Letting Go by Bridie Hall

May 26, 2014 By 4 Comments

GO
Letting Go by Bridie Hall
Publisher: Evernight Teen
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (118 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Isabelle is left stranded at the airport, and her only chance of getting home is with her boyfriend’s older brother, Harper. When this good girl and bad boy set off towards home, it turns out that maybe she’s not such a good girl after all. And even bad boys have reasons for their bad behavior.
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The road trip is full of shocking revelations and unexpected emotions, bringing the two of them closer than Isabelle ever thought possible. Maybe too close.

Few things are more awkward than going on a road trip with someone you have mixed feelings about, especially when it’s a trip for two.

Strong character development made me wish this story had a sequel. Isabelle and Harper reveal their rough edges almost immediately, but I didn’t realize how fascinated I was by both of them until I got to know the real people behind the masks they carry around. To be honest, I was a little annoyed by certain quirks until I learned how and why Harper and Isabelle developed them. It isn’t easy to develop such well-rounded characters in a short story!

The chemistry in this book never quite felt right to me. Isabelle doesn’t seem to have a great deal in common with her boyfriend or his brother. All three characters are intriguing as individuals, but I never really understand why she was attracted to either one of the brothers. While the rest of the plot was well-suited for something this length, I did wonder if the romantic elements would have worked better if they’d been given the chance to unfold more slowly in a full-length novel.

One of the most interesting things about this novella was how accurately it captures what it feels like to be a teenager. The dialogue flowed so smoothly that I often felt as though I were eavesdropping on Isabelle and Harper’s conversations instead of reading a book. It was also interesting to see how quickly these characters’ experience shifts in their emotions. One minute they’re happy, and the next one they’re frustrated or sad. Not everyone is moody as a teenager, of course, but including those scenes made these particular characters feel even more authentic to me.

Letting Go is a story I’d recommend to adult and young adult readers alike. I’ve always thought that road trips are nearly universal appealing, and this particular one is no exception to that hunch.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Werewolf Defender by Marisa Chenery

May 22, 2014 By 2 Comments

DEFENDER
Werewolf Defender by Marisa Chenery
Publisher: Forever More Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal
Length: Short Story (104 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Jerrica Barnes has longed to experience life outside her settlement’s walls, but living in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies outnumber the living, she knows she’ll never get to fulfill her dream. But the day Calan, the werewolf defender, comes and saves her from a zombie attack, she finds her life turned upside down.

Calan has never allowed anyone close since he was turned a hundred years before at age eighteen, but Jerrica makes him long for things he hadn’t known were missing in his immortal life.

Jerrica and Calan have to overcome those who would keep them apart while Jerrica has to make a decision that could keep them together for all time or have Calan walking out of her life forever.

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One of the things I enjoy the most about zombie stories is seeing how the characters adjust to living with such a dangerous threat. Ms. Chenery’s approach to this topic was unique given that no one in Jerrica’s village can remember what life was like before the zombie invasion. It’s such a normal part of their existence that these characters are accustomed to things that I would find pretty scary in real life. Comparing their reactions to how I imagine I’d would approach certain situations was quite fascinating.

I would have liked to get to know Jerrica better. So much time was spent focusing on the romantic elements of the plot that I had trouble getting to know her as an individual. After finishing the last chapter, I’d still be hard-pressed to describe her personality or list her interests outside of her relationship with Calan. The passages that are dedicated to her interest in archery are intriguing, and I would have really enjoyed it if they could have been expanded.

The descriptions of the village where everyone lives made me want to learn more about it. Growing up in such a rigid society can feel stifling under the best circumstances, but what makes Jerrica’s situation unique is that she knows she’ll never be able to move away due to how dangerous it is in the outside world. I was even more intrigued by the rationale her parents and the other adults use for all of the rules they’ve created. I sympathized with their points of view almost as much as I did with the main character.

This book would have benefitted from another round of editing. There were multiple instances of run-on sentences and punctuation errors. While I generally understood what the sentences were trying to say, it was distracting to pause and figure so many of them out.

It took some time to figure out the most appropriate age recommendation. Jerrica is 18 when the plot begins, but she comes across as someone several years younger than her chronological age. Her innocent reactions to the opposite sex in particular felt like they belonged to someone in her early teens. There are some violent scenes, though, and the inclusion of them makes this book a better choice for high school aged readers.

I’d recommend Werewolf Defender to anyone who enjoys paranormal romance novels. This is a good introduction to that genre for young adult readers.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Machines of the Little People by Tegon Maus

May 21, 2014 By Leave a Comment

MACHINES
Machines of the Little People by Tegon Maus
Publisher: Tirgearr Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (105 pages)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Ben Harris’s sister died of cervical cancer more than three years ago… his best friend and her husband, Roger Keswick, disappeared the day before the funeral. For the next six months everyone from the local police to the Department of Defense searched for him but to no avail… it was as if he had simply fallen off the face of the planet only to reappear at work as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

Even though, viagra online discount a patient should be aware of side effects that can come along with its content. This should arm you with the information viagra soft 100mg you would like for making certain you’ve got the proper driving school. People have their cell phones under online purchase of cialis their pillow while sleeping and when they wake up in the morning, the first thing they do is check their social accounts. Tadalafil Our pharmacy shop get cialis suits the requirement of the health of the penis. Then by the purest of coincidences Ben finds himself pulled back into Roger’s life only to discover he has remarried… to Jessica… a woman the looks, sounds and acts just like his dead sister. To complicate things Roger is insistent his home, his car, his life is infested with tiny elf like creatures he calls the Katoy. He claims they run massive machines under his house and watch his every move… every move that is until Jessica is found bludgeoned to death in his living room and Roger is nowhere to found . . . again.

No sooner did Ben recover from the tragic death of his sister than his wound is ripped open again. Will history repeat itself with his brother-in-law’s new wife?

As soon as I read the blurb for this novella, I couldn’t wait to find out more. The science fiction themes are strong, but the character development is even more pronounced. While it took me a little while to get to know all of the characters well, I was surprised by how much I figured out about them once the plot was given a chance to simmer. This is the kind of tale that requires some investment early on, but every ounce of effort poured into understanding what is happening was richly rewarded for this reader.

The first few scenes were somewhat confusing for me due to the number of characters who were being introduced at the same time that so many inexplicable things are happening. The pacing in the remainder of the plot was even, but I did find it a little too fast in the beginning due to how much the author expects his audience to figure out in an extremely short amount of time.

With that being said, I am a big fan of stories like this one that require you to think. Mr. Maus knows how to strike that delicate balance between explaining what on earth just happened and giving the reader a chance use his or her own mind to pull together the most subtle clues. It is this ability of his that makes me quite curious to see what he will come up with next.

Machines of the Little People is a complicated, thought-provoking, intelligent ride that I didn’t want to end. It’s long enough to cover all of the bases, but short enough to read in one sitting for dedicated science fiction fans. Either way, this is a book worth sampling.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Muses of Love and Purpose by Kirk Jonathan Barbera

May 13, 2014 By Leave a Comment

MUSES
Muses of Love and Purpose by Kirk Jonathan Barbera
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Suspense/Mystery, Historical, Contemporary, Action/Adventure
Length: Short Story (145 pages)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In Mythology the gods dined on Ambrosia and Nectar. None but the worthy could taste the succulent fruits of heaven. But in modern times there is no magical food created to provide immortal majesty and nobility—a food to separate men from gods. Does this mean the mythical substance has vanished from our world? Or, has it simply altered form?

In this anthology you will find five stories of men and the burning desires within them; Haxelon, an ex-treasure hunter lured back into the life he’d left behind; Leon, a wealthy ship-builder unable to attend a banquet in his honor, because of the woman he loves; Hanz, an artist who can no longer find inspiration in a dull world; Maurice, a young surgeon who quits on the eve of his greatest triumph; Alex, an American soldier torn between saving his best friend and betraying the military he loves. Each man is confronted with a major dilemma in bringing forth his deepest passion. Can they overcome and discover the modern food of the gods?

Included are two poems that will play and elaborate on the over-arching theme. Although each story is self-contained and unique in its plot and theme, there is a unifying thematic thread throughout.

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Love is one of the greatest motivators on earth, but can it really conquer every obstacle in its path?

“Haxelon’s Great Adventure” kept me on my toes. No sooner would I feel certain that I knew what going on than another twist would upend my earlier assumptions. There were a few times when I wished that the plot would move a little more quickly, but where it ultimately ended up helped me to make sense of certain scenes that had been puzzling earlier on.

It was difficult to figure out what was going on in “Maurice’s Tale.” The first few paragraphs were promising, but the most interesting elements of it were only given a limited amount of space to develop. This was the only short story that I thought would have been better had it been longer.

By far favorite entry in this collection was “Hanz’s Muse.” It had the strongest mystery elements of them all, and I was caught off-guard by the ending. In retrospect it worked well with everything that is revealed earlier on, but Mr. Barbera orchestrated everything so subtly that I was genuinely surprised by how it all came together.

Every character has an attention-grabbing conflict, but some of them did have a tendency to spend so much time explaining what everyone and everything looks like around them that the pacing of the plots was sometimes affected. Reading this collection felt a little like wandering through a fascinating museum with an incredibly knowledgeable, if slightly long-winded, tour guide.

With that being said, the descriptions themselves are precise and colorful. It was easy to get lost in the longer tales in particular because their characters and setting are so distinctive. This was my first introduction to Mr. Barbera’s work, and I’m curious to see what he comes up with next.

Muses of Love and Purpose blends the romance and mystery genres together so seamlessly that I can’t tell which one it favors more. Anyone who is a fan of mixing genres should give this book a try.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Still Photo by Kim Harnes

May 13, 2014 By Leave a Comment

PHOTO
Still Photo by Kim Harnes
Publisher: Evernight Teen
Genre: Young Adult, Suspense/Mystery, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (188 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Jess Waterford’s mother is evil. Since she took off seven years ago—just days after Jess’s ninth birthday—without so much as a wave goodbye, Jess has always wondered what happened to her. And despite the end of her mother’s mental and physical abuse, the memories and the scars still remain. Jess conceals the hurt within by practicing her photography, and by spending as much time as her dad will allow with her baseball star boyfriend, Brody Campbell.

Determined to make use of her new camera, Jess dives into photographing everything in sight. But periodically the resulting prints are flawed, ever so slightly: a smudge on a tree trunk; a blemish in the bus window. These imperfections are not as random as they may seem, however, and Brody and Jess soon discover together that each of these pictures combine to form another image—the grisly image of a murder scene, with Jess’s mother as the victim.
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As the new photograph takes shape, Jess’s desire to complete it consumes her, and Brody’s health begins to deteriorate. Torn between her quest to reveal her mother’s killer and her continued worry over Brody’s failing health, Jess finally finds the last piece to the puzzle, and the answer sends her world spiraling into depths from which she may never recover.

Some people walk around with a word on the tip of their tongue. Jess is plagued by a photograph of a murder. Worse yet, she doesn’t have enough information to figure out what happened and has no idea where to find the rest of pieces to the puzzle.

The character development in this book is quite interesting. My first impression of Jess was that her life was almost too perfect. While her childhood was difficult to say the least, she’s sailed into her high school years with a loving boyfriend and a part-time job that also happens to be her passion in life. I had similar thoughts about her boyfriend and father, but what surprised me the most about all three characters was how Ms. Harnes gradually reveals more about their personalities without ever making this reader feel like she’d been holding something back from me.

There were several clues that never quite made sense to me. Some of them felt a little out of place due to certain cultural shifts that have taken place in the last generation or so. It’s difficult to discuss the specific phenomenon that I found confusing without giving away spoilers, but certain attitudes and societal mores were odd. The pacing in this book was so strong that a little time could have been spared to explain why the expectations of these characters are out of sync with what I’d generally expect from individuals living in a contemporary setting.

With that being said, figuring out what was going on with the smudged photographs was a thrill. The mystery elements of this tale are exceptionally strong. The number of hints were appropriate for a novel of this length. While I would have preferred to see the biggest ones appear a little more quickly, I was impressed by how many plot twists I never saw coming. This was my first introduction to Ms. Harnes work, and I’m looking forward to seeing if I can figure out her next mystery a bit faster.

Still Photo blends the young adult and mystery genres together seamlessly. This is a good choice for anyone who enjoys dipping their toes into more than one category of story when they read.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Snip, Snip Revenge by Medeia Sharif

May 12, 2014 By Leave a Comment

SNIP
Snip, Snip Revenge by Medeia Sharif
Publisher: Evernight Teen
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (170 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Beautiful, confident Tabby Karim has plans for the winter: nab a role in her school’s dramatic production, make the new boy Michael hers, and keep bigoted Heather—with her relentless Ay-rab comments—at bay. When a teacher’s lie and her father’s hastiness rob her of her beautiful hair, her dreams are dashed. The fastest barber in Miami Beach has made her look practically bald.

With all her pretty hair gone, Tabby doesn’t believe she fits the feminine role she’s auditioning for. Michael is still interested in her, but he’s playing it cool. Heather has taken to bullying her online, which is easier to do with Tabby’s ugly haircut. Tabby spearheads Operation Revenge, which proves satisfying until all of her problems deepen. After messing up, she sets to make things right.

Tabby has always been proud of her long, gorgeous, curly hair, but looks aren’t everything, right?
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Experiencing growing pains is difficult enough in a warm, nurturing home, but not everyone is lucky enough to be raised in that kind of setting. Dysfunction plagues Tabby’s family, and the results of living in such an unpredictable environment are written with unflinching accuracy. I especially liked seeing how Tabby reacts to memories of things her parents did years ago.

It would have been helpful if more time was spent describing Tabby’s strengths. She has quite a few flaws that are realistically developed, but it took me much longer to discover exactly who is hiding behind her sharp edges. The scenes involving her relationship with her half sister were touching and could have easily been expanded to show off more of Tabby’s positive traits.

The Miami Beach Magnet School of the Arts sounds like an amazing place to learn. Some of my favorite scenes took place there due to how much effort was put into exploring what the various cliques think of one another. The tensions between various groups felt genuine, especially given how quickly everything changes from one day to the next.

I enjoyed watching the tension steadily build in each subplot, but some of their solutions never quite made sense to me. So many chapters was spent building up the importance of each conflict that I expected their resolutions to require a little more time to come together. The pacing was otherwise exactly what I would have expected from a novel of this length. Only the conclusions felt slightly rushed.

The age recommendation for this book should be taken seriously. While they were handled quite well, some subplots discuss incredibly sensitive topics in great detail. I can’t say what they are without giving away spoilers, but how they are introduced to the plot may be upsetting for younger readers. They are good conversation starters for high schoolers though.

Snip, Snip Revenge is a solid tale that I’d recommend to anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. It’s easy to assume that everyone else’s life is easier than your own, but the image people project isn’t necessarily how they actually feel about themselves.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Blinded By Grace by Becky Lower

May 6, 2014 By Leave a Comment

roses2
Blinded By Grace by Becky Lower
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Genre: Historical
Length: Full Length (199 pages)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Bluet

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Grace Wagner needs a husband by July in order to inherit the trust her father has left for her. Her stepfather, though, has plans for the money that don’t include Grace, and the last thing he wants is for her to find a husband before she turns twenty-one, thereby fulfilling the terms of the trust. She’s been in love with Halwyn since she was thirteen, but he hasn’t noticed her at any of the balls they’ve been at over the years. With the aid of his new glasses, he spies Grace from across the room and they share a dance. Grace decides to present him with a business proposition that will satisfy them both. But can a clueless knight in shining armor and a desperate damsel in distress find a way to turn this marriage of convenience into something more?

Grace Wagner needs a husband, and she needs one now! She is approaching her twenty-first birthday, and because of a fluke in the way her father’s will was written, her fortune will revert to her villain of a stepfather if she is not married. As Grace is pondering her fate at a ball, she is spotted by an old friend, Halwyn Fitzpatrick, who asks her to dance. Grace is shocked, because for years, whenever they would meet, Halwyn would look right through her. It turns out, he literally could not see her because of his poor vision. Now he’s sporting a brand new pair of spectacles, and notices how beautifully Grace has grown up.

Simon, Grace’s stepfather, is so evil, he’s almost unbelievable. He bulldozed Grace’s mother into marriage shortly after she was widowed, and she allowed it because she was afraid of being alone. Immediately it became clear that he was after Grace’s fortune. He has kept her out of society as much as possible, forcing her to wear old clothes, and doing his best to ensure no one will want to marry her. Grace slips away to talk to Halwyn, explains her situation, and proposes a marriage of convenience. Halwyn agrees, and they decide to remain married for a year, then divorce. I found this surprising, because the time period is 1858, and divorce still carried a stigma. Of course, the more time they spend together, the fonder they become of each other. They both want to make it a real marriage, but each thinks the other still wants a temporary arrangement.

As their upcoming marriage gets closer, Simon gets more desperate, and one of his schemes causes a serious injury to Halwyn. Simon was one of the most odious characters I’ve read about, and for a while, I wondered if he would be defeated. But Halwyn turns out to be true hero material, and he finally realizes that he loves Grace. As for Grace, she has loved Halwyn since she was thirteen. These two made a wonderful couple, who were a perfect match for each other. They had to work very hard for their well deserved happy ever after. I very much enjoyed this well written book, with its very clever title.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , ,

Tea and Primroses by Tess Thompson

May 1, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Cover_tea and primroses

Tea and Primroses by Tess Thompson
Publisher: Booktrope
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: Full (250 pgs)
Heat: Sensual
Rated: 3.5 Stars
Review by Poppy

Nothing is as it seemed in calm, quaint Legley Bay.

Famous novelist Constance Mansfield lived a seemingly straightforward – if private – and somewhat predictable life. Friends, beloved daughter Sutton, a beautiful home, and all the success an author could wish for. A perfect life….but was it?

When a hit and run accident suddenly takes her mother’s life, Sutton finds hidden secrets with her heartbreak. Emotional walls she assumed Constance had built to protect her privacy may have been to protect something – or someone – else entirely. Family and friends return home for support, including her own lost-love, Declan. He’s the first thing she craves to help her cope with her loss and the questions she’s left with, but he’s also the last person she wants to see. Will he be able to put down roots at last?

Can the loss of true love be the making of a life, or is it destined to be the undoing of everything? When money, power and love combine across time, anything is possible.

Tea and Primroses offers two stories in one!
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The book starts with Sutton, who’s already struggling with some tough decisions, finding out her mother was killed in a hit-and-run that doesn’t exactly appear to be an accident… and in desperate need, she calls out silently for her best friend from childhood (and the man she fell in love with), Declan.

Interestingly, he hears her…. sort of. Apparently, he’s always been able to tell when she’s in trouble and so, despite the fact she destroyed his heart several years back when she wouldn’t marry him, he hurries to her side and makes it in time for her mother’s memorial. And thus begins the real story.

This book was told in real time, and then again in flashbacks of a sort. Sutton’s mother, an author, wrote a book about a year of her life that she’s never spoken about. A year when she fell madly in love with a married man, and then had her heart broken. The ramifications from those actions reflect throughout her life.

This is less a real mystery than it is a story about chances and choices. It’s loaded with descriptive narrative which can sometimes slow the pace, and many things that are meant to by symbolic, which if you’re not into “deeper” stories may not appeal.

There’s never any doubt that Sutton and Declan love each other, and I still don’t completely understand why she wouldn’t marry him. She had reasons, which clearly made sense to her, but I found them less than believable. I also found her choice to become engaged to the exceptionally strange man she chooses equally difficult to believe.

The secondary characters here are very well rounded and interesting. I loved how they weren’t any of them perfect, but so very real. I’ve also discovered this book is part of a series, but it stands alone perfectly well.

I did enjoy the journey of discovery Sutton takes and watching her slowly become the person her mother (and Declan, for that matter) always believed she could be touched my heart. And ultimately, that’s the strength of this story. It broke my heart that her mother died before she could tell her the story in person, and that she had given up so much happiness because of the past.

Overall, this was a sweet, touching story. Again, the mystery isn’t really one (I have to admit to being surprised no one picked up on the link between so many deaths in a small town, despite the years between them) and knowing “whodunit” was not difficult to figure. That’s not why you read this.

You read Tea and Primroses to have your heart sigh a bit at how life throws people curves, and how we can build ourselves back up when we’re knocked down, especially when we have people in our lives who love us. That’s its strength.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Acts of Grace by Misa Buckley

April 25, 2014 By Leave a Comment

ACTS
Acts of Grace by Misa Buckley
Publisher: Champagne Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (24 pages)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

After stopping the power-hungry CO of Global Solutions from burning the world, Grace McKenna turns her attention to Hammel Mental Institute, the asylum where Benedict was locked up without reason, determined to close the place down.

Her investigation uncovers mysterious donations, vanishing patients and a hidden laboratory beneath the building.
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Still coming to terms with her abilities, Grace faces the possibility that the mutation was manufactured. But who by and, more importantly, what for?

There’s no such thing as a bad question. Whether Grace and Benedict will actually want to know the answers to their questions, though, remains to be seen.

The last time I met Grace I wished I knew a little more about her as an individual. Her personality shines through this short story, and the scenes that tread into sensual territory make much more sense this time around given everything I’ve figured out about the characters involved in them. Seeing how Grace reacts to what happens to her in this story gives me the urge to reread the first instalment of this series in order to see if there are any clues about her personality that I’ve missed.

There was uneven pacing in the beginning due to all of the references to what has happened to these characters in the recent past. As soon as the plot thickened, though, I became caught up in what Grace and and Benedict might discover in the asylum. A strong ending provided some much-needed answers and made me wish I could start part three right away.

This short story can be read as a standalone tale, but I the importance of certain scenes is easier to understand for readers who are already familiar with what happened in Grace Under Fire. It was especially interesting to see how the Grace and Benedict have grown as individuals since I first met them as not all of the changes are necessarily obvious right away.

I didn’t want Acts of Grace to end. This is a great choice for anyone in the mood for a short, satisfying dip into the science fiction genre.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Masterful Mr. Montague by Stephanie Laurens

April 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment

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The Masterful Mr. Montague by Stephanie Laurens
Publisher: Avon / Harper Collins
Genre: Historical, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (448 pgs)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Bluet

Montague has devoted his life to managing the wealth of London’s elite, but at a huge cost: a family of his own. Then the enticing Miss Violet Matcham seeks his help, and in the puzzle she presents him, he finds an intriguing new challenge professionally … and personally.
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Violet, devoted lady-companion to the aging Lady Halstead, turns to Montague to reassure her ladyship that her affairs are in order. But the famous Montague is not at all what she’d expected – this man is compelling, decisive, supportive, and strong – everything Violet needs in a champion, a position to which Montague rapidly lays claim.

But then Lady Halstead is murdered and Violet and Montague, aided by Barnaby Adair, Inspector Stokes, Penelope, and Griselda, race to expose a cunning and cold-blooded killer.who stalks closer and closer. Will Montague and Violet learn the shocking truth too late to seize their chance at enduring love?

Generally, one would think that having large sums of money deposited to one’s bank account on a regular basis is a good thing. But when one has no idea who is depositing the money, or why, it raises many questions. Lady Halstead has been widowed many years now. She feels that she’s coming to the end of her life and wants to put all her financial affairs in order. Her man of business can’t explain where the money is originating, so she instructs her long time companion, Violet Matcham, to contact London’s premier financial advisor / investigator, Heathcote Montague, to request his assistance.

Montague has worked very hard at his craft for many years, and has earned his stellar reputation. But something just doesn’t feel right. Now, at forty-ish, he notices his colleagues going home to loving wives and children, and feels the pangs of loneliness. Just as his office is about to close, Violet shows up, requesting his help for Lady Halstead. Montague is intrigued both by the case, and by Violet, herself, and agrees to investigate the mysterious funds. However, whoever is responsible for the funds has no desire to be found out. He will take any steps, including murder, to cover his crimes. As danger comes closer to Violet, she and Montague become closer to each other.

Both Montague and Violet are honorable, likeable people. They are straight forward about their developing feelings for each other, and I like that a lot. I also like that we have a hero who is forty-ish and a heroine who is thirty four. Generally I’m very fond of books that have a slow building romance, with the couple building a friendship first. This book was well written, but felt very long, and it lacked the passionate and steamy scenes that Stephanie Laurens is known for, and I missed that. If you prefer a historical mystery, with a subtler romance on the side, this may just be the book for you.

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