Location
The Bradford Trilogy, Book #2
Heat Factor: There’s one vaguely uncomfortable blow job
Character Chemistry: That feeling when you have flutters about someone new but you’re not sure if they reciprocate
Plot: Simon is investigating a murder, and Walter’s close friend is the primary suspect. Also, oh shit, there’s a demon.
Overall: Everything is very stiff upper lip; I liked the serenity in the midst of chaos.
Heat Factor: Well hello, on page sex, I did not expect to see you here
Character Chemistry: Uh, grumpy cynic is soft for tortured cinnamon roll. YES PLEASE
Plot: The relics are BACK! With an aura-sucking vampire paranormal, a rude English Viscount who finds himself in the middle of a situation he knows nothing about, and a Puerto Rican nullification magic paranormal who has an overdeveloped sense of responsibility and a tragic past
Overall: I am so delighted I might go back and read Magic in Manhattan all over again so I can get some more vibes
Hey you! Yeah, you!
Are you feeling Grinchy right about now?
Would you like your heart to grow three sizes?
Yes?
Then please go read A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong immediately. It might be the perfect Christmas romance. It’s utterly charming and includes just enough of the obligatory “let’s do Christmas cheer” activities without being twee. It features two protagonists for whom *everything* goes wrong (#relatable, what’s up 2021!), but things end up just right in the end (and my heart goes pitter-pat).
I agree with everything Erin wrote about the characterizations in her review. What she doesn’t discuss is how crisp the writing is. Not just on the level of plot and characterization—because the way Grant builds up the tension between these two crazy lovebirds is masterful—but also on the level of word choice.
Here are the first two paragraphs:
The trouble, Andrew Blackshear would later reflect, might have all been avoided if he’d simply kept to the main road. His first glimpse of the girl would then have been indoors, seated, with her hair bound tidily back, and their first dialogue would have been an inquisition so tedious as to temper the allure of those great swooping clean-edged curves that made up her prodigal mouth.
But with no way of knowing what lay in store, he hadn’t any reason to avoid the detour. The clouds broke above him, he turned down a lane whose towering yews promised a bit of shelter, and trouble found him, in torrents that put the winter squall to shame.
“Trouble found him, in torrents that put the winter squall to shame.” Just sit and savor that clause. I am egregiously bad at text analysis, so I can’t explain how amazing it is, but I can feel it, in my guts.
Look, both Erin and I thought this book was really really wonderful. You should probably just trust us. (Read on for Erin’s thoughts on the characters, plus general squeeing.)
Continue reading “Review Revisited: Holly’s Take on A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong by Cecilia Grant (2014)”Advertisements for Love, Book #1
Heat Factor: Everything is very proper; the door is firmly closed.
Character Chemistry: Ewan is too obtuse to have chemistry with anyone.
Plot: Dueling flower farms + Widow must protect her child + First love back from the dead + Battles over an inheritance + Newspaper advertisements for a husband
Overall: I haven’t been this angry about a hero in a long time.
Heat Factor: It’s deeply satisfying and has well-paced burn-y bits
Character Chemistry: Oh my god, the chemistry in all four of these love stories almost killed me. Killed me dead.
Plot: The Revelry is a major social event at the Duke of Greystoke’s country estate. Anyone who is anyone, is there. During this event, four couples find their way to happily-ever-after while getting through social hurdles and failing marriages, and dashed dreams…sigh.
Overall: This has to be the absolute best anthology I’ve read to date based on how many times I cried, and laughed, and laugh/cried, and scared my children with my book feelings.
The Smut Report 