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Indie Writer (Self-published)
*Introducing a New Author to the Blog*
Description:
On a bet, Nicholas Duvall, rakehell Earl of Barrington, assumes the role of a coach driver. When he witnesses Katya Alexander picking the pocket of a fellow passenger, her beauty, skill, and audacity captivate him.
Katya is exactly what he needs to retrieve an ancient family scroll that has been stolen from him. He makes her an ungentlemanly offer: pose as his mistress and help him retrieve a priceless family scroll. In return, he would offer her his protection.
Katya has her own reasons for agreeing to the deception, reasons that she must keep hidden from Nicholas: an age-old family feud that made them mortal enemies. Caught up in the glittering intrigue of 19th century Monaco, together they embark on a mission filled with danger and intrigue,
Their plan was flawless, until Nicholas loses his heart to the beautiful stranger with secrets to burn, and the passion smouldering between them finally ignites,
Product Details:
Free Kindle Download for me (I honestly can't remember if it was one of my Daily Selection Picks, put I would think it might have been), in March of this year.
At the time of writing this post, it's available as free download for Prime Members and listed at £1.92 for the rest of us.
368 pages in length.
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Summary/thoughts:
Overall not a bad read, but that might be a slightly false impression after the last Review (#378), which did not sit well with me.
The plot went along a brisk walk, but failed to fully pump up my heart rate.
Nicholas was a 5 on my Blake Alpha Male Scale - for those of you who don't know, Anthony Blake from A Gentleman's Honour is my perfect 10 Alpha Male).
Katya didn't really live up to her gypsy ancestry ... a little on the simpering and quiet side from me. She should have been written with a little more fire.
I didn't predict the villain until it happened, which is always nice.
I also loved the little bits of humour in the book, it's just a shame that they were at the front end, and not evenly spaced throughout. The Author clearly has it in her to be humorous, it would have been nice to see her carry it through in my opinion.
Rating:
Given that I liked the humour, the reasonable pace and I didn't predict the villain early on (I obviously would like you to think that it was the good writing, not the fact that I'm a bit dim and wasn't paying attention!):
4 Stars
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Errors/Bug Bears:
2% - "Muffled shouts of anger led to angry threats and bouts shoving" - bouts of shoving.
31% - "He saddled Avignon and left the yard a gentle cantor". - it should be canter as "cantor" is either a liturgical singer of leader of prayer, depending whether you are Christian of Jewish. As far as I know horses can't sing .... Llamas/Alpacas can though, I've seen a whole group doing it together before, and it's one of the most joyous sounds. Actually a shame I was too absorbed to record it, but we're going Llamas walking again soon....so fingers crossed I can record them en masse.
In case you don't know ...... and why would you, unless you have read my creative blog for a long time .... I love Llamas and Alpacas more than books!!
All the time we lived on a farm, I was sadly too busy to keep any, and now we don't live on a farm, I'm not busy and could keep them ... but, no land .... irony at its best.
I digress, back to the errors/bug bears ....
36% - Nicholas reigned Avignon to a halt beside the other mounts". For goodness sake, it's reined.
36% - "But she restrained the urge to bit her hand to her hair and fuss". Firstly, I never like to see a sentence begin with "but" and secondly, "bit"? Would that be put perhaps?
37% - "A. call to gather for the next shooting match ...." - I am being a pedant country girl here, but it should be "next round".
37% - Again, a pedant country girl, but why are they shooting doves with rifles? Shotguns would be used. People shooting are known as 'guns' not "shooters".
72% - "He removed his own boots and socks, rolled up the leg of his pants, and submerged his feet in the stream". - Arghh, please don't use pants, it not historically correct and drives me insane to the membrane (see lots of other posts for Reviews that use pants, there are many). In England pants are underwear, not trousers. Whilst I'm on a rant .... please would also Authors' who write about Englishmen or Englishmen abroad please use a u in honour (Stephanie Laurens can manage to do it).
Somewhere from 72% to 83%, I forgot to write it down:
"What I wanted was a simple brick house with rose gardens in back and a white picket fence in front." ....rose gardens in the back and a white picket fence in the front garden.
"Her hair smelled fresher than spring ram". Okay, I'm hoping that was meant to be rain, although the mind boggles what spring ram smells like (at a guess testosterone, sweat and grass)? It' spring ram is correct, it's not an attractive analogy in my opinion.
83% - "pants" - nooooooooooooooo!
Hugs
Kay
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