Review: Good value for money but stories aren't fantastic
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 24, 2013
I have written individual reviews for 3 of the books as I'd bought 2 of them previously. I hadn't read The Nude or the other paranormal short story and it was cheaper to buy this collection, than those separately.***May contain some Spoilers***The Marriage ListI enjoyed it and it was a clean historical. I did like the fact that the author paid attention to the times the people lived in and it wasn't a 'modern' historical. I liked the fact that the characters felt genuine passion but didn't actually act rashly. What I didn't like was how the H stubbornly continued his pursuit of another woman for his wife; the extremely annoying Lady Lilian even when he saw all her faults. He didn't stand up to his mother over it and I felt the mother never got sorted out for her interference. I think the author perhaps let the H dangle after Lady Lilian despite his attraction for the h, for too long and it ultimately detracted from the love story between the H and h.Lady Iona's RebellionThe H and h in this book were secondary characters in the above book and were intriguing. I liked the idea of this book but the execution left me wanting to throw my Kindle out the window. I can't remember being more irritated by an h ever. She is selfish and hurts the H over and over again. I liked him but he wasn't perfect either, wavering on and off. I want to feel the love story in romance novels, in this one I had my doubts. I'm also tired of the storyline where the h insists over and over again that she doesn't want to get married, it's just plain annoying.Taken by MoonlightThis is a short story about a young lady abducted by werewolves. I can't comment on the story as I truly dislike paranormals of this kind and usually avoid them. I did read this book out of curiosity but it did nothing for me.The NudeThis book really seemed different from the start and I was really enjoying it and the mystery of who was trying to kill the H. Then the author just had to make the h unlikeable. She had some really good ingredients happening like the mysterious artist and his paintings but about mid way through the story became inconsistent and went downhill.***Spoilers***The h had had a terrible first marriage but she already knew that the H was different, yet she persisted in fighting the marriage. The H marrying the h in a semi-legal way was never cleared up. We were told that he intended to fix it with the Bishop but it's not confirmed and I think it needed to be. The h was forever wavering over the h, sneaking into his bed at night but rejecting him by day. Usually by the time there is a marriage in a book it's a good idea to start building the relationship in a positive way. I just didn't like the h in the end. Throwing in an ex-mistress and a son by that ex seemed gratuitous and I'm totally unsure why the author thought it necessary. Overall there were way to many problems with this story and it's a pity after such a good beginning.