Flora Reviews.... Forever Charmed (Halloween LaVeau Series Book 1) by Rose Pressey

Read: 21^st-23^rd November 2014

My Goodreads rating - 2 Stars - It was OK.

So I really liked the premise of this book; our main character is a second-rate witch called Halloween LaVeau (although she prefers Hallie, well wouldn’t you?!), who’s inherited a mansion from her Great Aunt that she’s trying to turn into a Bed & Breakfast. She finds a book hidden in the attic that’s written in some strange language, she reanimates a ghost and there are two amazingly handsome men Nicolas Marcos and Liam Rankin who just happen to turn up wanting to stay! Great, I do enjoy paranormal romance books with a bit of fun and mystery!

I downloaded this because it was cheap and had a good number of 4 or 5 star ratings on Amazon and the Goodreads website. I’ve enjoyed reading the Jolie Wilkins series by H.P. Mallory and “Haunted on Bourbon Street” by Deanna Chase was expecting something similar but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Now you need to know that I’m in my early 40’s and I don't have the patience for YA novels; their characters full of angst, relationship naivety, a MC’s inability to see the bigger picture,  "read between the lines" or know that the world isn’t just black & white,  good or evil but a myriad shades of complex grey.

Hallie was a very frustrating character for me, she felt like a teenager or pre-teen most of the time when in reality she was supposed to be 28 years old. In fact most characters in this story were rather frustrating in one way of another and lacked the depth I was hoping for.

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

So, although I realised that this book wasn’t going to live up to all my expectations after the first couple of chapters, I did generally enjoy the story. I tried to let it just wash over me as I was reading and simply enjoy the ride. Sadly, I didn’t engage enough in Hallie, Nicolas or Liam enough to want to read the next book but this one did make me laugh out loud a few times. However, as it has received some 5 star reviews from other Goodreads readers obviously it ticks all the boxes for some people.


Find it on my Goodreads bookshelves: contemporary-paranormal, young-adult-teen

Flora Reviews... "No Knight Needed (Ever After #1) by Stephanie Rowe

 

 

Read from November 16 to 21, 2014

What a wonderful contemporary romance story. I usually read paranormal romances but I have to say that this did feel rather magical, it definitely had a spark! I loved it!

Stephanie Rowe has a great writing style, I find her books easy to read with a varied cast of characters and a wonderful depth to her main protagonists. 

 

I thought that this love story story progressed at a good speed, the relationship between Clare Gray and Griffin Friese developed at a realistic pace; both with their own concerns, doubts & hopes, with enough trials and twists to keep me guessing whether this tale would be one of  a "Brief Encounter" that changed them both for the better  or "...and they lived happily ever after".

This is "No Knight Needed"  Book 1 in the "Ever After" series but you can read it as a stand alone story.

Flora Reviews... "Witchy Business (The Witch Detectives #1)" by Eve Paludan and Stuart Sharp

 

Read from October 06 to 10, 2014

Authors  Eve Paludan and  Stuart Sharp
 
...So, what’s this book about?
Elle Chambers is a respected freelance insurance investigator working in Edinburgh, Scotland who goes above and beyond to solve her cases while trying to keep everyone happy. Elle’s life is about to get completely turned upside-down when she accepts a job to find a missing piece of art.
The blurb is a bit misleading though “Elle is a witch – and a damn good one, too” well Elle Chambers is an Enchantress (she can feel people’s emotions and project emotions onto others) and a “weak” one at that because her mother raised to believe that she must control her ability and protect herself completely from the onslaught of other people’s emotions or she’s go insane or die and all her life she’s been told by The Coven (the big organisation that governs all supernatural beings and makes sure that humans are kept in the dark about their existence) that enchanters are not as powerful as a witches.
“Elle must first find a missing bad boy who might or might not be a werewolf” is also misleading as she’s already found the bad-boy werewolf, Ferguson Black, on the first page and he's a beleaguered lawyer who worries about his aging Mum, not very bad boy to me. Lol!
This book is the first of “The Witch Detectives” series. There are 3 books in the series at this time; “Witchy Business” (#1), “Witch and Famous” (#2) and “Witch Way Out” (#3).

...So, what did I like about it?
I really like the premise for this book, an enchantress/witch who investigated insurance claims; a young Miss Marple with added super natural abilities perhaps? Brilliant!
I liked the main character and the fact that we got to experience the tale from her (1st person) perspective. Elle is an innately good person who doesn’t mind bending the rules slightly to ensure fairness. We get hints of all the skills (picking locks, computer hacking, etc) that she’s picked up over the years being an investigator and the good contacts that she’d made.
I thought that the fight scene, near the end of the story was well written and kept me turning the pages, wondering how it would all end.
What I also like is that although this is a beginning of a series, this book doesn’t have a big cliffhanger ending, which is fantastic for me (I hate that).

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?
I don’t think the authors have been writing for long, as I felt the writing style lacked “polish” and at times the turn of phrases used and story progression felt child-like/amateur, however, I do feel that this is something that usually improves over time with experience.

...So, basically what I’m saying is...
This is a nice story. It is a journey of self discovery for the MC. It has romance, mystery, action and drama and it could work as a standalone novel as the ending isn’t a major cliffhanger.