Book Review: Fortune’s Flower by Anthea Lawson

 

Series: Book 1 in the ‘Passport to Love’.

“Being pursued is not so enviable when it is your mother selecting the pursuers.” ~~ Anthea Lawson (Book: Fortune’s Flower)

‘Fortune’s Flower’ is the second book in the box-set ‘Wicked Temptations.'

I didn’t like the first book in the box-set ‘Viscount's Christmas Temptation by Erica Ridley’. It’s passionless story and I was skeptical of reading any other story.

As I don’t have a good experience reading books from box-sets.

Anyway, let’s find out more about ‘Fortune’s Flower by Anthea Lawson’…..

Genre: Historical Romance.

Main Characters: Lily Strathmore, James Huntington.

‘Fortune’s Flower by Anthea Lawson’ ~~ Synopsis:

Lily loves to paint, especially botanical illustrations. If it were possible she’d have devoted her life to painting the specimens. But that’s not possible.

She’s already late in securing a good match and on the verge of becoming a spinster. It’s something that worries her mother a great deal, but not Lily.

Lily is happily looking forward to the upcoming expedition she’s going on with her Uncle’s family. She feels understood and belonged when with her Uncle’s family, who encourages her passion for her craft, unlike her parents.

But Lily knows that sooner or later she’d have to face her mother and her matching-making schemes. Lily has yet to meet any of the matches that haven’t bored her. The guys her mother chooses only seem to have status and money.

She wouldn’t mind becoming spinsters if her mother continued to find the most boring matches for her. But her aunt paints a grim reality of becoming a spinster and staying with her parents for the rest of her life.

The thought of spending her life with her unbearable mother is even more dreadful than spending it with some snotty bore.

So Lily decides to bargain with her parents: they would allow her to go on her last adventure trip with her Uncle’s family and she’d marry whoever they want her to when she returns without complaints.

That makes her parents happy and Lily begins to prepare for the journey ahead. Until…

James shows up at her Uncle’s home and changes everything.

James and his sister became orphan at a young age and went to live with their Uncle. Their Uncle welcomed them in his family, but not his son, Reggie, who didn’t like their presence.

James does not have the wealth of his own and his uncle is sure that once Reggie inherit the title, their life would become miserable.

So James uncle sends James on a quest to find the lost journals of his grandfather. His grandfather was a botanist and had discovered a new specimen of flower, but could not have bought it back with him.

James agrees as he’s also eager to leave London for a while after a duel gone wrong.

James visit one of the friends of his grandfather, Lily’s Uncle and is surprised to find that the elderly man is ready to help him.

There’s only one trouble: James would have to travel with the man’s entire family that also includes someone he would rather stay away from.

The moment James met Lily, he felt attracted to her. But he knows it would lead nowhere as her family would never allow her to marry someone who has nothing to offer.

He’s also no longer a naïve young man, who once thought love was enough. He’s sure Lily would never choose him over status in the society. But he can’t stop thinking about having a future with her.

So when he finds out that Lily would not be traveling with them. He’s relieved.

James arrival almost changed Lily’s plan. She does not want to be near him and feel tempted as she once did before & make a fool of herself.

But staying behind with her mother and preparing for a wedding she does not want, is not something Lily can endure for long.

Soon it becomes evident Lily is not the only one, who will test James patience. As it turns out his envious cousin decides to follow him on his expedition as well. And the adventure begins. 

 

“Life without a husband is better, in my estimation than life with the wrong husband.” ~~ Anthea Lawson (Book: Fortune’s Flower)

Review:

‘Fortune’s Flower’ is an amazing story! I loved reading it.

Lily & James characters are interesting along with them the secondary characters. At one time I was wondering if Lily’s cousin would have a story too. She’s quite like Lily.

I’m still quite confused about its title.

Hit or Miss: Hit.

Ratings: 4stars/5.

Buy: Amazon  |  iTunes

Happy Reading!

 

Book Review: The CEO Buys In By Nancy Herkness

Series: Book One In The 'Wager Of Hearts'.

 “When it comes to people, pride is nothing but a high, wide wall you build between yourself and the ones you love.” ~~ Nancy Herkness (Book: The CEO Buys In)

The space for another book became available in my KU library. When I decided not to continue with a time-consuming serial I was reading. It felt as if that author's trying to milk the story until readers have no patience left for that story.

So out goes the nonsense and comes in its place what my instincts insisted would be a good read. I have been fooled into thinking just that on many occasions before, but I never stop judging a book by its cover.

Let’s see if ‘The CEO Buys In’ is as interesting as I ended up thinking….

Genre: Contemporary Romance.

Main Characters: Chloe Russell; Nathan Trainor.

‘The CEO Buys In By Nancy Herkness’ ~~ Synopsis:

Nathan has everything one could desire. Except someone who loves him for himself and not for the money he makes. After meeting his latest lady love....

Nathan thought, he’s found the one woman, who doesn’t need him in any manner to advance her career. She’s independent, successful and forging ahead in her career all by herself. But he soon finds out how she'd planned and executed, what to him, seemed like a chanced meeting.

To dump his dating woes in a drink, he visits an exclusive club, only for the self-made billionaires. The owner of the club started it when she’s denied entry into the established ones.

In the club, he meets two other bachelors, a player & a writer, with similar woes and experiences. One of them suggests, they make a bet to find love within a year or lose something valuable, if they failed. All three agrees and goes their way.

In the morning, Nathan wonders if making that bet was a mistake as he's a busy man. But taking care of business comes first instead of worrying about a silly wager.

Chloe just about survives on the salary she gets from working for the startups. But she keeps choosing only startups and work as a temporary employee. The reason is she dislikes big corporations.  

But lately, she's wondering about earning good money. So she'd hire someone to stay with her grandmother in her absence. Chloe doesn't want her grandmother to move into an elderly home.

When she gets a chance to work as an executive assistant, for Nathan's company, until his permanent PA recovers from the flu, Chloe agrees. After all, it’s only for a few days and the pay is good. Just Chloe’s luck, Nathan catches the flu and under the fever's haze gets fixated on having her around.

Chloe sympathizes with Nathan's condition. But she’s not a nurse, so it makes no sense to stay with him while he’s hallucinating. When his doctor-cum-friend raises her salary, if she humors Nathan until the fever comes down, Chloe agrees.

She resolves to leave as soon as possible. But before she knows it, she gets entangled in Nathan’s world.

Nathan's first impression of Chloe: she can't take care of his assistant's job, not even for the weekend. He's surprised to find, Chloe’s quite good at her job, maybe better. But none of that explains her presence in his home.

Nathan is a workaholic, so he soon figures out a way to around not being able to attend the office. Since Chloe is around too, his plan to work from home will work just fine. Chloe refuses at first to work at his place. But added bonus makes her say yes to the new arrangement once again.

Nathan finds a chink in her armor & isn't sorry to exploit it. He begins to wonder why Chloe needs so much money, when she doesn't come across someone fixed on it.

Chloe refuses to tell him as she doesn’t want him in her world. At first Nathan insists, Chloe stays around because of the work.  

But soon he realizes he likes her company and her as well, even if it seems like she's running after money. He’s determined to find out the reason, whether she wants to tell it or not.

He begins to make time for her and make her life easy. Soon begins the game of seduction and Chloe begins to fall for him.

Every time he does something special for her, Chloe tries to remember the short-term nature of their affair. She tries to keep him in his world, far away from hers.

The more she tries to stop him from entering her normal world, the more determined Nathan becomes. Chloe knows how unrealistic their relationship is and it's time to stop before someone gets hurt.

Review:

I loved it! I had expectations from this book just after reading the title and the blurb. The story is exciting and engaging. Both Nathan and Chloe are amazing together.

I like Chloe's character as she's tough and not scared of Nathan just because he's rich. And she negotiates like she'd give classes on how to do it right.  

The author has given new life to the same old idea. I wasn't expecting the story to be funny, but some scenes are, at least for a while.

It's one of those times, when I have nothing against believing instant love or quick HEA at the end. That has everything to do with the author's writing and memorable characters with a story that flows effortlessly.  

“When someone you love depends on you, you can’t always make the decisions you want to make.” ~~ Nancy Herkness (Book: The CEO Buys In)

Hit Or Miss: Hit!

Ratings: 4.5 stars/5.

Buy: Amazon 

Happy Reading!

 

 

Book Review: From Good Guy to Groom by Tracy Madison

 

Series: Book 6 in ‘The Colorado Fosters’.

“Love isn’t easy, but when it’s right….when you know deep in your gut that you’ve found the right woman, leaving words unsaid will haunt you. Every damn minute of every damn day.” ~~ Tracy Madison (Book: From Good Guy to Groom)

Sometimes I end up taking a dislike to a title for reasons unknown. This book is one such book. I’d not find anything wrong with it, but all I thought about was – meh could’ve been better?

Anyway, let’s find out a little about the story of ‘From Good Guy to Groom’…

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Mills and Boon.

Main Characters: Andrea Caputo, Ryan Bradshaw.

‘From Good Guy to Groom by Tracy Madison’ ~~ Synopsis:

After getting injured in the hospital shooting, trauma nurse Andi is looking forward to spending a few months away from her job to recover emotionally & physically.

Andi doesn’t like to advertise that it’s not just her leg that got injured in the shooting. But she’s also having trouble overcoming the death of her mentor on that day.

Her inability to move away from the incident emotionally is giving her sleepless nights. All the sleepless nights are not helping her recover as soon as she wants to.

That’s one reason she moves to Steamboat Springs to recover in peace and away from the scary memories.

The physical therapist Andi has chosen to see for the treatment is not ready to let her get away with not revealing how she’s fairing emotionally.

Andi doesn’t want to share with the therapist her emotional struggles after the incident and the fact that she’s not sleeping well since that day.

Ryan moved to Steamboat Springs after his breakup and with the desire to start his life afresh near his family. He loves his new practice and the slow pace of the small town.

When he meets his new patient Andi, it’s clear that it’s not just her leg that needs healing. But his new patient is too stubborn and not ready to discuss what’s bothering her.

Ryan has seen more than his share of stubborn patients and he’s ready to wait till Andi feels comfortable enough to tell him more. They have a few months, so there’s no need to pressure her to share what’s bothering her.

While he’s busy treating her, Ryan begins to like Andi and wonders if he’s making another mistake by falling for his patient. It didn’t work out the first time. He surely needs time to figure it out.

Andi can see Ryan is a dedicated professional who wants to help her recover. Maybe in time she would share with him what’s bothering her the most. What to do with their pesky attraction?

She is like him all too aware that it’s too easy to fall for someone helping you recover. Are their feelings for each other real or just infatuation?

Review:

I don’t have much to say about this unbearably boring story. Maybe I should have allowed the boring title of the book to cue me about what’s to follow inside.

Let’s talk about characters: Andrea and Ryan. Ryan is too good to be true even for a fictional character. What shall I say about Andrea’s character?

Apparently, she’s self-reliant and independent. So much so that she doesn’t understand that when a patient asks for a help from a doctor or caregiver like Ryan, he/she is not being needy or dependent.

Her definition of independence is all about hiding what’s keeping her from moving on from a horrible incident in her life.

Anyone would understand some form of reluctance in a patient to discuss everything with a doctor frankly. But Andi crosses the line one too many times to get the benefit of the doubt.

This character comes across as not independent, but someone who is needlessly hooked onto drama and dragging others with her, in this case, Ryan.

In real like, doctors or therapists are not there to catch you when you are about to fall flat on your face from the exhaustion (due to your own fault) then why it should be like that in fiction.

Oh… I know…because its fiction and hero’s main job is to catch the heroine? I hated the overuse of ‘Oh and Oh’.

But is it necessary to make her seem supremely stupid? If this character was truly independent then she would have understood that to maintain that independence she should do everything to get well soon. She’s also a nurse, so her attitude towards her own health made no sense.

Then there are too many boring secondary characters to increase the length of already yawn worthy story. Also, there are no emotions. 

 

 “It’s smarter to rely on your own capabilities than expect other people to save the day or pick up the slack or whatever.” ~~ Tracy Madison (Book: From Good Guy to Groom)

 

Hit or Miss: Miss.

Ratings: 1star/5.

Buy:  Amazon      |     iTunes

Happy Reading!

 

 

 

Book Review: Music of the Night by Nancy Herkness

“The compulsion to create cannot be stopped, no matter what obstacles you put in its way.” ~~ Nancy Herkness (Book: Music of the Night)

When you cannot decide which book to download to fill your Kindle Unlimited quota, going with yet another book of an author whose books you liked before, makes perfect sense.

I was a bit apprehensive about this one, but then I remembered reading ‘Shower of Stars’ and downloaded it without further internal debate. Even if I’d not like it, it’s okay. You cannot like someone’s all stories.

Let’s see how the adventure of reading ‘Music of the Night’ turned out…

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense.

Main Characters: Anna Salazar, Nickolas Vranos.

‘Music of the Night by Nancy Herkness’ ~~ Synopsis:

Detective Lieutenant Anna meets the world renowned conductor Nicholas when she begins the investigation of the murder of his close friend French horn player.

The tall, dark conductor is on top of Anna and her partner’s suspect list as Nicholas at best seems elusive. His presence at the murder scene makes him a suspect at least. Their theory is maybe due to some personal or professional reasons, he did it.

Nicholas is not just a suspect but also someone who could help the detectives navigate the world of music without much trouble. He also offers to give them easy access to people known to the victim.

He only has one condition -- he wants to be part of the investigation and want to know how the case is proceeding.

Anna and her partner are wary of Nicholas and his offered help, but they need it nonetheless, whether the smooth talking conductor is a murderer or not is something yet to be decided.

There’s another witness, but how much help that one could provide is questionable, considering she seems hysterical at times.

Nicholas is not worried about being the number one suspect. The more pressing matter for him is to find out the reason why his friend was killed.

Its true his late best friend was known to make an enemy or two at times, but Nicholas is sure none would be stupid enough to ruin their careers in such a fashion.  

Could it be for the piece of paper he found in his friend’s hand? When should he hand over the paper to the detectives?

It becomes clear to Anna that they do indeed need Nicholas help. Also, some past personal information does give Nicholas, at least, some motive to kill his friend.

So Anna goes to question him and gets caught up in the web of his seduction. It seems all the mayhem and chaos is because of a piece of paper that’s supposed to be part of Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony.

Soon freaky accidents begin to happen and Anna begins to wonder if Nicholas is the suspect or the next target. 

Review:

I liked Anna & Nickolas. They are very different characters and for a while I was not sure about them. Then I realized that I was reading an already written story, no need to stress how it’d all come together in the end.

Anna & Nicholas are so different, yet the author manages to make you believe that it’d work between them.

Everything comes out fine in the end and there is a sort of HEA, it’s just not convincing as I couldn’t stop thinking if they would work out in real life. 

Anyways, let’s move on to the murder mystery angle.

I liked the murder mystery that’s going on. It’s exciting trying to find the killer. But the worst part was I couldn’t catch the killer this time -- maybe next time.

Despite it being interesting and all, I found my interest waning at times. The author’s writing style is engaging as ever – that’s what made me continue reading till the end, whether I believed in something or not.

You may like it, if you’re looking for a Romance Novel with interesting characters and a murder case to solve.

Hit or Miss: Hit.

Ratings: 3stars/5.

Buy:  Amazon 

Happy Reading!