It took me forever to get through this book, and I'm not entirely sure it was the book's fault but I'm also not sure it wasn't. I just never fully cliIt took me forever to get through this book, and I'm not entirely sure it was the book's fault but I'm also not sure it wasn't. I just never fully clicked with the story here. (view spoiler)[The mystery plot did nothing for me, and I was frustrated with the side characters frequently here. I really had no interest in any of the cast of new characters, whom I found relatively hard to keep track of and even harder to care about. It was obvious from the beginning that Edwin wasn't the person who assaulted Aggie. And I had zero use for the inspector character, who after being so clearly wrong about Aggie dying by suicide then just doesn't do any self-reflection or work and immediately goes back to the next easiest solution. Because Lyndy was locked up for a portion of the book, we were limited in the Stella and Lyndy scenes that we got. Just generally, this book didn't hold my interest. I won't say I'm officially done with this series, which I've always enjoyed enough while never being a standout for me, but I'll probably just give it one more entry to see if this was just an off book for me. (hide spoiler)]...more
Kris reviewing the first book in this series just inadvertently reminded me how angry this series made me, and how little I trust the author to do rigKris reviewing the first book in this series just inadvertently reminded me how angry this series made me, and how little I trust the author to do right by Camille. Officially marking this for my own records, and noting that I will likely not be reading this author again. (It's theoretically possible, but yeah, doubtful.)...more
This was fine as novellas go, but I admit I was a bit underwhelmed. I don't think enough focus was spent on Beth and Henry actually getting to know eaThis was fine as novellas go, but I admit I was a bit underwhelmed. I don't think enough focus was spent on Beth and Henry actually getting to know each other again, and I found how everything was handled with Beth's aunt and uncle to be frustrating and a bit of a letdown, given the aunt's behavior towards Beth and the uncle's general behavior/covering up of his father stealing from Beth's family. Not really what I was hoping for from this story tbh....more
I liked this! I admit to thinking this was a little on the long side, but I didn't really mind because most of it made sense. (view spoiler)[I also adI liked this! I admit to thinking this was a little on the long side, but I didn't really mind because most of it made sense. (view spoiler)[I also admit that I spent a good part of the first 75% of the book wondering what I was supposed to think about Grace and Ben, since I didn't really understand why Ben was supposedly such good friends with a complete asshole. I still don't think that 100% worked, but at least I eventually got resolution on that front. I think I had a few other small nits, but it's been a few days since I finished this and that was really the big one. (hide spoiler)]...more
Overall, I really enjoyed this. The MMC had a few alpha-esque tendencies that weren't my favorite, and there were a few things about this that read asOverall, I really enjoyed this. The MMC had a few alpha-esque tendencies that weren't my favorite, and there were a few things about this that read as "this book was published in the mid-1990s." But overall, I really liked Hester and Galen and enjoyed reading their story. Really glad I read this one....more
I reviewed the other entries separately, so this is for Crossroads only, but I really enjoyed it. I have a weird relationship with the True North univI reviewed the other entries separately, so this is for Crossroads only, but I really enjoyed it. I have a weird relationship with the True North universe, but I love the Rossis and their books always hit for me so I very much enjoyed spending time with them again. Loved Damien and Nicolette. Also really liked the framing around pop songs and holiday music for some of the chapters.
And with that, I think I've read all the holiday books I intended to read in December. Woo....more
So I never read this series years ago when everyone else was reading them/when it was published for whatever reason, but this was part of Holidating sSo I never read this series years ago when everyone else was reading them/when it was published for whatever reason, but this was part of Holidating so I figured I'd give it a shot. I enjoyed it fine! But it was a novella, so there just wasn't enough page space for me to get fully invested. I probably would go back and read the series itself, but I'm also not in a huge rush to do so....more
There was nothing necessarily bad about this book, but I checked it out from the library at the beginning of the month, tried to start it a fDNF @ 12%
There was nothing necessarily bad about this book, but I checked it out from the library at the beginning of the month, tried to start it a few times, and never really got into it. My loan expired, and I wasn't motivated to either push through to turn my Kindle wifi back on or check it back out. So I'm calling it....more
Right book, right time in a lot of ways, but honestly I had a good time reading this and would read more in this universe if B3.5/5 stars, rounding up
Right book, right time in a lot of ways, but honestly I had a good time reading this and would read more in this universe if Bowen had written the rest of the series (I see this is a multi-author series so my likelihood of reading more is significantly less)....more
**spoiler alert** The problem with this book is that the writing was great but the story just didn't work.
At bottom, the story here is that five years**spoiler alert** The problem with this book is that the writing was great but the story just didn't work.
At bottom, the story here is that five years ago, Magnus fell in love with Alexandra on sight and realized that her family's situation meant that if he went to her father and offered for her for a price, she would marry him. And that's what happened, until on their wedding night, he sees her in an embrace with a man. He leaves for a diplomatic position abroad the next day alone, and they don't see each other again until he returns to England five years later to sell his townhouse, accept an elevation to the peerage, and do some damage repair with her by his side for a few weeks before sending her to America to live apart from him for the rest of their lives. While they're getting ready to sell the townhouse, they stay at the Grand Palace on the Thames.
JAL did not do the work here to get me to believe that there was a reason the two characters fell in love in the present day. There were some genuinely lovely scenes in this - the ribbon flashback comes to mind immediately - but the fundamentals of the story just completely negated any work those did. Take the aforementioned ribbon flashback - instead of presenting it as the beginning of them getting to know each other on their first acquaintance, the entire rest of the flashback scenes were about how he manipulated her father into accepting his suit, how he loved her on sight because she was beautiful, and about how she felt pressured to accept the suit to save her family and take care of them, keep the peace, etc. I don't think the flashbacks ultimately presented Magnus in a good light - he didn't really know her. And while I understood his hurt in seeing her in the embrace with the man on their wedding night, the reality is that because he reacted the way he did, I just didn't believe there was a way for them to come back together. As Alexandra explains, she'd loved the other man (a tutor who lived next door and was leaving for another post) but knew nothing could come of it long before she even knew Magnus, but it was the one choice she could make for herself, when all of her other choices were taken away from her (not explicitly said, but by the situation Magnus orchestrated).
Magnus has been reacting from hurt this whole time because, of course, he loved her from the start, although I don't get the sense that he really understood her. But what I really didn't understand was why, five years later, Alexandra fell in love with Magnus. JAL did absolutely no work to make me understand why this was going to work out, and so much of the book was spent in set up that there was no time or page space to make me believe that these characters wanted anything from each other but to bang. (And, again, don't totally understand why Alexandra wanted to bang Magnus after he forced her hand in marriage and then left her, significantly limiting her social status and basically consigning her to staying at home alone for five years.) The writing here could not overcome the fundamental issues with story structure. This series has been hit or miss for me. The highs have been high, and the lows have been low. This one was a low....more
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