Donna Smith

This review contains spoilers.
I can't summarize what this book is about to others without laughing aloud at the ridiculousness. Of course a runaway programmed-from-childhood Russian assassin was rescued deep under the sea by an autistic uni-diving water mage entrenched in her rural idyll created by a found family of other (probably) elemental mages, because: what else? Oh, and she has a pyromaniacal stalker. And survived the foster system.

Despite the over- over- over-the-topness of it all, this one zipped along (except for the pages-long sex scenes, which I started skimming because: I get it. You're into each other.). Also, so interesting were the detailed descriptions of diving/urchin harvesting on the California coast! Very nifty.

But: tone! Every time someone pontificated about the heroine's disabilities because of autism, I flinched a bit. It's like the nuance between being an autistic person and a person with autism. To everyone in this book, including the heroine, she's an autistic person. She “had some form of autism, yet she had carved out a life for herself in spite of all the odds...” “If she was autistic, she was too high functioning not to have had some help as a child.” “There would be a few people in her life who appreciated her quick mind and bravery facing the challenges of a world she was born too sensitive to function in properly–yet she managed, carving out a life for herself against impossible odds.” Maybe because this is 2010 and autism awareness has shifted just that much in 13 years, these quotes sound cringey? But if I were picking fiction to represent the successes and difficulties of life on the spectrum, this wouldn't be on my list.

I liked a lot about this book, and might try the others in the series once I absorb the ridiculous elements a bit more. (Runaway Russian assassins!!) I like stories of healthy found families and the urban fantasy elements, so I may be up for more. (This is my first Feehan.) I agree with other reviewers that some things were just repeated tooooooo many times. (Like: I get that she has BLACK EYES because we are told a dozen times or more...but what colour was her hair again? I can't picture her in my mind except as too skinny (also oft repeated) and with BLACK EYES, or maybe they're BOTTOMLESS black eyes. (Which to me sounds like her pupils are blown because of chemicals, trauma, etc., but what do I know? Bottomless like the sea, no doubt.) 3 1/2 stars

Interesting and layered. Plot and character development kept jigging off into territory I didn't see coming, which is so nice after decades of reading sci fi.
...Um, does the main character have a NAME and I missed it?

Marsh's 30s and 40s mysteries hold up better than other mid-century books. The writing remains fresh, the eccentric characters finely drawn and amusing, avoiding caricature while achieving humour, believable humanity, as well as quirkiness–looooots of quirkiness. I love the confidence of her writing. I wish she wrote more set in New Zealand and not the motherland! Oh well. I agree with a reviewer, that these remain with Christie and Sayers as favourite mysteries of similar genre.

A childhood favourite of me and beloved by all my family, I pulled this out to re-read on Christmas Day. It holds up to adult re-reading and analysis. So clever! So engaging! I love How Wynne Jones messes with all kinds of tropes (fairy tales, fantasy, gender roles, family dynamics, romance), all while galloping the plot along to a satisfying conclusion. Hooray for Howl and Sophie!

I gave up half-way through–just kind of drifted on to other books and never came back. This was nominated for a best of the year in the romance category? Maybe I should keep reading...but I wasn't in love enough with the heroine to put up with her need to grow up, trust others, make changes in her life rather than being passive. I found the hero charming, but not enough to keep going. What can I say? Maybe if I'm looking for big doses of emotional maturity and owning one's own baggage, I should re-read Role Playing again.

So, my library bought a bunch of Harlequin books, and I was dubious. Rightly so, it turns out. I guess I'm not the audience for this kind of too-escapist, calmingly predictable romance with 2D characters and 2D settings.

This book reads more like a travel advert to Bali, Perth, etc. than a book that wants to help you actually feel these real places. The characters had lots of interesting features, but read kind of flat to me. I mean, I finished it...but I won't be going back for more. I've been to a lot of countries, and I know what it feels like to travel in a new culture, and none of that was portrayed beyond the backdrops being pretty. No cross-cultural nitty-gritty, and I do love that in a book.

Want some more real-feeling travel-the-world including settings in Australia? I remember Evie Snow's books doing that well.

Nice but foregetable, chiefly because, behind the interesting presentation of the characters lurked no real depth. I like characters with characteristics on the autism spectrum, as the heroine has in this; however, for instance, the way she didn't know she had feelings felt way off to me. Folks on the spectrum have big feelings! If an author makes someone so emotionally un-intuitive that they can't recognize feelings (and, hey!, I recognize my younger self in that!) then there needs to be more of a back-story about why.
I can recommend the more nuanced neurodiverse characters created by Penny Reid, Fiona West, Chloe Liese, Talia Hibbert, Graeme Simsion, Helen Hoang.

On the one hand, sex before kissing or commitment, which makes me sad. On the other hand, sex only after honest apology and seeking reconciliation, selfless service, and growing friendship, including stepping up to keep the not-sure-if-we-are-even-friends-yet friend safe in danger. Also broken people creating and protecting real community, and realistic conflict and internal growth. Which make me happy.
My first by this author; I hope more Evie Snow books have this depth of characterisation.

I liked the premise for insta-hate that, through no fault of her own, generated the H's antipathy toward the h. The cute premise of opposite professions in the same building–clever.
However: I desire more reality in my contemporary fiction. Are the ethics of a counselor so different from mine as a school teacher that taking someone else's teen on long road trips alone is ok by all parties?!? Take mum along, then leave her at the hotel while the confrontation with dad happens, at least!! Also, the teen grandkid was raised partly by her grandparents and they are no where in the picture and that seems really unrealistic. Our no-exercise lawyer manages to pull a taller-than-she man up while he dangles from a fire escape?!? Has no one tried do to pull-ups? This is unlikely in the extreme! Not to mention the adrenaline that would make him too shakey to venture out again on to a ledge. Yeah: no.

It's a lot of fun to re-read this series. I return to Fiona West because she writes neurodiverse characters that ring true. Her characters feel very real and believable–they aren't billionaire spies running hotels for dukes with tropes instead of emotional depth. Rather, they are the people I work and live with who react to things like real people would. I am charmed by the Timber Falls series.

The thing that makes me swoon about this book sounds the most prosaic but is the most profound: it's plausible. Those feelings ARE how someone feels in that situation, those reactions ARE how people react–these characters are real. I loved this book. Penny Reid for the WIN!

Ah hah! Success! My quest to locate contemporary books worth reading that are written by Christians has finally got a winner! My method for searching for material is to read whatever falls in the middle of the Venn diagram between book bloggers recommendations and what my library stocks. Out of my last batch of five tries, this is the only keeper.

This novel was witty, touching, real, intriguing, well-crafted, charming, thought-provoking. I liked it a lot! I tend to avoid novels of WWII–really, I only have maybe 2 Nazi books in me per decade–but the home-front setting of this didn't trigger my sensitivities around the holocaust and war violence. It was realistic about the conflicts in individuals and society in America during the war, but had ultimately a hopeful arc for most characters.

This is an author to watch.

I mean, I read the whole thing, but... Was this supposed to be hilarious?, because the people were just two-dimensional, the main plot conflict too stupid to believe (tequila amnesia...!?), the HEA too pat. Didn't work for me. It's an after-school special about how bullies are bad but w/o enough traction with real life to be memorable for me.

Hey! I liked this! I'll search out more by this author.
I've been taking a chance on this genre of Christian romance, and I'm dubious, but Griep will be a re-read. Despite being a person to whom faith is central, I don't read Christian fiction, especially romance. I'm grumpy about badly-written “Christian” fiction that uses employs unearned, unrealistic formulaic prayers or fake faith as a plot device to shift people from sad to happy-ever-after. (Yeah, not at all judgy about the genre, am I?)
I read a lot of romance, and have finally steeled myself to find some Christian romance authors that surpass my fears and tell the truth about what it's like to actually live with faith. This first book by Griep won't be my last by her; I felt like the characters interacted with the conflict in their lives from a believable standpoint of faith that both felt contextually appropriate for the historical period and congruent with my own experience.
I'm an historian as well as a Christian; this well-researched tale didn't get up my nose.
Since the romance was also believable and the plot drama engaging, I'll be coming back for more.
(A few quibbles: no one can thrive in a strong faith isolated from others in a worshiping community; how did the heroine evolve such a strong theology of suffering if there were absolutely no good role models in her life? That was hard to swallow–how could she arrive at the truth without having a chance to develop it in community with a few mentors? It felt as if she were embodying the Victorian idolatry of the perfect, angelic woman who guided the troubled men in her life. I wanted to know how she came by those convictions and didn't quite find justification in her backstory filled with manipulation, abandonment, poverty, and the theatre.)
In a book where the Christian characters trust God for guidance, if there's a huuuuuge coincidence in the plot, am I to suppose that the author's taking liberties with plotting or that it was GOD saving the day? I mean, out of all the tea storage closets in all the towns in all the world, he happens to walk into THAT one?? I wished there were some plot reason that they were both drawn to Dartmoor. (I mean, he was drawn there by the police, but why was she there so her tea storage closet could be at just the right place?)
I also liked that the ripples of redemption extended beyond the hero and heroine. Cool, that.

Maybe I shouldn't restart my search for a Christian romance book–ANY CHRISTIAN ROMANCE BOOK–worth reading while I'm also processing Kristin Kobes du Mez' Jesus and John Wayne, but I did. (I mean, we've got the shades of evangelical culture, conservative politics, gender roles, militarism, and merch: all on display here.) Seriously, guys: there must be some really good authors out there writing in this genre!! I keep cross-referencing book bloggers' recommendations with what my library catalogue has, and yet... Meh.

So, this book: At first I tried a book written a decade ago and quickly dropped it. The author has grown in skills and this title was better all around, especially in characterization and believably compared the the older one (about a firefighter, a high school reunion, a crooked senator, etc.; got through a few chapters.). I appreciated the researched detail about the military experience in Afghanistan. I liked that the group of badass women friends are capable of rescuing themselves, even when they do it in partnership with burly warrior types. The heroine did have a few TSTL moments when I was all: “Come on! You have a degree in psychology and training in surviving in conflict situations, and you make THAT choice?!?” (I guess after living overseas in some countries that the State Department doesn't recommend travel to I'm hard to impress.) I didn't really believe that the heroine was a psychologist, so I wished the author had researched that more.

I was also disappointed that (spoilers!) in the last chapter the romantic leads were like “I've loved you for ages!” “No way; me too!” and I was like “...??? ...Really???” No BTUs in that slow burn. It legit was a big surprise that they were supposed to be into each other the whole time.

In all: Plot tripped along. Characterization could be much better (some 2-D characters who just moved the plot along) but wasn't a deal breaker. Capable women (mostly) who engaged their world and worked in partnership with capable men to solve problems. (Capable people! With specialized training! So attractive!) I won't be seeking out more by this author, so my quest for books in this genre continues.

For readers who don't mind anachronistic attitudes and lingo (“at the spinster-adjacent age of five-and-twenty”, e.g.) and are delighted by plucky eccentrics (“I'm most useful as a covert agent out on the streets avenging misapplied mathematics.”)
If I wanted historical fiction that embodied the spirit of the age, I'd give Ridley a miss, but when I'm in the mood for zaniness and vivid characters and utterly inventive twists on the old tropes, then: hooray, Ridley! I'll be reading more of this author; this was my second by her.
“Do you think I've nothing else to do all day but root up* suitors for determined wallflowers? I've the Royal Mint to mind–“
“I'm busy, too,” she interrupted hotly.
”–and the Consolidated Fund to consider–“
“Which would work better if monies could be appropriated for public works.”
”–and smoothing vendor discrepancies regarding the weight and size of their products–“
“If the extremely busy, super important featherwits of the House of Lords would spend as much time on logic as on their mistresses, perhaps England could standardize its units instead of juggling twenty-seven definitions of ‘bushel.' Not to mention the peck, the jigger, the pottle, the firkin–“
“That's how measurement works.” He arched a brow. “Next you'll want to switch from yards to meters.”


*unintentionally rude pun? I doubt it–written by an American.

This review contains spoilers. There's lots to like about this YA book. Black culture is presented with complexity and nuance; the reader gains insight into complex overlapping identities. Characters have true friendships and loving families. The plot device of the computer game is so beautiful and clever! Having VR battles echoing metaphorical battles was satisfying. The main character grows and changes, becoming a bit less black-and-white and judgmental and more wise. True friendship saves the day.
Things not to like: I skipped the reading the whole middle half of the book because I grew so weary of the MC's constant lies. There is NO ONE in her life she does not lie to; the more she loves and values them, the more she lies to them. Her justifications for doing so are thin and felt unconvincing. “I can't tell my parents/friend/sister b/c they won't understand” but when the final conflict comes and she does tell them, there's an instant “We understand and forgive you” which just made the MC seem immature and blind rather than actually fighting against something worth fighting.
Another quibble is how many of the culture examples (a feature of the game) were American rather than reflecting the global diaspora. I didn't read the middle half of the book, granted, so maybe I missed a ton, but all I got that wasn't USA-based was the futu card (or was it fufu? I have it filed in my head by what it was called in Cote d'Ivoire where I lived for a few years, but I forget if it had that name or another West African name in the novel).
Conclusion: I'll ponder what I learned about Black culture and enjoy the device of the VR online game long after my annoyance at an immature MC fades.
Also, the cover is smashing!

Not as careful about historical detail as I want in the best books, but a satisfying cast of not-too-stereotyped characters and a plot that didn't just pace through the expected beats. Better than the run-of-the-mill for the genre of Victorian romance. I found myself highlighting anachronisms, which took me out of the reading experience, rather. A well-paced story.

Maybe 2.5 stars. I'm always quite interested to read books with neuro-atypical main characters. I wish the foreword hadn't told me: “I've written a book about an autistic main character.” I wanted to discover that as I read, to wrestle with seeing the world from the POV of the two main characters. It felt a bit like the autistic parts of the hero's character were assembled from a book describing the autistic experience, rather than from the author's experience with autism.
I catalogued other plot holes where I thought, “Wait–what?” Her father wanted her to marry the hero, but when the hero's father died...suddenly her father imports a different, less cool candidate? Why?? I felt like other things in the world-building and characterisation were told to me rather than shown, and I never ended up caring that much for the characters.
The book was fine. Shan't search out more.

So, I've been reading a lot of romances lately, and they tend to rely on some suspension of disbelief to bring about all that HEA. I get that. However, maybe not THIS many deus-ex-machina plot miracles to bring the lovers together. Tooooooo many coincidences, and all of them–this is Christian fiction–explained by God's will at work to bring our earnest protagonists together. Do I quibble too much? In real life, someone tells me about a coincidence that seems nudged by the Deity and I think, Yup, no problem with that. Why am I queasy about it in this fiction? It feels like it's cheating the plot and the characters. Maybe the conflict and world creation isn't real enough to support that kind of un-earned coincidence. I thought I'd give Christian fiction a try; can someone recommend a better starting place?, because this didn't feel like any kind of compelling portrayal of the compelling life of faith that I experience. I wanted something real; instead, after the coincidences got too saccharine (40%?) I skipped to the last chapter and thought...uh, yeah, didn't miss much.

DNF at 11% after I found myself reading it as an editor, not an audience. Upon being stylistically bludgeoned by a paragraph of short, declarative sentences and realizing I didn't care about much about the characters, it was time to abort. Still curious about the world-building–dragons + downtown Chicago–but not enough.

This felt like Act I of a novel, rather than a novel in itself. All the good characters are rewarded and all the bad punished–which, I do admit that I respond well to, though I prefer fewer deus ex machina plot twists to tidly wrap things up. Pleasant, easy to digest, forgettable. I'd read the sequels if they were free...

It was hard to follow which character's POV was meant to be dominant–the granddaughter or the grandfather, which could have been the writer's artistic choice but didn't work for me. I skipped 60% in the middle and read the last chapter,which didn't inspire me to go back and fill in any of the middle. Definitely setting up a series.

I'm re-reading the series and enjoying it more than any other urban fantasy series I've come across in the past year or so. I like the growth in the main characters, and the loyalty among comrades. The world-building is definitely complex enough to handle all the (equally entertaining) spin-off series.

After attempting and dropping half a dozen new urban fantasy series, here's one of many things that made me come back and re-read this one: when people get into fights in Annette Marie's books, you can tell that the author has done her time on a tae kwon do floor (or boxing or whatever) and knows what it feels like to take a punch, to strategize in a fight, to be exhausted after less than a minute. I'm tired of people writing fight scenes who don't know what it feels like to fight. It's getting to be a deal breaker when I try out a new author.

I wish this had been better-written, because cross-cultural windows are so fascinating, and I'm not a south-Asian-descended Muslim living in LA. IF you want a fluffy, light-weight “Oh no! I can't end up a spinster!” rom com (complete with feel-good self-actualization denouement), then this book works fine. If you prefer your explorations of identity, family, culture, and growing up to have depth in their characterizations and a plot that pulls you along, then look farther. I especially found the one-dimensional clownish mother with her OTT fears and demands about marriage to be hard to put up with, but the immature heroine who persisted in being self-blind and pretty immature made this book a disappointment, ultimately. She allegedly arrives at great self-knowledge after this quest to find a husband...but I was left valuing the list of Bollywood films in the appendix more than any sense that I'd spent time with a character I liked and would remember.