
Last Chance Motel by Sarah Hawkins. An ignored woman tries to start a hotel away from her workaholic husband. It was sweet but kind of bland.
pickElizabethan historical adventure with a bit of a love story. Beauvallet captures the ship on which Dona Domina de Rada y Sylvan and her father are traveling. He returns her to Spain but vows to elope with her despite all of Spain determined to kill him. Such fun! So much daring! So much swashbuckling!
Reading Evelina. I like the scenes in which Evelina is handling the men and the description of the places and the fashions. Jane Austen definitely read Burney. The skirmishes between the grandmother and the captain are a slog though.
Read “Christmas Cinderella' by Elizabeth Rolls last night. It was the perfect Christmas gift. I have not read such a perfect romance for me in ages. It was an historical romance about a vicar and a former heiress and they were adorable. The historical themes were on target: her family is scandalized that she is working for pay. The spicy was just right for me. Happy and passionate without anything rough. Satisfying and Christmasy.
The Duke, not very well-informed about trains, was indignant to discover that even when he chartered a special one, it would not come to his door, but had to be boarded at the station.
pickThe best word I can think of for this book is likeable: the couple, the situation, the secondary characters.
Gabriel and Courtney give a talk at the high school career day. Courtney's daughter Ava goes to the matchmaking company where Gabriel works and tries to sign up her mother. As a result, Gabriel and Courtney start fake dating.
The daughter Ava is so relatable and she needs her own book when she grows up.
so-soDamaris is a nurse and is part of a sheltering religious faith. A worldly CEO named Noah hires her to be his private nurse. I liked that the male character is struggling with his paralysis following his skiing accident. Damaris was an interesting mix of confidence in her nursing abilities and uncertainty in her dating life.
What I liked less was that when he eventually made a full recovery, he returned to his alpha male persona.
pickAbout a woman who is adopted by a little black cat. I smiled a lot at Rascal's antics. The nightmares she had while Rascal slept on her face were particularly funny.
so-soJulia Cloud faces a bleak future. To the rescue, her niece and nephew ask her to be their dorm mother. They decorate their new house and it is fabulous. And sandwiches are cut into shapes and tied with ribbon and hot chocolate is topped with billows of whipped cream.
A chapter on observing Sunday almost made me bail. But suddenly, the butterfly niece changes. She gets tough and kinda violent. It kept me reading till the end.
pickSteena and her cat team with Cliff to salvage the lost treasure ship the Empress of Mars.
This short story has everything I love. Steena who is plain but brilliant, her heroic cat and an fun space adventure. It made me so happy.
so-soJane Doe wakes up after her car crashes and two men want her dead. Fortunately, Border Patrol agent Rob Valdez comes to the rescue.
Jane has amnesia from the crash but instead of making everything more suspenseful it made the plot draggy for me. Jane and Rob are great characters though and even the minor characters are fascinating.
pickNelle goes to a fancy dress ball in a silver and aquamarine mermaid style dress. Her mask was made by the children at the nonprofit creativity center. And while she's there, a mysterious man steals away her heart.
Fun and fast read. The lush description of the dance was my favorite part. I will be looking for more by Ms. Erwin.
I'm not sure which chapter title wins. "Philip Delivers Himself of a Rondeau" or
"Philip Justifies His Chin"
There is a lot French in it, more than I remember. But the story is so much fun. That I remembered correctly.
Note: I had never read this one before and was tickled to find it. But I found very dull and was worried that I didn‘t remember Heyer well. Maybe she was not as lively as I remembered. But I then I started re-reading Powder and Patch and it is as alive and charming as I remember her writing being.
Hill is really underscoring how weird it is to make over a barn into a home.
Everyone in the Hollister family is so earnest. And the mother and youngest daughter are very ill and their apartment sounds ghastly. It's up to the heroine Shirley to save them.
P. S. Mary Pickford image.
The idea is that a poor family does a makeover on a barn to live in. Probably a new idea in the early 1900's. Makeovers of any kind are catnip to me. This is my mother's favorite of Hill's books so I'm giving it a try.
