reading_historical_romance's reviews
447 reviews

This is not the review I wanted to be writing.  I really love Alexandra Vasti's Halifax Hellions series, so I went into this book with definite expectations for her first trad published novel.   I'm conflicted about how to review this because I think she is such a gifted writer,  but the plot of this particular book just didn't work for me personally.   I DNF'd at 65% because the only storyline that I was really interested in -- the romance between Selina and Peter -- had been told and resolved. 

After Peter and Selina were married, the narrative cycled into a loop of Selina having moments of insecurity and catastrophizing about damage to Peter's reputation because she owns a scandalous circulating library for women, and Peter reassuring her that everything would be fine and that even if their secrets were exposed, he wouldn't care whatsoever.   The subplot involving Peter's efforts to gain custody over his half-siblings didn't resonate with me, and seemed too unrealistic.  (A Duke would need to fight in court over bastard kids no one wants?  Really?)

Peter's character was more complex, better developed, and interesting than Selina's, who became fairly one-note to me as she was constantly in a state of melodrama of her own making, and over things that just weren't that serious.   And because there wasn't a strong secondary cast of characters that I was invested in, that left all of my interest falling on Peter.  Once he achieved his HEA and married his girl, and repeatedly demonstrated his unshakeable devotion to her, I was perfectly satisfied for the book to end there.  Peter didn't have anything else going on that had high enough emotional stakes for me. 

I'm going to rate this novel a solid 3 stars because it falls right there in the category of "I enjoyed what I read, but I won't revisit it,"   

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

I loved this one!  I read it in one day because I got so immersed in this small town, holiday romance between former high school classmates, now graduate students, Ash and Hazel. 

This rom-com takes place during the characters’ Christmas break from grad school at the University of Texas.  It is tropey in all the best snowed in/one bed, flirty Christmas shopping and gingerbread house making, dysfunctional family chaos kind of way. 

Ash is an earnest, conscientious 10/10 golden retriever who has been in love with Hazel since senior year in high school, when she was dating his dude-bro best friend.  Five years later, Hazel is 23 and finishing her first semester of her PhD program when she randomly wanders into Ash’s workplace, a small coffee shop off the college town beaten path.  She thought he couldn’t stand her; he thought she couldn’t stand him.  And the rest is history when they sit down and start talking to each other. 

This debut gives some really great laugh out loud moments, angsty moments, and overall warm and fuzzy, gentle vibes that will have you swooning over Ash and how much he adores Hazel.  The romance is open door but not explicit, and all of the spice feels organic to the characters and the story. 

I will be recommending this one as a holiday read and I look forward to this author’s next book. 

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this novel.  All opinions are my own. 

 

My Lady’s Secrets is the perfect example of my reasoning not to DNF an ARC before 50%, because if I picked this one up as a casual reader, I would have. But the last 50% was SO GOOD. It makes me sad that this book suffers from needless obfuscation by the author in an effort to be clever. If she had just started telling us the story with clear delineations between the past and the present, told the backstory in chronological order, and didn’t try to be “literary” with needless compound prosy sentences that made everything hard to follow, this would have been a great book.

I think part of the problem is that the author didn’t have a clear vision of what she wanted this novel to be, so it tries to be too many things at once. Based on the last 50%, this is a second chance, slow burn historical romance between two English spies who were compromised during the infamous Siege of Badajoz in 1812, and who unwittingly discover and then infiltrate a network of free traders after returning home.

The first 50% is another novel entirely – a confusing jumble of disconnected hints about how a young woman who purposely committed adultery as an act of revenge against her philandering husband survived after leaving Britain in disgrace. (She was recruited to become a spy.) She is later given an assignment by the War Office to identify the person who assassinated the English Prime Minister by her former handler.

Unfortunately, we’re given way too many characters to keep straight, and it was nearly impossible to determine how they are all related. Similarly, there are so many subplots going on I’m still not sure that I understand how they’re all connected, if at all. And the random role that Lord Byron (yes, that Byron!) plays in the whole thing, and how he knows the main characters, and why he owes them favors? No idea what any of that was about.

In the end, it really was Greville who was the true star of this novel, and who made the last half of the book worth reading. His devotion to Cressida helped tie much of the story together so that I actually felt satisfied at the end despite the trainwreck that came before.

Thank you Netgalley and Aria for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own. 

This is one of the more unique fantasy novels I’ve read. It was a bit slow going at first, and I found myself waffling over whether or not to DNF at 50%. I’m still not sure whether I can say I truly enjoyed the book, or if I liked most of the characters, but I was definitely entertained and I felt like the last 50% of the book was better than the first. I would rate this a 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4 for creativity and the development of the main male character, the man who guards Death. There is no doubt that this debut novelist has a great imagination and the talent to build tension as she unspools a suspenseful mystery. I will be reading her next novel.

Hellevir was born with the supernatural ability to visit the edge of the afterlife: a space between living and the dimension where souls go to find their eternal rest. When Hellevir meets the sinister man in charge of this space, she learns that she can bargain to bring the dead back to life with pieces of herself, or for treasures that the gatekeeper asks her to find by solving riddles. When Hellevir agrees to the Queen’s plea to resurrect her assassinated granddaughter, Sullivain, she learns that the true threat to her peace and happiness is not the guardian of death, but a ruthless political game that threatens the lives of her family.

The best parts of this novel are Hellevir’s journeys to the afterlife and her interactions with the gatekeeper. And herein lies one of the biggest issues with the novel. Hellevir has off-the-charts chemistry with Death’s mysterious gatekeeper, but not the person who is supposed to be her love interest, Sullivain.

The narrative tells us that Hellevir and Sullivain have an inexorable pull toward one another, and implies that they cannot exist without the other after Sullivain’s resurrection. But as a reader, I didn’t feel any chemistry between them.

Sullivain is only ever a spoiled, petulant princess. While we’re told that Hellevir experiences Sullivain’s feelings of guilt over her political machinations, Sullivain is never likeable. Hellevir deserves someone who truly understands her, as well as the moral and ethical decisions she continually faces when it comes to her ability to choose life or death for other people.

I love Hellevir’s brother and his lover, who are fantastic characters, and have so much more chemistry than Hellevir and Sullivain have.

I am far more interested in the gatekeeper and about who or what he is, how he came to be, and what his motives are.

Above all, I think that readers will be surprised to find that this is not a light or fanciful read, and I would not even consider it to be a true romantasy, despite the title and cover art making it appear so. In fact, a major theme underpinning the novel is the dangers of organized religion becoming politically powerful. Hellevir is targeted for being unnatural and for threatening the eternal salvation of souls by the state endorsed religious order who is outraged to learn of her ability.

While there isn’t a new or profound message here, the author is clearly weighing in on the culture wars of the present day Western world. There is no pretense of subtlety that the author is calling out right wing extremism and the hypocrisy of its value systems, which will undoubtedly raise the eyebrows of some readers, and outrage about “wokeness” by others.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own. 

This debut novel leans more into the women’s fiction zone than your typical small town, second chance romance.  Thirty-year old Liz Lewis and her husband, Tobin Renner-Lewis, were very happily in love until the day of their actual wedding.  On the big day, family drama on both sides stole Liz’s joy and left a bitterness behind that has colored her relationship with Tobin ever since.  Liz finally makes the decision to move out to give herself the time and space to reevaluate her life and goals, which may or may not include Tobin.

I have decidedly mixed feelings about this one.  I adore Tobin.  He’s not perfect, but he’s so dang close to being a prince of dreams that none of his flaws mattered to me as a reader.  He is kind, loyal, dependable, earnest, gentle, and always puts his own wants last.  He adores Liz and everything that she is.  Tobin is so great, in fact, that I found myself frustrated if not mad at Liz a majority of the book.

Liz is on the spectrum, which provides context for some of her behaviors like social anxiety, professional skills, and awkward interpersonal relationships with friends and family.  Unfortunately, Liz as written on the page is also insecure, needy, and passive-aggressive.   I quickly lost patience with her and, even at the end of the book, had no understanding why Tobin loved her in the first place.  There is no explanation for Tobin’s devotion after she kept changing her mind about whether or not she wanted to try to make their marriage work, and manipulated his feelings over the course of the narrative.

This book is quite heavy in terms of Liz’s internal struggles to find her “true self” which she has always been uncomfortable acknowledging.  She is plagued with self-doubt as a result of her role in her family of origin and her neurodiversity.  But she is also incredibly melodramatic.  I had to keep reminding myself that she is supposed to be thirty, and not 13.

My takeaway from the story was that Liz desperately needs Tobin, and Tobin has only ever desperately wanted Liz.  He is concerned for her and is willing to sacrifice anything for her.  But they are never equals in their relationship.  She is always coming to him as a jar half empty needing his light and strength to fill her.  I wanted more for Tobin than to be a caretaker to someone who never gets elevated from being a fragile person who will continually struggle to determine what she wants.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel.  All opinions are my own.