Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 28
May 10, 2018
A Royal Wedding – release day!
It’s release day for A Royal Wedding, written by my alter ego Jeevani Charika. It’s available on all ebook platforms now.
Here are five things I’ve tried to explore in the book:
Feminist princesses – is this possible? Given that we’ve had some many powerful Queens, we know that the royal family tends towards powerful women, so why not have powerful women who want to work make life better for other women? My heroine, Kumari is campaigning for a project that educates women in basic health and...
May 8, 2018
Book Review: Marrying the Rebel Prince by Janet Gover
Marrying the Rebel Prince: Your invitation to the most uplifting romantic royal wedding of 2018! by Janet Gover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I like Janet Gover’s books and I’m quite excited about the upcoming royal wedding, so I read Marrying the Rebel Prince as soon as it hit my Kindle.
Lauren is an outspoken artist who has been commissioned to paint HRH Prince Nicholas’s portrait.
Prince Nicholas is the ‘spare heir’ and has some issues of his own. They don’t exactly hit it off when they first me...
May 3, 2018
A Royal Wedding – why have two covers?
Just a week to go before A Royal Wedding is released… and here are the covers:
Aren’t they beautiful!
Someone on my newsletter list asked why I have two covers. (Why yes, the newsletter subscribers get to hear stuff first; you should sign up!) The reason is that different markets tend to have different styles that do well. In the UK, where ‘chick lit’ is a popular subgenre of contemporary romance, cartoon/ graphics covers do well. So the cover on the left is the UK cover. In the US, where th...
May 1, 2018
Book Review: Not Your Cinderella by Kate Johnson
Not Your Cinderella: a Royal Wedding Romance by Kate Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book. Prince Jamie is starting PhD at Cambridge. He’s awfully proper when he’s in public, but he’s a computer science geek in private. My kind of hero.
Clodagh is a mixed race barmaid, who is trying to get her A-levels and go to university to study history. She’s bright, but she’s only one or two shifts away from homelessness.
The pace gallops along and there’s so much to unpack about class and s...
April 25, 2018
I’m in the Bookseller … with a whole new name
I’ve got some news that I’ve been sitting on for a number of months now. I’m getting a whole new pen name – Jeevani Charika. The main difference between Rhoda and Jeevani is that Jeevani writes about Sri Lakan protagonists.
I wrote a Royal Wedding romance for Bonnier Zaffre. It’s called A Royal Wedding and it’s coming out on the 10th of May … I should have cover(s) to show you really soon.
In the meantime, here’s my new website! I intend to keep blogging etc on this site rather than the new...
April 24, 2018
Book Review: Unveiled by Courtney Milan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I bought this as a box set after Red Headed Girl from Smart Bitches mentioned it (and I LOVED The Brothers Sinister series). I raced through the box set over the Easter weekend. I really liked the portrayal of a hero with dyslexia, partly because Ash worked around his dyslexia so well. His instincts and ability to work well with numbers gave him an advantage in business.
Ash Turner is ruthless, but everyone likes him. We meet him at the point...
April 17, 2018
Book review: Warwick’s Mermaid by Ellie Gray
Warwick’s Mermaid by Ellie Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a sweet romance set in Whitby. Chloe is recovering after escaping an abusive relationship. Arguably, her relationship with her mother is also bordering on abusive, but in a very different way. She’s rented a cottage on one side of an isolated bay.
Luke has rented the cottage on the other side of the bay.
There’s a good amount of intrigue and angst and romance. It’s a gentle, sweet read.
[And I love the title!]
Buy Link UK: Warwic...
April 10, 2018
Book review: Emma Ever After by Brigid Coady
Emma Ever After by Brigid Coady
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a modern adaptation of Emma, not the easiest of stories to adapt because not a lot happens and Emma is so, well, Clueless.
In this version Emma works for a PR firm, coming up with faux-mances between celebrities for PR purposes. She lives with Gee Knightly, former boy band superstar.
Gee was a really interesting character. Emma was well meaning but a bit of an idiot. The supporting cast were interesting and varied.
I enjoyed the...
April 3, 2018
Book Review: Heath’s Hope by Alicia Hunter Pace
Heath’s Hope by Alicia Hunter Pace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a novella set in the small town of Beauford Bend. I bought it was part of a box set of beta hero books by Crimson Romance.
Hope is back in town to help look after her father. She’s a banker. She left town after splitting up with Heath broke her heart and is surprised to see him there.
Heath is a specialist stained glass artist. He moved his business back to town after his first wife died.
Both the main characters are adorable...
March 27, 2018
Book Review: Acute Reactions by Ruby Lang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I bought this book as part of a box set of beta hero books from Crimson Romance. There is so much about it that I loved.
First of all there’s Petra – she’s competent, smart and prone to overthinking things and tying herself in knots about it. Then there’s Ian who is hardworking and caring and generally lovely – also, allergic to cats.
It’s cute and romantic. There’s a fair bit of ethnic diversity (unobtrusively delivered). There’s a great c...
