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antica

antica

Hi all

Reading and writing my passions, i can spend hours and hours doing just that.

I love romance Novels, preferably Historical Romances set in the Regency or medieval Era after all no one can resist a drop dead sexy duke/earl/lord .... the list can go on and on lol

Some of my favorite authors include Jane Austen,... more »
  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  • member since November 21, 2007

Reviews

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Displaying 1-10 of 71 reviews
  • A Rogue of My Own
    • Rated 3 stars

    “I’ve read a lot of Johanna Lindsey’s books and while the majority of them I liked, there were some misses for me so I was a bit hesitant to pick this book up seeing that the synopsis didn’t really catch my attention that much. But I decided to start reading it anyway.

    Story wise, I’m not too impressed as it was a very basic plot and it was okay, not the best and not the worst that I have read. There were some grammatical mistakes that I think should have been looked at before getting this book printed.

    What really stood out for me in this book was the Heroine, Rebecca Marshall who will not take shit from anyone; not from her boss and certainly not from Rupert. She stands up for herself which is something I really enjoy in a heroine; she isn’t someone who neither is bitchy about her opinion nor is she a pushover.

    Rupert was okay, he didn’t stand out for me a lot but he wasn’t terrible either. He handled situations realistically, I mean I could see men reacting the way that he did in the book.

    The side characters were that interesting except for the characters of Nigel; Johanna Lindsey certainly got my attention with how she made his character but I was disappointed that she didn’t develop him further ”

    antica wrote this review Sunday, September 18, 2011. ( reply | permalink )
  • Just Like Heaven
    • Rated 5 stars

    “I've heard a lot of things about this book, mostly about how Julia Quinn brought back her charms and unforgetable style in her books. As much as I adore Julia Quinn for the books that she has brought out, I have to say that her pervious novel "10 Things I Love about you" I didnt like it that much; which is sad because I love Sebastian when he was a secondary charecter in "What happens in London" so I wanted to see him as the main lead in his own book and he wasn't up to pare as he was as a secondary charecter which disappointed me slightly.
    So when I heard that this book has that charm that the pervious book did not (and wasn't as forgetable) I was excited to read this book .

    And it did not disappoint

    I absolutly adore this book in so many ways

    The charecters are as charming as how charecters made from Julia Quinn's mind should be. Marcus is one of the few that would say fits the role as a perfect Beta Hero. He was quite, independant guy who you wouldnt see do outragous things that we see heros in Historical Romances sometimes; I mean even in the love scene he was maintained to be the beta hero and did not suddenly shift to the dominating Alpha hero which some of the beta heros tend to do in some books that I have read.

    Honoria is a delightful female heroine; who seemed to me to be very realistic in some of her ideals which is to put family first before her own wants. Some might think that that is a bad thing but I find it to be great that she loves her family so much she would go through humiliation than break her mothers heart and hopes.

    The story was typical at the beginning; childhood friends who are destined to fall in love. However the Majority of this book's plot, I found was pretty good as the majority of it was having Honoria tend to a very sick Marcus who has fallen ill of a fever. While I saw reviews that were negative from that aspect of the book I found that it works. The interaction between the two characters throughout the whole book had sparks despite its simplistic events and I can imagine two people falling in love the way that those two have.

    I LOVE Daniel; he was so funny as a child and as an adult; I was actually disappointed when there wasn't an action reunion scene between him and his mother which I would have loved to have read in this book. I am also hoping for his own book, one that perhaps will show where he has been all those years outside England; I just hope that his book doesn't make me have the same reaction as Sebastian's

    Rating: 5/5”

    antica wrote this review Tuesday, July 26, 2011. ( reply | permalink )
  • Seduce Me at Sunrise
    • Rated 4 stars

    “I was excited for this book; been wanting to read it for a long time but life got in the way; recently I was finally able to pick it up and start reading. There was something about having the hero as a Gypsy and a servant to the heroine’s family (even though they don’t consider him as such) that pulled me into this book thinking that I am going to enjoy reading it very much.

    I have to say that it has been a long time that I have had a book by someone who isn’t on my favorite author list that kept me up all night wanting to read and when I do put it down to get some sleep I find myself watching up 10 minutes later to see what happens next.

    I found Lisa Kleypas’s writing style and how she uses words together to be absolutely beautiful, without needing to be too much or too forced. I think that it was stood out for me the most in this book. I loved how she describes things, her characters and how deep she can get into their thoughts and souls.

    Okay I’m going to just go ahead and say it: This book was hot!

    Now that we have that out of the way; let’s go deeply into what I think about this book.

    Warning there are spoilers:

    I thought the first couple of chapters were great to build up the relationship between Win and Kev; I appreciate the author giving a good amount of chapters towards their childhood because it helped me as a reader understand why was it Win that Kev fell in love with and not the other sisters.

    I’ll get this out of the way as well: I found Kev to be extremely attractive by how the author described him XD

    Anyway; I have to say that I did enjoy Kev’s character; in the first couple of chapters yes he was a bit of a jerk but when I really thought about it he was being realistic in rejecting Win like he did given how important social status was during that period of history; there was no way that a woman could marry beneath her.

    The scene where he almost killed Hollow upon meeting him was absolutely hilarious I literally laughed out loud when he ‘apologized’ to the doctor in his foreign language.

    I found Win to be somewhat of a slut in the first few chapters (LOL XD); I’m sorry I just did by how she acted but by the time she came back from France, though she didn’t change much I did like that she won’t allow Kev to push her around if he wasn’t going to commit. I must have either overlooked it or just not remember it but I don’t really know why Win fell for Kev in the first place, other than the fact that he is hot.

    Never the less I thought the both of them had great sizzling chemistry

    One thing I would like to point out that I absolutely loved all of the ‘side characters’ if you can call them that. I thought that they all had a purpose in this story and not considered as side characters; but had just as equal of importance as the Win and Kev. I found that all of the characters worked dynamically with each other and with the story as a whole

    Rating: 4.5/5”

    antica wrote this review Sunday, September 4, 2011. ( reply | permalink )
  • Taken by the Prince
    • Rated 4 stars

    “I am a Christina Dodd Fan; I love all her books but mostly my favorite books that came out by her has to be the Historical Romance Genre because it the Genre I enjoy the best (Even though her Paranormal Romance is equally as good). I have to say that I enjoyed this book a lot; its sorta the sequel to her last book only you don't need to read the last one to understand what was going on with this one so it can be considered as a sequel and it can be read as a stand alone book.

    I found the plot interesting as simple as it was having Saber (I will call him Saber as it is his birth name) wanting revenge and take back his family title that was stolen from another family. What I also liked that the book was just about his goals as is it about the romance and the book consisted of an equal balance between the two so Saber's goal was not just a side plot device or something that is just in the background to add a few kicks.

    Saber's character was very interesting starting with the first chapter where Christina Dodd really showed us why was he as emotionally unattached as he was; the scenes that she wrote about his childhood really were amazing and done so well and it showed how much of an impact it really made throughout the book. There was the scene were he met Victoria where as soon as he say her he instantly wanted her; that had me roll my eyes due to the cliche' of the moment but then again I am not a guy so I can't really say that guys don't instantly think of that as soon as they lay eyes on a woman.

    Victoria was also a strong character; I really like how strong willed she was most of the book. The book showed that she can really defend herself and not be the damsel in distress all the time despite being kidnapped several times (my favorite has to be when she actually did fire a shot at her kidnapper when he mockingly dared her to)

    Overall This was a pretty good book to just kick back and relax while reading it.

    Although I have to say this; I really hate the cover; most readers like a hot guy to grace the covers of their Historical Romance books and they are 85% of the time but whenever I saw this cover; I find it unimaginative and uncreative there is nothing in the cover that really stood up for me believe it or not.

    Rating: 4/5”

    antica wrote this review Friday, June 10, 2011. ( reply | permalink )
  • After the Kiss
    • Rated 2 stars

    “I have mixed feelings about this book; as a romance I did not like it nor did the main charecters appeal to me that much. The first half of this book was a bit meh to me; there wasn't much that really stood out to me as a plot; and it is pretty bad when me as a reader cared more about Alastair's charecter and his relationship with his daughters than Marcus's relationship with Eliza. I've always heard that secondary charecters might save the book for some authors and this is the first time that I see this. Alastair as as a second charecter was more interesting to me than anything else in this book which will make me want to read the book that the author dedicated to his charecter and I think that I will enjoy that book more than this one because I was so interested in what he is going through than what Marcus or Eliza's stories for that matter.

    The second half of the book was a bit better because it took on the Beauty and the Beast theme which I enjoy very much where Marcus is heavily scared and literally calls himself a Beast. But unfortunately it wasn't done very well in which he constantly called himself that it got a bit old for me. Also Alastair's disappearance caused me more distress than any other event in the book.

    The romance between the two main characters didn't improve but in fact got worst; Marcus had her marry him if she wanted to take care of his nieces and was constantly raping her; which is something I cannot forgive even when the reader shows that he does care about her internally but I was over that by the time it happened even when those feelings were always there.

    Eliza's character did come on strong for a few scene but she would just collapse a few pages later.

    If not for the side story and the secondary characters along with the hint of the beauty and the beast theme I would have hated the book; I give it a 2 out of 5 just because of the elements that I did like

    Rating: 2/5”

    antica wrote this review Saturday, April 9, 2011. ( reply | permalink )
  • Say You're One of Them
    • Rated 3 stars

    “i didnt technically read all of this book, I read the first one and the one about the best friends and found them both very interesting stories. I couldnt get my head to wrap around the others though. perhaps i will be able to read it later in the future and edit my review then ”

    antica wrote this review Sunday, September 4, 2011. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Lady Most Likely...
    • Rated 5 stars

    “This book is a collaboration work between three Historical novalists specialized in Regency Era England; a genre that is one of my passions when I comes to writing. Moreover one of the authors happened to be one of my all time favorite’s authors; Julia Quinn. This is the first time I have read a single novel that would be written by three authors so I was excited when I received this in the mail and started to read it immediately; prior to me reading the book I have not read any spoilers, reviews or experts.

    One of the main things that people often criticize about romance novels is that they are pretty predictable, in terms of characters and the garentee that the two main characters are going to end up together in the end. This is not the case in this book where at first I didn’t know which couple would end up together. I knew that Hugh was the main hero of the book seeing that it is centered around finding him a wife; I was also aware of Gwen’s character as being one of the main ones so I immediately thought that Hugh and Gwen would be the couple to end up together but the more I read the more I find that this was getting pretty confusing and unpredictable which is a good thing because it added a bit of mystery as to who will end up with Hugh. Will it be Gwen, the woman who the start of the novel solely focuses on? Or Kate? Or will it be Georgina, the childhood friend whom Hugh shown interest in in the beginning of the novel but faded away towards the middle?
    The whole thing became such a mystery to me, adding to my excitement to see which woman would end up with which man; which I might add this novel has created some dramatic and interesting main and side characters that seem to fit right in.

    even though my predictions about Gwen were completely false; I thought she and Hugh would be perfect together since they both don’t seem to like crowds but as I read to the found In the end of book, I found myself liking every couple that ended up together.

    Characters:
    I really liked Gwen, her shy personally really grew on me as a character and being paired up with Alec really added icing to the cake. Alec was one of my favorite male characters of this book, he is delightful as well as hilarious (Lake Scene) and speaking of that scene, it was to die for! Probably one of my favorite scenes of the book
    In terms of my favorite couple, it was defiantly Gwen and Alec, followed by: Carolyn and her husband which are side characters yet their relationship is so sweet and loving that I found myself loving them from the start. Next would be Georgian and Hugh and lastly Kate and Neill.
    Georgia is an adorable character, she is cute in her own way while also being mature like how I would expect her to be. She is very loyal to her late husband and did not forget him or was just a passing thought when she was being ‘courted’ by Hugh. One thing I did not like though was that she acted like a virgin more of a woman who knows the process.
    My only other problem in this book was something that caught my attention at the beginning of the book; which was that Hugh trained Arabian horses for races. Now being from the Middle East I know that pure breed Arabians are generally not used in Derby races (which I assumed was the race he was talking about since it was never mentioned) but in fact suited to long races that require stamina, in which those races they don’t often are in a full gallop. This was perhaps my only problem with this book that I cant really get over but still it hasn’t affected my enjoyment of it.

    Rating: 4.5/5”

    antica wrote this review Wednesday, January 19, 2011. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Sand Fish
    • Rated 3 stars

    “The Sand Fish was a book that is very special to me and which I was looking so forward to reading. The reason behind that was that it is a novel whose settings take place in Dubai in the 1950s that had an Emirati woman as its main lead. Me as a reader, found myself already relating to the book even before reading it because I was a local while I am an Emirati woman living in Dubai in 2010.

    The author is also an Emirati Woman who managed to get this book published by HarperColins which caused some of my insecurities as a writer to decrease slightly. I always tended to worry about my book not seeing the publishing world because of the geographical differences between myself and my target audience, feeling that publishers might not take me very seriously but after seeing that Maha was able to get a deal out of one of the biggest publishing houses I couldn’t help but be inspired by her.

    Th best world that I could describe this novel would be Ethentic; everything about it was authentic; the settings, the situautions, the culture and even the charecters. All of the charecters in this book were authentic, Sager, Latifa, Jassim even Rashid was very Authentic in how they acted and thought; which was something that I enjoyed.

    The only character which I didn’t think was authentic was the main character herself, Noora. I am actually on the fence in terms of her character. As an Emirati woman I know that traditions and culture require that we don’t have any inimate meetings or actions with guys that we are not directly related to; though these days not a lot of girls think that but I was always told and thougth that woman back in the 1950s followed that rule more strictly than today seeing as how they have been brought up like that. I personally still respect that tradition and abid by it so I was more than surprised when I saw Noora not resisting Rashid at all during their meetings; that caused me to raise an eyebrow and long for Noor to be a bit stronger in that manner. Though at the same time she is a girl with Hormones which makes the action realistic, but not enough to justify it.

    After she gets married I was happy that she got a good enough husband, sure he was old but at least he wasn’t the abusive sterotype that most husbands tend to be in arranged marriages. Yet I can understand that because he was old and she did not have any feeling for him; she gave into Hamad as well. One thing that bothers me about it is that she would have been more causious with him from her experience with Rashid.

    The ending was what surprised me the most, but it did make the ending seem more real to me; how she didn’t end up with Hamad; which was something that I really liked about her. She was not one of those selfish heroine who looks at only her own happiness and run off with Hamad, have her name, her brother’s name and her family discrased by the action but choose to remain with her husband. It wasn’t her ideal life but she wasn’t misrable either.

    This novel was basically a battle for me in terms of how comlient women were to traditions; which had a lot of modern time influence comparing to what I would have normally thought to be in the 1950s

    Rating: 3.8/5”

    antica wrote this review Friday, December 17, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
  • Love in the Afternoon
    • Rated 4 stars

    “The different possibilities on how this book would flow with the summary that was provided was the thing that attracted me the most about it. I have to say it was an okay read, satisfying but ok. I really liked Beatrix, I think the author truly captured her character well and made her unique, not just to be unique from the rest of society like what most authors try to make their heroine as but it is shown that Beatrix truely loves animals and her personality defines it. As for the hero Christopher, while I always enjoy a tragic/wounded/scarred hero I have to say that he did get on my nerves a bit, after they Both got married with how his attitude was with Beatrix , I can be forgiving as it is somewhat realistic. However the statement that he made in page 303 was something I couldn't forgive him for, it was him being a pure jackass to her.
    I did want to see a face to face confrontation between Beatrix and Prudence on how Christopher chose Beatrix over her so that was slightly disappointed me that the author did not include a scene like that.
    Other than that, I can say that I enjoyed this book, plot and it's characters (most of the time lol)”

    antica wrote this review Saturday, November 20, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
  • In Bed with the Duke
    • Rated 3 stars

    “It was Christina Dodd’s “the runaway princess” that got me into reading Historical Romances. Other than “Some Enchanted Evening” I have been satisfied with every Historical Romance that she wrote. as she began to write modern romances and Paranormals; I liked her books in that category as well, though not as much as the historical ones so when she decided that she will be releasing “In Bed with a Duke” her first historical romance in 4 years I was more than excited.

    The plot interested me, it had a Zorro feel to it but I have to say that I had a lot of expectations from this book and at the beginning of it I found myself not really getting into it as much as I wanted to. Emma seemed to be an interesting character and Michael has that traditional charm that most heroes have in books. Towards the middle of the book I found myself getting more and more interested in the plot. I did have a problem with Emma ‘Thanking’ the Reaper the way that she did and continued to do so for some chapters, while it’s a nice romantic twist having her meet and make love to a guy in a mask who is supposedly a Ghost; it seemed a bit rushed to me. She jumped into bed the 3rd time she met him, the previous two was when he saved her and when she hid him from Sandre’s guards. I feel that her relationship with the Reaper could have been more developed.
    As I said, from the middle of the book I started to get interested in it and continued to read with interest until the last page, which I finally say I can experience a book whose ending really ruined the whole thing for me. Michael’s revenge on Sandre was something I would have never thought I would read in a historical romance book or a book meant for children. The method he used as humiliation was defiantly the ultimate humiliation for the prince but I felt that i was thrown in a children’s cartoon because I couldn’t see that scene happening unless it was in a cartoon. Plus she didn’t really have to describe in details where Michael had placed the candle in, it was a bit much

    I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the book, it did have a nice Zorro theme to it which I have been dying to read in a historical setting but I think that her previous Historicals really shined over this one.

    Rating: 3.5”

    antica wrote this review Saturday, September 18, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
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Displaying 1-10 of 71 reviews

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