Book Review: Something Wild by Kimberly Raye

FIVE STARS

I found this book at a thrift store and honestly, I didn’t read the blurb. I picked it up based solely on the cover. Hot guy in a breechclout, surrounded by trees and wilderness, all spelled historical romance of the Native American trope, one of my all-time favorites. I didn’t bother to read the blurb until I was well past the half-way point and only then out of curiosity. This is not a historical romance, but has some historical romance elements to it in how Zane lives. I’ll get to that part in a moment.

Tara Martin is a divorcee and making her way through life as a journalist for a reputable newspaper when a friend, who works for a tabloid, asks her to cover a story for her in the Smokey Mountains. There have been sightings of a Big Foot there and the tabloid wants the story. Reluctantly, Tara agrees, knowing it’s all a bunch of hooey and plans on making it a two-week vacation.

But nothing ever goes as planned. From the moment of Tara’s arrival in the small mountain town, at the motel in particular, I started to hear banjos in my head. Mary and Cecil were brother and sister and ran the place, but there was something just off about them. But while Tara and Mary were in pursuit of the Sasquatch, they were confronted by a bear. Tara ran, but fell and hit her head and sprained her ankle. Mary thought she was dead and left her for the bear.

Zane was having nothing to do with that. He had an uncanny way of communicating with animals and rescued Tara before it was too late. He whisked her away to his cave because he had no other home and nursed her back to health, using herbs and poultices he’d learned about from his Cherokee grandfather.

Zane had been on his own for a very long time. He’d learned to survive in the wild with the help of a raven who was his grandfather’s spirit. He was alone, except for the animals of the forest, smart, resourceful, haunted by nightmares, and lonely. He wanted a mate, but didn’t know how to get one. He captured my heart from the very beginning.

Tara was funny, talked too much, and even annoyed Zane with her endless questions, but he remained cool and level-headed with her. He didn’t know or understand that she’d been married to a narcissist who had stripped her of every ounce of self-esteem she’d ever had and made her feel like she was unlovable. She’d never felt loved by anyone and that made things hard for both her and Zane.

Their story seemed impossible. Tara is a career woman, living in a big city, loving her small appliances while Zane is primitive, lives off the land, and runs around in loincloth. I wasn’t sure how this was all going to come together with their worlds being so different, but this was a love conquers all book. I laughed, I cried, and I cheered for them. 

I loved this book. It had everything going for it. Fantastic characters, a tight plot, steam, and even some mystery. I also liked that it was old school, published in 1998. They don’t write them like this anymore, you know?

This book is headed for my Top 10 favorite reads of the year. 

Book Review: Lord of the Wilderness (Duke of Rutland #4) by Elizabeth St. Michel

THREE STARS

I didn’t particularly enjoy this book and I will explain why in a moment. But first, I want to say that I’ve not read anything of this time era or in this setting. I liked that part quite a lot. I was interested in a character who was an indentured servant, never having read anything like that before, either. Those elements worked for me. I knew indentured servants were a thing during Revolutionary War times and I knew that many of them were mistreated and didn’t survive the ordeal when they got to America.

That is an important part of the story. Lady Juliet Faulkner was an indentured service. Her uncle had set her up with that and took all of her property after her father died. I would’ve liked to known more about that other than the summary that was incognito as an epilogue. Regardless, Juliet ended up with some greedy, nefarious Tories who were beating her and starving her along with two other unfortunate souls. Juliet goes about her business, trying to stay out of their way and off their radar all while protecting Eldon and Mary.

Not all was well when Joshua Rutland (he’s assumed a name that escapes me at the moment) shows up at the Hayes home where Juliet is working. He knows this, but is more interested in he uncommon beauty than anything else. He’s got a cross to bear, though; something he can’t overcome that affects his relationship with her practically throughout the whole book.

Maybe I would’ve been more sympathetic toward them had their characters been more developed. I thought all the characters were one-dimensional and Juliet’s character was all over the place. I had a hard time liking her with her self-righteous diatribes, stupid moves where he was concerned, her so-called strength, and then wallowing in self-pity. 

I wasn’t drawn into the story. I found Two Eagles and Mary to be more interesting than Joshua and Juliet. I thought the dialogue between Juliet and Joshua was contrived and preachy, but I did enjoy the history of it all. I didn’t feel them falling in love, like I did the secondary characters, Two Eagles and Mary. There was steam, but no romance to speak of. There’s plenty of action and even some mystery.

Possible Triggers:
Physical Abuse
Rape
Graphic violence

Book Review: Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale

FIVE STARS

This book tore my heart out. Christian, Duke of Jervaulx, was wealthy, a bit of a rake, and a brilliant mathematician until a stroke took away his ability to communicate and left his right hand impaired. That was sad unto itself to see this vivacious, active man diminished to a child-like state and committed to an asylum by his family. They didn’t understand what had happened to him and didn’t really care to give him viable help. They just wanted his money.

Maddy Timms is the daughter of a fellow mathematician who works with Jervaulx. Her father is blind so relies on Maddy for taking notes and often sends her to Jervaulx home with messages and has her wait for responses. It sometimes takes hours and she finds the duke to be thoughtless, making her wait all that time. But what sets her apart from the rest is that she’s a Quaker. She’s not to mingle with the worldly ones let alone develop any sort of friendship with one.

When she takes over a position in a home for the mentally ill with her cousin, she takes over his care. His “keeper’ is an ignorant brute and Christian hates him. Maddy sees that Christian isn’t mad and seems to understand that his brain isn’t functioning properly. She sees what everybody else fails to see. 

I’ve never read such a mismatched pair. They had nothing in common. He’s a man of the world. She’s a Puritan. He’s wealthy. She keeps everything as simple as possible, believing any sort of frivolity is a sin. He’s filled with angst and frustration. She is, too, but for different reasons. She’s torn between two worlds. She wants to help him in any way she can, but just how far will she go?

This book is filled with angst, heartbreak, and surprises. I have to admit that I had trouble getting into it at first because there was so much math (apparently, the author is a brilliant mathematician, too) and I was lost. Math is not my thing, but it was important to the story. I also have to hand it to the author for Maddy’s dialogue and keeping it all straight. Thee, thy, thou, art, etc. It took some getting used to, but was so part of her character and kept her pious when Jervaulx was a sinner, if not the devil himself. I also loved how the author got inside Christian’s mind and allowed the readers to see what he was thinking, but couldn’t say. 

I got choked up a few times, laughed a few times, and shared Christian’s frustrations with trying to recapture what he’d lost. I wasn’t sure how this was all going to come together and was glad to get that happily ever after. 

There were some steamy love scenes, a heck of a plot, and some awesome story development that earned this an easy five stars.

Purchase at your favorite online bookstore.

Book Review: Conquest (The Montbryce Legacy #1) by Anna Markland

FOUR STARS

I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. I was able to sink my teeth into the beginning and then about a quarter of the way through the book, it went an entirely different direction. It had its up and down moments, but at the end of the day, I disliked Ram Montbryce. That wasn’t supposed to happen. I thought he was too mean to Mabelle and I didn’t appreciate the way he spoke to her and how he treated her. It did improve as the book progressed, but all he wanted was to do the wild thing with her.

Mabelle and her father were banished from their home by her half-brother when she was nine years old. Her father dragged her from place to place, making her work with the servants and basically earning their keep, while he sat around and moaned and groaned about the injustice of it all, yet did nothing to rectify it. She was tired of it all. I get it. But Ram didn’t do her much good, either and he was supposed to be her salvation.

The story takes place over a span of years, is loaded with history. and was more of a love story than a romance. Some will disagree. I didn’t feel Ram and Mabelle falling in love, but I did feel Rhodari and Rhonwen falling in love, almost to the point where it upstaged Ram and Mabelle. That wasn’t supposed to happen, either. Honestly, I cared more about how they were going to end up than Ram and Mabelle.

There are some great action scenes, a fair amount of rated PG-13+ steam, and a degree of mystery that kept me reading. This would’ve been a five-star read for me, but I couldn’t warm up to Ram.

Purchase at Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ckBju1