The Butterfly by Victoria Vale
The Butterfly*
Exceptional Tale of Love’s Triumph over Madness and Despair
What a fantastic book by Victoria Vale! I was only familiar with her work from reading The Villain Duology, which I gave a four-star review to a while back. I had a sense from that book that I would enjoy this extension of the series, but I had no idea how moved I would be by it.
Note: This book definitely needs a trigger warning. If discussion of mental illness, drug abuse, drug withdrawal, child abuse, or sexual assault trigger you in any way or make you squeamish, then you should pass on this book. That said, the author deftly handles these delicate subjects.
This is stated to be a sequel to The Villain Duology, but I think it could be read either between the two books of the duology or after. Of course, if you read it between the two books of the duology, there are spoilers in this book; this book and the second book of the duology essentially take at the same time (except for the flashbacks), so either one could be read first. But you definitely need to read the first book of the duology before either of the others, as it sets up the two main characters in this book and gives a little bit of the background of their story.
This book artfully weaves the childhood and young adult past of the two main characters along with a contemporary plot taking place in Regency England when they are adults. For most of the book, these plots weave back and forth between past and present chapter by chapter, though at a certain point it switches only to the current Regency time.
We first meet ten-year-old Niall, our hero, as he enters his earl’s home with his father so the elders can discuss a pressing issue. This is the first time young Niall has seen any place beyond a stablemaster’s cottage, and he is transfixed by the opulence he sees. He cannot resist touching one of these beautiful items in the room, and when the elders try to get his attention, the item drops and shatters. Young Neil is ashamed. As he cleans this up, he secretes a tiny, perfect, but jagged portion within his sock. This is the same time that he sees Lady Olivia (we assume) for the first time. He is transfixed with her delicate nature. The jagged piece of porcelain becomes a metaphor in the story
As the children at the manor house grow up, they become friends. Niall, Olivia, and her stepbrother Adam play together, and Olivia even teaches Niall to read when she realizes that he is illiterate. As teenagers, Olivia and Niall have an attraction both know can go nowhere due to their relative stations, but they continue to act on it when they can.
In the modern Regency part of the story, Olivia–mentally broken after her rape and time in the asylum for unwed mothers–is in the deepest throes of madness and laudanum addiction when the story begins. After deeply slashing her wrists in order to feel anything, she determines that she will get off the laudanum even though that is what quiets her nightmares. We witness her harrowing withdrawal from laudanum and even her slipping back. I am an RN, and I thought the author did an exceptional job of showing the pain of years of nightmares and laudanum withdrawal.
Our hero, Niall, is a Scot through and through. But if you’re expecting a kilt-wearing and claymore-wielding Highlander, you will be disappointed. But you shouldn’t be; Niall is an exceptional hero. Yes, he is very rough around the edges, but that is understandable given the way that he grew up. But no matter his rough edges, he loves Lady Olivia and supports her through all of her struggles with the strength and the courage a brave knight, as Lady Olivia has always called him. Lady Olivia could ask for no better man to help support her through her years of madness and despair and still give love and affection as she heals and comes out of her fog.
My only complaint, if you could call it such, is that Lady Olivia did not call Adam to heel for his treatment of Daphne. As a young woman who was ruined in the most egregious way, she would be the only one who could shame him about his actions. If he were truly a loving brother, could he subject another woman to ruin as Olivia suffered? She did think about it and even spoke briefly to Niall about it, but she never confronted Adam.
While another author might dance around the sexual aspects of the story, Victoria Vale doesn’t shy away from telling about young Niall’s and Olivia’s youthful experiences, Olivia’s rape by Lord Bertram, and Olivia’s sexual reawakening. As I was reading the book, knowing the author’s style, I wasn’t sure how she was going to approach Niall and Olivia’s the first time, but she did so with emotional honesty and restraint, creating a scene in which Niall truly shows how much he comprehends Olivia’s struggle but still follows through as a loving and respectful man.
The author did a neat-and-tidy job of tying up the various plot lines of the story, even resolving threads I hadn’t realized needed to be. With the swift succession of scenes at the end, the author leaves the story on a triumphant note, so different than when the book started.
So long as the triggers mentioned above and explicit sexual content don’t bother you, you will find this book to be an exceptional, emotional read.
Love to Declare by C. B. Maurice
Love to Declare*
A Trying Time at Customs
I think this title is a little bit misleading. This is a very short story that mostly just details a problematic trip through Customs for young women who has just come back from a year teaching primary school children English in Korea. There is a young man, Jake, whom she didn’t know before her plane trips to get her to the US, but stands by her during this drama.
I wonder if the author just had a particularly trying time at Customs after one of her plane trips abroad. That being said, this short story can be read in less than a half hour–perhaps while you’re waiting in line!
Surrendering to My Spy by Dawn Brower
Surrendering to My Spy*
Romance and Espionage in Regency England
The hero, Lord Dominic, Marquess of Seabrook, some years ago did a reverse Darcy with the only woman he has ever loved, telling her that she was the last woman he would ever marry. In his mind, he was doing this to protect her, as his job as a spy during the Napoleonic wars could put his loved ones in jeopardy. Lady Rosanna, the heroine, took this to Heart, and it has made her a more sad and reclusive young woman. Now, Dominic has one last mission to do, and then he can move on with the rest of his life. He is in great hopes that he can convince Lady Rosanna that they have always belonged together. To complicate matters, his last mission involves him staying as a guest at her brother’s home, where she lives.
Will Dominic be able to repair the damage he caused in their relationship? What exactly is happening at the brother’s home? Will secrets bring them together or tear them apart?
The book has some of the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage that are typical in books these days, but this did not detract from the enjoyment of the story. This is another book where I take slight exception to the cover (second one this week!); Regency ladies did not wear slouchy, off-the-shoulder gowns..
If you enjoy Regency romance with a little bit of espionage, this may be the book for you.
The Key in the Loch by Blanche Dabney
The Key in the Loch*
Time Travel Romance with Unbelievable Conflict
In this time travel romance, the heroine, Rachel, is a young English woman who is preparing for her Masters in medieval studies. After her adoptive mother dies, she receives a strange gift to that she cannot open without a key, which was luckily found by her brother when going through things at the adoptive mother’s house. When opened, the gift reveals a necklace, which when touched transports Rachel back to Scotland in the 1100s. She is immediately involved in a predicament that some clansmen believe will require human sacrifice.
Will she be sacrificed? Will the laird, in whose bedroom she initially appeared, become wrapped up in the drama or will he’ll be able to control his clansmen? Will the attraction between Rachel and the Laird come to anything?
This book did not sit right with me. The crux of the conflict is based on the idea that ancient Celts or druids performed human sacrifice. Nowadays, it is not believed that this happened. I do understand that this is fiction, but at least the historical Scotland part should have some basis in Scottish reality.
Also, I thought that the book spent too much time relating feelings and events in contemporary time that didn’t matter in the Scottish part of the story; only what was relevant should have been laid out. The book has some of the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, but this is not overly distracting.
The cover had two pet peeves of mine. First, the heroine is said to have fiery red hair; she is very dark haired on the cover. Second, a bare-shouldered style of dress more typical of modern Mexican restaurant waitresses was not favored in medieval Scotland.
If you enjoy time travel Highlander romance and can buy into the human sacrifice aspect, you might find this an enjoyable read.
Winter’s Dragons: Draconic Affairs by Eva Brandt
Winter's Dragons: Draconic Affairs*
Getting to Know the Dragons Before They Met Cheimon
If you read the other two books in the Winter’s Dragons part of the Harem of Season’s series, you’ll find this little book–which is mostly about the dragons’ lives before their arrival to the winter realm–a fun bit of backstory about Cheimon’s dragons. The three main chapters that take up over half of the book are each narrated by a different dragon; the author was able to give them each a unique voice. The first chapter shows their meeting as young hatchlings while the following chapters look at their other encounters as dragonets and then adult males. The epilogue, which is a substantial portion of the book, is told from Cheimon’s perspective.
I enjoyed seeing how the dragons interacted before they knew Cassia. It illustrates how much has changed since they’ve become the soulmates of the avatar of winter. The first chapter did a good job showing the learned prejudices of the different races of dragons that is so ingrained in draconic culture that young hatchlings are not immune. I found the epilogue to be particularly humorous. My goodness, what the dragons made her do in the bailey!
If you enjoyed the other books in this part of the series, you would enjoy this peek into the background of Cheimon’s dragons.
The Portrait Problem by Jamaila Brinkley
The Portrait Problem
Meddling Mothers, Wedding Planning, and Intrigue…Oh, My!
The portrait isn’t the only problem in this novella in the series supposedly taken from Anastasia Galipp’s files. Wedding planning takes on a whole other, and often hilarious, dimension when both Anastasia’s mother and Simon’s mother show up, and it becomes a double wedding with Simon’s sister, Juliet, as the other bride. Intrigue is added to the mix when Juliet feels faint after sitting briefly for a sketch for a possible wedding portrait.
Will the double wedding go off without a hitch? How does Anastasia feel about the co-opting of her wedding by their mothers? What is causing this portrait fatigue amongst certain young brides?
I found this novella to be a quick, fun read. The author was able to maintain an irreverent, dry humor throughout.
Egging Her On by Mellanie Szereto
Egging Her On
Too Much Sex, Not Enough Romance
I don’t know what I was expecting when I read the blurb on the review site where I often pick books to review, but this wasn’t quite it. The book seems far more crude than it needs to be. While I don’t consider myself a prude, I often wish that sensual romance books didn’t resort to profanity or crass terms. Often these days, it seems like romances are either clean or lewd, without much middle ground. At least on Goodreads and Bookbut, the book blurb clearly states at the top that it is “erotic romance.”
The heroine, Lindie, is a no-nonsense farmer, specializing in eggs though she does sell some produce as well. The peaceful life she has created for herself is upended when someone wants to buy her property for way more than its value. This turns out to be the many-times-great grandson of the original owner who would like to have it back in the family so that he can raise his orphaned nephews there. The blurb says they meet when she’s naked, but there’s definitely more to it than that.
They immediately decide to embark on a no-strings affair, complete with a detailed contract specifying contraception, STD checks, and no mention of relationship terms (among other things). Will this affair impact the proceedings with a property? Will either of them break the contract? Why is Lindie dead set against selling, even at a fantastic price? What is her big secret?
I found Lindie to be too rough, abrasive, and crude. She’s definitely not a shrinking violet. It’s hard for me to imagine a real woman acting with Blaine as she does the first two times they meet.
Perhaps I read it wrong, but the blurb seems to be more about their property dispute and Lindie’s secret. The book, however, seems more about their tawdry affair. I would liked to have seen more character development, and given the way the story actually went, more of a development of actual romantic interest between the two, not a just sexual one.
The cover of the book isn’t right. Lindie is stated to be 40 more than once, and Blaine himself is supposed to be nearing 40. Neither of the models on the cover appears to be close to those ages. I like it when a book has an older heroine, but this should be clear on the cover. Otherwise, it seems hypocritical, using youth to sell a story about a more mature romance.
The book had some of the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but these in themselves did not distract from the book.
The Prince Who Captured Me by Joanne Wadsworth
The Prince Who Captured Me
False Marriage Thwarted by Kidnapping
Lady Olivia, the heroine, met Anteros–a sea captain and gentleman’s club owner–at a ball a year-and-a-half before the book starts. We don’t get to see much of this backstory except in the prologue and snippets of recalled memories, but apparently, Anteros has been a good friend to Olivia and her family. Lady Olivia has also gotten to know his sister, Adrestia. For all that has transpired in their past, Anteros believes that Lady Olivia owes him a favor. So when his father demands he marry–even though Anteros has no desire to–he asks Lady Olivia to perform false vows with him to appease his father. His father accepts this compromise. Lady Olivia is later kidnapped.
Is Anteros’s father genuinely willing to accept an English noblewoman, not his chosen Austrian archduchess, for his son’s bride? Will Anteros risk to pursue and rescue lady Olivia? When will he tell her that he is actually an Italian prince whose family has been deposed by Napoleon? Will they speak false vows of marriage? Will they fall in love?
As I have often felt in this series, the book is missing something by not fully including the couple’s backstory. We are just told they have this complex past relationship with only brief moments of that history shown. I would like to understand that the dynamics between Olivia and Anteros better, and that can only be done by showing the scenes where their relationship evolved. The author prefers to write the series as novellas rather than novels, but to me, the complex character dynamics and plot shifts require longer telling to be fully satisfying for the reader.
In this series, the author creates some fascinating secondary characters. Like in this story, Anteros ’s sister, Adrestia would make a fantastic heroine. I would encourage the author to both write some of the romances for these interesting secondary characters and consider making them longer so we can understand the couple’s backstory instead of just being thrown in at a much later time in their relationship.
The book had some of the common issues of grammar, punctuation, and usage, but this did not distract from the story. She did misspell the hero’s dynasty, Bourbon, as Bourdon twice.
If you enjoy historical romances with a little bit of adventure on the high seas, you might enjoy this story.
October Revenge by Merry Farmer
October Revenge*
Spitfire Heroine Saves Her Man
The author does a good job right at the start in setting a mood and a tone for the book. The hero, Mark, the Earl of Gatwick, is silently walking around his own home as if trying to vanish into the woodwork himself. Soon the author reveals some of Mark’s past. Apparently, when Mark was younger, he got in with the wrong crowd. He got involved with a man named Shayles whom Mark witnessed doing terrible things. Mark feels guilty because he didn’t say anything. Now some twenty years after a particularly heinous act, Mark helped get Shayles convicted of one crime. Unfortunately, this will not keep Shayles in prison for long; in fact, he’s due to be released in a month from the start of the book. Mark knows that Shayles will kill him once he is released. Shayles’s lawyer has even sent Mark a letter stating that Mark owes the villain twenty thousand pounds, and if this is not paid, Mark will be ruined by what Shayles will divulge. Under the power of these threats, Mark feels a bit like a dead man walking.
Immediately on the heels of the receipt of this letter, Marcus is surprised when there is a knock at the door. He never has visitors. This visitor is a young black woman from New Orleans named Angelica. Mark’s uncle had moved to the States and became her adopted grandfather. In the old man’s will, Angelica who will not get her inheritance unless she marries Mark.
The young woman is quite a spitfire and rather determined, unlike any woman Mark has known. He is definitely attracted to her, probably due in part to the monkish existence he has lived. Mark comes across as a sad, vulnerable, and sweet hero.
When Shayles’ finds out about this new woman in Mark’s life, she becomes a target as well. However, Shayles has not met a woman like her! She is unwilling to back down to his threat. It was fascinating to see her strength and the way that she was able to help Mark become a stronger and better man. There is definitely violence in this book, but it is contextual and not gratuitous.
The book has some of the common issues with grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book.
This is a very unusual historical romance. Not only is it interracial, but the heroine is stronger than the hero. If you’re looking for something a little different in historical romance, this book may fill the bill.
Soulswap by Laura Greenwood
Soulswap*
What If You Were Born Into the Wrong Body?
This book takes the Freaky Friday concept and adds several twists and turns. Arya and Tate are two women born on the same day who seem to have been born into the wrong bodies. This book, Soulswap, is the story of this discovery from Tate’s perspective; Soulshift is this same story from Arya’s point of view. Tate is engaged to be married Devon, but something about their relationship has always felt off to her. She claims to love him but often pulls away from him in her discomfort. In one of the twists, Tate is actually a dragon shifter, but she has never been able to shift into a dragon. (Arya is a vampire.) In what she thinks is a dream, she awakens to a woman beside her instead of Devon. This blond woman is a stranger to Tate, yet she feels familiar, and Tate enjoys her presence. So, that is the second twist on the Freaky Friday concept. One of the relationships is heterosexual, and the other is lesbian.
The author does a good job showing Tate’s confusion first about what’s even going on with these shifts and also about her feelings for Sian. All eventually figure out that these two women are exchanging souls. What is interesting is that each is more comfortable in the other’s life. What will that mean? What will happen to these couples?
This book has an interesting combination of correct and incorrect grammar, punctuation, and usage. Sometimes commas were correctly placed while at other times they were completely forgotten or created a comma splice. But I found the reading engaging, so this did not bother me too much.
If you enjoy the Freaky Friday concept or unique paranormal romances, you might enjoy this book.
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