Tag Archives: romance

The Vintner's Luck

Book Review of The Vintner’s Luck, by Elizabeth Knox

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The Vintner's LuckI purchased a physical copy of The vintner’s Luck, by Elizabeth Knox.

Description from Goodreads:
One summer night in 1808, Sobran Jodeau sets out to drown his love sorrows in his family’s vineyard when he stumbles on an angel. Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be a far more mysterious character. Compelling and erotic, The Vintner’s Luck explores a decidedly unorthodox love story as Sobran eventually comes to love and be loved by both Xas and the young Countess de Valday, his friend and employer at the neighboring chateau. 

Review:
I have a confession to make. I have a secret soft spot for trashy novels. You know the sort—shallow, not particularly thought provoking, usually cheesy enough to make me snort-laugh—the literary equivalent of late night, B-grade sci-fi. The problem with such books is that they so often overlap with books I would call trash—poorly written, weakly plotted, the cheese isn’t purposeful or snort inducing. Lately, a disappointing percentage of my reading has fallen into that latter category and I decided I needed, NEEDED something with some substance. This book came highly recommended and boy did it fill the bill.

It isn’t a book you just fall into. It’s choppy, whole years sometimes covered in a page or one single event representing an entire year, as the narrative flies through Sobran’s WHOLE life. (But I have to add that the prose is stunningly beautiful.) It’s often confusing. It’s sad. It has a dubiously happy ending. But it’s also heart-felt and evocative. I teared up more than once. While I didn’t love the book until about 2/3 of the way through, by the end it had me wholly wrapped around itself.

I’ll admit that the narrative style made the characters feel distant and the large gaps in time that the characters spent apart made it difficult for me to feel their love, but I never doubted it. It just took on a form I had to think deeper to grasp. And I don’t just mean the love between Xas and Sobran. There are several types of love shown between different characters in the book, though often subtly and unremarked upon. Also, because so many chapters are presented as mere vignettes, I often was left scratching my head at the significance of certain events.

Most unusual of all, I rather enjoyed the religious aspects of the book. Xas’ relationship to/with God and Lucifer, as well as his purpose between them was intriguing. I never felt preached at, as I don’t think anyone ever preached.

All in all, I needed the ‘See, I can read smart books too’ reboot and had the added bonus of truly enjoying the read. I’m well up for more of Knox’s writing in the future.

For an alternative view, from someone who didn’t like the book but whose points I can completely take and largely agree on, check out this review. Isn’t interesting how two readers can agree on not liking certain aspects of a book, but still come away with different final verdicts.

Home Is Where You Are

Book Review of Home Is Where You Are (The Alphas’ Homestead, #1), by Alex Jane

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Home is where you areAlex Jane sent me a copy of Home is Where You Are for review.

Description from Goodreads:
By the winter of 1870, Caleb Fletcher has carved out a sheltered existence for himself in a simple cabin, outside a small town in the backwaters of Nebraska, resigned to living out his days as a solitary wolf. But his quiet life is interrupted when another werewolf lands on his doorstep on the eve of a snowstorm, brutalized almost beyond repair, with nowhere else to turn.

When Caleb reluctantly welcomes Jacob into his cabin, and eventually his bed, it forces him to face up to the traumas he’s been running from; the shame that made him leave his pack behind, and the horrors of war he endured.

As the weeks pass, it seems that Jacob’s arrival might not be the coincidence it first appeared. Jacob has an agenda. One that involves Caleb. And if Caleb agrees to it – if he can let go of his past and his prejudices – it will change Caleb’s whole world. Maybe even for the better.

Without a mate – a family, a pack – a wolf has no home. 
But what if home finds you?

Review:
I thought this was really quite cute. I quickly came to appreciate both Caleb and Jacob. I thought the narrative voice was pleasing, the story satisfying, and the writing crisp. Basically, I enjoyed it.

However, I am not without complaints. I thought the first half took a long time to finally setting into a romance. Then, past the halfway mark, the story simultaneously dragged (in the sense that every time I thought the story had come to and end something new cropped up and the book felt overly long) and rushed (in the sense that all those bullet points, happily ever after events were relayed in a hurried and perfunctory way that didn’t at all match the style of the first half of the book). I also would have liked a deeper understanding of the world.

In the end, I’d call it a success, though. I enjoyed it, and that’s what I look for in a book.

Edit: The author later sent me a copy of the follow-up story for this book. It’s not quite a sequel, more like an add-on. You can see my review here.

returning home coverDescription from Goodreads:
Three years after Jacob Carpenter landed on Caleb Fletcher’s doorstep, the Alpha mates return to the city they grew up in to be married.

Aside from the sheer exhaustion of traveling across the country with three children in tow, both men step foot back in New York filled with apprehension about what kind of reception they will receive from their families after abandoning their respective packs.

At first it seems they are welcomed home with open arms and much excitement about their wedding but it soon becomes clear that not everyone is so happy to see the prodigal sons return.

Indeed, Caleb finds himself wondering if Jacob will go through with the ceremony at all, or whether it would be better to pack up his mate and their children, and head back to Nebraska before the situation does irreparable damage to them both.

Sometimes you have to leave a place to realize it’s exactly where you ought to be.

Review:
This is a sweet little add-on to Home is Where You Are. However, I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you haven’t read book one. It would be a spoiler. But if you have read the first book, this has all the feels you finished wanting, but some seriously cute kid-speak.

Having said that, it’s a little too schmaltzy for me; the obstacle felt both artificially created and solved, and the dialogue felt a little stiff at times.

It’s still a cute read, though.

 

Copper Beach

Book Review of Copper Beach (Dark Legacy #1), by Jayne Ann Krentz

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Copper BeachI borrowed Copper Beach (by Jayne Ann Krentz) from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Within the pages of very rare books some centuries old lie the secrets of the paranormal. Abby Radwell’s unusual psychic talent has made her an expert in such volumes-and sometimes taken her into dangerous territory. After a deadly incident in the private library of an obsessive collector, Abby receives a blackmail threat, and rumors swirl that an old alchemical text known as The Key has reappeared on the black market.

Convinced that she needs an investigator who can also play bodyguard, she hires Sam Coppersmith, a specialist in paranormal crystals and amber-“hot rocks.” Passion flares immediately between them, but neither entirely trusts the other. When it comes to dealing with a killer who has paranormal abilities, and a blackmailer who will stop at nothing to obtain an ancient alchemical code, no one is safe.

Review:
A decent story idea that was killed by being painfully formulaic and plagued by stiff uncomfortable writing. As an example, every chapter ended on a snippy, annoying dun-dun-dun one-line comment. The author might as well have just said, “Cut scene.” There also didn’t seem to be any contractions in the narrative.

I didn’t feel the characters were well developed. I double checked twice that this really was a first book, and not a spin-off first book, because I felt I was missing something. The world wasn’t particularly defined and several characters of importance just disappeared never to be heard from again.

This is the first Krentz book I’ve ever read, but if I had to take a stab in the dark at what was wrong with this book, I would bet this is like the 30th book she’s written and she’s now just plugging new names into old, well-used plot formulae. That’s what this felt like anyhow.