A COURTESAN'S DESIRES by Killarney Sheffield is a tragedy in the best sense. It
pulls you on an emotional journey while showing you another side of the Regency
era romance - that of life as an immigrant. The realism is intense and
definitely worth the read.
A COURTESAN'S DESIRES tells the tale of Rachel
Sholis, a fifteen year-old girl in a Hutterite (similar to Amish) community, who
is on the cusp of getting her heart's desire - a husband. The leader of her
community in Germany is tricked into sending half the community to England,
though, allegedly to set up a new community there, and Rachel's family is chosen
to go, separating her from the young man she cared for.
Tragedy befalls
the Hutterite group on the voyage. Many of the people get sick; Rachel's own
mother dies on the boat. Then the ship breaks up in the middle of a storm, and
she is the only one who survives. Washed up on the beach with no family to
protect her, she is raped by sailors who survived the wreck, thrown into Newgate prison,
purchased by a man who forces her into a life as a courtesan, and then sold to
the Duke of Eastborne, with whom she falls in love.
This book is not for
the faint of heart and should come with its own box of tissues. The drama
described above occurs within the first 40 pages of the book, and Rachel's life
continues to get worse. She doesn't know whom to trust, and ends up putting her
trust in the wrong man.
Tragedy aside, A COURTESAN'S DESIRES is, for the
most part, well written. The characters' emotions and Rachel's naiveté are
clearly conveyed. With every twist and turn of the plot, the reader is taken on
an emotional roller coaster that continues until the very end of the book. I
would have liked it, though, if the ending was not so abrupt. Readers love happy
endings, and if there is a happy ending, that part of the story should be told,
especially if the characters have gone through some heart wrenching times. While
A COURTESAN'S DESIRES ends with some happiness, there wasn't enough time spent
describing it, so emotionally, I was left still feeling blue.
The
development of the romance between the duke and Rachel also needed some work.
While at the beginning, one can understand how Rachel would feel like she had
fallen in love with the duke - given everything she's been through, he's the
first person in this new land to genuinely care about her - there is too little
time spent showing how that love matures. With the duke, I wasn't quite sure why
he fell in love with Rachel. I would have liked there to be more description of
his feelings for Rachel in the beginning, as well as in the end.
Despite
the fact that the book is heavy on the tragedy and light on the development of
the romance between the characters, there is still plenty of good reading here.
If you are a fan of historical fiction that is grounded more in the difficulties
of the lower classes rather than the privileges of the nobility, or if you just
want a different perspective on life in England during the Regency era, then
this book is definitely for you
Review originally written for The Romance Reviews:
http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=6638
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Exhumed by Skyla Dawn Cameron - 4 stars
EXHUMED by Skyla Dawn Cameron is fast, funny, and furious; at times, your
whiplash can mirror that suffered by some of the characters. I loved it. The
action and fight scenes were intense, the romance bittersweet, and it left me
wanting more.
EXHUMED is the fourth book in the Demons of Oblivion series - the continuation of the story of Zara Lain, vampire, bounty hunter, and assassin. While we get snippets of her history, most of this book focuses on her attempt to assimilate Nate, her boyfriend, to life as a vampire. She turned him into a vampire without his consent six years prior, but he has just come out of the incubation period and is quite the savage. Nate doesn't completely recognize Zara, and she has to figure out how to reorient him with his new life while preventing him from killing her, keeping them both from being killed by other supernaturals, and averting the apocalypse.
The book moved at a fast pace, had great action scenes that could rival major motion pictures, was even funny at times, and had some nice twists. I only had two issues with the book, the first of which can easily be avoided by other readers. EXHUMED is not the first book in the series and really cannot be read as a stand-alone novel. (The cover art also does not alert the reader to this fact.) There are just too many details that require the foreknowledge gained from the previous books to understand the motivations of the characters and the parameters of the paranormal world created by the book. Other than that, Zara is worse than a sailor; she curses as if she knows no other language. While I understand that using expletives is the norm for many people, here, it is just downright distracting from the rest of the text. Since the book is written in first person, all of the narration is filled with expletives, too. The reader simply does not need that many expletives to understand that Zara is a real bad@*#.
The romance is well done and easy to believe. Both narration and dialogue give enough of the emotional history for the reader to easily accept the premise that Zara and Nate were deeply in love before she turned him into a vampire without asking. The romance is also believable in that it is sometimes sweet and sometimes hot, but really heavy on the bittersweet. People make mistakes and have to live with the consequences of their actions. EXHUMED does a great job of adhering to that truism. As for the heat level, I would give this a rating of 3 out of 5.
The ending of the book was well done. The immediate issues in the book are resolved, but the characters still have a lot to address in their lives. Sadly, the author's note at the end of the book indicates that while there will be more to this series, there may not be another book focused on Zara and Nate. I would definitely be interested in another book that gives us the story of how things work out for these two in the future, and I will definitely be checking out the other books in this series.
Review originally written for The Romance Reviews:
http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=6749
EXHUMED is the fourth book in the Demons of Oblivion series - the continuation of the story of Zara Lain, vampire, bounty hunter, and assassin. While we get snippets of her history, most of this book focuses on her attempt to assimilate Nate, her boyfriend, to life as a vampire. She turned him into a vampire without his consent six years prior, but he has just come out of the incubation period and is quite the savage. Nate doesn't completely recognize Zara, and she has to figure out how to reorient him with his new life while preventing him from killing her, keeping them both from being killed by other supernaturals, and averting the apocalypse.
The book moved at a fast pace, had great action scenes that could rival major motion pictures, was even funny at times, and had some nice twists. I only had two issues with the book, the first of which can easily be avoided by other readers. EXHUMED is not the first book in the series and really cannot be read as a stand-alone novel. (The cover art also does not alert the reader to this fact.) There are just too many details that require the foreknowledge gained from the previous books to understand the motivations of the characters and the parameters of the paranormal world created by the book. Other than that, Zara is worse than a sailor; she curses as if she knows no other language. While I understand that using expletives is the norm for many people, here, it is just downright distracting from the rest of the text. Since the book is written in first person, all of the narration is filled with expletives, too. The reader simply does not need that many expletives to understand that Zara is a real bad@*#.
The romance is well done and easy to believe. Both narration and dialogue give enough of the emotional history for the reader to easily accept the premise that Zara and Nate were deeply in love before she turned him into a vampire without asking. The romance is also believable in that it is sometimes sweet and sometimes hot, but really heavy on the bittersweet. People make mistakes and have to live with the consequences of their actions. EXHUMED does a great job of adhering to that truism. As for the heat level, I would give this a rating of 3 out of 5.
The ending of the book was well done. The immediate issues in the book are resolved, but the characters still have a lot to address in their lives. Sadly, the author's note at the end of the book indicates that while there will be more to this series, there may not be another book focused on Zara and Nate. I would definitely be interested in another book that gives us the story of how things work out for these two in the future, and I will definitely be checking out the other books in this series.
Review originally written for The Romance Reviews:
http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=6749
The Last Shift by Susan Phelan - 5 stars
THE LAST SHIFT definitely cannot be Susan Phelan's Last Book if I have anything to say about it. This vampire Grisham-esqe suspense has everything a reader could want. I highly recommend this book for its excellent writing, innovative vampires, and smart suspense.
THE LAST SHIFT tells the tale of Elizabeth Leigh Bryan, aka Libby, a District Attorney-turned-writer, who gets shot one Friday evening during a robbery at her local food mart. Or rather, she thinks it was a robbery. The actual reason for the attack is soon revealed; someone wants Libby dead. Lucky for Libby, the homicide detective assigned to her case, Jude Madison, is a vampire (but don't call him that because the word allows too many misconceptions of who he is) and an excellent detective. The drama unfolds as Jude and his fellow officers search for the killer and try to keep her alive, while she tries to deal with the separation from her husband and the new reality of being on someone's hit list.
I loved this book, and really cannot say too many good things about it. The prologue hooks you immediately, and the tempo, especially in the first few chapters, keeps you glued to the edge of your seat.
The plot is fantastic - just the right number of elements and no distracting tangents. Every aspect of the storyline has a purpose, and all the questions raised throughout the book are resolved by the end. The mystery is smart and keeps you guessing. I thought right off the bat I knew who the bad guy was, but then new suspects kept popping up. The vampire element of the book is refreshing and also explained well - simply, straightforward, and with appropriate timing. The ending was not what I expected, but was even better, giving me what I wanted without a lot of fuss.
The relationship between Jude and Libby was developed appropriately for the circumstances. There was depth, dialogue, and desire. Regarding the heat level, this book definitely rates a 1 out of 5 (a lot of emotion and looking, but no serious contact), and given the subject matter, the book is appropriate for readers 16 and up. The relationship between Libby and her soon-to-be ex-husband is also well done. Their interactions are heavy with the emotions of shared history and heart wrenching betrayal, and their story is mostly revealed through dialogue, which for me, is the best way to tell a story.
There were only minor editing errors, but they did not detract from the story. The book cover, though, is too cheesy for words, and to my immense relief, is wholly unrepresentative of the book.
THE LAST SHIFT was a fantastic read, and I absolutely intend on reading Ms. Phelan's three other books in The Blood Tapestry Series. Don't worry; since each story is distinctly different, it won't make a difference in what order you read them. If the others are as great as this one, I'll be a happy reader for a long while.
Review was originally written for The Romance Reviews:
http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=6784
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