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Book Review: A Claim to Murder, by Jean G. Goodhind

I accepted an e-copy of  Jean G. Goodhind‘s A Claim to Murder for review.

A Claim to Murder Book Cover

Life couldn’t be sweeter for Honey Driver, floating around the Med on her own private yacht, with her dishy detective husband Steve.

But dark clouds are gathering on Honey’s perfect horizon. And the forecast looks like murder!

When Honey’s love boat sinks in a freak accident, she has no choice but to return to rain-drenched Bath. But now that Honey needs him, her insurance broker, silver-tongued Norman Glendower, is nowhere to be found.

He’s not at his luxury offices in town and he’s not answering his phone.

Honey could kill Norman for leaving her in this fix. But what if someone got there first?

Behind the gates of leafy Regency Gardens, the exclusive complex where Norman lives, something is terribly amiss. Norman’s mewling cat leads a curious neighbour straight to his dead body!

He’s been bludgeoned and left for dead on the pristine tiles of his designer kitchen. Which of his many enemies was the one to strike the fatal blow?

Honey’s on the case — with a killer watching her every move . . .

my review

I’m going to preface this review with the caveat that I’m not a massive reader of mysteries (cozy, British, or otherwise). This one came across my TBR largely by accident. But I gave it a good go, and I didn’t hate it. That’s faint praise, I know, but the most honest expression of how I feel.

I didn’t hate it. I liked that the characters are older but still active and with internal lives of their own, and honestly, I liked them well enough. But I was bored for a lot of the book. I didn’t feel the loss of a quarter of a million dollar investment was adequately mourned, and very little seemed to actually happen, investigation-wise, until right at the end. And then I thought the narrative treatment of a well-pulled-together, influencer-type woman to be clichéd. It has just a little too much of a whiff of shaming women who are proud of or use their looks for their own (as opposed to the patriarchy’s) gain.

All in all, this was middle of the road for me. But it might be a bigger winner for someone who especially likes cozy, British mysteries.

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Book Review: Lawless Princes, by Dani René

I accepted a review copy of Lawless Princes by Dani René, through Enticing Journey Book Promotions.

Danger. Deceit. Death.

I was promised to the leader of the Lawless Princes. I don’t have a choice, obeying their rules will keep me alive. But they hold a secret that could bring their perfectly glimmering world crashing down.

As much as I hate them, Judah, Valen, and Malachi are now my protectors.

But there is no happy ever after in this life.

The Princes will soon become Kings, but not before they learn what the title means.

my review

This book is a hot mess. I read an ARC. So, I won’t comment on editing and such beyond that, even in ARC form, it was perfectly readable. But in just about every other manner, this book was not for me. It’s all overblown (maybe even overwrought) declarative statements, contradictory internal monologues, and dialogue. There’s no world-building, the relationships are not allowed to develop, and the characters are all unlikeable. And not in an anti-hero sort of way; just in a ‘there is nothing likable about this person’ sort of way. (And I normally like a dark tortured hero.)

You can see which character archetypes the author was going for (and antihero is certainly one of them), but she rushes the book far too much to actually accomplish it. Full honesty: while I like what the author was going for with the men’s relationship, the book failed so spectacularly at it that I would have DNFed it if I hadn’t promised to review it.

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Other Reviews:

United Indie Book Blog: Lawless Princes

Release Blitz – Lawless Princes (Black Hollow Isle #1) by Dani René

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Book Review: Blade & Thistle, by Jacinda Hale

I accepted a review copy of Jacinda Hale‘s Blade & Thistle from Enticing Journey Book Promotions. The book was also over on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, you can hop over there, where the author provided a playlist, score, and book trailer.

Her father’s army came to conquer their homeland, but the barbarians of the Harrows will be the ones to conquer her.

Vasenia has hated her life in Eretamia ever since her father, Imperator Supreme of the Sadoran Army, forced her to join him on his military campaign. The cold, gloomy, backwater colony provides none of the high society of the capital. When her betrothed retrieves her for their wedding in the imperial city, Vasenia assumes the gods have finally shined their favor upon her.

Until her caravan is attacked along the forbidden, northern border and Vasenia finds herself in a hell far worse than Eretamia at the mercy of three ruthless warriors. No, not warriors–Harrow demons.

Barbarians. Savages. Harrow demons. Warriors Marek, Gaeb, and Ryfin know their people, the half-fae Itheni, are known by many names. Few who live south of the magical border that protects their home understand the Itheni, least of all the Sadoran invaders.

But when the three warriors rescue a Sadoran woman on their trek home, they discover she’s more than just another invader. She’s half-fae too, a descendent of the lost women whose connection to their people was severed by a curse a thousand years ago.

When an ancient bond links her to them, Marek, Gaeb, and Ryfin realize they have no choice; they must bring their enemy home. But if they want to keep her, they’ll have to claim her and reconnect her to the fae by the only means they have: pleasure.

my review

I liked this quite a lot, but I didn’t love it. I think I might have loved what it could have been if it wasn’t Porn With Plot. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with Porn With Plot. I read a lot of it. I picked this up knowing that’s what it is. But in this case, Blade & Thistle has quite an interesting world and mythology sketched out, and by the end, when I had honestly gotten bored with all the sex, I found myself disappointed not to get more of it.

And really, that same sort of complaint paints several aspects of the book for me. I liked the characters a lot (most of them, anyhow). But all we really know of most of them is their caricature and what they are like in bed. I liked that Vasenia is self-sufficient and scheming. But eventually, it started to feel redundant all the times she reminded herself she was only doing what she was doing for the intel.

This is the first book of a series, so there’s a chance that some of the development I wanted will come in time. But the lack here did leave me wanting.

Now I want to have a little semantic rant. Let’s talk words. The writing here is lovely. I enjoyed it. But I want to complain about the word cunt. And before you imagine I’m clutching my pearls, let me assure you that’s not my complaint. I’ll admit it’s not my favorite, but it has its place in erotica. However, it is usually used in gritty scenarios to confer a certain admirable filth to a sex thistle and blade photoscene. But here, the Itheni consider sex and orgasm sacred acts of joining their goddess. So, the edginess of cunt felt horridly out of place in context. If it had been once or twice, I wouldn’t give a paragraph of a review to it, but it was frequent and pulled me out of every scene.

All in all, despite these complaints, I liked almost everything else about the book. I liked the openness of the Itheni. I liked the world. I’m invested in what happens next. So, I’ll be on the lookout for the next book.


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