Tag: slayyourtbr18 • BookLikes

review 2018-08-06 13:03

A Murder in Time (Kendra Donovan #1) by Julie McElwain

A Murder in Time: A Novel - Julie McElwain

“She shook off her sense of amazement, and tried to pretend she was watching a period play. There was a lot of flirting going on, plenty of fluttering of ivory fans and eyelashes. It was weird to think that in another two hundred years people would flirt by pole dancing, twerking, and sexting.”

*** ABOUT THE BOOK ***

Title: A Murder in Time (Kendra Donovan #1)

Author: Julie McElwain

Genre: Historical | Time Travel | Mystery

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*** BOOK BLURB ***

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.

While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.

Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.

*** REVIEW ***

I started reading this book just for entertainment rather than a literary challenge, but I was still disappointed. Firstly, I was annoyed at how long it took for Kendra to actually time travel. Maybe it would have worked out for me if the events and bad guys she was chasing in nowadays would have related to the story in the past, but it had no connection whatsoever.

While the parts of the novel set 200 hundred years prior was considerably more interesting, it still had flaws. POV changing in mid-paragraphs annoyed me.

Negatives aside, I really enjoyed the mystery of this book. If you like good mystery with time travel aspects and kick ass heroine hunting down serial killer in Victorian era, read the book and just for yourself.

review 2018-08-06 12:21

Born to Be Wilde (The Wildes of Lindow Castle #3) by Eloisa James

Book Stripping Blog

"She wanted a husband who, although he might not share her interest in bonnets, would nevertheless respect her fascination with the artistry of fashion, in the ways clothing could transform a person."

*** ABOUT THE BOOK ***

Title: Born to Be Wilde (The Wildes of Lindow Castle #3)

Author: Eloisa James

Genre: Historical Romance

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*** BOOK BLURB ***

For beautiful, witty Lavinia Gray, there's only one thing worse than having to ask the appalling Parth Sterling to marry her: being turned down by him.

Now the richest bachelor in England, Parth is not about to marry a woman as reckless and fashion-obsessed as Lavinia; he's chosen a far more suitable bride.

But when he learns of Lavinia's desperate circumstances, he offers to find her a husband. Even better, he'll find her a prince.

As usual, there's no problem Parth can't fix. But the more time he spends with the beguiling Lavinia, the more he finds himself wondering…

Why does the woman who's completely wrong feel so right in his arms?

*** REVIEW ***

This book can be read as standalone, but to better understand the secondary characters I would recommend first read previous two books in the series.

Born to Be Wilde is kinda "enemies to lovers" type of romance. Story spins around two main characters - Parth and Lavinia - who claim not to care for each other while the opposite is blatantly obvious.

I liked how through the book Lavinia's self-esteem is growing and she learning new things about herself. And her ingenious way of solving money problems by starting to work was not commonly found in regency romance either.

"Starting this evening, she would be herself around him: not flirtatious, not foolish, not insulting. Herself. No more and no less than her true self. A bonnet lover—an unabashed, unrepentant bonnet lover."

The book has subplots related to addiction and fashion, which for me were more interesting than the main plot. Maybe because it's not often you would find these topics in historical romance.

Overall I liked the book, but it didn't blow my mind. It was just fun and light story.

series Historical Romance slayyourtbr18