A slow start for an entertaining story.
353399
It's 1818 and Earl of Xavier has created a problem for himself. He's agreed to a bet he never should've agreed to, but a renown rake and gambler must keep up appearances. Oh, well, he could always manipulate the circumstances in his favour by rewriting the Christmas celebration guest list to ensure Louisa Oliver and her aunt would stay the full two weeks. Fortunately, reputations deceive. Louisa is as little a bluestocking as Xavier is a thoughtless philanderer, but it turns out both of them are seducers.

A few wagers later Louisa owes Xavier hours of her time and they start discussions beyond normal scope of society gossip and imminent scandals that are so closely associated with both of them. As Xavier reluctantly tempts Louisa's virtue, she seduces him into showing the man behind the numbered expressions.

Season for Surrender starts slowly and I had trouble getting into the story. I did come to like both Xavier's and Louisa's voices, but unfortunately I wasn't ever fully captivated. That isn't to say I didn't like the story--I did--but I have the attention span of a gnat and I need to be continuously lured into turning the page and starting a new chapter. Most of the time, the chapter titles did that by reminding me of Gail Carriger's wit and hinting just enough to what was was coming. There were a couple that could have been considered as mild spoilers, but I didn't mind them.

I liked the fact that Louisa's interest in books wasn't something to be taken on faith; it was shown and it helped to provide her an organic connection with Xavier. It also helped me to suspend disbelief long enough to accept the sexual aspects of their encounters.

Their discussions over the state of his library and literary in general helped to mirror the progression of their relationship. I usually hate when authors start quoting other people's works, but here the quotes were used sparingly and chosen for the maximum impact--it is to say I didn't feel the need to automatically skip them and that I did in fact read them through.

More than just the quotes, though, some things about this book reminded me of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. It wasn't just the descriptions of regency era festivities with a bigger company than three or five, but also a few--one in particular--specific scenes in the end that made me imagine Colin Firth striding across a long room thinking of Jennifer Ehle.

I also liked Lady Irving and Xavier's cousin, Jane, whom I suspect could be the heroine of a future Theresa Romain novel. More than that, I'd be interested in seeing whether or not the author can turn the villain, Marquess of Lockwood, into a character with a bit more depth.

***I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for this review.***
249281
The change in setting and character viewpoint is interesting but the story is slow to move along throughout the book.
3872217
The story starts slow, but it picks up as the story moves along.  The characters are well developed  and likable.
1071029
I gave this book a three start rating because it didn't wow me. The beginning kept me going, but quite early on we learn a crucial input to the story and then somehow shortly thereafter it seemed rather predictable.
4293611
It took much too long to get into the story and few of the characters were sympathetic or appealing . I had to make myself keep reading it. The plot was a little far fetched, too.
1072390
I can only give this book 3 stars as it was a very slow moving story until a little bit after the halfway point. After that point, I finally found characters to care about and the story really finally began to move along at that point. A too slow beginning and slow to develop action to move the story along is just not my thing. If nothing grabs me from the beginning,either characters or storyline, it is going to be a long read until that happens.
3697016
Good story line a little slow going, plot a little weak.
3570392
There was a tangled tale to tell.  Nevertheless, it was not very intriguing.  It took too long to understand where the story was going.
693111
The beginning of this story was very slow, almost to the point of depressing. The storyline jumps around for quite awhile. It isn't until the last chapters that it flows better but is still odd. I wasn't that impressed with the book at all.
3787343
This second book was slow starting out and I had a hard time getting into it.  Once I made it past the first half the rest of the story picked up a bit.
2542521
I went back and forth on whether to give this 2 or 3 stars.

The story was interesting, but it was a really slow start.  It wasn't until I was 100 pages in or so that I was really interested in the book. There is a lot going on in the book, and there are plenty of details that serve no purpose in the story.

Additionally,  I didn't care for the hero. He was fairly self absorbed and rude to the heroine.  However,  there was another potential love interest who the reader was supposed to dislike. I found him no less appealing I his tretreatment of the main character than the supposed hero.

However, the writing was good and the plot, though slow to pick up,  was intricately weaved. For that alone, the book is worth a read.

Oh, also, the Amish in this book are nothing like the Amish here. I'm not saying that they aren't like this in some districts, because they all vary, but it didn't truly feel like I was reading about an Amish family except when someone explicitly made reference to the fact that they were Plain.
2033170
This was an entertaining read with an interesting plot. I found some of the author's techniques for providing background information somewhat clumsy and some of the characters seemed a bit flat. Having said that I have high hopes for the authors potential to improve and I will be following her;I have already bought the next book in this series and The first of another series to see how she is going to develop the story.
823666
The first part of the book was too slow and really didn't get interesting until almost the end of the book.
2415760
To start with, this is the first book Ive read of the Samantha Jamison series, so I am lacking a bit of background on the character and her past. From a standalone point of view, I think that the setting plays for an interesting story. The characters are interesting and you feel piqued to know more about them. But I felt the storyline took too much time to develop. It was a bit slow paced in some fragments of the book. The main character, while evidencing an innate curious nature, seemed at times entangled on too many ideas and questions in her mind, going around in circles. While presented as a mystery book, I think the book could have been a bit more profuse precisely on that. The story contains some humor, but at times I felt that it was distracting and seemed to dichotomize the storyline. Maybe a bit more action to complement the mystery aspect of the story would have been more palatable.
2849358
The story started off well, with a catchy beginning.  You don't get too much detail about who the main character is, but you have a ribbon of a story starting, a ribbon that's easy to follow as it starts wildly zigging and zagging around the city - but I felt a little unhappy, just not as many details as I would have liked.  It seemed like it was rushing a bit to get through the plotline.  I expected some 'world building', some more history and background about this place the characters were living.  And you get a little of this, but not enough to make me happy, and I thought, for a standard fantasy novel, he should be paying a bit more attention to world building.  I need more details about whats' going on.

Well, without spoiling too much, let me say that after Hoodwink gets to that big Gate the story takes a turn, a nightmarish turn, which reminded me of a Twilight Zone tale of old.  I thought I was firmly in a fantasy novel, then suddenly it turned sci-fi, then quickly slipped to horror.  And then before I knew it the story was over, and I was plesantly surprised.

There's lots of clues in place for explaning more, and there are mysteries that have not been solved by this book, and I am hoping he can continue the promise that the second half of the story has given me.

So if you start the story, and think 'just another fantasty story in a weird world with nothing special going on', then keep reading!  And now, at the end of the story, I can appreciate the sparseness of the beginning, it gives more to be explained in the future.  A great young writer with a lot of promise, and a keen mind for twists and turns.  Also, I give props for the positive portrayal of women in the series so far.
273486
It took me awhile to get into this book. It was a slow start for me. At first, I found the main character, Raegith, to be irritating and juvenile. Which, in a way, makes sense because he is a teenage boy who has spent much of his life locked away from the world. Still, I didn't like him most of the time. But the reason why he was taken from his solitude and sent on a mission to an enemy land intrigued me. And the story wasn't terrible, it simply rang sort of flat with me.

But I stuck it out for what I expected to be a three star read. However, things gradually improved, especially after Raegith crossed over the Hell Cliffs, until by the end I had to bump it to a four star.

Through hardship and deprivation, Raegith is transformed from an inexperienced and smart mouthed kid, to a man who can survive anything the world throws at him. I don't know as I ever grew to actually like him, but rather to respect his fierce determination to survive and to be somewhat in awe of his incredible fighting skills.

For me, this is a sort of tragic story. Everything comes about because of greed, both for material possessions and for power. Deception and blind intolerance, cruelty and misunderstandings, drive the narrative forward and a lot of good people die because of it.

This is an intense book. A book some people might find to be an uncomfortable read. But if you enjoy dark fantasy and a main character who is as much villain as he is hero, then you should definitely give this one a try.
4823773
I had somewhat of a mixed reception to Shi. On the one hand, I did enjoy the story overall. The premise of the story is a simple one: an immortal hitwoman has to complete tasks in order to receive her daily injections keeping her alive. However, her next assignment is a tricky one: she has to kill the grandson of the man whom she was married to in her previous life. The man whom she suspects cheated on her with his secretary. Now I like the premise of the story and the dialogue between characters is quite fun. Yet, I do feel that the story somewhat suffers towards the middle and end. This is in part because the story begins to  feel episodic, with plot points being introduced yet not elaborated on fully. Furthermore, the main character does not feel as a fully realized character as she did in the beginning of the story. Thus, these plot points begin to feel as though they were introduced just to be a twist of sorts. One twist in particular comes so far out from left field that there is no suspense when it is revealed. Thus, it feels more confusing than suspenseful. Finally, the romantic subplot that gets introduce halfway in the story feels rushed. The main character feels like a completely different character when this love interest around and even though she lampshades this by complaining about how he affects her, the story never really builds on this aspect in a meaningful way. The story even suggests that the love interest can read the main characters mind and yet it is played off in a jocular manner.

  Still, I feel that the story is enjoyable for one that is the beginning of a series. While I dislike that the main character feel neutered by the end, I cannot deny that the story does make you feel connected to the character. And while the story does feel rushed and episodic with certain major plot points not being developed and thus feeling as though they were introduced just to be a twist, there are ingredients for an entertaining universe.