Legacy of Danger, Jillian David

Legacy of Danger, Jillian David

Genre: fantasy and paranormal, romance

I’m not convinced by this book, I was eager to know more of Vaughn but I didn’t really get a sense of the man he was and what seemed a huge issue between the brothers in the previous books, keeping him away from the ranch and family, just seemed to be passed over quickly now he’s back.
We’re ;earning more about the family’s strange gifts and the dangerous entity seeking them out but its still very much a real danger but from very vague sources, and the timing isn’t yet fixed. Its pretty clear its all coming to a head soon but I’m not sure I’m invested enough in the story to continue. Its well written and easy to read but I just feel a disconnect between the story and me, a personal issue. Possibly its down to current personal circumstances, and I’d feel differently at a later date, its not a story I in any way disliked, just that for now I found myself putting it aside several times, something I rarely do.

Stars: Three, a well written story but one that didn’t work for me right now.

Arc via ebook discovery.

Lost Rider, Harper Sloan and The Actor, Savannah Addison

Lost Rider,  Harper Sloan

Genre:  romance,

I’m just about to do my review, having finished this yesterday and it’s a difficult one to write. I liked it but….I just didn’t love it as I thought I would from the description, felt it was a little underwhelming, slow paced.
Its a well written tale, great characters and I loved the description. In practice though I just didn’t really feel much was happening, felt it was very slow going.

I’ve just read another story where the backgrounds are very similar, H has father who hates him, there are secrets in his background, abandoned by mother, and the h hasn’t seen him for 11 years, since she was 16. Familiar? Yep, they even shared one, toe curling, ecstatic kiss before hearts were broken. In contrast that story was a five for me, I loved it.
Same premise, just very differently executed and where that was perfect for me and this one less so I know that others will have the reverse reaction. Horses for courses…

I liked Maverick, even if at first he was a total jerk. I wasn’t convinced though that he’d return if it wasn’t forced on him, even though he is supposedly in love with Leigh.
I liked her character too, strong and resolute, but she’s never forgotten Maverick and That Kiss, and seems to have put her love life on hold, never letting anyone match up to the perfect image she has of Maverick. I’m not so keen on that side of her, it wasn’t like they dated or anything, she just has a teen crush on him and of course now they are two very different people.
She’s holding to a man that isn’t real, and as they didn’t have a close connection may only ever have existed in her mind. That’s a lot to base your life around.
She’s got on with her life otherwise and I liked her enterprising spirit and loyalty to her best friend and her brother, Mavericks siblings.

I usually like day to day details as they bring the characters thoughts and actions to life, but somehow it just didn’t grab me here.
My favourite part of the book was when they were in the restaurant and the two “ladies” come up and blatantly run down Leigh, and offer their services in her place. Maverick gives them the perfect reply!! I adore that kind of scene where the b itches get what’s coming to them.
Sadly the rest of the book didn’t have anywhere near that character for me, though of course for others its perfect. Its one of those where its not the book, it’s a good, well written story, its just me 😦

Stars: Three, a good story, just a bit low key for me.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

The Actor, Savannah Addison

Genre:  Romance, New Adult

Usually I read review novels more or less in the order I get them, but this one had one of my hooks, actors/Hollywood so it got an early read….sadly though it was an OK read, it wasn’t one of the best for me.

I know this is a NA read, but didn’t realise they key characters would be Quite that Young! I found given the ages of Colton and Haven (22 and 17) it was hard for me to believe in them. I just couldn’t see a 17 yr old running a farm worth millions of dollars alone. There’s mention of contractors in for the harvest but the rest, the chickens, horses and cattle, she does alone. Nope, animals need a lot of care and the amount they must have to make up this value would need a dedicated team of workers.
Then there’s Colton, failed at rehab, multiple times, yet doesn’t get any health issues giving up? Would you really throw someone like that to your young cousin who’s already got far more to cope with that she needs?
Later we get all the issues with the farm, her mother and brother and like the problems I have believing in Colton and Haven and what they can/can’t do these problems also lacked credibility. Things just don’t happen like that in the real world.

I think this is Savanaah’s debut novel, and its clear she’s got a way with words, can create fictional settings well, but for me it needs a bit more fine tuning, a little closer look at what can really happen as opposed to what she wants to happen to move the story along.
The story is potentially good, the psynopsis certainly drew me in, the writing is good but the plots just lacked badly, very badly in the believability factor for me.
That meant I found it really hard to get behind the issues thrown up, to see the characters as real, to sympathise when things went wrong.
There’s the stuff I’ve covered, but also things like legalities of what happens between her mother and brother, what could happen to the far, etc. I feel the practicalities and legalities don’t work for someone like me who needs them to feel genuine, to give a story I feel is real. I know its fiction but its not fantasy…..
Having given us a day to day start of the book the last few pages covered a time span and events that last months. That kind of glossed over me as unreal and felt a bit jarring, as though the author wanted to wrap the story up quickly, without going into too much detail.

I did like the start and there were some snappy lines that were fun, and I’m sure others who don’t need to believe in characters and feel plots could be real will love this. For me it was just over Didn’t Like, just under Good.

Stars: 2.5, a good idea but lacking reality for me.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

The Cowboy and the Kid, Anne McAllister, For Finlay, J. Nathan

The Cowboy and the Kid, The Tanner Brother – Book 4,  Anne McAllister

Genre:   Romance, General Fiction

I’d not read any of Anne’s novels and as she’s got so many I was really, really hoping to like this. Nothings like finding a new-to-you author with loads of lovely novels you haven’t read 😉
Sadly though this was just an OK read for me, a sweet story but one that didn’t really do much for me.

Its a small town romance, and I like those but I do need some drama, some real feelings between the leads.
Though I liked them all, I wasn’t really feeling the attraction between them, and didn’t really understand what they saw in each other. they knew of the other via school of course, but dates? ? Nope, unless you count the one where Taggart is warning her about one of the parents. I just didn’t feel the connection.

I think the biggest problem for me was they were both nice people, sweet, cute and all that, the story was gentle, Becky was a smart but precocious kid, its was all just so Nice. What I want though is drama, jealousies, problems, barriers to things working out, maybe a couple of unpleasant characters for balance and here there wasn’t any.
I see this was originally published in 1996, and maybe its been updated and rereleased, but it doesn’t feel that way, to me it feels very dated, very “clean romance” type read, and that’s fine. Millions of readers love them, they just don’t cut it for me.

If you like a sweet, non-dramatic romance, with a gentle HEA then this could be perfect for you. It’s a good book, but not one that moved me emotionally, and really just not my sort of romance.

Stars: Three, depends on what you want from your romance.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

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For Finlay,  J. Nathan

Genre:  Romance, New Adult

I’ve enjoyed some terrific NA reads, despite being well past NA age….I’d read Until Alex and had mixed feelings, some of it felt really slow and very YA as opposed to NA, but there was a section that had me gripped, so I requested this book hoping the writing had evolved that way.
Sadly for me its not, well not with this book. That’s fine, everyone wants different stories, different types of writing styles and this already has lots of 5* reviews so clearly its perfect for other readers.
For me though it still felt very YA, with the protagonists being very immature in their actions and reactions.

I did feel for Finlay, what an awful thing to happen, and understood perfectly her feelings towards Caden, based on what she saw. Thats it though isn’t it – its what she thought she saw not what actually was happening, there’s always more to a story…and its a long while before she discovers that.
Meanwhile she’s so attracted to Caden despite her feelings and that was fun, seeing how the boy she thought he’d be matched up to the one in front of her…or rather didn’t. There was some snappy dialogue that was fun.

He was a typical football Jock except for his anti cheating stance, I was pleased to see that, and understood his reasons. He kind of stretches credulity though when it comes to how he breaks with the girlfreind and gets with Finlay, he’s sticking to the letter of his morality but not really the essence of it. Still, its a typical YA/NA reaction, do what you want and convince yourself you’re in the right 🙂
His girlfriend was a great b itch, I do so love characters like hers. I’d have liked to have seen more of her and the nastiness, perfectly drawn, rich b itch type wanting a rich and famous husband….there’s a lot of them around.

Overall, though the story was moving forward, for me it felt a bit too YA, the characters kind of immature in their actions, and I wasn’t hooked into what was happening, gripped with the story, didn’t have the can’t-put-it-down feeling.
And of course when Caden finds out what he thinks is the truth his reaction was just that, like  a thwarted schoolchild rather than an adult.
In some ways I was kind of having mixed feelings, the drama of it was perfect, the ex was wonderfully vindictive, but believing he’d really react like that? On the say so of someone who he knows a) doesn’t like Finlay b) wants him back c) got her knowledge in a strange way, its not as if Finlay was hiding it.
Somehow that reaction felt OTT even though it led to some perfect drama. I felt the Caden we’d been led to believe in wouldn’t have acted that way, would have looked a bit harder for the truth. Still then I guess we wouldn’t have this book….

So the drama of it was perfect even though the reasons for it fell down a bit. The storyline was ok, more or less believable, but for me the characters felt a little immature at times, backed up by Caden’s reaction.
Its me more than the book, its a perfectly decent read, and has lots of readers who love it, but for me its between a three and a four star not a five. If you love typical storm in a teacup YA romances this is perfect, I need a bit more maturity in my characters and their actions though.

Stars: 3.5, a good read, perfect for others, but a bit on the YA side for me.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

 

Diamonds and Spurs Melody Snow Monroe

Arc supplied by Netgalley.

I enjoyed this book to a degree,but I expected more from it. It centres around Mandy, who goes very quickly from socialite to ranch hand, from divorce to a relationship with two men. It all seemed just too implausible. There was a sort of danger and yet really I never felt the threat to Mandy to be real. I think most of my problems stem from not really engaging with any of the people. They didn’t feel real and thus I couldn’t have real feelings for them or even care about what happened. Its a sweet romance but light on actual plot and the relationship between her and the two men didn’t really ever spark any sexual tension, it was just – meet Vince, say hello, sleep with him – meet Cam, say hello, sleep with him too. There wasn’t any build up to the attraction, or any heartache from her divorce. I just didn’t really feel the characters had much personality,and as another reviewer says at one point for a supposedly clever man one of them behaves very stupidly. Although its described as m/f/m, bondage, spanking etc its a sort of menage/BDSM lite – there’s nothing very heavy here, its just a few light slaps and a bit of velvet rope 🙂 so don’t let that put you off if otherwise its the sort of book you want to read.

For me it was just too “lite”, maybe as it was so short and yet covered a period of several weeks it just didn’t get time to expand the people and plots into any depth. If I hadn’t had it as a review book I doubt I’d have finished it but then I want darker, deeper books and to get to know my characters. That’s not for everyone so if you want a light romance, with a bit of spice and smidgeon of danger this is your book.

Its well written and edited and everything does add up, its just that I found the plots both on the danger and the romance side to be too thin for my taste.

Its priced at £3.35 for 182 pages so on the upper end of my VFM scale and its a one off read for me so no re read addition to the value scale.

Stars: Thin plots and characters, it was an OK story but not more than that, despite my expectations for something a bit spicier so just three stars.