Cindy

Great start. Stutter at end.

Revisado: 09-19-24

Mr. King’s biggest problem at this point is living up to his own legendary reputation for writing epic stories. As far as problems go, this is not so bad.

This book is exceptional, but I still found myself disappointed. I was on the edge of my seat for the front half of the book; the part that came before Charlie was captured.

At that point, all the niggling plot problems crashed in on me. And the biggest problem, for me at least, was how Mr. Bowditch managed an insurmountable task with what appeared to be relative ease given what Charlie faces. And why did the main characters of Empis help Bowditch?

Things are so dire in this other world, it hardly seems believable that they would have time for an idiot who crashes their world, steals their gold, and takes an unauthorized backwards ride on their magic merry-go-round.

In fact, one wonders why they didn’t try and follow him to his own world. That’s what people usually do when their own situation becomes so dangerous. They emigrate where it is safe.

Yet at the same time, these exiled nobles of Empis basically live in the open. In fact, except for the poor refugees Charlie encounters on the road, these exiles have good food, adequate shelter and clothing almost as if they did not live in a post apocalyptic world or have to be afraid of the evil overlord of Empis. Then again, none of the evil folks in the city seem to ever leave. Conveniently.

Bottom line, this is a very entertaining book with complex world-building, a lot of it vaguely mirroring fairy tales. The hero is likable and is what I would call noble. The loyal dog Radar is a necessary bonus. It was a highly engaging read, but I would not suggest it be your first Stephen King book.

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Nail biter

Revisado: 09-17-24

Loved it, except the ending felt abrupt. There is no epilogue to wrap it all up in a nice bow.

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Much better than first book

Revisado: 02-14-24

The characters were well rounded, even secondary ones. There were fewer loose ends, though the mystery of the murdered sister is still unsolved.

The romance took the center even though the secondary plot of attempted murders was well explored.

I am interested in discovering what the Greycourt secret is. But the books in this series are several years apart.

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Something missing

Revisado: 02-13-24

The book is technically well written. The intimate scenes are very sensual, lyrical even. The characters’ back stories held so much promise.

The beginning of the book was much better than the second half. An ancient society of women is helping other women escape the clutches of men and the society which the men control.

Plus, there is an unsolved murder of an innocent young woman that has ruined the lives of several families and individuals. Fascinating and heartbreaking.

Then those two elements kind of disappear except in expository dialogue. The “Crow” does make a strange appearance at a house party to tell the heroine that one of their enemies is there, but they don’t know who it is. This is a frustrating element because it is obvious who one of their enemies is, and besides, they should know. It weakens their legitimacy that they are so clueless.

Furthermore, Freya is a frustrating feminist, and this is coming from an unapologetic feminist. We all need allies. Sure, we might not need help opening a door (though that’s just courteous), but we do need help when our lives are threatened. The fact that she didn’t recognize this made her useless in her position, in my opinion.

Christopher has the patience of Job. Honestly, I wanted more of his story and that of Freya’s brother and less of Freya’s pigheadedness. Perhaps I would have enjoyed Freya more if the Wise Women society had stayed in the forefront, and if their members were actually wise.

The story of the countess next door was also fascinating but so glossed over. It instead served as a way to put Freya (unnecessarily) in harm’s way.

I listened to this on audible and will try the next book with my credits. The reading was good, but I wish the narrators would stop trying to sound like the opposite sex with stereotypical pitch changes. There has to be a more pleasing way to differentiate between male and female characters. Jim Dale managed it in the Harry Potter series.

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Very Good with caveats

Revisado: 11-15-23

What I liked was the chemistry between the hero and heroine. Despite the high-handedness of the hero and the heroine’s sometimes tendency to be tedious even when she was right, I thought they were a perfect match.

As to the heroine being tedious, I’m half convinced it was the narration. Typically, I dislike how male narrators use high-pitched voices for women, but this female narrator kept a more regular tone for men and did what male narrators do with a female character. It was just as annoying.

What really kept the story from five stars, however, was the sketchy outline of the secret order. It didn’t really seem like a noble organization especially considering how it treated its child “recruits/slaves”. Perhaps all will be explained as the series goes on, but I’m not a fan of antiheroes. Not that it’s really this hero’s fault, but his boss and co-agents seem rather unlikable.

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Waiting, waiting, what?

Revisado: 11-08-23

I have enjoyed many Tessa Dare books. She is a gifted author, but this story left me unfulfilled.

It had so many of the tropes that I enjoy - enemies to lovers, mystery, damaged hero, feisty heroine, brooding friends - but there were so many subplots that none were given adequate attention.

The plot elements could have generated a half dozen books. The hero’s adventures in Canada. Why the heroine’s family was in such dire straits. Who wanted the MC’s friend dead? Why the hero had panic attacks in gatherings. Why the heroine was on the shelf and what of her ghastly first betrothal. The dynamics of family and loyalty.

At the end of the book, I could not understand why the hero ever felt like the heroine’s loyalty to her brother was a disloyalty to him. It made him seem stupid and petty especially given he was ready to burn everything to the ground to get his hands on a horse for a truly ridiculous reason. While that reason might be sweet under other circumstances, it is jaw-achingly preposterous - not to mention selfish and foolish - given the consequences of his obsession.

In light of how many consumer options there are to historical romance these days, my formula for ratings hinges on whether a book is included in Kindle Unlimited. This book was not, and it was pricey even compared to other books not available to read with KU. Therefore, my reviews of this and books like it are more critical.

I purchased this with an Audible credit, which brings me to a review of the narration. I cringed every time the narrator voiced the hero. She had an English accent with the heroine but sounded painfully American with the hero. This made me think I might have enjoyed the book more if I had read it. Jim Dale managed to narrate the Harry Potter books with a different voice for each character without hatcheting the female voices. It can be done.

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Great story

Revisado: 11-06-23

Great story teller.

Domestic violence is always a hard sell in a romance book, but the author handles it well. I really enjoyed all the characters. Every single one was richly written.

My two negative comments are that the ending is rather unbelievable, and I really dislike how the male narrator make a woman’s voice. I think would prefer a regular voice when reading the female parts.

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Missing parts

Revisado: 05-28-22

I felt like I missed part of the story because what struck me as a main conflict occurred before the book began - the jilting of the heroine and betrayal by the heroine’s sister. I so wanted there to be some closure there. Instead, the mother was an oblivious title hound, the sister was unrepentant, and the former fiancé was foreshadowed to still want the heroine though that went nowhere. I had no idea what actually happened, and it was a constant question in my mind.

Therefore, the only conflict was internal conflict which didn’t really help develop the characters to the extent that actually sharing the heartache would have. In some ways, the hero’s character was better developed as we did get to “hear” the hero’s memory of his father’s cruelty.

The writing is good, but I wanted more. The narration annoyed me to some extent. The narrator exhibited a very snide undertone.

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Slow start, Interesting finish

Revisado: 09-10-20

The heroine and hero are two very complicated people shaped significantly by their cold and, in the hero’s case, brutal fathers and ineffectual mothers. As a result of their brokenness, the H and h are often hard to like. Both characters do stretch and grow throughout the book, though.

The book is beautifully written, and I loved the dialogue. Unfortunately, it took entirely too long for the hero and heroine to come together, and I don’t mean sexually. If I had been reading rather than listening, I would have employed some serious skimming in the first half of the book.

I did not read the first book before this one, so I have no sense of how the women’s friendship was developed there, but I was disappointed in how little support the heroine had from her friends in this book. They were close, obviously, but there was something that felt a little cold and distant about them, especially Annabelle. I disliked how she allowed her husband, the Duke, to condescend to Lady Lucie. He presented as the exact sort of benevolent tyrant that necessitates equality of the sexes to be absolute and codified rather than bestowed upon women randomly through husbands who carry affection and concern for their wives or close relatives only.

The HEA is unique, and I appreciate it from the standpoint of the heroine’s fight for freedom, but from the perspective of a love story, it falls short. Love is a leap of faith and requires sacrifice and compromise, something the hero actually ends up understanding more than the heroine in the end.

I very much wanted the H and h’s families to suffer. We don’t see a comeuppance in this story. Pity that.

As for the narrator, she was pleasant, but I had to turn the speed up twice.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Sophie and Zach are great

Revisado: 07-31-20

But the mystery was annoying. All the supporting characters I liked from before were annoying. The Earl was ridiculous and the biggest hypocrite. The mother became a doormat to the suddenly uber snobby Earl. Evan won’t let Sophie see her sister while she is recovering, at least at first. And was a womb removal in 1850s a thing, and if so, was it an at home procedure?

I loved Sophie and Zach. Too bad we didn’t get more of them and the theater. Five stars for the book cover art!

*spoiler alert***

Once they knew Bertram wasn’t the villain, it should have been obvious who was, but everyone was busy being stupid. I thought the villain might actually be a real surprise other than the obvious, but no. Then after making a huge fuss over Sophie being on house arrest to protect her, the Earl has no idea she disappears and hasn’t assigned anyone to guard her. If that weren’t bad enough, he makes the decision to go after her without his mountain of a son to help them. Good grief. This book needed a clever proofreader to point out the logical errors.

And just when I thought the excerpts from the erotica book were a thing of the past book, this book ends on one. The actual sex between the main characters is mature erotica with real people you care about. The fictitious book doesn’t move me at all. It is the difference between watching Batman as made for TV and Batman the movie. The names of the fictitious erotica book characters are cartoonish metaphors.

Even so, the writing is good. I will read other things by this author. It just could have been so much better. The narrator was good.

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