Genre: Time Travel

Review: Enthroned by K.M. Shea

Posted December 4, 2020 by Holly in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Enthroned by K.M. SheaReviewer: Holly
Enthroned by K.M. Shea
Series: King Arthur and Her Knights #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: August 5, 2013
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Point-of-View: Third
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Fantasy, Time Travel
Pages: 126
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Reading Challenges: Holly's 2020 Goodreads Challenge, Holly's 2020 New to Me Challenge, Holly's 2020 Reading Challenge
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two-half-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

The throne of King Arthur stands unclaimed.

Merlin has been working on his dream of uniting Britain for years, hiding behind an old-wise-man persona as needed for his goal. When the original Arthur runs off before the crowning ceremony, Merlin is forced to get creative. He casts a spell to enable the sword in the stone to choose a new ruler from across time.

But even Merlin couldn’t foresee that the magic would search for a king thousands of years into the future and choose the last person anyone would expect: a woman.

Britt Arthurs doesn’t mind a good fight, but beating the divided kingdoms of ancient Britain into submission while hiding her real identity is a bigger battle than she wants. She thought she was taking a quick tourist photo with a rusty sword. Instead she was ripped through time and faced with two impossibilities: the sword has chosen her as the new King Arthur, and Merlin is much younger and hotter than she expected!

With enemies on all sides and a wizardly advisor who defies his own legends, will Britt succeed in her role as the High King of Britain?

The finished King Arthurs and Her Knights series is based on Arthurian legends and lore. It is sprinkled with humor, love, and more than a dash of magic. If you enjoy strong characters and tales about the Knights of the Round Table, buy the King Arthurs series today!

Britt Arthurs is on holiday in England with her best friends when she touches an old sword in a graveyard and is transported back in time. The great wizard Merlin bespelled the sword to bring forward the one true King Arthur. No one expected King Arthur to be a woman, but the sword doesn’t lie, so….what are you gonna do? Britt is now stuck in a medieval time, tasked with uniting a country she knows little about.

I really want more Arthurian romances. Especially ones with gender swapped roles. Although the second half of this one was good, I didn’t love it. The first half was boring and featured a lot of tell, don’t show. There wasn’t much emotion or connection to the characters. It was like reading script. Plus, Britt’s ridiculous decision to believe she was dreaming was annoying and went on way too long.

The second half was better. Once Britt decided to accept her place as King Arthur and actually try to unite the kingdoms, I came to enjoy the story. Not a great story overall, but I liked it well enough to start the next book.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5

King Arthur and Her Knights

two-half-stars


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Review: Wishing for a Highlander by Jessi Gage

Posted August 10, 2020 by Holly in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Wishing for a Highlander by Jessi GageReviewer: Holly
Wishing for a Highlander by Jessi Gage
Narrator: Marian Hussey
Series: Highland Wishes #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: January 31, 2014
Format: eBook, Audiobook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Time Travel, Historical Romance
Pages: 344
Length: 10 hours and 35 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Holly's 2020 Goodreads Challenge, Holly's 2020 New to Me Challenge
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two-half-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Single-and-pregnant museum worker Melanie voices an idle wish while examining a Scottish artifact, that a Highland warrior would sweep her off her feet and help her forget her cheating ex. The last thing she expects is for her wish to be granted. Magically transported to the middle of a clan skirmish in the sixteenth-century Highlands, she comes face to face with her kilted fantasy man.

Tall, handsome, and heir to his uncle’s lairdship, Darcy Keith should be the most eligible bachelor in Ackergill. Instead, thanks to a prank played on him in his teenage years, he is known for being too large under his kilt to ever make a proper husband. “Big Darcy” runs his deceased father’s windmills and lives alone at his family manor, believing he will never marry.

But a strangely-dressed woman he rescues from a clan skirmish makes him long for more. When the woman’s claims of coming to Ackergill by magic reach the laird’s ears, she is accused of witchcraft. Darcy determines to protect her any way he can, even if it means binding her to him forever.

Wishing for a Highlander is the first book in the Highland Wishes series by Jessi Gage. It was my first read from the author. I’ve had the second book in this series, The Wolf and the Highlander, on my wish list for ages. I was looking for a new audiobook, saw The Wolf and the Highlander and realized it was the second book in the series, so I downloaded this one instead. I got it from Kindle Unlimited and it included the audiobook as well. I liked the narrator, but the story wasn’t very good. It wasn’t awful, but I’m kind of sad I didn’t skip it and go right to the second book.

Melanie is a modern day girl who works in a museum. She got knocked up by her boyfriend of a year, only to find out he’d been cheating on her the whole time they were together and he wants nothing to do with the baby since he’s marrying the girl he’s been cheating with. On a whim, she makes a wish for a handsome Highlander of her very own on a new artifact the museum has acquired. To her surprise, her wish comes true and she’s transported to 1517, in the middle of a clan skirmish, where she’s forced to stab a man because he’s about to rape her. She’s rescued by a giant of a Highlander – Big Darcy – who claims responsibility for her. Within moments of arriving at his keep, they end up married to protect her. Still, Darcy vows to help her find a way home, and he plans to keep that vow.

Darcy is a giant of a man, and he’s never been with a woman because of it. One of the clan women refused him because of his size, and he’s been afraid of rejection (and hurting a woman) ever since. Marrying Melanie is the perfect way to get his laird off his back about taking a bride, and since she’s already pregnant he doesn’t have to worry about that, either. Until she makes him promise to get her back home. He’s a man of his word, so he’ll do it, even if he’s not happy about it.

I almost DNF’d this book early on, because the whole “He’s too big for any woman” thing is pretty ridiculous, plus Melanie’s dumb thoughts drove me up a wall. I ended up finishing it, however, and the second half wasn’t as bad as the first (as far as Melanie was concerned). I really liked Darcy. He was sweet and lovable, despite his insecurities. He was very supportive of Melanie and determined to do what he thought was right.

Melanie and all her wishy-washy thoughts drove me crazy. First she was mad because she thought Darcy broke his word, then she was mad because she wanted him to want her. It was ridiculous. That settled down in the second half of the book, however, and I really liked their romance and the way things progressed between them.

View Spoiler »

What really drove me crazy was the “villain”, however. Anya was a mean, petty woman who created havoc just to create it. The reason I’m mad I read this book first, however, is because Anya is the heroine of the second book. I’m not sure she can be redeemed, and even if she is, I’m not sure I care to read about her. I might try the book at a later date, but I need some space from this book before I try.

I did enjoy aspects of this book, and I’m low-key curious about the next book. I guess we’ll see if I decide to continue on.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5

Highland Wishes

two-half-stars


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Guest Review: On Highland Time by Lexi Post

Posted June 1, 2018 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: On Highland Time by Lexi PostReviewer: Tracy
On Highland Time (Time Weavers Inc. #1) by Lexi Post
Series: Time Weavers Inc. #1
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Publication Date: May 28, 2018
Format: eARC
Point-of-View: Third Person
Genres: Time Travel
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three-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

For fans of sexy Scottish Highlanders who know how to treat a woman like a lady.

When someone changes history, affecting the future, Diana Montgomery, the most experienced agent of Time Weavers, Inc., travels back to 1306 Scotland to change it back. Her mission, to find the culprit and ensure a minor clan chief dies in battle as he originally had.

Diana is well-prepared to infiltrate the small MacPherson clan. What she’s not prepared for is Torr MacPherson, the ruggedly handsome warrior with a kind heart and a steadfast loyalty—the Laird she’s supposed to ensure dies.

Diana is a member of a group called TWI, Timer Weavers Inc.  When they are made aware of something that changed in the past, but wasn’t supposed to change, TWI steps in to put things back to normal.  When Diana wakes up one day and her mansion is pretty much in the middle of a slum, the group knows that something in history changed.  She gets instructions from the head of TWI to go back to medieval Scotland.  Apparently a Scottish Laird, Torr MacPherson, was supposed to die, but didn’t, and this changed everything.  There is another group that TWI calls Disruptors and they go around changing history. I had no clue by the end of the book why they disrupt anything, but I guess it’s job security for TWI.

Diana is sent back to 1306 Scotland where she is to ensure that the Laird does indeed die when he’s supposed to and to try to find out who the Disruptor is.  She sets herself up as a relative of someone in the clan that had passed and tries to stay inconspicuous.  Unfortunately, she catches the eye of the Laird and starts to have feelings for him and he for her.  How can she ensure that he dies when she wants to spend the rest of her life with him?  She can’t stay in 1306 Scotland as it will change the course of history forever.

This was a cute story that I enjoyed reading, to a point.  When I first began reading I kept thinking that I was missing something because the way it was written made it seem like there was maybe a previous book in the series, but that’s not the case.  Because I was a little lost the story didn’t flow well for me at first.  I don’t think it was ever explained how exactly Diana’s boss, the elusive Jules who only speaks to Diana telepathically and who Diana has never met, knows exactly when in history the changes are made by the Disruptors.  Diana woke up and saw her neighborhood was a slum.  Ok, but how does Jules know exactly which point in history caused this to happen?  I have no idea.  There are also a couple of other characters in TWI that were unexplained.  There was one guy, Arthur, who “downloaded” stuff into people’s brains.  What?  It was nuts, and frustrating to not know what was going on.  Why were these people blindly following this person they’ve never met?

The romance between Diana and Torr was kind of sweet but Diana was worrying so much the entire time it was hard for me to enjoy it fully.  Torr didn’t want to fall in love so that was a big obstacle.  Then something happens near the end of the book (that I can’t tell you about) and Torr gets so incredibly pissed at Diana I thought it was over.  Of course I would have been pissed at her too, so I felt his pain.  Unfortunately he got over being pissed way too quickly for me – I would have liked to have seen him take more time to think things over.  IDK, maybe it was just me.

Overall not a bad book but there was too much of the unknown for my liking.  I needed answers to a lot of questions by the time I ended this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5  

three-stars


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Guest Review: Brennus by Hazel Hunter

Posted May 22, 2018 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Brennus by Hazel HunterReviewer: Tracy
Brennus (Immortal Highlander: Clan Skaraven #1) by Hazel Hunter

Publication Date: March 26, 2018
Format: eARC
Point-of-View: Third Person
Genres: Historical Romance, Paranormal Romance, Time Travel
Pages: 386
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three-half-stars

An ancient highlander who’s never been allowed to love. A modern woman who keeps men at arm’s length. Can their passion overcome their pasts?

Althea Jarden’s botanical fieldwork keeps her happily busy, but it has kept her from relationships as well—by design. Because deep passions can overwhelm her, she concluded long ago that a conventional life was not for her. Instead she’s learned to depend on herself. But all the self-reliance in the world can’t prepare her for being to abducted to ancient Scotland and what she finds there.

Chieftain Brennus Skaraven would like nothing better than to remain dead, his legendary clan buried and forgotten. Anything would be preferable to suffering the manipulations of the druids. But when a strange lass comes crashing into his life, he discovers more than a reason to live. He finds the one thing that had always been denied to him and his kind—love.

Brennus is a Skaraven warrior.  He and his fellow warriors were slaves to the druids until they died 12 centuries ago.  They’ve been brought back to life and made immortal by the druids to help fight evil druids who are planning on decimating the planet.  Brennus, the Chieftain of the clan, refuses to let his men be pawns in the druid’s games any longer.

Althea and 4 other women are sucked through time by the evil druids and held captive.  Starved and tortured, Althea knows that she must escape and find help. She receives that help from Brennus and while they’re plotting to save the other women, they spend a lot of time together.  They get closer and soon are falling for each other.  Brennus, however, was never allowed near a woman unless he was tied to a bed for fear that he would hurt her.  He’s concerned about Althea, but he’s not willing to be without her.

This is a related book to the Immortal Highlander series.  I enjoyed that series so when I saw this book I was definitely interested.  In the previous series each of the “mates” came through at different times.  This is different as all five women are pulled through time at once.

I enjoyed the world that Hunter created for the Skaraven clan.  They’ve been brought back to life and basically pulled through time as well so it’s an adjustment for them as well as Althea – just in a different way.  They seemed to be good men, for the most part and cared about each other.  As they’d never even been allowed to speak with a female before they died, having Althea there was a big change for them.

Althea and Brennus’s romance was more of a falling in love then a romance per se.  I enjoyed them getting to know each other I just wish they’d had more time. With the women being held, and their focus on getting them free, it was difficult for Brennus and Althea to get to know each other thoroughly, imho, and that rushed things a bit, in my mind.

I was a little confused at first as to what was going on with the evil druids but soon caught up.  I wish their history would have been more obvious to me – I think I would have understood things better throughout the book.

Overall it was a decent read and I will read the next book when it comes out to see what happens next.

3.5 out of 5

Immortal Highlander: Clan Skaraven

three-half-stars


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Throwback Thursday Review: A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

Posted March 15, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 13 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude DeverauxReviewer: Holly and Rowena
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
Series: Montgomery/Taggert #15
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: March 27th 2012
Genres: Historical Romance, Time Travel
Pages: 416
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Once upon a time . . . as a fair maiden lay weeping upon a cold tombstone, her heartfelt desire was suddenly made real before her: tall, broad of shoulder, attired in gleaming silver and gold, her knight in shining armor had come to rescue his damsel in distress. . . .
A Knight in Shining Armor
Hailed worldwide as one of the most romantic novels of all time, Jude Deveraux’s dazzling bestseller “will capture your heart—and hold it” (Daily Herald, Chicago) with its breathtaking tale of lovely Dougless Montgomery; her savior knight, Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck; and the timeless adventure of passion and memory, danger and desire that sweeps them into each other’s arms.

Every Thursday in 2018 we will be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books.

Holly: Rowena and I got into a discussion about this book on Twitter (caution, thread contains spoilers for this book and others) this week along with some other long-time romance readers. We all agree this is one of the few books that can still fill us with rage even all these years later. I’ll never be over that ending. Never.

This review was originally published on June 7, 2008.

I saw a review for this one online a couple of days ago and got mad all over again so I’m going to resurrect this review Holly and I did over at our old blog, Sanctuary’s Finest.

Enjoy!

Rowena says:

Jude Deveraux did such a wonderful job sucking me in with Dougless Montgomery and Nicholas Stafford. I mean, Dougless wanted nothing more than a man, a good man to love and care for her enough to marry her, she strived to have a family of her own with a man who wouldn’t make her look like the insipid younger sister to her family, she didn’t want to be the laughingstock of her family which is understandable and I thought it was so sweet that she asked for a Knight in Shining Armor and got it…in the form of Elizabethan Knight, Nicholas Stafford.

Nicholas Stafford was a rascal of a hero who died long ago and WAS the laughingstock of not only his family but of England. He wanted so much to be remembered for his learning and for his architecture, but instead was remembered as a traitor to his Queen and a sexual exploit of his youth on a table. What a way to be remembered and back in the day, well in Nicholas’ day, all you had to live for was your honor.

Honor made men out of boys and Nicholas’ wanted to be remembered by his mind. He wasn’t perfect by any means (I mean come on now, you slept with a married woman for goodness sakes but still) but he did work hard to supply for his family and he did have a heart, a very big one.

I really loved Nicholas Stafford and I loved the whole story between him and Dougless, they were perfect for eachother, so bloody perfect. The ice cream scene in the kitchen? YUM! I mean, there wasn’t much to love about Dougless and Nicholas because they were both just so loveable. You wanted someone like Dougless as your friend because she cared a whole lot about those around her and she was loyal and just an all around good hearted young woman. Nicholas on the other hand, you wanted Nicholas in your bed, he was hot, he was funny and he was caring. He really was though, just a regular guy with the same goofiness as all of those guys that you can’t help but love.

I can’t tell you guys how great Jude Deveraux did with the telling of this story. The entire time you were rootin’ these two on because you wanted them to have their happy ending. Dougless was a good strong heroine who was soft hearted but worked hard for those around her and then Nicholas, you couldn’t help but fall in love with him, he was just too cute. He too, worked so hard to right the wrongs that were done to him and you really wanted him to find his happy ending…..with Dougless.

Now, JD did a wonderful job with the secondary characters too, you either loved them or you hated them. I mean, with Kit and Lady Margaret, you fell in absolute love with their characters because there was a wealth of love between these two and Nicholas. It was more than aparent that Kit had Nicholas’ back and that he loved his brother with everything, same thing with Lady Margaret, she was a great mother to the two men and she showed that love by fighting for the truth about Nicholas to save him, she was a smart cookie and the bad guys seriously underestimated her abilities to dig out the truth, she was an amazing mother and she was gracious to Dougless for saving both of her sons, I thought that was great.

Now on the flip side of the coin, we have characters like Arabella Sydney who I hated just because she was a little slut that cheated on her husband with Nicholas, stupid chit needed to keep her damn legs closed and work on her marriage to her husband, since that man was one evil ass man. Then you have Robert and Gloria, Dougless’ insufferable boyfriend and his evil spawn of a daughter. Never in my life have I wanted to hurt people more than I wanted to hurt these two, I’m serious because I wanted to stab Robert and keep stabbing him until he had more holes in him than a piece of Swiss Cheese and then I wanted to hang him by his balls and let him bleed out, ever so slowly. You don’t want to know what I wanted to do to his good for nothing little shit of a daughter.

Grrr…

So as you can see, JD did a great job with this book because she got this kind of reaction out of me, always looking on the bright side Rowena, that’s me. If a book is bad, I’ll overlook it if I enjoyed the story as a whole, oh but not this time around. Not with this book, this book infuriated me so much that I am going to burn this shit in the Burn Book pile, oh wait…I already did that, but this time I’m going to keep it in the burn pile.

You see, as much as I loved the story, I hated the ending, the ending is what burned the book, ruined it for me, but aside from that horrendous ending, the book was FABULOUS!

Holly says:

I couldn’t agree with Rowena more. When we first meet Douglass she’s on her way to England for a vacation with her stupid cad boyfriend and his stupid, spoiled daughter, and as a reader, you want so much for her to find true love and happiness, because she’s the type that deserves it.

As a member of the overachieving Montgomery clan, Douglass has always felt inferior to the rest of her family and she truly just wants to be loved and accepted for who she is, and not reminded of the mistakes she’s made. As a woman, a sister and a mother, I totally identified with her.

When she was weeping on the steps of the church because her jerkass boyfriend had abandoned her in a foreign country, I wept with her. And when Nicholas Stafford was brought forward through time as her Knight in Shining Armor, I cried harder and wanted so much for them to be together. I cried again when Nicholas was sent back home and I prayed Douglass would find a way to be with him again.

I cheered when Douglass went back to Nicholas’ time and I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation, waiting to see how the story would unfold. Would Nicholas remember Douglass from when he was in the future? Would his family come to accuse her of being a witch? Would Nicholas fall in love with the Douglass in his time, or remember he loved her in her time? Would he still marry the psycho that got him into trouble before?

The scenes Rowena mentioned, like the ice cream scene, were amazingly told. I was completely wrapped up in this story, breathless with anticipation and almost sick to my stomach wondering how JD was going to keep these two amazing characters together. I just wanted them to have their HEA….together.

Conclusion: With Spoilers…you were warned!

View Spoiler »

Dammit. And Double Dammit. There’s no redeeming this book at all. No matter how I look at it, it sucked ass, plain and simple.

Stupid ass book!

Story: 4 Ending: 1

This book is available from Simon & Schuster . You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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