A Better Romance Story
925444
This is definitely one of the better romance stories I've read in a while. The author doesn't seem prone to overusing a word or phrase in the H's or h's actions. That's a pet peeve of mine that I've seen almost ad nauseam in pulp romances.  It has humor and for me that's always a plus. There always seems to be plenty of angst to be found in life, but never enough humor. The book definitely kept me entertained there. Not knowing much about sailing, I liked looking up some of nautical terms the author used. (I'll freely admit it doesn't take much to get my inner nerd to come out.) I also like the fact that the book focuses on the growing relationship of H/h instead of villains out to get them or stories that force H and h that force them apart innumerable times just to illustrate love prevailing.

There are some complaints that H was out of character toward the end. To me, he seemed to be acting a bit more like a civilian with volatile human emotions as opposed to the warrior (mostly) schooled in stoicism that he had been for so long. Are the emotions fair or necessarily likeable? No, but then again, not all human emotions are. Does the author lay it on a bit thick? Possibly, but then again, it's a VERY, VERY rare romance that doesn't put the angst of the H or h into high overdrive at least a few times. Does the author tie the story up in a pretty (i.e. glossed over) bow at the end? Sure. However, these tropes are things that I've come to believe is ingrained in the genre.

The other beef people seem to have is with Starkey. Yes, he does come off as a cross between Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca and Scott Pritchard from No Way Out. I've read so many stories through the years that I've come to the belief that I'm going to run across the same basic character at least a few times, particularly in stories that are genre driven such as this one.

So, four stars for a pulp romance. It's an entertaining book for a bit of romantic escapism, to take to curl up with on a lonely night or to kill time. If, perhaps, the reader is looking for a book of great depth with a myriad of unique characters, War and Peace might be a better alternative.
749050
If Amazon did fractions, I'd probably give this one a 3.5.  Since that isn't an option and because the only other review is so low, I'm going to go with 4 stars.

This is a nice romance that isn't particularly overwrought with melodrama (which with plots like this one, it could've been.)  It has likable, rootable leads and a fair bit of time spent on a secondary couple.

In the backstory, the heroine had once been in love with and engaged to marry a young soldier, and it was only after he had been shipped to Spain that she discovered that she was pregnant.  She sent a letter telling her fiance only, as things tend to happen in romance novels, for things to go awry.  Pregnant and desperate, she married someone else.

The novel begins with the widowed heroine's now five year old son aware that his mother's late husband was not his 'real' father and wishing  to know who is.  It was her late husband who impressed this fact on a very young child, which gives some indication as to the mindset of her older husband, who had not been amused at discovering that his wife was pregnant when he married her.

It had been an unhappy marriage, seemingly from beginning to end. However, she is now a wealthy widow in charge of her late husband's estates and businesses and is loathe to give up her independence, despite her parents -- and various fortune hunters -- wishing to see her remarry.

The hero and her son's 'real father' is now a wounded war veteran with a permanent disability recently back in London in the aftermath of the war.  From his point of view, his fiance had inexplicably dumped him and married a wealthy nabob very soon after he, a second son with few prospects, had been shipped to Spain.

After some initial bitterness upon reintroduction, it does not take the hero very long to recognize that the heroine's son is also his own, and this places everything in an entirely new perspective.  The hero now wants his ex-fiance back and to become a real father to his child.  Meanwhile, the heroine has to learn to trust the hero again after having spent years believing that he had ignored her pregnancy and rejected both her and their son.  More, because of her unhappy marriage and the way that it had placed her under her late husband's thumb, she is unsure whether she wishes to sacrifice her new found independence for any man... even the one she used to (in fact, still does) love.

Toss in a subplot murder mystery and a girl impersonating the heroine's late husband's niece in order to scam a London Season so as to raise herself to a higher social status and you have a reasonably fast-paced novel.

The leads are likable and their son is endearing. Sensuality level is a 6 or 7.  And, this being a romance, of course there's a happy ending.  I liked it.
4933795
Much better story without so much psychic stuff. Good mixture of romance, danger, brotherhood, family, and humor. On to the next book!
2625333
I gave the last book three stars because of so many competing plotlines and not enough devotion to the actual narrative of John and Xhex's story. This book, however, gets 4 stars, and NOT because of the romance between Dr. Manny and Payne. No, what makes this story wonderful for me is the romance between Dr. Jane and her tortured husband Vishous, and a continuation of Blay and Qhuinn's book. This was a book about the BROTHERHOOD, not so much about individual characters.

This book shows that while characters may end up together, they STILL have continuing difficulties and commitment problems, still struggle with their fears and have hangups, so while there might be a HEA at the end, couples still have to continue to grow together for the romance to endure (I LOVED THAT ABOUT THIS BOOK). That was dealt with beautifully, as was the continuing struggle between Blay and Qhuinn (who still struggles with coming out of the closet).

I was less thrilled about a sub-plot about Payne killing the Bloodletter and the Bloodletter's son coming to Caldwell (coincidentally at the same time that Payne arrives) and then having the plot build to a climax that never really happened (it was an odd moment where the urgency of Payne's kidnapping isn't really even urgent). I'm not so sure about the new character being introduced (because he wasn't REALLY developed much). Perhaps in order for the series to continue Ward decided to intro a new character who wants to kill "the king."

There was a lot more sex in this book, and most of it not happening with Dr. Manny and Payne, so if you're looking for that erotic element to be reintroduced, it's there (one scene with a prostitute seemed completely gratuitous). Jane and Vishous get it on more than the main characters in this book. There's also a wonderfully touching scene between Vishous and Butch, as they cement their friendship and learn how to control Vishous's insecurities.

Overall, I liked this book better than the last. I would have liked to have seen SOME of the other characters show up (especially Xhex and John) to show their continued brotherhood, rather than only focusing on Butch, Vishous, Jane, Manny, and Payne.

Nicely done! I can't wait for the next one to see where earlier plot twists end up. I also keep rooting for Blay and Qhuinn. I thought it might happen in this book when Saxton sort of steps aside, but Qhuinn's not there yet. Yet!
1197194
I like the story line and the characters but I didn't need so much description of the sex. I like a romantic side of a story more than the sex side of the story.
4734374
I thought this book was well written.  It is the second novella by Ms. Fisher that I've read.  While quite good, I did not enjoy this story as much as I did the first one I read, "A Bride For Christmas".  In this story the hero, Stephen, has returned home from the Napoleonic war after being injured in battle.  Upon his return he is told that both his parents were killed in a house fire the day before his arrival.  Poor Stephen is wracked with grief and subsequently drowns his sorrows in alcohol.  While in his cups he throws out a less than gracious proposal to his lady love, Jane.  Jane and Stephen have been friends since childhood.  Jane's family estate adjoins Stephen's Uncle's, who is an Earl.  When Jane was 14 Stephen enlisted in the Army.  Although there was no formal agreement between the two, they've each had a fondness for the other, which has been nurtured during the six years Stephen has been away.  Jane at 20 has had two London seasons, but has kept her heart free for Stephen.  Now that he's returned Jane is devastated by Stephen's drunk induced proposal.  She immediately begins to doubt her feelings for Stephen.  She wonders if over the years she may have built Stephen up to be more than he actually is.  While I could understand Jane's misgivings to a certain extent, I couldn't see why she was so much in angst about whether or not she should marry Stephen.  It seemed to me that she had one excuse after another as to why she couldn't marry him, but none of them were the least bit convincing.  Furthermore, I found her thought process very confusing.  I was so irritated with Jane that when Stephen decided he would look for another young lady to marry I cheered!  Of course since as Jane is the heroine of the story that was not to be.  And, since I really loved Stephen and he really wanted Jane I had to root for the irritating female.  After all, I wanted Stephen to have his HEA.  Now don't get me wrong, I liked Jane.  The author however was not able to get me to sympathize with her.  All my sympathy was for Stephen.  Overall I would say that this was an enjoyable read.
2998680
This was a cute story and a clean romance. The romance was a bit more practical than believable and the characters did not show very much depth. I think well developed characters are hard to create with a novella. The poor editing was confusing at times. I still enjoyed it and it was free as a kindle ebook!
1544429
I enjoyed this book more than the last one. I liked the characters a bit better, and their 'romance' felt a little less forced to me.

I would have liked more focus on the Wolf Hunter part of these stories over the romance, I find that more interesting than the romances. While I still like the romance portion, the mystery and suspense are what I really enjoy about these books. This book took a while to get to that part of the story, in the next book I want him to be the main focus of the story rather than just something in the background.

I don't understand why nobody has mentioned to the police or made it public that The Wolf Hunter is a wolf as well, I'd assume that it would dampen the fire of people if they knew that the one they were following was a hypocrite.

I really liked seeing Grace again, even if it was only for a very short amount of time.
4703747
There were parts of the story that I enjoyed.  However it was also similar to other romance books.  So the feeling of I heard this all before was there.  It didn't stand out for me.
266244
I really wish Amazon would do the half star thing because although I didn't hate this book, I also didn't love it. So this is more like a 2.5 (okay) star read. The premise of the story was interesting. To be honest, I'm more a romance reader, but I love reading stories about relationships/families so thought I would give this a try.

The story centres around Nick who is married to Marcy. He decides to coach their young son's baseball team and meets, Tess, one of the mothers of the boys he coaches. There is instant attraction/infatuation that Nick struggles with and he finds himself at a crossroads of sorts. Told completely from Nick's POV, this is his story about his life and an inside look to the ups and downs of their marriage/family. I really enjoyed the way this was written. The story flowed well and was intriguing enough to keep my interest throughout the whole book. But there were some things that I'd struggled with, and mainly, that was to do with Nick.

I didn't like how he never told Marcy the whole truth of everything that happened and everything he'd been thinking/dreaming about. There were things that happened that he would tell half-truths to (or just not admit to at all), which made it really hard for me to be sympathetic towards him or to fully like him. It goes as far as him comparing to two women and finding Marcy lacking. And because of this, I feel that Marcy's decision in the end would have been different had she known the full story. It didn't help that Nick **************SPOILER***************had betrayed her while they were engaged*******************END SPOILER*****************and then to do this? She forgave him back then, and she forgave him again with Tess (multiple times with Tess, really). Makes me think that she will forgive him when he gets tempted (and follows through) again, which is kind of sad.

Despite all that, the story is good. Had it been a romance, this would have been an utter fail, but it's not, so normal romance rules don't apply here :) Because of that, I can appreciate the story for what it is, but I just wish that Marcy had known everything and that there had been more repercussions (or at least ones that Marcy didn't have to pay for!) and seen him really try to come back from that. Maybe if I felt Nick really wanted Marcy for more than just the familiar comfort she gave and was to him, I would have enjoyed it more.
264172
There was a good story without the romance formula. I liked that the plot didn't center around conflict between the love interest, which is becoming tiresome. A more modern story that doesn't insult your intelligence. The book still had the girl finding the perfect guy, a beautiful house, and a family to love. This is why we read romance. Loved it!
2485877
I didn't love this book. I had issues with the credibility of the story and got lost trying to keep up with characters, perhaps because I hadn't read earlier books in the series. Was expecting more romance.
968081
I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.

The story was pretty good. I think parts needed a little bit more work. Some of the parts didn't seem to fit together. The situation that got them together is good. The story on the hero's side is weak and doesn't really get resolved. I found I was more interested in his brother when he made an appearance. The heroine's story is better, but it doesn't seem to get fully resolved either. The problem with the guy who claimed sexual harassment against her doesn't seem to get resolved.

It is a lovely love story.
3130944
It was a pretty good story but I think it would be better appreciated by younger readers especially girls.  the lead character is a young female and the story is mostly told through her.  There is also some young romance involved.
2250665
For the most part, I liked this story. It's the first I've read by this author and will probably try another as she has a rather nice style. I got weepy at least 4 times, so that's always a plus for any author. Olwyn's father was ghoulish in his insanity, which put a different kind of twist into the mix. Aidan and Olwyn fall into a mystical kind of love (and lust) that was a little too much for me at times. The romance actually suffers from the things happening in the story. The good people are really really good and the villains are just rotten, very stereotypical. Action and dialogue were sometimes melodramatic and occasionally prosy and that brought my score back closer to 'okay'. I'm glad I gave this new to me author a try.
485148
I found this romance novel by an author of who was unknown to me disappointing.  Not because I didn't like the novel, but because when I went on a search for more of the author's stories of this genre I found, sad to say, there weren't any.  Making a pun using part of the title, this story has heart.  I think the beginning hard to take, but unlike many stories it gave a bit of background into Gabriel's character and a whole lot of motivation.  I found this one of the better romance stories, and as I like them, silly as it may seem to some, I at least want one to have a decent plot.  However, without getting into the story, which to my way of thinking is not a review, I found Gabriel the sort of man that a woman seeking someone with substance would like and Katrina, is not some mealy mouth little heroine, but a woman of substance and guts.  Between Gabriel's need for revenge and Katrina's need to figure out what is going on with her father, a good story follows.  Also, Ms. George's use of double entendre does not hinder, but works together to make a great story.

Ms. George is also a playwright, and as a director I can appreciate her wanting to venture in a different direction, but as a lover of a GOOD romance novel all I can say is I wish she'd write more.
2242086
I was looking forward to reading this, as it looked like an enemies-to-lovers story; that's a trope I love. Unfortunately, it didn't quite deliver.

This was an okay story, as romances go, and it was overall nice. But that's about it. There wasn't much to be excited about, and it didn't feel especially original. There were a lot of standard romance cliches, including instant love. A lot of it read like pages out of an Alaska guide book. Even the sex scene was disappointing. There was really no need to educate readers (incorrectly) on top-bottom-neither power dynamics in the middle of their intimacy. It really drew me out of the moment.

The story really picked up with the earthquake, and that was the best-written part. It was really intense seeing Devin's reaction as an outsider. If it had come into play sooner, the story would have been much faster paced and interesting.

I think in reality, I'm probably not the target audience for this story.

 ** I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Inked Rainbow Reads**

~Amy