Belinda Kroll

This story is intense, subtle, delicate. Its characters are flawed, obsessively so. The overlying plot is science fiction, but without the hopeful ending we expect from genre fiction. Definitely a literary piece, I'm debating whether I actually liked it. For you writers, however, read this for a good example of a first-person narration where the narrator is sensitive, passive, and suspicious without really knowing why. There is no real oppressor or antagonist, reflecting life. If you liked Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, which I did, then you will definitely like this book.

Originally posted at http://worderella.com/2007/10/book-never-let-me-go/

For those seeking the sweeter, closed door side of loving monsters, with a heavy dose of what it might have been like if Sara had worked in the Labyrinth for a good while before facing Jareth. Slow burn romance, heavy focus on world building, a good way to spend a weekend.

I enjoyed this book, it just totally threw me when the narrative said they were 15 and 16. I kept double-checking after reading that. Xavier and Clara read like 25 and 26 to me, and I think I'm going to keep it that way in my head because there wasn't much about their characters that made me believe they were teenagers. Otherwise, a delightfully cozy fantasy romance.

This book started out great by giving me a clear idea of the h/h, their histories and goals. I enjoyed watching them grow fond of each other, or rather, of watching the hero thinking he was married to the heroine and the heroine giving in even though she was a single woman past her prime. I didn't like how she took advantage of him, given his lost memory, but he seemed to get over it quickly enough as he regained pieces of his previous life.

The story went downhill when the h/h return to London and it's revealed that they both have the same backstory. Both were taken from their parent and raised to think the parent had died. Both are reunited with families they didn't know they had, and luckily enough, their families are all kinds of awesome.

Adam, the hero, even mentions this in the book, as if the author knew some picky readers were going to scratch their heads. When it's brought up that the mirroring of their lives is very coincidental, he says that had they not met, it wouldn't have been a coincidence, because they wouldn't have known of each other as they went through the same experiences. Eh. A little weak for my liking. Didn't ruin the overall enjoyment of the book, though.

A slow start, slower than Howl's Moving Castle, which is the book I'd say is most similar/comparable. Our narrator isn't very friendly or really have much to recommend her, except for her passion for studying faerie. As with Howl's, the story picks up with Wendell's appearance, and it is their dynamic that compells you to devour the rest of the book. By the end, I felt like I read a satisfying sibling of Howl's Moving Castle, and given I'm obsessed with the book and movie editions, please take that as a compliment! Definitely a slow burn, as well, we will have to wait for the second book to get anything past a kiss on the hand or cheek. I really hope we'll get something a bit more, that Emily will thaw and allow herself to feel her feelings rather than deliberately shove them away. It's almost as if she's under a spell of her own making, that.

This was one of those books that grabbed my interest, and I devoured it in a couple days between full time job, mom duties with two under 4, and house chores. I find myself wondering if the plot might have benefitted from a Part 1 (Silas), Part 2 (Merritt meets Hulda), and Part 3 (narratives collide) instead of interspersing the character narratives based on the timeline. I get why we have the story we have, and I really enjoyed Merritt and Hulda's storyline. I kinda feel like I would have loved it even without the whole Silas horror thread, but then that would have been a different, closer to historical fantasy romcom, story.

I struggled with some of the vocabulary, even being a historical fiction, romance, and fantasy reader by preference. Even Kindle and Google didn't have definitions for some of the words! The writer storyline was cute and relatable. Very interested to see where this goes in the second book.

This went places I didn't expect, but it was definitely a more hopeful end than The Great Gatsby, which I kept thinking of while reading even though it was supposed to be more Mean Girls inspired.

Closer in plot and narrative style to Jane Eyre than Rebecca, this is a traditional Gothic tale with a slow burn, sweet romance and tidy ending.

Those of you following me on Twitter might be surprised I finished this book. I'm certain my mother is, as she gave up on it. I had my misgivings because it felt as though the tension keeping Elijah and Jemma apart was, well, grasping at straws. It was far too obvious that they cared for one another, and the way Jemma in the early pages of the book seems to be manipulating anyone and everyone to begin the seduction for her estranged husband because he “needed some fun” really annoyed me.

It took me a while to realize why it annoyed me so; I'm like Elijah, I don't like to play games and flirt needlessly, so for Jemma to convince women to throw themselves at Elijah because he hadn't ever flirted made me think Jemma wasn't good enough for him because she didn't care to know him or what mattered/worked for him.

I'm glad I stuck with it, though, because by the end I felt I understood both characters better. They were flawed, which I liked. They compromised, which I liked. They had scenes which made me glad my family was off somewhere else because I would have been embarrassed to be reading them knowing my younger brothers could have peeked over my shoulder and seen an errant, highly suggestive word. I liked that too, heh.

So all in all, while it's not the best romance I've read, I was highly entertained, and fascinated by the fact that Ms James, through the power of her writing, convinced me to keep reading. However, I will say that if Jemma had said “Oh, Elijah,” one more time, I was going to jump into that book and drag Jemma by her hair out of the bed for a good scolding.

Sorry. Pet peeve. “Oh, Name-of-Hero-Who-Stirs-My-Loins,” just looks cheesy on the page.

Originally posted at http://worderella.com/2010/09/book-this-duchess-of-mine/

Solid and satisfying ending to a well-thought out, alternate reality, political thriller fantasy. Some of the writing near the end felt rushed. Sometimes I couldn't tell who the “he” or “she” was that a character was looking at and the previous paragraph didn't provide the right clues. Ultimately, the character and plot strength won. Great finale for Crowley's debut trilogy.

Fans of The Princess Bride will surely enjoy this ridiculous romp. I certainly got lost among all the names of the lady pirates, and the stylized dialogue was such that it almost didn't matter who was speaking. Regardless, it was funny, quirky, charming, and entirely self-aware of “only being a romance.” I thoroughly enjoyed this. It is exactly the sort of escapist Victorian nonsense (said with loving tones) I hope to write myself.

The magically-focused political thriller continues, along with an exploration of morality, ethics, disguised identities, intentions, and more. First half felt a little slow; not sure we needed to spend that much time with “Plan B.” I loved the irony of the name, btw. Second half made up for it at a roaring pace, though! Very curious to see how this trilogy ends, which says a lot because I generally dislike series and sequels.

This is the kind of Cinderella story I like to read... the sort where the main character takes action for herself and is determined to win. A more recent Cinderella story, An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn, reads far too much like this book and just doesn't past muster.

If you liked An Offer from a Gentleman, I think you'll really enjoy this book. More intrigue, less steam, but a very entertaining read.

Fantastic look at the plot structure I've inherently loved and written myself over the years without having the vocabulary to describe it succinctly. An easy read that pulls helpful, topical references from pop culture, making it easy to start to see the structure for yourself.

Enjoyable conclusion to the first half of this story, with the right amount of open threads that Holmberg could, if she wanted, write another duology, without making it seem like this story hadn't ended. Felt very much like an extended episode of the original Charmed series but set in Edwardian England, so, clearly, right up my alley.

Great primer for creators wanting to avoid the broad strokes and stereotypes culture embeds in the subconscious. I do believe there is an error on page 2 (the Uncle Tom stereotype comes from Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, not Huckleberry Finn) but otherwise as a mixed creator myself, I agree with their references, resources, and general advice for someone who had no access or insight into the diaspora.

I really enjoyed this book! What a fun read. Part Through the Looking Glass, Howl's Moving Castle, and Jane Austen comedy of manners, I read this over two evenings and never felt like the plot sagged or went on too long. Tight writing, solid characters, satisfying twist and a Stardust sort of ending. Very enjoyable historical fantasy.

This book had me chuckling on the first page. I follow John Green's Vlog Brothers, and looked forward to that intellectual snark that keeps me coming back for more, and I was not disappointed. First, let's address the main character's name: Colin Singleton.

Any computer programmer or mathematician would recognize the joke at once: here is a young man who is desperate to be known, to be recognized as unique and special. A singleton, in object-oriented programming, is a one-of-a-kind object. You can have a class of an object, say, Car, and then have different objects that belong to the class of Car: Honda, Ford, Toyota, etc. A singleton has only one element in its class or set: it is unique, special. Nerd!Belinda was ridiculously happy to see the intellectual snark and jokes went this far.

Read this book for a contemporary satire on the road trip story, while at the same time feeling heartfelt and snarky, as we all were in high school. A quick read, followed with an appendix where Green asked his mathematics professor friend to go through the math of Colin's Underlying Katherine Predictability. With graphs and everything. I've never been so happy to see a parabola in my life.

This had a slow start for me. Right around the halfway point, the mystery plot picked up and the momentum increased until the ending slammed into place. Since this is a duology, the ending is a cliffhanger with more questions than I've seen in a long time for a narrative. I'm glad I kept with it, I'm interested to see how this turns out. I appreciated the slow burn for Elsie and Bacchus... We don't get a resolution until the second book. If nothing else I'm going to read the second book just to root for a interracial romance!

I did notice a funny quirk in a few descriptions... It only happens a couple times but it was enough for me to notice a pattern that Holmberg (or maybe just Elsie) likes to describe things like stomachs and skeletons as “slapping the ground” or “melting into a puddle” to help explain Elsie's dread. I don't know why this pulled me out of the story, but it did, briefly, to make me chuckle at how odd it seemed before moving on.

Interesting take on gaslamp fantasy

Hetty isn't a character you have to like, but she is one you admire. She's used to making hard decisions and not apologizing for them, which on the surface, pushes her into the Strong Black Woman stereotype. When we meet her in this book, she's begun to second guess herself, reflecting on those she had to leave behind as a conductor of the Underground Railroad and why she's shut off her softer emotions with her friends and found family. The magic system was cool, just loose enough for me to not care how it works but tight enough that I bought the usage, attacks, and battles. I enjoyed the use of the “fall in love with my husband” trope, and that the story didn't tie everything up into a 100% happily ever after for Hetty. A solid read!

I think I enjoyed this book because it allowed time for people to change. If you're going to write inspirational fiction, then help me suspend my disbelief and give the characters time to wrestle through their trials with themselves and God. This book did that and more, throwing the characters into trial after trial, weakening them, strengthening them. Everyone always says, “In God's time,” well, this book is a great example of that at work.

Solid book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to read more of this series.

Kind of an odd story, but in a good way. Definitely has a strong resemblance to Disney's Beauty and the Beast, though I did just hear on her podcast that she didn't have this in mind when writing the book. I feel like she must have watched that movie, and maybe Gremlins, only to fall asleep that night and have the dream that ultimately inspired this book. Easy to read, and the magic system is soft enough that you don't have to question too much. Normally I hate first person narrative, but the fairy tale mood helped me get over that. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while.

Delicious, clever, compelling

I'm obsessed with this book. I've recommended it to everyone I know who loves regency fantasies. I loved it so much that when I finished the eBook, I bought the print copy and was shocked. No wonder I was up untill 4:45 AM on a work night knowing I'm going to have to get kiddos to school and myself and a husband to work at 8 am... this book is huge! Totally worth it. I loved the world-building, the Bennet family's relationship with the Fae, the slow burn between Darcy and Elizabeth...everything.

Cute, fun, and easy read. Exactly what I needed! I enjoyed Ethan's genuine nature, and appreciated Helen's growing awareness of what a gem he was. His diction was a little annoying to read, but I understand why he was written that way, and ultimately it doesn't detract from the charm of this story.

Cute ending, semi-smarmy romance

Honestly, I think I actually really enjoyed this book just like the others in this series... It's just there was so much time spent obsessing over the age difference that I started to feel icky. Of course at the time, the age difference would have been no big deal... Wasn't Mr. Knightly 13 years older than Emma? And in the previous book, we had a marriage proposal between characters who literally could have been father and daughter. I do understand the bed for it as a plot point, but I guess I would have liked to see the gradual change of opinion be a little less so, if only for my comfort haha.