B Reviews

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons, #2)

Grade – B+
Hotness Level – Blaze
Kink Level – No Kink
Genre – Historical
Series – Bridgertons #2
Reviewed by Kate


When Anthony Bridgerton decides it is time to marry, he wants no part of love. He sets out to make Edwina Sheffield, the beauty of the season and someone he can tolerate without loving, his future bride. When he discovers Edwina will not marry unless her sister Kate approves of the suitor, Anthony makes impressing Kate his number one priority. But is he enjoying his time spent with Kate too much?

After a string of disappointing reads, I knew I could count on Julia Quinn and the Bridgertons for an enjoyable read.  This second installment certainly delivered.  Anthony is a conflicted but likable hero.  Determined not to fall in love, he doesn’t know how to handle the feelings he’s developing for Kate.  used to standing in her sister’s shadow, Kate fully expects to become a spinster.  how can she believe Anthony would choose her over the beautiful Edwina?  Full of witty humor and tender moments, I read the entire book with a smile on my face.  And really, can you ask for anything more?

Edge Of Dawn by Lara Adrian

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Edge of Dawn (Midnight Breed, #11)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Midnight Breed #11
Reviewed by Kay

Edge of Dawn is the latest installment of Lara Adrian’s very successful Midnight Breed series. It takes place 20 years after Darker than Midnight. Mira is the heroine and she was a child when we first met her. She’s a Breedmate (potential mate/wife) for any Breed male. She also has a special gift like all Breedmates. Hers is that anyone who looks into her eyes can see their future. What people see isn’t always pleasant and each time her eyesight weakens. She was taken in by the Order and raised by a warrior couple.

Kellen Archer is the hero and a Breed male. He and his grandfather were saved by the Order years ago after the rest of his family was slaughtered. He was a sullen and somber teen aged boy. He trained and became part of the Order. He and Mira were best friends and that grew into lovers. Kellen was on a mission where he died, although his body was never found.

Mira still grieves for him and sometimes it bleeds over into her missions. She’s had some reprimands and is stuck babysitting a human inventor and is to escort him to a conference at which he is to be honored. Mira and the human are abducted by a rebel group. Here is where the fun starts.

I love the Midnight Breed books. Lara Adrian has always been an auto read for me. It was interesting to catch up with past characters. Also it was fun to read about the dynamic of the two societies interacting. In previous novels, the humans are unaware of the Breed existence and now they are. I would like to read about the rest of the team members. I loved this book right up until the end. A certain plot twist left me a little confused and irritated. I would still recommend this series to anyone who loves a good paranormal series.

The Magic Mirror and the Seventh Dwarf by Tia Nevitt

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Magic Mirror and the Seventh Dwarf (Accidental Enchantments, #2)

Grade – B+
Hotness Level – Ember
Kink Level – None
Genre – Fairytale
Series – Accidental Enchantments #2
Reviewed by Anne

I have a fondness for fairytale retellings, especially in the romance genre.  I’ve always got an eye out for them. I remember reading The Sevenfold Spell in 2011. (Kate’s review of us just went up yesterday.)  It was a Sleeping Beauty retelling from a different point of view, and I enjoyed it.  So, when I saw Tea Nevitt had written a new story with her twist on Snow White, I was really looking forward to reading it.  I wasn’t disappointed!

In this story, we see how the Snow White events unfold as told primarily through the eyes of Richard, the man magically bound to the Evil Stepmother Queen’s mirror, and Gretchen, the seventh dwarf.  Richard must answer three questions from the Queen each sunrise and sunset when she calls on him through the mirror.  He must answer these questions truthfully.  He has taken to wandering through the countryside and staying away from people in order to avoid having knowledge that may get those people in trouble.  He hopes to someday find and destroy the mirror enslaving him.

Gretchen is the only dwarf in her small town.  Though much loved by her family, she feels like a social outcast.  When a traveling minstrel tells the tale of a farm run by dwarves, Gretchen decides she will go there and see if she might have a better life living on the farm.  She’s also curious to see if anyone else in the world truly looks like her. 

Richard and Gretchen’s storylines run in parallel, only overlapping toward the end of the book.  Richard finally finds his way to the city that houses the Queen and the mirror.  There he meets Snow White and falls in love, not with her legendary beauty, but the wonderful person she is.

Gretchen meanwhile is very much enjoying life on the farm with the other dwarves and has decided to choose a husband from the four available men.  She also becomes friends with Angelika (Snow White).

I really enjoyed the way their stories unfolded and finally intertwined.  It’s a really clever retelling of the Snow White story.  My favorite part of the book was the way a princess really wakes up from a magically induced sleeping spell.  (Hint: it’s not with a stretch and a smile.)  The Queen’s handling of Richard was deliciously evil.  She would never put him in a prison.  She knows he’s most miserable and of most use to her wandering her kingdom.

There were a couple negatives in the story for me.  The way Angelika’s aunt and uncle treat her didn’t seem to have a place in the story.  I wanted a better (more vengeful, perhaps?) ending for the Queen.  I didn’t like Rudolf, one of the dwarves, and felt like the story would have been better without him.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this twist on Snow White, the two romances in it, the look at inner and outer beauty, and the cleverness of thinking about the enchanted mirror from a different point of view.  I enjoyed it enough that I can’t even complain about the lack of on page sex. (There was none!  But I’m not complaining, just mentioning.)  I recommend this book.