Posts tagged with 'Reviews'

Review: The Inventor’s Companion

  • Posted on November 1, 2011 at 9:34 am

The Inventor’s Companion

Inventors Companion cover

Inventor's Companion

by Ariel Tachna
Dreamspinner Press

Gabriel Blackstone’s world is divided quite clearly into castes: everyone knows their place and abides by it. As an inventor in the merchant caste, his life is predictable in its routine until the night his best friends and assistants, Caleb and Andrew, purchase the time—and body—of a companion for his birthday. As an activist in the Caste Equality movement, everything Gabriel believes in tells him to refuse the gift, but then he meets Lucio. The beautiful and alluring companion is far more than the vapid courtesan he’d expected, and he can’t get the man out of his mind.

After that night, Gabriel tells himself to forget about Lucio, but a chance meeting at a ball makes it clear neither of them is willing to ignore the compelling chemistry between them. It will take all their combined trust and cunning, plus the help of a wily aristocrat and a plucky political activist, to overcome the challenges of infidelity, abuse, and social stigma that lay along their road; however, Gabriel knows it will all be worth it if at the end of the day he can call Lucio his own.

This is a fantastic read. The world was fascinating, in many ways like Victorian England, but with a rigid caste system including pleasure slaves known as companions. Gabriel’s inventions provide the steam technology, and his work to overturn the caste system adds the punk, and the hot sex scenes make it steamypunk. It’s a very emotional read, with great character development. Highly recommended.

Lyndi Lamont

Check out my review of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea at http://flightsafancy.blogspot.com/.

Book Review Club: The Surgeon’s Lady

  • Posted on June 1, 2011 at 1:41 am

Cover art for The Surgeon's Lady by Carla Kelly

The Surgeon's Lady

THE SURGEON’S LADY
by Carla Kelly,
Harlequin Historical Romance, 2009

Back Cover Blurb:
As a surgeon in the Royal Navy, Lieutenant Philemon Brittle has proved his bravery countless times. But he’s never known the thrill that comes with falling in love. Until he meets the beautiful Lady Laura Taunton, who has turned to nursing the wounded as solace from her unhappy past.

Philemon will need to draw upon every bit of his strength and determination to convince the marriage-shy Laura that establishing a life together is the truest path to love and happiness….

I have loved Kelly’s Regency romances for a long time, and I’ve enjoyed naval adventure for even longer, so this was a nice fusion. Laura, a widow, has been badly wounded emotionally by her irresponsible father and her cold-hearted, abusive husband. Surgeon Philemon Brittle is a healer in every way and probably the only man who can help her to overcome her past. This is a sweet and deeply emotional romance that provides a realistic picture of the wounds suffered by seamen 200 years ago. The latter makes you really appreciate modern medicine.

Read on my Kindle.

Lyndi

Read my review of Lauren Belfer’s A Fierce Radiance at my Linda’s Flights of Fancy blog.

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@Barrie Summy

Book Review Club: Stealing Heaven

  • Posted on August 5, 2009 at 1:25 am

StealingHeaven._SS500_

Earlier this year I joined Barrie Summie’s Blog Book Club at my other blog Flights-a-Fancy. This month I read so many good books I had a hard time choosing one, so I decided to do two reviews, one here and one at Flights-a-Fancy.

STEALING HEAVEN by Madeline Hunter

I hadn’t read a Medieval romance in a long time, and this is a good one. It’s set in 1340 during the reign of Edward I. Marcus of Anglesmore, a knight who supports the king, is ordered to wed a Welsh maiden in hopes of staving off further rebellions. When he goes to visit his betrothed in a moonlit garden, he finds a sensual creature who responds to his advances. The next day he learns that the woman he thought he was to wed is the older sister, Nesta, a widow known as “the King’s whore”. What actually happened between Nesta and the king isn’t revealed until very late in the story, but the encounter prompted her father to rebel. Nesta and her sister Genith are involved in plots to revive the rebellion, but not if Marcus can prevent it. When Genith runs away with a Welsh bard, he decides that one sister will do as well as the other. In truth, he had no real interest in Genith; Nesta is the one he has wanted from the beginning.

The attraction between Marcus and Nesta is palpable and the love scenes are sensual and emotional. This is an excellent, old-fashioned historical romance with a meaty plot, good conflict and great sexual tension between the hero and heroine. I kept reading late at night wondering how Hunter was going to resolve her very complicated plot and romantic conflict. This is the first Madeline Hunter romance I’ve read, but it won’t be the last. It won a Rita award in 2003 for Best Long Historical Romance, and I recommend it to any fan of Medieval romance.

The author’s website has a great history page:  http://www.madelinehunter.com/.

Lyndi

The Book Review Club is the brain child of Tween/Teen Author Barrie Summy. Click here for more reviews.

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