Alyce Caswell - Author
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Book Reviews

More Rural Than Romance

27/5/2021

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The Vet from Snowy River by Stella Quinn

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I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Vera De Rossi moves to Hanrahan to open up a cafe in a desperate attempt to make enough money to cover her aunt's hospice stay - and to pay her own mounting lawyer bills. She definitely doesn't need the complication of starting something with a hot vet. Josh Cody already has his hands full with his job and his teenage daughter, but he's more than happy to add Vera to the mix - if she'll let him.

I really enjoyed the small town setting in this book, since busybodies and larger-than-life characters are a lot of fun to read about. But for a rural romance, it seemed to lack the key "romance" aspect. I just didn't see anything believably develop between the two leads and was rather bemused by them ending up together, which is weird because I love HEAs. But the overall storyline and the superb writing helped to ease that disappointment.

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Spirits and the Spirited

26/5/2021

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The Highlander's Irish Bride (Clan Kendrick #4)
by Vanessa Kelly

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I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kathleen Calvert would rather be back in Ireland, not sent up to an isolated Scottish estate in an attempt to rein in her free spirit. Grant Kendrick knows he seems boring compared to Kathleen, after years spent being the serious, introspective twin. But escorting her away from the confines of Glasgow may just give him the opportunity to rediscover his own free spirit.

I'm on a Clan Kendrick binge at the moment and this certainly did not disappoint. Grant and Kath had such wonderful dialogue! Any scene with the pair of them was a lot of fun (even when Grant was being "boring"). It's also rare to see a potential rival suitor who is actually a nice dude and not the villain of the piece. I'd say this is my second favourite book of the series (Graeme is my favourite twin - sorry, Grant!).

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Definitely Not a Nun

25/5/2021

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The Highlander's Christmas Bride (Clan Kendrick #2)
by Vanessa Kelly

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Donella Haddon hid herself away at a convent to avoid a series of embarrassments, but she is kicked out - ahem, told to leave before she can take her vows. Enter Logan Kendrick, her escort. He is a wealthy widower doing business with her clan. Neither of them are looking for romance - certainly not with each other - but it seems fate and their families have other ideas.

I enjoy these books, especially because the plots are a bit more complex than can be found in the standard fare. And Vanessa Kelly's heroines always surprise me - not only are they real, they make decisions that seem real. As with the last book, this one references events from another series, but here the information about those events was presented in a more organic way (instead of the front-end info dump that occurred in The Highlander Who Protected Me.) A thoroughly enjoyable romance.

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Pregnant Pause

23/5/2021

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The Highlander Who Protected Me (Clan Kendrick #1)
​by Vanessa Kelly

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Royal Kendrick is a wounded hero who has pined after Lady Ainsley Matthews and has erred in the past when trying to show his affection for her. Ainsley has been sent to Scotland as punishment for refusing a suitor, so Royal decides to visit her. What he doesn't expect is to find her days away from giving birth! Ainsley is in an untenable position, but she may just have found her hero.

When I pick up book one in a romance series, I expect it to be a clean slate. This wasn't. I didn't realise that a good chunk of the book would be focused on events that occurred in a previous novel in a different series. That really threw me. Once things got going, however, it was an enjoyable read that had me on tenterhooks, wondering when the villain would appear. I also appreciated that this novel dealt with the aftermath of sexual assault, something most historical romances avoid.

But I just couldn't get over how annoyed I was by discovering that this book was not the starting point I thought it was.

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Sutherland PI

21/5/2021

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Who's That Earl (Love and Let Spy #1)
by Susanna Craig

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Thomas Sutherland has been recalled from his duties abroad and must now serve the Crown in a different way - by taking up the responsibilities of an earl. He doesn't expect to find Jane Quayle living in his castle. Jane would rather Thomas disappear - before he finds out just what she's been up to since they parted. But threatening letters have started arriving. And Thomas grasps this excuse to stay close. Very close.

I'm always a sucker of historical romances in which the heroine is secretly making money as an author. So I was pretty happy with that aspect. This was a cute story that didn't deliver many surprises and I wasn't particularly invested in the mystery of the letters, but it was certainly a nice way to kill a couple of hours.

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Still In Stitches

20/5/2021

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First Comes Scandal (Rokesby #4)
by Julia Quinn

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Georgiana Bridgerton's reputation is in tatters after she was kidnapped by suitor with a rather large debt. It falls to Nicholas Rokesby to rescue her - in the form of a marriage proposal, something he's rather reluctant to do. Georgie doesn't want him to pity her. But she doesn't have a choice. After years of being cordial friends, will they be able to see each other with new eyes?

I had a lot of fun reading this. Pretty much any scene that involved Cat-Head had me giggling in a most undignified fashion. And Freddie Oakes falling out of the tree - I just about cackled. I adored Georgie and Nicholas together, especially since they got to both experience intimacy for the first time - you just don't see that enough in historical romance novels. I also found the medical stuff quite interesting. And who wouldn't be delighted with those brief appearances by the young Bridgerton boys?

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It's Getting Scot in Here

19/5/2021

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Highland Treasure (Highland Brides #9)
by Lynsay Sands

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Rory planned on getting back home to Scotland as quickly as possible - he just didn't know he'd have to do it while escorting Lady Elysande, with danger on her heels and evidence of a plot against the English king's life sewn into her clothes. Rory is a healer, so tending Elysande's wounds from her captivity should be easy. But she has to be in quite a state of undress for him to help her...

Well, I'm happy that Rory finally got his romance, considering that one of his brothers was mistaken for him last time! And that's another amazing cover, hello. This book made for very pleasant afternoon reading and some parts of it were quite amusing. Carlisle was an utterly charming place for our characters to start falling in love. I'm still smiling just thinking about it.

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A Whole Lot of Baggage

18/5/2021

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The Polly Principle (Laws of Love #2)
by Davina Stone

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​Polly does casual. She doesn't do love and commitment, but she is very good at shepherding her friends in that direction. So when a steamy one-night stand turns out to be her new colleague, things are definitely NOT going to get messy...right?

Whew, the heat level in this one - Solo is a tall drink of water, that's for sure. Family can be a tricky thing and Stone navigated that quite well. I didn't enjoy this as much as the first book, maybe because I felt that Polly was a touch too nasty towards the end there (even if she does have issues). But Solo...well, I just loved him. He can ride back to Sydney whenever he wants.

One thing that rubbed me the wrong way... lately I've seen a worrying trend in contemporary romance novels where an asexual (or asexuality) is conflated with being boring/dull. An ace character in a subplot here is presented as "boring". Can we stop doing this please?

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Murderbot 101

17/5/2021

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All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1)
by Martha Wells

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Murderbot is a SecUnit provided by the Company to a group of scientists who are about to discover that they should be worried about more than just the native wildlife. Murderbot would rather indulge in TV shows than actually do the job, but these are its humans (even if they are weird) and this is a situation that calls for a bot with murder in its past.

I had an inkling I would love this. I just didn't realise how much! There are some stories you think "oh, this really should have been a short story or a novel instead", but this one fits the novella length perfectly. Murderbot is ridiculously relatable and you can't help but love this secondhand unit, dark past and all. I could go on and on about this novella, but I think it's best if I buy the rest and go on and on about those...

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Attack of the Fanfic

17/5/2021

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Down with this Ship by Katie Kingman

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I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kole Miller spends every possible minute writing for her fan fiction blog, Spacer - aka fixing the mistakes made by the writers of her fave show The Space Game. But then, to her horror, other students in her Creative Writing class find out that she's the one behind the blog. They threaten to reveal her identity unless she does several things for them - and that includes writing a ship she doesn't love into her story.

I really thought I would love this. I am a real fiend for books about fandom and fanfic. I've read a lot of them - which is probably why I was disappointed with this one. Much of what happens in Down with this Ship has been done before and done better. It also reminded me quite strongly of the stories I've read on Wattpad - sooo many boys wanting to go to the dance with the lead, too many "and then they all clapped" moments, cardboard cutouts instead of characters (also what happened to the Journalism teacher?? She just disappeared??), and really squiffy logic.

I know I'm from an older fanfic era, but I still dabble in fandom (as a lurker only these days!). A lot of things just didn't match my experiences. And that was very jarring. Posting fanfic on a blog was a really odd choice for Kole (something like AO3 is more likely). But the one thing that really stuck out - show (and book) writers do NOT read fan fiction (for legal reasons).

Ugh. I don't know. Maybe these things don't or shouldn't matter. But they do to me. This all said, I think quite a few Wattpadders would enjoy it.

If you liked the premise of this book, here are my top 3 recs:
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
Geekerella by Ashley Poston

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    About

    Alyce Caswell, when she isn't buried in a book or drinking her way through a giant pot of tea, is a keen writer of science fiction and romance. She has published two novels and four novellas in her space opera family saga, The Galactic Pantheon Series.

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  • Home
  • Books
    • The Galactic Pantheon >
      • The Tortured Wind
      • The Twisted Vine
      • The Flickering Flame
      • The Shifting Ice
      • The Whispering Grass
      • The Creeping Moss
      • The Galactic Pantheon Novellas
      • The Adventures of Grace Pendergast, Galactic Reporter
    • The Shadow of the Gods
    • Dealing with the Demon
    • Love and Lockdown
    • The Eyes of Charon
    • Sweet Delights
  • Other Works
  • Book Reviews
  • Contact