Two For One Review: Mistress of the Wind and His Convict Wife

Hello mah peeps! I'm doing a 2x1 review this time around because I kind of don't have much to say about either of these:

His Convict Wife by Lena Dowing 

The Deal: After seven years spent as a virtual slave in an Australian brothel, Irish convict Colleen Malone was sent back to jail when the brothel's owner realized she had gotten pregnant. Colleen is desperate to find a way to save herself, and her child, and she knows the only viable way is to find someone who would marry her. Women as scarce, after all, and marriage can very well get her out of the prison. 

Sam Briggs left London and moved to Australian - taking a job as an overseer in a large farm - and he does not want a wife, but he does need a housekeeper, and he lets himself be convinced to take one of the female inmates as such. He doesn't expect to have a woman, Colleen, beg him to help her or that the fact that she's such a low inmate make it necessary for them to marry, rather than her just getting a work permit. 

My Thoughts: Well, I hoped this story would be emotional and interesting and intriguing, but it never quite worked out. His Convict Wife is a very short story and things quite never develop, and everything feels a bit rushed from start to finish. Colleen and her cousin are in Australia, presumably, because Colleen's cousin got tangled with someone above her station; but we are never really told why. Sam is grieving and everything but I never felt like I got to know him or believed that he would fall in love with Colleen. 

It just wasn't a very romantic story and it definitely wasn't a romance novel, even though it's being marketed as one. Is not a bad read per se, but it would have benefited a lot from having more page time to develop.

Mistress of the Wind by Michelle Diener 

The Deal: Bjorn has been cursed into taking the shape of a great polar bear, and unless he can find the one girl he ever wanted to marry - which he met briefly when he was but a child - he shall remain in that shape forever. It has taken him almost his year-long grace period, but he has finally found her.

Astrid, said girl, is the youngest daughter of a woodcutter, whose whole family is in deep poverty and whom sometimes feel like the wind speaks to her. She's afraid of the bear that one day shows up at her house, offering her family gold in exchange for her willing coming with him as his companion. 

Astrid isn't sure but agrees for the sake of her family. Finding herself deep into Bjorn's world without really understanding what's going on. 

My Thoughts: East of the Sun, West of the Moon is one of my favorite fairy tales ever, so I always jump at the chance of reading retellings of it when they show up. Mistress of the Wind - while not bad - its not one of the better efforts. 

Again, things feel rushed all the time, and things progress at an odd pace. Astrid and Bjorn are thrown together, sure, but she kind of starts trusting him too quickly yet she doesn't really? It's hard to explain. Bjorn is stubborn, and that doesn't gel well with Astrid, she hates being in the dark about what's going on and rushes foolishly into danger. 

There are a few neat twists to the story here - like whom Astrid turns out to be - but all in all, it wasn't different enough and I never really connected with the characters either, so it was fun reading it but I would probably wouldn't do it again. 

1/2

Book Review: Ripped by Sarah Morgan

The Deal: Hayley isn't having a great day: she's at her ex's wedding, acting as a bridesmaid to a former friend - all to show that she's SO Over  the aforementioned Ex - and wearing the ugliest yellow dress in the history of Bridesmaid-hood. And Nico Rossi, the best man, is glaring at her from across the aisle with great disapproval.

Which doesn't improve once her too-tight dress splits, revealing that she wasn't wearing a bra and leaving her naked from the waist up. And forcing Nico to come to her rescue.

Nico and Hayley have never seen eye to eye... until they start making out out of the blue while he's helping her with her dress and chiding her for being at the wedding at all. 

My Thoughts: Ripped was a really fun holiday novella. What I described above was just the very beginning of the story - which culminates on New Years's Eve.

I really liked both of them, particularly when they were together: they were nice, successful - I loved that Hayley was an engineer and dreamed of working for NASA one day - and had a great relationship with their respective siblings.

It was just an all- around fun book, and there is plenty of Christmas/New Year cheer int it, without it being too much or too focused on the holiday spirit. I do wish the story was a bit longer, but that's mostly because I would have liked to spend more time with these two.

And I'm really looking forward to the next book on the series, about Hayley's sister Rosie. 

PS - Fair warning, though, the story is less than a 100 pages long (around 95)

Book Review: Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

At First Sight: Kayla Green doesn't like Christmas... in fact, she hates it enough to volunteer to work during the holidays, as the PR firm she works tries to land a new client. Said new client is Jackson O'Neil -owner of a luxury chain of hotels in Europe, who is currently trying to save his family's ski lodge in Vermont.

Jackson is surprised when Kayla agrees to spend a whole week in Vermont with him and his family and he really hopes that she'll be able to convince his stubborn grandfather to go along with Jackson's business plan - which includes hiring Kayla's PR firm to promote the lodge at s bigger scale-  so they don't lose the Lodge.

Kayla thought that by going to Vermont, she would avoid Christmas in the city, but she wasn't counting with the winter wonderland she found at the lodge, or with the fact that Jackson's family was totally Christmas obsessed. 

Second Glance: Okay, so I'm a little torn about this book. On one hand, I really liked it: the setting, the characters, etc. But on the other hand, the plot has so many holes on it that it does not bear thinking about it too much.

Kayla was very serious and capable, and had a genuine reason not to like Christmas, she feels a strong attraction to Jackson, but she mostly wants to do a good job. Jackson has a lot of family baggage but he's trying to do the right thing by his family. The O'Neils are a very close knit group, sure, but they also have a lot of issues - which I won't name because it would just be like a grocery's list - but they are good people.

The problem, like I said, is the plot holes: Kayla is too naive expecting that a place that advertises itself as a winter wonderland will be devoid of Christmas, the way the reason why she hates Christmas is dragged out was a bit bothersome because there isn't that much to it.  Jackson and Kayla's relationship progresses way too quickly (they go from "lets keep it professional" to "You're the Only One For Me" in less than a week), and so on and so forth. 

Bottom Line: While I was totally enchanted by the background of Sleigh Bells in the Snow, and I definitely plan to pick up the following books, I can't say that I Loved this book, but I did like it and while I was reading it it was fun, it was only later, as I thought about it that the flaws became all too clear. But I would still recommend it for some holiday fun. 

Book Review: Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

At First Sight: Isaiah Walker needs money if he wants to keep on living with his best friend Noah, as he waits to age out of the foster care system and to graduate high school, he doesn't want to go back to live with his foster parents or to be sent to a new foster home if the state discovers he hasn't been living with them for months. So he's willing to do something he swore he would never do: illegal drag racing. Just for a night, just to keep himself afloat.

Rachel Young is tired of having to pretend to be someone she's not in order to make her mom happy, but her whole family depends on it, as she's the only one who can keep her mom from wallowing in the lost of her first daughter Colleen, who died before Rachel was even born. Having to be perfect for her mother all the time, and being over protected by her four older brothers, has left Rachel with a propensity to have panic attacks (which she always hides from everyone). The only thing that makes Rachel feel like herself is driving her mustang as far as she can.

When a drag race gone wrong leaves Isaiah and Rachel both in danger and indebted to a local criminal, their lives become deeply entangled.

Second Glance: I don't think I'm doing a good job of summarizing this book, but I've been trying all afternoon and this is as good as it got. I really don't want to give much of the story because I found it pretty interesting and entertaining. And what I said, it's really just the first, say, quarter of the story.

Crash Into You jumps right in to tell Isaiah and Rachel's story, and I really liked both of them. Isaiah has a lot of anger but he's very loyal to those he loves and really wants to make something of himself, even if his aspirations aren't the same as Noah's. Rachel is stuck with a life that makes her really unhappy, her family loves her but they are also very selfish and expect her to be Colleen 2.0 so her mother can be functional and happy, and they pretend not to see how much that's hurting Rachel.

Isaiah and Rachel are very different, but find comfort in each other. To Isaiah, who hasn't experienced many good things in life, Rachel is like an angel who loves cars as much as he does, and who accepts him for who he is - scary tats and piercings and all - while Rachel sees Isaiah as the one person who likes her for herself.

They are both messed up in different ways but together they make each other better. And I love when I find that in a story.

Plus, in the background, we got plenty to keep us interested as the story progresses, Isaiah's mom is trying to return to his life, and his social worker Courtney is determined to make him deal with her; Beth's four brothers are a bit messed up in their own ways, and Noah and Echo (from Pushing the Limits) are still around, struggling with their own issues, but happily together.

And then there is Abby. I love Abby. I haven't loved a secondary character this much in a really long time and I hope I get to read her story sometime.

Bottom Line: In my opinion, Crash Into You was worlds better than Dare You To, I kind of liked it as much if not better than Pushing the Limits. I was frustrated by the story sometimes, but the characters always made sense and sounded true to themselves, and the story kept the tension going until the end. All in all, a win in all accounts. 

1/2 

Book Tour: Fighting for the Edge by Jennifer Comeaux

At First Sight: Emily is living her dream, she's one half of one of the top rated pairs skating teams and has a great partner in Chris (who keeps her calm during the competitions, something she never managed to do before pairing with him), and is married to her handsome coach Sergei and has a real shot at winning in the Torino Olympics.

Aubrey is also living the dream, she has a great partner in Nick, and great coaches and she's one half of the top rated US ice dance team. If it weren't for an ill advised one-night stand with a Canadian skater - who now won't leave her alone - her life would be awesome.

Until their skating ring is destroyed during a freak snow storm, and both Audrey and Emily (and their respective teams) are forced to decamp to Boston as they get ready for nationals and the Olympics.

But with their last chance at Olympic Glory in sight, life is not done sending them curve balls.

Second Glance: Fighting for the Edge is the last book in the Edge trilogy, which up to now has following Emily as she fell in love with Sergei; but this time around we also get to see Aubrey's perspective.

I have to say that I liked this change, and the fact that it was very easy to identify who was talking - because Emily's POV is in first person and Aubrey's in third - and this made the pace of the book a little more brisk, which I really liked, plus I liked seeing these two girls with similar dreams but who are at very different stages in their lives, even though they are the same age. It was a nice contrast.

And, for the most part, I really liked the book. I love the world of figure skating, and I loved being inside it from two skater's perspective - though it was a bit eery since I remember both Torino and Salt Lake with perfect clarity, so I was, like, Whoa! sometimes when they talked about the games.

My one concern for the book came later on, and I can't really discuss because it goes deep into spoiler territory, but yeah, it made me question how realistic some of the things were.

But, on the other hand, I totally loved Chris and Sergei. 

Bottom Line: Save for that thing, I really enjoyed and loved the book, it was easy to slide into the world and easy to read (I mean this in a good way) and it was a lovely visit with friends I hadn't seen in a while. I also liked that it wasn't as dramatic a story as the two previous ones, so it was just a lot of fun to read. In any case, I really recommend Fighting for the Edge for anyone who likes sports books, and skating books in particular. 

2/3

Tour Schedule

 Fighting for the Edge Two friends. Two dreams. One night that changes everything… Ice dancer Aubrey London scoffs at romance. She’s focused on winning a medal at the upcoming Olympics and uses that as her excuse to avoid serious relationships. But when she and longtime friend Chris Grayden are thrown together by unforeseen circumstances, Aubrey finds herself questioning everything she's ever known about love, complicating her life both on and off the ice. 

Pairs skater Emily Petrov embraces romance. She and her husband Sergei still act like honeymooners two years after their wedding. As Emily’s coach, Sergei provides constant support while she prepares to challenge for gold at the Olympics. But Sergei’s support might not be enough to help Emily overcome the one challenge she never saw coming. 

With the Games only weeks away, Emily and Aubrey are on the verge of realizing their dreams. But one snowy, stormy night sets in motion a series of events that will test them in ways they never imagined, giving them more to fight for than Olympic medals.  

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Praise for Fighting for the Edge "Emily and Aubrey's final challenge is Jennifer Comeaux's greatest victory. Both touching and suspenseful, Fighting for the Edge is a game changer that will have fans of the series giving both the characters and the author a standing ovation once they've turned the last page. If I could pass out medals, Jennifer would earn gold for writing my favorite romance of all time." - Jenna at Jenna Does Books 

 "Jennifer Comeaux puts you in the action, makes you smell the ice and hear the roar of the crowd during the nail-biting competitions, and she's a master at creating first love jitters in your stomach from the steamy scenes that are so hot without being explicit." - Christina Jean Michaels, author of Epiphany   

Author Jennifer Comeaux

Jennifer Comeaux is a tax accountant by day, writer by night. There aren't any ice rinks near her home in south Louisiana, but she's a diehard figure skating fan and loves to write stories of romance set in the world of competitive skating. One of her favorite pastimes is travelling to competitions, where she can experience all the glitz and drama that inspire her writing.

When not working or writing, she is an avid follower of the sport of figure skating, travelling to competitions around the country. Those experiences allow her to see another side of the sport and serve as an inspiration for her writing. Jennifer is blessed with a wonderful family and many friends who have encouraged her to pursue her dream of being a published author.

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads * Pinterest

Tour Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 12/19/13

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