Michelle

This is a novella about a woman named – guess – who used Halloween as an opportunity to dress up and seduce a hunky co-worker at a bar. Pretty steamy, and I particularly liked an exchange fairly early on where he encourages her to unencumber herself from her unmentionables.

In fact, erotica has a lot of books set during Halloween and costume parties. Not that I'm complaining, and it makes sense as an excuse to lower inhibitions, but just saying I've noticed.

Chick lit and short stories – two of my favorite things!

The book is really nicely arranged, with the youngest character the protagonist of the first story and the oldest character the protagonist o the last story, and the interests and conflicts changing accordingly.

Review originally published at Red Adept Reviews.

I purchased The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale, by Christina Bell, from Amazon. The premise sounded great and I???ve been meaning to read steampunk. Steampunk, time travel, romance.

Overall: 4 1/2 stars.

Plot/Storyline: 4 ?? Stars

I had a really good time with this. I don???t think the description conveys how touching of a read this was ??? or how funny it was at moments. There was a lot of good story here for such a short book, though no time to delve deeply into any of it. I was content with the length, but the story, I believe, could have supported an interesting novel. Since there was a fair amount going on, the relationship had to progress fast. Still, better to write a novella that could have been a novel than a novel that wears out its welcome.

I thought the conflict here was great. Too often in books with a romantic element, the thing keeping them apart is ??? lame. Here, I really understood the dilemma. I liked the set-up quite a lot ??? not just the time travel aspect, but also how our self-assured heroine is blind-sided by something she simply didn???t foresee. (Although this is based, in part, on a rather large coincidence, I forgave.)

Part of the story involved the notorious Bedlam, and I realized I really would like to read more on the topic at some point.

Characters: 4 1/2 Stars

I really liked Stormy. She was a very strong and determined character and her voice was a strong one. The older I get, the more I love an intelligent heroine with more spice that sugar. I liked that she had a full and exciting life, a close relationship with her brother, and then the romance storyline kicks in.

I really liked the Duke of Leister as well. It can be difficult to make a hero a really good guy without making him seem weak, and the author did a nice job here. I can???t discuss the hero at greater length than that without spoilers, but his backstory touched me. Even though he was suspected of being a little crazy, there are worse guys you could bring home to mama.

While I understood Stormy???s brother ??? Bacon ??? was a secondary character, he really got short shrift and a little more with him would have been interesting. Maybe he???ll show up again somewhere down the road. Stormy and Bacon selected their own names while children. She picked hers because of a love of The Wizard of Oz. Bacon, being even younger and having known hunger, went with his love of Bacon and Frogs.

One character, Stormy???s benefactor, died before the book began, but with very few words the author conveyed beautifully how important he was to Stormy and her brother.

Writing Style: 4 3/4 Stars

Smooth prose. Nice pace. Engaging style. I will definitely read more from this author. All good things to say here. A smidge more magic, and it would have been a 5.

Short, quick, evocative, controversial, rape, pain.

I listened to the audiobook of this, and the story and the narrator were a terrific match, January LaVoy did a great job with the various voices and accents, both the female and male characters. This was just plain fun with the setting of 1920s New York, and the slang, combined with the expert narration. And, of course, it was a bit creepy as well. A lot of future story lines were set up in The Diviners, and I plan to listen t0 – of course, in this case, listen to – the rest of the series. This made dull work at my business go a lot faster!

This was a pretty slow read for me until the last 10 pages, and then I instantly wanted to read the next book. I knew there was a point to all the duller stuff, and there was, but I still would have liked some more fun deductive details throughout and a little more liveliness.

Enjoyed the descriptions of food. :)

Rooting for Livy!

The whole Moriarty angle is only of moderate interest to me.

Interesting, but not too heavy book on why menfolk do some of the stuff they do.

Terrific illustrations accompanying essays about the lessons we can learn from the animals in our lives, and in the bigger world. She made tarantulas and octopuses as endearing as she did dogs.

Great pictures and quotes, but let's face it – either you're going to love this and “get” this, or you'll hate it, and you know where you fall. :)

Sucker for stories about dogs and their loving owners.

This was a quick and enjoyable romance. It's also the second book I've read recently with a theme of a tomboy heroine making her best friend from childhood see her in a new way, the other example being One Of The Guys by Kristan Higgins. In both of these case, while I really enjoyed the books, there was a little too little pay-off.

Since childhood – yes, I've been reading romances all my life – I've liked the ending best of all. I've always called it the “You love ME? I love YOU!” scene. (In erotica, it's more like “You're KINKY? I'm KINKY, too!”) When a book is based on the premise that a hero is oblivious to the heroine, when he figures it out I like a little extra of the couple in perfect sync.

The really good, awesome, neat part is I have a new author to enjoy!

“Chickens, no doubt, have pluck.”

I've heard the author speak twice, and her husband speak once. Their story is of interest for anyone who dreams of starting their own business, or who is thinking of chicken/egg farming, or is interested in/concerned with where food comes from and what's in it.

Lucie is funny, which makes a lot of these a breezy read, and her descriptions on her interactions with her husband, what goes into a long term marriage, and the nature of knowing when to compromise and knowing when to stand your ground, seemed so relatable.

3 and 1/2 stars.

I like Franchesca Ramsey, and how she owns up to her mistakes, and then continues to do her best, which means she gets her butt handed to her from all sides on occasion.

Helpful glossary at the end of woke terms.

Her dog's name is Filthy McNasty.

I remain dismayed at every time I read a book by a woman who is trying to make the world better through social media platforms I have to read how people – mostly men – respond with the most toxic sludge imaginable.

Franchesca tried to take a page with the Lindy West playbook of trying to talk to one of her online attackers and find out why. It went a lot better for Lindy. It kinda went the way I had assumed it would go before Lindy's attempt went so well.

Won in a Goodreads raffle, but exactly my type of book.

An interesting story of a woman's relationship with her search and rescue dog.

I really enjoyed this book. Unfortunately, I don't think I can continue with the series right now.

The outlook is so bleak, and reinforces my daily concern that people are growing increasingly less cruel, and that you can't count on your neighbor. I think it is a luxury to read that, better suited to a time where we're not all sitting quarantined in our homes, worried about what the people next door are thinking. In short, the characters in the book are hateful in a too familiar way.

I don't agree with the common criticism I see that Gwen would have had to have known what her husband was doing. This argument was also made IN the book, and dealt with. We make assumptions about our spouse, and we make compromises. Gwen hadn't been in her garage for years, and I have not been in mine. True story. I don't need the garage, and I don't want to fight with my husband over his need to throw “stuff” away. I don't think he's killing women there, because there's no chance there's room for that.

I also envy the people who thinks the portrayal of the online mob mentality is inaccurate. If there is a way to go after a woman, there will be a whole bunch of angry people – mostly men – who will gather up whatever excuse there is to do so, even if the excuse lacks logic. Lindy West will let you know all about that.

So, while I buy that a woman can be unaware of who her husband really is, and that men will hunt a woman down to torture her mentally or physically, while acting like they're serving up justice, I think I needed the odds to be a little better for Gwen. It's one thing to wonder who to trust, and it's another to really, truly be unable to trust 98% of the people. I think I just needed this woman and her kids to have a little more peace or hope.

This was one of my top books for 2016, easily. The story is very introspective, and so not a lot of action, but I love books that can make the life of the mind and quiet revelations just as powerful.

Lib, the main character, is a no-nonsense nurse who has trained under Florence Nightingale. She takes on a patient without knowing the exact nature of the assignment, and is distressed to discover her job entailed keeping an unrelenting eye on a child (Anna) who does not appear to be eating. The locals are sure it's a miracle, Lib is sure it's a scam.

The event at the heart of the mystery is tragic, and I imagine some readers will figure that portion out, but that doesn't lessen the impact.

Lib is hard to like at first. Good at her job, ethical, but also judgemental. Her initial response to Anna, even as she suspects her of being in on what she's sure if a hoax, is off-putting. But the story is an inner journey. She does not end up where she started.

I've always loved Steinbeck's writing, and this is no exception. I don't think the pearl is evil, I think people are evil, and the more power they have the more likely they will behave in an evil matter. The evil manifests in keeping poor people poor, by swindling them by using their lack of power.

Review withheld pending the resolution of the HarperCollins strike

Light-weight. Occasionally Funny.

Lovecraft uses the words “hatefully negroid mouth.” No coming back from that, really. It's a short story, and I drifted off to sleep twice. Joke's on old H. P since I read this to prepare for Victor Lavalle's book, a better writer. (Read Lovecraft many years ago, so feel confident in my assessment. )

I really liked this. I see a lot of people are disappointed that the book marketed as a romantic mystery was a romantic mystery and not a thriller. Welp. :)

I was invested, and a couple of the twists really took me by surprise.

Was it instalove? For sure, but it had to be to make much of the book work. We have a woman who falls in love in a week, and then knows something is wrong when he cuts off contact. Everyone is quick to believe she's just deluded, and she has to even doubt her own beliefs. If this were a guy she'd been with forever, that would be a very different dynamic.

I don't read romance novels nearly as much as I used to. This is a major understatement, actually. They used to be 90% of the books I read, and now I am very eclectic. So, when I read one, I think my expectations are at another level. I think the mystery element really made this for me.

I think my rating is a tad high. The concept here is good, although it was easy to figure out Eloise's big secret, but the execution felt bland, and some elements that needed more attention didn't get the needed care.

Theo, Eloise's father, has actively worked to deny gay people their rights, not knowing his daughter is gay. This is something that fascinates me -- how bigots seem to never take into account the poison they're pouring into the ears of their children. I mean, I know we're supposed to see Theo is a good guy, and I appreciate the nuance, but then let's explore his working through his reconciling and working through his issues with his daughter's identityI would have also, in a more frivolous sense, liked India adapting more to extreme wealth instead of rapidly taking it for granted. Think of all the books!!!! Oh, and clothes too I suppose. And opportunities.

Anyhow, while I enjoyed the story, I felt very little when I would expect to go through a lot of emotions.

I'm not going to rate this one. I liked it, and the author's tying together their iconic moments in seeing trans representation. I'm really glad I read (listened) to this one, but I think I really wanted a deeper dive, probably as a product of my age. I know a lot of the representation is new, but I wanted more about the roots of it all. 

I'm happy to post this as a read book to get it and the author in front of more eyes. This will be an invaluable resource going forward and a building block for more exploration of the topic and people with an interest in LGBTQIA+ topics, history, and future should check it out. Maybe literally, because, libraries. I borrowed my copy from the Queer Liberation Library, an online lending library I highly recommend. 

I think I read this for the first time when I was thirteen or so. One of my favorites of all times.

Loved the part where Rochester said (paraphrasing) Jane's mind was his toy and if it were broken he would take delight in it still. I think the best romances are about two people having a “meeting of the mind,” and I say this as someone who reads a fair amount of erotica, go figure.

I simply like the idea that a couple are compatible enough that you can imagine time together forever. This is the classic, literally, example.

I liked the first half of the book a lot. Well, not so much the beginning ten percent, but most the time they were “snowbound” made for a good read. It lost some steam once the hero and heroine were separated, and it lost a star because of it. Based on the scenes when they were at the lodge, it would have 4 stars. The snow, alas, had to melt!

PTSD is a serious issue, a moving topic, and I was glad to see it addressed here, and it made the hero's attraction to Fiona, who was sympathetic, very understandable.