Family Business by Emma McKee

TITLE: Family Business
AUTHOR: Emma McKee
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 62k)
GENRE: Contemporary romantic suspense
COST: $3.99

Loan officer Nora Bainbridge’s great-aunt is as eccentric as they come, but then again, as an aging actress from Hollywood’s golden era, she’s expected to be. When she breaks her leg, she asks for Nora to move in and take care of her cat, a financial arrangement Nora can’t refuse right now. Little does she know that the TV producer poking his nose around, looking for information on her Aunt Elnora’s ancient connections with the mob, is really an FBI agent, or that he just might be the answer to her recent dry spell…

When an author’s humor works for me, I’m much more inclined to finish a book, even when I can see its flaws. This was one of those cases.

It opens with FBI agent Luke McKinnon staking out aging Hollywood actress, Elnora Bainbridge, in hopes he can determine whether or not his teenaged crush is involved in a stolen art scam. He witnesses her take a fall while chasing her cat and calls 911 anonymously. That same fall puts Elnora in the hospital, and prompts her to pay her great-niece, named after her, to housesit and take care of the over-indulged cat. Nora agrees only because she needs the money. She’s barely making ends meet as she struggles to regain her financial footing after her ex cleaned her out. Luke shows up and introduces himself as a television producer, interested in doing a show on Elnora. He’s struck by the physical similarities between the two women, and it becomes harder for him to separate his growing feelings for Nora with the pressing evidence that Elnora really is involved in something illegal. He should know, after all. His grandfather was one of the mobsters who fought over Elnora before she gave up her acting career for good.

I fell for this story very early on, mostly because I was laughing out loud in the first few pages at Luke’s spying antics. The humor in this worked for me, mostly because I got sucked in by Luke’s appalled thoughts that he would now be scarred with memories of his favorite teenaged crush running around naked in her eighties. It’s a little silly, but that farcical nature worked within the context of the story, keeping it light for most of its length. Not all of it was a success. I’m not a fan of puns at all, and having the nosy neighbor named Ima Payne was mostly just eyeroll-worthy. Still, I liked Nora and Luke’s self-deprecating humor enough to like them in conjunction, thus making it easier to invest in their potential romance.

The supporting cast is colorful as well, from her spirited Aunt Elnora with her illicit online businesses, to Elnora’s attorney Albert, all the way to the overweight, over-indulged cat, Mr. Witherby. Nora bounces around from person to animal with a refreshing aplomb, and if she sometimes seems a bit scattered as a result, it’s nice to be remembered that events are happening very quickly within the story (so quickly that at least once, the author messes up the timeline). More get introduced as the story progresses, and it’s the firm addition of the Mob (as opposed to the hints that they might be involved at the top of the story) that actually starts weakening the tale.

So much is made about what might have happened, the truth is very anticlimactic when it comes out. Then, it plays out so quickly, in a scene that’s far too talky even for a farce, that I was left with a vague sense of, “That’s it?” Add to that a time jump at the end that, while justified, watered down the response rather than heightened it, and I was a little disappointed by the time I got my HEA. If only the last third had lived up to the hype of the first two. This could’ve been truly remarkable then.

Readability	8/10 – Humor goes a long way in smoothing over rough transitions and an anticlimactic ending
Hero	7/10 – His perspective was what enticed me to make this a definite finish, funny and just deprecating enough to be charming
Heroine	7/10 – Self-aware with just enough of an edge
Entertainment value	7/10 – I responded to humor in this, as well as the obvious love for old movies, though the ending didn’t live up to the promise of the first two-thirds
World building	7/10 – Enough hints to make it interesting, not enough to make it rich
TOTAL:	36/50

One Good Year by Rowan McBride

TITLE: One Good Year
AUTHOR: Rowan McBride
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 824k)
GENRE: Gay paranormal romance
COST: $4.99

A year after Spade was on in a card game, he’s still devoted to his master Ace but wondering why he doesn’t feel more secure in the relationship. Ace does everything he can to convince him, but it takes another of Spade’s kind threatening to tear them apart forever for the lovers to face what it means to belong to each other…

Revisiting loved characters in subsequent books is often dangerous, especially when a lot of time has elapsed. Unfortunately, this short sequel to One Good Hand fails to deliver much of anything except a brief walk down memory lane.

Told in 1^st person from Spade’s POV, this is a short revisit in Spade and Ace’s lives together, almost a year after Ace won Spade in a poker game. Spade is an alien species, designed to be the perfect match for whoever owns him, and in the first book, proved he was the right partner for Ace when their bond was solidified. Spade meets another of his kind who has been looking for them ever since they crashed fifteen years ago, but his intentions soon become evident. He thinks Ace will hurt Spade, so he’s determined to separate the two permanently by erasing their memories.

While I really enjoyed the first book, and often find this author very enjoyable, this story ultimately didn’t work for me. First of all, it relies too heavily on knowing its predecessor, with characterizations that tell more than show and too little attention breathing fresh life into them. Even recognizing it won’t work as a standalone, however, it becomes mired in its own over-romanticism and sentimentality. These guys are mushy from the very start, and it borders on nauseating because there’s just no ebb and flow to make their relationship feel real.

On top of that, we’re introduced to Ancel, another of Spade’s kind, who was defective and thus has other abilities that Spade doesn’t. He becomes this omnipotent force that threatens to come between Ace and Spade, but his conflict is introduced too late in the story for it to have much impact, not to mention I had very little opportunity to really get to know him as a character before the threats began. Maybe if he’d seemed more genuine or if I’d known him better, I wouldn’t have been as annoyed by what felt like manufactured conflict.

In all fairness, I think this short novella would do best with readers who were highly invested in the couple as based on their first story and really want to see something – anything – with them again. Otherwise, I’d pass.

Readability	7/10 – Overly romantic and too repetitive to be a quick read
Hero #1	5/10 – Even though we’re in his POV, I felt I knew him better in the first book than this one
Hero #2	6/10 – His constant indecision and fear were grating
Entertainment value	4/10 – Doesn’t work as a standalone at all
World building	5/10 – Too much is left unexplained, new readers won’t get it easily
TOTAL:	27/50

A Waltz at Midnight by Crista McHugh

TITLE: A Waltz at Midnight
AUTHOR: Crista McHugh
PUBLISHER: Carina
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 19k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $2.69

Southerner Susanna Parkwell has been forced into a life of servitude after the Civil War, and when she is offered payment to write some letters for one of the college girls in the house where she works, she takes it, desperate to help her injured brother achieve his dream. Deceiving the girl’s suitor should’ve been easy. After all, all she has to do is convince him he doesn’t want anything to do with courting. But when she begins to have feelings for this man she has never met, she can’t quite bring herself to end the masquerade…

I love epistolic stories, and the romantic premise of this appealed to me. However, the end result proved too simple for my tastes, ultimately becoming something I had troubles remembering just a day later.

As a tale, it’s a simple one. Susanna works as a maid in her aunt’s boardinghouse for young women attending college. A transplanted Southerner, she is now reliant on her aunt’s good graces to support her and her brother who was injured during the war. One of the girls in the boardinghouse receives a letter from a would-be suitor, but because she’s in love with someone else, she asks the more eloquent Susanna to write a letter back posing as her to discourage him. Susanna agrees to do it only after she is offered payment, but after she exchanges a couple letters with the man, she begins to realize it’s not quite the onerous task she originally thought it would be.

Knowing the length ahead of time, I didn’t expect much. There wouldn’t be time for real depth, just some letters back and forth, hopefully romantic, and a sweet HEA. That’s what there is, but the problem lies with the fact that the conflict that gets introduced – a surprising depth to Theodore’s issues as well as his feelings regarding the duplicity when he finds out – get completely dismissed in the transition between his discovery and the ending. All of a sudden, there’s the HEA, with no real explanation as to how Theodore suddenly is okay with the fact that he’s been deceived for so long when more is really needed. He comes across as incredibly wishy-washy as a result, which does nothing to bolster him as an appealing hero.

Susanna fares slightly better, as she at least has a spine and stands up to some of the more awful girls in the boardinghouse as well as Theodore’s rather obnoxious responses. But my respect for her wears thin as her letters progress, mostly because I can’t fathom how the early ones are ever meant to truly discourage him from courting her. The intelligence I’m told she has doesn’t seem to manifest, and I’m left only half-invested in whether or not everything will work out.

When all is said and done, it’s a forgettable story with unmemorable characters that never seem to have to live up to the promise that’s hinted at several times within the text. Even for a short novella, it failed to do much more than kill the time it took to read.

Readability	7/10 – Simple and direct, easy to read but rather superficial
Hero	5/10 – Rather generic, and the switch at the end came too abruptly
Heroine	6/10 – Has a spine but seeing those letters as off-putting made me question her so-called intelligence
Entertainment value	4/10 – I love the potential of this, and there were hints of what I love about epistolic stories, but it felt too glossed over in the sections where the conflict should have been prevalent
World building	7/10 – There’s no doubt about the time period, though it took a lot to get me past the initial set-up since it felt so abrupt
TOTAL:	29/50

The Concubine's Tale by Jennifer Colgan

TITLE: The Concubine’s Tale
AUTHOR: Jennifer Colgan
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 23k)
GENRE: Paranormal romance
COST: $3.50

Curator Cait Lang is under orders to show their latest acquisition to collector Grant Pierson, a prospect she doesn’t really look forward to since she finds the man’s smug, know-it-all personality annoying. Grant is glad to finally have the chance to spend some alone time with ice-queen Cait, hungry to find out if she ever comes unruffled, but the story behind the papyrus on the auction block proves to be more enticing than either of them anticipate…

While this story had an interesting set-up, the actual follow-through didn’t quite live up to its initial promise. Essentially, it’s divided into two separate stories, the contemporary one between Cait and Grant, and the Egyptian one between Nayari and Khanu. Cait and Grant are professional acquaintances, with neither really knowing much about the other. Cait finds his superior attitude annoying, while he has never really looked past her ice-queen persona. He decides to see if he can get past it by inviting her out for a private dinner while she’s telling him about the papyrus, and though dating clients is forbidden, she agrees, largely because she’s curious, too. She begins relating the translation, making it clear it’s been embellished, and the story alternates between the rising tension between them and the growing attraction between the concubine and the warrior set to protect her.

The story Cait tells is a romantic one, about a concubine being used as a pawn in her master’s bid to become Pharoah, the world painted there rich and fascinating. Nayari is lovely to watch, from her initial pride to her horror at what’s intended for her to her growing feelings for Khanu. This story provides the strongest momentum for this short novella and offers glimmers of just what it could have been. Unfortunately, none of the other characters possess the same intrigue or depths. Nayari’s story is essentially a tool to get Cait and Grant over their initial misgivings and make them hot and bothered enough to ignore the order not to get involved. Not enough time is spent on developing them as real people for the attraction between them to feel organic, and the back and forth starts to feel very by-the-numbers.

The publisher calls this a paranormal story, but that’s stretching the definition. The problem is, this doesn’t fit neatly into any one category. The historical tale is clearly the most developed and compelling, but it’s tucked inside a contemporary package. The paranormal label likely springs from the mystical ending that Grant eventually discovers to the Egyptian lovers, but it lacks the credibility the rest of the tale offers. Though the publisher doesn't indicate it as such, this is likely meant to be a companion piece to another of the author's works called "The Soul Jar." There's an excerpt for that at the end of this, but in all fairness, I didn't realize this might be linked to something else (and thus give the ending more veracity) until after I started writing this review and went to the author's bio to get her web address. I never read the excerpts Samhain pads the end of their books with (a truly annoying practice, as those words get added into the total word count and can make unsuspecting buyers think they're purchasing a longer work). Frankly, I shouldn't have to happen to stumble across that excerpt/blurb to discover the ending I didn't buy for a second is rooted in another work.

Readers wanting paranormal attributes will be disappointed. If anything, I’d suggest this to lovers of Egyptian stories. That’s what it really has going for it.

Readability	7/10 – The Egyptian portions read much more vivid and interesting than the contemporary portions
Heroes	6/10 – One didn’t have enough depth, the other was too idealized
Heroines	6/10 – Nayari is fascinating, but Cait suffers the same problem Grant does
Entertainment value	6/10 – So much potential in this, but it just never gels together
World building	7/10 – The Egyptian world sizzles, which makes the weak contrast to the contemporary even more disappointing
TOTAL:	32/50

Synthetic Dreams by Kim Knox

TITLE: Synthetic Dreams
AUTHOR: Kim Knox
PUBLISHER: Carina
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 34k)
GENRE: Cyberpunk romance
COST: $3.59

In the world of creating illegal glamour, Vyn is one of the best. She has to be. Scarred as a child, she was forced to wear glamours in order to fit in with her upper crust surroundings. All of that changed when she was caught selling her illegal wares and shipped off to a district known for its hackers and threats. But now, she’s created the most valuable piece of tech there is. Everybody will want a piece of her if they ever find out, including the high-level security guy who almost catches her when she’s testing it…

If there’s one thing this author loves to do, it’s create dense new worlds for a reader to explore. The problem is, her stories aren’t always long enough to really take full advantage of them.

This one is no exception. The reader is thrown headlong into a world where the virtual is as real as reality. Vyn is testing her newest tech, something called a simulacrum, to see whether it can pass inspection. She runs into a security guy who introduces himself as Paul, but when it becomes obvious he’s starting to see through her mask, she decides to leave. She needs a diversion, and thinking quickly, kisses the guy. She never expects him to kiss her back, but she manages to get out with her mask intact. Back in the real world, she ventures out at dusk for some coffee, but after surviving the dangerous trip back to her apartment, she finds Paul in her apartment, announcing he knows full well who and what she is. Seconds later, he tells her the only way she’s going to survive the night is by trusting him. She has no choice but to do so when security storms her apartment and destroys everything non-organic.

Thus begins a night of harrowing action, as Paul sucks Vyn into a world more complex than she’d ever imagined. I can’t explain it. By the time I was comfortable enough with the societal constructs and technology the author had created, the story was two-thirds done, and I’m pretty sure that if I tried to explain it now, I’d just make a mess of it. It’s cyberpunk, though, which should give the reader a starting point. From the start, Paul is practically perfect in a lethal kind of way, which turns out to be his major failing as an interesting character. By the time he starts showing chinks in his armor, most of the story is gone. He’s enigmatic to a flaw, and because of that, I never really bought into his feelings in the last couple chapters.

Vyn is a little bit better, but her characterization suffers in a different way. She’s thrust into the action so early, and the pace is so unrelenting, there’s no real chance to discover what she might be like on a normal basis. I certainly didn’t get a lot of what Paul claimed to know. I had to take his word for it rather than see or experience it for myself. This, too, worked to distance me from the romance.

But there’s enough fascinating action going on that I was okay with not being that invested in the romance. I needed to see it play out, especially once I was really clued into how it all worked. The story hurtles along at a breathtaking speed, leaving little room for anything but strapping in. As a reader, I just had to find a way to survive (much like Vyn with Paul’s driving). And even with my reservations about the romantic angle, I’m likely to be there the next time this author has a new title. She’s one of the few I’ve read who consistently come up with complex, interesting worlds. That’s worth it.

Readability	8/10 – Dense world building really holds this back because there’s just so much going on that it forces the reader to slow down and sometimes even backtrack to catch it all
Hero	6/10 – Too enigmatic to be truly sympathetic
Heroine	7/10 – So much action goes on, there’s little opportunity to learn of these qualities Paul is intrigued by
Entertainment value	7/10 – Getting a firm handle of the world beneath my belt slowed down getting into the tight action of this
World building	8/10 – It needed better descriptions earlier in the story to make it easier to get sucked into, but still love the nihilism of it all
TOTAL:	36/50

Gridlock by Nathalie Gray

TITLE: Gridlock
AUTHOR: Nathalie Gray
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 27k)
GENRE: Cyberpunk romance
COST: $3.50

In a world where machines are in charge, Steel does what she can to survive. On what should be her last job to earn the money she needs to escape for good, a dangerous ex gets in the way. She tries to fight her way out, but she’s outnumbered…at least until the man known only as The Cardinal shows up and promptly kills all but one of them. Steel tries to get away, too, but when she accidentally sees his face, he makes it clear that he doesn’t leave loose ends…

I love Nathalie Gray. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Which is exactly how I started my review of the last title I read by her, but since there aren’t that many authors who fall under this category, I’m letting my repetition slide.

This novella is another example of her gritty, action-paced style. Steel is a pierced, tattooed, fierce young woman, living on her own, watching her back, existing outside the Grid’s influence because she never got one of the implants that most humans now have. She’s trying to save enough money to escape the hellhole she grew up in, and this last job running drugs should be it. Then her psychotic ex Six shows up with his gang. He’s dangerous and unpredictable, and as soon as he spots her, she knows there’s going to be trouble. Though she tries to get away, getting in more than a few hard blows herself, she gets pinned and is on the brink of being raped when a stranger appears on the train. The men recognize him as the Cardinal, a lethal vigilante. The Cardinal proceeds to kill almost all of them, two without ever touching them. Steel tries to escape at the end, but when she inadvertently sees his face, he tells her he can’t leave a witness.

The ride explodes from there, vaulting the reader into one action scene after another, as Steel learns more about this enigmatic man. I could describe more of him, but that would spoil much of the surprise. This novella is too short for me to risk that. I will say that I loved the dichotomy he presents, the soft-spoken, courtly manners in contrast to the killing machine he really is, and that I was rooting for him even before we got into his perspective. Steel fares even better. She has Gray’s typical iron core, reacting in purely human ways without ever looking weak (I can't even begin to describe how much I loved her ultimate confrontation with Six), but through it is this thread of vulnerability that had me hoping for her happy ending as well.

The pace and writing are exemplary, fight scenes well choreographed, the editing clean. But hidden with the action are gems like this, "Her life was a garden of broken little moments." It's lyrical without sacrificing the story's style, and completely encapsulates Steel's character in less than ten words. It's something else to love about this author.

My sole complaint seems to be my typical one when it comes to Gray’s work. It’s too short. She’s so busy creating characters I love in worlds that fascinate me, the story is over just as it feels like it’s beginning. I want more, damn it. There aren’t enough authors out there who write these kind of down-and-dirty heroines or tougher-than-nails heroes in such action-tight sequences. When it comes to Gray, I’m just greedy.

Readability	9/10 – Combines relentless action with some fantastic turns of phrase
Hero	8/10 – An enigma in all the best ways
Heroine	9/10 – Smart, determined, and still heartbreakingly vulnerable
Entertainment value	9/10 – Tense with a streak of innocence straight through the middle of all the nihilism
World building	8/10 – Crisp, sharp details that would’ve been perfect if we’d only had a novel to explore them all in
TOTAL:	43/50

Out on the Net by Rick R. Reed

TITLE: Out on the Net
AUTHOR: Rick R. Reed
PUBLISHER: Amber Allure
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary romance
COST: $5.00

Ray Tolliver realizes on the day he’s supposed to get married that he’s gay, so he calls off the wedding…at which point, he begins blogging about his experiences in hopes someone else might be able to learn from his choices…

This short novella is comprised of a series of blogs written by recently out Ray Tolliver. It starts with his wedding day, where he finally admits to himself that he’s gay. His best friend Doug agrees to cover for him when he wants to call it off, at which point, Ray sets out recording his new life. He’s a virgin to gay sex, so his first entries are about the local rest stop notorious for gay hook-ups and his adjustment to being single again. They progress from there to his first date and beyond.

The appeal here is in the chatty nature of the author’s voice. It reads much faster than 18k, which works both for and against it. In the case of the former, it meant getting sucked in and finishing it before I knew it. For the latter, however, I got done and wondered, “That seemed a little easy.” I liked Ray, and I liked the window I got into his life, but without getting more depth into the resolution, I didn’t really buy it. I also wondered why Doug, the best friend who took the brunt of an angry bride and wedding party, never even got a mention after the first chapter. For someone who was so supportive and helpful, I would’ve thought Ray would look to him to for moral support at the very least. But no, Doug is just gone after that.

There are fourteen blog entries, but they lack dates to know just how much time has passed between each one. It’s sometimes easy to pick up on it, but not always. However, in spite of these flaws, the peeks we get into Ray’s life are entertaining and authentic. Reed proves his finesse with multiple genres here, ensuring I’ll keep coming back to his titles, regardless of what he decides to tackle next.

Readability	8/10 – Chatty and breezy, though sometimes the dialogue felt unnatural
Hero #1	8/10 – Believable and sweet
Hero #2	4/10 – This is where I had problems with the dialogue, I never really believed him
Entertainment value	7/10 – Liked the format and the freshness of the protagonist
World building	7/10 – A strong balance of details within the blogs
TOTAL:	34/50

Boot Hill Bride by Lauri Robinson

TITLE: Boot Hill Bride
AUTHOR: Lauri Robinson
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 76k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $5.50

Desperate to escape her politician father and stepmother, Randi Fulton runs to her aunt, only to have to run yet again when her presence risks discovery. She takes refuge in a tent outside the construction of a new hotel in Dodge City, but its owner, Howard Quinter, comes home in the middle of the night. They’re discovered in bed together the next morning by both sets of parents, at which point Ma Skeeter demands a wedding. The two are wed, and Howard vows to protect Randi from her terrible father and his schemes to be the next governor…

I don’t end up following a lot of series. I can’t come into a series in the middle, so if I miss the first book, unless I end up discovering the author with a different title, I just won’t go back and get it. Frankly, there are too many books out there to try. This Quinter Brides series has been an odd duck for me, but I’m not quite ready to give upon it yet.

Howard Quinter is the third brother to get forced into a shotgun wedding at the hands of his strong-willed mother. His bride is runaway Randi Fulton, the daughter of the man running for governor representing the Populist party. She tried to escape being sold off to marry a much older man by going to her aunt in Dodge City, but her aunt works in a whorehouse, and when her presence is in risk of discovery, she takes refuge in Howard’s tent. Neither wants to be married, but when Howard sees how awful her father is, he lets his argument go. Besides, there’s no saying no to Ma when she gets a bee in her bonnet. She vows to do anything she can to help Howard get his hotel up and running, and when it turns out she loves to cook as much as he does, it looks like a match made in heaven.

This book had one of the stronger starts of this series yet. I’ve had issues in the past with poor editing, but this didn’t suffer from it. Randi was taking charge of her future, Howard was appropriately honorable, and Ma and the rest of the gang were as entertaining as ever. I was charmed and reading with a huge smile on my face. The prose is never very sophisticated and the plotting was simplistic, but that’s not the appeal in this series. It’s the characters, and I was rather enamored with who I was meeting/getting reacquainted with.

But then I realized Randi wasn’t living up to the strong introduction she’d gotten. The woman who’d taken charge of her destiny became this crying mess, breaking down in every other scene. She had zero self-esteem and it showed. I grew very weary of her constant soppy attitude, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Howard remained a strong, noble presence, I would’ve stopped.

On top of that, the cleaner editing of the beginning disappeared halfway through. It started with verb tenses slipping, present coming in where everything has been and should have remained past. Then came the misspellings, more and more the closer I got to the ending. Combine that with Randi who remained a wet rag until the last few pages of the book (and no, one last scene of strength isn’t enough to counter nearly 70k of wimpiness/crying), as well as the sweetness morphing into chapter upon chapter of sappiness, and my enjoyment diminished.

Will I read the next book? Probably. Am I in a hurry to pick it up? No. I want to love these stories, and I do with parts of them, but the weaknesses keep cropping up. If the Quinter boys weren’t so entertaining, it would be a lot easier to quit. But I kind of still love them, so…yeah, I’ll pick the next one up. At some point.

Readability	6/10 – What started out promising gradually deteriorated in regards to simple mistakes, which, combined with the added sap, dragged it down even more
Hero	8/10 – The saving grace, strong and heroic
Heroine	4/10 – Too damsel in distress for me, her constant crying got to be a joke by the end of the story
Entertainment value	6/10 – I was enamored with this for the first third, but as soon as the editorial issues and Randi’s crying tendencies set in, became much less so
World building	8/10 – The one thing about the Quinter books is that I always feel like I’m there
TOTAL:	32/50

Lying Eyes by Amy Atwell

TITLE: Lying Eyes
AUTHOR: Amy Atwell
PUBLISHER: Carina
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 103k)
GENRE: Contemporary romantic suspense
COST: $5.39

Jewelry designer/store owner Iris Fortune is trying to lead a normal, stable life, but her magician father keeps finding ways of disrupting it. His latest scheme involves mythological Russian gems, a thief named Mickey who makes her heart pound more than her lawyer fiancé, a strong-willed rabbit named Edgar, and oh yeah, two half sisters she never knew she had…

There is so much going on in this romantic suspense, it’s almost tough to know where to start. The premise at the beginning is simple enough. Mickey, a hired thug, snatches Cosmo, an aging magician, because he hasn’t followed through on his end of a corrupt business deal. It’s up to Mickey to find the gems Cosmo was supposed to turn over, except Cosmo manages to get away. Mickey then goes to Cosmos’s daughter Iris, the owner of a jewelry store at the Bellagio, to see if she knows anything. Iris is engaged to a lawyer with political aspirations, a boring, safe choice to counter the less than predictable life she had growing up. Iris gets a call from her security company about an unauthorized entry, and when she realizes it has to be Cosmo, lies to protect him. Thus starts a long, convoluted race to find the gems Cosmo is withholding.

The problem isn’t that the plot isn’t interesting. It certainly is. The problem rests in just how many people get involved in it. Right away, we’re thrown into the thick of things, because in addition to Mickey and Iris, there’s Hunter the cop, Allie and Cory (Iris’s half-sisters), the other thugs Mickey works with, Turner the hitman, and the Boss who’s behind it at all. By the story’s end, we get even more characters. It’s not just trying to keep them all straight. There are scenes in so many different POVs (only one per scene most of the time, thank god), that it’s often hard to make emotional connections to any of them.

Thankfully, enough time is spent with Mickey and Iris to recognize them as the central pairing. Mickey is charmingly roguish and capable of pulling Iris out of her safe little shell. She’s intelligent and just wary enough to be believable, but I did feel that she got lost in the shuffle quite often. They have strong chemistry, and I loved how he was able to get her to relax.

Between all this, however, are scenes that often drag on too long (seriously, losing Edgar in the gardens lasted forever), and some that seemed completely extraneous altogether. I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if it had been more tightly focused, rather than allowed to ramble on where it did. It worked to keep me guessing as to what would happen next, but beyond that, I was left fairly unsatisfied.

Readability	7/10 – Clean editorially, but some scenes drag on for far too long and the huge cast does little but muddy the waters
Hero	7/10 – Charming and roguish
Heroine	7/10 – Has a tendency to get lost in the shuffle of more colorful characters, but nothing awful about her
Entertainment value	7/10 – This would’ve ranked higher if certain parts had dragged it down
World building	9/10 – Extensive and fully realized
TOTAL:	37/50

And to All a Good Night by Kaje Harper

TITLE: And to All a Good Night
AUTHOR: Kaje Harper
PUBLISHER: Amazon
LENGTH: Short story
GENRE: Gay holiday romance
COST: Free

It’s Tony and Mac’s first Christmas, but they don’t get to spend it together…

When the het story I’d picked to review for today turned out be less than engaging, I decided to hell with my usual schedule and picked up this free short that follows up to the novel I reviewed yesterday. It’s currently free on Amazon, and follows a few months after the end of Life Lessons. Tony and Mac are still meeting in secret, though Mac spends every night at Tony’s apartment. Tony has to go home to Florida for Christmas, while Mac is hip-deep in police work, including a rather gruesome unsolved about an elderly man who died alone.

In a lot of ways, this is the anti-holiday story, melancholy in tone, separated heroes. Mac knows this is the way it has to be, but that doesn’t stop him from wishing otherwise. The same goes for Tony. Their relationship is fraught with all the tensions of something new, as well as the added issues of having to hide away. It’s real and gutsy, and therein lies the appeal here. This is all about loving these two guys and wanting to see how they’re handling their lives, the things they say to each other when the need is high. There’s a few info dumps about what has been going on that don’t read very smoothly, as well as some editorial glitches that hiccupped along the way, but I didn’t expect a whole lot from this self-published short. I wanted to spend time with Tony and Mac, and know they were going to be all right. That’s exactly what I got, with more than a few lovely moments to remember it by.

Readability	7/10 – Minor mistakes holds this back, though I love the guys enough not to mind too much
Hero #1	8/10 – His frustration bleeds through
Hero #2	8/10 – Caught in the prison of his creation, his angst is palpable
Entertainment value	7/10 – Though I loved this melancholy glimpse into their lives, it didn’t have quite the flow to get me deep into the story
World building	7/10 – It fills in holes, but I’m not convinced someone coming in cold would be able to understand the entire cast
TOTAL:	37/50

Ghosts of Boyfriends Past by Vivi Andrews

TITLE: Ghosts of Boyfriends Past
AUTHOR: Vivi Andrews
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 41k)
GENRE: Paranormal romance
COST: $4.50

Witch Biz Marks is cursed. Every Valentine’s Day for the past three years, the man she was seeing died. Once she figured out what was going on, she tried swearing off men, but so far nothing has worked. So when reporter Mark Ellison shows up at her store, trying to ferret out the true story behind the so-called Black Widow of Parish Island, her immediate attraction to him sends off all kind of warning signals. She tries to push him away, but the more she pushes, the more intrigued Mark gets. Not even discovering that the ghosts of her three so-called victims live with her is enough to throw him off…

Humorous books don’t have to be laugh out loud funny to work. Sometimes, it’s enough to be charmed by the prose and turn every page with a smile on your face. That’s certainly the case for this short novel.

When her grandmother died, leaving her alone, Biz did the unthinkable. She cast a spell looking for love for herself. That was the one big no-no she was taught, and as a result, the spell turned into a curse. For the past three years, the man she was seeing has died on Valentine’s Day, leaving her terrified to get involved again. It’s also left her with three ghosts, sharing the old house that also serves as her charm store. The one thing she wants to avoid is someone else dying, so when reporter Mark Ellison shows up in her shop asking questions, her walls go up. He’s gorgeous, and she’s immediately attracted. It’s got warning bells all over it. She tries to push him away, but Mark is convinced there’s a story behind the three deaths. He’s decided he’s not going anywhere.

What I love most about this author’s work is the crispness of her prose. It’s quippy without being annoying, bantery in all the right places, and moves along at a brisk enough pace to make the book seem shorter than it actually is. While I didn’t laugh out loud during it, I did go through it with a smile and a certain joy. It’s hard not to enjoy these two characters interacting with each other, or the multitude of colorful secondary characters that pepper the cast. Everyone has a frothiness to them, even the hard-edged Gillian, Biz’s best friend.

The two leads are suitably appealing. Mark is charming and determined, while Biz has an everywoman feel about her that would spark something in most female readers. I did wonder what Mark saw in Biz specifically, whether his reactions were genuine or a product of the curse, but that’s a symptom of the story rather than a flaw in the characterization. As fun as Biz can be, too, her back and forth attitude with Mark and how she’s going to deal with him grew old halfway through the book. The story is already very quickly paced. Toss in her constantly changing feelings, and I had a sense of whiplash by the end.

Still, with such sparkling prose and light mood, this rates higher than a lot of other holiday stories I’ve read. Not all of her backlist appeals to me, but the more I read by her, the more likely I am to give them a go anyway.

Readability	8/10 – Crisp humor and brisk pacing
Hero	7/10 – Charming, but I’m never really sure just what his attraction was to her
Heroine	7/10 – Loved her humor about the whole thing, but the back and forth of her attitude toward Mark got old
Entertainment value	7/10 – It wasn’t as laugh out loud funny as I’d expected, but I did go through it with a smile on my face
World building	8/10 – The world of Parish came to sparkling life, though I would’ve liked a little bit more about the magical side of things
TOTAL:	37/50

Always a Princess by Alice Gaines

TITLE: Always a Princess
AUTHOR: Alice Gaines
PUBLISHER: Carina
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 83k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $5.39

When Philip Rosemont, Viscount Wesley, spots the princess at a ball, he knows immediately she’s a fake. The question is, why is she pretending to be an Eastern European noblewoman and how quickly can he get her to himself? He doesn’t expect to find her trying to pilfer their hostess’s jewels, especially since he’s just taken it for himself, but by the time she shows up at his home the following day with the intent of blackmailing him to keep his secret, he’s already decided they’d make a fabulous team, both in thievery and elsewhere…

I had a splendid experience with a book I read by this author last year, and this second effort proved just as entertaining.

The delight starts early and swiftly. We open at a ball, where Philip, the Viscount Wesley, has spotted a woman who is clearly an imposter, pretending to be a princess from a small Eastern European country none of the simpering men surrounding her have even heard of. Philip has, however, and much to the woman’s chagrin, he’s intimately familiar with it. He quickly discovers that she’s at the party for the same reason he is – to steal jewels from their hostess. Where his motivation is sheer boredom, Eve – the imposter princess – is doing it in retaliation after having lost her position as governess when her employer’s son had her take the fall for a cameo he stole from his mother. Eve’s rationale is that since she’s already been accused of thievery, she might as well do it. So far, her plan has worked well. But then she met a man who’d actually been to the country in question, and now everything is in disarray. In an attempt to keep control of the situation, she decides to blackmail him, to force him to pay her to keep his secret that he’s really the Orchid Thief. Philip laughs at the offer. His reputation is the last thing he worries about. But he’s got a counter offer in mind, one that poses them as partners rather than adversaries.

I was laughing at this wonderful farce almost from the start. Philip is roguish and intelligent, with just enough determined swagger to keep him edgy and the right balance of manners to keep him from going over the top. His dialogue, no matter who he’s addresses, comes fast and furious, leaving no room for skimming for fear of missing something he’s said. He typifies the farcical nature of the entire story, and honestly, what a breath of fresh air it was. There isn’t nearly enough farce in romantic fiction, probably because it’s hard to do well. This succeeds. Very, very well.

Is it the most original story? Well, no, but that doesn’t matter when the dialogue and hero sparkle as much as they do. The set-up, taken outside of the context of farce, would be hard to tolerate, because a reader would be left with abundant questions on how so much could get handwaved away (Eve’s acceptance into the ton as nobility before the Rosemonts vouch for her, for one). But farce demands a stretch of that acceptance, and as long as you’re prepared to go that far, it works anyway. The chemistry between the two leaps off the page, mostly as a result of Philip, and the sex when it comes is scorching.

The complaints I have are few. First of all, Eve isn’t quite as entertaining as Philip, but then again, he tends to get the best lines so it’s easy to get eclipsed by that. I did find her ultimate secret a tad banal considering the nature of the story, and it veered dangerously close to more dramatic historical romance as a result. It felt out of place in a story that was so outrageous already. There’s also a point just over halfway through when Philip lost his shine and turned into one of the simpering men who’d been fawning over Eve at the start. It’s just when he’s begun to realize the depths of his feelings for her, and his behavior becomes uncomfortable to witness. It doesn’t last, thank goodness. If it had, it might have been hard to finish.

But what a joy it is to find a book that has me laughing and smiling as much as this one did. While humor can be quite subjective, especially in written form, I think it’s safe to say that this author’s style of it definitely works for me.

Readability	9/10 – Far-fetched, but funny with witty banter you can’t take your eyes off
Hero	9/10 – Except for a brief period where he turned into one of the simpering fools from the beginning, delightfully roguish and witty
Heroine	7/10 – Not as consistent as the hero, and her secret is a little banal in light of the farcical nature of the story
Entertainment value	8/10 – Delightful and funny, as long as you accept it as farce
World building	7/10 – Stretches credibility, but then again, that tends to be one of the requirements in farce
TOTAL:	40/50