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Fraternize (Players Game, #1)
Fraternize (Players Game, #1)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was a bit torn with this one. The fact that the story is mainly told between two viewpoints, until later on when a third joins in but to me that says that she's going to end up with that person. Right?

Well, not true in this one.

>It was nice to see how the twos feelings changed throughout the book, where childhood friendship and love transformed into something that makes them the closest they could be, knowing all their secrets and so on.

Sanchez grew on me a lot. To start with he was some womanising man-whore but by the end I'd really taken a liking to him and didn't blame Emerson one bit for her choice.
  
Save The Date (Square Mile Rogues #4)
Save The Date (Square Mile Rogues #4)
Sophia Soames | 2026 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
loved that neither saw the past of the other as a problem.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarain, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is my review, and I am going to be honest, ok?

In the beginning, I hated this book. It was making no sense, Oliver and Peter had a say but also a third person and I couldn't see why this other person had a say for such a long time. Worse still, the third person kept talking about "him" and a name was not used and I was getting frustrated so bad! I really considered dumping this book, I was that cross with it.

And then! I have absolutely no idea what happened, but it kept me reading and then suddenly everything made perfect sense and I actually found this a very good read in the end.

I hated (capital letters, underlined, italics and bold) absolutely hated what they did on that game show. The person in charge was a b!tch of the highest order, and just wanted ratings, she wasn't at all bothered what they did to people. Just gotta get that in! The fact that this came with a Married at First Sight style game show tag, makes me think about that show (cos I've watched it, don't judge me!) and what happens in the background on that one.

But I loved that both Peter and Oliver managed to walk away at the very right time for them both.

Opposites really do attract, and Oliver and Peter were polar opposites. I loved that neither saw the past of the other as a problem, once they actually talked about things away from the dating show. Their respective history doesn't all come out in one go and I loved being able to catch my breath before the next bit was thrown at me.

And there were some corkers thrown at me! Peter's marriage and how that worked, was one. Much of Oliver's past comes out in the book, though.

And that third person's mysterious he?? I got that so very wrong! But I loved the way it all came together, I really did.

This is the first book I've read of Ms Soames and now I know how she likes to mess things up in my head, I might venture into her world again. OH, and before I go, this book is billed as book 4 in the Square Mile Rogues series and a quick look at books one and two (cos I can't find book 3!) shows me that this can be read as a stand alone to those books. I don't think any of those main characters pop up here.

Because it took me a while to start to enjoy, . . .

4 very good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
I bought the five book box set from eBay but I plan to review the books individually because that makes the most sense.

To be honest, before this book I wasn't aware Draculaura had a step-mom. I don't believe she's ever mentioned outside this book.

I liked this story. The diaries all follow the same format (used by their later EAH counterparts) Diary entry followed by a third-person chapter and repeat. In the book, Dracula's getting married and the ghouls are visiting Translvaina for the wedding. I give the book MAJOR brownie points because it canonically takes place after Frights Camera Action one of my favorite MH movies. Of course, Draculaura is my favorite character so that helps too.

Overall an enjoyable read.
  
Jace's Trial
Jace's Trial
J.M. Wolf | 2018 | LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Jace's Trial by JM Wolf is a M/M Contemporary Romance with a May / December Romance element. JM is a new to me author as this is the first of his books that I've read. What I will say is that I was not disappointed in the least. Normally, I'm a bit more leery of first person point of views because I have a harder time being drawn into the book as opposed to third person. Jace's Trial was one of those books that I absolutely loved. Not only did it draw me in completely but it pulled at all my 'feels'. It had me crying more than once. Not just sniffling but 'ugly crying'. When you read this definitely make sure you have the tissues ready.

The story was fast paced and a roller coaster ride that I didn't want to get off of. The character development was amazing. The world development was perfect as well. The Happily Ever After at the end was sweet and perfect. Jace's trial had it all. Love, hurt, angst and loss. I definitely will be reading more from this author.

Pick up this book today and give it a try.
  
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Deborah (162 KP) rated The Tudor Wife in Books

Dec 21, 2018  
TT
The Tudor Wife
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was not bad for an 'on holiday, don't think too much about it' sort of read. I still can't say I'd go out of my way to recommend it though!

I thought the writing style was OK, but in places got a bit repetitive - towards the end I lost count of the number of times we heard "she who sows the whirlwind reaps the storm".... I never think books written in the first person work quite so well as those written in the third person anyway. This one was written from the point of view of Jane Boleyn (nee Parker), wife to George Boleyn, Anne's brother. It could have been a more interesting psychological study of this woman, but she ends up looking voyeristic and petty! The sex scenes in this book are one of the worst parts to be honest, let alone the fact that we have Jane sleeping with Cromwell and Katherine Howard and Anna of Cleves involved in a very interesting situation with a pot of honey.... it seems to be salacious just for the sake of it as it doesn't add anything!
  
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David McK (3773 KP) rated Arthur (The Arthurian Tales #3) in Books

Jun 30, 2024 (Updated Jun 30, 2024)  
Arthur (The Arthurian Tales #3)
Arthur (The Arthurian Tales #3)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the final entry in Giles Kristian's 'Arthurian Tales' trilogy, set after both 'Lancelot' and 'Camelot', and now told in the third person instead of the first person view of both those former works.

It's also the first one - I believe - to so heavily rely on flashbacks, paralleling the 'now' of the story with the background to one of the main characters Beran (whose identity I, personally, found quite easy to grok early on).

As a whole, I have to say, this trilogy is one of the best retellings of the Arthurian myths I have come across although retelling, however, may be too strong a word; perhaps a better on would be re-imagining as there's no mystical Green Knight (reimagined in 'Camelot'), search for the Holy Grails (again, see 'Camelot'), or mysterious women lying in ponds and distributing swords ("that's no basis for sound government..."), but which does cover the whole Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere love triangle (see, in particular, 'Lancelot') and the fall out thereof.

In short, all three novels are well worth a read - personally, I found I enjoyed these more than the 'Blood Eye' series by the same author.
  
The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus, #1)
The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus, #1)
Jonathan Stroud | 2003 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.6 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well.

Have you ever read any Terry Pratchett? (incidentally, one of my favourite)

The author of this surely has; in particular putting me in mind somewhat of Eric.

This, however, is set in a (fictional) London, still on planet Earth, but where magic is real and practiced by the ruling (and not very pleasant) class of Magicians, who summon magical creatures to do their dirty work.

Which is where Bartimaeus comes in: a djinni summoned by the boy would-be Magician Nathaniel (aka John) and initially bound to do his will until he discovers his masters birth name.

The story is told roughly every 2 or 3 chapters about from the perspective of both Bartimaeus (in the first person, and with tons of footnotes) himself and from that of Nathaniel (third person, no footnotes), leading up to the final chapter which flits between the both of them in the one chapter alone.

The result, I found, was an enjoyable enough read (although you do want to smack one main character in particular around the head) - I may pick up parts 2 and 3 in the series, but would not be in any great rush to do so.