I bombed out on doing this part of the Dewey Read-a-thon. I just don't do well with daily challenge prompts. So I figured I group them in tens and make three posts.

Day 30 Favorite Book - Public Secrets by Nora Roberts

Day 29 Short Book - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Day 28 Red - Vision, Volume 2: Little Better Than a Beast by Tom King et al

Day 27 Snacks - Pretzels for salty snack, as they are not greasy like potato chips but have the same crunch factor. Starbucks' London Fog (venti, cause go big or go home) for sweet.

Day 26 Short Stories - An Encounter at Hyde Park by Various Authors

Day 25 Comics craze - Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia by Greg Rucka et al

Day 24 Drinks - My newest favorite drink is Kraken Black Spice Rum and Coca-Cola. All time drink is still a cuppa tea.

Day 23 Space - A Slight Miscalculation by Deb Marlowe

Day 22 Cozy - The Christmas Child by Linda Goodnight

Day 21 Blue - Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts

Well, these were free today so despite my trying not to download so many freebies ...

I did avoid the ones with book descriptions not readable without a lot of "read more" scrolling so — you know the ones that the synopsis says things like the actual screenshot below:

Five chapters a week for July bookclub read of Old Man's War.

  Breath of Heaven (Well of Sorrows)    

Plus whatever library ebooks I borrow (lots on waitlist plus binge-ing some series) will interrupt regular reading schedule.

Another bookclub read of whatever TOR offers free (mid-month?) plus 24in48 readathon July 22-23 will also disrupt or remake plans.

 The first two stories needed a copy editor stat. Each story involved a meet cute or ending in Hyde Park during the Regency period but not in the same year. The second two stories involve titled members of London society from Scotland.

I started reading this book prior to the announcement of #rippedbodicebingo, but it fits a square (an anthology), so I am already making a little progress on the challenge!

1. Chasing Miss Montford by Claudia Dain - 0 star

UGH. So I remembered some of the characters from another book I read from the author last summer. Hated that book and hated this story, so staying consistent at least. The author thinks gossip is a weapon and the women in the story "outwits" the men due to their use of gossip. All the characters are so shallow, they are the kiddie pools of Regency romance. As for the romance, it's a blink and you miss it kind of insta-love. Finally there is a deep thread of racism against Native Americans in this series.

2. A Waltz in the Park by Deb Marlowe - 4 stars

Another great installment in the Half Moon House series. Vickers and Addie made a great team, both in taking down his father and as a couple. Rosamond had a good character arc as well. And it was fun being back in the world of Hestia Wright's Regency.

3. Promises Made by Ava Stone - 1 star

A real clunker of a story thanks to an unbearable heroine. Ellie was a spoiled, shallow brat and I saw no redeeming quality in her to make Griffin want to be with her. Griffin could do soooo much better. There was no resolution to the secondary romance between Healyfield and Throssell, so why even have it in the novella?

4. Charlotte's Bed by Karen Hawkins - 4 stars

A great story from a new to me author. This story is a reunion story between Angus (Viscount MacThune) and Charlotte twenty years after Angus left for India to make his money. It was rounded out with two side characters who played matchmakers. At times angsty, at times sexy, this was a satisfying end to a very uneven anthology.

 Well, I have certainly learned my lesson - No more box sets of novels unless they are trilogies or less and written by the same author. If I want to go searching for a new author to read, I will stick with anthologies of short stories. There was more downs than ups, although I did find a new favorite author (Deb Marlowe) and two other authors to keep trying in the future (Ava Stone and Jane Charles). I know who to stay away from too, despite their pretty covers with beautiful dresses.

The authors used all self-published works in this box set; some forgot to use a copy editor (and in some cases, story editor) which is one of the standard marks against reading self-published works. I still take the risk of reading self-published works because I never want to miss out on a possible great story just because traditional publishers didn't want to sell it. One thing for self-published authors to keep in mind when adding their work to a box set - use the first story/novella/novel in the series, not one from further down the series!

Another issue I had with this ebook was that there was no way to skip around and read a story from further in the box set; each story had to be read before going on to the next story, so DNF was not much of an option. I wish there was a table of contents that linked a title listed to the page the story starts on.

Here is a recap of my ratings for each book in the box set and a link to the reviews:

1. A Scandalous Past (Scandalous #4) by Ava Stone 2.5 stars review

2. More Than a Governess (Wetherby Brides #2) by Jerrica Knight-Catania 3 stars review

3. Twice A Rake (Lord Rotheby's Influence #1) by Catherine Gayle .5 star review

4. The Love List (Half Moon House #1) by Deb Marlowe 4 stars review

5. Bargaining with a Rake (Whisper of a Scandal #1) by Julie Johnstone 1 star review

6. A Reluctant Rake (Tenacious Trents #5) by Jane Charles 3.5 stars review

7. His Jilted Bride (Banks Brothers Brides #3) by Rose Gordon 1 star review

8. Much Ado About Dutton (More Courtesan Chronicles) by Claudia Dain 0 stars review

9. My Lady of Deception (Brethren of Lords #1) by Christi Caldwell 1 star review

I am so burnt out on Regency romances right now, that is another reason I am glad to be starting MM and OB's Halloween Bingo soon.

Just how horrible a reading experience this was for me? I have a massive headache just remembering this shit pile enough to write a review. Out of the twenty-three chapters, I quit somewhere in the middle of chapter twenty, so I am calling this read. 

There are no highlights, no one redeeming thing about this novel.

Reasons for Hate:

1. The writing needs an editor in the worst way. Not just a copy editor (although a C.E. should charged double for working on this), but a story editor to kill about 9/10ths of the characters in the story. Too much characters being horrible to each other and not one plot line to speak of. Needed another editor to cut down on some long-ass winded sentences that took up an entire paragraph.

Also the writer thinks she is clever with her dialogue and "insights" into heterosexual relationships borne out of manipulations and game-playing of the Regency era - more like badly written erotica set in Regency England.

2. The Characters:

Dutton - Man from the title is an idiot and has very aggressive views of sex that lead to what we now call Rape Culture.

Anne, Lady Staverton - TSTL who thought she was clever but kept making things worse among the characters. She had her sights set on making Dutton her lover, then dumping him. She was way in over her (empty) head. I wanted to punch her in the throat throughout reading. Never ending sequence of changing eye colors - first it was grey, then emerald green (to go with her red hair of course!), then hazel, then pewter, then I gave the fuck up caring.

Sophia - half-English, half-Native American courtesan who rose through the ranks and married a titled man who left her a widow. Now she is back in London and ready to find her next prey, er husband. Anne's mentor.

Elizabeth Grey - Native American niece of Sophia and the human punching bag for London's high society matrons, widows, and virgins. The abuse she took was ridiculous.

George Grey - Native American nephew of Sophia and a "good" Native American, who knew, appreciated, and displayed English manners. He was the cute Beatle. Didn't stand up for his sister ONCE. In fact, often he was part of the pile-on.

Bunch of Bitches (Jane, Eleanor, Louisa, Penelope, Toni, Bernadette, half the fucking city) - they gossiped and hated on each other. Way too damn many of them. Absolutely no need for any of them in terms of plot or character development.

Bunch of Sad Sacks (Ruan, Riathby, Quinton, the other half of the fucking city) - they gossiped and talked about horses. Way too damn many of them. Absolutely no need for any of them.

3. There was no other plot line other than Anne getting Dutton into bed so she could have sex with him then throw him out and ignore him until he begs her to love him. Ditto Sophia/Ruan. Elizabeth was supposed to go after Mr. Prestwick, but she was not having any of this English society shit. Bunch of the other female characters were horny/lonely and into manipulations and game-playing.

4. The non-stop racism directed toward Elizabeth Grey/Native Americans. Seriously, this author gave us both macro-aggression and micro-aggression on the racism thing. Even her brother and Sophia threw her and their race under the bus in order to look more appealing to the English. Fuck all of them.

5. This "storyline" was about the length of a novella or short story. A full length novel with this flimsy "storyline" was a tedious bore at best and rage inducing at worst.

Needless to say, I will never read anything by this author again. This is a prime example of erotica dressed up in a historical time period being promoted/sold as historical romance. 0 stars.