Bookish by Nature

Evolution of Romance Novels: Part 1

March 14, 2023Bookish by NatureLeave a comment

The Romantic era was pivotal in English literature from approximately 1785 to 1830. During this time, Romantics like Emily Dickinson, William Blake, Jane Austen, Robert Burns, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and Ann Radcliffe created poetry and prose focused on individualism, emotion, and imagination. This was in clear contrast with the intellectual neoclassical movement that came before it. They blew in with the wind with their thick murmuring torrent of influential voices that chorused and crashed while they simultaneously sought and struggled. It was a cultural set of kindred movements that explored the self and personal relationships with nature and other individuals. They escaped traditional norms, connected with the wilds of nature, and allowed this exposure to fuel their curiosities. Prose writers and poets used landscapes, living beings, feelings, and anything to do with nature to connect with their surroundings. Their primary interest was linking words and language as naturally as water flowed…

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Book Review: Second Chance Magic

June 10, 2022July 3, 2022Bookish by NatureLeave a comment

Book Title: Second Chance Magic
Author: Michelle M. Pillow
Genre: Paranormal Women’s Fiction
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat Meter: 🌶🌶
Release Date: February 18, 2020
Recommend: Highly Recommend!

Michelle M. Pillow is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling multigenre author. She’s most widely known for her romance novels, and Second Chance Magic is book #1 in Pillow’s Order of Magic series. The novel is her first venture into the fairly new subgenre she created with twelve other authors, who call themselves The FAB13.

What is Paranormal Women’s Fiction? It’s a fairly new sub-genre under the Women’s Fiction umbrella and celebrates 40+ female heroines and storylines centered on paranormal and real-life issues. So, you’ll find kick-ass lady protagonists with a bit more life experience that walk on the wild side of magic and the paranormal between the pages of a PWF novel.

Second Chance Magic is the third book I’ve read in the genre, all from different authors, and it didn’t disappoint. I’m hooked! I love that it highlights middle-aged women with life experience who’ve been kicked around a time or two and come out better for it. They transform from the antiquated ideal of the middle-aged woman and find their give a damn’s busted where other people’s opinions of them are concerned. The story has a lot of witchy magic and a splash of romance for the main protagonist, Lorna. It follows three women who defy the antiquated notions of female middle age as they find themselves, each other, and true friendship.

I’m a sucker for stories like this. Pillow does a wonderful job of keeping to the main plot while weaving a splash of romance that doesn’t detract from the story, and I’d categorize it as blushing on Bookish by Nature’s heat meter.

All and all, it’s a well-written page-turner I highly recommend. The novel hit all my feel-good points for a great story, and I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Until next time book lovers, I’ll catch you between the pages.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ebook with my funds. The author and/or publisher have no expectations of a positive review. My opinions are my own.

You can also catch my review published at Coffee House Writers.

Book Review: A Merciful Silence

May 2, 2022July 3, 2022Bookish by NatureLeave a comment

Book: A Merciful Silence
Author: Kendra Elliot
Publisher Type: Traditional
Genre: Romantic Suspense, Women Sleuths
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat Meter: 🌶🌶
Release Date: June 19, 2018
Recommend: Oh yes, a Must Read!

A Merciful Silence is the 4th book in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. Elliot’s 1st book in the series is A Merciful Death. The series follows Special Agent Kilpatrick as she bites the bullet and returns to her hometown in rural Oregon to mend old wounds and reconnect with her family. In book 4, Mercy taps into her prepper upbringing to stop a sovereign citizen ring and serial killings that resemble the unique murders that rocked her small town twenty years ago.

I’ve had the pleasure of reading the first three books in the series and found them genuinely entertaining, and book four is no different. The novel is primarily a Women Sleuths, Romantic Suspense, Crime & Mystery, and Police (FBI) Procedural centered around Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick, the story’s main protagonist. At the same time, some romantic suspense elements carry over from the previous books in the series that are not the main focus of this novel. Instead, we follow Mercy and the Eagle’s Nest police chief, Truman Daly (Mercy’s love interest). They investigate various crimes where jurisdictions cross and include investigative work like missing persons and forensic science. The reader also gets tidbits from the mysterious antagonist’s perspective in the true whodunnit style you’d expect from a Crime & Mystery novel. As far as the story’s pace, it flowed perfectly, and I never found it lagging.

Elliot includes many aspects I love to see in a Romantic Suspense/Police Procedural. A strong, kickass female protagonist, twists and turns I don’t see coming, and a HEA for the couple that defiantly landed more in the behind closed doors type of love scenes. It has been fun watching their relationship evolve through that series, and book four keeps adding to it! It was a page-turner I couldn’t put down! Now, on to book five.

Until next time book lovers, I’ll catch you between the pages 🧡

Disclaimer: This book was a Christmas gift purchased from my amazon wish list. The author and/or publisher have no expectations of a positive review. My opinions are my own.

You can also catch my review published at Coffee House Writers.

Book Review: The Tale of Halcyon Crane

April 25, 2022April 26, 2022Bookish by NatureLeave a comment

Title: The Tale of Halcyon Crane
Author: Wendy Webb
Publisher Type: Traditional
Genre: Gothic Fiction
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat Meter: 🌶🌶
Release Date: March 30, 2010
Recommend: Oh yes, a Must Read!

The Tale of Halcyon Crane is Wendy Webb’s debut novel. The story follows Halcyon Crane as she discovers secrets about her life and family that her father kept from her since childhood. Thirty years later she travels to the remote island of her birth to discover a past she has no memory of.

Webb weaves a tale of mystery and ghostly connections that kept me hooked throughout the novel. Her modern gothic fiction tale pays homage to gothic fiction of old, where historic eerie family estates, death, and ghostly occurrences elicit fear and foreboding. As Halcyon progresses through the story, with the help of the local attorney, the story is rife with supernatural elements and an ominous atmosphere. It was a page-turner that flowed seamlessly from one scene to the next, with richly developed characters and a mysterious setting.

I’m a fan of classic gothic fiction, and thoroughly enjoyed this evolution to modern gothic storytelling. I also love the secondary storyline that included some romantic elements that didn’t diminish but enhanced the main storyline. And bonus! I discovered a new favorite author and will be looking for more Wendy Webb books. If you haven’t read her debut novel yet, I highly recommend it!

Disclaimer: I purchased this book with my own funds. The author and/or publisher have no expectations of a positive review. My opinions are my own.

Dark Gold

January 13, 2022April 26, 2022Bookish by NatureLeave a comment

Title: Dark Gold (Dark #3)
Author: Christine Feehan
Author Type: Traditional
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Heat Meter: 🌶🌶🌶🌶
Release Date: July 2000
Recommend: Yes

Dark Gold, Christine Feehan’s 3rd book in her ongoing Dark series. This one is an oldie, but quite the goody! Having read the 1st two books in the series, Dark Prince and Dark Desire, and loved them,

I continued on to the next story in the Carpathian saga and I am completely enthralled with this storyline! I know I will work my way through this 23-year-old series until I get to Feehan’s most recent publication in the Dark books, Dark Tarot, published in November of 2021.

Back to Dark Gold! The Queen of Paranormal Romance has me hook, line, and sinker. I loved this story from the first page to the last. It was a page-turner I could not put down. In this story, Alexandria Houton finds herself an avenging angel or rather Aidan Savage – a true blue Carpathian male who rescues her from the clutches of death and takes her back to his lair. Which just happens to be a posh estate on the California seaside because his world turned upside down the moment he touched her. She brought light back into his long life after centuries of living in darkness.

The story checked all my boxes. A strong female protagonist who won’t put up with his medieval sensibilities, a hunky Adonis-type male protagonist she can’t resist, a love triangle, humor, some very saucy (and extremely well written) sex scenes, and my favorite trope of all – destined mates! I highly recommend this book. It is a must-read and am looking forward to cracking open book 4, Dark Magic, because I have to know what happens next.