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retroredux

retroredux

I'm a 39 year old wife and mother. I love to read-predominately Historical Romance set in the Regency period-but I also enjoy other time periods, some contemporary and paranormal Romance, Science Fiction and Fantasy as well.

I just joined and will be adding 1000's more books to my shelves as I'm an avid collector and have tons of...more »
  • port neches, tx, usa
  • member since December 2007

Reviews

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Displaying 1-10 of 314 reviews
  • A Rose For Julian (Angels of Mercy)
    • Rated 3 stars

    “My Amazon Review:

    formulaic ending to Angels of Mercy trilogy...., November 16, 2008

    in A Rose For Julian, we read about the third friend's Roses' romance. Rose is a commoner who becomes Julian Livingston's nurse. We've met Julian in book 1 of the trilogy, More Than A Dream: Angels of Mercy (Ballad Romances). Julian was injured in the Charge of The Light Brigade and has given up on life and has become a recluse. Rose help's him and in turn Julian and his family help her with a devastating secret from her past.

    While the story was overall enjoyable, Rose's constant inner berating about not being good enough for Julian was quite tiresome and predictable. Add to that the lukewarm love scenes in this book-again the author predictably follows a "one love scene per book" formula-and the reader is left with a rushed and invariably mediocre story. I wouldn't recommend this story to any but fellow readers of this trilogy for no other reason than to see how the story ends.
    3 stars. ”

    retroredux wrote this review yesterday. ( reply | permalink )
  • True To Her Heart: Angels of Mercy (Ballad Romances)
    • Rated 4 stars

    “My Amazon Review:

    Lucinda's story......., November 16, 2008

    in True To Her Heart, book 2 in the Angels Of Mercy trilogy, we revisit Lucinda, a gentile though impoverished Vicar's daughter and Jeffery, the wealthy though poor born businessman that Lucinda met, fought with, became friends with in Turkey when she was a Crimean nurse under Florence Nightingale. Lucinda has a problem of not knowing when to not speak her mind and views, which most Victorian society decrees as unacceptable behavior for a lady. Jeffery finds himself drawn to Lucinda but repelled by her outspokenness.

    Overall, book two was better than book 1 More Than A Dream: Angels of Mercy (Ballad Romances), though like that book it could have improved with more heat between the hero and heroine, as there is again only one love scene in the entire book, and it's tame at that.

    I'd recommend the story for romance fans looking for a mature, clean story.
    3.5 stars. ”

    retroredux wrote this review yesterday. ( reply | permalink )
  • More Than A Dream: Angels of Mercy (Ballad Romances)
    • Rated 3 stars

    “My Amazon Review:

    enjoyable but disjointed Victorian Romance...., November 11, 2008

    More Than A Dream in the first part in a trilogy called Angels of Mercy, written in the Zebra Ballad line of Historical Romances. The heroine, Catherine, is a devotee of Florence Nightingale, and goes with Nightingale to Turkey during thr Crimean War to be a nurse. On the way over she meets Michael, a young Scottish doctor, who shares Catherine's passion for medicine, but like most in Victorian times, believed the nursing was too much for "delicate females". As they work together, they share an attraction, but are torn apart when Catherine is sent home.

    While the story was for the most part enjoyable and maturely written, it did have a number of flaws that kept it from being a five star book. First, the book is saturated in flashbacks that disjoint the continuity of the storyline. Second, the hero is a bit to mealy mouthed and wishy washy about his love for the heroine. Finally not enough romance, especially love scenes. The one love scene in the story was also, frankly, not that well written and just plain boring.

    I enjoyed More Than A Dream enough to read the other two books in the series, as those secondary characters seem more interesting than this books H/H, but as a stand alone book I wouldn't recommend it unless you can get it very cheaply.
    3 stars. ”

    retroredux wrote this review 7 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • One Wicked Night (Zebra Splendor Historical Romances)
    • Rated 1 stars

    “My Amazon review:

    cliche' and tedious......., November 9, 2008

    and not to mention implausible. The main story,that the elderly husband is impotent and begs the heroine, his young bride to take a discreet lover until she is impregnated, was actually put sensitively across and I had no problem with that. The problem came with the heroine's overreaching preachiness to the man she's supposed to be seducing.

    The scene at Vauxhall gardens was enough to make me quit this book. The heroine, is pulled into bushes at a packed event, repeatedly screams but no one a few feet away hear her? She is attacked, robbed and cut but she tells the hero not to go after her attacker? She's been severely attacked and is bleeding but the "hero" proceeds to make the move on her? Insipid and just plain bad.

    So glad I got this book at a garage sale. Take my advice and don't waste your money. no stars.
    ”

    retroredux wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Miss Darby's Duenna (G K Hall Large Print Romance Series)Miss Darby's Duenna (G K Hall Large Print Romance Series)Sheri Cobb South
    • Rated 5 stars

    “My Amazon review:

    delightful........., November 8, 2008

    this is my first book by this author and definitely not my last. Miss Darby's Duenna was a traditional Regency romance with a "comedy of errors" storyline. As a fan of traditional Regencies I normally read novels several decades old because for the most part, these stories are no longer written, or better said, sold. I'm encouraged to see a new author for traditionals in Miss South.

    The storyline-a young Regency buck,Harry, who decides while he needs to settle down and start his nursery, ask for the hand of neighbor and childhood friend, Olivia. Olivia accepts but knows that while she is in love with Harry, Harry only loves her in a sisterly way and doesn't plan on curtailing his bachelor entertainments after marriage. All this changes when Olivia, and Harry's sister Georgina, goes to London for a "come out" before their marriage.

    I won't go into more so as not to spoil the book for you, but rest assured if you are a fan of Regencies ala' Heyer, Joan Smith, Marion Chesney and such you'll really enjoy this book. The book is frothy and fun-don't expect a serious storyline, but do expect to laugh quite a lot.

    5 stars. ”

    retroredux wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • What A Woman Needs (Zebra Debut)
    • Rated 4 stars

    “My Amazon Review:

    an exceptional debut....., November 8, 2008

    other reviewers have pretty much summed up the storyline, so I'll just add a few points.

    The hero and heroine of this book are not your usual duo. They are older (30's), they have scandal in their past, and they are both fairly "damaged" people. The author was able to weave a highly sensuous, though heartfelt love story from these two flawed people.

    The love scenes are refreshing as while they are unapologetically explicit, they are also tender, and are a touch stone for both characters previous failures in life. That they were both used and used others via sex in the past but realize how beautiful, and hot!, sex with the person you love can truly be. The love scenes are scorching and not for the faint of heart:)

    As to it's flaws-they are few, and in my opinion, not to detracting from the storyline. I do agree with the other reviewers-the treasure hunt at the end seemed unnecessary at first, but it did help to "tidy up" some loose strings at the end. A few characters were also added in the last half of the story, that were not needed, though it seems that the author may use these characters in future books.

    All in all, a fresh, highly sensuous Historical that I do recommend.
    4.5 stars. ”

    retroredux wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Love Is Blind (Leisure Historical Romance)
    • Rated 1 stars

    “my Amazon Review:

    cruelty is not funny....., November 6, 2008

    hate to be the voice of dissension here but I did not find this storyline enjoyable or amusing. What started out well- "plain Jane falls for wounded war hero", quickly turned offensive.

    It's bad enough when the heroine's cruel stepmother intentionally breaks her glasses, and the poor girl basically is left blind-to the point where she has to be lead around by servants. After the heroine meets and falls for the hero, I kept waiting for the hero to get her new glasses, but no, he just let her stumble about as well. Then to have the hero, who supposedly loves her, intentionally hide her glasses from fear of her disgust from his scar? Terrible. I won't even go into how much the book is historically inaccurate for the time period-in this case the poor storyline outweighs that problem by a mile.

    Not romantic or funny and not recommended.
    1.5 stars ”

    retroredux wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Numbered Kisses (Regency Romance)Numbered Kisses (Regency Romance)Sally Martin
    • Rated 3 stars

    “average Regency romance-honestly forgettable”

    retroredux wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Pride and Prudence
    • Rated 1 stars

    “tried to read this for the Fall challenge-a New To Me Author. This book was bland-I couldn't finish it.”

    retroredux wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Sudbury School Murders (Mystery of Regency England)
    • Rated 3 stars

    “I can't believe this but I couldn't finish this fourth installment in this series. I loved the first three books but this storyline just didn't grab me.”

    retroredux wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
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Displaying 1-10 of 314 reviews


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