Jayne Castle - Midnight Crystal

For many earthly centuries, a legendary curse has plagued the Winters family, stemming from the tumultuous founding of the Arcane Society. But now, on the futuristic world of Harmony, the curse's final mystery will be unraveled... Head of the ghost hunters guild Adam Winters and dreamlight reader extraordinaire Marlowe Jones must break the curse, save Harmony's entire underworld-and fight a passion that could destroy them both.

Comment: This is the 7th installment in the Ghost Hunters series by Jayne Castle. It can be confusing to place the installments, actually, because the author does plenty of crossovers with other series she has under other names and pseudonyms and this title is also listed as part of two others. 
Still, I have only been interested in this specific Ghost Hunters one.

Marlowe and Adam come from families which have historically been adversaries. Now that their descendants live in Harmony, they are the ones who need to deal with sort of curse, which can only be fixed by finding the midnight crystal, a device of a kind that has special powers. If the wrong people find it, they might cause harm to many people, but the problem first is to find it. Marlowe and Adam join forces after a clue about is location is shared but will they get to it on time before someone else does it? And will they be able to separate the task at hand from the personal feelings they suddenly start having for one another?

I'm certain I have said this before, but the books in this series are both comforting and predictable if one has read more than one, but also full of great ideas and descriptions if it's a new discovery. This said, for me it is already like a comfort read although I should say that it also means some things are just too repetitive and don't really seem very stimulating anymore.

The plot is quite simple, the main characters are seeking a special artifact, created a long time ago by members of their families, and because they were enemies back then, they have always been in opposed sides of what it meant to find it. Now, with a way of life that is so different from anything their ancestors knew, Adam and Marlowe, the youngest of both their families, are finally putting an end to the "curse". In fact, there is no curse, only some forces at hand, derivative of alchemy.

I liked this story enough but to be honest, it wasn't as incredible as others in the sere have been. The setting and everything related to it, yes, and the dust bunnies remain as wonderful as ever, no doubt about it, but the plot is quite repetitive. As I've said, this doesn't have to be an issue, if one starts reading already expecting this, but there were still some transitions here and there that felt a little dull. I also think the two or three scenes we got from the POV of secondary characters were avoidable, and having them just made those sections feel jarring.

Perhaps, an element the author could improve on - but I can already guess this won't happen, since it is her trademark, in all of her pseudonyms (I have tried three) - is the romance development. These stories all revolve around the same pattern/formula, whether the protagonist just met each other or not, which is like this: they talk because of business, they immediately have the "magical" vibes letting them know the other person is their intended soulmate, they face some tasks and problems, they help each other, they have sex and they just accept they are it for one another.

There's nothing wrong with a formula if it works, and it certainly does work for the types of plots the author envisioned for these series, but even allowing for this, there is a lot an author can still do in terms of romance. In my opinion, the author relies too much on the formula and her characters simply seem cardboard of one another, everyone is pretty much the same, apart from names, physical descriptions and one or two other minor details. I just wish the romance part would be more exciting and the characters would have more personality and depth. Even interactions with others would improve the story but every character is a little stereotypical.

This aside, reading this book was entertaining enough and it does fit a purpose, in the sense that I knew what I would get and I knew this would be a quick read. However, it wasn't the most interesting installment for me.

Grade: 6/10

Kristin Hannah - The Four Winds

Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.
In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

Comment: This is the third book by the author I try this year. Of her four most recent books, which are all labeled as "women's fiction" and "historical fiction" (opposed to her earlier novels which seem more a mix of romance and woman's fiction), this is the one I have liked the least.

Elsa Martinelli and her family live in Texas, in the early s, when the Great Depression hits their farm, as well as everyone else's. Things become practically impossible but most farmers hold on to the hope that next year, surely, rain will come and the land will start to recover. Elsa gained everything when she married Rafe even though their relationship wasn't set on love. She gained a father and mother in law and a daughter, and then a son, and a land she loves with all of her being. The only reason she contemplates leaving for California, where the opportunities seem to be there for everyone who seeks them, is due to her son's health. Little Anthony won't last long in a place where dust is everywhere, but will the price to survive be too high for this family? Will they make it?

Just like all the other readers going into this book, I knew the plot would not be a happy one for most of the time and if things were to follow the same pattern I had seen in the other books I had read by this author, then it would be obvious that a lot of despair and sadness would co-exist with simple happy moments.

In fact, it was so and more: I think this book had a much higher amount of despairing scenes than the other way around and a good part of the reason I didn't enjoy it as much was due to this. I can see why the story couldn't be light, and I can understand why the author felt like stressing out the terrible possibilities of what happened in real life for countless people during those times, but as a fictional novel I also expected some balance. However, everything seemed to be too harsh, all the time.

I'd say the only time things seemed easier were at first, when Elsa leaves her family to live with her new one. Still, even this was not easy to go through, but I always thought the author would find a way to counterbalance the bad things with some later period of more calm or stability, like in The Great Alone and The Women, which also had heroines going through very harsh periods and then, at some point, even without a traditional HEA one sees in romance novels, they found ways to have a life in which they could think and plan and have some peace, even at a personal cost.

I don't think I saw that here and felt that Elsa just suffered through so much in a way that felt unbalanced because she had no real support system while she was in California, at least not like when she had while in Texas. Of course, this has to be intentional, so that we can try to imagine how many suffered with things we now feel are way too far from our reality, but while reading I've kept thinking that Elsa and the others being dealt a terrible fate were shown only a version of events and it shouldn't. I get it that the point was to highlight the traumas and the unfairness of those who lived what Elsa did, but the quiet, happy moments weren't enough. Reading this novel was tiring by how sad it was.

Personally, I'm not fond of misery to simply make one emotional. I don't mind characters going through hard times if at some point that pays off somehow. I don't really feel we were given this here, considering how the book ends. I really feel annoyed at that, but I can accept why it works for other readers and why the author might have imagined it would increase the ideas she conveyed. Perhaps, if the characters surrounding Elsa had really been good secondary characters... the way things happened, apart from her son Anthony, everyone else felt too distant from her, as if only playing a role, to better contrast with per personality.

After finishing, I've checked some negative reviews - to see if it was for the same reasons I felt like giving this a 3 star rating - and saw that no, the majority of negative reviews I saw were so because of how the author portrayed Communism in the book. I really won't go into it because it would certainly offend someone but... what a ridiculous reason to downgrade this book. I mean... well, I should not care because everyone can have an opinion, but some people really have a very short span of awareness.

This book was certainly a very realistic one regarding the time period portrayed and how many families were affected without having much to hope for. I understand, but I still wish the author had included some more positive slices of life or even a conclusion to the Martinellis.

Grade: 6/10

A.J. Demas - The House of the Red Balconies

Hylas has come to Tykanos to build an aqueduct. He has not come to enjoy the island’s main attraction, the six houses where the companions of Tykanos, courtesans both female and male, offer tea and elegant conversation. Yet he cannot ignore them as he finds himself renting a room in one of the tea houses and meeting his neighbour, the beautiful, chronically ill companion Zo.
Over breakfasts in Zo’s garden, the two men begin a friendship that transforms the isolation of their lives. But Hylas’s aqueduct project is threatened by bureaucratic delays, and Zo is pressured to secure a rich patron to help support his failing house. When they have begun to hope that they have found a home in each other, the world seems intent on forcing them apart.

Comment: I saw a recommendation for this book at a site I usually check and this one seemed to contain a quiet, cozy type of plot, and I was interested in seeing why readers liked it.

Hylas is an engineer who travels to the island of Tykonos to help with the construction of an aqueduct. However, things don't happen at the speed he imagined and there is a lot of talking and planning that leads to no real plans. While he becomes used to the pace of the island, he rents a room at a tea house, which he learns later is actually a pleasure house. he decides he doesn't need to partake but after a while he starts to become friends with the cook and the waiter and even some of the companions. He especially likes the company of his neighbor Zo, and he feels they are becoming very good friends. But is it only friendship or will they discover that there is more uniting them than that?

This is the first book I try by this author. I only knew that her stories are mostly set in fictional worlds which resemble ancient civilizations, kind of similar to ancient Greece and/or the Roman empire. The descriptions and setting are actually very alike what I remember from this in school and I think it was almost too easy to try to imagine what I knew of those civilizations as inspiration for what I was reading here.

The writing was smooth and fluid and I had a good time going through this story. I think the vibe is a little moody, not exactly sad or depressing, but there is this vibe of things not being always, completely secure in how they can or will work out. I mean, I imagined this would have an HEA but the main characters were facing some issues, mostly related to their lives and not as much their feelings, that made me think their path to happiness would not be simple.

The plot is not really the important element here. Basically Hylas is in the island for a work project but as often happens, he isn't able to do things the way he planned because there are always some weird/unknown rules in how things work, and sometimes they don't make much sense, something that an be seen as a cultural issue. Stereotyping places and cultures is the same, and we can infer that things in Tykonos aren't rushed, even though building the aqueduct is necessary. Thankfully, by the end of the book, it seems doing this construction might become a reality.

Therefore, the really key element here is the personal relationships and how Hylas discovers something new about himself by having had the experience of interacting with others, namely Zo. Their romance isn't fast, isn't insta-love and doesn't seem to set in uncontrollable passion. Still, I liked how sweet they were together once they started becoming closer. I think the author developed things in such a way that we get to appreciate the time it took for them to get used to the other nearby - their apartments in the tea house are door to door if I got it correctly - and then to think of the other romantically.

Hylas seemed to be someone very lonely and we get little glimpses of why, although the author really doesn't waste too much time with past details or explanations. I kind of like this method of giving the reader little hints, this way it makes seeing how characters deal with things a more rewarding exercise. Hylas is a shy, quiet person and I wanted him to feel comfortable in finding someone who could love him as he deserves.

Zo is probably a bit more complex and, to be honest, we learn something about him closer to the end that I didn't expect but I guess the author never meant for that information to be a big deal or for it to define who Zo is supposed to be. However, there were times where he was a bit abrupt (in my opinion, maybe others didn't see this) and I wasn't always fond of his behavior. Thankfully, for a tea house environment, there wasn't much about what the companions like Zo did that bothered me. But I can't help thinking that it would have been as interesting if the main characters weren't in a pleasure house... the actual setting could have been anything else and the main conflicts would not need to change much.

In the end, things work out at most levels but I will say that the happy ending wasn't one where only great, cute, amazing things suddenly become possible. The end is rather sedate and within the limits set by the author. This is good, realistic for that situation. Still, I would not have minded something "extra" regarding every thing, not just the romance aspects.

Grade: 8/10

TBR Challenge: Lisa Sandlin - The Do-Right

1959. Delpha Wade killed a man who was raping her. Wanted to kill the other one too, but he got away. Now, after fourteen years in prison, she's out. It's 1973, and nobody's rushing to hire a parolee. Persistence and smarts land her a secretarial job with Tom Phelan, an ex-roughneck turned neophyte private eye. Together these two pry into the dark corners of Beaumont, a blue-collar, Cajun-influenced town dominated by Big Oil. A mysterious client plots mayhem against a small petrochemical company-why? Searching for a teenage boy, Phelan uncovers the weird lair of a serial killer. And Delpha -- on a weekend outing -- looks into the eyes of her rapist, the one who got away. The novel's conclusion is classic noir, full of surprise, excitement, and karmic justice. Sandlin's elegant prose, twisting through the dark thickets of human passion, allows Delpha to open her heart again to friendship, compassion, and sexuality.

Comment: It's July already and time for another TBR Challenge post. The theme for this month is "freedom!" and what came to mind right away was a story with someone gaining freedom, therefore when I realized that this book had a heroine who had just gotten out of prison.... ta-da!

In this book we meet heroine Delpha Wade, who has been in prison for 14 years for manslaughter. Delpha killed a man who had raped her and she just barely missed killing the other one, who had been the father of her rapist. Delpha paid her dues and now is out and she only wants to have  quiet life and for that she needs to have a job which, she is aware, will not be easy to get. Still, somehow, she finds herself getting two, helping with Jessie who is a n old lady in need of a carer for the nights and then becoming the secretary of private investigator Tom Phelan. Delpha is eager to prove her skills and her worth, in spite of her prison record, and she soon finds out that life in Beaumont, Texas, has people being connected in many situations....

It shouldn't be a thing for me to be this interested in protagonists who leave jail and then have to get a whole new life. Still, it seems this is, indeed, a theme I'm interested in and I confess that when I saw the blurb for this, although the labels mention historical fiction and mystery, my first reaction was to assume that Delpha might find love too and that this story would include some romance. 

Sadly for me, it wasn't exactly so and Delpha's journey is really more about her getting back her sense of freedom than anything else. The plot is also more focused on the protagonists solving the little mysteries they need to investigate and not as much on their personal lives. I get it even if it disappoints me a little, but then I've started to become a bit confused because there were plenty of tasks both Delpha and Tom had to do, and I thought this big amount of subjects seemed to be rather random.

Of course, we learn it isn't so and most of the cases they look into are somehow related, even if in a simple manner. We also get to see them deal with little things, in Tom's case, more cases and his personal relationships, and in Delpha's mostly with her other job. Somehow, even these things are connected but things got to a point where I felt lost. The biggest issue for me ended up being the writing style. It's very jarring, not always offering a linear sequence of events and sometimes I was thinking "what does this matter, why is this relevant now?" and many things were certainly too subtle for me to understand.

Thus, my issue with the writing style. This is the first book by this author that I have tried but I think the choice of writing things in the (I suppose) traditional style of the south in the early 1970s, with both expressions and references, made this a complicated task for me in terms of language. I did not understand some things nor how they would be perceived and I think my lack of knowledge was more because of the semantics and expressions than plot issues. It was sometimes frustrating how the characters would go from one scene doing something/thinking a certain idea and in the next paragraph the reference was already about something else.

Due to this, reading the book became like going through a task and it was not fun to get to know these characters as much as I imagined. All personal musings and experiences were shared in such a way that I don't feel compelled to want to know more besides what has been told in this book. I wanted Delpha to go through situations which would validate her past experiences so that she would feel her freedom as something even better than what she tells us. I wanted Tom to be more sensitive to what happened to her and for them to be more clearly a team.

The resolution of the several mysteries and how everything was related was done well enough. I think the bones of this story were great and the many elements were all intriguing on their own. I just didn't really appreciate how the story was told, even though it does seem the writing was competent.

Grade: 6/10

Grace Burrowes - A Gentleman in Search of a Wife

Lord Julian Caldicott accepts a request to search for the missing wife of Mr. John Tait. Evelyn Tait disappeared five years ago, and as Julian attempts to follow a cold trail, he meets with resistance, lies, and suspicion from those who should seek most eagerly to aid him. Matters grow more complicated when the investigation drives a wedge of silence between Julian and his dear friend Hyperia West.
Julian battles his own past, unexpected enemies, and Hyperia’s disapproving brother while searching for the prodigal wife, and just when he’s tempted to give up in disgust, he realizes the lady is in serious danger. She needs not only to be found, but also to be rescued from imminent peril, no matter the cost to Julian or to the dreams he’s dared to begin to cherish.

Comment: This is the 5th installment in the Lord Julian series, in which he tries to discreetly solve some mysteries while recovering from his war years.

Lord Julian does not want to say no to Hyperia West, the woman he is in love with even if he feels he cannot be the husband she needs, when she requests his help to find lord Tait's wife., Evelyn Lord Tait has been a friend and she does say he is a good man, but putting jealousy aside, Julian cannot ignore the possibility that Tait himself is the guilty part. However, as he tries to get track of Evelyn's last hours before the went missing, he realizes that some things don't add up. He is even more suspicious when Evelyn's sisters point at the state of the Tait's marriage as a possible reason. But what had really been happening to this couple who, apparently, married for love?

I will have to be repetitive and say what I had already written about the other books in the series I have read: these books are little gems that combine plot and character development in a very satisfying manner to me. There is always something that prevents me from giving this a perfect grade but I always feel the best comfort reading these books and knowing that, while not everything is exactly as I'd prefer, it will go on to that scenario at some point in the future.

The plot is as intriguing as the others have been. These are light mysteries, not intended to really show complexity of plans or impossible twists to execute but I still found myself wanting to know hoe everything was connected. These stories are as just fun to guess who and how as they are to read between the lines. When some things are explained at the end, it is fun to remember this or that detail and to tell myself I'd never have linked that to other things as a big clue, but, there it was.

It was actually quite easy how this plot was planned. I really applaud all writers who write mysteries, in any shape or style, because it seems like a lot of work to place all the clues on the right moments and for them to work out. I was also intrigued to learn if the marriage of the Tait couple had been a good one or not and if not, why their mutual behavior when in the presence of others. The explanation is as simple as one could imagine, so easy to sympathize with that I think anyone who wanted a good twist will certainly feel this was a let down. To me, it showed the author's cleverness in planning.

These books are also good exercises on characterization, for both the protagonists and the characters they need to interact with. I do like these stories where the psychology of a character is as important for what is going on as is a physical act or a decision. Once we learn who was really responsible for the disappearance of Evelyn and why, it's not a huge aha moment, but it was still a great path from simplicity to simplicity too, with countless layers on the way. I had a great time, in fact, reading this book.

This series is also interesting because of the development in regards to Julian and those around him. I want to see him succeed in his investigation, of course, but I especially want to see him deal with his fears and overcome them, and be happy. Thus, I'm very interested in seeing his relationship with his brother becoming closer, in seeing how he can't disguise he really has always loved Hyperia and in how he wants the best for them and the others he considers family. I'm eager to keep reading about him.

This installment being a good one for me, I'm very hopeful for the next one!

Grade: 8/10

Mini - Comments

These are two books I've read in Portuguese by Portuguese authors. I don't think either is translated but even without specific information in English, I still want t leave a register of having read them.

Ala Feminina by Vanessa Ribeiro Rodrigues is literally translated as Female Ward and is a non fiction book based on a collection of notes the author, a reporter, did on female prisons and who are the women there and what it means for them in all their roles (woman, wife, mother, daughter...) to be away from their families. It was interesting to read this book because the point was never to focus on the women's crime and why they are in jail. Well, we do know why but the ladies whose stories we have are just a little sample, and the prisons the reporter had access to seemed to be destined for crimes that aren't the highest security or however one would call this. Most ladies were doing time for drug trafficking but what really united them all was the dream to leave and go back to their families, to be with those who loved them in spite of what happened. It Obviously, the book not being long, we cannot really "know" the women mentioned, but what they are facing and their thoughts are similar for the most part. It really makes one think....

Grade: 8/10

O Lugar das Arvores Tristes by Lénia Rufino could be literally translated as The Place of the Sad Trees.

It is a small book, the author's debut, and it is an apparent simple story. The setting is Alentejo (one of the regions of Portugal, which happens to be where I live) and the main character is Isabel, who has a quirky personality and weird interest in spending time at the cemetery looking at the graves. One day she notices one that provides very little information and no one seems able to explain how that person died. Upon investigating, she realizes it has to do with her own mother's past... I liked the book until the end because I did recognize a lot from my own family's experience, well, that I have heard family members tell me, since the story of Isabel's mother happens in the early 70s and I wasn't born yet. The author really did a good job when it comes to cultural and historical factoids but the end was abrupt and left too much to the imagination, almost as if this was an unfinished story... this was frustrating after all the hints pointing at a resolution.

Grade: 6/10

Ilona Andrews - One Fell Sweep

Dina DeMille may run the nicest Bed and Breakfast in Red Deer, Texas, but she caters to a very particular kind of guest… the kind that no one on Earth is supposed to know about. Guests like a former intergalactic tyrant with an impressive bounty on her head, the Lord Marshal of a powerful vampire clan, and a displaced-and-superhot werewolf; so don’t stand too close, or you may be collateral damage.
But what passes for Dina’s normal life is about to be thrown into chaos. First, she must rescue her long-distant older sister, Maud, who’s been exiled with her family to a planet that functions as the most lawless penal colony since Botany Bay. Then she agrees to help a guest whose last chance at saving his civilization could bring death and disaster to all Dina holds dear. Now Gertrude Hunt is under siege by a clan of assassins. To keep her guests safe and to find her missing parents, Dina will risk everything, even if she has to pay the ultimate price. Though Sean may have something to say about that!!

Comment: This is the third installment in the Innkeeper series by Ilona Andrews, following the adventures of innkeeper Dina and of her guests.

Things have been pretty quiet for Dina until she receives the message from her sister Maud, asking for her help to leave a certain planet. Dina knows the only way to get there in time is by asking for Arland's help, with his super fast ship, and they manage to pick up Maud and her daughter Helen. No sign of Maud's vampire husband, but she learns he has died, which makes Dina assume Maud her her niece might live with her and she will love to know Maud is nearby. However, a sudden new guest, a Hiru, shows up asking for Dina's help in hosting a certain event, on the recommendation of George, the Arbitrator she met in the previous book. The problem is that the Hiru's enemies want to kill him, and that might place the whole inn in danger...

I was very hopeful this would be a great story, not only because the previous installments had already been so, but also because the authors are excellent writers. I was also hoping this book would advance some of the loose threads that came from the other books, namely the romance and the search for Dina's parents. 

As expected, this was a fluid and easy story to read. It's not long, as the others had not been either, which means the plot doesn't languish and the main events are told in a very objective manner. This doesn't take emotion and complexity out of the story, which might happen if it were to be written by another author, and I think there is a very good balance in what we think will happen and in what does happen.

For me the only reason why this didn't get a higher grade is because the two elements I was eager to see developed were a little superficial. The romance between Dina and Sean is heartfelt but I kind of wanted less subtlety about it. During the plot there is a moment where Sean offers all the help he can to Dina and we do see how committed he is to her, and how balanced they are as a couple, which is great. But there were times this felt more like an afterthought.. I suppose this might have been originally planned to be the final installment, perhaps?

Dina is still in search for her parents. Once again we get two or three hints on this and I surely hope something substantial happens in the next three stories (two same sized stories as the ones we had already and a novella) because if things had to end here at first, no closure/resolution happened. Considering what we do learn, perhaps the final book might explain the mystery of their disappearance, especially because the next book seems to be centered on Maud and not Dina as the main character.

As for the adventures in this book, they were as fun as I imagined, I really have a great time going through the fast paced scenes and character interactions. The authors have an incredible amount of imagination to create worlds and characters, and everything related to how these two elements come together. I particularly liked the big conflict here, between the Hiru and their enemies, although it wasn't difficult to guess what was behind the conflict and why the Hiru were targeted.

Now, I'm quite eager to see how Maud adapts to one more stage of her life, bearing in mind what happened in this book. Maud and Dina have a sisterly relationship that isn't too close but they still would do anything for one another. It also helps to think that in this series, interplanetary travel isn't as lengthy as if it was in real life. I also liked how knowing Maud and learning about her gave me another perspective on Dina too.

Well, let's hope for a great next book!

Grade: 8/10

Mary Balogh - Someone to Remember

Matilda Westcott has spent her life tending to the needs of her mother, the Dowager Countess of Riverdale, never questioning the life of solitude she has spun for herself. To Matilda, who considers herself the aging spinster daughter, marriage is laughable--love is a game for the young, after all. But her modest, quiet life of order unravels when a dashing gentleman from her past reappears, threatening to charm his way into her heart yet again.
Charles Sawyer, Viscount Dirkson, does not expect to see Matilda Westcott thirty-six years after their failed romance. Moreover, he does not expect decades-old feelings to emerge at the very sight of her. When encountering Matilda at a dinner hosted by the Earl of Riverdale, he finds himself as fascinated by her as he was the first day they met, and wonders if, after all these years, they have a chance at happiness together. Charles is determined to crack the hard exterior Matilda has built for over three decades or risk losing her once again...

Comment: This is a novella, part of the Wescott series by Mary Balogh. According to the author and a note in the beginning of the book, it had not been in her plans to write it but the two immediate novels before this novella put the heroine, Matilda, at such a light, that mrs Balogh felt the need to give her a HEA too...

Matilda Westcott is fifty six and she seems resigned to her spinster life, taking care of her mother, even if that now means welcoming her mother's younger sister and her companion into their home. Recently, Matilda has also been quite brave, in seeking viscount Dirkson, the biological father of Gil (hero of book #6) so that he could help with something his son needed. What others don't know is that viscount Dirkson, Charles, was actually someone she was in love with when they were both young, but her family pressured her to not accept his suit. Now, after 30 years of different lives, they are interacting again. Is there hope for them now, with experience and wisdom to support their new chance?

The author stated that another reason that prompted her to write this novella was the fact there aren't many heroines in their 50s being protagonists of romance stories. I can imagine it is true, which made reading this story even more intriguing. Of course, being Mary Balogh, everything was dealt with a lot of politeness and conscientiousness. 

In the previous novels, Matilda has been described as fussy and stressed, except for the last book, in which she acted differently, with apparent more drive and perception. She actively helped Abigail, her niece, in a way that certainly caught the readers' attention to her and that made it necessary for her to get her HEA. I really can't say much about Matilda except what is shared in this novella, but the first thing that came to mind was actually that this reminded me of the premise of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Yes,it's not the same thing but the main idea is the same.

Charles, viscount Dirkson was a little harder to read, I'll confess. Of course we learn he didn't fully control how his relationship with Gil developed when Gil was a little boy and as adults they were mostly estranged. Now, for more than one reason, they are in the same family orbit and we get to see Charles in a different light. As a young man, he was known for his wild ways and it can be understandable why he and Matilda didn't try harder for a relationship. Obviously, this being a novella, there isn't enough time to really deal with all those past doubts, but I suppose the author found ways to make him seem "redeemed".

Their romance now is very quiet and unassuming, and I don't think it's only because of their age. They have seen and felt things that might not call to flashy behavior anymore, but this, too, was dealt with in a cute way, considering how they decide to marry, with all the fanfare they deserve. I still cannot really say what their personalities are and if they are such a great couple... I'll believe they will be so. 

Honesty, what i was more interested in was seeing the development of Charles' relationships with his children. He has two daughters and a son from his first marriage and he has Gil. I really thought we would get a lot more about these two, but no, not really. Still, i liked it how we got to see him interacting with his other son and how he became friends with the Westcotts too. I'm hoping this will be more obvious in the following books, for certainly there will be many family scenes.

All in all, a good novella, a good enough way to tidy things up.

Grade: 7/10

Gregory Ashe - Orientation

Shaw and North are best friends, private detectives, and in danger of losing their agency. A single bad case, followed by crippling lawsuits, has put them on the brink of closing shop. Until, that is, a client walks into their Benton Park office.
Matty Fennmore is young, blond, and beautiful, and he’s in danger. When he asks for Shaw and North’s help foiling a blackmail scheme, the detectives are quick to accept.
The conspiracy surrounding Matty runs deeper than Shaw and North expect. As they dig into the identity of Matty’s blackmailer, they are caught in a web that touches politicians, the local LGBT community, and the city’s police.
An attack on Matty drives home the rising stakes of the case, and Shaw and North must race to find the blackmailer before he can silence Matty. But a budding romance lays bare long-buried feelings between Shaw and North, and as their relationship splinters, solving the case may come at the cost of their friendship.

Comment: This is the first book in a trilogy by Gregory Ashe, an author whose work is now familiar to me. I have found most of his books to be good but not great, but considering that I had this trilogy already anyway, I've figured, why not.

North and Shaw are best friends who also have a detective agency together. They are both gay which helped in finding a niche, one that specializes in cases aimed for the LGBT community, whose members are often discriminated. The story starts  with Matty Fennmore, who tells him the story of how he's being blackmailed by someone he trusted and who now is demanding money in exchange of keeping a certain video, one Matty didn't know was being recorded. However, the case isn't as simple as finding the blackmailer, something they learn when they meet the police near the guy's apartment. At the same time, things are stressful between North and Shaw, since their friendship is also hiding some more deeper feelings neither assumes...

I confess I was a little apprehensive with starting this trilogy. I have enjoyed some books y the author, but his style is clearly one that aims for a lot of psychological development and his protagonists go through a lot before any HEA is on the horizon. Then, he also has another series (I've tried the first book) which is lighter, but the protagonist was a little OTT. I hoped this one would more balanced.

In this first book we get to know the investigator duo, and what we learn about them in between the lines is as telling as what they share through dialogue. This is probably what the author does best, and I'm saying it after having read about protagonists in three different series. The intensity and the drama and the tension - not always sexual - can be felt constantly. On one hand this is what makes the reading quite captivating, this need to see one scene or detail that proves everything, but on the other it can be a bit exhausting being on the edge.

Shaw and North have quite the history between them, and in their personal lives. I liked learning tidbits about them all the time but it does get a little tiring to keep track of each nuance and hint too. Also, I must say that for people who know each other for so long, their repressed feelings seem to be highlighted a lot and I could not help wonder how could they even go on through their days, considering that every action in the book always had the "weight" of their personal thoughts regarding the other. I suppose this is done so that it can be even more rewarding to see the HEA, but it's obvious it won't be easy.

I guess that, perhaps, this won't take as long as in the other series I've read, since now it's only three books.. besides, North is dealing with a personal issue that cannot be easy to deal with, much less solve. Things now seem to be too difficult to be solved. It also doesn't help, in my opinion, that every character somehow, protagonist included, is almost too complicated, too brainy and complexity of characters seems to be synonym with personality. I don't think this is the best approach as often as it's used.

Regarding the case they are investigating, I won't go into spoilers but the culprit becomes easy to guess once a certain situation takes place. I don't know if the goal was to do something shocking or not, I think the tactic was clever enough and provided interesting interactions and development. As for the reasons of the villain and the method in which the crimes were committed... part of me always felt some detachment from what was going on, but it turned out to be a good element of this book.

All said, this was quite captivating in general, but I cannot let go of the fact it was tiring to read about characters who were always on the go, always on the edge of learning/doing something and it's as if they don't have a personal life. Plus, with drama... still, I felt I had to try, so I will finish the trilogy, I just hope the next installment is more balanced.

Grade: 6/10

Kate Dramis - The Odds of You

Sage Collins knows a thing or two about odds. A year ago, she was a data analyst until she burned it all down to pursue her dream of becoming an author. One whirlwind bestseller and a struggling second book later, and Sage isn’t sure she’ll ever write a novel again.
But then an accidental encounter with an irritating passenger on the flight to Comic Con leaves Sage in an untested position. That passenger is Theo Sharpe: a breakout actor on the cusp of fame. And, unfortunately, the paparazzi have mistaken her for his girlfriend.
Armed with signature British charm and a smile that could tame oceans, Theo wears fame like a well-fit coat…though Sage can see there’s something deeper held in his eyes. But his fans are too involved in the drama, the pressure to deliver the next bestseller is on, and Sage and Theo both must agree there’s nothing between them. They don't have to acknowledge that saying it doesn't make it true.
When Sage decides to flee to Scotland to clear her head and write her novel, she expects to find fresh air and the stillness to think. What she doesn’t expect is Theo Sharpe to come back into her life…and how he may be her greatest miscalculation of all.

Comment: It was the cover of this book that made me pay attention to the blurb. Although it is a recent release (for my usual average, six months is recent) I've added it to my list for July because it would fit a topic in a challenge I'm doing.

Sage Collins and her best friend are traveling to New York for Comic Con, for Sage published a dystopia that became very successful. On the plane she starts talking/flirting with one guy who she learns is the rising actor Theo Sharpe. It just happens that their interaction is caught on camera and rumors about them flood their social media. Theo apologizes for his more obsessive fans and they start exchanging messages which leads to them acting on their attraction. However, misunderstandings separate them until they meet each other again in the isle of Skye, of all places. It seems they can patch things up, but will their personal careers and expectations be too much for such a new relationship?

It seems this is the author's first attempt at contemporary romance. In her notes at the end of the book she says she is mostly known for her romantasy novels, which I haven't read, and that this book was inspired by a book she loves, a romance novel. Knowing this does make it easier to think of the elements I didn't enjoy much, because the writing style wasn't too bad for me.

Sage is a new author, her first book was a success and now she is dealing with all the demands of how people expect her to be as great with her second novel. She is also dealing with a lot of personal issues related to how her parents see her new career, because before being a writer full time she worked in accounting and for her parents this is what makes sense. Throughout the book, we get to see how much this worries her and affects her focus, causing her to simply feel writer's block. I think this was all very realistic, even though I'm not a writer myself.

Theo is also an interesting character, although we only see things from Sage's POV (on third person, at least there's that) and his worries and emotions were also quite valid, his father is his manager and he had an older brother who was also a starting actor but he died. Theo also feels he needs to be an actor not stuck to only one type of role, although his good looks seem to point him pretty much for the "leading hero" expectations. I liked his personality and perception of life.

The romance wasn't always smooth because they have their issues and at a world where famous people are so easily exposed to everyone, including those who only criticize, I've felt this was an interesting element to develop and to think about. I also kind of liked their interactions with secondary characters and how they seemed to gain another layer just for that, which means there were times I felt the author did a great job in adding nuance and emotions to analyze in between the lines.

It all points to this being an apparently great book, but my grade wasn't as high as it seems to be implied. To be honest, I cannot pinpoint exactly why but I'd summarize it to two main things: the inner conflicts, mainly Sage's, dragged the plot, and I was a little tired of her POV while she dealt with others. I do respect how realistic her attitude was i most situations, but it was also a little boring to go through them in a romance novel. I can't explain what I'd have preferred instead, but the way the text is presented didn't make me feel eager to read more. Perhaps it is a case of the isolated elements working out wonderfully, but as a whole, not really.

It might also be that I wasn't in the right mood for this book now but sage sometimes was a little tiring to follow. There were moments I could not really see what Theo saw in her, which feels unfair because her worries and thoughts were certainly easy to sympathize with and I probably would feel similar things if it was me facing those issues. I also would have liked more romantic scenes and less inferring over messages exchanged and self doubt inner monologues, no matter how valid.

This said, the book was OK, had great ideas, but the things I thought would be developed more weren't in a way that felt engaging all the time. Perhaps one day, if the author publishes more contemporary romance, I might try it to compare.

Grade: 6/10

Kate Quinn - The Astral Library

Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.
The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?

Comment: I've picked this book because it is one of the choices my buddy friend and I had for this month. I was quite excited to read it but it turned out to be a disappointment.

In this story we meet Alix, a very down on her luck woman who is having a lot of trouble making ends' meet and when things really reach rock bottom, she decides to go to the public library, which is a place where she finds a lot of comfort but this time something weird happens. She stumbles through a door and that is how she finds herself at a strange room, being welcomed by a librarian she had never met before. This librarian explains to her she is now at the astral library and she can choose to visit any fictional work she wants, as long as it is part of the public domain, and she can stay for a year, renewing it if she desires. Alix is amazed and she feels this is the opportunity for the adventure her struggling life through the foster system never provided. The problem is that someone is eager to change the rules about how the astral library works...

I was very excited to read this book, whose premise sounded very promising since it's about books, the existence of a magical library and the possible adventures the heroine would face throughout the plot. I also kind of liked the idea that she didn't have an easy life and wanted her to be able to enjoy a fun adventure.

The first chapters, where we get to see how difficult the heroine's life is, were interesting and while depressing, were very realistic. I assumed we were being told this so that it would feel even more obvious how the change would impact the heroine's life once she started her adventure. When she discovers the astral library, the possibilities were great: all readers probably already dreamed of being part of the world in their favorite books and if added to it, the idea that one might jump into worlds or to spend time there, even if not as the protagonist, it all seemed a great utopia. 

I should say that this is the first book I try by the author and I knew it isn't her usual style/genre. I know she has published historical fiction (another of her books has also been in my TBR pile for long) and I already expected that this one would not be what gave her recognition. Still, I feel very disappointed because as soon as Alix starts interacting with the astral library's librarian and starts off the quest to help save it from someone who intends to cause problems, all went south for me.

Alix started to sound more and more annoying, even if she had the right ideas and the heart for the task. The magic of the library allowed people to travel into fictional worlds, to live there if they wished and to renew that yearly. Great ideas, but then the characters kept jumping between "worlds" and it started to seem as if their importance was only in regards to how it helped the main characters do accomplish what they wanted. I'm specifically thinking about the fact the characters who chose to live in fiction were all people who suffered/were hurt/were chased, etc, and they were, let's use the word, worthy, of this adventure. This is a good tactic but we don't spend enough time in each world for it to seem that it mattered which one.

Thus, it felt that the point was more to name worlds, to use titles and author and not as much if it would matter for Alix and the others. Clearly, this happens because the Kate Quinn had a plan, which it was to use this book a way to highlight how much libraries are necessary, how much our current way of living isn't interested in places which don't originate profit. I don't mind the fact the author had and agenda with this book - many readers in several platforms mostly disliked this as the reason for negative reviews - but it does bother me that including these things took over the plot or the proper execution of it.

The more I read, the more annoying the story became and I was actually bored and considering not finishing. I've kept going the book isn't big, honestly. 

There is also a very slight romantic element with a friend of Alix, but this felt avoidable and I think the author only used this element because the guy, Beau, liked fashion and was a convenient way for Alix to have special outfits for two of her "travels".

The end was practically a declaration of war on current practices which make more and more demands for places like libraries to be financed in such ways that they origin some kind of profit. This would, obviously, mean the end of free access to all, independently of their financial situation. The debate will remain and I do applaud the author for her views and message, but... the wonderful premise of this book and the reason why many likely wanted to read it....lost.... at least in my opinion. I wanted more fictional story and less amount of things that ended up not mattering.

Grade: 4/10