Bitter Bite (by Jennifer Estep)

Urban Fantasy

When Finn’s mother, Deirdre shows up out of the blue, Gin knows something is up. But there is a part of Finn deep down and well hidden that wants to be loved and he’s determined to believe his mother despite Gin’s misgivings.

With Finn spending more and more time with Deirdre, it’s left to Gin and Bria to get to the bottom of what she’s doing in Ashland and stop her.


 

I’m in two minds about this book.  Yes it’s entertaining as are most of the books in the Elemental Assassin series. It’s a page turner. It’s gritty. And yes, it’s good fun.  It’s all of that and I enjoyed the book. Not for a single moment was I bored.

But I have a problem and maybe (probably) it won’t be a problem for anyone else. With each book, the villains get more villainous, the challenges get more challenging.  For a short series, a trilogy or even a five book series that can work but this is book fourteen and while it’s still working at the moment it’s hard to see it working for much longer.  God forbid it ends up being the train wreck that Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series has become.

So here is me wondering if it isn’t time to think about taking the story in a different direction. Perhaps breath some new life into the series.  Sophia has always been a favorite character and under-utilised in my opinion.  I would love to see the series shift focus and put her at the centre.

Screen Shot 2015-11-28 at 6.44.49 PMMany thanks to Pocket Books and Edelweiss for providing me with this ARC

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means:  YOR-Guide

Summer Harvest (by Georgina Penney)

Women’s Fiction / Contemporary Romance

In the space of a few months, Beth’s sister dies of breast cancer, she herself is diagnosed, and after a double mastectomy her husband leaves her. She returns to live with her grandmother and withdraws into herself, only venturing out for her job as a dog trainer.

When her grandmother gives her a trip to Australia for her birthday she is reluctant to leave the austere life she has built for herself after the divorce. But despite her misgivings a week later she finds herself driving along a dry dusty road in the Margaret River wine making region of Western Australia, her destination a small cabin on a working farm.

As she settles in, she makes new friends, among them Clayton who runs a vineyard in the area. Their attraction is immediate but her scars run deeper than the surgeons knife, and for his part Clayton’s mother died of cancer and he is terrified of starting a relationship with Beth only to have her taken from him.


Summer Harvest is something of a hybrid. It combines the best elements of Contemporary Romance with what is essentially Women’s Fiction and it manages to effortlessly avoid the pitfalls of both. I wouldn’t call it a fun read, it’s serious and occasionally emotionally fraught but ultimately it’s emotionally satisfying and I loved it.

Screen Shot 2015-11-09 at 4.24.20 PMMany thanks to Penguin Books Australia and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means:  YOR-Guide