Celebrating 50.000 pageviews on my blog!

Yesterday my blog achieve a milestone, 50.000 pageviews! I am very happy that so many people have visited my blog, and of course I hope they and you will visit time and again.



This milestone calls for a celebration!

One lucky commenter on this post will win a book of choice from the Bookdepository up to € 10,00. Contest will end next weekend, and I will announce the winner here. If I don't have your email address, be sure to leave it with your comment.

Anne McCaffrey – Dragonsinger

The second book in the Harper Hall series, published 1977.
Genre: sci-fi / fantasy
Cover: I prefer my own book cover over this very oldfashioned one.



When Menolly, daughter of Yanus Sea Holder, arrived at the Harper Craft Gall, she came in style, aboard a bronze dragon followed by her nine fire lizards. The Masterharper of Pern, aware of her unique skills, had chosen her as his only girl apprentice. But the holdless girl had first to overcome many heartaches in this strange new life. Two things sustained her – her devoted lizards, a subject on which she was fitted to instruct her Masters – and the music … music of compelling beauty, music-making where at last she was accepted. In the Great Hall, Menolly could fulfil her destiny.


When Master Harper Robinton finally found the song writer he had searched the whole of Pern for, in the Benden Weyr, he did not hesitate to whisk her of her injured feet, and take her with him to Harper Hall, where she belonged. Some would argue she belonged at the Weyt, having nine fire lizards, but he knew she was born to be a Harper. He needed her songs, and it did not matter that she was a girl to him. And thanks to Menolly, the Master Harper has two fire lizard eggs with him, one for himself and one for his aide, Sebell. Menolly will have to teach them how to keep the eggs warm, and how to Impress their firelizards when they hatch, and how to care for the hatchlings. But for the rest, she is the student. First some of the masters test her knowledge, to find her standard, and perhaps to find fault with what Petiron thought her. But Menolly is pitch perfect, can read and write music, and even make the instruments Petiron only told her how to make due to a lack of materials at Half Circle Sea Hold. As the only female apprentice, Menolly is housed with the paying female students, at Dunca’s cot. The woman is terrified of her firelizards though, and resents Menolly for everything she does or doesn’t do. The other girls are also angry that she outranks them, and is a real apprentice, even though rank does not apply at the Harper Hall.

But Menolly does make some good friends, Silvina, the head woman, who makes sure she has some new clothes, and that there is enough food set apart for her fair or fire lizards. Then there is Camo, a mentally handicapped young man, who loves her firelizards and helps her feed them, and the youngest male apprentice, Piemur. Who has a lovely singing voice, which is treasured by the choir master, but is also a rascal. He helps her learn the ropes, and defends her against the other girls. He is a fun character, and his story is the third book in this trilogy. Although he does appear in the other books now and then.

Menolly might have trouble with her living accommodations, but she loves the music. Mornings, afternoons and evenings she lives and breathes in the music. Still, her firelizards are a big part of her life as well, taking care of them, but they also get her in a bit of trouble. Still, the Master Harper needs her help, and so does Lord Groghe of Fort Hold, who has a golden queen of his own, of the same age as Beauty.


This story only spans a sevenday, but lots of things happen to Menolly. She learns a lot, and she has never been happier in her life, at the end of this week. The difficulties have been solved, and she has found her place in the Harper Hall. I loved this book, you just have to read it after Dragonsong.

10 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Virginia Lowell – Cookie dough or die

The first book in the Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery series, published April 5, 2011.
Genre: cozy mystery
Cover: I bought this series for the covers, so yes I love it.



Olivia Greyson is the proud owner of The Gingerbread House - a quaint shop that specializes in all things cookie - and her best friend, Maddie, is her sidekick, baking up scrumptious treats for their cookie-themed parties. But now they must take a break from baking and turn their attention to re-creating a recipe for murder…
No one is more shocked than Olivia when prominent business owner Clarisse Chamberlain is found dead. It was Clarisse who encouraged Olivia to open The Gingerbread House – and she was one of her best customers. The sheriff is ready to call the case an accident, but Olivia’s convinced there’s a murder to solve.
Then word spreads that Clarisse left Olivia a large sum of money, along with a collection of valuable antique cookie cutters. Suddenly, Olivia is the prime suspect, and when the local postman falls ill after sampling one of their cookies, all eyes are on the Gingerbread House. If the cookie-loving duo doesn’t find the real killer, their reputation – and quite possibly their lives - will be battered for good…


Cookie cutters is one thing I have zero experience with. My mother is not one of those homey types that spends time in the kitchen when not necessary to make dinner. The only time I spend in the kitchen with my mother was when she thought me and my twin sister how to cook, while she went back to work. We had to make sure dinner was ready by the time she got home at 5.30. So, having no love of cooking herself, she did not install it in me or my sister. It was a chore for us, which cut into our play time with the other children. And baking cookies? It is less expensive to buy them at the grocery store. So I have never even touched a cookie cutter.

Still, cozy mysteries are fun that way, discovering other people’s hobbies and learning details about them, without having to do it yourself.

I liked Olivia, or Livie as she wants to be called. She is recently divorced from a very controlling husband, for whom appearances are everything. So now she is slowly discovering herself, and allowing herself to do the things she likes and he did not. He liked to criticize her, wanting her to be the perfect arm candy and hostess to his associates. A dog was totally out of the question, so one of the first things Livie did, was adopt a little puppy.
Olivia loves baking, and she has been collecting cookie cutters for a while now. So with some help from her friend Clarisse Chamberlain, she has opened her own cookie cutter store, The Gingerbread House. She deals in antique cookie cutters, but also modern ones and cookbooks, and she and her friend and co-worker Maddie give workshops in baking and decorating cookies.

But now her friend is dead, the police rule it an accident or suicide, and Olivia just can’t believe it. Clarisse was a strong and smart woman, she would never have accidentally mixed sleeping drugs with a whole bottle of wine, when she never ever drank more than one glass a day. As she did not crumble when her beloved husband died, and left her with their many business and two sons, she will not crumble now, when she has discovered some upsetting news. And if the police detective and her childhood friend Del does not want to investigate murder, she will do it herself. With the help of Maddie of course, who is a whiz on the internet.

I really enjoyed Maddie and Olivia as the main characters in this book, with Olivia’s mother and Del as nice secondary characters. A vicious gossip reporter and an other childhood friend who is a prime suspect as well. The mystery was something I had no clue in solving before the big revelation scene in the end. I did not see that coming.
I did enjoy the story, and the mystery, and am glad that I have bought the other books as well. A good first book in a cozy mystery series with an unusual hobby as the focus.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Anne McCaffrey – Dragonsong

The first book in the Harper Hall series, published in 1976.
Genre: sci-fi / fantasy
Cover: I prefer my own book cover.



Every two hundred years of so, shimmering Threads fall from space, raining death and black ruin on Pern. The great dragons of Pern hurl themselves through the beleaguered skies, flaming tongs of fire to destroy deadly Thread and save the Planet. But it was not Threadfall that made young Menolly unhappy. It was her father who betrayed her ambition to be a Harper, who thwarted her love of music. Menolly had no choice but to run away. When, suddenly, she came upon a group of fire lizards, wild and smaller relatives of the fire-breathing dragons, she let her music swirl about them. She taught nine of them to sing. Suddenly Menolly was no longer alone – she was Mistress of Music and Ward of the dazzling fire lizards.


Menolly is the youngest daughter of Yanus and Mavi of Half Circle Sea Hold. Yanus was a very strict Holder, very hide bound, and life evolved around fishing and what ever else it entails. Menolly loves music, tunes just live inside her head, but her father forbids her to make her own music. Now old Petiron has died, there is no one else to teach the children their learning ballads and such, so Menolly is their only choice before a new harper can be send. But no tunings! She will have to teach the children properly, or else!
But teaching the children is not her only duty, Menolly has to help with all other house hold chores as well. One she does enjoy though, is going out side to gather greens or spider claws and such for dinner. And one day, when she has gone way further than she usually does, almost to the Dragon Cliffs, she sees a fair of fire lizards! Fire lizards are the stuff of dreams, every boy has dreamed of catching one. It would be almost like having a real dragon, as being chosen by a dragon as its dragonrider is meant for just a select few lucky youths. But lots of people think they are just a tale, and now she, a lowly girl, sees a whole fair of them, following their golden queen and her bronzes in the mating flight. What a sight to behold!

But a few days later, while cleaning packfish, Menolly’s knife slips and she severely injures her hand. Her mother cleans the wound as well as she can, but Menolly still almost dies from infection. It is not at all sure if she will ever be able to use that hand again, at least not to play music with it, which is fine by her parents. She will not dishonour her Hall, as harpering is for men, and not for girls. Menolly is devastated of course, and keeps going out alone further and further. The high tides are threatening the coast line, and the Harbor Master has asked all the young people who go out to keep him apprised of changing high water marks. It would not do to have the fleet trapped in or outside the cavern, unable to dock safely.

When she suddenly hears fire lizards, she is curious and carefully crawls to the edge of the cliff to look down. She sees the little golden queen fly at the waves angrily, and try to chase them back. Then the cliff crumbles and Menolly drops down on the beach. How will she get back up before the tide turns too high? But the queen does not want her to leave, she needs her help as her eggs are in danger of flooding! She has been transporting them to a ledge on the cliff side, and rolling them into a cave. But many eggs lie broken. And so Menolly finds herself handling fire lizard eggs, and saving them from the tide. Again, something she will tell nobody about! But still, there is music in her head, and she needs to let it out. Hiding her songs in the classroom with the formal teachings will be safe, no one will find them there.

Some time later, sail is spotted and the new harper has come to Half Circle Seahold. Menolly is forbidden to talk to him, and no one is to tell the harper that it was a girl who thought them their lessons so well. But when Menolly is even forbidden to sing along with everyone else, that is just too much. The next morning, before any one else is awake, she leaves the Hold, running as far as she can, gathering spiderclaws. Until she finds out that Thread is falling that day, and she is too far away from the Hold to go back safely. There is only one option, the cave of the fire lizards! And so she wriggles her way inside just in time, where the hatching takes place. To prevent the extremely hungry newborn fire lizards from flying into thread and a certain horrible death, she feeds them with her catch, and manages to save a lot of them. She should go back home now, or should she? No one wants her there, she could just live here, or go running across Pern!

But when she wakes up the next morning, she is not alone. 9 fire lizards have been Impressed when she fed them herself, the young queen, Beauty, two bronzes, three brown, a blue and two green. And it is all Menolly can do to keep them fed, they are just bottomless pits!

What Menolly does not know, is that Petiron send two of her songs to the Master Harper, just before he dies, and the Master Harper desperately wants her in his Hall. He needs songs like hers badly, catchy tunes everyone can sing or hum. But he does not know that the songwriter is a female, and so the new harper has no idea where to search for her. Only her brother Alemi misses Menolly, and he sets out to search for her when she goes missing after threadfall.


The book starts so sad, with Menolly and her harsh parents, and that bitchy older sister who keeps getting her in trouble. But the 9 fire lizards and her own music make her life full and happy, and when she is saved by a dragon and in Benden Weyr, life is almost perfect for Menolly. People really like her, take care of her?
Yes, this book is a heartbreaker for sure, it made me cry a few times, but also smile. I am happy for Menolly, her live improved dramatically. And now I really want my very own fire lizard!

10 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Faith Hunter – Blood Cross

The second book in the Jane Yellowrock series, published January 5, 2010.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: Strong, I like it.



As a vampire hunter and a skinwalker, Jane Yellowrock is public enemy number one to the vampire community, even though she’s also the key to their survival. Now she’s about to learn that working for the enemy can be just as dangerous as hunting them.
The Vampire Council of New Orleans has hired Jane to hunt and kill one of their own who has broken sacred ancient rules. But she quickly realizes that in a community that is thousands of years old, loyalties run deep.
With the help of her witch best friend and local vigilantes, Jane finds herself caught between bitter rivalries – and closer than ever to the secret origin of the entire vampire race. But in a city of old grudges and dark magic, Jane will have to fight to protect both sides, even if no one will protect her.


I am not going to try to summarize this book, as too much happens and I don’t want to spoil anything for those few people who have not yet read this book or series.

I enjoyed Jane and Beast in this book, she learns more about her Cherokee background, remembers more of her childhood. I also enjoyed Jane’s best friend and witch Molly, and her two children, especially the very powerful and precocious little Angelina.
A lot of bad things happen in this book; Jane almost dies a few times and meets a very powerful ancient female shaman/vampire. She is fighting for information on the history and nature of vampires, Leo doesn’t want her to have. But Jane needs it to fight the evil vampires slaughtering witch children for their powerful blood.
I absolutely loved the original and dark take on their origins; I have never read anything like it. It is creepy and explains a lot about some of the standard vampire lore.

There is enough choice for a lover for Jane, but the choice is not so difficult in the end. And I do agree with her. Still, I am not sure if she made the right choice. And Beast wants kits, so everything is possible I guess.

I am very happy that I have the rest of the series on my shelves, so I can read the third book soon. If you love vampires in urban fantasy, you really should read this series.

9 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Seanan McGuire – Discount Armageddon

The first book in the InCryptid series, published March 6, 2012.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: nice, I like her attitude.



Cryptid, noun: Any creature whose existence has not yet been proven by science. See also “monster”.
Cryptozoologist, noun: Any person who thinks hunting for cryptids is a food idea. See also: “idiot”.
Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... and that’s just the beginning. The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity-and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance.
Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city...
A lifetime of training isn’t enough to prepare Verity for what’s ahead – especially not for Dominic De Luca, the Covenant’s newest operative. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed.


After reading lots of glowing reviews about this series and other books written by Seanan McGuire, I had to buy the book when it was available on my favourite secondhand website. And although I did enjoy the story and the writing style, I am certainly not blown away by it. It was nice, it was original, but also a bit too much over the top for my tastes. The humor felt a bit forced at times. And I would have liked to know why those mice celebrated so many strange things.
I also think that Verity is way too trusting too soon concerning Dominic De Luca, he does believe her and her family to be traitors, and works for their biggest enemy. It is also not explained how he has found her in her “alias”, or her house.

The plot of the story though, that was a good one. I did like that, and how original the story is, but that is more due to the very unusual cryptids living in New York. And of course, the dragon. I do have a fondness for books with dragons. It is a nice mix of good ones and bad ones and ugly ones. Verity’s family is nice and quirky too, and I am very happy I did not grow up with them.

So, I did like parts of the story, but other parts not so much, and I found myself not in a hurry to finish the book. I will probably read the next book one day, but will wait for a cheap copy. I will try Seanan McGuire’s other series, which is supposedly better. I do have some of those books as well.

7 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Recommendations from Karin, Maia and Peggy

In order to bring some more variety to my blog, I have asked my best friend Maia, my new friend Karin from Austria and my old friend Peggy from Belgium to give us their recommendation of the month. They will tell us how many books they have read in the past month, and which they have enjoyed the most, and which one they do recommend to you all.

Karin:

I have read 6 books in the past month (but I have been rereading one of my favourite ones several times and counted it only once), and the 3 books I enjoyed the most are:

1. Guardian Demon (by Meljean Brook)



2. Magic Rises (Ilona Andrews)



3. The Best Man (Kristan Higgins)



The one I want to recommend to all Aurian’s readers is none of the above but one of my all time favourites:

Mr Impossible – Loretta Chase



Blame it on the Egyptian sun or the desert heat, but as tensions flare between a reckless rogue and beautiful scholar en route to foil a kidnapping, so does love, in the most uninhibited and impossibly delightful ways.

This is a historical romance book out of a series about the Carsington Brothers but it can easily be read as a stand – alone.
It tells the story of Rupert Carsington, the Earl of Hargate’s unmanageable hellion of a son, who has been sent to Egypt on account of being unmanageabe. One could expect him to not get into too much trouble there. After being arrested for the 23rd time in one month, the widow Daphne Pembroke (she was taken to Egypt by her indulgent brother to study the hieroglyphs and possibly decipher them) pays the necessary bribes to get him out of prison. She needs his help, her brother has been kidnapped.
This is a romance of course but it is so much more as well. It is one of the most sharp witted, adventurous, funniest and at the same most tender books that I have ever read. I highly recommend this book for anyone who can take the time to read it in one sitting. I would also like to recommend another book by Loretta Chase: The Last Hellion

Maia:

I've read four books and one novella last month. Two books by Sara Ramsey, one by Kevin Hearne and one by Kimberley Raye. The novella was by Julia Quinn.

And the 3 books I enjoyed the most are

1. Hunted by Kevin Hearne


2. Heiress without a cause by Sara Ramsey


3. Gretna Greene in Scottish Brides by Julia Quinn


The one I can recommend to all Aurian’s readers is Hunted by Kevin Hearne.



For a two-thousand-year-old Druid, Atticus O'Sullivan is a pretty fast runner. Good thing, because he's being chased by not one but two goddesses of the hunt - Artemis and Diana - for messing with one of their own. Dodging their slings and arrows, Atticus, Granuaile, and his wolfhound Oberon are making a mad dash across modern-day Europe to seek help from a friend of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His usual magical option of shifting planes is blocked, so instead of playing hide-and-seek, the game plan is . . . run like hell.
Crashing the pantheon marathon is the Norse god Loki. Killing Atticus is the only loose end he needs to tie up before unleashing Ragnarok - AKA the Apocalypse. Atticus and Granuaile have to outfox the Olympians and contain the god of mischief if they want to go on living - and still have a world to live in.

The Iron Druid Chronicles is one of the few non-romance series I read. I love the world Kevin Hearne has created where the gods are made by the belief of man and Earth is a living thing. Atticus, our druid has made a lot of enemies and they are hunting him (title of book!).

He literally has to run for his live. It’s a thrilling story with a lot of smiles, but also lots of tears, especially at the beginning! I’ve read every book in this series and will be gobbling the next one up as soon as I can get my hands on it!

Aurian: You can read my review of Hunted here

Peggy:

I have read 10 books in the past month, and the 3 books I enjoyed the most are:

1. Tracey Garvis Graves - On the Island


2. J. Lynn – Wait for you


3. Tabatha Vargo – On the plus side


The one I can recommend to all Aurian’s readers is:

Tracey Garvis Graves – On the Island


Two people stranded on an island struggle to survive - and slowly fall in love - in the runaway New York Times bestseller, now available with a reading group guide and a letter from the author

Anna Emerson is a thirty-year-old English teacher desperately in need of adventure. Worn down by the cold Chicago winters and a relationship that's going nowhere, she jumps at the chance to spend the summer on a tropical island tutoring sixteen-year-old T.J.
T.J. Callahan has no desire to go anywhere. His cancer is in remission and he wants to get back to his normal life. But his parents are insisting he spend the summer in the Maldives catching up on all the school he missed last year.
Anna and T.J. board a private plane headed to the Callahan's summer home, and as they fly over the Maldives' twelve hundred islands, the unthinkable happens. Their plane crashes in shark-infested waters. They make it to shore, but soon discover that they're stranded on an uninhabited island.
At first, their only thought is survival. But as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.


When I first saw this book, I was very excited. I love to read a ‘summer’ story in the summer (just like I love reading a ‘Christmas’ story during the Christmas time). The cover definitely breathes ‘summer’ and so does the story. I must confess that I had a little doubt about the age difference between the two characters. A thirty-year old woman and a seventeen- year old boy? But I was very intrigued about the story so I bought the book and I really, really loved it. It is even one of my favorite books of this summer.
When Anna and T.J. start their trip, they don’t know each other. Anna is offered a job by T.J.’s parents, tutoring him English at their family’s summer rental in the Maldives. On the way to the Maldives, their seaplane crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. The pilot is dead and they’re the only survivors. Luckily, they make the shore of an island. Unluckily, it’s an uninhabited island. Now they have to work together to survive. When you’re the only two people on an island, the only person you can talk too is each other and so you really get to know each other. And so does the reader, so when the time comes that they fall in love with each other and they begin a relationship, the age difference doesn’t matter, because you know them and their situation. I enjoyed the fact that I could read both her and his side of the story. You really get to know their feelings and fear. How it’s like to life on an island. The hunger, the fear of falling sick or never been found. The story doesn’t end when they are rescued but continues what I really found great. Because sometimes you want to know how it goes on and with this story I found it personally also necessary. You can read how their family, friends and the world react to their rescue and their relationship. And how it’s like for them to try to get back to the life before the plan-crash. Of course, the big question is … does their relationship have a chance in the big, big world? Because there’s a great difference between living on an island, being the two people there, and living in a world with so many people and their opinions. Well… I know the answer to that question.


Thanks for the recommendations ladies! So readers, tell me, have you read these books? Do you want to?

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Robin D. Owens – Heart Fortune

Book 12 in the Celta series, published August 6, 2013.
Genre: sci-fi / fantasy romance
Cover: I like it



On the faraway planet Celta, there are some forces you cannot fight…
Jace Bayrum has always been a loner. Concerned more with getting an adrenaline fix and making money to live on his own, Jace cares little for family ties or matters of the heart. On the other hand Glyssa Licorice, Jace's former fling and true mate, is both loving and loyal. She is determined to track down her HeartMate and have him claim her.
After hearing that Jace has been involved in an accident, Glyssa sets out to find him, departing for the excavation site of the lost starship Lugh's Spear. Though her goal is to help Jace and finesse him into recognizing her as his mate, the excavation itself draws her in…
Thrust by fate into working side-by-side, Jace and Glyssa's electric connection from years before sparks once more. She intrigues him, and Jace begins to realize that a HeartMate can make a difference. And one as magnetic as Glyssa could be exactly what he has been searching for…


Glyssa Licorice is a SecondLevel Librarian in Druida City, the major city on Celta. Both her parents and her older sister are FirstLevel Librarians, which makes them her bosses. Glyssa wants to make FirstLeven Librarian, and she needs a project for that. She is working on HouseHearts, as there is not much information about them in the Library.
Then suddenly her HeartMate takes her energy to save his life, and she knows where he is. She has known who he is for a while now, as they once spend a few hot days together. She never forgot about him, but he doesn’t know she is his HeartMate. But now she knows where he is, working at the excavation of the starship, and it needs to be properly documented. Also, her best friend Camellia Darjeeling-D’Hawthorn has a big inheritance riding on the excavation, and she asks Glyssa to write a play about it instead of something dry and boring.

With some difficulty, Glyssa gets her parents’ and sisters’ approval of her project, and sets out to the country with her new FamFox Lepid. He is trouble, and T’Ash was glad to be rid of him. There will be plenty to explore out in the countryside for a young fox. And of course the Elecampanes have a FamFox as well who will perhaps be able to teach him manners.
T’Hawthorn has gifted Glyssa with a very luxury pavilion for her stay, as she has never even gone camping. With some flair, it is just like living in a small house, nothing like the cheap little tent Jace and others are living in on site.
The Elecampanes are a bit leary of Glyssa at first, as they don’t want any interference from the FirstFamilies with their project. But Glyssa proves herself impartial and a good assistant.

Jace keeps his distance at first, but he does recognize Glyssa, and feels that same attraction to her that he had before. No other woman will do for him. And so he enters in a casual relationship with her, as he is not ready or willing for something more. Glyssa won’t pressure him, but she also won’t be able to deny them being HeartMates for long. She wants him by her side.
Jace had a bad example in his parents. His father adored his mother, and gave her whatever she wanted, at the cost of his own life and that of Jace if necessary. And when his father died saving his mother, she walked away without looking back. Jace has been on his own ever since. Not trusting women at all, and certainly not believing in love. Wandering from job to job, but excavating Lugh’s Spear is a lucrative one, and he likes it. The adventure of finding strange artefacts from their forefathers, and seeing things as first one in. But things go sour quickly, when he is accused of theft and attacking guards. Someone is blackening his name, but who, and why? Lucky he has his new FamBird Zem to take care off, and Glyssa stands behind him one hundred percent. Only he does not want to need her help, he does not like being beholden to someone.

And when he cannot give Glyssa the commitments she needs, she has no other choice but to brake off their relationship completely. She has been living to cater to his needs for too long now, it is just not enough for her. He is taking her for granted, enjoying himself in her bed and just living in the moment. But the danger escalates, and Jace gets trapped in the spaceship …


I love this series. I wish I lived on Celta with a Fam of my own and of course a HeartMate. This was a bit different than the rest of the books, not a First Family relationship, and it took place outside of Druida. I liked that change. I love meeting previous characters, and seeing how they are doing. We did skip a few years since the last book.
Glyssa’s family comes across as cold, and I am not sure I like her mother. Her father is nice, but he gives in to his wife in everything. The sister is just annoying because she is jealous of Glyssa.

I did like the interaction with Glyssa and her two best friends, and I do hope one of the next books is about the third friend, the priestess.

As usual, there are a lot of lovescenes in this book. First only in their dreams (which is how HeartMates find each other), but soon in real time. Glyssa and Jace both made HeartGifts during their Passage, but Jace did not really give his to Glyssa until it was almost too late, and Glyssa never gave hers to Jace in the story. It was mentioned though. His creative Flair is leather working, while hers is origami.

I do like the Fams, telepathic animals, and their imperial ways. It was nice to have a bird this time, that was new. So what other creatures can become Fams?

The intrigue part was good as well, I did not see this coming, nor did I guess who the bad guy was. I am already looking forward to the next book in the series.

9 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Annie Burrows – An escapade and an engagement

A stand alone novel, published June 19, 2012. Although in my opinion, it is the sequel to Captain Corcoran’s Hoyden Bride
Genre: historical romance
Cover: meh



A SEASON OF SCANDAL
Richard, Lord Ledbury, has had his fair share of adventure on warring battlefields, but even this seasoned soldier isn't prepared for the outrageous escapades going on in London's ballrooms!
Lady Jayne Chilcott is under orders to find a husband, and Lord Ledbury has caught her eye. But nothing is simple when courting under the glittering spotlight of the ton. Richard has always risen to any challenge, but Lady Jayne might just be the first to get the better of him.
Let the games begin!


As much as I liked the first book by Annie Burrows I read, Captain Corcoran’s Hoyden Bride, so much did I dislike this one. I could not like either character much. They both constantly jump to the wrong conclusions; don’t dare speak truthfully to the other, so they stay in the dark as well. The story also did not engage me. Jayne Chilcott is a neglected child, and when a man pays attention to her, and tells her he loves her, she does whatever she can to be with him. When her grandfather finds out and sends her to London for the season with a strict chaperone, and orders to find herself a husband he can approve of, she is determined to thwart that. So she refuses to dance at the ton parties. And sees her soldier in secret.
Until he kisses her and it is repugnant to her, she does not want to run away with him! And then Lord Ledbury finds her, is angry with her, rescues her, and she falls in love with him. Because he is nice, and does not rat her out, and pays attention to her. And he falls in love with her as she is so beautiful. But he is a hero and he will make sure she keeps seeing her soldier, as she loves him, but in safe conditions. Or he will have him shipped overseas to be a real soldier in the war, like he was himself until his older brother died and made him the heir. And now Lord Ledbury is also under orders to get married.
He askes Jayne for a favor, to see to it his former nurse and friend dresses well instead of as a harlot. No, she is not his mistress, or he would never have asked her to associate with the woman. This makes Jayne think he is madly in love with her, but doesn’t think he can marry her. And so she becomes friends with Milly, totally inappropriate of course, she was an army follower, and tries to teach her manners on how to be a lady. And brings them together as often as possible, even at the houseparty Lord Ledbury has invited her to.


So, it was one feast of misapprehensions, and wrong actions because Jayne lost her temper or just did not think things through. The only character I did like, was Jaynes chaperone, as she was not as staid as I was led to believe at first. She really did care for Jayne, and was much nicer than she should have been.

I do hope my next Annie Burrows book will be a gem again though. This one just failed to entertain me. Perhaps I am just a bit burned out on historical romances at the moment.

6 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian