I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Rock Chick Reawakening by Kristen Ashley. I adored it. Daisy and Marcus are awesome together.
Tag: novella (Page 13 of 29)
Monthly Mini Review
Dream of You by Jennifer L. Armentrout – B Dream of You is both part of the Wait For You series and the 1001 Dark Nights series (by multiple authors). Colton Anders is the elder brother of Reece Anders (hero in Fall With You) – both brothers are police officers; Colton is a detective and Reece is a patrolman. When Abby Erickson witnesses a brutal murder, Colton and his partner are assigned the case. Colton and Abby went to high school together. They weren’t exactly friends but they weren’t enemies either. Abby was dating Kevin, the man she married after graduation and they both moved away for college and then ended up in New York for work in publishing. Kevin was killed in a car accident four years before the book begins. After Abby was widowed, she moved back home to Philadelphia. She works as a freelance book editor and is only just starting to wake up and want to live for herself again. Even though she was with Kevin and completely loyal to him, Colton was gorgeous and she’d always had a secret crush on him.
Monthly Mini Review
Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold, narrated by Grover Gardner B+ This novella length audiobook follows a few months after the events of A Civil Campaign. Miles and Ekaterin are just about to get married at Winterfair (a kind of Barrayaran Christmas). Gifts are arriving and so are wedding guests. Roic, one of Miles’ armsmen is feeling like a bit of a failure after the shamozzle with the butter bugs and the Escobaran bounty hunters. He thinks Armsman Pym hates him and Miles thinks him incompetent. Roic also serves as the narrator of the story. Dendarii mercenary and former lover of Miles, Taura, arrives for the wedding. Roic grew up in the back country and hasn’t seen anyone like Taura ever. Of course, as she is the only one of her kind left, no-one else has either, but Taura makes a big impact on Roic. When Ekaterin falls ill before the wedding, Roic and Taura combine forces to work out what has caused it and save the day. Continue reading
Why I read it: This was a gift because I was too cheap to buy it myself (it’s expensive for a novella – really, $6 – $8 at Kobo – is just TOO MUCH).
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) The only easy day is yesterday. BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training is known for being the toughest, meanest, most physically punishing program in the entire U.S. Navy, and a new crop of tadpoles have arrived in Coronado eager to prove their worth—to make it through Hell Week, and become U.S. Navy SEALs.
Although Izzy prefers assignments out in the “real world,” he’s glad to be an instructor for the current BUD/S class, because it allows him to spend time at home with his wife, Eden, and her lively and lovable extended family.
Eden’s sixteen-year-old brother, Ben, is dealing with a new crush and a homophobic bully in his high school, but it soon appears that things are not as they seem.
Meanwhile, Eden’s other brother (and Izzy’s SEAL teammate and former frenemy) Danny Gillman and his wife Jenn have just had a baby who has colic and cries constantly.
As Ben deals with the type of too-serious high school drama that could involve a body count, and Danny and Jenn juggle a new baby, lack of sleep, and postpartum blues, Izzy is intrigued by “Boat Squad John,” a misfit team of young SEAL candidates all named John, including the intriguing young Seagull, his swim buddy Timebomb, and Seagull’s nemesis Hans.
Does Seagull have what it takes keep Boat Squad John still standing when the dust of BUD/S Hell Week settles or will they ring out?
Set in Coronado during BUD/S training Hell Week, in Ready to Roll Brockmann introduces the SEAL officer and instructor nicknamed Grunge—Lt. Peter Greene—as she delivers what she does best: a story celebrating the U.S. Navy SEALs—and the women (and sometimes men) who wholeheartedly love and support them.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I’ve been a fan of Suzanne Brockmann’s novels and in particular her Troubleshooters series for years. They tend to hold up well for me on re-reads. I didn’t even get super cross about the whole Decker, Sophia, Dave and Tracy thing. So I say this in love. Please for the love of all that is good in a book, do not write stage directions in first person narratives. This is not Twitter. Continue reading
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis. Cute but undeveloped.
Monthly Mini Review
The Scoundrel & I by Katharine Ashe – B Elyssa Patrick was singing the praises of this novella and, as it was only 99c, I snapped it up. While I didn’t love it quite as much as Elyssa did, I did enjoy my time spent with Gabriella (Elle) Flood and Captain Anthony Masinter. The Scoundrel & I is a spinoff novella (from the author’s Falcon Club series) but stands alone well. I expect there will be quite a few readers using this book as a gateway in fact.
Elle works in a printer’s and has been left “in charge” when the owner and his family go on two week’s holiday. And, by “in charge” I mean she is in the shop for reasons which are not made clear, as she’s not allowed to do any actual printing herself. Nonetheless, she resolves to take home the print “chase” for the latest women’s rights pamphlet from Lady Justice so her blind and ailing grandmother can read the type with her fingers. (The backstory doled out along the way explains how this is relevant). Unfortunately, on the way home, Elle is startled by a rider and drops the chase, losing 53 pieces of type and destining her for unemployment at best and prison at worst.
Anthony, when he realises a couple of days later what he has done, resolves to help Elle to restore the type before her employer returns from holiday. Thus restored, no-one need ever know she took the chase out of the shop at all. Used to captaining a ship, Anthony does tend to take charge, even if Elle is not at all keen on having his help – at least, not at first. Continue reading
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