book reviews

TBR Challenge – Change of Plans: Reading Note 94

shallowreader 4 Comments

It is TBR Challenge time again and I am only a week late. This month’s theme is Change of Plans. My choice this month was to read an early 21st century Sarah Morgan novel. She has been a favourite author who used to be an auto-read for me until she moved away from romance fiction to women’s fiction. Sarah Morgan wrote one of my favourite ever Harlequin/Mills & Boon novels Playing by the Greek’s Rules so I was interested to read an earlier iteration of its theme: a gazillionaire power-broking Greek male protagonist, a much poorer though determined (feisty???) English female protagonist, settings that go between an Anglosphere country and a (sometimes made-up) Greek island, dysfunctional family backstories, and the power of lurrrrrve to overcome all the money-mongering, maniacal, master-manipulated machinations by the mercurial and macho main-man (I am LOLing at my stupid alliteration).

Did I approach this novel with a jaded, exhausted soul? Yes, I did. Did the storytelling carry me away, wiping the cynicism far from my heart? Wellll…read on, my friends. You will find out. And turn away if you don’t want any spoilers (seriously, it is a 20 year old book – it’s perfectly fine to reveal all at this point).

Red cover, a couple in bed kissing.

Sarah Morgan’s The Greek’s Blackmailed Wife

“Zander Volakis is a ruthless tycoon who’s used to getting all he desires. Now, in order to secure the Greek island resort he’s always wanted, he needs an image change—fast!

The only person who can help him is the woman who betrayed him five years ago: his wife, Lauranne O’Neill. But Lauranne refuses to work with Zander again. He ruined her life once and he has the power to do it again. The sexual chemistry between them might be sizzling, but Lauranne knows that to play with Zander is to play with fire. As for Zander, her refusal to help leaves him with only one option…”

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TBR Challenge – Friend Squad and Here There be Monsters: Reading Note 93

shallowreader 7 Comments

So I am going to cheat here and I am going to use two (yes two!) TBR challenge themes for the one book. WILD! Has this ever been done before? I don’t know but maybe SuperWendy will know. Am I breaking the TBR rules??? I don’t know but also I am throwing caution to the wind. Because when it comes down to it, the book I read had sooooo much going on, has two distinct parts to it, that it deserves two themes.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT, MAJOR CONTENT ALERT, MAJOR BLUE LANGUAGE ALERT! I am going to be discussing disturbing and upsetting details including abuse being part of the backstory for one of the characters. And I am giving away MANY plot details so just don’t read further if this is on your TBR.

Cover Art: Blue sky then orange (sunset) sky then blue/purple sea with a houseboat on it and an amorous cartoon couple on the houseboat.

The Book: Swept Away by Beth O’Leary

The Blurb: Lost at sea . . . with your one-night stand

Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn’t she? Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he’ll break his rules. Sparks fly at the pub, one passionate kiss leads to another and they end up stumbling home to the marina together. The next morning, hungover and shaken by an amazing night together, Lexi is more than ready for Zeke to leave. There’s just one small problem . . . the houseboat they stayed on has been swept out to sea. As their supplies start to run dangerously low, and the waves pick up, Zeke and Lexi soon realise there’s much more on the line than their new relationship. How long can they really survive on a drifting houseboat in the North Sea? Will search and rescue find them? And who will they be if they both make it back to dry land?

This novel is written in two parts. There is the lost at sea section and then there is the back on land section. Each of these sections are quite distinct from each other.

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6 Months of TBRs: Reading notes 72-77

shallowreader 14 Comments

At the end of last year, I once again committed to taking part in Wendy the Super Librarian’s TBR challenge. I don’t know if and where Wendy is posting everyone else’s posts but I rarely go to my old social media haunts (I still have accounts but I am rarely posting). I am not across the older apps these days. If anyone knows, or if Wendy is reading this :: waves wildly ::, I would love to know where I can follow along in the laziest possible way (because I know I can just click on everyone’s link on the TBR link but shhhhhhh!).

I have been too lazy to write full reviews with blurbs and plots synopses. Instead I am just giving you my irrational, emotional reader-reacts. Hold on to your hats. There will be swearing!

Reading Note 72: January – Once More With Feeling

The cover of Ann Agguire's The Only Purple House in Town. It has a purple cover, bordered with pretty swirls and flowers with a deeper purple gothic house in the bottom left hand corner.

The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Agguire.

This book had been recommended to me by many readerly friends. I had several false starts and I found myself dragging my feet rather than read it. I borrowed it from the library three times until in January, I fully committed myself to reading it once more with feeling. And the feeling was loveliness.

This story didn’t overwhelm me with intense with emotions, it didn’t make me swoon or get angry or cry. And though it wasn’t intense, it went deep into the feelings of being on the outer in your own family, to finding your own place at your own pace. The story was gentle and lovely, set in our real world and the paranormal elements weren’t so fantastical that I cringed (Yes – I am thinking of the Black Dagger Brotherhood et al., of yesteryears).

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