Saturday 24 May 2014

Mini Reviews: Four Romance Novellas And An Underwhelmed Book Blogger

I've been reading a lot of romance books lately. Perhaps not coincidentally, I haven't read many great books in recent times. Many of the books I've read have been mediocre at best. I don't know if it's the particular titles I've read or if the genre just isn't for me. Sure, they're entertaining enough in general, but I am often left feeling underwhelmed or even annoyed. That's certainly how I felt with these novellas:


Perfect Timing by Jane O'Reilly (Source: Netgalley)
Ruby has been crushing on her best friend for years but it's only now she's leaving the country he wakes up and realises he's in love with her too. Of course. I liked this book well enough but it might be saying something that I started reading it again a couple of weeks later, not because I loved it, but because I completely forgot I had read it. It wasn't bad but yeah, not all that memorable.
Rating: 3/5






Perfect 10 by Erin McCarthy (Source: Netgalley)
Katrina is a social media whiz who accidentally sends the details of her private hook ups (including ratings) to everyone in her address book. This has dire consequences for her job and her personal life - that is, until her ex best friend (who she had a one night stand with) gets in touch after seeing his score. This was OK, there were some cute parts but it was just all a little too convenient.
Rating: 3/5







Double Take by Leslie Kelly (Source: Netgalley)
Lindsey is a psychologist whose research into female orgasms makes her the laughing stock of her field, leading her to seek refuge on a small, quiet island town. The chief of police Mike is hiding from his own demons, and they're instantly attracted to each other but can't do anything about it because... they don't want people to gossip about them. Meh. I didn't buy it as a strong enough reason for them to not be together. I also really didn't buy that someone whose area of expertise is sexuality, and the female orgasm in particular, would be so self-conscious and repressed in her own sexuality. Underwhelming.
Rating: 2/5



The Private Affairs of Lady Jane Fielding by Viveka Portman (Source: Netgalley)
Lady Fielding and her husband are trying to have a son and heir when her husband is in an accident that means he can no longer have children. He has the perfect solution - his cousin will get Lady Fielding pregnant and they'll pretend the baby is his. I did not like this book at all. If it hadn't been so short I wouldn't have finished it - and it was a struggle as it was. I didn't like the characters or the plot, but worst of all was the writing - mayhap the writer verily thought she must needs use every olde worlde word in every sentence and it mayhap drove my verily batty.
Rating: 1/5


8 comments:

  1. BWAHAHA your last sentence of that last book omg I had to re-read it twice because I thought I was dumb :D

    Yeah romance is just so... meh for me too. I think Jennifer L. Armentrout's Gamble Brothers series is pretty decent. I've only read her first one and that was enjoyable. The few romance novels I've read are just so cliche.

    I definitely prefer UF and PNR by far!

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    1. THAT IS WHAT THE WHOLE BOOK IS LIKE. It is so, so bad. I haven't read the Gamble Brothers series. I dunno, I think I'm just about ready to give up on romance lol.

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  2. Ha! Your review for the last book is awesome.

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    1. Thank you. Because the book most certail was not.

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  3. I love how your ratings got gradually worse, these do sound a bit underwhelming. I dislike where characters say they can't be together or they can't do X, and their reasoning is weak sauce. Also, I loved your ye olde sentence, ha!

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    1. Ugh I do not recommend any of these books.

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  4. I dunno what your problem with that last book was. I mean that Shakespeare guy does it and it seems to have worked moderately well for him.

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