Distracting the Duchess by Emily Bryan

Published: 2008
Pages: 306

"I'm going to have to shorten his willie."
With such witty promise in the opening sentence, Distracting the Duchess does not fail to deliver. It is an amusing romp through the world of art, romance & espionage.

Lady Artemisia, widowed Duchess of Southwycke, shocks polite society in her passion for painting nudes. She is independent, sassy & smart. Knowing society's intolerance of females in business, Artemisia conducts her dealings behind a nom de guerre, Mr. Beddington.

When Trevelyn Deveridge, the youngest son of an earl, arrives at the Duchess' home masquerading as Thomas Doverspike, Artemisia mistakes him for her new life model & commences work on Mars, the God of War.
Looking for an entre to the Duchess' man of business, Trevelyn figures this is as good a way as any to get information but he may just have met his match in the Duchess of Southwycke.

Emily Bryan's characterisation in Distracting the Duchess is delightful, also a strong point in her 2nd novel, Pleasuring the Pirate (my first read from this author.) I thought the secondary characters were well developed & enjoyable. My one small criticism was the language used to simulate Ambassador Kharitonov's Russian accent; I found that annoying but a small irritation in the scheme of things.
The intimate scenes in Pleasuring the Pirate may be a little more polished but I loved the humour & innuendo in Distracting the Duchess. The witty banter between Artemisia & Trevelyn had me laughing out loud & Artemisia's 'naughty' thoughts at the most inopportune moments were downright hilarious & refreshing.

I'm not knowledgeable enough to cast an opinion on whether Distracting the Duchess' historical details are accurate (as other reviewers have) & I don't particularly care. I read Emily Bryan's novel for the pure, light hearted entertainment value that I'm sure the author intended & the fact that Trevelyn pops into my thoughts after the last page has been turned means the author has done her job, and well!

Sizzling romance, suspense & intrigue made this one a winner for me. I can't wait for my copy of Vexing the Viscount to arrive.

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Stardust of Yesterday by Lynn Kurland

Copyright: 1996
Pages: 368

Genevieve thought her life was complete with a thriving restoration business she had built from the ground up. Then out of the blue, Genevieve inherits a castle, but she must live there. Her first thoughts were to turn it down until mysteriously, her clients started firing her from all her big accounts. She gratefully accepts the inheritance and travels to England to take possession but what she didn't expect was that the castle came with an incredibly sexy 13th century knight. Unfortunately, he's a ghost, who is bent on getting rid of the last of her line so that he can finally be free of his 700 year old curse.

This is the first 'ghost' romance I've read and I have to say that I found it a little unconvincing but hunky and gorgeous Scotsman make up for it . The story has a twist to it with someone trying to kill Genevieve and this is the main storyline in the second half of the novel.

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The Love Bites Reading Challenge

Whether your preference is vamps, weres or something more exotic - here's a challenge for all you paranormal/urban fantasy lovers!

All you need to do is read three paranormals with a romantic theme between 1st April and 30th June 2009.

That's it! No other rules. You can cross this over with another challenge and change your mind on the books you'd like to read halfway through if you like.

To sign up, please post a comment here with your name, blog address (if applicable) and the first book you intend to read. We recommend signing up to follow both Royal Reviews and The Love Bites Reading Challenge Blog to keep up to date with news and reviews for the duration of the challenge. You could even follow us publicly if you want to show the love :-)

You are encouraged to contribute your reviews to The Love Bites Reading Challenge Blog. All you need to do is send your name, blog and email address to and I'll give you permission to post to the blog. We ask that reviews are a minimum of three paragraphs and rate from 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest, 5 being the highest). You are also more than welcome to link to your own blog on your review. For the sake of consistency, please do not take offence if the layout of your review is formatted to fit the blog design - we assure you that none of your words will be edited.

Feel free to add one of the below challenge buttons to your blog and link to Royal Reviews:

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Pages: 406
Copyright: 2003

This is my first Robin McKinley book and I'm sorry to say that it'll probably be my last. I know she has a large fan-base and I know that she is critically acclaimed but I just couldn't get into her writing. Even if Neil Gaiman says it's 'Pretty much perfect.'

The whole novel is written like one giant info-dump with barely any dialogue or interaction between characters. It's made up mostly of the character's internal reflections and while she's certainly quirky, I didn't find Sunshine endearing. I never felt like I managed to care enough about the story to get past the fact that the author continually made up words, had purposefully terrible grammar and had no chapters. Call me boring, call me backwards but maybe this novel is just too unconventional for me?

The other thing was that I really liked Constantine and I felt he was barely even in the novel. What was with that? It felt like McKinley was constantly holding out on me. I didn't really care so much about SOF or any of the other sub-plots. I wanted more of Con and I never got it. I really felt that if there had been more interaction between Constantine and Sunshine, I would've enjoyed this much more.

Judging by other reviews, if you're a McKinley fan, you'll probably enjoy this novel. I just think I missed the point!

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Fire Study by Maria V Snyder

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 441

This is the third and final book in the Study series. I have to say I was a little bit disappointed as I thought this book would follow a similar format to the others. The first one was Poison Study and it was about Yelena's job as a food taster for the Commander of Ixia. In the second book Yelena goes to learn about her magical ability with the magicians in Sitia. I thought the third book would be about Yelena studying fire, but it really was a continuation of Magic Study and Yelena's journey to become a Soulfinder.

In this book you will find plenty of action and suspense, especially in the last 200 pages. The problem I thought this book had was that it was action driven, not character driven so the emotional connection established in the other books was lacking. All your favourite secondary characters from the other books had very little interaction in this book and at times did not seem true to character.

As much as Fire Study was still an enjoyable read, Magic Study remains my favourite book in the series.

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The Gene of Isis by Traci Harding

Copyright: 2006

Pages: 608

Have you ever read a book where you've loved one half of it and then felt completely lost for the second half? Unfortunately that was me with Gene of Isis. And I'm not completely sure it's Traci Harding's fault either.

This book is divided into three sections set in three separate times: 13th Century France, 19th Century England and modern day Australia. An interesting combination but it works for variety! The novel begins with the story of Lady Ashlee (19th Century England) and follows her troubles as a child who can see and talk to spirits. Reading about her struggle to make sense of what she sees and her refusal to identify herself as abnormal is truly gut-wrenching. I was on the edge of my seat with horror and suspense when she is committed to a mental hospital at a young age after embarrassing her high-flying parents with her 'gift'.

Likewise, I continued to fly through the pages as she embarks on psychic training and has her debut in society. About 200 pages into this novel I was describing it as part-fantasy, part-historical, part-romance - the perfect combination!

Unfortunately, I got lost somewhere along the way. And it happened to be round about the time the author introduced the modern day character and began talking about the Holy Grail and the secret bloodline of Mary Magdalene.

It's not that this story line doesn't interest me, or even that it offends me. It's actually quite the opposite. I am a major ignoramus when it comes to Biblical studies and Christian history. So for me, the links between Bible stories and this book were really unclear. I just didn't really get it. I got the Da Vinci Code and all the connections but I really failed here. I felt like I was doing a paint-by-numbers but without the numbers....

Harding's writing style is really quite easy to read and she does a wonderful job of keeping up the suspense over a 600 page novel. So if you do have better knowledge than I do about religious history and are not easily offended by some pretty radical twists on religion then you may find you really enjoy this novel. It is quite clear that it is highly researched and thought-out.

I'm not sure I'll continue with this series however I will definitely read more of the author's work. If this had been a story solely about Ashlee and hadn't involved the Holy Grail, I can imagine it really would've been one of my favourites. Traci Harding really is a brilliant writer.

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Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Published: 2002
Pages: 291

I actually enjoyed Living Dead in Dallas, the 2nd in this series more than Dead until Dark, hence the 4.5 star rating. Of course you have to embrace the book for its pure entertainment value, if you're looking for literary brilliance you will be sorely disappointed.

Living Dead in Dallas is somewhat oddly structured with a main plot that takes up the middle portion of the book & a side plot that works as bookends.
Sookie is "hired out" by Eric to Stan, the nest leader in Dallas. With Bill as escort, she must use her telepathic abilities to try and locate a missing vampire. The Dallas trip proves to be a page turning, action packed introduction to other supernatural creatures & a bunch of extremist religious kooks called the Fellowship of the Sun whose mission it is to rid the world of vampires.

Living Dead in Dallas is vampire underworld meets hometown 'down & dirty' with a Maenad who feeds on pride & drunkenness thrown in to keep the plot twisting & turning. The story builds to a climatic ending (in more ways than one) with hot & hilarious action between Sookie & Eric.

Laugh out loud funny, the orgy scene while grossing me out, had me in absolute stitches. Hope book 3, Club Dead is just as entertaining.

Stolen by Kelley Armstrong

Copyright: April 2004
Pages: 532

Stolen is gruesome & twisted & I loved it!

In this sequel to Bitten, Kelley Armstrong maintains the intensity, pace & suspense that I thoroughly enjoyed in Women of the Otherworld Book 1.

The reader is introduced to an assortment of supernatural beings in Stolen, the new characters & the new location allows for further expansion of the storyline & the exciting 'otherworld' already created.

As part of her job in the pack, Elena investigates reports of werewolf activity & illicit mutt action & while following a lead meets with witches Paige and Ruth. Events spiral out of control and Elena is abducted & held by an organisation collecting supernatural beings for research; witches, shamans, half-demons, vampires & werewolves. Elena spends much of the book as a captive in an underground facility but this is by no means all the story; drama, mystery, loss, sadistic baddies, introspective moments & great characterisation makes for a page turning tale.

What I did miss in Stolen, was the warmth and further development of the Stonehaven pack story & Elena & Clay's relationship. But as a sucker for 'hot & steamy' the reunion between Elena & Clay after Elena's escape from the bunker more than satisfied my 'romance' requirements. Pensive & vulnerable, passionate & playful; a wonderful combination.

I'm looking forward to reading Paige's story in Dime Store Magic, but I have to admit, I have my doubts whether Paige will measure up to Elena. Kudos to Kelley Armstrong for a to-die-for supernatural series.

The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 512

I loved the character of Nefertari, and I enjoyed seeing her mature throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, my heart went out to this young, orphaned girl. She was facing so much adversity and could have easily given up on her dreams; however because of her love for Ramesses the Great, as well as her desire to preserve her family's name, she never gave up and constantly fought for her place in history.

Ramesses the Great was depicted a great leader who was loved by his people, and also as a man who was very much in love with Nefertari. Ramesses was definitely not without flaws and he did face many trying times as a leader, but I thought Ms. Moran captured the complex nature of this character extremely well.

Nefertari was a far more likeable heroine than Nefertiti and Rameses was a real hero as opposed to the self absorbed slightly psychotic Akhenaten from the author's first novel. The love story between Rameses and Nefertari was all the more special because it is real.

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Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Published: 2004
Pages: 416

With endorsements from Charlaine Harris "you'll love this" & Kelley Armstrong "A wonderfully fun romp through the supernatural world, a spellbinding blend of sharp wit and vivid imagination" I was sure I was going to 'lurve' Dead Witch Walking. This was also my chosen March read from the Romance Readers Group so I really did want to love this pick!

The first few chapters I was unconvinced; witches, vampires, demons, pixies, fairies, werewolves, leprechauns, actually I was seriously weirded out. I love the fantasy and paranormal genres but for me the whole concept of Kim Harrison's world took a while to gel, I did however enjoy the author's amusing writing style.

Bio-engineering gone wrong; the Angel virus, spread in genetically modified tomatoes greatly decreases the human population, bringing supernatural creatures out of the shadows; except elves (the virus knocked them all off.) After "The Turn" Inderlanders (witches, vamps, pixies, fairies etc) integrate with human society; an imaginative concept but Harrison took some time explaining this new world leaving my brain in a genetically modified 'funk'.

Rachel Morgan is an earth witch and runner for Inderland Security (IS), a law enforcement division that brings down law breaking surnaturals. The Federal Inderland Bureau (FIB), is the human equivalent force in competetion with the IS. Fed up with her assignments Rachel leaves the IS with Ivy, a non practising vampire and Jenks, a smart-mouthed pixie. Unfortunately Rachel incurs the wrath of her ex-boss, who puts a contract on her life and most of the book is a relentless, action packed ride of danger and threats to Rachel's life.

While Rachel is the central character she is not the most developed; clueless at times & reckless to the point of self destructive, I did however love the spell casting, amulet making side of her character.
For me, Jenks was the star of Dead Witch Walking, his sarcastic wit added comic relief to the story much like his smatterings of pixie dust. He quickly moves from pixie body guard to full partner in the Rachel/Ivy/Jenks freelance operation.

There is no romance in the book unless you count the slightly kinky flirtation thing happening between Ivy & Rachel. Maybe with the late entry of Nick (questionable human) the scene may be set for romance in future novels. This novel doesn't leave you hanging, the main plot concludes nicely in Dead Witch Walking but there are plenty of loose ends to be tied up in further novels in this series.
I have been told to stick with the series, Dead Witch Walking is the debut novel for Kim Harrison & the first in the Rachel Morgan series. Apparently the 2nd improves and the 3rd and 4th will blow your mind. I just don't know whether an adrenalin junkie witch, fairy assassins and humans wimping out at the sight of pasta sauce is for me.

Magic Study by Maria V Snyder

Published: 2006
Pages: 400

In the sequel to Poison Study, we follow Yelena, in exile, back to her homeland of Sitia where she is to study under the fourth Magician, Irys. After a reunion with the family that she hasn't seen since she was kidnapped at the age of 6, Yelena travels on to the Citadel to begin her training; to develop, harness and control her magic.

The writing in Magic Study is definitely more refined, descriptive without being tedious and on a whole more enjoyable. There were none of the annoyances present in Ms Snyders writing that I found so irritating in Poison Study. While the whole magic theme wasn't quite as fascinating as the details on poisons in Poison Study, it was extremely enjoyable nonetheless. Once again danger and adventure are Yelena's constant companions so the story moves along at a good pace. Yelena becomes embroiled in the hunt for a rogue magician who is torturing young girls and stealing their souls to increase his own power. This takes place while Yelena is in the process of discovering some unique and powerful abilities. Control of her magic is a slow developing skill, as is the dawning of understanding of the difference between self-reliance, independence & arrogance.

I thoroughly enjoyed the appearance of familiar characters from Poison Study in this story, the loveable Ari and Janco and of course Valek. Valek's re-appearance allows the love interest between Yelena & Valek to subtly develop. I wasn't quite as attached to the new cast of characters in Magic Study but I did like Moon Man and the boy Fisk. The shortage of characters to love was more than made up for by the inclusion of Kiki, Yelena's horse. Kiki plays an intricate part in Magic Study, she's a delightful addition to the story & the magical connection between Yelena & Kiki touched my heart.

Yelena's journey in Magic Study is one of growth & self discovery & I can't wait to see what awaits Yelena and readers in Fire Study.

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Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Copyright: 2004

Pages: 976

This was a reread for me as part of both The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and The Outlander Challenge. The idea behind The Outlander Challenge is to complete all of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander novels before the release of An Echo in the Bone in September this year. I've found it a fantastic motivator to dive back into a much-loved series.

Dragonfly in Amber continues the story of Jamie and Claire pretty much where Cross Stitch/Outlander left off. Set mostly in the past (bar about 100 pages) with a high-level of research and historical accuracy it can easily be classified as a historical novel. If you forget the fact that Claire is a time-traveller...

I absolutely loved revisiting this novel and I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of series. Two down, four to go!

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Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy #1

Published: 2007
Pages: 332

Genre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy

Vasilisa (Lissa) Dragomir is a Moroi princess, a member of the vampire royalty and her best friend Rose is Dhampir, Lissa's guardian and narrator of this story. Rose is fiesty, fiercely loyal, a bit of a flirt & 'shadow kissed.' This proves to be an interesting narrative tool, the rare gift allows Rose to experience Lissa's emotions and also allows the reader to follow Lissa's story.

Richelle Mead likes to write about things based in folklore & Moroi and Strigoi are vampires from Romanian mythology. The vamps in Vampire Academy are of three types; Moroi, mortal, well-versed in elemental magic, Dhampirs are half human/half vampire trained to protect Moroi from Strigoi, and Strigoi are the immortal, 'evil undead'.

This novel blends paranormal fantasy with the contemporary setting of St. Vladimir’s Academy, a boarding school that teaches Moroi to develop their magic and trains Dhampirs in guardian skills. Lissa & Rose ran away from school two years ago for reasons which are revealed later in the book & upon capture by school guardians the two resume life at St. Vladimir's Academy. For me, learning about magic appeared to be a poor second to the trials and tribulations of teen-relevant issues; gossip, bitchy cliques, rumours, parties, drinking and teenage angst. Having teenagers myself, it seemed an accurate portrayal of many older teenagers. There are references to sex (non explicit) underage drinking, cutting, drugs and the bad language seems fairly typical.

This is a YA novel & I can see why many would enjoy the edgy elements to this story but I guess I was hoping for more. I enjoyed Mead's take on vampire society and there was certainly enough action to keep the pages turning but the book was riddled with spelling errors which I found irritating. I really wanted to love this one but ultimately I was a little disappointed. With room for improvement I'm hopeful that Frostbite will sway me to the dark side & continuing on with this series.

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The Secret by Julie Garwood

Copyright: 1992
Pages: 379

One of the main story lines in this book is the barbaric way in which the church was involved in childbirth. It was believed that if a woman didn't suffer during her labour that the baby was unclean. Eve was condemned to suffer through childbirth so all women must suffer. Also, a woman was not allowed to enter a church when she was pregnant, only once the baby was delivered and the cleansing ceremony had occurred was she allowed to enter the church. There were even horrific stories of the birth canal being stuffed with all manner of things including dirt. No wonder so many women died during or after childbirth. I love this sort of storyline so I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Of course, this book was still a love story and a beautiful one at that. In both the Julie Garwood novels I've read she has included strong and interesting secondary characters. At the heart of this story is a wonderful friendship between two women from very different backgrounds.

In a romance, as we all know, the course of true love never does run smooth, and, because of the title, we know there's a secret just waiting to ruin the good thing Judith and Iain have going. I won't give away the secret. Although the reader knows about it early on in the book, Iain doesn't discover it for quite awhile, and it's his discovery that could destroy his and Judith's happiness.

I know that this book is a little older being that it was written in the 90's, however, it is a great read and I highly recommend it. This book is definitely a keeper to reread every so often.

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From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 359

Firstly it was with much sadness that I finished the series to date. The next book, Dead and Gone (find chapter one here) is due out in May 2009. I have absolutely loved this series of books, and I love listening to Sookie. This book is different to the others, each of the previous books followed a main storyline, built up the suspense, some kind of conclusion and left a little hanging. I've read a few reviews that said this one wasn't as good because it didn't have one storyline, rather it seemed to have several. But I enjoyed this, it was a nice change.

That said, I am getting to the stage where I want Sookie to at least find her 'true love' and have a period of happiness. She has been through a lot and I think she really needs to just feel happy with a man. If things keep going the way they are I think she'll loss all faith in love and romance. I think it was only the first book when she was with Bill that she had any period of happiness. Come on Ms Harris, she reads romance novels, let her have a little love and romance.

In this book, Sookie finds out about her connection to the 'supernatural', meets a few more relatives including a little boy just like her and finds herself alone once again. Her brother shows what a selfish '#%*&' he is and the were's have a change of power as do the vamps. Eric remembers their brief time together but that storyline doesn't go anywhere else. I presume there will be more to come in future books.

At the end of this book I felt sad, not just because it was the last book to date but because Sookie was sad. She really had no joy or happiness in this book. Time for a change for her, in my opinion.

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Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 384

I have to admire the courage it took for Karen Harper to take something as small as a discrepancy on William Shakespeare's marriage certificate and create an entire novel from it. Although the idea that Shakespeare had a mistress is not a new one, it is a fantastic literary premise sure to draw attention and potentially, criticism.

There are plenty of areas in which this novel does deliver and can be commended. First of all would be the clever way Harper weaves lines of Shakespeare's sonnets and plays into witty dialogue between the two main characters. I found it terribly romantic when Will would whisper things to Anne like 'Parting is such sweet sorrow.' That part of the novel certainly lived up to my expectations.

The other thing you can't fault Harper on is her ability to recreate a time and place in history. Even though she's used pure speculation for the basis of her novel, the world in which these characters inhabit is very distinctly Elizabethan England and all the little details she weaves into the story really add to the authenticity. It is clear she did her research. There are two scenes - a birth scene and a plague scene - that are particularly haunting and remind you of what it really would've been like to live in these times.

However for all its strength and ambition, Mistress Shakespeare doesn't quite manage to be all that it could've been. To me, the biggest cause of this was the character of Anne Whately. Although I did enjoy aspects of her life, she just really puts up with way too much rubbish from William Shakespeare to appeal to me. Reading the journey of her life with her, I somehow failed to make any real emotional connection to Anne. I understand the duplicity of her feelings for William Shakespeare and her motivations as a character but to be really honest, she just didn't do it for me. Maybe I wanted her to be more modern? This is probably unfair as Harper was staying true to women of the time but even in historicals, I'm used to reading heroines who give as good as they get.

The other thing was that William Shakespeare wasn't portrayed in this novel to be as brilliant as I wanted him to be. I know that he was just a man but I really wanted to see something special in him and I just didn't get it. He didn't seem different or even really quirky. Just another man unable to give the woman he loves what she wants.

I know there are many fans of Karen Harper out there and not having read any of her other work, I'm unable to tell you how this novel compares. I can see from her writing and research that she is probably a brilliant author but unfortunately I found Mistress Shakespeare to be forgettable.

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