Makes you forget that it should be a romance novel
355249
Sweetheart Deal is all about being conniving and cunning with the tension of romance acting as the underlying pull. Ellen the main character  has a shrewd business sense but detests the way how her father manipulates and manages the family business.  She defends her brother against her father while hiding as a mousy librarian. Yes this is clich but it works well in this story.
Ellens cleverness and kindness are her driving motivation while she struggles with her emotions for John. The Deal showed a lot of mental maneuvering that made you forget that it should be a romance novel. Very nicely done Ms. Morse.
4773001
This novel has the intriguing concept of a female knight. I thought immediately of the great "Fires of Winter" by Johanna Lindsay, which features the Celtic swordswoman Brenna. Alas, this novel cannot compare. It gets off to a good start but soon takes a wrong turn.
There is nothing wrong with the character of Mallory, the heroine; she is indeed a kick-[...] warrior. However, we are offered glimpses of various characters, such as Queen Eleanor of Aquitane and the hero's brother Goddard, only to have these characters dismissed after a few sentences. They are supposed to play an important part in the narrative, but the author just shuffles them off as soon as they have served their purpose, and they never become real characters. Other cardboard characters include the hero's father, Mallory's rival Lady Elita and a couple of other disposable knights.
Also, Saxon, the hero, is full of disdain for Mallory when he first sees her-we're talking serious dislike. We are expected to believe that the very next time he sees her, his attitude completely changes and he goes ga-ga over her. While this sort of conflicted relationship is typical of romance novels, it is usually accomplished with a little more grace. Saxon's attitude goes from one extreme to the other and never switches back at all. In fact, Saxon is so enamored of Mallory that he conveniently appears around every corner to save her. There isn't much real suspense, as we know that every time Mallory breaks a nail, Saxon will be there with an emery board to file it off. And sadly, the love scenes remind me of something from a teen romance novel (only more expicit, of course!)
I applaud the author for writing about a woman warrior, but the overall effort is lacking in maturity.
998222
I really hate giving a bad review to any author, because I really admire them for just sitting down and getting it done in the first place.  But I wasn't sure when I started this book if I'd read it before.  I had recently read a wonderful novel about a Calli(e) who discovers her father isn't dead, and finds herself trying to fit in with a new, very wealthy family.  But that was a paranormal romance, and this is a  contemporary romance.

The theme of the wealthy man sweeping a middle class girl off her feet seems to be quite popular right now.  Of course, I knew by the title what I was getting into, so I suppose I can't complain.  But if you like this kind of fluff, you'd be better off going with something that at least has the guts to go all the way.  This novel is rather mild and tries way too hard to be unoffensive, both in its portrayal of the wealthy lifestyle and in its fade-to-black love scenes.

Frankly, I hope this trend toward "billionaire" books comes to an end soon.  It's not a healthy fantasy.  It's just the Knight in Shining Armor rescue thinly veiled, but its self-deception is worse, because we're supposed to love the hero in spite of his knighthood and his shining armor (his money), and yet that's the whole draw of the novel.  It just doesn't make sense to me.

Also, just the quality of the writing was distracting.  As an editor, I found myself thrown out of the flow, mentally placing missing commas too many times.  At one point, also, the author makes the mistake of saying something like "things like that happen in movies and books, not in real life," which only calls attention to the fact that, yes, you are reading a novel.

If you want to waste a few hours reading a little fluff without even getting the thrill of toe-curling sex, this novel is what you're looking for.  I give it three stars just for the effort.
4398211
I was desperately in the mood for a Highlander romance, where the sexy hero marries an English heroine, and the two have to overcome all manner of obstacles in order to achieve their HEA...it's one of my favorite romance formulas.  When I found this book, it fit exactly with what I wanted.  Unfortunately, I had so many issues with the story, that I couldn't really enjoy it.  Before making the purchase I read a number of reviews, both good and bad.  I especially found T.J.'s 2 star review informative, because she listed in detail exactly what she didn't like about the story.  I figured I could deal with the issues she had with it, so proceeded to download and read the book.  Unfortunately, there were sooooo many issues that it completely overwhelmed any enjoyment I had in the story.

Arbella is traveling from England to Stirling, Scotland to marry an English noble, Marmaduke Stewart.  Unfortunately, their arrival coincides with an attack by a Scottish rebel army, led by William Wallace.  During the fray, Arbella is separated from her party and finds herself in the thick of battle.  Magnus comes to her rescue and whisks her off to the Highlands.  During the journey she is attacked by one of his men, thus Magnus decides that he needs to marry her in orer to protect her.  At the time, Magnus is betrothed to another, but doesn't take this into consideration when he makes the decision to marry Arbella--or if he did, he thought it a fine excuse to avoid marrying his intended, Ina, who is a veritable witch.

While I didn't have any problem with the way events unfolded, I thought everything occurred too quickly.  Within hours of rescuing Arbella, Magnus decides they must marry.  The marriage takes place the next day at an Abbey on their way to his holdings.  Furthermore, Arbella's protest against marrying Magnus is weak at best, and  I wasn't convinced of the necessity for the two to marry, not at that point anyhow.  In any event, thanks to T.J.'s review, I knew about this plot weakness and was determined to overlook it...and so I did.  The rest of the story proceeded fairly well, although after a while all the sex became tedious.  I enjoy sex in my romance novels, but not at the expense of the romance.  In this instance, I had to wonder if Magnus and Arbella were really in love, or merely in lust.  After a while, I began to skip over the love scenes, just quickly perusing them to make sure I wasn't missing any important dialogue.

When the book gets to the part where Arbella's father shows up to reclaim his daughter, with her former betrothed in tow, the story descends into the realm of a bad comedy.  I had to wonder if I was reading a Highlander romance, or whether this was meant to be a spoof of one.  Everything was so easily and calmly resolved.  And the way in which the problem of Arbella and Magnus' former betrotheds was resolved is beyond ridiculous.  Who Ina is paired with and how it comes about --and so immediately-- is completely unbelievable.  Like I said, the whole ending reads like a Highlander romance spoof.  These are but a few of the issues I had with the book...they are the major ones.  There are so many others I could list, but why beat a dead horse?

While I would have happily given this book 3 stars, despite all the deficiencies, by the time I got to the end of the book, I was barely able to give it 2.  I rated it 2 stars because the author has a nice writing style, and the book is well edited, plus I was able to finish the book.  I would not; however, recommend it.  I'm still in the mood for a Highlander romance, that fits the criteria I listed above; I think I'm gonna go reread "The Secret" by Julie Garwood.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat crow and leave a comment on T.J.s review.  LOL
680738
This is one if those books where the author creates a large cast of characters to ensure there is a series.  Unfortunately, the reader has to like the first book well enough to buy the following ones.  That is what many authors forget.

Featured are a family of six girls with caricatures abounding.  Everyone is a extreme version -- the tomboy, the damaged wallflower, the uber-business woman, mama bear, et al.  Then we have twins marrying twins and one couple having twins.  I found the interactions between the sisters to have an artificial feel, which frankly went along with the featured romance.

Adam the architect is one of the most wooden, prissy heroes I have encountered.  He's a 37 year old bachelor who has never had a hang nail and admits to matching his shirts to his eye color.  He believes all men do this.  On meeting Paulina, he thinks her round-faced and plain.  Then her refers to her as the  girl-next-door type, later sees her as pretty, before she morphs into beautiful.  As if the author realized she has made her hero too stiff, she has him falling down into mud puddles on a dates and exploding beer on himself all while wearing a tiny borrowed sweatshirt at a restaurant.  I believe this was supposed to be endearing, but it came across as farcical.  Add to that the heroine going commando in the borrowed clothes of the restaurant owner's daughter and the "ew factor" went through the roof.

The fact that Adam didn't dump his girlfriend before having sex with Paulina was a deal-breaker.  Why ditch one woman until you determine the next one is good in the sack?

For some who refers to herself as a lifelong writer, I was stunned at the multiple paragraphing errors involving dialogue.  Middle school students learn than when the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph to avoid confusion.

Maybe. She nodded to Steve. Hes cute. But you never liked blond men. Things change. Ive been trying to tell you that.

Having Adam sprout athletic ability late in the book does little to convince the reader that he is a match for Paulina or ready to be a step-father.  It is hard to imagine muddy cleats or grape jelly in his ivory tower world.
386410
One would expect from a novel called Three weeks with a princess to read a story where the hero spends three weeks with a princess. He does spend some time with the princess, but I wouldn't say that the title matched the content of the story. It was rather misleading. To be fair they might have spent three weeks together, but it wasn't the focus of the story. This is the sum of the story I felt I was reading.

Lia has to support herself and asks Jack to teache her how to be a proper mistress. When that fails she moves on to become an actress. When that also fails she decides to follow the path of her mother and grandmother and become a courtesan. Aaaand guess what! That plan also fails. And somewhere between she meets new people who are related to her in one way or another and want to give her a good season and chances to marry. Basically, almost all the book is Lia and her plans to support herself since Jack's economics are poor and he needs to marry a rich girl to save whatever can be saved.

I felt like we got to see Lia spend more time with the secondary characters rather than with the hero. In the end, I feel like they were forced to be together for the sake of giving the book a happy ending. In the beginning, Jack was pushing Lia away and later she was pushing him even if she was saying that she loved him. The book could have been better if Jack and Lia had spent more time together instead of having him show up wherever she chose was the best place to support herself. I wanted some romance.

The reason why I am not giving the book a lower rating is that for once I felt like I was reading the story of a woman who was living in the 1800's and not some weird version of that period where things are too modern. The secondary characters were good and they supported the story perfectly. I wouldn't recommend this book, but I would recommend the first in the series. It was much better.
4790713
I picked this up since the Kindle edition was free. The positive reviews and the first few chapters snookered me into reading this. This is not a historical fiction novel. It is a romance novel ornamented with historical figures and dates. The writing is at a simplified level (think junior high school) and the author takes liberties with characterizations and unnecessary scenes.
If you are looking for real historical fiction, look elsewhere.
If you are looking for a romance novel based on historical characters & events, you might like this.
323543
New author Karen Lawton Barrett provides this month's amnesia book, "Hers to Remember," a novel where people do a lot of talking and not much else.  Three years ago, Sam Donnelly met a woman with no memory of her past.  Eventually, he married her, and the couple is expecting their  first child.  Then a head injury causes his wife's memory of her first life  to come rushing back--and leaves her unable to remember her life with him.  Adrienne Winston only remembers the ex-husband she was desperate to escape.  Can she possibly believe in safety, and a future, with this man she  doesn't know?

Beyond a very bland hero and some goofy moments (Adrienne's  memory comes back when she trips and hits her head on the VACUUM  CLEANER? ), the biggest problem with "Hers to Remember" is that  it is another Intrigue (too common these days) where nothing happens.  For  the first hundred pages or so, the heroine keeps screaming that she is in  DANGER, but there is no indication that she is.  Some sense of the external  threat making itself felt would have been nice.  There isn't any.  There  are no threats against her, not even the slightest sign that her ex-husband  has any idea where she is.  All we have is her hysterics.  When the only  reason we have to believe the bad guy is bad, or that there even is a bad  guy, is because our heroine says he is, a heroine whose memory is  admittedly pretty spotty, it doesn't create much tension.

Worse, the  whole book is like that.  It takes forever for any threat to develop.  For  the most part, this is just another romance where the characters spend  200-some slow pages getting to know each other, with scattered bursts of  the heroine's panic attacks and a very forced crisis at the end.  At one  point, a flood-level storm strikes the area where the characters live.  A  prime atmosphere for something suspenseful to happen or a romantic  interlude, right?  Nope.  All we get is more talking, talking, talking  about the most mundane topics.  Worse, this is in the middle of a nearly  eighty page stretch where the "threat" from her ex-husband is  seldom mentioned, if at all, having been all but dismissed by the  characters.  She does some painting; he does some landscaping.  It's all  about as exciting as watching one of the heroine's paintings dry.

The  opening letter tells readers to "hang on to your seats" while  reading this book.  Rest assured, only the highly excitable will be  anywhere near the edge of their chairs.  Anyone seeking just another  romance novel where people gradually fall in love, talking about their  relationship endlessly while little else happens, you may find it here (I  could see this as a Silhouette Special Edition).  Those expecting some  action, mystery or even suspense from their romantic suspense novels should  look elsewhere.
1141180
This novel begins so sweetly with a groom rescuing a sweet, innocent young girl from an undesirable marriage, only to become erotic by the middle of the book with the groom taking the young woman to bed himself, describing every intimate detail throughout the remainder of the book.  Some romance writers will never learn that lust does not portray true love and that the intimate parts of romance are best left to the imagination.  This novel's description did not give any indication of the immoral nature of this book.  I was very disappointed, especially since the author seems to have a great deal of talent as a writer.
1239582
From the Start is a contemporary romance by author Melissa Tag that was released back in April by Bethany House. I have a bad habit of picking out books directly by their covers, but that wasn't the case with this book as I actually read the synopsis first. After being intrigued by the plot, I thought I would give it a try.

The novel centers on screenplay writer Kate Walker, a young woman that writes made-for-TV romances, but her own love life is completely empty. Unfortunately, she has a series of bad luck starting with the lack of movie projects to work on. With no other choice, she packs her bags and returns home to Maple Valley, Iowa in the hope that she will find a new meaning (or career) for her life.

This is a romantic tale, so of course there is a love interest for Kate, whom happens to be a NFL quarterback, Colton Green. Due to a recent injury that has sidelined him from playing football, Colton has been hiding out in his friend's (Logan) hometown, which as you have probably guessed, it's in Maple Valley. And guess who Logan's sister is?

It's Kate! (How predictable!)

After learning that Kate is writer, Logan gets her to help him write his autobiography. This means the two of them get to spend a lot of time together, so naturally some sparks fly and they learn that there is more to life than just football and writing sappy screenplays.

The main character, Kate, in this book writes made-for-TV romantic movies, the one genre that I don't like watching as I find them corny and unbelievable. Ironically, I do like reading romance novels for some weird and unexplainable reason. Sadly, From the Start's plot feels more like a made-for-TV movie. (Yes, I've seen a few, well, a few scenes while flipping channel surfing.)

The good news is that Melissa Tagg is a talented author and she works her magic to make the plot believable. Since I do dabble occasionally with my own writings, I instantly connected with Kate. I didn't care much for Logan. It probably has to do with the fact that I'm not the biggest football fan. (I'm a baseball fan!), so I couldn't connect with him. However, the two characters do have chemistry, which made the romantic parts more real. Overall, while From the Start isn't exactly a touchdown, it's not a fumble either. (Get it? I do know my football language.) I found the book to be a fun read.

(Note: I read From the Start back in late April, but I'm just now getting around to writing the review for it.  I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
3071706
This was the first book that I've read by this author, and my feelings towards it were lukewarm. I wanted a love story, and this was more of a historical fiction about a Scottish clan with a love story tacked on to it.

First off, the good points. The historical detail was vast and well drawn. I felt like I was really there experiencing what the author was describing. Her prose gave a vivid picture of Scottish clan life during the medieval times, yet it never felt overly wordy, or as if it detracted from the story. This is difficult to do, and I applaud Karyn Monk for being able to do this well.

Also, I often find that books set in the medieval period seem to be very dark and almost devoid of humor. That was not the case in this book. This story had some very funny moments (like when Malcolm is trying to train reluctant poets and artists to become warriors) that had me laughing out loud.

The action and plot was also very well done, and story had a good flow, and the pace was comfortable; interesting, yet not too fast or too slow.

I also liked the idea of a physically imperfect hero. So many romances out there are about people so beautiful that they should be angels. Well, wonderful for them, but don't normal-looking people ever find love? I liked the idea of a tortured hero who will never fully recover, and yet the heroine loves him anyway. I'm so sick of novels about someone who's deaf, or bilnd, or crippled, etc, who just magically recovers. Again, can't someone who has a disability find love too? I really liked that this book tackled this subject, and the author did it well and with delicacy.

My complaints? The romance part of this book was very weak. In 370 pages, it seemed that less than 50 were devoted to the relationship between the hero and the heroine. While I liked the fact that they didn't immediately fall in love (or lust), I felt that the romance aspect of this book was sacrificed for the sake of the plot. The love story was okay, but it didn't make me sigh with happiness or leave me with a warm glow, which is what I want with a romance. When they were seperated, I was not moved very much. A good romance novel usually moves me to tears when the lovers are parted. That didn't happen here.

Also, this book had a secondary romance that had about 5 pages (or less) devoted to it. I kind of felt that the author shouldn't have put the second love story in the book, if she wasn't going to spend any time developing it.

Still, this was an enjoyable read, and I never had to force myself to finish it. If I came across other books by this author, I might try them. Still, if you're looking for really good historical romance that has more focus on the romance, I suggest the works of Jacquie D'Alessandro, LaVryle Spencer, Sabrina Jeffries, Mary Jo Putney, Teresa Medeiros and Catherine Anderson. As for "Once A Warrior", I would recommend borrowing it from the library, as I don't think it's a keeper.
288947
This book was more of a romance novel than a fantasy. I did read the 1st book so I guess I should not have been surprised by the romance. Other than that it was an ok read. Someone's review stated that it seemed stupid that the guard team was so small and filled with such obviously troubled people considering the magnitude of the problem. I totally agree.
3881191
I will try to make this as spoiler-free as possible for the enjoyment of everyone who wants to know my review without having read the book, but probably you already know what happens anyway by just reading the book jacket.

Kate is a 35 year old businesswoman/workaholic who wants a man, but not just any man.  She wants the perfect husband after failed engagements and the fact she sets her bar too high to get anything besides failed relationships.  So her friend suggests she goes to a resort in the middle of nowhere Kentucky where she is sure to find the man of her dreams.  Cue the entrance of Jake, a man who used to be rich and powerful in the world of business before he got tired of it and gave all his money to his brother Will to open the resort.  Now he manages the landscaping crew for all intents and purposes.  He's a simple man who isn't looking for a relationship, least of all marriage!

See where this is going?  Yeah, so did I.  But this is a romance book, so I will forgive that.  What I won't forgive is how the author finally decides to hook them up.  The first 200 pages were pretty good, four star material stuff, and then all of a sudden the characters have the sudden urge based on conversations at a bar with other people that they must have sex THEN RIGHT THEN OH MY GOD NOW NOW NOW.  Then the rest of the book is filled with them hooking up, breaking up, crying, screaming, and getting back together.  Don't worry, not a spoiler, I would hope if you were interested in a romance novel that you knew that was a given eventually.

Manhunting is your average romance novel by Jennifer Crusie.  It wasn't as good as Welcome to Temptation which is my all time fave Crusie novel, but it wasn't as bad as some.  As a 23 year old, I didn't really identify with Kate, but that didn't stop me from reading.  I enjoyed the majority of the book, but it was as if Crusie got to page 200 and said to herself, "Great, now they need to hook up."  It was just sudden with no real purpose.  I also had trouble at times believing that Kate would ever do what she did.

All in all, I give this book three stars.  It was cheesy goodness, and only the last few pages really threw me off.
1564520
This would have been a good romance if there were actually some romance taking place. After 4 years the "couple" had a skew of random encounters along with an awkward horseback ride was used to justify the proposal at the end. I had many issues with this book. First of all, when the character arrived back home she was 23yrs old. The oldest and after a week she was 24. Amy disappeared and her other sister also a year younger takes over the scene...no mention of them being twins.

I know that this is fiction but seminary or studies to be a pastor are done after receiving an undergraduate degree but I'm going to let this slide. I don't fancy the formal language and tone of the book. For a romance set in modern day Cali, it was too stuffy. which made me think of Jane Austen novels.

There was no character development for the 2 main characters which is Grace and Daniel, although Daniel seemed to be more of a secondary character than anything. We have no history of there relationship prior, only that they were engaged 4 years ago. We don't know how they met, how long they dated. Leaving the reader with no real evidence that they are even compatible. I wanted more from Daniel, we are given no insight to what he thinks of feels about Grace, or even her family. He was almost like a shadow. There was no real climax, as no other interests were introduced (not seriously) nor are we afforded any insight to the other Morgan Brother's.

I don't recommend this.
4230404
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is marketed as a YA novel, but it really reads more like a romance, and not really in a good way. Kricket (I did like her name, as weird as it is) is kind of a stereotypical character - lives a really hard life as a foster child but is amazingly beautiful (she describes herself as a "Barbie") and is actually really important and powerful (in a different universe). The writing was actually fairly engaging, but the book over-sexualizes Kricket, who is 17, in a really gross way. Everyone talks about how smart she is, but really all we ever hear or see evidence of is how much every man she meets wants to bone her. She largely seems unfazed by this overt sexual attention, and even gives her underwear (?!) as a gift to two of the men who kidnapped her that she befriends. Who does that?! Everything she wears is overtly provocative and we have to hear how every man she meets constantly stares at her breasts. There are also weird tests to confirm that she's still a virgin because every man also wants to be her "first." I did think the world-building was fairly good in this novel and we get a good idea of what this new world looks like, although there were a few continuity problems. My main thing that dropped this book down to two stars was when Kricket is so exhausted that she collapses into bed and her love interest, Trey, cuts her dress *and* her underwear and bra off while she's *sleeping*, causing her to wake up naked next to him. Okay, the dress *maybe* I could give him a pass with, but what reason on earth would he have to cut off her underwear while she's unconscious? She wakes up and seems totally fine with it, which I also thought was ridiculous. I guess we can be thankful that there's no love triangle, Kricket only has eyes for Trey, and the cover is pretty, but I can't think of what demographic I would recommend this book to.
3706701
I found the romance part of this book unnecessary and not important to the plot. it was very confusig with all the mixed signals. I mean don't get me wrong, it was very entertaing and at times full of action, but I have defiantly read better fantasy books than this.
3729842
The book on a whole is interesting and well written. I truely liked the story line(s)- maybe too many story lines. But to call this a romance - no way. The main characters (Phury & Cormia) do not take up enough space in the text to classify this as romance. What a shame, there certainly was the opportunity to create a solid foundation between these characters. They simply got lost in the shuffle. This one is not a keeper.