Monique S.'s Blog, page 5

Not quite 4 stars

Finding Fault by Annie McDonald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Finding Fault is a deep, slow burn romance with a nod to the enemies to lovers trope, but really it is about coping mechanisms and how they can work to the detriment of the person suffering whatever it is they are trying to just cope with instead of seeking a solution. Like "Anyone but You" the main theme here is corporate negligence (or sometimes wilful harm) towards the environment, which is what drew me to the book in the first place.

While the writing is good, it did not quite catch all my attention and I did not fall as deeply in love with the protagonists. While both, Evie and Merrit have complex and layered personalities, I did sympathise more with the side characters Steph and Angela, as well as Ruby and Max.

Also the suspense plot, while well thought out and written, was beating around the bush a lot, trying to play down the role of the pharmaceutical industry in damaging the environment. After all the fertilisers they produce are interesting for terrorists, because they were a way to get rid of byproducts and waste of the arms industry after the second world war and also mislead farmers worldwide into neglecting the natural methods of fertilising in favour of the much more environment polluting chemical nitrates. So, while the romance and the accompanying psychological insights were fascinating, the environmental ones were not, hence only four (weak, really just rounded up 3.5) stars.



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Nice and easy.

Proper English by K.J. Charles

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a good romance cleverly mixed with an unusual crime/suspense plot. I liked Pat from the start, a no nonsense-get things done kind of woman with a great heart. The way she takes the on first glance silly but adorable Fenella under her wings and then slowly succumbs to the emerging sharp intelligence and her voluptuous feminine curves is absolutely precious.

All the other characters are equally well worked and the plot is great and thoroughly entertaining. The language and grammar are appropriate to the English spoken at the turn of the Victorian to the Edwardian Era.

My only real criticism here is for the title design. Neither the cut of the décolleté and the seams of the dress or the earrings and the make-up of the model are appropriate for the time period. I reduced one star of the rating here for the manky Title image, just like I did for one of my top favourite books: After Sunset.



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Even better the second time.

A Love to Stay For by Amy DeMeritt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


All I'll add to my previous review (below) after this second read, this time as a solid physical book, YAY, is that it was even more of a joy to read slowly, really savouring the great writing :)

Finally a romance, that has two adult women, who are willing and able to face their attraction head on and neither runs away! Age gap? No problem. Difficult past? Lots of understanding and compassion. Other people’s opinion? Bugger that.

This book, on top of all that, has a brilliant plot with a really unexpected ramping up of the tension in the underlying storyline towards the end, that keeps you – were it a film – on the edge of your seat.

I much prefer that sort of drama to the always slightly artificial “I want you, but go away.” Or “I love you, but can’t deal with this, so I am running.” All of that gets rather old fast, if at least every second lesbian romance you read goes along those lines. It just makes things so dreadfully predictable.

If you want a happy end you can go there straight and if you want tension you can use your imagination and create it on another plane as the relationship. This book does that to perfection.

Thank you, Amy DeMeritt, for a wonderful read!



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Christmas and mistletoe?

Dear fellow authors, do any of you have an idea, where the kissing under the mistletoe comes from?

Fun fact: It is an unknowing bow to the Celtic Druids and preistesses, whose concoction made from the berries of the misletoe saved the ladies from unwanted pregnancies as a result of the Beltane rites. The concotion taken for seven days and then stopped induces an immediate cleansing of the uterus, also known as menstrual bleeding.

Five plus the same again brightly shining stars!

Southbound and down is the happy marriage between a hilarious romantic comedy and a gripping mystery/thriller, an achievement in itself and really well written to boot. Any more information would be spoilers. You definitely want to read this, trust me!

Southbound and Down

Why is there no category queer romance among the rewards?

Delilah Green doesn't care won the seventh place in the romance category, my heartfelt good wishes for, as I love the book and voted. BUT ...

Why are there no categories for queer themed books among the awards?

Come on, Goodreads, I am sure you cn do better than that!

A nice read.

Detour by Amy DeMeritt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I only read one other book by Amy DeMerrit: A love to stay for, so when I ran out of suggestions to read right now, I started re-reading it, but then I decided to re-read it as a proper book, as I liked it so much. So I ordered the paperback edition and went for this one instead.

At first it felt like a debut from an author trying to find her style. I have always found present tense narratives hard to read, even with a third person narrator. Having read her before, though I struggled through the first couple of chapters and found here, too, what I liked before, two adult characters, who behave appropriately to their age and experience. The storyline here, too, is interesting and pretty straight forward, a sweet sapphic romance without any teen-age doubts and fears and two women, who talk to each other and do their best to make their almost instant attraction last and develop into something stable and lasting.

The writing is not as smooth and elaborate as what I read before and the editing not as perfect, another fact that somehow hinted at it being an earlier work. It nevertheless was a nice read in the end, hence the slightly weak four stars.



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Highly enjoyable.

Blend by Georgia Beers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another lovely story by Georgia Beers about two women, who seem most unlikely to ever fall in love again, least of all with each other.

Thrown together by the wine bar Piper's father and mother created and ran, and Piper's mother's decision to finally overcome her grief and to live again two yers after her husbands death, Piper and Lindsay have to work together to run and better the bar's business. Piper has a fixed set of prejudices about Lindsay and does her best, to ensure that Lindsay sees her as the cold, ruthless and snarky business woman she has styled herself to be. Just their luck that opposites attract, even worse when they start discovering the undeniable, apparently only physical chemistry between them.

Both characters are well defined and their development is well credible. Interesting, too, are the lovely side characters, who are coworkers, friends of one or the other as well as Pipers elder sister Gina. A wonderfully easy and sometimes funny read, especially the sometimes hilarious word creations or phrases the characters come up with. I highly enjoyed this.



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The climax.

She'll Steal Your Heart by Rachel Lacey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This, in a lot of ways, really is the climax of the series in all respects.



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A lovely series this Midnight in Manhatten.

Come Away with Me by Rachel Lacey




This is exactly the antidote to my previous abandoned book.

Come away with me is a sweet and also hot romance between a flight attendant and a TV- but also movie star. Piper is struggling with an experience that would shoot anyone into panic and nightmares. But the pressure to have to keep it under wraps is almost too much. Chloë on the other hand has just taken a decision to buy a house in the Apallachian mountains to be near her family and the niece, that is the daughter of her deceased twin. Not at all two handicaps, that are easy to overcome, but the two of them complement each other in completely unexpected ways and both fight for their love to survive. With success, of course. A lovely read! I really like this series.



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