Review: Who's the Boss Now?

It's a blue ribbon day here at The Bat Cave when Wendy discovers a new category romance author. I really enjoyed Susannah Erwin's first two books with Harlequin Desire so when the third book in her Titans of Tech world, Who's the Boss Now?, landed on my Kindle, I was ready to dive right in.  Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed the first two books in this series, this one floundered for me.

Marguerite Delacroix's family used to be in the wine-making business and it's all she has ever wanted, well besides resuming control of St. Isadore's, the Napa Valley vineyard that had been in the family for generations. Even though she begged her parents to hang on to the land so she could one day take over management, her parents sold it, took early retirement and uprooted to Arizona. After Marguerite got hosed at her last vineyard job (a former boyfriend took credit for all her great ideas and then proceeded to drag her name through the mud), she reaches out to St. Isadore's current owner. They have a handshake agreement (because apparently she learned NOTHING) where she's grossly underpaid, but takes a cut of the back-end and slowly buys the vineyard from him. Of course the old man dies before it's all finalized and the ledger that has the record of this handshake agreement has gone missing. So our girl, again apparently having learned nothing, decides to break into the winery to steal the test bottles she has stashed in the cellar. Time is of the essence given that the dead owner's great-nephews just sold the winery to a tech bro and word on the street is he's going to tear down the winery and develop the land in other ways.

Of course the tech bro in question, Evan Fletcher, is already in residence and of course he catches Marguerite in the act. What follows is a comedy of errors with them talking circles around each other (she's not really stealing you see - but will admit she technically is trespassing) and then the sheriff shows up not to arrest Marguerite (who he knows by the by....) but to return Evan's 21-year-old brother who was up to shenanigans, and then the power goes out because sure, why not?  Evan bought the winery as an investment property with the idea that his 21-year-old brother would run it someday and recognizes he needs to hire staff to pull the winery back from the brink - so sure, why not hire the woman he just caught BREAKING INTO HIS NEW HOME.

I love category romance. I've been around the Amnesiac Cowboy Sheikh Who Has A Secret Baby block a time or two. My credulity will strain pretty dang far. Heck, the set-up for Erwin's first book was pretty convoluted (hero needs to get married to save a business deal).  But this one?  I just couldn't go there. I get that the heroine got stonewalled by the great-nephews, but honestly breaking and entering? That's extreme even for me. And then there's the fact that she doesn't demand an agreement with the former owner IN WRITING with all the legal i's dotted and t's crossed. If I'm to believe the winery is THAT important to her the fact she's so lackadaisical about purchasing it just makes her look really, really stupid.

And while I'm on the subject of buying a Napa Valley vineyard - y'all realize how much property in Napa costs? Especially a winery sitting on several acres of land? Even a small operation is going to cost millions - and that's before you factor in labor costs and actually growing grapes, producing wine etc. St. Isadore's is in trouble. It's not a thriving operation. Distribution is a mess and the property needs repairs and equipment upgrades. So exactly how realistic is it that the heroine's handshake deal is making her enough money on the back-end for her to BUY AN ENTIRE WINERY IN THE NAPA REAL ESTATE MARKET?!  Especially when there's no mention of a bank loan. No, she apparently paid off the entire thing with the dead owner and he croaked before the paperwork could be done.  I just - who buys a Napa Valley winery IN CASH unless you're the hero who has made millions being a tech bro? 

Honestly, had this been my first read by the author I would have DNF'ed it after the first chapter. That's how much the breaking and entering "meet cute" and real estate shenanigans annoyed me. But I pushed through because, like I mentioned, I really did enjoy Erwin's first two books. Quite a bit.  The stuff with Evan's brother is good and the romance is steamy - although Evan spent too much time in San Fransisco for my liking.  It would have been fine in a longer book, but Desires are really short (200 pages), so I feel like the story would have been better served had the author parked him in Napa sooner.

I just couldn't go there with this book. It annoyed me from the jump with the set-up. And when the set-up annoys the reader?  It's kind of a lost cause at that point. I will certainly be in line for the author's next book, that's how much I liked the first two. Here's hoping that this one is an outlying blip on my reading radar.

Final Grade = C-

Review: Quiet In Her Bones

I was about halfway through A Madness of Sunshine when I knew I was going to have to pick up Quiet in Her Bones immediately after. Both books are stand alones, featuring very different characters, and yet there are comparisons to be drawn between both books.  Namely that Singh once again creates a world with a large cast of characters all of whom have secrets - although this time out it's an exclusive, upscale cul-de-sac neighborhood.

Ten years ago Nina Rai stormed out of the home she shared with her husband and teenage son never to be heard from again. Also missing? $250,000. Her disappearance has haunted her son, Aarav, who heard her scream, right before the front door slammed...twice.  Or did he? Aarav, now a success thanks to his debut novel catching fire, is recovering from a bad car accident. So bad that when he's released from the hospital he's under doctor's orders to not be alone.  So he goes home to stay with his father, stepmother and half-sister. He's suffering from terrible migraines and there are gaps in his memory - problems only exacerbated when the police show up and announce that they've found Nina Rai.  Her car slid off the road into the bush and has been hidden for the past decade. Mommy Dearest is now nothing but bones....bones found in the passenger seat of the Jaguar.

Now Aarav knows for sure. His mother didn't just leave him. Her marriage was a disaster, her relationship with his father extremely volatile - but she never, ever would have left her only child voluntarily.  She's been dead since the night Aarav heard the scream.  Determined to know the truth he starts his own investigation.  The exclusive cul-de-sac where he was raised and where his father still lives is full of neighbors, all of whom have secrets. Then there's Dear Old Dad. The front door slammed twice that night.

Terrible car accident, migraines, drugs, gaps in his memory - buckle in kiddies it's Unreliable Narrator time!  Aarav doesn't know what memories he can trust and then there are the gaps thanks to the car accident and the prescription drugs.  He's under the care of a neurologist and a shrink.  Oh, and he fully acknowledges he's a sociopath.  Warm and cuddly our boy ain't.

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this trope in suspense.  Blame it on The Girl on the Train and cutting my reading teeth on the likes of Kinsey Millhone, but I dig competency porn in mystery/suspense.  There was a trend for a while of female unreliable narrators gorked out of their skull on alcohol or drugs running off half-cocked and basically I wanted to throat punch all of them.  Singh at least has the good sense to give me something different - our unreliable narrator is a dude.  A sociopathic dude who is a mess but is very good at wearing the appropriate mask for whatever the occasion demands.

Aarav's instability ramps up over the course of the story as he turns over rocks and ugly things begin slithering out.  As much as the unreliable narrator stuff wore on me after a while, by this point I was so invested in the cul-de-sac, the secretive residents, and the mystery of what happened to Nina Rai - our protagonist's escalating manic behavior was only a minor quibble, one derived solely from personal reader preference.

Like A Madness of Sunshine I had portions of the mystery figured out before the denouement but not all of it; although as the pages dwindled I did worry for a hot minute that Singh would leave a thread dangling.  Good news, she did not.

I didn't like this quite as much as A Madness of Sunshine (again, personal preference talking here) but this is actually the better executed book.  It felt tighter to me, although it lacks a strong romantic element thread that the previous book had.  That might be a deal breaker for romance fans, but not really a concern for someone coming to this book wanting suspense.  

Now I'm left with only one question.  When is Singh going to give me another suspense novel? Tick tock, tick tock...

Final Grade = B

Review: A Madness of Sunshine

If you've been kicking around this blog for a while you'll have noticed I read next to zero paranormal anything. Nothing against it, it's just really, really not my jam. All this to say that A Madness of Sunshine is the first book I've ever read by Nalini Singh.  Probably terribly shocking to some of you, but it's my way of saying that I walked into this book with no preconceived notions or set of expectations whatsoever. And honestly, I think that was a good thing. I had quibbles, but truly this was an engrossing read and I loved every moment of it.

She returned home two hundred and seventeen days after burying her husband while his pregnant mistress sobbed so hard that she made herself sick.

Growing up in tiny, claustrophobic Golden Cove, New Zealand Anahera's sole dream was getting the hell out of town - which she did. A celebrated pianist, she fell in love with Edward, a celebrated playwright, and settled in London living a glamorous, cosmopolitan lifestyle with an equally glamorous and cosmopolitan social circle.  Until a tragedy strained their marriage and eventually Edward died unexpectedly bringing a pregnant mistress to Ana's front door.  Finding refuge in her music? Not happening. Staying in London? Really not an option. All she can think of is escape and what better place than to go home, living in her mother's isolated, abandoned cabin.  Even if there are nothing but ghosts there.

She's in town for a hot second when she meets the lone cop on the beat, Will.  Famous in his own right, having solved some very difficult cases, Will is basically banished to Golden Cove after a domestic violence case goes horribly wrong.  Golden Cove is his penance. A quiet job in the middle of nowhere.  He rubs Ana the wrong way, mostly because she's on guard and prickly - but they soon find themselves drawn together when pretty, vivacious, 19-year-old Miriama goes missing. Without a trace.  And everybody in town is apparently hiding secrets.

This is basically a domestic thriller that uses an entire small town as a backdrop.  Golden Cove is a tourist destination (mostly hikers and outdoorsy types) but it is largely a backwater burg with clear class and ethnic lines (White and Maori). The disappearance of Miriama rocks the small town - namely because she was a smart, bright girl who respected the rugged landscape (Getting swept out to sea or lost in the bush is unthinkable for someone like her) but she was breathtakingly gorgeous. She's dating the town doctor but seriously every dude in this town is a lecher hot for Miriama, even before she was legal.  Will's been in town for a while, but he's still a newcomer and there are things the locals are not going to tell him. But they will tell Anahera, one of their own even if she did run off to London.  Miriama's disappearance also stirs up memories from years before.  When Anahera was a girl, three young, beautiful backpackers disappeared in the bush, never to be seen again. 

I ended up listening to this on audio and I'm glad I did - this is a slow burn thriller. There's zero fast-paced thrills and chills as it quietly unfolds and Singh peels back the layers of this isolated town and it's secretive residents.  There are a lot of secondary characters and the search for Miriama takes up a good chunk of the story - with most of the intensity coming into play in the final third of the book. 

To be honest, I'm not sure I would have liked this one quite as much as I did had I read it. Singh spends a lot of time setting up her town, introducing her secondary character, and laying the groundwork on Anahera's and Will's emotionally messy baggage.  Also, fair warning that this one has all the trigger warnings for domestic violence. Nothing on page, but a good chunk of Ana's past was shaped by her abusive alcoholic father and her mother's accidental death some years after she left him.

This wasn't an "OMG I cannot put this down!" sort of read but it was hypnotically engrossing, with deeply drawn characters and a really well put together romantic storyline between Anahera and Will.  I've been reading suspense for a long time, and while I've read darker, this one is still pretty dark - with haunted characters, plenty of secrets, and a creepy methodical Big Bad.  Will I ever read Singh's paranormal romances? Probably not. But I immediately downloaded her second thriller after finishing this one.

Final Grade = B+

#TBRChallenge Review: The Innocent and the Outlaw

The Book: The Innocent and the Outlaw by Harper St. George

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Harlequin Historical #1287, Book 1 in trilogy, 2016, out of print, available in digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: It's a historical western and it's a Harlequin Historical. That was enough

The Review: I've enjoyed Harper St. George's books in the past so having more than one languishing in the TBR, it fit this month's challenge theme. I also was in the mood for a western. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out, quite a bit.  This book is a hot mess of old school tropes that were annoying "back then" and have only aged to be more annoying.

Emmaline Drake is the stepdaughter of an outlaw. She works in a saloon. She was born in a brothel. She lives with said outlaw step-daddy who constantly brings members of his gang around the house. So yes, of course she has some education because Mom was a schoolteacher before a whore and naturally she's still somehow, miraculously, a virgin.

Hunter Jameson has a wealthy father who is never around and a socialite mother who took herself back to Boston the minute she could. So of course when the half-brother he never knew he had shows up one day Hunter decides to ride with him and his gang. But don't worry - they're somehow not "bad outlaws."  Anyway, the fly in the ointment is that Emmaline's step-daddy has taken the half-brother's half-brother (got that?) hostage. So the gang decides to take Emmaline hostage and do a swap.

What Hunter doesn't know is that Emmaline is desperate to get back to the rundown farm where she lives because she has two younger half-sisters. Before she can Hunter and his gang kidnap her, take her to a shack, hang her hands above her head tied to rafters with her feet barely touching the floor to demand answers.  Instead this idiot child starts getting tingly in her girly bits.

Of course the attraction is a two way street and of course the Stockholm Syndrome shows up in record time.  Eventually Emmaline drugs Hunter with some sleeping powders she keeps secreted in a locket she wears and heads to the brothel where her mother worked. The madam tries to talk her out of it, but Emmaline decides she's going to auction off her virginity to the highest bidder, take the money, collect her sisters, and run as far and as fast as she can.  Naturally Hunter catches up to her at the convenient moment when oily dudes are bidding on her charms.  Use your imagination, but if you've read more than one romance novel you know what happens next.

Hunter has the temerity to be angry with Emmaline that she ran away. For the first time the girl actually shows some gumption and basically tells him, "Hey, moron - you kidnapped me. The whole running away thing surprises you why exactly?!" But in case you're under the illusion that she snaps out of her Stockholm Syndrome and this gumption sticks?  Of course not.

Even the night they'd met he'd been such a contradiction. When he'd released her from hanging from the rafters, he'd made sure that the rope at her wrists was loose enough that she wasn't chafed. He'd never harmed her, never really even frightened her. He wasn't evil.

Well give the man a damn cookie /end sarcasm.

The whole thing is a mess of sloppy power dynamics and characters mucking around on the wrong side of the law.  None of it worked.  Well, except for that madam at the brothel. That women is amazing, and even dresses down Hunter with a fantastic speech about privilege, power and what it means to be a women operating in a man's world.  She's the heroine in book 3 and Lord help me, I want to read her book.  Yes, even feeling the way I did about this one.

Final Grade = D

Just Keep Swimming: Unusual Historicals for August 2021

The hope back in January was that 2021 certainly had to be an improvement over 2020 and yeah, here we are. I think so many of us are feeling like we're barely keeping our heads above water (just keep swimming...) while everything around us is on fire - literally and figuratively.  It's just...a lot. I'm tired. You're tired. We're all tired. I don't have any sage advice other than platitudes, but one thing I do know is that you have to find your happiness where you can. And for me that's books. Even if I did find myself mired in a slump recently.  So let's try to find a moment of joy by browsing through some unusual historicals debuting in August that caught my eye.

Hitched to the Gunslinger by Michelle McLean

Gray “Quick Shot” Woodson is the fastest gun west of the Mississippi. Unfortunately, he’s ready to hang up his hat. Sure, being notorious has its perks. But the nomadic lifestyle—and people always tryin’ to kill you—gets old real fast. 

Now he just wants to find a place to retire so he can spend his days the way the good Lord intended. Staring at the sunset. And napping. 

When his stubborn horse drags him into a hole-in-the-wall town called Desolation, something about the place calls to Gray, and he figures he might actually have a shot at a sleepy retirement. 

His optimism lasts about a minute and a half. 

Soon he finds himself embroiled in a town vendetta and married to a woman named Mercy. Who, judging by her aggravating personality, doesn’t know the meaning of her own name. In fact, she’s downright impossible. 

But dang it if his wife isn’t irresistible. 

If only she’d stop trying to steal his guns to go after the bad guys herself. 

There goes his peace and quiet...

If you want more of "something" in Romancelandia you need to take a few fliers. I love historical westerns, which means I try to buy, read and support that particular sub genre.  McLean's latest being a western is enough for me, although I will admit that from the back cover blurb this sounds like it might be a Funny Ha Ha Historical Western - and admittedly those aren't my favorite. But I want westerns and here we are. Plus I'm here for the retiring gunslinger who gets more than he bargained for trope.

The Highlander's Inconvenient Bride by Terri Brisbin

Betrothed by duty 

To his enemy! 

To strengthen an alliance between their clans, future chieftain of the mighty Cameron Clan, Robbie Cameron, must marry Sheena MacLerie. Only, she is the last person he would have picked after her betrayal years ago. Now she is as infuriatingly elusive as ever—and, worse, seems intent on breaking their betrothal! Just what is his inconvenient bride hiding? Uncovering her secrets means earning her trust…but that also ignites a simmering passion!

Brisbin is a good, solid writer and a new medieval from her is always worth a look.  A hero who must marry a heroine who done him wrong and a heroine with a Big Secret.  Perfect fodder for a medieval!

The Housekeeper of Thornhallow Hall by Lotte R. James 

She arrived as a housekeeper 

Will she leave as a countess? 

To some, Thornhallow Hall might be tarnished by tales of vengeance and ghosts, but to new housekeeper Rebecca Merrickson it represents independence and peace from her tumultuous past. Until the estate’s owner, William Reid, the disappeared earl, unexpectedly returns… After clashing with him over the changes she’s made to the house, Rebecca slowly unearths the memories that haunt brooding Liam—and her defiance gives way to a shockingly improper attraction to her master!

James has self-published, but this is her debut for Harlequin Historical and I am ALL over this one. A housekeeper heroine, a long-lost earl returned home, and a rundown manor. Gothic ahoy!

The Sign of the Raven by L.C. Sharp

From glittering ballrooms to London’s dark underbelly, Ash & Juliana are back on the hunt for a murderer in the second installment of this thrilling historical mystery series from L.C. Sharp. 

The London ton protect their own. Even when it comes to murder. 

“There’s been an incident.” 

In the finer circles of 1749 London, incident is apparently the polite way to describe discovering a body with a gruesome wound and no sign of the killer. But for newlyweds Lady Juliana and Sir Edmund “Ash” Ashendon, it’s a chance to track down the culprit and right a wrong—something they are both intimately familiar with. 

Indeed, it is the only thing they are intimately familiar with. For the moment. 

Though their marriage may be one of convenience, there’s nothing convenient about learning the victim has ties to a name from their past: the dreaded Raven. And the Raven isn’t the only danger they face. The aristocracy protects its own, and in London’s darkest corners, no one wants to be unmasked. 

With Juliana’s life on the line, time is running out for Ash to find the killer before their marriage comes to an inconveniently bloody end.

Technically speaking, Carina is marketing this series as a historical mystery and this is the second book featuring the couple.  However, it definitely smells as if it has romance notes to it, and it could be a good fit for historical romance fans.  Also, it's set in the Georgian period, which is never terribly thick on the ground. Book one was featured May 2021 Unusual Historical post. 

The Breath Between Waves by Charlotte Anne Hamilton

Penelope Fletcher gave up everything to board the RMS Titanic. 

Forced to travel to America for her father's new job, Penelope left her home in Scotland, her beloved grandmother, and even her girlfriend, who promptly got engaged to someone else. Heartbroken, Penelope isn't looking forward to the weeklong journey. Or that her parents want her to find a husband in America. To make matters worse, she also has to share a cabin with a complete stranger. 

Ruby Cole, her spunky Irish roommate, is unlike anyone Penelope ever met. They become fast friends as they bond over crushing family expectations and sneaking into lush parties together. That Ruby likes women, too, comes as a surprise to Penelope, but she knows their affair can only be temporary. Because as soon as the Titanic arrives in New York, Penelope will have to marry someone of her father’s choosing. 

Before long, though, they’ll both have to decide what–and who–is really worth fighting for.

A debut from a Scottish author courtesy of Entangled, an F/F historical romance set aboard the Titanic. I'm curious how our heroine (who sounds like she's of a certain station...) finds herself saddled with a "spunky Irish roommate" - which means I'm going to have to read the book, right?  And in other good news, according to the author's web site she has a F/F 1920s historical in the pipeline for October 2021.

What unusual historicals are you looking forward to?

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is August 18!

Hey, hey - it's that time again! Time for the monthly #TBRChallenge!  Whether you are participating or just following along, #TBRChallenge Day is Wednesday, August 18. This month's (always optional) theme is Author With More Than One Book in TBR.

We've had this theme in the past, but when I ran my poll for theme suggestions in late 2020 someone suggested it.  Which I'm taking to mean that a lot of us have this issue with collecting multiple books by authors in our TBR piles.  I'm not the only one! 😂

But remember, the themes are always optional.  If all the books in your TBR are by different authors - well, I'm not sure I believe you.  Or maybe I'm just a little in awe. Whatever, it's no matter. The goal of this challenge is always to pull something, any book!, out of your neglected TBR pile.

To learn more about the challenge and links to the participants blogs, check out the 2021 TBR Challenge Information Page.

Mini-Reviews: Scorched Earth and Terrible Teens

 *tap, tap* Is this thing on?  Between lingering vacation brain, work, RWA imploding yet again (so many thoughts, so many feelings) and me not doing ANY reading at the moment, this blog has been a vast desert wasteland.  So let's do a round up of a few books I got through in July, including two vacation reads.

Lady Derring Takes a Lover by Julie Anne Long is the first book in her Palace of Rogues series and was a book club read with the SoCal Bloggers. Delilah Swanpoole, the Countess of Derring learns after her husband's unexpected death that he was flat broke. His fortune, their lifestyle, was all smoke and mirrors.  And, naturally, now that Dear Dull Derring is dead, the creditors have come calling. The only thing she has left is a rundown house near the docks.  But that's not the worst of it. Oh no. While sitting in her husband's solicitor's office in barges Angelique Breedlove, her late husband's mistress. The two women, both tired of being at the mercy of men, decide to pawn what few valuables they have left and turn the dock property into a boardinghouse.  They're not open for business long when Captain Tristin Hardy comes sniffing around.  He's the King's man tracking down smugglers, and the late Earl of Derring was up to his eyeballs in it.  Which leads him to the Countess's door.  How much does she know? And is she part of the operation?

The premise here is dynamite and I'm a sucker for boardinghouse settings in historical romance, which is what carried me through for a long while.  The secondary characters, the women, the various shenanigans - I liked all that.  The romance?  Meh. Honestly it fell fairly flat for me. This was the quintessential meh, it's OK, C read for me until the Black Moment.  When Delilah finds out Tristan's Big Secret, who he really is, and she feels used and hurt.  When that happens? Scorched. Earth. It's simply devastating.  She fires both barrels at him and the author ripped my poor wee reader's heart clean out of my chest.  What was a C read bumps up a notch with the ending and, to be honest, I am HERE for Angelique's book - just as soon as I find some reading mojo again. Final Grade = B-

Corner Office Secrets by Shannon McKenna is the second book in her Men of Maddox Hill series.  I'll be honest, I plowed through this on an airplane and it's the kind of book that I should have reviewed right away because now the details are fuzzy. That pretty much is the definition of a C read for me, although I do think this one worked a bit better than the first book in the series.

Sophie Valente takes a job at Maddox Hill to track down her long lost father. Instead she finds herself distracted by her boss, Vann Acosta.  Just as Sophie starts sniffing around, Vann gets wind of a security breach at the firm. An oily secondary character thinks Sophie is involved which Vann thinks is preposterous, but he's got to check it out.  

This was a quick read that was made in the final third of the book during the Black Moment. Yep, Sophie finds out that Vann was checking her out in more ways than one, and on top of that her long lost father is a jackass.  Sophie, bless her heart - Wendy gets another book where the heroine leaves behind Scorched. Earth.  Which leads to the hero chasing after her and, you guessed it, a grovel.  This didn't change my life but it kept me entertained on an airplane and I love a grovel. Yes, I'm shallow.  Final Grade = C+

Where the heck were all these teen thrillers when I was a kid? The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Modavsky is a horror/suspense/teen hybrid about Rachel Chavez, your typical teen girl who survives a home invasion while she's home alone. Fast forward a year and she's the new girl at an elite prep school in New York City that her Mom teaches at. Having turned to horror movies to deal with her trauma, she soon uncovers a secret club among a disparate groups of kids at her new school - the gay teen, the Goth girl, the film geek, and the popular jock. By day they completely ignore each other. By night they're The Mary Shelley Club, devotees to fear and horror films. Part of the club is The Fear Test, a competition that plays out popular horror tropes on unwitting targets. The goal is to get your victim to scream.  Naturally the club has secrets and naturally things start to go horribly wrong when one target is seriously hurt and another ends up dead.

This is a slow burn thriller, part high school teen drama, part horror, part suspense.  There's not a lot of fast-paced action until the second half, and once things start to go wrong is when this books really begins to cook.  I'll be honest, I've been reading books of this ilk for a long time and I did have some of it figured out early on.  That said, the author still managed to pull a rabbit out of her hat and surprise me with her reveal.  Also, man - teenagers can be the worst! Seriously.  This book kind of reminds you of that little nugget.  I liked this one quite a bit and dagnabit why didn't this book exist when I was teen?  Final Grade = B