Author Archives: Sadie

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Book Review: A Delicate Betrayal, by Jessaca Willis

Some time ago, I won a paperback copy of Jessaca WillisA Delicate Betrayal.
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Beloved. Betrothed. Betrayed.

When Aenwyn’s magic unleashes a reign of dragons upon the land, she agrees to marry King Everard to atone for the devastation she’s caused.

Queendom proves to be as dissatisfying as their loveless marriage. But soon fate answers her pleas for adventure with a vision of dragon’s fire and a distractingly handsome knight intent on blocking her path.

Sir Darius Graeme can’t let her flee the castle. But nothing will stop Aenwyn from claiming the dragon’s heart—and perhaps even the knight’s as well.

my review

I will start this review with a little bit of a spoiler. But this, I think, is an important one. This book does not, I repeat, DOES NOT have a happy ending. I went in fully expecting a fantasy romance, and while two people did fall in love, there IS NOT a happy ending for them. So, is it romance at all?

I have mixed feelings about the rest of the book. On the one hand, I liked the characters and appreciated that Aenwyn was capable and take-charge about her fate/duty (maybe even a little femme-dommy). Darius remained fairly flat, honestly, until the end. But I appreciate that he’s loyal and not any sort of alpha a-hole. On the other hand, I found the patriarchal worldbuilding and social (mis)treatment of women boring and unimaginative. Plus, the story took a long time to really get going, and I was confused about the role the dragons were meant to have played.

All in all, an OK read. It’s not topping my favorites list, but I’m not sad to have read it.

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Other Reviews:

{Review} A Delicate Betrayal by Jessaca Willis

 

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Book Review: Convergence and Resilience, by Etta Pierce

I received a special combined edition of Convergence and Resilience by Etta Pierce in a Renegade Romance book box.

convergence

Olivia Loxley was a profiler working with the Los Angeles Police Department. Until her specialty in profiling the human mind becomes of unique interest to Commander Atarian, that is. When she wakes up in a cell on an alien spacecraft, the alien responsible for her abduction asks for her help in the largest raid he’s ever overseen: a pleasure cruiser christened the Paramour, which has been siphoning humans into galactic sex trafficking for months.

But in order for his mission to go off without a hitch, Atarian needs to impersonate a connoisseur of human flesh. The real question is, will either of them be able to keep up professional boundaries? Or will they bow to their primal instincts?

my review

Honestly, the premise of this is pretty weak. An alien kidnaps a woman to teach him how to pretend to buy trafficked humans to bust a trafficking ring. The idea is that the victims are human, so she can teach him how. But even a moment of thought makes it obvious that he needs to learn how to be an alien sleaze ball (alien behaviors, alien preferences, alien pricing metrics, etc), not a human one. So, she would be of no use to him. And really despite Pierce convergence photopretending she is, Olivia provides very little of note or use.

So, accept early on that this story takes a lot of suspencion of disbelief. Olivia profiles aliens she’s never seen before as easily as humans, and it belies belief. Just get past it. But beyond that, I enjoyed the story. I liked the characters (Vin especially); the world is interesting, and the writing is easily readable. It’s pretty low spice and wraps up nicely enough to feel complete, even if there are some threads left open for the rest of the books.


Other Reviews:

Red Haired Ash Reads: Etta Perce Books

Review: Convergence – Etta Pierce

 

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Book Review: Who Ordered a Medium, by Jennifer Laslie

Who Ordered a Medium (by Jennifer Laslie) has been on my shelf for a while, and I’m not 100% sure how it got there. I think I ordered it on Etsy.

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How can she move on when her dead fiancé won’t?

Josie’s world is turned upside down after the death of her fiancé. Her picture-perfect world no longer exists. But when a ghost starts haunting her house, she’s not sure who to turn to.

Sebastian isn’t just a hot stripper Josie met at her bachelorette party, he’s also the medium that shows up at her door to help her with her ghost problem.

Together, they must figure out who is haunting her house and how to get rid of them. Can they survive the supernatural while figuring out the chemistry brewing between them?

my review

who ordered a medium photoMeh, passable.
This is a novella, so I wasn’t expecting much depth. But up until the artificially rushed ending, it managed to pace itself well enough, though the villain remains vague (and the romantic lead felt a little skeevy). Then Laslie pulled the most cop-out authorial move known to man: the main character passed out, and everything was solved off-page without her (and thus without the reader). I hate when authors do this. But it was especially grievous here. I have the next book in the series. I expect I’ll read it. But I’m not in any hurry about it.


Other Reviews:

#WOTR22 #SeriesStarter #Novella – Who Ordered a Medium by Jennifer Laslie