#CBR5 Book 11. "One Good Earl Deserves a Lover" by Sarah Maclean

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 5 stars

Yes, I know. The title is ridiculous. There seems to be a trend in current historical romance, in particular the ones published by Avon, to have silly, punny titles. I mentioned it to my husband, who coined an absolute gem of a "so bad it's good" title, and I'm hereby claiming it as my own, as it appears no one has yet to write a novel entitled Earls Just Want to Have Fun. That one's mine, bitches. When I finally tire of teaching and decide to become the first Norwegian famous for Regency romance novels, that shall be my debut novel.

Lady Philippa "Pippa" Marbury is decidedly odd by society's standards, and has known it her entire life. She's more interested in horticulture, anatomy, physics and mathematics than gossip, fashion, balls and fancy dresses. She wears spectacles. In two weeks, she's about to marry in a lavish double ceremony with her vibrant younger sister, to a man who's perfectly nice, and more importantly, is the only one who ever thought to propose to her. As Pippa has always believed in doing thorough research and that this is the way to prepare for everything, she is in need of a research partner who can help her figure out the more puzzling aspect of married life.

She's decided that the perfect man to help her with this research is the book-keeper of her new brother-in-law's exclusive gaming hell (see A Rogue by Any Other Name). Tall, reclusive, handsome and known only as Cross, she feels he'll be able to teach her about ruination and the many mysteries of romance without any emotion getting in the way. Pippa doesn't realise that Cross' reputation as a ladies' man is extremely exaggerated, and that Cross has stayed far away from women for a very long time, plagued by his guilty conscience and desperate to atone for actions in his past. He knows nothing good can come of their interactions, and as Pippa is soon to become a Countess, it's imperative that she not be touched by so much as a whisper of scandal. Gallivanting around notorious casino, propositioning complete strangers will lead nowhere good, yet she's unlike any woman he's ever met, and convincing himself that he's keeping her out of worse trouble, he agrees to her insane plan. On the condition that all his lessons are purely theoretical, and they never touch...

As a big ol' stinking nerd, I instantly get charmed when book dedications seem aimed directly at me. Last year, Tessa Dare dedicated her A Week to Be Wicked (awesome book, by the way) to "all the girls who walk and read at the same time." Sarah Maclean dedicates this book to "girls who wear glasses". It's not like she actually wrote the book for me, but it works nonetheless. Besides, it's incredibly refreshing and rather unusual to see a romance heroine who needs glasses all the time, and can't just take them off whenever it suits the plot because they're more of a shorthand to signify bluestocking.

Pippa is a huge nerd. She's one of five sisters, and has never really felt at home among them, or in society. She's an odd one, and is never allowed to forget it. She's inquisitive and pragmatic and fiercely intelligent, but completely clueless when it comes to most social interaction. She accepted the proposal of Lord Castleton because he's a kind, if a bit simpleminded man, and because it's quite clear her mother wouldn't allow her to remain a spinster. She's honestly puzzled by her sisters' ability to feel and express strong emotions, but wants to be the best wife and mother possible, and is therefore desperate to discover what her wifely duties will actually consist of. Her younger, vibrant and extremely outgoing sister's hints about kissing with tongues and fooling around in dark corners make her mystify her, and since none of her sisters are willing to clarify, she feels Cross will be the perfect man to assist her in what she genuinely considers research.

Cross is a former rake, who is now tortured and brooding and lives his life grimly punishing himself for former misdeeds. Smarter than most people he's ever met, he has the ability to count cards, balance books, calculate odds and strategise brilliantly. He's also ginger, not something you see in romantic heroes outside of Highlander (or Irish set) romances. He tries so valiantly to push Pippa away, but she keep coming back, and with every encounter, he becomes more smitten with her. Her unusual behaviour and intelligence are the things that appeal to him the most, which is also not a very common trope in romance. Due to Cross' vow of celibacy, there's more unresolved sexual tension than actual smexy scenes, but all the buildup makes the pay-off all the more satisfying.

There's a subplot in the novel with a rival casino owner who's blackmailing Cross, which further causes him to agonise over his past and brood and generally act emotionally like a Goth teenager, but Pippa's extreme awesomeness and refusal to be diverted from her goal more than makes up for it. I also love that unlike in my beloved Courtney Milan's The Duchess War, where the heroine is also extremely smart, the resolution of the plot is actually due to Pippa's cunning and determination, and it's not seemingly forgotten about in the last third of the book. There's also further appearances of the other owners of the gaming hell, who are both clearly going to feature as heroes in future books. Based on the first two books in this series, I've now upgraded Maclean to auto-buy.

#CBR5 Book 10. "The Snow Queen" by Mercedes Lackey

Page count: 408 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Alexia lives in a snow castle in the far North and is one of many Godmothers, magically gifted individuals tasked with making sure that stories have happy outcomes rather than end tragically. The force known as Tradition will try to twist events into legendary stories, just as often as not with unhappy endings, and if no one keeps an eye out and intercedes and manipulates gently, a lot more individuals will end up in horrible messes than with happily ever afters.

Popularly known as The Snow Queen, Alexia is a Godmother especially skilled in mirror magic, and also seems to be the one in charge of "Be careful what you wish for". She has a reputation for being cold as the ice she lives among, emotionless and heartless. Only her fellow Godmothers know that this is just an act. She specialises in taking talented, selfish and arrogant young men, who Tradition, if left to run its course uninterrupted, could turn wicked and evil, away to her castle. There they're given everything they might want except company and hopefully, after weeks in icy solitude, come to discover that what they'd much rather have is the love of the pretty young girl they usually took completely for granted before Alexia showed up and swept them away in her ice sled. While the young men are taught humility and kindness, the young lady is sent on a rescue quest, where the Godmother can put enough obstacles in her path that the girl builds self-confidence and learns to fend for herself, ensuring that she won't let her arrogant beloved treat her as a doormat once they are reunited.

While acting out yet another variation of the above drama, Alexia discovers that someone else in the North is claiming to be the Snow Queen, and has left death and destruction in her wake, and seems to be kidnapping young men. Eager to clear her name quickly, lest Tradition turn any number of Heroes and Champions onto her doorstep eager to kill her and avenge the crimes of this other woman, Alexia needs to leave her remote palace and take a much more active part in proceedings than she's used to.

In alternating chapters, the book follows Alexia, but also two women determined to track down the false Snow Queen and rescue a young man. Annouka and Kaari, mother and fiancee to the last victim of the impostor, have magics of their own, and are not content to accept that he is lost to them. They set out on a quest to rescue the young man, and eventually meet up with Alexia, joining forces to achieve their goals.

This is the fourth in Lackey's 500 Kingdoms series, where she takes elements of various fairy tales, folk tales and various myths and re-imagines them into new and entertaining stories. The books are stand alone, and can be read out of order, but the story device of the Tradition and the Godmothers  is very well set up in the first book of the series, The Fairy Godmother, so anyone confused by aspects of this one, or interested in starting at the beginning, would do well to pick that one up. Enjoyable as this and several of the others I've read are, I don't think any of them are quite as much fun as that one.

#CBR5 Book 9. "Ever After" by Kim Harrison

Page count: 448 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

SPOILER WARNING! This is book 11 in a series, and as such, not the best place to start reading Ms. Harrison's books. This review may contain spoilers for earlier books in the series, so if you're new to this author, skip this review, and go start at the beginning with Dead Witch Walking. You can come back and read this review once you've worked your way through books 1-10. It'll still be here.

Just as Rachel Morgan thinks that she's finally starting to get a semblance of stability in her life again, something comes along to turn everything on its head again. As various human and witch authorities stop trying to hound, trap and/or kill her due to her unique genetic abilities, Rachel finds herself on trial in the Ever After, the demon realm parallel to our own. The Ever After is rapidly shrinking, and the majority of the demons feel it's all Rachel's fault. She has only a few days to prove that it's a setup by the psychotic and extremely powerful Ku' Sox (who kills people and eats their souls for fun), who's tampered with the rift where the realm appears to be leaking, and on top of everything, he's kidnapped Rachel's goddaughter Lucy and her friend Ceri. Ku' Sox claims that the rift will close automatically once Rachel is killed, but Rachel knows that with the destruction of the Ever After, no one would have the power to control him.

So Rachel needs to stop Lucy's father (her former nemesis Trent Kalamack) from doing something incredibly rash to try to rescue his daughter, fix the leaking ley line, clear her name by proving that Ku' Sox set her up, rescue Lucy and Ceri, and try to figure out what the heck seems to be going on with between her and Trent, all in four days. If she fails, she will be killed, the Ever After will dissolve, all non-human and elven magic will stop working and Ku' Sox will become unstoppable. With her demon teacher Al out of commission and Trent unable to interfere because his daughter being held hostage, she's going to have to sort things out on her own, with only an adolescent gargoyle and a pixie to help.

Kim Harrison has said that there will be 13 books in The Hollows series, and it's clear that she's starting to move the story lines towards the conclusion of the series, slowly but surely giving the readers some indication of where the various characters are going to end up. She's not quite tied up all the loose ends yet, and this book shows that she still has surprises up her sleeve to keep loyal readers on their toes, but it's nice to know that things are building towards a finale, and a hopeful happy ending for Rachel and her friends.

Rachel has come such a long way from the beginning of the series, and she's constantly discovering that things are never as black and white as she once thought they were. In this book, she has to face some incredibly dangerous and tense situations, mostly completely unaided by any of her many friends and allies. Fans of Algaliarept, her sarcastic demon teacher, will be happy to hear that he's a lot more prominent in this story than in the last few, and as I've been a huge fan of Trent, even when he was a loathsome antagonist in some of the earlier books, it's so refreshing to see the relationship between him and Rachel changing into one of tentative understanding and trust.

If you've read and enjoyed the previous ten books in this series, this one will provide action and tension and a couple of shocking and really very unexpected losses. I stayed up until the early hours of the morning to finish it, and actually cheered at parts of the very dramatic final quarter of the book. I'm very excited about the direction Harrison seems to be taking the series in, and hope that it's not just some clever double bluff.

#CBR5 Book 8: "Cinderella's Secret Diary: Lost" by Ron Vitale

Page count: 197 pages
Rating: 2 stars

We all know the story of Cinderella, right? Stepmother, evil step-sisters, forced to work as a lowly servant, Fairy Godmother, magical shoes and dress, meets the Prince at the ball, falls in insta-love, loses shoe, Prince finds her again thanks to magical shoe only fitting her of all the girls in all the land, and then they live happily ever after. Like that...or possibly not.

What if some years into their marriage, the Prince is more interested in hunting, carousing, flirting with other ladies and sowing his wild oats? The Queen, his mother is unhappy about the lack of heirs being conceived  and while Cinderella (actually name Sophia) is a princess, she is constantly lonely and frequently reminded of her lowly background. She dreams of re-kindling that first spark of love with her husband, and also wants to go to Paris and see the world.

This book is set in the 1700s, around the time of Napoleon's rise to power. Cinderella writes almost daily in her diary, pouring out her woes and hoping that her Fairy Godmother will return and make her life a better place again. The Queen agrees to send her and her companion Clarissa to France, to see a witch who might help Cinderella conceive an heir, and they stay in a chateau outside Paris with Josephine (yup, that one, Napoleon's wife). There's a handsome young nobleman named Henri who catches both the ladies' eye, and talk of magic and witchcraft and a Silver Fox who is also King of the Faeries, and mysteries surrounding the death of Cinderella's mother.

When I read the synopsis for the book, this seemed to be right up my alley. I'm a huge fan of most things even vaguely fairy tale related, and love a good reinterpretation of fairy tales and myths. A sequel of sorts to Cinderella grounding it in actual history? Sounds cool. Unfortunately, I thought the first half of the book was a tedious drag, and the second half (once the identity of the Fairy Godmother's been revealed) was a confusing mess. I see what the author was trying to do, and I suspect he's trying to empower Cinderella to make her own choices and show how strong and independent she is. Unfortunately, I think she mostly came across as a sad-sack whiner, painfully naive and downright stupid a lot of the time. She kept refusing to heed the warnings of those around her, she made countless incredibly foolish decisions and as the whole book is written in first person diary entries from her POV, you don't really get a handle of any of the other characters in any great depth.

I thought her initial actions in France were foolish in the extreme, and while she shows some courage and bravery in choosing a harder path once she's forced to make certain choices, I still didn't like her all that much, as she kept blundering into new and dangerous situations due to her complete lack of common sense and thought to the consequences of her actions. The only reason I'm giving this two stars is because some of the ideas in this book were good, and could probably have turned out ok, I just really didn't like the execution of them much. I spent far more time being bored or frustrated when reading this book than impressed and liking it, which is a shame, because the premise was very intriguing.

Disclaimer! I was given a free copy of this book in return for reviewing it. Thanks to Ron Vitale, but based on this, I'm not sure I'll be trying any more of your books. 

#CBR5 Book 7. "Warbreaker" by Brandon Sanderson

Page count: 676 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Brandon Sanderson is an author I first discovered when he got the job completing The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Having long ago given up on Robert Jordan (seriously, book seven pretty much turned any love I had for that series into ashes), I wasn't really bothered at first, but the internet kept saying such wonderful things about Sanderson's own writing, and I decided to try his Mistborn trilogy (reviewed all the way back in 2009 - use the search function if you're interested). While I have absolutely no interest in his fan fic completion of Jordan's books (it's fan fiction even if it's based on Jordan's notes and authorised by his estate, don't try to convince me of anything else), I have become a huge fan of his other books. The fact that he writes entertaining books, frequently stand alone (always a plus, but oh so rare, when reading fantasy) and is terrifyingly prolific has endeared him greatly to me. He was also super sweet and unfailingly patient and polite at the signing where I met him, making me a huge fan of his. Warbreaker is one of his stand alone novels, and it's not exactly made me like him less.

In the country of Hallandren, those who die in glory are Returned and worshipped as gods in the colourful palaces of the capital city. In the neighbouring mountain kingdom of Idris, the people believe the worship of these Returned is heretical, that the people of Hallandren are decadent and frivolous, and it is considered virtuous to live as spartan and simple a life as possible. The priesthood of Hallandren consider the people of Idris breakaway rebels, as historically speaking, both countries were one. The threat of war is looming, and hoping to save his people, the King of Idris signed a treaty that when his eldest daughter, Vivenna, reached the age of 22, a princess of Idris would be sent to Hallandren to marry the God King and sire him an heir, thus reuniting the royal lines of the two ancient kingdoms.

Vivenna embodies all that is seen as ideal in Idris. She is calm, reserved, courteous, proper and has known since she was a child that she is to be sent as a sacrifice to marry the God King and hopefully save her kingdom from war. So when her father decides to send her youngest sister, Siri, to Hallandren instead, everyone is shocked. With her brother being groomed as the next king, Vivenna having trained to become the Hallandren queen, and the third princess having become a monk (as is traditional) to serve the people, Siri has always been the redundant one, who was allowed to run free, who chafed at the teachings of her tutors and who rebelled against everything. Now she is facing a future she is wholly unprepared for. With Siri being sent away to marry the God King, suddenly Vivenna is the redundant and useless one. She resolves to be rebellious for the first time in her life, and follows her sister to Hallandren, determined to rescue her from being married to what must be a terrifying monster.

In Hallandren, Lightbringer the Bold is one of the many Returned gods, worshipped by the people, living a pampered existence in the capital. Like all other Returned, he doesn't age, he will never get sick, he is worshipped by the populace - and he is terribly bored. Constantly questioning the established tenets of Hallandren religion, Lightbringer baffles and frustrates many of his fellow gods with his flippant and irreverent attitude. He tries to avoid getting involved in politics, but when some of his fellow gods claim that the presence of a new queen makes a war inevitable, he feels he has no choice but to get involved.

There is also Vasher, a mysterious and very powerful man with a sentient (and very funny) sword. His motives and ultimate goals are unclear, but he is clearly older than he seems, and very invested in stopping a war between the two countries from breaking out.

While somewhat uneven in its pacing, Warbreaker is a very entertaining novel. One of the very impressive things about Sanderson is his wealth of imagination, and his ability to create such diverse and different fantasy worlds. In his various novels he creates complex and fascinating societies and magic systems, multi-faceted characters and while his writing certainly has some flaws, his books are always worth checking out just for the scope of the creativity on display. In this book, there are the two ancient nations on the brink of war, originally united, but separated after a devastating war in the past, that also caused an apparent religious schism. Idris and Hallandren are vastly different, with religion being only one aspect of the difference.

The narrative switches between the point of view of the four protagonists, which is a device used by a lot of writes, probably most famously George R. R. Martin. It makes the action move forward faster, but also means that occasionally you want to skip ahead to follow your "favourites". To begin with, my favourite was probably Lightbringer, but by the end, it was probably a tie between Vasher and Vivenna (who totally starts out being the most dislikable of the four).

Vivenna sees Hallandren as vulgar and decadent, and is deeply sceptical and prejudiced. She had prepared herself for the great sacrifice that she was going to make for her country and people, and when that is taken away from her, she convinces herself that she must save her sister, when in reality she's really just looking for a new purpose and identity for herself. Everything she's been brought up for has been taken away from her, and she's completely adrift and doesn't deal well with it. Vivenna starts out as really rather insufferable, pious and narrow-minded when she first arrives in Hallandren. She's probably the character who experiences the most over the course of the book, though, and grows and develops most satisfyingly.

Any fan of historical fantasy should give Sanderson a try. If you don't like the Mistborn books, where the first one is by far the best, there's always Elantris or this, or his new series (rumoured to be a ten book epic) starting with The Way of Kings.

#CBR5 Book 6. "Crown of Embers" by Rae Carson

Page count: 416 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

This book is the second book in the Fire and Thorns trilogy. While this review is unlikely to contain big spoilers for the previous book in the series, this book really doesn't work well on its own, and it would be better if you started at the beginning with The Girl of Fire and Thorns.

Now the widowed queen of a constantly besieged country, Elisa is doing her best to be a better ruler than her weak and cowardly former husband, but as she's still only seventeen, and not exactly experienced as a ruler, she's not having an easy job of it. The only people she can trust implicitly are her closest servants and Hector, the head of her Royal guard.

The power hungry sorcerer priests from the neighbouring country are demanding that she surrender herself to them as a willing sacrifice, or they will continue to threaten and attack her people. The political situation in her country is fraught and vulnerable with external threats and internal strife. Her Royal Council are demanding that she find a husband as quickly as possible, to prevent a possible Civil War. Too bad that the only man she really likes is Hector, who is sworn to guard her with his own life, and her older sister (the Crown Princess of another neighbouring country) is approaching for a possible marriage alliance.

After being attacked and nearly killed in her own palace, it's clear that the sorcerer priests are not Elisa's only worry. She needs to learn to control the power of the God-stone in her belly, and try to decipher the many prophecies to discover what great destiny lies in store for her. She discovers that she needs to go on a dangerous quest to the southern islands of her realm, where a great power will allegedly be available for the Chosen One who can survive the challenges of getting there.

Can she fool her Royal Council for long enough to get away, dodge the assassins out to kill her, postpone making any decisions about marriage treaties for herself or Hector, and succeed in finding the legendary zafira, which will give her power enough to take on an army of sorcerers?

The Elisa of this book is a year older, rather a lot more experienced in guerrilla warfare and somewhat wiser. She is still woefully ill-equipped to rule an entire country, especially one as politically unstable as the one she has found herself the Queen of. There are all manner of people trying to kill her, some of them are even courtiers at her own Court, possibly even members of her Royal Council, plotting to usurp her. She desperately wants to do a good job, but her self-doubt and insecurities cause her to keep making little mistakes that escalate into minor disasters.

She is forced to admit that she's in love with the head of her Royal Guard, despite the fact that an alliance between them would be political suicide. She needs to gain strength and consolidate her power, and has no choice but to set off on a dangerous journey with mostly her few loyal retainers as company. The situation Elisa is in is pretty depressing, all the way through the book, but she manages surprisingly well, all things considered. Her close friendship with her maid Mara is lovely, and the supporting cast are still very good and interestingly morally complex.

Elisa continues to be a character I enjoy reading about, and she learns a lot over the course of this book. The book ends on rather a dramatic cliffhanger, and I can't wait to see what's in store for her and her friends in the (hopefully) final book of this series.

#CBR5 Book 5. "Firelight" by Kristen Callihan

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Miranda Ellis has the power to start fires, but when she was ten years old, she wasn't very good at controlling it, and accidentally set her father's warehouse on fire, causing him to lose most of his money. He's never really forgiven her, and forces her to pick pockets and steal to supplement the family income. It also means that he has no scruples about promising her hand in marriage to an enraged nobleman whose cargo he stole while he was a thriving businessman.

Lord Benjamin Archer is an unbelievably wealthy, but cursed man, forever changed in a botched supernatural accident. Formerly a member of an elite gentleman's club, he's been travelling the world for decades looking for a cure for his malady. He never appears outside without gloves and a mask, and there are any number of terrifying rumours about him. Having first set eyes on Miranda after rescuing her from an attack in an alley, he becomes instantly drawn to her, and spares her father's life and forgives his debt if he agrees to the match. When his spies reveal that Miranda is forced to steal to survive, he returns to London to claim her as his bride, assuring himself that she is better off with him than with her careless father.

Shortly after their wedding, Archer is accused of the grisly murder of one of his former friends and club members. Miranda is convinced that her husband is innocent (having connected the mysterious hooded stranger who rescued her all those years ago with the masked man who insisted on marrying her), but he refuses to share the details of his past and his disfigurement, and mostly keeps far away from her. As her attraction to her husband grows, Miranda becomes determined to clear his name, and discover the truth about his curse, once and for all.

Things I liked:
- Miranda is not a blushing virgin when she gets married, and Archer doesn't explode in a fit of jealous rage when he discovers this fact
- Miranda has a cool power, and is generally a fairy engaging heroine
- Lord Archer's curse turns out to be a lot more complicated and cooler than I thought at first
- Archer is not as overbearing and dominant and douchy alpha male as a lot of romance heroes

Things I thought could have been expanded on:
- Some of the world building felt a bit rushed, and there was a little bit too much of the secret club shenanigans that wasn't clearly explained, even after the reveal of what the curse actually was
- There was a little bit too much tell, and not enough show in this book
- If Miranda is going to use her alleged mastery with a sword at the climax of the book, you might want to spend a bit more time setting up her abilities than one brief practise session with her childhood friend at the beginning, and a mention in passing of said abilities later in the book
- I would have liked the book to give me a bit more substance to the romance between Archer and Miranda. I can get behind insta-attraction, some people are just super hot. But near-instant everlasting love is harder for me to accept, especially when I've not been given anything to suggest why these two people love each other. Want to have sex, sure, but building a marriage lasting a lifetime. No.

I did still mostly like the book, and hopefully Callihan's writing will become more polished with time. The next two books in the series are about Miranda's older sisters, both introduced in this book, and I was definitely intrigued enough by this book to want to check those out.