Vienna Waltz by Teresa Grant (Rannoch Series #1) - 5 stars

Vienna Waltz by Teresa Grant is a mesmerizing murder mystery set during the Congress of Vienna, and it will have you glued to your King Louis the XIV settee awaiting the revelation of “who dunnit.”  I cannot say enough positive things about this novel.  I would give it six out of five stars, if that were possible, but alas, I can only give it 5 stars.

 

 

In Vienna Waltz, many powerful men and women have descended upon Vienna in order to re-draw the European map after Napoleon’s abdication, but murder, gossip and intrigue are the most popular social activities.  As part of the British delegation, Malcolm Rannoch is tasked to Lord Castlereagh as an attaché, but his real value is in espionage.  Malcolm and his wife, Suzanne, are surreptitiously summoned by Princess Tatiana, former mistress to a few Congress attendees, to meet at her lodgings in the dead of night.  Unfortunately, it is Princess Tatiana who is dead when they arrive, and Malcolm is the Austrian’s chief suspect, as well as Castlereagh’s chosen investigator.  It seems as though every country and/or powerful person in Vienna has a motive for murder, even the women.

 

 

In order to find Princess Tatiana’s killer, Malcolm must accept his wife’s help and stay alive long enough to find out the real reason why the princess was killed.  In the process, the foundation of Malcolm’s marriage is shaken, and he and Suzanne must trust each other at the most difficult times.  Otherwise, the fragile European peace will deteriorate again into war.

 

 

I absolutely loved this book.  This history is deliciously complex, but not so difficult as to prevent the reader from understanding the plotline.  There is also a helpful list of characters in the beginning of the novel, which identifies who is who and which characters actually existed.

 

 

Aside from the fantastic historical parts, the characters are well developed and retain their individual integrity throughout the novel.  The mystery is so well done that I could not guess who the murderer was.  Until the very end, I was still guessing at who and why, with several different plausible theories.  Needless to say that the pace was quick, and the reader is kept moving like the waltz itself.

 

 

Vienna Waltz is historical fiction at its spellbinding best, taking complicated historical events and weaving them through a fictional story so compelling you won’t be able to put it down.  If you are even remotely a fan of history, you will love this book.

 

 

**Review shared with The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10565.

An Improper Pursuit by Julia Parks - 3 stars

AN IMPROPER PURSUIT by Julia Parks is a proper addition to any eReader, with action, romance, and relatable family dynamics. I give it three stars.

In AN IMPROPER PURSUIT, spinster Chastity Hartford is biding her time until she comes into her inheritance and can set up her own household. Having been "ruined" during her first Season, Chastity suffers her mother's constant criticisms and her sisters' clueless teasing. During a Christmas house party, Chastity is reunited with Alexander Fitzsimmons, her adolescent crush whom she hasn't seen in ten years.

Alex is almost immediately enamored by a very grown-up Chastity, and he takes advantage of the holiday mistletoe to kiss her whenever possible. Unfortunately, Alex isn't visiting the Hartfords to celebrate the holidays; Alex has been tasked by the Home Office to uncover a French spy in the Hartfords' area. His desire to woo Chastity conflicts with his devotion to his country with dire consequences.

AN IMPROPER PURSUIT is deceptively calm for most of the book, but fifty pages from the end, the reader's expectations are upended. Two days before Christmas, the spy is revealed and life for Chastity and Alex becomes terrifyingly dangerous. This change of pace was shocking, but the reader probably feels it just as Chastity would.

For the most part, the plotline and development of the romantic relationship were realistic. The romance is fairly clean, making the book appropriate for teens and adults alike. I really loved how the sisters interacted. Their relationships illustrate how siblings' experiences of the same events can be entirely different, and that even though you may have known someone your entire life, you may not know them as well as you think.

The novel only briefly dips into the stereotypical melodrama of the male protagonist trying to "protect" his female from danger by not telling her the truth, while the female does whatever is necessary to uncover the truth, thereby throwing herself directly in harm's way. Perhaps my irritation with this aspect of regency romance plotlines has more to do with the fact that I was not raised during the 1800's, when "women's rights" was still an oxymoron.

Overall, AN IMPROPER PURSUIT is an entertaining novel for all, and a great option for your summer reading list.


**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=9852

Lycan Unleashed by Tiffany Allee - 4 stars

Grab onto your seats because LYCAN UNLEASHED by Tiffany Allee will take you on one wild ride. Between the crazy Otherworlders, unresolved romantic interests, and the twists and turns in the plot, this novel has something for everyone. I give it 4 stars and look forward to reading more of Ms. Allee's work.

In LYCAN UNLEASHED, detective Astrid Holmes uses her special talents to help solve crimes. Astrid is a "sensitive," which means exactly that; she is sensitive to the energy around her, whether it comes from vampire, lycanthrope, salamander – yes, you read that correctly: salamander – or inanimate objects. When evidence goes missing in a murder case she is helping investigate, she is put on administrative leave until being cleared. Astrid circumvents her boss's benching by persuading a "former" romantic interest to let her consult on the OWEA (Otherworlder Enforcement Agency) side of the investigation.

Mason Sanderson, a lycan, has serious feelings for Astrid, but he is still haunted by the demise of a previous relationship. They have to work out their romantic issues and solve the murder case before one or both of them is killed in the process.

I love murder mysteries, and I was seriously hooked by this one from the beginning. The pace of the book was quick and steady, giving you just enough information to gnaw on before changing scenes. The description of the otherworlders was enough to help you understand who's who in the book when you need to know, but not so much that it reads like an encyclopedia. I loved Astrid's description of how her sensitivities feel, especially the taste of people's energy.

The plotline is simple, which is great because it counterbalances the complexity of the world in which Astrid lives, and the romantic development is absolutely believable. The heat level of this novel rates about a 3, appropriate for readers 18 years old and up.

Most importantly, I was not able to guess "who dunnit" or predict the end, which makes the novel a winner in my book. There really wasn't anything about the novel that I didn't like. Even the length was perfect – not too short for the reader to feel cheated, and not too long for the story to drag.

All in all, LYCAN UNLEASHED was a fantastic murder mystery, easy to read and enjoy over a few days (or 1 day if you have no obligations), and I recommend it to all paranormal romance and murder mystery lovers.


**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10275.

47 Destinies by Marlies Schudlach Perez - 3 stars

Marlies Schudlach Perez's 47 DESTINIES is a compelling novel about daring to dream big and refusing to settle timidly in life. I give it three stars for its theme and message, which are so appropriate for our 21st Century lives.

In 47 DESTINIES, Cora Jacobs thinks that her life is on the right course. She has a job (not great, but strategic) as an intern at an environmental company, a handsome boyfriend, who is reliable and kind and with whom she has a comfortable relationship. She ignores the little things that bother her about her love life until she finally meets her boss, Brent Locke.

Brent Locke, recently positioned as CEO of his family's corporation after a family tragedy, has determined to protect himself from the pain of relationships by being stern and uninvolved. However, his new intern throws him for a loop. She gets under his skin and somehow persuades him to open up, but there are serious impediments to their relationship – Cora's boyfriend, her belief that Brent is married, and the interference of Brent's family. Will Cora and Brent succeed where others have failed?

On the whole, I liked 47 DESTINIES and its theme. Too often, I see women who settle for less than what they want in relationships – not less in terms of social status or physical possessions, but less in terms of commitment and emotional connection. Emotional connection is difficult in real life, and because art imitates life, it is even more difficult to achieve in a novel without feeling melodramatic or contrived.

Here, Cora is faced with a choice between a risky man to whom she is seriously attracted and a safe man about whom she feels lukewarm. Don't be fooled by her happy ending. It takes strength to stick with that decision, and I felt Cora lacked that kind of character. She crosses the line several times as she attempts to figure out what she wants and how to communicate it. I suppose I should cut her some slack because, after all, she's only human, but I really did not like her inability to distance herself from her "married" boss. Kissing a married man is just not okay in my book. Kissing your boss is just stupid, like lighting a match in a room full of dynamite. Kissing two guys on the same day also shows some serious weakness of character.

To say I was disappointed in Cora's character is an understatement. Her soul searching lacked credibility to me. Forty pages from the end of the book, Cora finally thinks about God. It was too little, too late to be believable, especially when the idea of Kate Morgan's ghost was mentioned so early in the novel. Spirituality and God could easily have been introduced at that point, and Cora's views could have been illustrated.

I appreciate the development of Brent's character. The reader definitely sees him softening towards Cora, and his surreptitious machinations regarding her employment with his company showed thoughtfulness and maturity. Some of Brent's thoughts and narration were on the melodramatic side, but because he's purposefully enigmatic in the beginning, the reader should be ready for anything from him. Heat level rating is a 3, love scenes are appropriate for those 18 and older.

I would have liked to see more finesse and nuance in the narration and dialogue. Sometimes the descriptions or the characters' conversations felt stiff and overly proper, as if the reader wouldn't understand the scene if a pronoun was used instead of the character's name, or as if full words were necessary instead of contractions. I agree that some authors are too free with their contractions to the point that the verb tense is unclear, but here I would have liked to see more "it's" instead of "it is." Also, some of the narration switches perspective in the middle of the paragraph, which was a tad confusing at times.

Overall, I enjoyed 47 DESTINIES, and recommend it for your summer reading list.


**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10239

47 Destinites: Discovering Grace by Marlies Schudlach Perez - 2 stars

Marlies Schudlach Perez's 47 DESTINIES (Book 2): DISCOVERING GRACE is a novel about daring to overcome fear and the negative influences of others. I give it two stars for its theme and message, which are appropriate for our 21st Century lives, but recommend major revisions to streamline and clarify the plotline.

In 47 DESTINIES: DISCOVERING GRACE, Grace Ann Locke has protected herself from hurt by keeping her late husband Derek alive in their house. She still wears her ring and meditates on his death daily, even though he has been dead for several years. Unfortunately, Grace's family, mother-in-law Leslie and soon to be sister-in-law Cora, think it is time for Grace to start dating again.

After several disastrous dates, Grace chucks the idea of dating, and just when she thinks she is out of the woods, she falls in love with Todd Harcourt, one of Cora's old flames. Between the meddlesome and often rude family, the appearances of Derek's ghost, and one character's surprise health issues, Grace and Todd have to figure out how to be together.

As with the first book in this series, I liked the theme of 47 DESTINIES: DISCOVERING GRACE. It is true that fear can cause personal stagnation as well as familial problems, and it is nice to see the encouragement to break free of that fear in everyday reading. Unfortunately, the theme is where my commendation ends, as the illustration of that theme needs major work to be credible.

One of the main issues troubling this novel is the incredible glut of narration and how it holds the book hostage to a glacial pace. While having descriptions of people's clothes or the places they visit is helpful for the reader to form a mental image of a scene, it is often possible to work the important details into dialogue that actually moves the plot along, without causing the pace to suffer. If a character's shirt color isn't necessary to illustrate a character or isn't connected to the plotline, it should be left out. After the fifteenth shirt color, the reader couldn't care less about what the character is wearing.

In certain situations, Grace explains the history of a place to her scene companion. A few times, the companion will comment on her unusual propensity to know the detailed history of a place, which acknowledges and illustrates her quirky character. In other parts, the novel reads like a travel guide--dry, overly instructive, and irrelevant. Travel guides have a different purpose and audience than fiction, and the writing style should be appropriately different. I felt hindered by the minutiae at every page turn and found myself wanting to skip whole paragraphs of narration just to get to the relevant dialogue.

The narration was also full of repetitive hyperbole. Yes, this is a romance; so some discussion of the characters' feelings is appropriate, but there were so many points where the narration felt trite and insincere. I believe that Todd and Grace fell in love, but that was because of the dialogue and the length of time they knew each other, not because of how the narration spelled out in painful detail how Grace hadn't been "alive" before she met Todd.

Aside from the superfluous narration, this novel has the same issues as the first novel with the stiff narration and overly proper dialogue that would flow so much smoother if contractions and pronouns were used. There were also serious inconsistencies with the scene setting, characters' actions, and timeline that were distracting and confusing.

Overall, I did not enjoy 47 DESTINIES: DISCOVERING GRACE, and I hope that these issues are taken into account when performing final edits of the next book in this series.


**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10240.

A Taylor-Made Life by Kary Rader - 4 stars

Live the life you're given; love the life you make. Get out your tissue box; A TAYLOR-MADE LIFE by Kary Rader will make you laugh, cry, and contemplate your own life and mortality. With a bold female protagonist and a hardened hero, this novel confronts the difficulties of living and dying with cancer. I give it 4 stars.

In A TAYLOR-MADE LIFE, teenage Taylor Smith is living with leukemia, hoping for a bone marrow match to save her life. In the meantime, she is attempting to live her life to the full, and to her, that means experiencing sex. No sooner does she get her mom on board with her goal of finding a lover/one-night stand, but a cancer mentor program pairs her with Gavin Taylor, genius, wealthy, and extremely good looking computer programmer.

Gavin has undergone experimental treatments, but nothing has cured his cancer. He has anywhere from six months to two years to live, and is using a matchmaker for celebrities to find a wife who will love him for him and not for his money, and play computer games with him until his time is up. Once Gavin and Taylor meet, though, no one else will suffice for either of them, but as all couples do, these two have issues to work through.

I really enjoyed this novel, even though it seriously made me cry. I don't want to give anything away, but ironically, I would have given it 5 stars if the ending were a bit happier/ fluffier. I had to read or watch something really lighthearted so that I wouldn't succumb to the melancholy I felt upon finishing the book. My desires for a complete happy ending aside, the storyline seems very natural under the circumstances, although with healthy characters, the plotline and the mom's actions/attitude would be outrageously unbelievable.

The pacing and flow of the book were perfect, and there were only a handful of typos that were easy to get past. I appreciated the appropriately brief and vague love scenes, which allow a heat rating of 2 and make the book appropriate for teens and adults alike.

I could have used a bit more development of the romantic relationship, but it could be that my non-terminally ill mind cannot quite grasp the speed and certainty with which the characters fall in love with each other. Even so, I felt challenged by the characters to live the life I've been given and to stop dwelling on regrets or things I wish were different.

Overall, A TAYLOR-MADE LIFE is a great read that I highly recommend to all.


**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=9894.

Betrothal by Jenna Jaxon - 2 stars

BETROTHAL by Jenna Jaxon, the first of three novellas set in medieval England, illustrates the arduous process of getting to know a future spouse under the extreme pressure of an arranged marriage. I enjoyed the last novel I read by Jenna Jaxon, and so was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the pace and plotline. I give BETROTHAL 2 stars.

Lady Alyse and Sir Geoffrey are betrothed via an agreement among their fathers and the king. After a couple of months they will leave England, possibly forever, and accompany Princess Joanna to Spain for her marriage. Prior to her betrothal, Alyse had eyes for Lord Braeton, one of Geoffrey's best friends.

Alyse and Geoffrey have two weeks to get acquainted before the wedding.  In getting to know Geoffrey, Alyse also interacts with Braeton, and her wit and intelligence peak his interest. Lord Braeton's past has made him cynical, and he undermines Geoffrey's efforts to build trust with Alyse. As if their challenges were not already enough, Geoffrey is called home unexpectedly. Will Geoffrey be able to build enough of a relationship with Alyse before he leaves to carry them through the wedding?

I was initially intrigued by the plot summary, and pleased by the believable dialogue, but BETROTHAL fell far short of my overall expectations. While I appreciate novels that actually illustrate the development of a romance, the romantic development in BETROTHAL seemed tedious and often felt like the novel wasn't going anywhere. Until the very end of BETROTHAL, I didn't know that there were going to be two more novellas, and so I felt cheated out of an actual plotline. Even without reading the next two novellas, I can say that I would have preferred all three novellas condensed into one full-length novel. That way, the background, getting-to-know-you part of the relationship could be more concise.

While the pace and plotline were my two big issues with the novella, there were also enough typos, grammatical errors and awkward sentence structures to distract the reader from the story. Overall, I did not enjoy the book and based on this novella, I would have preferred to read one full-length novel.


**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10086.

Cross the Ocean by Holly Bush - 2 stars

CROSS THE OCEAN by Holly Bush is a late 19th century historical romance that spans continents and couture. While the extreme concept of a duke abandoning his traditional British life for a life on America's frontier as a rancher was interesting, the story was hamstrung by pacing issues, lack of depth or reason in the main romantic relationship, and major editing issues.

In CROSS THE OCEAN, Blake Sanders is the Duke of Wexford and has never before been out of control of his life. He inherited the title young and has always done his duty and ruled his duchy with a traditional mindset – the wife is for producing an heir and a spare, the mistress is for satisfying his other needs, the children are meant to marry well and improve the family connections and coffers.

When Blake's wife of almost eighteen years leaves him for a Scottish shipping merchant on the eve of their daughter's debut, he is bewildered and can't help but act inappropriately. He gets into several heated arguments with his neighbors' American cousin, Gertrude, who speaks her mind regardless of tact or decorum. After one such argument, he kisses her in front of his friends and family, and it all goes downhill from there. Over the next year, his entire life goes through a paradigm shift, and he must discover who he is, what is really important to him, and how far he is willing to go to get what he wants. The title provides readers with a clue: he crosses an ocean.

When I initially read the plot summary for CROSS THE OCEAN, I was intrigued, but from the beginning of the book, I was astounded by the characters' behavior. Gertrude's behavior, specifically, was downright rude, invasive, and outrageous no matter what country you call home. Yet her hosts did nothing to curb her impolitic criticism of their friend. I almost didn't get past the first 50 pages because I disliked Gertrude so much. Adding to that, Blake did not do the logical thing and simply leave his friends' house. The whole scenario was completely unbelievable.

Next, there was no credible development of the romantic relationship between Blake and Gertrude. Blake can't seem to stop arguing with Gertrude and making a scene wherever they meet. He also cannot stop kissing her. The tension between them grows to such a pitch with the speed of light that she cuts her trip short and books passage for the U.S. Before she can leave though, she attends a house party with Blake and the family. He plans a rendezvous with an old lover in hopes of getting his mind off of Gertrude, but accidentally winds up in Gertrude's room. Gertrude winds up pregnant. This progression of their relationship felt forced and lacked credibility. There is no reason offered for their attraction, and no rationale for their "love".

Throughout nearly the entire book, I felt like Blake got a bad rap. All of the characters love, love, love Gertrude, and criticize and blame Blake for their problems. Any adult should understand that it takes two people to make or break a relationship. Yes, Blake needed a wake-up call, and yes, he was the stereotypical aristocrat. That doesn't mean that Gertrude lacks faults or responsibility for her own actions.

The novel suffered from poor editing and definitely needs another round of examination. Punctuation errors, misspellings, subject/verb disagreements, and other blatant editing issues distracted and sometimes confused.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book. The story seemed to gain a smidgen of substance after Blake crossed the ocean, but it was too little, too late for me. I recommend major revisions with an eye toward correcting the editing issues and giving the romantic relationship more substance prior to Gertrude's return to America.