Belinda Kroll

I don't usually enjoy short story collections but I devoted every one of these. Ms Burgis is an absolute whiz at drawing you into worlds, caring for characters, and left wondering what happened after the story ended. Chef's kiss

I experienced this rivalry in high school, except there wasn't any romantic tension beneath it. At least, not on my side. I still refer to him as “my bully” to people today. I'll never know what was going on in his head. Anyway, that made the first section of this book so hard to read. It was so real. I had flashbacks to the cruel things that were said to me, making me the class entertainment when I just wanted to be left alone. And I got so angry thinking about all the people in high school who thought it would be such a riot if we showed up at a reunion married with kids.

I was determined to hate this book. But it made me cry. Their vulnerability, taking the chance on each other. It felt real in the right way, and I stopped projecting my trauma on them. Genuinely enjoyed this one.

Distinctly darker and decidedly more Gothic than her original faerie tale series, Atwood's Witchwood Knot compels you deep into the plot just as the faerie knot traps its victims.

Winifred is the perfect heroine for this tale, being so very human and with faults that you wonder whether you're supposed to like her even as you're cheering her on. Mr Quincy is the epitome of the morally gray hero, and I was in turn concerned by him and wanting more. The romance is “sweet” by the definition of what happens between the hero and heroine, but the story around them is not, and Atwood's warning at the start of the book should be taken seriously. A satisfactory ending to our other morally gray character who too many people have experienced in this world. The ending also left no doubt this is clearly the first of what I hope is a trilogy, centering on each of Winifred's sisters, perhaps?

An excellent read for this Halloween season, and a special thanks to the author for allowing me to read this in advance of publication.

I'm taking a break from this book because it's pretty dark.

You know, I really wanted to like this book as much as I liked the first, but the first was a tough act to follow. The lure of the first book was as much felt during the process of getting to know the characters and landscape as it was the Gothic-inspired, steampunk-lite environment.

This book tried to recapture that feeling but fell short due to the supporting cast. Unfortunately, where the last book had a healthy troupe to love and follow, we basically abandon everyone as we adventure to Paris. The naiveté of the heroine worked for her in the first book, and was just plain confusing in this one. The ending felt rushed, and everything was tied up a little too neatly.

Not sure I will be picking up the third, if there is one.

This is my first Candace Camp and I picked it up because I have been on the hunt for A Hidden Heart for my mother. The other Candace Camp books didn't interest me, but the title intrigued me. This book was a fun, quick read, that had little history and the right amount of romance.

The selling point of this book is the description of Juliana and Nick. Admittedly, at the beginning I tired of Juliana's constant wondering “Will he remember me? Won't he remember me? What if I don't meet his expectations?” Given that she is an independent woman, having made her way for years as a lady's companion to nice (and not-so-nice) employers, that grated on my nerves a bit.

I adored the fact that Camp didn't have them jump into bed right away. This book is a great example of a romance which allows the characters to get to know one another as people, to discover their personalities, their complements and clashes, before any hanky-panky begins. Their grudging respect for one another even while pissed off is what kept me smiling and reading; it's what made them real for me.

Originally posted at my blog, http://worderella.com/2010/10/book-an-independent-woman/

This felt long to me. I stopped it many times and finally jumped chapters in a couple of places to get to the action again. I think perhaps heist narratives aren't for me, or at least, reading about more than one heist in a single story isn't for me, because otherwise the story was well-written.

As always, an entertaining read from Mary Jo Putney. This book was so informative! I learned so much about Chinese culture from the 1830s that corresponded with what I knew already. I've never read a book that explained the core of tai chi so well, and I loved that the heroine, because of her dual upbringing in both Chinese tradition and Scottish, had no problem with pre-marital sex so I didn't have to slog through the usual “Oh no, I shouldn't be doing this, but it feels so good!” that we usually get in romance novels.

I felt the hero/heroine were a great match. I loved that they got to know each other via traveling together. Rather than falling for the typical hero and heroine hating each other and then growing to love each other, they were two people brought together by circumstance and finding a connection.

Read this book if you're looking for a story that is entertaining, informative, exciting, and yes, even a little thrilling in bed.

This was a pretty cute book. I had a couple issues with the wording about the hero... he seemed a little too sure he knew better than the heroine just what she wanted, a little too quickly into their relationship. Iw as appeased, however, because they do spend time apart and she has the opportunity to decide for herself. A good read, not too difficult, and done easily on the Kindle app.

This was a great resource for me. I've tagged so many pages for future reference. Novelists should probably keep in mind, though, that a lot of the information is geared to non-fiction writers. Still, I found a lot of good ideas to implement and it was worth the purchase.

For you historical fiction writers looking for a first-person narrative, this book is a great example from which to learn. Julia is impetuous, frank, and conflicted, all great character traits for a narrator. For those of you writing in the High Victorian era (i.e. late Victorian era, from 1870's-on), read this book to learn how to drop details about society, class restraints, and aristocratic assumptions without taking away from the story.

Unfortunately for me, I read too much, so many stories start to seem similar and I guess things before I should, like who the killer might be. I did not, however, guess the motive at all and I give Raybourn props for that. An entertaining read, similar in theme to Tasha Alexander's A Poisoned Season. I'm wondering whether I shouldn't switch my 1880's novel to a first-person narrative in which a young woman loses her husband before she really knew him, thus freeing her to walk about Society the way an umarried woman cannot, and solve mysteries in a Nancy Drew sort of way.

Originally posted at http://worderella.com/2007/10/book-silent-in-the-grave/

If you're leery of supernatural books, the kinds with werewolves and witches practicing black magic, etc, don't let this book fool you. This book is so much more than magical creatures. Why is it that supernatural books are the ones that handle the topic of sexual abuse better than any other genre I've read? Anna is a fragile character, but she survived three years of sexual abuse. Survived, and wants to learn how she can heal some of those wounds in order to try a relationship with Charles, who is head-over-heels in love with her.

I loved the metaphor of Brother Wolf as the survival instinct we all have. When Anna feels threatened, such as the first time she tries to be intimate with Charles, her wolf comes “into ascendance;” essentially, she pulls on a deeper strength in order to swallow the timidity, fear, nausea that comes from anyone touching her. All because she wants it to work with Charles. I also loved that as the Omega wolf, her strength was in bringing out the best in others.

Read this book for an entertaining, gripping story that starts off running and continues at a loping pace. Read it for a tactful treatment of the aftermath of sexual abuse and the wish for a healthy, equal relationship. Another book to check out, if interested in another fascinating treatment of the same topic, is Robin McKinley's Deerskin.

It's been a while since I have read a historical fiction like this, in a good way. The story is compelling, I truly believe the character motivation, and the length of time it takes for understandings between characters to occur is reasonable.

I felt the ending was both timed right, and a little rushed, somehow. I can't say how it should be different, only that I guess I wish I got to enjoy a little more of the couple now that they're finally together.

Well-written, based on historical persons, and set on a plantation I now want to visit, I really enjoyed this book. Don't read if you're looking for a quick escape; this is the type of book you savor.

If you think perhaps this book has a theme similar to The Sixth Sense, that's what I thought too. Except instead of being a thriller of sorts, this book is insightful and humorous, with a succinct tone that doesn't forgive any character and yet makes you feel for them nonetheless. At its heart, this book is about a woman who loses her husband and waits, against her will, for the day she has to legally declare him dead.

For you writers, read this book to learn how to write about a topic (like death) without depressing the reader. Every character is flush and real, people we can relate to or have had a conversation with. Annie is a great anti-hero, as well; she is flawed, can't seem to hold on to material objects or the people around her, and yet is crying out for someone to ground her from her ethereal calling. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and read it in one evening, I couldn't put it down.

Originally posted at http://worderella.com/2007/08/book-the-extra-large-medium/

I really enjoyed this novella! I was leery of the shorter length, but the set-up was great at pulling me right into the action and giving me a sense of place.

I empathized with both the hero and heroine, and wanted them to triumph. This is a wonderful little story about learning how to look at your situation with different eyes, and allowing others to help. It is a steamier sort of romance, definitely some second base action in the story itself and then in the epilogue you get the consummation after marriage.

This is a great example of a historical romance novella done “right.”

This book is currently free on Amazon Kindle and Nook. I read it on my Nook app.

I really enjoyed this book! I received a free copy ages ago with the promise to review it, and I had the chance on a cross-country flight. I finished this novella in the time it took to fly from Ohio to California, and I was hooked from the first page where the main character doesn't know who he is. Nolan impressed me with her characterization; this book didn't read like a novella and I felt I understood who the characters were, their relationships and history very well.

Next time I'm in the mood for a paranormal, Nolan is at the top of the list.

This book is well-written: all the characters have backstories and motivations, and the setting is fully realized. Despite this, I felt no connection with the characters. I read the entire book, but I never felt drawn to the story, wondering what would happen next. And I should have, because this was an interesting idea. As a musician, I loved the history of the glass harmonica; as a historian, I thought Marley's depiction of Benjamin Franklin was great; as a scientist, I loved the idea of applying music to neuro-therapy. As a writer, I thought something was lacking, which may be because the back cover copy made the story seem more action-oriented, a time-travel similar to The Lake House (which defies so many laws of physics and time-travel, even).

A pleasant read, the one thing that really annoyed me was Marley's use of “'twas” and “'tis,” beyond the 1761 dialogue. For example: Eilish pushed the basket again, trying to make her two seed coins clink together. Talk brought no food. ‘Twas money she needed. In my opinion, Marley should have stuck with a first-person narrative for the 1761 story, and third-person for the 2018, if she wanted to write like that. But then, another reader will find it charming, and think I'm crazy for not liking it. Such a subjective profession this is...

Originally posted at http://worderella.com/2007/07/book-the-glass-harmonica/

This book was a tough read, mainly for its subject rather than production value or anything. I chose this book as research for a novella I'm working on; I needed to know what the homefront in Ohio was like during the Civil War.

This book, a collection of speeches, articles, and letters to and from the battlefield, did just that. This book, better than any other I've found, focuses on how conflicted Ohio happened to be, despite having volunteered the most soldiers to the Union Army of any Union state. We read about fathers against Lincoln, and sons for Lincoln. We read about men who went to war supporting the Union, but not Lincoln. We read about mothers asking their sons and husbands to be safe, and then read in the footnote the recipient died before the letter got there. We read about the Great Debate of slavery, and how and why Ohioans should or shouldn't care.

By the end of the book, I felt quite anxious, actually. The book begins about a decade before the war, setting up politics and the like, and ends a decade after the war, where we read speeches that show how the American memory is already rewriting history to seem more grand, more noble in motivation, than the actual war was in living it.

All in all, a great resource that I've marked and annotated thoroughly.

This may not be the most unique ideas, that in the future Earth falls to ruin and we send our best out in the universe to find a new Earth, but this is definitely the best-executed idea that I've read in a while. Much of the story rotates around the biology and evolution of people and their environment; much speculation is made about why there is a Planet Blue and a Planet Green, and we never really know if it's the truth, only that this is what the characters have decided must have happened. I loved the science behind it all, mainly because I used to be obsessed with the moon (I kind of still am) and how it affects us daily. The characters react as you expect people to react to something so foreign as two Earth-sized planets on spin-lock around each other.

Latner does a wonderful job of making you feel scientific by the end of the book. She explains without making you feel stupid, and so you know what these highly-scientific characters are doing without getting into unnecessary details. Her use of tension is subtle, but effective: I jumped twice and even yelped once when I was reading and a friend called out to me as he walked past. That hardly ever happens to me (I read so much that I'm almost jaded sometimes). A unique book with a good execution, and even with some romance, this book was entertaining and even informative.

Originally posted at http://worderella.com/2007/09/book-hurricane-moon/

I sincerely enjoyed reading this novella. It was similar in theme to Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson and if anyone knows me, they know I'm obsessed with Sanderson's work.

However, the thing I love about Sanderson is he knows when a work is stand-alone. Even though it is obvious the story continues due to how Day of Sacrifice ends... I felt it ended in a way that it could have been a stand-alone. There just aren't enough good stand-alone fantasy these days!

All in all, a good read that I wish wasn't part of a series because I felt the storyline was wrapped up for me in a short story sort of way.

This was a charming, light read that kept me smiling. It was nice to read about a heroine I could relate to: spunky, defending others, independent, and curious. It's a rather short book, so the romance moves quickly, and the murder mystery adds to the fun.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The story began slowly, and the description sometimes got in the way of the plot, I felt. At its heart, this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. We have the beast, Jason Cameron, a elemental wizard who got too big for his britches and tried a spell he didn't know how to uncast. We have the beauty, an heiress who was working on her PhD when her father died and left her penniless.

Though the story moved slowly, I kept reading it because I loved Rosalind, the heroine. She doesn't know her own beauty, relies on her glasses to see anything, and is much smarter than she already looks. She is intrepid, clever, insightful, and sensitive. She's also bossy, which I love.

A decent retelling of a familiar and well-loved fairy tale, I wish there had been a little less world-building and a little more relationship-building.

This was an adorable sweet romance about a little girl's crush influencing her as an adult to rush to the rescue. Hearing about a plot to sabotage the man who saved her from a bear tap as a child leads us on an adventure reminiscent of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

A great, quick read for moments when you want to escape and feel all warm like a Hallmark special.

Part mystery, part literary fiction about a man back from the gassed trenches of the Great World War (WWI to Americans), this book was excellent. I understand it is one in a series about Ian Rutledge, and this book drew me into his world and mind so well that I want to read the entire series. Will he get over his past with Hamish, his dead friend?

Read this book for an example of how to intersperse research and setting between self-reflection, dialogue, and plot. We know where we are and what we're doing, dropped into a mystery and unsure Rutledge will be able to prove who the killer is, and whether we're right about our own suspicions. But like I said, this isn't just a straight mystery. We learn so much about Rutledge in the way he reacts to people, and how he holds conversations with Hamish when alone to appease his guilt. I truly enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal from the writing style.

Originally posted at http://worderella.com/2008/08/book-a-pale-horse/

I made the mistake of jumping ahead in the book and found something triggering for me. I like the characters so I've decided to not finish this one and move onto the next book in the series.