Sophia Nash

I find that this did not work for me at all.

It took forever to get anywhere. I enjoyed the opening, in which Nash gives us a bit of prophecy, a little taste of what was in store.

I enjoyed the opening, where Rory is confused but willing to do the right thing (after a fashion), Verity is exasperated and willing to forget and James is just plain MAD.

I sort of continued to enjoy the cat and mouse game Rory was having with Verity. I liked Esme for all her crypticness.

Yet at some point it all began to drag. This may have worked as a novella if I'm being honest. The misunderstanding and secrets and fretting and martyrdom became entirely too much to enjoy.… (more)

Lady Verity Fitzroy has been in love with her brother's friend Rory Lennox, Duke of Abshire, all her life. After a night of debauchery, Rory finds himself in Verity's bed and does the honorable thing in proposing marriage - even if he and Verity's brother are no longer friendly. Verity does the unthinkable and refuses, but Rory can't take no for an answer.
I've enjoyed this series, but I thought this book was a little bit too much all over the map. There seemed to be a lot of filler with Verity teaching school and traveling all around while Rory mostly chases her. It's still a fun read, but just not as good a story for me.… (more)

After a night of debauchery fueled by absinthe, the Royal Entourage is in trouble with the public and with the Prince Regent (even though he participated with them). Prinny is determined to punished, and since Alex, Duke of Kress, brought the drinks, he's the first one banished to Cornwall where he must find a wife. Arriving there, he finds Roxanne Vanderhaven, Countess of Paxton, hanging from a cliff (a la Thomas Hardy) and rescues her. Roxanne's husband left her there and assumes she fell to her death. She wants to find out why he wants to murder her, and Alex wants to find a way out of his current dilemma with the Prince Regent.
I read the second book of the series first by mistake, but it was fine though I'd recommend reading them in order. Roxanne and Alex are a fun couple, and their exploits make for fun reading. The secondary characters are also interesting though there's so many, it can be confusing. The plot was a bit loose in places, but mostly hung together and the story is so entertaining the small lapses don't matter. It's definitely a fun series, one I'll be following.… (more)

Kate is a psychologist on leave to handle family matters in France. Her grandfather's estate is crumbling toward the sea and in great need of repair or sale. While trying to sort through her family's situation and her own troubled relationship with her daughter, Kate develops a relationship with a traumatized war veteran, to whom she begins to open up about her own past.

I tried to get into this novel several times but I couldn't get past the halfway point. Apart from the slow storyline, I was turned off by a separate narrative told from the perspectives of wild animals around the estate. While the writing was rich, it was too slow-moving to fully engage me.… (more)