Such a let down

Meh.

Thought this would be a nice kick-off the summer read, but it was a weirdly organized and contrived storyline.

The story starts in a typical romance novel way. Girl and guy. Attraction. Anger. Misunderstanding. Separation. All of that. Fine. Like I said, I was looking for a nice fluffy summer read. Then, all of a sudden we are thrown 4 years in the future and introduced to a bunch of characters who only seem to be there because they will be characters in future books. It was a waste of time and I can't believe an editor let an author get away with such shenanigans.

Of course it all ends with a happily ever after, but the ancillary story we were subjected to is still up in the air! Frustrating.

And meh.

Same plot cycle as all of her many others but I still get just as sucked in to the characters nonetheless! Kinda macabre at the end though with the rather cavalier manner in which they deal with James Harcourt's body *shudder* and of course the best happiness goal is "Getting Married!" but like I said, still read them up :)

This is a different feel from her other books. The story was nice, but not at par with the previous Montgomery books that she has written.

So I needed to clear my mind. I read mindcandy to do so. I wanted something light and frothy I wouldn't have to think about but just enjoy. Perhaps a historical romance with some playful banter would do the trick? WRONG!

Back before I was allowed to buy the books I wanted because they were not considered "age appropriate" I was stuck stealing romance novels from my sister and horror from my father. In that period I read a good many Jude Deveraux novels and either my memory is faulty or her writing has suffered in the years since I last picked one up.

Oh dios mio. Now I don't go into a romance novel expecting much. But this was above and beyond bad. First and formost the characters did not behave in the way that should as per her set up. People just blurt out things that are out of character so that she can move her plot in the direction she wants it to go. I hate that. The romance novel cliches are bad. I can't remember the exact wording but there was a sentence that said something to the effect of, "He walked into the room and he filled my senses. He smelled of heather, and horses, but mostly, man." Yeah it was like that. The sex wasn't overly present, I think there's only one or two small sex scene, so it had that going for it. But that's about all. The plot was a convoluted mess. But I guess it had to be, cause otherwise this story could have been told in about 5 paragraphs.

a little draggy

Sio good to see Jude come back to historical! Even if this is not her best, it's still pretty entertaining!

Second book in her new series, it tells the tale of the birth of the town of Edilean wit the meeting of scot laird Angus and english noblewoman Edilean. Of course, it's not love at first sight but circomstances will have them together and they'll learn to know each other...

I was thinking this was going to be more of a "bodice ripper" than it actually was. I also wondered if I was reading a Gabaldon book, as the story carried hints of Jamie and Clare ... but only hints, because the author kept forgetting that her male character was scottish and he lost his accent after the first few chapters. It was totally readable, and I won't say I didn't enjoy it, but there were gaps that didn't make sense and I found a few other aspects a little hard to swallow. But I was looking for a bodice ripper so what was I expecting?!!!!