Book Review: The Jackal

Author: J. R. Ward

Title: The Jackal

Publisher: Gallery Books

Publish Date: August 18, 2020

Buy: Amazon

Book Blurb: 

The location of the glymera’s notorious prison camp was lost after the raids. When a freak accident provides Nyx clues to where her sister may still be doing time, she becomes determined to find the secret subterranean labyrinth. Embarking on a journey under the earth, she learns a terrible truth—and meets a male who changes everything forever.

The Jackal has been in the camp for so long he cannot recall anything of the freedom he once knew. Trapped by circumstances out of his control, he helps Nyx because he cannot help himself. After she discovers what happened to her sister, getting her back out becomes a deadly mission for them both.

United by a passion they can’t deny, they work together on an escape plan for Nyx—even though their destiny is to be forever apart. And as the Black Dagger Brotherhood is called upon for help, and Rhage discovers he has a half-brother who’s falsely imprisoned, a devious warden plots the deaths of them all…even the Brothers.

Review: To say I struggled with this book would be an understatement. I have heard about the Black Dagger Brotherhood series for ages and I thought reading the first book in a spin off series would give me an idea of whether or not to go and read the rest.

I probably won't.

For me this was more violent than I usually like. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not all about hearts and flowers where vampires are concerned but this was just not my cup of tea, so to speak.

I could totally see this being done for tv and I think this story might even, dare I say it, work better there, than on print. The characters, Nyx and Jack really needed something more to bring them to life for me. I never felt truly invested in either of them.

Nyx goes off, half cocked to find her sister who was imprisoned for murder. Jack is imprisoned for something he didn't do. The backstory on Jack is by far the most interesting part of the book for me than anything about Nyx.

The time spent in the prison looking for Janelle felt like forever when it was only a few days. That made the instant love between the two main characters feel outrageous, but they are vampires, so anything is possible, right?

There definitely were a few interesting plot twists involving Janelle and also involving Jack, which felt sort of contrived for me, because as the story was going on, something had to happen or it would just keep plodding along with no direction. I wish the twist would have given more oomph to the story, but it only gave a small "wow" before it fizzled.

I was hoping for something great with this book, but it really was a mediocre read for me.

Rating: 3 flowers

Book Review: Feels Like Falling

Author: Kristy Woodson Harvey
Title: Feels Like Falling
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publish Date: April 28, 2020
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: It’s summertime on the North Carolina coast and the livin’ is easy.

Unless, that is, you’ve just lost your mother to cancer, your sister to her extremist husband, and your husband to his executive assistant. Meet Gray Howard. Right when Gray could use a serious infusion of good karma in her life, she inadvertently gets a stranger, Diana Harrington, fired from her job at the local pharmacy.

Diana Harrington’s summer isn’t off to the greatest start either: Hours before losing her job, she broke up with her boyfriend and moved out of their shared house with only a worn-out Impala for a bed. Lucky for her, Gray has an empty guest house and a very guilty conscience.

With Gray’s kindness, Diana’s tide begins to turn. But when her first love returns, every secret from her past seems to resurface all at once. And, as Gray begins to blaze a new trail, she discovers, with Diana’s help, that what she envisioned as her perfect life may not be what she wants at all.

In her warmest, wisest novel yet, Kristy Woodson Harvey delivers a discerning portrait of modern womanhood through two vastly different lenses. Feels Like Falling is a beach bag essential for Harvey fans—and for a new generation of readers.

Review: For a person who has never traveled further than WV when it comes to heading south, I go there in books quite often, and definitely more so in summer "beach reads" season.

I have a lot of go to authors when it comes to Southern fiction. Kristy Woodson Harvey is going to fill the gap left when Dorothea Benton Frank passed away.

Feels Like Falling is just the kind of book that makes you feel good, even if things aren't going quite right for the characters.

Gray is a soon to be divorced woman trying to find her way and who inadvertently is the person that casts the final straw in Diana's employment at a local pharmacy.

The two women who couldn't be much more different come together and help put each other's lives back in order. Usually in stories, like these, I find I like one character much more than the other, but really, here, I loved both women.

I loved Gray and I loved how she fretted about dating the younger (by 8ish years) Andrew. I loved that she was desperately trying to be a good mom and was putting her child first. I also loved all her friends.

But then there's Diana. The world wasn't treating her right, but she managed. She still had dreams, when most of us would give up on them. She was a "carer" and I could so identify with that part of her personality.

As she navigates her new job and friendship and the return of people from her past, you couldn't help but love her. She was so real. She was so deserving of something that would go right for her.

This book was wonderful and I read it slowly because I really didn't want it to end. I'd love for Kristy to revisit these characters at some later date, because I want to see how their lives progressed.

Rating: 5 flowers

Book Review: Summerset Abbey

Author: T.J. Brown

Title: Summerset Abbey

Publisher: Gallery Books

Publish Date: Jan 15, 2013

Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley

Book Blurb: 1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society and the distant rumblings of war. . . . 

Rowena Buxton

Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey. Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the “underclass” in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic “rebels,” Rowena must decide where her true passions—and loyalties—lie.

Victoria Buxton

Frail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret—Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever. . . .

Prudence Tate

Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But by birth she is a governess’s daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society—as lady’s maid to her beloved “sisters.” But Pru doesn’t belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls. And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey.

Review: Summerset Abbey is a book for fans of Historical Fiction and people that are in love with Downton Abbey. It is also the first book in the Summerset Abbey Trilogy, with the second book due out in March and the third in August.

The three girls are so very different and they inspire many different emotions in the reader. Rowena is hard to like, yet she isn't nasty or anything that should make you dislike her, it is more that she's a procrastinator and just plain wishy washy. Throughout the story you want to grab her and shake her to make her do something, besides wait.

Victoria on the other hand is the Buxton sister you really love because she's got spunk. She's not in the best of health. She's got asthma, but that doesn't stop her. She's the type of girl you want on your side no matter what. She's loyal, she's fun and she's smart.

Prudence is the downstairs girl. Sorta. She's been raised with Victoria and Rowena, but she's the daughter of a governess/maid. When Sir Phillip died, the only way Rowena could keep her with them was to say she was their ladies maid.

So right off, Rowena loses points in the friendship department, but this separation of the classes is what makes this book so engaging. She slowly starts treating Prudence more like a servant and less like a friend and she uses the excuse of feeling overwhelmed by new responsibilities to justify her actions,when there are very little new responsibilities she has.

It is the differences in the girls characters that really keep you reading as well as the relationships that they develop with different men.

And every story is not complete without a villain and in this story's case it is Victoria and Rowena's Aunt Charlotte. She is a Bitch with a capital "B." She's the type that does everything for the good of the family name and while you can understand why she's done it, the way she goes about things, well, its just not nice.

All of her nastiness has to do with Prudence, or rather Prudence's parentage. It is easy early on to know that she's more than just the daughter of a governess. I wasn't totally surprised at the revelation of who her father was, but her reaction and the subsequent end of the book left something to be desired. It was a little to abrupt.

Still, this is a great novel that is very reflective of the pre-WW1 years. I can't wait to read the second book!

Rating: 4 flowers