Review: Guilty pleasure romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 15, 2014
This is going to be what I refer to as a "drive by book review", which basically means that I was sucked into reading a book that I had no plan to review.  As with most of my drive by reviews, this book proved to be a time sink; I have no idea where my missing hours went or how it happened.I downloaded the story off Amazon during a free day. The author has been a guest on my blog but she didn't request a review or provide an ARC. I opened the first page to check out the writing and BOOM--spent the next several hours ignoring my own story due to compulsive page turning to find out what would happen next.The Cover: OMG, LOOOOVE IT!The Story: I note with amusement that this is a paranormal time travel romance. When you're married to a physics & math guy, time travel stories are the equivalent of a pint of dark chocolate gelato hidden in the freezer. I know it's wrong, but I don't care.I found Emma Kaye's writing style to have overall good flow with occasional rough patches where I felt there was some telling going on. The cast of characters is complex and interesting, but dialogue had an overall modern feel to it. The plot held my attention throughout. I felt the author did a pretty good job of addressing the social inequities facing women in the past without getting preachy about it.I liked the heroine, Alex, who is a competent modern woman with some believable confidence issues. Poor Alex finds herself in some hilarious situations as a modern woman confronted with historical social conventions. Her hero, Nicholas, is a ship's captain and English nobility from another era. He's a bit of a male chauvinist but in adorable and forgivable ways.I loved the interaction between the hero and heroine but I do have one complaint. Heat levels never exceeded more than a few steamy kisses. Damn it, that cover promised me ripped bodices and heaving bosoms! I really wanted more in the way of chicka-chicka-boom-boom.The Happily Ever After ending left me with the same happy, endorphins-firing buzz as the aforementioned pint of chocolate gelato, but with a lot fewer calories. Recommended for anyone looking for a guilty pleasure.