Book Review: Highland Games by Evie Alexander

Evie Alexander weaves an amusing little tale, a modern day romantic comedy, about a girl from London who meets a Scottish boy from Kinloch, a small burg within the perimeters of Aberdeen.  She brings the couple together through a series of mishaps and misunderstandings in her novel Highland Games.  The couple's interaction is sometimes comical and sometimes oddly put together, making it difficult for the reader to believe the couple's connection.

What is interesting about Kinloch is it has a massive castle that is in disarray.  Part of the charm in Alexander's storytelling is the reader needs to figure out who is the Lord of Kinloch's castle, and why would this Lord have any effect on this couple?  The author leaves kernals of information scattered throughout the story, which baits the reader along as to the identity of the castle's Lord.

The reader gleans that the plot centers on Zoe, a young woman from London who resettles in her uncle's cabin after his death.  Her uncle had transferred the leasehold of the cabin to Zoe upon his death.  It has been years since she visited her uncle's cabin in Kinloch, having spent one summer with him.  While staying with him, she had met her mother's best friend Morag and Morag's children, Fiona and Jamie.  Returning to the cabin, she reignites her friendships with Morag, Fiona and Jamie.

While making herself at home in her uncle's cabin, a young man Rory intrudes on Zoe's space, claiming that she does not own the land.  There is a power struggle between the two that continues for a few chapters until Rory decides that he needs Zoe to help him revitalize the castle.  The reader discovers that Rory is obligated to the castle because he is the Lord of the castle, having inherited it after his father's death.  The problem is Rory is a lumberjack, a craftsman and an artisan, but he is not a businessman who can make the castle profitable. However, Zoe is an experienced accountant and marketing specialist.  The two enter into a business arrangement that quickly blossoms into a romance.

The script is unique, bridging the couple through a series of unusual circumstances.  Though Rory mentions having a number of rough times with his father and mother and his time in the military, his struggles are never re-lived in the dialogue only projected and skimmed over in his reflections.  The same is true for Zoe, whom the reader is only given a cursory impression about her character and her life.  Alexander keeps the narration in the present.  What really keeps the reader engaged is the ownership and fate of the castle.  The castle is the focal point that brings the couple together and keeps them together through the tale.

https://eviealexanderauthor.com/all-about-evie/

Book Review: Rochester Trilogy by Skye Warren

Author Skye Warren is best known for her erotic love scenes, and although this trait is prevalent throughout her Rochester Trilogy series, she concentrates so much more time on developing the character's personalities, behavioral patterns, and thought processes.  She invests a great amount of the read on building up a compelling thriller, crime drama and modern romance in this series.

 

Warren's Rochester Trilogy consists of Private Property, followed by Strict Confidence and concludes with Best Kept Secret.  A small footnote is that Warren grabs characters from the trilogy and continues the saga with Hiding Places and 1001 Dark Nights Behind Closed Doors.

There is a film noir quality about the series, with the first book set in an ominous mansion on a cliffside of a quaint town in Maine.  The next two books move to a cozy inn by a beach in the town.  Warren's description of the mysterious and Gothic atmosphere sets the scene for readers, plunging them into the center of an emotional whirlwind.

Written in first person, veritably each character holds a conversation with the reader, revealing vulnerabilities and well kept secrets to the reader, who enjoys discovering each of their stories.  A bond is formed between the reader and the protagonists, Jane Mendoza and Beau Rochester, as Warren weaves into the narration a number of pearls of wisdom about life's lessons and struggles.  All of which resonate with the reader, opening a level of human consciousness.

In the vane of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 popular fiction Jane Eyre, whose characters, Jane Eyre, an orphan turned governess, and Edward Fairfax Rochester, a wealthy landowner in North England who is in need of a governess for his ward Adèle, Warren gives this Gothic prose fiction a modern twist in her Rochester Trilogy. Mendoza is hired by Beau Rochester to be a governess to his niece Paige Rochester, whose father is presumably killed in a boat accident along with her mother, who is also believed to have been killed.  

Unlike Jane Eyre, Warren's trilogy shares a handful of characters with the reader.  This aspect makes the progression of the story easy to follow, while Brontë's tale had the reader moving in various directions with the introduction of many new characters that created tangents along the story.  All the characters in Warren's trilogy lead the reader back to Mendoza and Rochester's relationship.  Their passion is intense and their strength and will is cavalier.

Warren ends the first two books on cliffhangers, which keeps the reader anxious to discover what happens next.  Smartly, she closes the third book of the trilogy with a happily ever after ending that ties all the loose ends and soothes all the mixed emotions to a credible new beginning for the protagonists.


Skye Warren: https://www.skyewarren.com/

 

Book Review: Trouble Me by Eliza Peake

Trouble Me by Eliza Peake is a story that the reader needs to give it some time before gleaning enlightenment, clarity and satisfaction from the narration.  The final five chapters move quickly and really dig deep emotionally into the two protagonists, Emmaline Reynolds and Shane Kavanagh.  Before arriving at that destination of happily ever after, Peake slowly leads the reader through the development of Reynolds and Kavanagh's relationship, leaving the reader with questions about what binds the two together other than a steamy attraction.  All is answered by the ending.

At the heart of the story is the hardship and struggles that arise from dealing with an addiction and a partner who succumbs to addiction.  Reynolds is on the journey to overcoming an alcohol addiction, and Kavanagh is on the journey to self-realization that it was not within his power to stop his deceased wife's drug addiction.  Peake's insight into the human condition is enlightening and leaves a lasting impression on the reader

The story is well written with intense characters evolving through a slow plot progression that winds up the loose pieces together by the close of the read.  The secondary characters are also interesting and add dimension to the tale, especially Kavanagh's dying father whose words of wisdom resonate loudly in the reader's ears and Kavanagh's younger brother whom he misreads as his nemesis.

The struggles and conflicts that Reynolds and Kavanagh face are relatable to the reader.  The story intertwines four tropes, first, being a modern day small town romance, second, honing an office romance, third, having characters who seek redemption, and fourth, describing the tingles of love at first sight.  These are common tropes that Peake refreshes to make for a satisfying read.

Artist Site:  https://elizapeake.com/