Not romantic but still an entertaining book.
931749
This book kept my interests and overall I liked it. I liked the real and gritty interpretation of the past. This book is more of a historical fantasy adventure rather than a romantic time travel plot. Still you do get to see the two love interests spend a great deal of time together and form a bond. I personally just wasn't convinced that it was love. It felt more like a deep respect for one another than anything else. The thing that killed the romance for me was that the heroine's feet were seriously injured and she had tracked through the woods with no shoes on for weeks like a champ. Her feet were blistered and bloody by the time they reached civilization. She provided the hero with a means to buy items after they got married since she owned a few pieces of jewelry. He comes back from buying HIMSELF brand new clothes and a horse and NO SHOES for her. She ended up with a brown ugly dress and dirty poo feet. (I'm not kidding she walked through poo when they reached a town and remember her feet were blistered and bloody already!). Still he never bought her shoes. There were several offensive situations like this that the heroine had to deal with involving the hero. Some so outrageous that I was shocked she stuck it out with him. After all of that I just couldn't like the hero or believe the heroine genuinely loved him if she had other options. It felt like she just didn't have anyone else to help her so she stuck with him for fear of being alone in the past. So overall I say read for the adventure rather than for the romance. Will I buy the rest of the series? I probably won't, not because I didn't enjoy this book but just didn't enjoy it enough to want to read more.
4826968
I don't want to be overly critical of this book because overall I found it enjoyable and entertaining.  The author has a lovely writing style, that is engaging and beautifully descriptive.  She is not boring.  The time period and subject matter are beautifully illustrated by her and I found it very easy to lose myself for an afternoon (and evening) and not want to put it down.

What I did not like were the very 2 dimensional characters.  I realize to some extent that they are supposed to be shallow, but that's not terribly believable.  The heroine also is a bit inconsistent:  she's initially portrayed as a kind of vain and silly pawn of her mother's ambition and then after marriage a sweet paragon of virtue who has philanthropic concerns and thinks about nice things she can do for her husband.  I also found it difficult to understand why she allowed herself to be bullied by her mother in law and others, considering that her fortune was entirely under her control and she'd been raised her whole life to be in charge.

I really wanted to find a character to connect with and feel emotional for, but there really isn't one worth liking and that's unfortunate because the author has built a perfect setting for something deeper.

I give it 3.5 stars - it's worth reading but not a book that will stay with me.
4933190
Bellamy and Dent create an atmosphere of heated debate in a book about who murdered Susan, Bellamy's sister. This is not a christian novel. The characters do have relations. I expect that they will marry at the end of the book. So many characters could be the murderer.  It is an interesting read. But it is not a book that would be on my best book list.
1732159
This book was good. Not perfect but it kept me entertained enough to read it on my day off. At some points it seemed like the writer was young and in need of more experience but I did enjoy the book none the less.
4373290
It's not The Mortal Instruments, but it's a very good read.
1815711
I enjoyed this book tho it is not my normal genre. It isn't really a "feel good" story but very interesting. It brings in the idea of six degrees of separation where all living things and everything else in the world are six or fewer steps away from each other.
2295804
The story in itself was romantic and the fantasy was easy enough to resolve into, but there were few scenes which rendered it distant from realism. A great read for someone who desires to have their emotions tried, but only decent for a critical reader. The book was overall enjoyable and entertaining, but I wouldn't run to it for a second time.
2170846
It wasn't what I thought it was, but it was still a good read.
1046604
This book isn't really mystery.  There isn't enough information to go off of for it to be more than a thriller, but it is a great one at that.  The way it jumps back and fourth in time was well done, I felt legitimate concern for the characters and even when it was clear they were doing things that they shouldn't.  I thought they were very real, very multi-dimensional and relatable.  The plot kept me going from beginning to end and though it was nearly five hundred pages, it felt like a lot less because of how entertaining it was.  Usually in my reviews I talk about my disgust with the way romance is portrayed, but this book does a great job.  The romantic relationships actually are not the focus and when a character should be more concerned with things than if a man likes her in this book the characters actually are.  This is one of the more realistic portrayals of the complexity of relationships (both romantic and non) of most books I read.  Romance is not the focus in the least, but the platonic love shared between some of the characters is very deep, very real and very well done also.  I would highly recommend this book and this author to anyone who wants a book that does not engage in romantic fan service.
4934241
This book is not really what I would classify as a romance, but it kept my attention from beginning to end.
3362987
First off this is not the next da Vinci Code.  It tries to be in some ways but it isn't.  The writing style isn't the best, I'll admit, but its a pretty entertaining book.  I found it hard to put down and the charts and maps really helped.  The whole trap avoiding thing was pretty interesting.  There were a few problems with suspension of disbelief.  Personally I think they should have kept that falcon out, its a pretty stupid concept.  And the evil colonel having no nose was a bit much, but like I said, it was very entertaining.

  If you liked the da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons, even though this isn't as good, you will still enjoy the book.  So in a nutshell:

Cons: Character development for only a few people; some corny stuff like the trap-disabling falcon; using italics for every other word; and lots of exclaimation points.

Pros: Interesting plot; certain aspects like the technology and traps were quite original; visuals really helped; and it keeps you hooked.
2968614
I wouldn't consider this book a literary classic, but I enjoyed it none the less for its modern entertainment value.
2429495
This is a book about pirates, their lives, their conquests, their brotherhood and their deaths.  It's not a historically precise piece, and it's not going to win a Nobel prize for fine literature.  All that aside its a great book to read when you want a pirate book that's less fluff and more adult than a Disney's adaption.  It's well written, has a good plot, interesting characters and is unpredictable enough to keep you interested till the end.  Don't forget to have some of the Capt. Morgan around to set the mood.
817332
It was an interesting read, not quite my usual genre but still found it entertaining. The fact this book was free made me not feel guilty!
813173
This book is not the typical Regency romance, with all the usual, expected tropes. In fact, the story really didn't go where I thought it would go--more than once.  And that is NOT a bad thing.  In fact, giving the reader something unexpected is actually a good thing most of the time.

The reason I can't give this book five stars is that I never really got a feel for the main character, Lady Eleanor.  Most of the book was told about her and from her perspective, but she never really seemed like a fully-developed character to me.  However, on the whole I enjoyed this book.
639131
This one was a mostly light hearted romance with lots of humor.  Bianca's profession got her in some interesting situations.  Drew has a complicated relationship status and a past that holds him back from starting a new page with Bianca.  I'm not sure what Uncle Bill's character was supposed to do or add to the story though.  There are a few kisses but no sex in this book.
I wouldn't say this was a great story, but it was well written and it entertained me.  I'm still a fan of her work.
3426786
interesting, but not what I was expecting. still entertaining and a good read