Error-riddled and lousy ending but readable
923322
This would have been much better with proper proofing. All the spelling and word usage errors were terribly annoying and it was chock full of them. The ending was completely at odds, as well. Still, the flow was great, and I loved the story, as unusual as it is.
80773
A good read until near the end. Interesting characters, intriguing mystery. A little too much disdain for the military leaders. Towards the end it seems that the author couldn't figure out a good way to tie all the loose ends together and bring the story to a conclusion.  Quite well written and readable until the end. What we got for the ending is a rapid paced combination of improbabilities tied together with lots of action clearly aimed at a B grade movie contract.

Torpedo Squadron 8 was far far better. Perhaps the author should stick to non fiction, but I do plan to read his latest, because he can write pretty well
1946997
beside the numerous typos, I enjoyed it at least.
126680
As usual for this series, the book is a page turner, entertaining, informative about life in 11th century England, and the characters are interesting. This particular book, regardless of who is at fault contained numerous errors, usually the name of a character. One reads that Gervase says something, but the dialogue is out of character for Gervase, but rather something Ralph would say. Other characters are confused also, and it is not always so easy to be sure exactly to whom the author is referring. I persisted in reading through all these errors to finish the book, and, as I say, it's a good story, but a less sloppy presentation would have made it more enjoyable. Without all the typos, I'd have given this book 5 stars.
4468704
The author could've used a little professional help with this one. While it's a good story of a tragic event it might've included some embellishments and build-ups to the obvious conclusion. Plus - find a new proof reader too many grammatical errors and misspellings. Plenty of maps photos helped.
2238114
Until near the end of the book I enjoyed the rich descriptive writing and foreboding feel created by the author. The author's style is very creative with story and characters layered in time and location. It has all the elements of a Gothic ghost story with vivid descriptions and complex characters. (Maybe he was a little to fixated on describing the music of the various time periods and trying to weave this into the supernatural story line.) I gave this novel three stars only because most of the enjoyment of a good yarn is in the reading not in the ending. The ending was completely botched! It appeared that the author had no clue where he was going with this story or how to end it. It is a shame that he set set such a nice table and never served dinner.
2094412
This book is a puzzle: totally intriguing and engrossing until the very end at which point it absolutely falls apart. I don't think I have ever read such a disappointing ending. Why did you do that Ms Costeloe, did you become bored with your novel? It needs two more chapters at least: one showing how the 4 year old twins got to England unaccompanied on the kindertransport and one showing how Ruth got out. And Helga deserved more than a sentence merely telling the reader she died. How? When? Who took care of the twins afterward? How did Edith arrange things afterward? The detail in the rest of the book was precise and convincing and then you simply let your novel fall apart. I would have developed the German character Peter as a vehicle for helping the twins and Ruth get out. But-you needed something! I gave the book three stars but would have given it five if you had written an ending with the same energy and detail as the rest of the book.
2576267
I did enjoy the book overall--I've read virtually everything Alcott wrote, as well as a couple of biographies, so the new information about her mother was interesting.  The problem is that there were a number of careless errors in the book: for example, LaPlante attributes discussion of dress reform to "Litlle Women," but in fact it's in "Eight Cousins."  She describes Rose in "Rose in Bloom" as happily married to her cousin, but in fact at the end of the novel she's just gotten engaged to Mac.  And there are other, similar errors.  Since LaPlante clearly does know her subject, I can't understand why such errors weren't caught and corrected.
1398591
Despite the grammatical errors, I enjoyed both books until the last chapter. It could have been a four-star story; however, the ending was so bad, and so disappointing, I feel unfulfilled!  It seems as if the author ran out of ideas, or was only allowed so many words, so that was it!  Nothing was tied up, nothing was solved; therefore, if you want to be left dangling, buy this book.  Very unsatisfying.
549027
I enjoyed reading this book literally ALMOST until the end. It is well-written, fast paced, has good human interest stories, some romance, and also an unsolved crime -- a lot going on, but well put together and fun to read. I was going to rate this book as "great" and "recommended", but I can't get over the fact how incredibly poor, disappointing and dissatisfying the ending was.

To sum it up:  about 360 pages of great story, good writing, a real page-turner...and the whole thing ended in a single scene on the last page.  A scene that did not make any sense, it was not a sequence to any of the previous events in the book.  The ending was totally "out of the blue" and had no connection to the story line. It was very disappointing  that an otherwise great book had such a poor, shoddy ending.  The only explanation I could come up with was the editor's (or writer's?) note that there will be a sequel. So I guess the ending was supposed to be a "cliff hanger"??  If so, it was the worst, most illogical and annoying "cliff hanger" ever!

If the author took the time and care to write an acceptable, appropriate ending to this book (i.e. one that MAKES SENSE), regardless whether or not she is planning to write a sequel, I would recommend this novel AND I would buy the sequel.  But b/c the ending was such a huge "screw you" to the readers, I will never buy or read anything by Ms. Michelle Miller again.
649954
I really enjoyed this book, which more closely acqaints the reader with a key character who appears in several subsequent books that I had already read. Non-spoiler hint: she isn't the Duke!
However, the poor proofreading marred my pleasure, like having a wrinkle in the rug trip you up while carrying a full glass of water. The word "c o r n e r" was more than once spelled "comer" (the phrase "all comers" was properly spelled in the same paragraph in one instance) and the word "will" (guessing from the context) was spelled "wih" which is not even an English word. Also, random letters were occasionally superscripted, usually the letter "y".
2005783
I have to say I was a bit surprised by how well-written, plotted, and paced this was, for a self-published (I think?) novel. There's nary a sour note in the whole book, and even when things get dark they never get bleak. Unfortunately, the experience is a bit marred by the fact that the manuscript doesn't seem to have been line edited. Constant misuse of apostrophes (particularly w/r/t last names, for example: Cormley's instead of Cormleys, or, again, Cormley's instead of Cormleys') or simple you're/your confusion that gets worse in the latter half is unnecessarily distracting and detracts from what is otherwise a very well put-together novel. If it weren't for the surfeit of such errors I'd easily give this 5 starshere's hoping it gets another read-through by an editor.
3682240
Maybe just in Kindle edition but typos and odd sentences and character names mixed up  was distracting. When Mom is referred to as Valerie and then in the next sentence her name is Melanie, it shows that this book wasn't proofed well.  Also, in the middle of a dialog between brother and sister, the brother is identified by the name of another character.  Oddly, Mom in the story had dementia and got people mixed up.  Regardless,  the story was a nice conclusion to the previous saga of  Carlotta life and I am looking forward to future adventures.
708057
I enjoyed this story, read the next book in the series and have ordered the third.  However, I have never in my life read a book that had so many glaring spelling, grammar and other editing errors.  It's as if an early draft was accidentally printed or, if this was a final, it was proofed by a not very well-trained chimpanzee.  There are errors on almost every page.  It's very distracting.  If you can ignore that and finish the book, the second book has fewer appalling editing failures.  The protagonist in this series is a rather fascinating character - interesting enough to make me curious to read his continuing adventures.
2218524
It keeps your interest 3/4 of the way through the book. Unfortunately, it appears all the author's research and clever storytelling falls victim to a rather loose-ended, 'I wrote the ending in one afternoon' finale. It would have been hard to write a believable ending anyway. Still a good read. Two obvious blunders in a highly detailed and researched book (they aren't pivotal to the plot). Adam was offered a 'fruit' in the bible not an 'apple' and Sir Isaac Newton was a virgin his whole life.
2154524
I enjoyed the camaraderie between the two sisters and the description of family life in a small town and the mystery surrounding the "black woods." The abrupt ending left me disappointed, though.

I'm a good writer, but of non-fiction only. I admire writers who can put together an entertaining tale. However, I can't understand how a writer can know so little about language and punctuation. (Either that, or it is caused by the digital editing???) Just a few examples in this book alone:

*Maybe we are getting to old for this crap? (Should be TOO old.)

*As I get in the shower, my mind wonders... (Should be WANDERS.)

*Not sure yet I was hoping someone might have a new area for us. (Needs a comma or semi-colon after "yet.")

*A brown smudgy smear streaked the white sock laying on top." (What was the sock "laying" - eggs? Should be "lying." This is a common error I see in many, many books.)

*Its eye's were bright blue. ("Eye's" is possessive.)

*It's ears were too small.... ("It's is the contraction for "it is." - It is ears were too small...)

*he still worries he may have went too far. (Should be "have gone.")

*Him and Greg laugh. (Should be "he and Greg laugh.)

*...as a lightening bolt stroke it. (STRUCK it.)

There were other errors, such as "I seen" - not "I saw" - but I considered these to be a purposeful representation of the speech of these small-town characters.

Just a few examples. There were many punctuation errors also. I apologize to the author if these errors were caused by digital editing. If not, I suggest she study the little book "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White.
3219322
I've only previously read Gayle Buck in anthologies and can't quite remember what led me to this book.  I also have  "Mutual Consent" waiting in the TBR pile.  This is an oldie but goodie from 1993 and a classic "Marriage of Convenience" story.

First of all, I liked this book very much but it does have a couple of glaring errors that really annoyed me.  The author gets the titles of the main characters wrong over and over and over again.  The forename "St John" is, indeed, pronounced "Sinjin" but NEVER written that way - I have a close friend with this interesting forename and I know this to be the case.  However, the hero is Viscount Weemswood and NOT Lord St John and neither is our heroine Lady St John. The author refers to the hero as "Sinjin" when calling him by his first name and "St John" when incorrectly referring to his title.  Various other aristocrats get their titles muddled as well.  Also, it's not clear to me how Weemswood would inherit the Dukedom of Alton from his (very nasty)uncle either as presumably this is a maternal and not paternal uncle.  Two brothers very, very rarely each have an independent, completely separate title and Weemswood is not a courtesy title; a nephew in line to a title does not have one - only direct issue do.  Anyway, so much for my personal rant.

Weemswood is an interesting, classically tortured hero: almost unlikeable at times, he is angry, reckless, cranky, temperamental, rude, volatile and even violent, and appears almost totally uncaring of how he treats Mary, his wife in a marriage of convenience.  He does appear to be somewhat manic depressive and even displays some autistic characteristics in his inability to empathise with others and understand the effect his behaviour has on others.  We know he had a troubled and sad childhood but we could have done with more information about it.  What we do know is that he believes he does not deserve personal happiness and when it is put in front of him, he shoves it away.  Although perhaps unrealistic or over-done in another character, with Weemswood it seems likely and quite believable; terribly sad and lots of ramifications arise in the story as a result.

Mary Pepperidge is the daughter of a rich (though not flashy) merchant.  Mary is even-tempered, intelligent, sympathetic, intuitive and demure although she does have a mind of her own - bravo for slapping not just the villain of the piece but St John as well - he more than deserved it by the time she did it.  She also has The Sister From Hell who has some wonderfully comic scenes with various nasty ladies of the ton who set out to demoralise St John and undermine Mary.

I recommend this book because it's well written and gives a good flavour of the nastiness and bitchiness of Regency society.  If it were not for the absurd errors I would say it's a 100% 5 star effort.  Although it probably deserves 4 stars, I am going to give it 5 because it's been so refreshing to find (for me) a new author who exceeded the efforts of too many indifferent Regency historicals that have come on the market since Signet gave up its imprint.