Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Reviews: When Beauty Tamed The Beast and Anne of the Island

When Beauty Tamed The Beast by Eloisa James
Rating: 3 stars

Description:  Linnet is beautiful, well off and altogether ruined.  Her family comes up with a scheme to marry her off to the Earl of Marchant who is supposed to be desperate for a wife.  Rumors of his desperation for a wife were greatly exaggerated, rumors of his temper and foul disposition were not.

Genre: Romance

My Impression:  I've read 2 short stories and a novella by this author.  The short stories I didn't like the novella I did so I wasn't sure what to expect with the full length novel. The characters were interesting and entertaining.  It was nice at the hero had a job that was clearly shown in the book.  They both had parent issues that they needed to work through.  I also like that Linnet wasn't perfect - she was beautiful and she knew it, her tongue and her temper weren't always ladylike and she was very good at making fun of people.  With all that there was something about the last 50/60 pages that kind of turned me off from the book.  On page 200 I would've have gladly read another by the end I wasn't so sure.

Would I read more of this series/author?:  Possibly though I probably won't go out of my way to search her out.  If I see one at the library or on kindle loan I'd probably get it.

Would I recommend this book?:  Only if it was a regular romance reader.




Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
Rating: 5 stars

Description:  This is the 3rd book of the Anne series.  In this book Anne goes to college, meets new friends, sees the home she was born in and gets something that belonged to her parents.  She also learns some important lessons about letting her imagination get in the way of what and who she really loves

Genre:  Children/Young Adult/Classic

My Impression: This is my favorite of the Anne books so far.  The scenes at Patty's Place are fun and the part where she goes to her parents' home is very touching.  Also, this book has one of the best endings of all books ever.

Would I read more of this series/author?:  Yes, definitely.  I'm trying to read all of Montgomery's books this year so I've got 4 more to read this month.

Would I recommend this book?: Yes though probably not starting with this one.  I think you'd need to read the earlier books to really understand the characters and their relationships.

3 comments:

  1. I own about 5 Eloisa James books. I have read none of them.

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    1. You should give at least a try. The first 80% or so I would've given it 4 stars without hesitation but there was a part at the end that left me a little eh...

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  2. I had trouble with this particular Eloisa James, too. Especially the part near the end. Overall, the book just didn't pull me in the way some of my other favorite historical romance authors do. Perhaps as a result, I've only read one or two of her other books.

    Anne, on the other hand... I adore the whole series, and this is one of my favorites. Oh, who am I kidding? They are all my favorites, for different reasons!

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