Tag: Jennifer Kitchens

Guest Review: A Lady By Any Other Name by Jennifer Kitchens

Posted March 24, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: A Lady By Any Other Name by Jennifer KitchensReviewer: Tracy
A Lady by Any Other Name by Jennifer Kitchens
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: July 3rd 2012
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three-stars

A Woman in Hiding

Nicole Farrington's life had never been easy, but it had always been bearable. At least it had been until now. Faced with a horrible marriage her step-brother has contracted for her, she will do anything to get away. She'll run...run to anyone who might be able to help her. But running blindly down an unknown path may take her to an unexpected destination.

A Man Seeking Answers

Julian Huntington, Earl of Foxley, wants nothing more than to have his carefree life back. Now he is left with a title, a child, and a future that he never expected would be his. He refuses to believe his brother's death was an accident, no matter what people say. Someone killed him and Julian plans to find out who and why. Maybe then he can go on with his life...his brother's life. But will the answers he seeks be enough, or will he find love to be a worthier goal?

 

Tracy’s review of A Lady By Any Other Name by Jennifer Kitchens

Nicole Farrington’s father told her on his deathbed that he wasn’t her biological father. He managed to tell her the tale of how her mother’s new husband died on their way home from Gretna Green and when she found herself pregnant ended up marrying Lord Farrington. Nicole didn’t think too much of it all as the he had been the only man she’d known as a father.

Six years later and Nicole is working as a servant in her own home now that her step brother has inherited. When he shows up unexpectedly and lets her know that he’s basically traded her in for his debts. Her dowry will cover his gambling debts to an odious man that Nicole wants nothing to do with. In the middle of the night she runs with the thought that she will contact her real father’s family and hope they will take her in.

When she arrives she finds her real father isn’t dead. He takes off to Gretna Green to find proof of his marriage to Nicole’s mother and sends her to his friend in London for safe keeping. When she gets to London Nicole finds that her father’s friend is deceased and his brother inherited. Being afraid to tell the truth of the situation for fear that Lord Julian Foxley will turn her over to her brother Nicole makes up a fake name for herself and creates a story of why she is there.

While there Julian and Nicole fall in love but she is afraid to act on her love as Julian thinks that she’s Anna Peachly. She feels he’ll hate her when she finds out her falsehoods – especially when he finds out that she may have been the cause of his brother’s death.14

This was a bit of a convoluted story but it was a good one. I really liked Nicole and her inner strength. She had a bit of a temper on her which served her well at times. Julian was a good guy as well but I found him a bit self-centered for the first part of the book. Thankfully he got less so as the book went on.

My issue with the book mostly lies with the speed of falling in love. Now, as a romance reader I knew that that’s where the book was headed, but I didn’t feel that there was enough hero/heroine time spent together or enough emotional build up for the I Love You to be spoken. It wasn’t insta-love as she had spent some weeks living in Julian’s house but when it comes out of Julian’s mouth I actually thought – WTH? It was too much too soon and that put a bit of a damper on the rest of the book for me. I think had the author spent a bit more time building the relationship between the h/h it would have worked for me.

Overall, however, it was very readable and a nice clean cut (only a little kissing involved) novel.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place.

This title is self-published. You can buy it here in e-format. This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

three-stars


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What I Read Last Week

Posted March 3, 2014 by Tracy in Features | 1 Comment

Greetings!

How ya’ll doin’? Did you have a great weekend? I hope so.

My week last week was pretty quiet, if I remember correctly. My life has been pretty boring lately – I have to say I enjoy that sometimes. lol

My girls played in their bell choir this past Sunday – 2 pieces. Here are the videos if you’re interested. I think they’re both doing a wonderful job and they love playing, which I love. 

(My girls are..second from the left and 5th from the left.) 

 

(My girls are on the left table 1st and second from the right.)

 

Ok, on to what I read this past week:

I started off the week with A Lady by Any Other Name by Jennifer Kitchens. This story is about a young woman running from her evil brother when he promises her in marriage to an old disgusting man. On his deathbed her father had told her that he wasn’t her real father and gave her clues as to who the real father was. Nicole figures it out and goes to talk to her real fathers family hoping that they’ll take her in. What she finds is unexpected but then she’s sent to London to wait for proof of her parents marriage. She then falls in love with the man she’s staying with. The story was good if not a bit too busy – too many story lines floating about. The romance happened quickly with the hero and heroine going from what looked like 2 people who might have an attraction for each other to “I love you.” I just didn’t think they were at that point yet. Anyway the story still worked which was good. 3.25 out of 5

The Blind Wolf boxed set by Aubrey Rose is 4 stories following the romance and lives of Julia and Damien. Damien is a wolf shifter and finds out that Julia is his mate – but she’s full human which never happens. The story unfolds from there. Though not romance heavy it could get very emotional at times. I’ll post my review of this one this week. 3.5 out of 5

Disarm: The Complete Novel by June Gray was originally a serial. This is actually all 6 stories in the serial wrapped up in one and I’m so glad I read it this way. The story is a friends to lovers story involving Elsie and Henry. They finally get together after many years of friendship but then have to face Henry’s deployment to Afghanistan and Henry’s personality change when he returns. There’s a whole lot more that goes on and it was definitely worth reading. I’ll post my review of this one this week. 4 out of 5

Next was The Devil Wears Kilts by Suzanne Enoch. This is the first in a new series called Scandalous Highlanders. Ranulf is a highlander and proud to be one. He ends up chasing his 18 year old runaway sister to London when he refuses to let her have a Season. The family she stays with has an older daughter, Charlotte, who Ranulf is highly attracted to. Unfortunately Ranulf’s mother was English and that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Ranulf has prejudices against the English but Charlotte puts him in his place. The story is about the pair working out their differences as Charlotte abhors violence and Ranulf lives with it daily and thinks it’s ok. Ranulf decides to change his thinking but he’s not sure if it’s enough to capture Charlotte’s heart. It was a great story and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series. 4 out of 5

Bite Me by Shelly Laurenston is the story of Livy Kowalski, a Honey Badger shifter, and Vic Barinov, a hybrid shifter that is half bear and half tiger. Livy’s father is found dead and had obviously been murdered. Livy and her family decide that the person behind it all needs to pay. While this is happening Livy and Vic, who were friends before, start sleeping together which ends up turning to love. There’s a whole lot that goes on and it all wrapped up into a great story. I’ll post my review for this one later this month. 4 out of 5 

Last for the week was A Night With the Bride by Kate McKinley. This is the 3rd book in the By Invitation Only series. The story involves Nicholas, a duke who has basically been in seclusion and is thought to be mad, and Gabriella. Gabriella takes on a dare with her friends that she can get the duke to kiss her. It turns into so much more. I’ll post my review of this novella later this week. 4 out of 5

 

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Everybody’s Got A Story by Heather Wardell  

Happy Reading!


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