Book Review: Too Scot to Handle by Grace Burrowes

Author: Grace Burrowes
Title: Too Scot to Handle (Windham Brides #2)
Genre: Historical Romance
Pages: ebook
Published: July 2017
Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon)

As a captain in the army, Colin MacHugh led men, fixed what was broken, and fought hard. Now that he's a titled gentleman, he's still fighting-this time to keep his bachelorhood safe from all the marriage-minded debutantes. Then he meets the intriguing Miss Anwen Windham, whose demure nature masks a bonfire waiting to roar to life. When she asks for his help to raise money for the local orphanage, he's happy to oblige.

Anwen is amazed at how quickly Lord Colin takes in hand a pack of rambunctious orphan boys. Amazed at how he actually listens to her ideas. Amazed at the thrill she gets from the rumble of his Scottish burr and the heat of his touch. But not everyone enjoys the success of an upstart. And Colin has enemies who will stop at nothing to ruin him and anybody he holds dear.

I picked this book up since I heard it was good (thanks Blodeuedd!) and it was on sale in Amazon on Black Friday. It is book 2 so my plan was to get it…find book 1 somewhere and then read this one. BUT after reading a couple of pages (just because I was curious…I SWEAR!) I was hooked. I am bad….I know.

Lucky me that this did well as a standalone. I am curious to read book 1 because the first couple seemed interesting and I want to learn more about them. I want to read book 3 next. I am not sure who it follows, but I still want to read it.

Now, this story follows Anwen (weird name) and Colin. Anwen is obsessed with her orphanage she is the patroness for.  Colin is trying to find his way in the crazy world of Society. He comes from Scotland and is newly titled. Anwen and Colin know each other because of their family members marrying. Plus everyone knows everyone in the ton.

They were a sweet couple. They always kinda liked each other, but after spending some time together with finding ways to get money for the poor orphans they fall in love. It was very sweet and no major drama there. They are fighting to save the orphanage and no one objects to them being together.

Until drama hits like a brick-wall. I guess at who would be the “baddie” a mile away, but I didn’t anticipate it to actually true…I wanted to like that person. Total asshat though. That person and their family member needed to be punched. A good sense of reality. Jail would’ve worked too. Something. I am curious to see what is going to happen to them in the future. It annoyed me that nothing really bad happened to them since they are members of the ton. (No spoiler there) I feel like something more should’ve happened to those sleazy people.

At first I was not a fan of the group of orphan boys having a POV. I didn’t think they would be a HUGE role in the book, so I was annoyed with. However, as the story went along I realized they were huge players in the story and I grew to adore them.

In the end, this was a cute story with two really sweet people who unite while trying to save people who need it. There is some drama and then a HEA. Very sweet. I am curious to read more by the author! She has a way about her writing that I really liked. I do recommend this if you are looking for something sweet! I’ll give this 4 stars.  

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines

The Krakau came to Earth to invite humanity into a growing alliance of sentient species. However, they happened to arrive after a mutated plague wiped out half the planet, turned the rest into shambling, near-unstoppable animals, and basically destroyed human civilization. You know—your standard apocalypse. 

The Krakau’s first impulse was to turn around and go home. (After all, it’s hard to have diplomatic relations with mindless savages who eat your diplomats.) Their second impulse was to try to fix us. Now, a century later, human beings might not be what they once were, but at least they’re no longer trying to eat everyone. Mostly. 

Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos is surprisingly bright (for a human). As a Lieutenant on the Earth Mercenary Corps Ship Pufferfish, she’s in charge of the Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation team. When a bioweapon attack wipes out the Krakau command crew and reverts the rest of the humans to their feral state, only Mops and her team are left with their minds intact.

Escaping the attacking aliens—not to mention her shambling crewmates—is only the beginning. Sure, Mops and her team of space janitors and plumbers can clean the ship as well as anyone, but flying the damn thing is another matter. 

As they struggle to keep the Pufferfish functioning and find a cure for their crew, they stumble onto a conspiracy that could threaten the entire alliance… a conspiracy born from the truth of what happened on Earth all those years ago. 

My thoughts:
Janitors in space, why not, I have seen it before (you have to watch Space Janitors, omg, looove that show).

Humans as always effed up and are now mindless beasts. The planet is kaputt. In comes aliens, saves a few and put them to work. As mercs and as janitors. One of those janitors is Mops, smart, resilient and really good at cleaning. And suddenly she is in charge of a space ship and what the, how does one even steer this thing? Ha, perfect.

I did have issues reading it, but that was ebook issues, I can not read ebooks anymore. The baby says NO. It takes too long reading them and that makes me lament. Funny should be read fast. You hear that, read it fast to enjoy it :)

Right where was I. Alien conspiracies. Bad aliens wanting to shoot them out of the sky. Scary humans. And so many things to clean!

Conclusion:
There is humour, there is action, but mostly there is humour, witty, sarcastic and fun.

Cover
Of course I love it

Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Expected publication: November 7th 2017 by DAW
Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse #1
Sci-fi
Netgalley

Book Review: Maybe in Paris by Rebecca Christiansen

Author: Rebecca Christiansen
Title: Maybe in Paris
Genre: YA, Fiction
Pages: ebook
Published: June 2017
Where I Got It: My shelf (Netgalley)

Keira Braidwood lands in Paris with her autistic brother, Levi, and high hopes. Levi has just survived a suicide attempt and months in the psych ward—he’s ready for a dose of the wider world. Unlike their helicopter mom and the doctors who hover over Levi, Keira doesn’t think Levi’s certifiable. He’s just . . . quirky. Always has been.

Those quirks quickly begin to spoil the trip. Keira wants to traipse all over Europe; Levi barely wants to leave their grubby hotel room. She wants to dine on the world’s cuisine; he only wants fast food. Levi is one giant temper tantrum, and Keira’s ready to pull out her own hair.

She finally finds the adventure she craves in Gable, a hot Scottish bass player, but while Keira flirts in the Paris Catacombs, Levi’s mental health breaks. He disappears from their hotel room and Keira realizes, too late, that her brother is sicker than she was willing to believe. To bring him home safe, Keira must tear down the wall that Levi’s sickness and her own guilt have built between them.

Now I really, really want to go to France. I mean...that has always been a dream destination for me, but now I'm twitching because of how bad I want to go. 

Anyways...

The story follows Keira is an American girl who is addicted to anything French. She loves the language, the food, the culture, the history, the art, and Marie Antoinette. She is a girl of my own heart in a lot of ways. She reminded me a lot of High School Carole. Well, Keira has had a plan to go to France with the hot French foreign exchange student once she can get him to love her. She has some hope when she invites him to the prom and he says yes. Well...no spoiler alert since it is on page one, it does not go well at all. 

After the debacle called "prom", Keira is brokenhearted, but things get worse. During the night, for some reason, her brother decides to kill himself. They save him and send him to the hospital for help. After some tests and whatnot, the doctors diagnose him with a form of Autism, bipolar disorder, and depression.  Poor kid! How did no one realize there was something seriously wrong with him this whole time?? Bad parenting I would say. 

Things happen and the doctors say it might be good for the brother and Keira to go on a France trip. What could go wrong with a selfish teenager and a teenager with Autism being alone in Paris? Again...bad parenting. 

At first, things go okay. Levi does well with very few issues. Sure he says some inappropriate things when they have to wait in line or for some of the weird food Keira makes him eat while he just wants McieDs, but the first few days go fine. Then they go to Versailles and that is where things start to go wrong. 

Levi says some hurtful things about Keira's love of the palace of and of her favorite queen. However, I did enjoy their conversation about historical figures they would save if they could time travel. Keira lists a huge list of some tragic figures like Marie Antoinette. Levi says he would save Hitler. Keira and I were all WTF dude? But then he explains that he wouldn't save his life when he tries to kill himself. He says that he would save Hitler from himself. He would go back far enough before he took power. Maybe help him get into Art school or not get into the army. He would save him by finding him a nice life as an artist or some such career. I was really awed by this. And it made me sad because I really felt it spoke a lot about Levi calling out for help in a way. It was a lovely scene for sure. 

After that scene, things did get sour. Sure, Keira met a hot Scottish boy who is there in Paris with his band. They hit it off of course. You can't blame a girl, but then she started neglecting her brother. I won't spoil anything, but honestly Keira! You idiot you. You have a brother who needs to be watched...>_> Again, the parents AND the doctors should've said no. It should've been a family trip or something not just the two of them. 

I liked the characters even though I felt the mom was a foolish woman who wins worse Mother of the Year. Josh, the stepdad, was the better parent but even he was an idiot. Yes, everyone did something dumb and bad...however...Levi and Keira are teenagers...they shouldn't be expected to know right from wrong in ALL scenarios. Levi needed help YEARS before any of this happened. Sighs. 

This was a really good book. I could hardly put this down. Sure the parents were idiots, but what do you expect from a YA? I enjoyed the journey everyone had to go on. The ending was good and I liked it. It fit. I hope they all learned and grew from the experience. They seemed to!

Yes, this was very YA, but I feel like the author did a good job not making it TOO YA or TOO adult. It was a nice mix. I honestly felt like I was reading Keira's diary. It worked well. 

My only complaint, besides for the terrible parenting styles, was the format. There were parts were Keira would read a text or read a note and there would be no indications whatsoever. The text was italicized or quoted or anything. It just blended in with the rest of the paragraph. I had no idea when the note or text was over. Very frustrating. 

In the end, this was a good read for sure. I was hooked from page one! A couple issues, but easy to look over because I enjoyed the journey of the characters. I especially enjoyed following Keira while she explores Paris. It made me hungry and want to travel there right now! I'll give this 4 stars. 

Best of November

Hi All! 

This is just a fun little meme that Blodeuedd and I are going to try  and do once a month. Give a little shout-out and "badge" of honor to our favorite book and movie of the previous month. This month we'll share our favorites of November.

First, favorite movie:

My choice is......Cowboy Bebop The Movie

"Good story, good baddie, fantastic music, and the art is lovely. A good film even if you never watched the show. It felt good revisiting this movie after all these years."

Blodeuedd's choice is...................xXx: Return of Xander Cage

"Sigh, I can not find any good movies! SO best for this month goes to XXX Return of Xander Cage. Because action is mindless fun. It was not a good movie, lol, but it was a fun and one that kept me watching."

Next, Book favorite:

Up first is Blodeudd's pick............Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell

"Best book goes to Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell. It was fun, light, interesting fantasy world and just what I needed!"

Next, my choice..............Fanny Newcomb and the Irish Channel Ripper by Ana Brazil

"Can't help but love a good murder mystery with a strong cast of characters! This was fun and I enjoyed the ride. I hope Fanny gets to solve some more crimes!"

About the Authors

Carole and Blodeuedd have been blogging a long while now. The last couple of years the epic duo have been discussing books, watching movies, and even wetting the pen and sharing their stories with the worldwide web. They both love cats, chocolate, and a good story.

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What was your favorite book of the month? Please share below!