Ok plot, but frustrating read.
341507
Spoilers* The premise of PMU was a good one and it was over all well written and edited. I liked the main characters Ben and Henry as well as the supporting group of friends and family. What became tiresome was the inability of the two protagonists to communicate honestly with each other. While it was blindingly obvious to everyone by 30% into the book that Ben and Henry were falling in love, they refused to be open and honest with each other, the whole "fake" boyfriend thing became frankly ridiculous when they are going on holiday together, sharing every night together and meeting each others families. And it is a long book, well over 6000 locations, so it does start to feel dragged out and painful. Ben especially is so riddled with self doubt, he cannot bring himself to express his true feeling for Henry. And why the lack of self confidence? He is a multimillionaire, top of his game pro football player. His closest friends and family immediately accept that he is gay. His football manager and most of his team support his coming out. Yet he is convinced he does not deserve to be loved and cannot believe that Henry returns his feelings, even through to the end. Also, the book is told in the present tense, which I find less enjoyable to read, but that is just my preference. I did finish the book, but will not re read this one and would not recommend it.
566204
Engaging plot but it drags on way too long. Large chunks could be removed without effecting the story at all. The typos and grammatical errors are the worst I've seen in a published novel and made it that much harder to read. If it weren't for that I would have given it three stars.
2189434
While the premise was good, I wound up skimming in a lot of places. The author need to show more than tell, and there needs to be more dialogue. Insta-love as well as lust. There were too many unbelievable factors, such as the bestie the MC initially makes winds up being the other prince's choice, and they both get pregnant the first night, and they both get abducted. Parts were silly with over-dramatic dialogue. The MC omega cries too much--even sobbing on occasion. Repeated information and no real sub-plot to speak of other than the rebel alien thing, which would have been unraveled into a decent plot if the author had taken the time to make a more realistic, interesting plot. This was more of a soap-opera-ish sex story than anything else.
3962431
I read this as part of the "Romantic Heroes" bundle on KU. To be honest I'm no longer a fan of this author. Some of her earlier books were great but her more recent stuff hasn't been for me. This one started off ok and I was hopeful until the author used a plot device that had me squirming. It was downhill from there.
 +++Spoilers+++
The h is married to one of the H's knights. She is heavily pregnant with her second child (the first died prematurely) and she doesn't want her husband to leave but he goes with the H to fight off the Welsh at another castle. On the day that the h loses her second child, she discovers that her husband was also killed. She is beyond desperate and the physic believes she may not be able to have more children. The H is seriously wounded in his abdomen during the same battle that killed her husband. The physic comes up with the idea that the h can nurse the H. Yes, you did read that correctly! She continues to give him sustenance because it's all his body can tolerate. A villain enters the picture and the H becomes possessive over the h. It could've been so much better than it was. The title is explained in the book and I thought that it was lovely. To be fair to Ms Le Veque, she does explain that this was an old manuscript that she'd forgotten about so maybe that's why it wasn't very polished. She uses terms like "eye candy" and "lollygagging" amongst other things, which she hopefully wouldn't do today.
4858831
I did manage to struggle through and finish the book.  The problem I had was the continual barrage of punishment the main character took.  Yet regardless of constant blood loss and bodily trauma, the guy just continued on without rest.  I did enjoy the plot and the setting.  The action scenes were just too unbelievable to ignore.  While I dislike negative reviews, I do need to be honest with my opinion.  This book was tough to finish.  Two stars just because I liked the plot.
1147386
i read avidly and love layered, well written books. though this book is lyrical at times, the plot was maddening at best. i had to reread the end multiple times and i still don't think i "got it." the author seemed to be trying  too hard to be clever and trying to be clever doesn't mean you achieve even a semblance of that.
72487
This novel had a great plot and wasn't generally badly.  The problem is that the author apparently wanted to be REALLY sure that you understood that the protagonist sleuth had a DARK and DISTURBING past, that, even though she is now on the police force, nobody seems to have noticed.  I could get to like these characters if the author will just leave off with the browbeating about the detective's past.  Subtle references, occasional contact, even a flashback now and then is okay, but the heavy-handed flogging of the subject is just unnecessary.
3767639
The plot is interesting, but the main character, Josie, is a nervous wreck who acts on impulse and emotion all too often, and is hard to accept as a one-time "hot shot" defense attorney.

Some of the key scenes are a bit too magical; one example: a waitress in a Mexican restaurant in a rough section of LA just opens up and tells two complete strangers (Josie and her boyfriend) detailed key background on the victim, an unsavory character.  This is totally unbelievable if you've had any association whatsoever with rough neighborhoods and the survivors they breed.

Finally, there are an irritating number of grammatical errors (in the narrative or the mouths of the well-educated) that make it seem the book was hastily put together and poorly edited.
645189
I'm not a sci-fi reader, so my review might be skewed.

The plot line was a bit too much--too convoluted. Too many things happen at once. Two normal people, who have never met, are brought together as brother and sister. They can change back from normal folks to demons, then angels, then everything rolled into one.
The ending bothered me because, well, there wasn't one. They got through this challenge, but we're led to believe that all that conflict, kidnappings, murders and mayhems (not to mention bombs going off) was just the beginning. I don't need a happy ending (although I prefer one) but I do want a resolution.

Writing style:  Personally, I think it could have been more of a show me the story, instead of so much. This could have been the catalyst I needed to more understanding of the plot line. The formatting was rough. Paragraphs went on forever without a break. That might not have been entirely the author's fault.  (I'm getting used to Kindle formatting.) I think a smoother narrative would have been the order of the day.

I found enough interest in the story, though, to give it a three star rating. I might have to try another one of the author's works to better judge.
4321367
A duke's son rumored to have killed his father's young fiancee has the chance to prove rumors false and reclaim his rightful life after 12 years' ostracism, when the  extortionist heroine(sic) he supposedly killed turns up on his doorstep offering to reveal her identity and prove his innocence if he will refund money her brother lost gambling. Blech. Who wouldn't fall for Temple, the big, battered, unbroken sin-eater of the Fallen Angel gambling hell? Heroine, Mara, not so much. And I didn't much enjoy the writing either. It's in the Truman Capote "That's not writing, that's typing' vein.

Here's what I mean. Breathless writing that repeats phrases for emphasis. That repeats a word, sometimes a verb, over and over and over. That repeats them to make a point super-duper emphatically. To make each repetition mean more somehow. To hide how little it meant to begin with. To drum the point in to pad the text's word count? It was constant. It was relentless. It was annoying. And distracting. It reminded me of Stephanie. Laurens. (If you love SL's books, you'll love this. If not, then maybe not so much.) After a while, I just skimmed it. Picking out enough of the developments to get the gist. To follow the plot. To see who was doing what. To whom. And hoping Mara'd get her just deserts. Not her HEA. I ended up thinking he deserved better. Poor Temple. (Wow, it's habit-forming...)

If the annoying verbal tic hadn't been so ubiquitous, and if I hadn't found Mara so awful, withholding and manipulative, I might've enjoyed the story more. I understand I was supposed to feel she'd redeemed herself by running an orphanage, by not serving the pet pig for dinner, by nursing Temple through near-fatal injury, and by doing the 'right  thing' for him eventually, but by then I was pretty off her. This was not because she was evil but because she was selfish and amoral. She did things that harmed others without compunction in pursuit of her own goals (and with loads of limp justifications). First and worst for-instance: after she realized that she'd destroyed an innocent man's life by staging her death as she did, she did zilch. Even after it was safe to put things right, she hid rather than face up to her stupid mistake. I doubt she would've ever come forward, if not for the money she needed to get back. True, it was for the lit-tle orphans but still, she came across as a mercenary, self-serving wench. As for her nursing him, his nearly dying was her fault, too.

As she herself admits, she was the villain in the piece. (I don't enjoy reading about bitchy, shallow, mercenary, selfish heroines who are given one unrelated 'redeeming' attribute and this one was a prime example. Ick.) Poor, poor Temple. He deserved so much better than Mara.

Now, what do I mean by S. Laurens-style repetition?

"All she wanted was to say the right thing --
the thing that would bring him closer to her.
That would give her what she wanted.
What she ached for."

..."She'd been so caught up in him that she'd forgotten it --
forgotten that it could give her a view she'd never imagined.
Never dreamed."

..."What was beyond the mirror should have devastated her.
Should have scandlaized her."

..."closing her eyes to the vision.
To its power.
Terrified of what he would do next.
Terrified of what he would not do next."

"Wishing she could hear his thoughts.
Wishing she could tell him everything.
Wishing she could lay herself bare for him.
Wishing their future ahd not been so well cast in such strong stone."

I'm not cherry-picking. These come from a few pages in Chapter 14. Ick.
I would never read this again; I could barely stomach it this once. HATED Mara but Temple was an unusual guy, so it's 1.5- 2 stars for me.
BUT many others enjoyed it, so there're plenty of happy readers' reviews to consider instead of mine.
1442590
The plot of this story had potential, but I just couldn't get past the ridiculous dialog between the main characters. No real person speaks in this manner and I found it distracting. The fact that the readers had to be reminded several times that Jordan may have a country accent, but wasn't a hick, was annoying. It took me out of the story to the point where I just gave up and stopped reading it altogether.
2470287
I almost gave this book a 3, but couldn't quite do it. The author has some interesting plot points, but almost too many and hard to follow. Her repeated poor grammar, poor editing, and frequent incorrect use of words(often used words obviously not what she meant) regularly throughout the book, made it often difficult to interpret her meaning; I often had to reread sentences over again to comprehend them, and sometimes I still couldn't quite be sure, so I almost gave up reading it through. I hope she will refer more to a dictionary in future and get a good editor. For example: She used the word "tabloid" to describe the paper Caroline pulls out to write a letter, and perhaps she meant "tablet" of paper, but I'm doubtful they even had tablets of paper in those days. She also frequently split her sentences into 2 or 3, rendering some of the phrases incomplete and almost meaningless, unless you pull them together as you read. It was frustrating.
470057
Terrific plot, as much of it as I could follow. Kanon's writing style is crisp and clipped in the extreme, and maybe it's just me, but the demands on the gentle reader to infer just what was meant or what is actually going on are too much and become irritating. I will leave him to the folks who can complete the New York Times crossword puzzled in ink.
1321543
Originally I downloaded this as a sample for my Kindle, only to realize I had previously purchased this at a Friends of the Library Sale.

I will say that this book had some exciting parts in the plot, but there are things that don't add up.

First thing I did not like, the heroine is described as plain, ugly, and very unattractive, she is also basically described as stupid, from the initial meeting Rico finds Lizzy very unattractive. The author goes on to describe her this way through out the entire book, and Prince Rico is very shallow and vain from the beginning almost to the end of the book. Both Rico and Lizzy come from bad negative backgrounds, both were treated as a shadow to their respective siblings that is the one thing they share. It was somewhat exciting when he rescued Ben and Lizzy from the life his father had planned for them, I think that was the most exiting aspect of the plot. As for the rest of the book she has to have an extensive makeover in order for him to find her attractive, and she requires a lot of up keep to be beautiful. They do marry prior to her makeover, however he doesn't fall in love with her until after she is made up. Rico is later arrested and she is forced back to England where she basically accepts herself as the ugly unattractive frumpy aunt to her now bastard nephew. She is described as slowly turning plain without her beauty treatments. Eventually they are reunited after he is striped of his title of Prince and basically vanished from the kingdom.

Someone pointed it out Ben calls his uncle Tio which is the Spanish equivalent of uncle. I also felt the author extended the story of their past too long into the current story. I was very disappointed by the whole story, I would not recommend buying this book.

This is definitely not Harlequin Presents Material.
700109
This is the same review that  I left for the second book, as the strengths and weaknesses are identical:

I read the first, second and third books. I definitely like the plot, but I have to be honest here - badly in need of an editor. And I'm not talking about spelling errors, necessarily. The authors have an annoying tendency to write in passive voice, when clearly they should be writing active voice all the way. Some of the awkward phrasing make it hard to enjoy the story. For example - the vastly excessive number of times they use "begun" in their sentences. "The marines had begun to fire back..." No. "The marines fired back..." Active, not passive. This was not a direct quote, but is illustrative of the problem to which I'm referring. All that said, I did enjoy the plotting and the pace. I think if the authors tighten up their writing, just a little bit, they'll deserve all the 5-Star ratings they get.
2654983
Ok plot but too long. Where was an editor to pare long slog details down?
4923462
"Dragon Bound" had potential.  The plot was interesting enough, but the writing was awkward.  Some of the descriptions left me scratching my head.  What exactly is a "machete smile"?  Ms. Harrison must know, since the term is used over and over. So much of it felt forced, without the kind of effortless flow that makes a book enjoyable.  I had to struggle to get through.  To be honest, I felt that the secondary characters were more interesting and likable than the protagonists. Maybe the author will hit her stride in the next book of the series.