The Conquest of Lady Cassandra by Madeline Hunter

Madeline Hunter has been an auto-buy for me for many years, but I'm sorry to say that I wish I had waited to check this one out of the library instead of buying it. Based on the first book in the series, The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne, I was really looking forward to Cassandra's story. She had all the qualities I usually like: older, wiser, calm, little mystery, etc. Unfortunately, there was way too much mystery (most of which could have been solved with a short and sweet conversation with her Aunt) and whole lot less of wise. 

I admired Cassandra for her calmness and lack of hysterics, but it seemed to me that she was too willing to wait and let Ambury dictate terms. I think a little hysteria and urgency would have solved everything much quicker, but then we would have missed the great descriptions of Amburys tight bum over and over again. By the middle of the story, I was frustrated at the slow pacing of the story. This is weird because I am usually thinking that things happen too fast, but the constant back and forth of Ambury and Cassandra to their family members seeking out information but yet coming up with nothing was very frustrating...at least to me but not to them. 

Isaac's Army by Matthew Brzezinski

I am very glad I picked this book up at the library. I have read a lot of books about WWII but never one that focused solely on the Jewish resistance in Warsaw. The fact that all of the people were real and the events described well-documented and researched made this story haunting, horrifying, intense, but so riveting I had trouble putting it down. I loved the epilogue, the last paragraph brought the book full circle.  I especially appreciate the time Mr. Brzezinski spent on research to accurately portray the characters and dreadful situations they lived through. My only quibble would be that I wish there had been pictures. I found myself reading next to the computer so I could look up people for a face to put with the name.

I find myself now very interested in the formation of Israel and the conflict that developed between the British in Palestine and the Jews who were encouraged to leave Europe by the Communist governments of Eastern Europe.  I foresee another trip to the library for me!

I recommend this book to everyone. 

I wanted to add...in an earlier review I mentioned how brave the characters were.  I must state that those were made-up characters in a fantasy story.  The characters in this book were real and actually performed heroic acts on a daily basis for over 5 years while fighting the Nazis in Poland.  These are true heroes who had more bravery and confidence in their little fingers than I could even dream of having.  They will always be the gold-standard of bravery in my book.

The Plumed Bonnet by Mary Balogh

This is a classic Mary Balogh with a cynical , all-about-me lord and a naive, but spunky heroine who somehow are able to make it work. I liked the book, mostly, and the plot as it was described on the back. In the beginning, Alistair is all "You are a liar but I want you so I'll put up with it until you're so humiliated you will sleep with me".  This is a little much, but since he ultimately understands the word "NO" he gets away with it...at least with me.  He is paired with Stephanie, who is innocent and naive and VERY, VERY LUCKY! I cannot underscore this part enough.  In fact, I may have my teen aged daughters read this as an example of WHAT NOT TO DO!  Although, I do recognize she had very little choice by this point.  Anyhow, the fun ends when Stephanie is revealed to be exactly what she said she was and Alistair steps up to do the right thing and marry her.  This actually would have been an excellent ending to a short story because the first third of the book was the best.

It kind of fell apart in the middle when Stephanie was being prepped by Alistair's family. She didn't act the same (not sure why) and neither did Alistair (again, not sure why) so the story ground to a bore...bore...bore. In fact, I decided to take a nap but finished it when I woke up.  

Authors and Books - Hate Them/Love Them

I have been thinking a lot about authors and books and why I like them.  You see, I tend to stick to the same set of 30 or so authors (probably more, I am actually afraid to count :)).  I tend to get a little irritated when I auto-buy a book based solely on the author and it turns out to be not very good.  However, I am a forgiving soul, so I will usually make the same mistake several times before striking them to my library only list.  I understand that an author cannot appeal to all readers all the time.  They need to write what appeals and interests them, and obviously I am not them and they don't ask my opinion.  So here is a listing of some examples of authors that missed with me:

1. The Huxtable Quintet series from Mary Balogh. I love Mary's books, but this series just didn't do anything for me except the 3rd book At Last Comes Love but even that one was only a 3 out 5 star.
2. As I stated in a recent review of Celeste Bradley's When She Said I Do, the book may have failed but author didn't lose me yet!
3. Books 4 and 5 of Elizabeth Boyle's Bachelor Chronicles, Confessions of a Little Black Gown and Memoirs of a Scandalous Dress, were just not of the same caliber as the 5 star Love Letters from a Duke.  Sighhh...I need to reread that one!
4. Liz Carlyle's last series entitled Fraternitas Aureae Crucis definitely didn't come close to her earlier books.  I really hope she finds her way back soon because A Woman Scorned and A Woman of Virtue are in my top 20 books and I would love to read about some more awesome couples.
5. I had to give up on Gaelen Foley after the 5 Star worthy One Night of Sin.  Everything else has been unreadable.
6. I also gave up on Karen Hawkins.  The Maclean Curse series just wasn't good which is too bad because the Talisman Ring series was pretty original and well-written.
7. I keep giving Madeline Hunter more chances even after the mess that was the Rothwell Brothers series.  The Rarest Blooms were decent, but she has so much more potential.  She just needs to stay away from Jerks as Heroes.  I need to review one of her books soon.

One Good Earl Deserves A Lover by Sarah MacLean

This was not Ms. MacLean's best book, a solid 3 out of 5 stars, but it is the first one out of 5 that I have not enjoyed 100% so I would say she is still pretty good.  In the first book of the series, A Rogue By Any Other Name, Penelope was so great that she made more than made up for the fact that Bourne was just an ass for 90% of the book.  In this one, Pippa just wasn't as interesting and Cross not as big of a jerk.  I mean, Pippa is scary smart and a great character, but almost one dimensional in the way that she couldn't see a way out of her engagement.  Cross's problem was that he was convinced he couldn't be happy since his brother had died and it didn't matter that it made Pippa unhappy too.  Now this type of plot line gets old fast since martyrdom is never attractive or interesting.  I hope that this isn't going to be the recurrent theme for Temple and Chase's books as well.

The initial premise was pretty good, but it just couldn't keep going past page 200 before something broke.  The countdown of 14 days also started out as intriguing, but the insights into Pippa's thoughts at the beginning of each chapter just weren't that interesting.  Castleton turned out to be a complete saint and definitely had more depth to him than anyone would guess.  In fact, I would love to read about his whirlwind courtship of Ms. Knight because there would be real conflict between his mother and her father.  Maybe it would be a good novella since we already know that it ends with HEA.


Ms. Maclean's first series, the numbers one, hooked me by her inventiveness and humor.  I think that is what was missing in Cross's story...the humor.  Here are some examples:


“Nick spoke again. "Her legitimacy will be questioned."Gabriel thought for several moments. "If our mother married her father, it means that the marchioness must have converted to Catholicism upon arriving in Italy. The Catholic Church would never have acknowledged her marriage in the Church of England.""Ah, so it is we who are illegitimate." Nick's words were punctuated with a wry smile."To Italians, at least," Gabriel said. "Luckily, we are English.""Excellent. That works out well for us.” (Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake)

“I've loved him for a decade. And I had him for one day before I made a complete and utter mess of things. Or he did. I'm still not sure about that.” (Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake)

She also always has very strong heroines and very rakey rakes (Yeah, I just made that phrase up), but Pippa was almost too off in a different world and Cross had given up being a rake.  I did approve of him changing his name from Jasper to Cross though.  I mean, Jasper????? 

I very much look forward to Temple's story.  I just hope she stays away from martyrs.  

When She Said I Do by Celeste Bradley

I was really looking forward to this book.  I enjoyed Ms. Bradley's Royal Four and Liars Club books and two are even on my 5 Star All-Time Favorite List (To Wed a Scandalous Spy and Seducing the Spy, so I was very excited to read that poor Ren Porter was going to get a book of his own.  I was also looking forward to the whole Worthington family.  Ms. Bradley had explained on her website that she was trying to portray a family similar to the Weasley family from Harry Potter so what could go wrong?  Apparently A LOT...

Now, Ms. Bradley's books have always been a little hit or miss for me.  As I mentioned, two of the Royal Four books are absolutely wonderful, however one of them, Surrender to a Wicked Spy, is absolutely dreadful.  The Liar books are really well-plotted and interesting to read, but the Heiress Bride books are not that great.  So the fact that she has started out a series with a clunker isn't a deal breaker for me because I know that the next book, And Then Comes Marriage, could be another 5 star offering.  I will probably just get it from the library first.

So what was my problem with the story?  On the surface, the plot is a good one.  Callie is interesting, Ren is sufficiently tortured yet still hero material, the Worthingtons appear to be insane (more on that later) and there are lots of cameos by the Liars and Royal Four members.  Here are my main beefs:

• What the F??? are Callie's parents thinking leaving her with some guy in a hood they've known for less than 24 hours?  Sorry, not buying the whole explanation at the end that maybe her crazy mother was in cahoots with the dressmaker.
• The Worthingtons are truly NUTS!  The whole family except for apparently Callie and a couple of brothers.  Not only are they crazy, but the level of neglect the whole family has suffered is appalling and not even a little bit endearing.  I know there were a few explanations thrown around like the older brother having been thought killed in Spain, but really???
• Did I miss where we discovered the ages of anybody but the 12 year old homicidal sister?  
• And speaking of her - WTH was all THAT about?  I'm sorry but I have no interest in plot lines that include 12 year olds plotting to murder their brother-in-law.

The Mortal Instruments #1-3 by Cassandra Clare

My 15 year-old daughter, Maddy, has been insisting that I read this series for a long time.  This past week, I gave in and I am sooooooooooooooo glad that I did.  I did read the first 4, but I'm only going to tackle numbers 1 - 3 because they seem to go together.

First off, I loved all of them, but #3 was absolutely the best.  The City of Bones does a great job setting the story and introducing the characters.  I was unable to put down The City of Ashes because of everything that was happening and The City of Glass is even better than the 7th Harry Potter book because it stays on course with very few detours.  I really fell in love with Simon right off the bat, but it took me longer to appreciate Clary or Jace.  This is almost one of those series where the secondary characters really make the story fly.  The similarities to the Harry Potter books is strong, except the intensity is there right off the bat instead of waiting for book 5.  I'm sure the fact that the kids are 16ish make this possible.  

Secondly, Ms. Clare can write dialogue like no one else I've read in a while.  Holy Cow, I found myself stopping and reading quotes aloud to my amused girls and long-suffering husband several time during each book.  Here are some of my favorites:

“I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead."
"Well," said Luke, "you're doing a fantastic job.” 

“I am a man" he told her, "and men do not consume pink beverages. Get thee gone woman, and bring me something brown.” 

Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel by Lorraine Heath

I have really enjoyed the Scoundrels in this Lorraine Heath series - especially Frannie! Even though I didn't like this one as much, it is still a solid 3 star book.

Jim is a strong, large, loner hero is has made it his mission in life to be a fare investigator for Scotland Yard. Eleanor is a previously meek and mild girl who comes to London for revenge. There are A LOT of twists in the plot, some you can see coming but others are complete surprises. This makes the book move along and not get stuck. There are also lots of interactions between Jim and the other scoundrels which also helped keep my interest. So all in all, good book.

So what's my problem? My problem is that I think Ms. Heath put the wrong Scoundrel with the Heroine. I don't usually try to second-guess for the author, but I really think Eleanor was deep down too mild for Jim. Bill (the doctor), who we never see much of, would have been a much better fit. Jim's whole persona is that he has this need to take care of people. Wouldn't it had been nice for him to find someone who was capable of taking care of herself? I understand she came to London for revenge and all, but it was really amateurishly done and if it hadn't been for Jim, she would have been in trouble.  I'm thinking like a Maddy character in The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Ann Long.  I love that book...I need to re-read it and write a review of it....But I digress!