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Book Review of Ready Set Rogue (A Studies in Scandal #1), by Manda Collins

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I won an ARC of Ready Set Rogue, by Manda Collins, through Goodreads:

Description:
When scholarly Miss Ivy Wareham receives word that she’s one of four young ladies who have inherited Lady Celeste Beauchamp’s estate with a magnificent private library, she packs her trunks straightaway. Unfortunately, Lady Celeste’s nephew, the rakish Quill Beauchamp, Marquess of Kerr, is determined to interrupt her studies one way or another…

Bequeathing Beauchamp House to four bluestockings—no matter how lovely they are to look at—is a travesty, and Quill simply won’t have it. But Lady Celeste’s death is not quite as straightforward as it first seemed…and if Quill hopes to solve the mystery behind her demise, he’ll need Ivy’s help. Along the way, he is surprised to learn that bookish Ivy stirs a passion and longing that he has never known. This rogue believes he’s finally met his match—but can Quill convince clever, skeptical Ivy that his love is no fiction?

Review:
I’d give this a 2.5-3 stars if I was using stars, here on the blog. I very much appreciated that Ivy was self sufficient and frequently acted with a lot of agency. I liked that there was a character likely meant to be on the autism spectrum, a severe introvert and a single mother who had overcome her own past trauma.

However, I felt the plot was a weak one. It’s basically insta-lust that bloomed into love out of nowhere and the mystery was just an excuse to throw the characters together. This impression solidified when the villain announced themself before the characters identified them and told their whole plan, start to finish, with no prompting. Such that the characters didn’t really have to solve the mystery in the end. I also felt cheated that after all the build up, we never saw the end result of the romance. That was all off page.

My main complaint however was that Quill, the hero, notably WAS NOT A ROGUE. If I pick up a book called Ready Set Rogue, I expect a rogue. Quill is a single man in a historical romance novel, and I suppose the term rogue is morphing to mean just that, but I still consider a rogue a ‘dishonest or unprincipled man,’ a ‘knavish person’ a ‘scoundrel.’ Quill is polite, principled, loyal and not even a player. He’s a gentleman in every way—politically, socially and behaviorally—NOT A ROGUE. This annoyed me to no end.

I was reading an ARC and there were some pretty significant discrepancies in the time line and contradictions in event, but I have every faith that these will be cleaned up before the book’s final print run. That the repetitive phrasing, over-use of ‘bluestocking,’ and anachronistic language will be isn’t as guaranteed, but it was readable even as an ARC.

As an aside, I don’t think the cover fits the tone of the book or the description of Ivy (who was curvy with glasses), but that’s just my opinion. I’m not a huge lover of historical romances, so there’s a chance someone who is will overlook those things that so annoyed me. All in all, I found it to be an OK read, not bad but not very good either.

What I’m drinking: organic Irish Breakfast tea form the Traveling Tea Shop.

open season

Book Review of Open Season (Joe Pickett #1), by C. J. Box

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Open SeasonI won a copy of Open Season, by C. J. Box through Goodreads. You guys, I’ve been so lucky in the winning department lately!

Description:
Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden–especially one like Joe who won’t take bribes or look the other way–is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he’s had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. Even after the “outfitter murders,” as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police.As Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backdoor: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. But if word of the existence of this endangered species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline that would bring the company billions of dollars across Wyoming, through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. The closer Joe comes to the truth behind the outfitter murders, the endangered species and InterWest, the closer he comes to losing everything he holds dear.

Review:
This is by no means a perfect book. There are a few helpful coincidences and I thought Box’s use of male philandering and suggestions of sexual predation to emphasize who is good and who is bad was clumsy to say the least. It wouldn’t pass the bechdel test unless you count the children, and the seven-year-old is maybe just a little too smart to be realistic. But I simply enjoyed Joe Pickett and his family.

This is not a new book, first published in 2001. And maybe 15 years ago the alpha male trope wasn’t as popular as it is now, but it’s so refreshing to encounter a male main character, who has a fairly über manly job but isn’t an alpha jerk. Joe considers his family his anchor. He adores his wife and kids. He cooks pancakes in his bathrobe and isn’t bothered that his quite, considered manner makes him come across as slow at times. He’s the guy that always does the right thing, even when it’s hard and everyone around him is telling him not to bother. I just really liked him.

I also thought, with #NoDAPL (the protests against the building of an oil pipeline under the Missouri River) in the media, the plot here was quite timely. The writing was lovely and I think it prompted some interesting discussion on The Endangered Species Act.

For those who pick up this new edition, read the introduction after the book. Box discusses how he chose certain aspects of the plot and it provides enough clues that it kind of gave away some things for me. If in no other way, by telling me what was important enough to pay attention to, instead of it coming to light in the course of the narrative.

All in all, however, a win for me.

What I’m drinking: Decaf coffee with a shot of whiskey in it. What? It was nine at night, I can’t be drinking caffeine that late anymore. It didn’t used to keep me up, but it sure does not. And the whiskey? It was not long after the presidential elections. I needed that shot!

The Strange Tale of Samantha Ravenwood

Book Review of The Strange Tale of Samantha Ravenwood, by Connie C. Scharon

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I won a signed copy of The Strange Tale of Samantha Ravenwood, by Connie C. Scharon, through Goodreads.

Description:
Samantha Stewart explores the ruins of Carraig Castle and falls through an ancient time portal. Stunned and disoriented, she finds herself captured and fighting for her life in medieval Scotland. With a swipe of his sword, John Ravenwood saves her life. Samantha falls in love with her rescuer. Trapped in the thirteenth century, she marries him. But a frightening prophecy threatens their happiness. Samantha must choose between John and the life of her unborn child, a choice that will seal her destiny.

Review:
This book was a big fat raspberry for me. I mean, the whole thing is one giant anachronism. American girl from 1986 finds herself in 1291 Scotland and easily gets on with life. What? She learns to say, ‘aye’ instead of ‘OK’ and no one notices she’s not local? Um…in 1291, Scotland spoke Gaelic or Pictish and even those who spoke English, it would be OLD English. She would not be able to communicate with these people. Someone is said to have died of a massive stroke….um….did the medical establishment of 1291 (or the healer) know what a stroke was? And the whole thing hinges on someone being raped (and I’ll get to my problem with that in a moment), but as unpleasant as it may seem, the rape of a non-aristocrat by an aristocrat would not have been considered all that grievous at the time. Quite simply, the whole book is based on 21st century mores, placed on 13th century characters. It doesn’t work.

Now, I’ll admit up front that rape in books is a hot button for me. I don’t have any problem with it in general, but I think it is FAR FAR too frequently and easily used, so I’m critical of it when it pops up in a story. And as is so often the case, I thought this book used it to sensationalize how bad, bad, bad the baddies must be. They’re bad….they rape women, they MUST be bad. See? And while one woman, who had to endure years of incestuous rape, does show some trauma from it, the main character is almost raped twice, the second time violently and ten minutes later is turned on and fantasizing about being taken hard by a second man (the hero). Um….no!

There is insta-love/lust. There are endless declarations of romantic love. The sex is redundant. The writing is often painfully purple, especially around the too frequent sex scenes. Problems popped up and were resolved with no build-up or tension. The 20th century 20-year-old speaks, even in her internal narrative, like a 40-year-old medieval scholar. And I do not consider the little bit of a rushed ending the epilogue gives us to be happy.

So, all in all, while the writing is ok, if stiff, this book did not work for me.

What I’m drinking: A mix of Starwest Botanicals Roasted Chicory Root and dandelion root. Annoyingly, I burned myself making it too. 🙁