A Winter Heart Review

Title: A Winter Heart
Author: Annette Blair


A Winter Heart is an Amish romance set against a tragic background. The novella is short and free on Amazon which is why I decided to pick it up. I do not typically read Amish romances but I thought the story sounded interesting.

Both Caleb Skylar and Hannah Peachy have lost loved ones. Caleb's wife passed away leaving just him and his six year old daughter Susie. Hannah lost her husband, sister and baby in a tragic buggy accident. The two meet up when Caleb, in an attempt to get away and start over, buys Hannah's farm. They then slowly start to heal with the help of each other and soon find themselves falling in love.

From the description of the book, I was expecting a simple but nice story. Two people overcome tragedy and heartbreak only to find new love and hope. Well, the book was exactly like I thought it would be for a while. My problem with A Winter Heart comes when Caleb hatches a plan to marry Hannah.

The rest of this review contains spoilers.

After Caleb realizes he has feelings for Hannah, he learns that she is already engaged to a much older man. Her father, a religious leader in the Amish community, just wants to get her married off. Caleb cannot just step in and take her though because she has already been promised to another man and they are Amish, after all.

And then it seems like the author completely forgot that the characters are Amish. All this time she had been setting up the community and throwing in random German words to show us how Amish everything is. That was not so bad but Caleb's plan to marry Hannah is what I have a problem with.

Caleb decides to lie to Hannah's father and tell him that Hannah is pregnant with his child. The Amish are very strict about not having sex before marriage. These characters are already baptized so a pregnancy out of wedlock is a serious sin. No way would Caleb really come up with this plan and no way would Hannah follow along with he lie. They both risked being shunned from the church and community. This plan is just completely unrealistic. Not only that but the plan works!

Caleb and Hannah are not even punished for this sin. Their "punishment" is to confess their sin in church and get married right there. That's it. Not being allowed to have a wedding is their punishment.

The two then laugh this all off, get a little touchy-feely in the buggy (where Susie is sleeping in the back), and ride home where they make love for the first time.

This ending to the novella completely threw me off because it just ignores an obvious part about the Amish. They would not take a pregnancy out of wedlock so lightly.

I'm giving this book two stars because I did enjoy the writing for the most part. I also liked the characters at the beginning. I would pick up another book by this author and give her another shot but I probably wouldn't pick up another Amish romance by her.

2 Out of 5 Hearts 

❤❤

In For a Penny Review

Title: In For a Penny
Author: Rose Lerner

Penelope "Penny" Brown is a wealthy girl without a name. her father is new money and earned his fortune through hard work. Lord Nevinstoke, better known as just Nev to his friend, is a man with a title and no money thanks to his father losing it all. Penelope decides to marry Nev in order to become accepted in high society and Nev agrees to the marriage so that all of his father's debt can be paid off. It started as a marriage of convenience - each getting something out of the other- but it turned into a marriage of love.

In For a Penny might have a typical plot for a historical romance - a man and a woman marry out convenience, each getting something from the other - but this novel is still an enjoyable and fresh read.

I honestly really enjoyed reading this story. The characters were interesting and the story moved along at a good pace.

The plot may sound typical but the author does a great job of keeping the story moving forward and adding new side-plots (such as Nev's mistress and the creepy neighbor) to the story. Of course, there is the moment in the book where Penelope is questioning if Nev really does love her. She even considers leaving their home and going back to the city for some time, but her thoughts and plans are interrupted when their neighbor tries to kill her.

Love, romance, a tiny bit of angst and murder all add up to make a very interesting and enjoyable story. I have a couple of other books by Rose Lerner and if they are just as good as In For a Penny was, then I can easily see her becoming one of my favorite authors.

5 out of 5 Hearts

❤❤❤❤❤

Britannia Review

Title: Britannia
Author: Letitia Coyne
Buy: Barnes and Noble | Smashwords

Britannia is set during the ancient Roman Empire. Maia is a young newlywed whose life should be filled with excitement and young love. Instead, her husband has abandoned her to re-enlist in the army without a word.

After meeting Justicia and her group of ladies, Maia decides to join them and sneak away from the only home she's ever known and her unpleasant mother-in-law. She meets up with Lucius, another soldier in the Roman army and friend of her husband, Cilo. Lucius ends up helping Maia a lot. Not only that, but of course he falls in love with her.

Maia is actually a girl from Britannia. Her mother and her had been sold in to slavery after the Roman conquest of the region. She grew up with Cilo and sees him as nothing more than a brother. Still, they get married but Maia cannot help but feel like Cilo is hiding something from her. That is why she decides that she must go and confront him in her mother's homeland.

I really enjoyed this book. Overall the author did a good job creating a believable ancient Roman world and Britannia under Roman rule. I am also a bit basis to stories set in ancient Rome - one of my favorite time periods in history. The characters are also interesting and well developed. Overall, the story was solid and interesting. I did not feel bored at all while reading this book.

I also liked seeing Maia confronting Cilo about why he left her alone and then finally learning everyone's secrets. The love triangles and politics between Cilo and Justicia was a nice addition to the story. Cilo loves Lucius. Justicia loves Lucius. But Lucius only loves Maia. I did not feel bad for Cilo and Justicia though.

There is one thing that kind of threw me out of the story at the beginning and again near the end. Cilo, the pagan Roman, calls Maia his "angel". I can understand why this might have been missed in editing since the book is self published, but it still annoyed me a bit. There were a couple of other modern word choices that seemed a bit out of place in a clean historical story. At the same time though, it was not enough to ruin the story for me.

Overall I really enjoyed the story and will be reading the next book in this series.

Rating: 4 our of 5

The Gladiator's Goddess

Title: The Gladiator's Goddess
Author: Amy Hearst
Genre: Historical Romance - Ancient Rome

The Gladiator's Goddess is the second book in The Gladiators' Gifts series by Amy Hearst. Like the previous book, this one is a short, historical romance ebook set in Ancient Rome.

Nardine is a slave owned by Marcus Antonius and his wife who also run a gladiator school where they train gladiators and bet on fights. Nardine is also sometimes given to a gladiator as a reward if he won a match. That's how she met and fell in love with the father of her unborn child. Unfortunately, her lover died in a fight and Nardine is now left alone and pregnant. That is until a new gladiator from Numbia, Abedi, enters her life.

The Gladiator's Goddess is pretty similar to the previous book (but with new characters, of course) in terms of the setting and style of the story. Slave girl and gladiator fall in love and then escape to make a happy life together. I did have one complaint with this book though.

If you are going to write smut then you need to commit to the smut. At one point the two main characters were making out and then suddenly I'm reading about thrusting. I had to reread those paragraphs to make sure I did not accidentally miss something. That's really the only part of the book that I disliked. Well, that and Nardine being stupid at the end even though her stupid move caused some interesting action and drama.

Personally, I liked the first book just a little bit more but I did also really enjoy The Gladiator's Goddess. If you liked the first book then you will probably also enjoy this book.

Rating: 4 out of 4 Hearts

❤❤❤❤

A Night to Surrender Review

Title: A Night to Surrender
Author: Tessa Dare
Genre: Historical Romance -Regency

A Night to Surrender is a funny and romantic story. The story takes place in Spindle Cove, a haven for women and ladies to live at. It is a place ruled by women and the headstrong Susanna fits in perfectly. Enter Victor Bramwell, Earl of Rycliff, with a mission. He needs to gather men for a militia but his mission gets distracted when he meets the beautiful Susanna and begins to fall for her.

I absolutely loved this novel. The plot itself is pretty typical but the characters and the tone of the book really brings the story to life. There are a quite few genuine funny moments in the book. My favorite funny scene was when Victor was trying to keep Susanna from laughing (so that she does not injure herself farther) by talking to her about upholstery.

"And then, I was hoping you'd help me make it a proper home. You know, with upholstery. And draperies. And... perhaps babies, eventually."

"Oh. Babies." A helpless giggle rose in her throat. "Do you plan to send over samples of those?"

From the very beginning the book sets the reader up for a funny and warm story. It was truly a delightful read full of laughter and romance.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Hearts

❤❤❤❤❤

Romance Challenges

This year I am participating in a couple of romance reading challenges at good reads. I will be participating in the Read The Season and Stacking The Series challenges at the Romance Readers Reading Challenges group. You can check out my thread over here. I have a lot of books planned but I'm looking forward to it.

Read The Season (Albanian Version)
The goal for this challenge is to read books whose title or author's name starts with the letters that spell the seasons.

Dimra (Winter)
Pranvera (Spring)
Vera (Summer)
Vjeshta (Autumn)

D: Daughter of Joy - Kathleen Morgan
I: In For a Penny - Rose Lerner
M: Michaels, Jess - Taboo
R: Rani Manicka - El Amante Japones
A: Amy Hearst - The Gladiator's Girl

P: Peterson, Tracie - A Daughter's Inheritance
R: Russian Concubine, The - Kate Furnivall
A: Athenais - Lisa Hilton
N: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake - Sarah MacLean
V: Vanora Bennet - Figures in Silk
E: Enamorados en el Estanque de los Nenufares, Los - Javier Cosnava
R: Rose Lerner - A Lily Among Thorns
A: Amethyst - Lauren Royal

Stacking The Series
For this challenge, you have to read at least 15 books from series. The stacking part comes from how the books make an upside down pyramid. There are basically levels. Level 5 means you must read five books from a single series. Level 4 involves reading four books from a series that's different from level 5's choice series. And so on.

Level 5: Chase Family series by Lauren Royal (Books 1-5)
Level 4: Roman series by Letitia Coyne (Books 1-4)
Level 3: The Broadmoor Legacy series by Tracie Peterson (Books 1-3)
Level 2: The Russian Concubine series by Kate Furnivall (Books 1-2)
Level 1: The Gladiator's Gifts series by Amy Hearst (Book 2)

The Gladiator's Girl Review

Title: The Gladiator's Girl
Author: Amy Hearst
Genre: Historical Romance - Ancient Rome

The Gladiator's Girl is a short little romance set in Ancient Rome. Rue is a shy slave to a family that buys and trains gladiators. Occasionally she is given to the gladiators as a prize if they won a match. Usually these men are rough and abusive towards her but one man is different. Ducius is a new but skillful gladiator who has been rising in the ranks and popularity. When Rue is given to him for his latest victory, she expects the worse but Ducius is not like the other men.

After a wonderful, gentle but passionate, night with Ducius, Rue finds herself falling in love with the young gladiator. They start to meet secretly and after Ducius' wins until the two become lovers. But Rue worries that Ducius will be killed in the arena and that she will always be a slave.

This story is very short but I really enjoyed reading it. The story itself is pure fantasy in the sense that it is exactly what it says it is and aims to fulfill a gladiator fantasy. A slave girl falls in love with a gladiator and lost of steamy sex happens. The ending is a happy one as well.

Even though the book was short, I found myself drawn towards the couple and wanting a happy ending for them. There was a bit of drama and obstacles for the couple to overcome such as not knowing if Ducius would survive his next match, wondering if the other gladiators would go after Rue and wondering if Rue's cruel mistress would get in the way of her and her love.

If you are someone who likes romances set in Ancient Rome then I would recommend picking up this novella.

4 out of 5 Hearts

❤❤❤❤