Book Review: Secrets of a Highlander’s Heart (Return of the Highlanders Book 1) by Julie Johnstone

FIVE STARS

This book captivated me from the beginning and kept me enthralled to the end. Brus and Grace are so good together and the secondary characters added flair to the story and kept me turning the pages.

Brus is not yet a sworn member of a group of men who are loyal to the king and protectors. They were asked to escort Grace, her sister, and Laird Errol and their entourage across an area of land that is thick with marauders and miscreants. It’s dangerous and when they’re late to meet with their party, Errol makes the decision to go on without them, thinking they were stood up. He’s got a party of men with him, he’s a man, there are just two women with them, what could go wrong?

Grace enters this story with a bang and didn’t slow down. She was on a mission to see her father, whom wasn’t expecting to see her or her sister, and to deliver a message to him from the king. She’s forthright, candid, courageous, and surprisingly open minded. I usually dislike heroines like her, but I didn’t find her to be abrasive. They’re usually overbearing know-it-alls and think they’re smarter and better than a mere man. That wasn’t the case here. She was true to herself, her sister, and even to Brus and respected those around her.

This was an exciting book with plenty of action, some angst, and a part that actually made me call it out verbally and raise my fist in the air, “PLOT TWIST!” I won’t go on about that because I don’t want to put any spoilers in my review, but it was a great moment.

I do wish there had been more descriptions of the characters. I never did get a good look at Brus and Grace was sort of sketchy. Character descriptions do help me connect with the characters and make the story much more enjoyable, but this is still a five star read.

*I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily left a review.

Book Review: Boxing with my Duke by Anna St. Clair

FIVE STARS

This was a short, fun read with great characters and a great story. There was no angst to it, which was a nice change for me, but what I didn’t care for is Catherine giggled…a lot. I hate giggling from adults. Once or twice is fine, but it was a bit much this time.

Catherine is on a rampage in Carlton, the Duke of Richmond’s place of business, searching for her brother whom she thinks is in a private room with a woman. Her family has seen some tragedy and she thinks her brother isn’t thinking clearly. When Carlton intercepts her, they figure out something much bigger is at hand and head to Gretna Green together.

I did enjoy this story. It was nice to see Damon again (see his story in The Trouble with Her Duke) and to know that his children are doing well under Lydia’s care and guidance. He wasn’t there long but I like it when characters from other books make appearances in my current read. But there are other secondary characters that added a punch to this story and put a smile on my face.

Despite my loathing of giggling, this is still a five star book.

Book Review: The Daunting Greystoke: The Brothers Greystoke Book 1) by Samanthya Wyatt

FOUR STARS

I liked this book a lot. I loved the characters of Serena and Nathaniel, of course, but I also loved Nathaniel’s brothers, Edmund and Aaron. Aunt Penelope was a killer character too and I do hope she shows up in the following books in the series.

Serena’s parents died when she was nine, leaving her to be raised by a cruel, abusive grandfather who abhorred her, told her she was no good because she was a girl and not an heir, and beat her, starved her, and isolated her. He was the worst kind of person. When she finally got a chance to run, she did. She got caught in a storm and ended up hiding in the stable of Greystoke Manor.

Nathaniel Blackburn, Earl of Greystoke, has finally come home after five years. Where was he all that time? What was he doing? It’s never specified in the story and maybe it isn’t important, but I was curious. He did write to his brothers, but even they claimed to not know where he was. Regardless, he’s the heir and has come to take over his duties and relieve his brother, Edmund, from the tasks involved with it. He moves into the big, desolate, abandoned manor again where memories from his own abusive childhood haunt him. He wasn’t planning on rescuing a girl who he discovered hiding in his stable, but he couldn’t just send her away. She was hungry and had a broken arm. She was elusive with any information about herself and didn’t trust him or any man, leaving him to try to figure out all of that on his own.

But there’s so much more to the story. Edmund is dealing with crippling migraines, he doesn’t eat, is not himself at all, and may be mixed up with some bad dudes. It concerns Nathaniel and Aaron and sends them on a quest to get that figured out. So, there’s mystery in that too.

This is a slow burn story with intrigue that I liked and kept me reading. There were more than a few instances of wrong word usage (heeling instead of healing, for instance). It was annoying, but not enough to make me stop reading. It also dragged a bit in the middle, but overall, the story worked on all levels.

This would have been a five star read had it not been for the wrong word usage, but it was still a good read and I will continue with the series.

Book Review: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

FIVE STARS

I love a good World War II novel and this checked the boxes on every level. There was a lot of action, unsung heroes, heartbreak, tried and true friendships, devastation of property and lives, and a family torn apart by war.

I was so moved by this story that I’m pretty much speechless, but I am determined to write a review that doesn’t give anything away.

Okay. The story starts with a woman getting an invitation to a reunion that is to be held in Paris. She lives in America. Her son is a surgeon and can’t imagine why she’s being invited to a “gala” where they’re celebrating people who worked tirelessly with the French Underground during WWII to secure freedom from the Nazis. We don’t know who this woman is until the very end of the book, but we do know it’s one of two sisters. The ending was absolutely beautiful.

Vianne is the eldest of the two sisters and lives in a small town in France with her husband and her daughter. She leads a quiet life, does what she’s supposed to do, and is actually meek to the point where she lets people run over her. But once her husband is called off to war and leaves her and her daughter to survive on their own and the Nazis move into town and an officer moves into her house, she finds out she’s really capable of.

Beck was the first German officer to billet in her house. Even though he was on the wrong team, I liked him. He was kind to her and her daughter, respectful, helped them in so many ways that put him in danger, and he loved his family. At one point, Vianne asked him if he thought he was a good man. His response was, “I used to think so.” War changed everybody, including this officer who had a conscience.

Isabelle is a loose cannon. She’s young, idealistic, impetuous, but too brave for her own good. She’s the youngest sister and has a volatile, tenuous relationship with her father. Both girls do. They lost their mother at a young age, were pawned off on a stranger, Vianne got pregnant and had to get married, leaving Isabelle to fend for herself in various boarding schools. She was kicked out of all of them and ultimately ended up with her father in Paris. She put her life at risk so many times for so many people, expecting nothing in return. She believed in what she was doing and was a true hero.

I mentioned unsung heroes. There are more than a few in this story, some you wouldn’t think would be called heroes, but the courage and tenacity that these characters exuded was second-to-none and it wasn’t just Vianne and Isabelle, our two main characters.

The author did a great job of making the tension tangible. There were times when I gasped with surprise, shed a few tears, and cheered when something good happened, which wasn’t often. We are taken aboard the cattle cars that transported the Jews to concentration camps. We witness torture, cruelty, and executions. We go inside the concentration camps. It was graphic at times.

This was not a fun book to read. As a matter of fact, I would say it’s one of the more difficult books I’ve ever read, probably due to the fact that it’s historically accurate. You can read about it in a history book or on the internet for now, but to get inside the hearts and minds of people who lived it gives it an entirely different meaning, fictional or not.

Easy five stars

Book Review: Grave Justice (Lost Souls Society Book 5) by Kate Allenton

FIVE STARS

I just really love Riley St. James. She’s a firecracker of a gal with rough and tumble abilities, a bit of an attitude, and doesn’t back down to anybody for any reason, including Grim and especially her father, who has tried to kill her repeatedly throughout her life. I don’t usually like heroines like her, but what redeems her for me is that she really loves her brother, loves her friends, and loves Adler, her boyfriend. She’s got a soft heart that doesn’t surface often, but when it does it’s beautiful.

In this installment of the series, our psychic heroine is supposed to start training to be a reaper. Grim and her father are to be her instructors, but when Tucker (her brother) is critically injured and his girlfriend’s teenage daughter is murdered while she was standing next to him, everybody’s life takes a new direction and training is put on hold.

Riley is at her best with trying to find out who is responsible for this. She sees ghosts, talks to them, tries to get information, and is a victim of more than a few crimes herself. With Grim hanging around, it was inevitable that someone was going to die. I just didn’t know who and it isn’t revealed until the end.

This was a marvelous paranormal mystery that had me glued to the pages, guessing and then guessing again who had done what, only to find out I was wrong. The suspense was killing me. I had to know how this was going to end and I was not disappointed.

I do wish we’d had more character descriptions because it helps me connect with them, but this is still a solid five-star read.

*This is part of a series, but can be read as a stand-alone novel. However, you will miss the development of Riley, her relationships with her friends and rivals, and just some great books.