The Nature of a Lady (The Secrets of the Isles #1) by Roseanna M. White

  

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Christian Fiction
Genre: Romance, Historical Romance, Mystery
Content: Clean

 

1906
Lady Elizabeth "Libby" Sinclair, with her love of microscopes and nature, isn't favored in society. She flees to the beautiful Isles of Scilly for the summer and stumbles into the dangerous secrets left behind by her holiday cottage's former occupant, also named Elizabeth, who mysteriously vanished.

Oliver Tremayne--gentleman and clergyman--is determined to discover what happened to his sister, and he's happy to accept the help of the girl now living in what should have been Beth's summer cottage . . . especially when he realizes it's the curious young lady he met briefly two years ago, who shares his love of botany and biology. But the hunt for his sister involves far more than nature walks, and he can't quite believe all the secrets Beth had been keeping from him.

As Libby and Oliver work together, they find ancient legends, pirate wrecks, betrayal, and the most mysterious phenomenon of all: love.

 

It's no secret that I enjoy Roseanna M. White's books, and when I saw this new trilogy was being published, of course I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book! Overall I liked this story. As with all of White's books, it includes romance, historical elements, and also a bit of a mystery, along Christian themes. This one was slow moving in the beginning, and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it as first, but it ended up being a good read—not a favorite—but good. At times it just lacked a little excitement. I think I would have enjoyed the book a bit more if the intrigue had played a larger part, and the romance had felt a bit more intense. The island setting and the bit of intrigue reminded me of Mary Stewart's book The Moon Spinners, but only a little.

I enjoyed every character in this book, especially Libby and Oliver, and I really liked how Libby came to understand that God and science are not mutually exclusive of each other but go hand in hand. This part of the book—the naturalist part— reminded a little of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. I think the real strength of the book is the message about being yourself and finding your place in the world. I enjoyed how Libby was able to find that. 

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Bethany House Publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Warrior's Ransom (The First Argentines #2) by Jeff Wheeler

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult, Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

After a pilgrimage to the East Kingdoms seeking a blessing from the Fountain, source of the land’s magic, Sir Ransom Barton returns home in search of two dreams: Claire de Murrow, the heiress he loves, and a patron for his warrior skills. Unexpectedly, Ransom finds himself in the favor of Devon, the notorious Elder King. Brought into the ruler’s mesnie and given two wards of his own, Ransom is devoted to his privileged new position. He’s also privy to the running of the realm and to all its courtly intrigues—notably, the machinations of the king’s three remaining sons, all engaged in a manipulative battle to become heir to the throne.

As Ransom is thrust into the middle of poisonous family conspiracies and betrayals, allegiances are shattered, and Ransom fears he may end up serving his worst enemy—or worse, face exile for demonstrating loyalty.

Drawing on his developing powers, Ransom takes up arms against the dark forces coming in a war that will test the limits of his courage and determine the fate of the dangerous and fractious Argentine dynasty.

 

After reading the first book in this series, and finding it a little lackluster, I wasn't sure how I was going to like this one. Fortunately I enjoyed this book a lot! I was really happy that it didn't parallel the Kingfountain series too much, the way I thought the first book did. There are definitely the same themes of honor, truth, and loyalty that are included in all of Jeff Wheeler's books, but I appreciate those themes. 

I especially like that the protagonists in Wheeler's books struggle with their decisions to do the right thing, but eventually do, despite the personal cost. I also really like how layered the other characters are as well. This book, just like Wheeler's others, shows us how people aren't just black and white, but many shades of gray. The king in this book did some despicable things, but also some things that made me want to like him at times too. The things that were done by certain characters in this book were truly tragic, and it was mainly because of pride. It's sad when people can't get out of their own way before their actions cause tragedy.

I also want to say that I really appreciate that this book, and all of Jeff Wheeler's books can be read and enjoyed by any age. There are not a lot of books series like that any more. This book left me wanting to read the next book right away, but it hasn't been published yet. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to reading the next two books later this year!

Thanks to NetGalley and 47North for providing me with an ARC of this book.

It's been a while...

 I haven't posted on here in a little while and I just wanted to give an update. My dad recently passed away from Covid. It was so unexpected. He was always such a strong, healthy person, and it was such a shock to lose him. The world just hasn't seemed right without him in it. I've been through so many emotions over the last 3 and a half weeks. Needless to say, reading slowed down for me, and reviews stopped altogether, but I'm slowly getting back to doing the things I love. Today I'm posting my first review after about a month of silence.

Renounced (Sins of Our Ancestors Book 4) by Bridget E. Baker

  

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, dystopian
Content: Clean

 

When life makes you into the hero you never wanted to be. . .

Now that the cure has been found and distributed, Ruby’s ready to move ahead with the life she always wanted: small town, cute house, quiet job, with her boyfriend Sam by her side, of course. All she needs to do is foist the responsibility of ruling World Peace Now off onto her half-brother, Adam. Surely he’ll rise to the task of caring for the people with whom he grew up.

Sometimes that cape really starts to chafe.

But Ruby’s brother doesn’t want to rule any more than she does, and the people of World Peace Now aren’t too keen on being fobbed off. Ruby could just walk away, and a year ago, she would have. But now that she’s grown an iron backbone, how can she leave the problems of the world to run and hide? When dangers begin to multiply, and Sam’s clearly miserable dealing with them all, Ruby realizes she has a bigger decision to make.

How many times is she really obligated to save the world. . .and what price is she willing to pay in order to do it?  

This was a surprise addition to the series, and being very satisfied with the way the original trilogy ended, I didn't feel like another book was really needed, but I enjoy Bridget's writing so of course I was going to read this. I enjoyed this, but not as much as the others in the series. It felt like the story in this one moved slower than the others, and there was less action, but Bridget's writing pulled me in anyway.

This book deals with things that were just left to the imagination at the end of book three. It delves into a lot of politics and also Ruby's feelings about some things, and how she comes to terms with it all, including her relationship with Sam. There was a lot of inner turmoil going on for both Sam and Ruby. I have to say that I wasn't crazy about the other guy that gets thrown into the mix. In fact, he annoyed the heck out of me, and I'm not sure he was really needed in the story. But I was really happy to get more about Sam and Ruby, and I thought the things they were struggling with were realistic.

The Last of the Moon Girls by Barbara Davis

  

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Magical Realism
Content: Strong Language, A mild sex scene

 

Lizzy Moon never wanted Moon Girl Farm. Eight years ago, she left the land that nine generations of gifted healers had tended, determined to distance herself from the whispers about her family’s strange legacy. But when her beloved grandmother Althea dies, Lizzy must return and face the tragedy still hanging over the farm’s withered lavender fields: the unsolved murders of two young girls, and the cruel accusations that followed Althea to her grave.

Lizzy wants nothing more than to sell the farm and return to her life in New York, until she discovers a journal Althea left for her—a Book of Remembrances meant to help Lizzy embrace her own special gifts. When she reconnects with Andrew Greyson, one of the few in town who believed in Althea’s innocence, she resolves to clear her grandmother’s name.

But to do so, she’ll have to decide if she can accept her legacy and whether to follow in the footsteps of all the Moon women who came before her.

 

I've said before that I'm drawn to mysteries that involve the main character revisiting the past in some way and so I was looking forward to trying this book. Plus, it had the added twist of magical realism, so that made it extra intriguing. I ended up liking this ok but not loving it. It was a little slow at times and I found myself getting bored. It was never a book that I couldn't wait to get back to, and that disappointed me a little. 

The mystery wasn't too hard to figure out, but it was enjoyable enough. I liked a couple of the supporting characters, but I got annoyed with Lizzy after a while for wanting to continue to run away from her heritage. In fact because she was trying to reject her heritage and everything that went with it, it didn't really make sense in the story when she said she could never get married and have a family because Moon girls didn't do that. Wouldn't she have been more than happy to do the opposite? Her reasoning is that she doesn't want to have a daughter to carry on the line, but she could have simply not had kids. Her love interest even said he didn't care if they never had children. It just felt like needless drama.

There is a supporting character that plays a big part in this book that I liked for the most part, but she was supposed to be from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I'm from Baton Rouge, so needless to say I was really paying attention to this character and everything she said and did, and let me tell you, the minute she called crawfish "crawdads" I no longer believed she was from there. It's a minor thing that most people aren't going to know the difference about or even care, but I did and I really think authors should do their research before they write characters from a place.

Overall this was an ok read. There were a few things I liked about it and a few things I didn't, and I'm not sure if I will ever try another book by this author.

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6) by Martha Wells

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi, Mystery
Content: Strong language

 

No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!


As usual, I loved Murderbot. This book was a little confusing in the timeline though, since it apparently takes place before the novel, Network Effect, and I didn't realize that at first. My biggest complaint about the book is that it went by way too fast! After the novel I thought we would be getting longer books from now on, but any Murderbot is good, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one, and hopefully finding out what happens after Network Effect.

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Email blog delivery being discontinued for Blogger.

On July 1st the email subscription service that Blogger uses to notify subscribers about my posts will be discontinued. If you are subscribed to my blog through email you will no longer get those notifications. This is rather frustrating, but apparently there is a way for me to send the emails out myself. I haven't had time to look into it yet, but I'll try and figure it out.