Category: Romance
Short Story: Merry Christmas, Henry by Aubrey Wynne
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Henry, a shy and talented artist, moonlights as a security guard at a museum and loses his heart to a beautiful, melancholy woman in a painting. As his obsession grows, he finds a kindred soul who helps him in his search for happiness. On Christmas Eve, Henry dares to take a chance on love and fulfill his dream.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook in conjunction with the review tour in exchange for an honest review.]
Normally I’m not in the mood for Christmas books until at least December 20th. However, I put my grumbling aside about having to review a Christmas story while it’s still warm out and decided to take a chance on Aubrey Wynne’s short story. The blurb sounded interesting enough, so I figured I’d give it a go.
You know, in the end I was not disappointed in the least. Aubrey Wynne somehow managed to give me that warm and Christmassy feeling in the middle of October, which is certainly a testament to her writing skill. Yes, Merry Christmas, Henry is your typical heartwarming semi-sappy story about Christmas and the magic surrounding it, but I still loved it. It’s nice to read a story where the good guy gets what he deserves and life improves for him after having a hard life.
Henry is a pretty three dimensional character, especially considering the fact that this is a short story. He’s a shy and retiring artist who passionately loves his work at the museum. One day he becomes obsessed with a woman in an obscure painting in the back of the gallery and can’t get her out of his head. He visits her, talks to her and generally thinks of her as real. As Christmas approaches, the pull becomes stronger and stronger. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but let’s just say that anything can happen on Christmas Eve in Aubrey Wynne’s world.
The plot was fairly fast-paced since it was a short story, but at the same time I feel like I knew the main characters intimately. There was no one-time info dump, but rather an organic growth of Henry’s sad backstory and the events leading up to his getting a job in the museum. By the end, you really do feel like you know him intimately and Aubrey Wynne spins such a beautiful tale that you can’t help but cheer for the heartwarming ending.
In short, it’s the perfect Christmas story. Even in October.
I give this short story 5/5 stars.
Amazon Barnes and Noble* Goodreads
*No link because B&N is stupidly telling me I don’t have permission to access the requested search. I know: huh?
Seed by Lisa Heathfield
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
All that Pearl knows can be encapsulated in one word: Seed. It is the isolated community that she was born into. It is the land that she sows and reaps. It is the center of her family and everything that means home. And it is all kept under the watchful eye of Papa S.
At fifteen years old, Pearl is finally old enough to be chosen as Papa S.’s companion. She feels excitement . . . and surprising trepidation that she cannot explain. The arrival of a new family into the Seed community—particularly the teenage son, Ellis—only complicates the life and lifestyle that Pearl has depended upon as safe and constant. Ellis is compelling, charming, and worldly, and he seems to have a lot of answers to questions Pearl has never thought to ask.But as Pearl digs to the roots of the truth, only she can decide what she will allow to come to the surface.
Lisa Heathfield’s suspenseful, scintillating debut features a compelling voice that combines blithe naïveté, keen observation, and sincere emotion.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received an ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
If you know anything at all about cults, or have even read any first-hand survivor accounts of former cult members, Seed will hold absolutely no surprises for you. I wish it had been a more unique and less predictable take on how cults keep and manipulate their members, but Lisa Heathfield really doesn’t stray from the typical cult modus operandi. That’s not a bad thing because it makes it realistic, but for me it was so predictable that it got a little boring at points. It won’t be true for everyone, but for anyone with the aforementioned knowledge of cults you aren’t going to encounter any surprises.
That said, Lisa Heathfield does paint a very realistic picture of what someone raised in a cult would be like. Pearl constantly wants to please Papa S., wants to be his Companion without realizing what that fully implies (and yes, it means exactly what you’re thinking) and laughs off Ellis when he tells her of the wondrous things in the outside world. She’s been kept naive about absolutely everything and while she questions some things, she doesn’t question them like you or I would. It’s more realistic than if she were questioning everything and you’d think it would become annoying, but it doesn’t. Lisa Heathfield writes very good characters and while sometimes I was exasperated with Pearl, her character still rings true.
As I said, the plot is predictable for people who know a little about cults, but somehow that adds to the overall suspense toward the end. I knew how things were going to end and I knew how they were going to get there, but I was still anxious to find out what happened. Heathfield’s pacing was a little slow in the middle (thus my occasional boredom) but despite that she really ratcheted up the suspense toward the end. Particularly in the barn scene.
I would have liked for a little more even pacing throughout the novel so that it didn’t drag so much in the middle, but this is her debut novel so you can’t really expect everything to be perfect. Her character development was still amazing and in the end I do have to say that I enjoyed Seed. Will it ever be on the list of my top 10 favourite novels? No, not really. But it is quite a good book and a decent debut so I think we can expect great things from her in the future. Heathfield has a good grasp of psychology and with a little practice, she can write some truly terrifying novels in the future. I for one can’t wait to see what she comes out with next.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Operation Owl by Tara Quan
(Cover picture courtesy of Elle Rush’s blog.)
A Beyond Fairytales Adaptation of Grimm’s The Owl
Five years ago, Maya Jain kissed her best friend only to have him run out of her dorm room and leave the state. When he shows up in Washington, D.C., a wanted fugitive sought after by every branch of the US government, she can’t bring herself to ignore his plight. As their physical relationship picks up where it left off, she decides it’s time to make him see her as more than the bespectacled, bookish girl he once called “Owl.”
After being accused of espionage and treason, Zack Strong needs a forensic accountant to help clear his name. Not knowing who he can trust, this white-hat hacker has no choice but to ask his former best friend and math tutor for help. Together they unravel a cyber conspiracy at the Barn, an NSA facility tasked to intercept electronic communications. But as they traverse the nation’s capital to avoid capture, Maya insists on letting their simmering sexual tension take its natural course. Even though he’s never been able to shake the memory of their one kiss, he refuses to let her give up her life for a man with no future.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]
Operation Owl was a solid ‘meh’ for me personally. Yes, I went into this expecting for there to be lots of romance (which was fine) but I also expected a little bit more action. I’ll explain.
Essentially, the big conspiracy plot that’s the reason why Zack is running plays second fiddle to the interpersonal conflict between him and Maya. That’s just fine by me in theory, except that in practice, the actual huge conspiracy probably made up less than 25% of the book whereas the rest was about their friendship. With a conspiracy that big, I would have preferred a little more action because it’s pretty important. So even though Operation Owl does have an interesting plot on the blurb, it’s actually very much the ‘romantic comedy’ it’s labelled as. (Though lacking on the comedy part.)
Despite my misgivings about the plot, I did enjoy the characters. Maya and Zack have had a complicated relationship, to say the least. We learn about the events of five years ago that led to Maya kissing Zack and how that in turn led to them not seeing each other in person for all that time. When they finally meet again, having Zack being chased by the government’s hired mercenaries doesn’t exactly make for the best circumstances. Still, they make it work and their bond re-forms. I liked seeing from each of their viewpoints how they learned to let go of the past and just focus on the present. This is definitely one of the better romances I’ve read.
Tara Quan’s writing style is actually very good. It’s well-suited to the contemporary feel of her novel and while it is pared-down, I was never confused about the setting or which character was speaking (as sometimes happens when authors try to cut too much description). She does an excellent job with the sexual tension of both characters and by a certain point in the book you’re just ready to scream at them to go and have sex already. Which is sort of the purpose of that unresolved sexual tension, I suppose.
So character-wise and writing-wise, I really have no complaints. I would have liked for there to have been more focus on the conspiracy, but that’s just me. At least the conflict was resolved nicely (but not necessarily neatly) at the very end and it would almost be believable were I not such a cynic about politics. Again, that’s just me; it’s actually quite a satisfying ending from a reader’s standpoint.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
A princess must find her place in a reborn world.
She flees on her wedding day.
She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor’s secret collection.
She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.
She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.
The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can’t abide. Like having to marry someone she’s never met to secure a political alliance.
Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Lia was a hard character for me to read, if I’m honest. I’m not the type of person that’s overly self-sacrificing, but her decision to run on her wedding day didn’t sit well with me. It felt incredibly selfish, especially when the livelihoods of two kingdoms and all of their subjects were at risk. She didn’t even give her marriage a chance to work, but made a pre-emptive strike by running away and putting literally thousands of lives at risk. I can absolutely understand her motivations, though I certainly don’t agree with them. Still, Lia was not a bad character and by the end she was at least well-fleshed out enough that I actually found myself enjoying her.
My main problem with The Kiss of Deception is that it’s like a really old table: it sags in the middle. Don’t get me wrong—Mary Pearson’s writing really is amazing—but her pacing is somewhat lacking. Most of the story’s plot centres around the fact that you apparently aren’t sure which of the two boys Lia likes is the assassin and which is the prince. What really puzzled me was that there seemed to be no ambiguity in her writing so the ‘big reveal’ was somewhat spoiled by the fact I didn’t know there was a mystery to begin with. It was rather jarring, I’ll admit.
One of the saving graces of the story wasn’t just Lia’s character development, but the aforementioned quality of Pearson’s writing. It really was awesome and despite the poor pacing I found myself revelling in the world she created. It was vivid and real with some really beautiful descriptions that you don’t often find in YA fiction. In my opinion it’s hard to comment on the world-building simply because we haven’t actually seen much of the world yet. Lia spent most of her time in a small-town tavern, after all. Still, from what I’ve seen I’m pretty satisfied and it almost makes up for the poor pacing and Lia’s character in the beginning.
So overall? I’d have to say that The Kiss of Deception is more contradiction than deception but that doesn’t mean the book doesn’t have merit. The writing got better as the book went along and there was finally something resembling a plot at the end of the book so I think I will end up reading the second book. However, you do have to have a certain mindset to read this book and not feel repulsed by Lia’s selfishness at the beginning. It does get better as the book moves along, however.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
The Winter People by Rebekah Purdy
(Cover picture courtesy of Bibliophilia, Please.)
Salome Montgomery fears winter—the cold, the snow, the ice, but most of all, the frozen pond she fell through as a child. Haunted by the voices and images of the strange beings that pulled her to safety, she hasn’t forgotten their warning to “stay away.” For eleven years, she has avoided the winter woods, the pond, and the darkness that lurks nearby. But when failing health takes her grandparents to Arizona, she is left in charge of maintaining their estate. This includes the “special gifts” that must be left at the back of the property.
Salome discovers she’s a key player in a world she’s tried for years to avoid. At the center of this world is the strange and beautiful Nevin, who she finds trespassing on her family’s property. Cursed with dark secrets and knowledge of the creatures in the woods, he takes Salome’s life in a new direction. A direction where she’ll have to decide between her longtime crush, Colton, who could cure her fear of winter. Or Nevin, who, along with an appointed bodyguard, Gareth, protects her from the darkness that swirls in the snowy backdrop.
An evil that, given the chance, will kill her.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Through the first few chapters of The Winter People, I kept thinking “Oh no, there’s going to be a love triangle just like every other YA book out there.” Still, the premise of this book was interesting enough that even a love triangle couldn’t dissuade me. I was resolved to give it a fair try and I’m so glad I did.
Yes, The Winter People seems like it has your absolutely typical love triangle in the beginning. But I promise you that doesn’t last as Salome realizes not everything is as it seems and not everyone is deserving of her affection. She really matures as a character and desperately tries to get over her justified fear of winter from a previously traumatic incident only to realize that she should still be afraid of it. Very, very afraid.
The thing that really sets The Winter People apart from most YA books I’ve read lately is the quality of writing. Rebekah Purdy really does have a beautiful, descriptive writing style that sucks you into the story. She doesn’t describe things in mind-numbing detail but the way she describes them really does make you feel like you’re in all of these scenes, both magical and ordinary. It takes a talented writer to do that and I really believe that if nothing else, the writing alone would be enough reason to read this book.
However, the main character is pretty awesome as well. Salome is terrified of winter because she fell through the ice in her family pond at a very young age. She was rescued by our mysterious Nevin at the time but she still retained a somewhat justifiable fear of all things wintery. Now in high school she’s having to cope with taking care of her grandparents’ house when they go south for the winter because her dad is usually gone (as a trucker) and her mother has a broken leg. Seeing how she deals with that really gives me a lot of respect for her because despite her fear, she’s determined to help out her grandparents.
In the beginning Salome is a bit naive but never falls into the ‘too stupid to live’ category. She really grows and matures not only as she falls in love (then realizes what love really is thanks to a little help from a special someone) but as she fights for her life. There’s a mysterious curse hanging over her head and no one will tell her anything about it so she’s absolutely determined to find out on her own in order to save herself and her family. You really can’t help but love Salome as a character.
The plot isn’t insanely fast-paced because this is a character-driven novel but it is pretty exciting. Just when you think you know how things are going to end, Rebekah Purdy throws a twist in and you’re left scrambling. There were one or two twists I predicted but in general I was pleasantly surprised by most of the turns the story took. They stayed true to the essence of the story while still throwing the reader for a loop and that takes talent on the part of the author.
Even if you’re not big into fairies, I can’t recommend The Winter People enough. These fairies really aren’t all that they seem and they’re more like the fairies of old, not the sweet, innocent and ridiculously hot fairies of most books these days. They’re more capricious and dangerous than your average YA fairy and it certainly makes the story more interesting in that things aren’t only in shades of black and white. After reading this book, I honestly can’t wait to read more of Rebekah Purdy’s work.
I give this book 5/5 stars.