Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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A trio of historical book club reads

A Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

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I’ve read three excellent historical romances this year thanks to The Ripped Bodice’s book clubs. First up was my first Lisa Kleypas novel, A Devil in Winter, part of her popular Wallflower series. In this entry, said wallflower Evie propositions a right scoundrel to marry her. A veritable playboy, Sebastian isn’t most women’s first choice. However, the devilishly handsome viscount will keep her terrible relatives away from her. As he needs money, he reluctantly agrees and whisks her away to Scotland to be wed. Through […]

The cook and the case of the missing children

Murder in the East End by Jennifer Ashley

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This is book four in the Below Stairs series by Jennifer Ashley, set in Victorian England.  The series is unique in that the focus is on Kat Holloway, a cook in a grand house in Mayfair – an upstairs/downstairs premise that gives you a look into the workings of a large kitchen in that time period.  She is intelligent and resourceful, and her quick thinking has saved many a meal when the upstairs folk demand a menu change at the last minute.   But of course, […]

The madness of me, reading this book

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2.5 stars This book tried my patience. I started off loving it — I liked that the heroine was an independent, wealthy widow who had loved her husband and had a seemingly healthy relationship with sex. I was intrigued by the hero, who has savant tendencies and is on the spectrum. I bought their initial attraction. Everything was going just fine. And then the plot happened. Like, omg, so much plot. There is a murder, that is connected to another murder, and the hero is […]

Horse Puckey – A Historical Romance

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Lovehating Jennifer Ashley’s books continues to be my romance reading pleasurannoyance. This entry into her Victorian Mackenzie series (listed below) isn’t even a kissing book, A Mackenzie Clan Gathering is a story about her most popular hero as the writer cashes in on the success of her novels. I don’t begrudge her that, a woman’s got to eat. HOWEVER, right off the top, I am saying it: I don’t believe that Jennifer Ashley wrote this book. I think it was ghostwritten. There were telltale stylistic […]

Historical Romance with a Foxy Mary Poppins

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“Foxy Mary Poppins!” is as far as I got in my review last October and it does really say it all about this entry in Jennifer Ashley’s frequently overwrought, yet personally strangely compelling and habit-forming, Mackenzie historical romance series. I read ALL of her Mackenzie stories and yet I don’t recommend any of them. I lovehate them. Why both? Because Ashley excels at moments of sincere romance while simultaneously over-plotting her novels, thus turning them into melodrama. They have gotten better in time, but Rules […]



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