Tag Archives: won

the wisteria society of lady scoundrels banner

Book Review: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, by India Holton

I won a book stack from Waves of Fiction and among the books was India Holton‘s The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels.

the wisteria society of lady scoundrels cover

A prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She’s also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it’s a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he’s under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her–hopefully proving, once and for all, that she’s as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

my review

I adored this. It was an absolute mad-cap adventure, full of sarcasm and pointed cognitive dissonance. I adored Cecilia and all of her morally ambiguous, but completely proper aunties. I thought Ned was a marvelous love interest. It would be difficult to call him a hero, since Cecilia has so little need of one. But he does try, bless his heart.

As much as I loved the witty repartee and utter lack of seriousness, it did become tedious at times, making the book feel a little like a one-trick pony. But every-time I started to think it, the book would throw some sarcastic aside at me and I’d find myself laughing again. I also disliked how easily Cecilia went from strong, smart, and capable to silly and how often. One sip of alcohol and she’s giggling drunk, for example. But that’s a relatively small complaint in the larger picture.

I’m so glad to see Alex will be the male focus of book two. I’ll be lined up to read it on it’s release.

the wisteria society of lady scoundrels photo


Other Reviews:

Review: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (Dangerous Damsels #1) by India Holton

THE WISTERIA SOCIETY OF LADY SCOUNDRELS by India Holton – Review

cold queen banner

Book Review: Cold Queen, by K. Webster

I won a signed copy of K. Webster‘s Cold Queen over at Sadie’s Spotlight. Heck yeah, since I have nothing to do with picking winners, I absolutely enter the giveaways. Give all the bookish giveaways!

cold queen k webster

In a cold, empty castle, a young queen is dying.
Weak. Fragile. Disgraced.
But Queen Whitestone is not alone in her final days.
She has her beloved sister.

Until a wicked king rides onto her land.
Arrogant. Insufferable. Demanding.
King Bloodsun has come with an offer…peace in trade for a bride.
He wants the princess.

The fiery king won’t take no for an answer.
He vows to keep the cold queen captive until she gives in to his demands.

A queen bows for no one, though.
Not even when she’s frail and fading away.
She’ll tap into her strength, protecting the only family she has left.

The king is about to learn why they call her the cruel one…

my reviewI generally enjoyed the first 3/4 of this and then it just went completely off the rails for the last quarter. And, while I liked most of what it was well enough, it isn’t true to the blurb. The blurb says things like, “A queen bows for no one, though. Not even when she’s frail and fading away. She’ll tap into her strength, protecting the only family she has left. The king is about to learn why they call her the cruel one…” But the actual book is full of things like, “I don’t understand his power over me, but I’d gladly yield to him over and over again. I crave to be at his will.”  And she starts to yield within less than an hour of meeting him. It’s not like she held out for a long time or anything. Plus, by the end a reader truly has to question if she’s protecting her family.

Now, let’s address that last 25% of the book. It felt very much like the author brought the whole book to a satisfying stopping place and then went, “Welp, I need another 50 or so pages to make my word count, sooooo it’s a hard left into pointless rape and child cannibalism for me.” I have long complained that authors include unnecessary references to rape in their books. And many do it without any critical thought about why it’s the go to, low-hanging fruit of plot points. But this was particularly grievous. There just wasn’t ANY REASON the book needed to include an entire culture of rapists. None. It wasn’t tied into the previous plot. It wasn’t explained. It didn’t even feel like it was for shock value. It just felt like lazy plotting. Like, “I need to give the characters something to do, so I’ll just let them go kill some rapists.” Really, that’s about it. I couldn’t even muster anger, I just rolled my eyes at the disappointing predictability of it.

Before that last few chapters, I’d have said the writing was perfectly fine and, though the plot was pretty shallow (really just something to hang the sex scenes on), it was there and the characters were likeable enough. The book is certainly readable and enjoyable in a fluffy sort of way. I’d just suggest stopping at the end of chapter 16.

cold queen photo


Other Reviews:

http://www.beckiebookworm.com/2019/11/15/arc-review-cold-queen-sinister-fairy-tales-k-webster/#.YR6B_O1OlpQ

Review – Cold Queen by K. Webster

I Smell Sheep

Confessions Of a Bibliophile

mary, everything banner

Book Review: Mary, Everything – by Cassandra Yorke

Cassandra Yorke‘s Mary, Everything was promoed on Sadie’s Spotlight and I was lucky enough to win a copy. Yes, since I have nothing to do with drawing winners, I absolutely enter the giveaways on the blog!

mary, everything cassandra yorke

Courtney is a lonely undergrad at secluded Braddock College in 2004, working a drowsy summer job in the Archives. Assigned to a new project, she becomes haunted by a college yearbook from the 1920s – filled with familiar faces and memories of times she never experienced. A chance encounter with a mysterious girl named Sadie – dressed in long-outdated clothes – alters her reality. But if you were never meant to be born, that reality can expel you like an infection – or kill you outright. While Courtney struggles against forces she cannot comprehend, a psychopathic stalker smells blood and closes in for the kill.

Sadie, now in 1921, races against the clock to save her friend, joined by some remarkable allies – an American combat sorceress and veteran of World War I, an enigmatic professor who specializes in piercing the veil between realities, and two young women who insist they’re Courtney’s oldest friends – one of them even claiming to be her truest love.

Time is running out for Courtney, and a terrifying wilderness – haunted by the dead from centuries past – may hold the key to her salvation. But none who enter have ever returned…

my review

This had some really interesting aspects that I very much enjoyed. The convoluted timeline, for example, makes your brain work for the reward. The book is set in 1921 and 2004, jumping between the two. But the 2004 scenes are essentially flashbacks (of a sort). Go ahead and get your head around that one. The writing is also quite lyrical at times and the editing clean.

But there were some things I could have done without. The book is pretty slow, especially in the beginning. So, as a reader, I really felt the 400+ pages. And I thought a lot of the climax too blunt for the light-fingered story up until that point.

For one, all the rape threats weren’t needed at all. (Notice, I said all. There were several from a variety of men). I do understand that this was intended in part to show how Courtney felt victimized by men, but that was established far earlier and needed no further evidence. The story would have been more interesting if the men had truly been enacting an evil for what they thought was a greater good. Already, as a reader, I knew to abhor them. Turning them ALL into pervy, would-be rapists was a cudgel the scenes didn’t need. True, I’d be happy never have to sit through another rape scene or rape threat in a book I read for entertainment ever again. But I would really, REALLY love it if authors would stop putting them in books that don’t need them as some sort of short-hand for “this is a bad guy.

Similarly, (in the cudgel sense), having both Courtney and Sadie suddenly and inexplicably become the strongest, most powerful, bad-assest chicks ever was too much too fast. There is so much subtly in the book until that point that it really stands out as a change in tone.

Having said all that, I don’t regret reading it. There is an interesting magic system and world here. It’s readable and thought provoking. Worth recommending.

mary, everything photo


Other Reviews:

https://altheaisreading.wordpress.com/2020/12/13/mary-everything-review/

BOOK VIDEO REVIEW: MARY, EVERYTHING BY CASSANDRA YORKE – EBOOK