Solid Action and Friendship, but the Repetition Drags It Down
Blurb:
Being taken prisoner by ravenous green-skinned aliens was not cool, but when the Raxxian ship fell under attack, breaking apart and crashing on a planet in a galaxy far from home, Maureen realized that was only the beginning.
There was one bright side though. She had made a friend. A thickly muscled, blue-skinned hunk of a friend at that.
Stranded and alone, the pair’s attraction was obvious from the start, but much as they wanted to see where things might go between them, a new ordeal was spoon thrust upon them. One that threatened to separate them just as things were getting interesting.
It would be a struggle, but with their attraction growing by the minute it was a fight worth having. It would be hard, but if they managed to succeed, perhaps life as a survivor on an alien world wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. Judging by the chemistry between the human woman and rugged alien male, it looked like it could be quite enjoyable indeed.
I liked the first book in the Infala series enough to continue, so I picked up The Prisoner’s Gambit. Right away, though, I noticed a fair amount of repetition—whole sections from the first book reappear nearly word for word, which was frustrating. It made the beginning feel like déjà vu instead of a fresh continuation.
That said, I still really like the overall premise of this series. The Infala universe, with its living pigments and tattoo-based abilities, remains an interesting and original concept. It’s one of the more creative takes on alien technology and culture I’ve read in a while.
I appreciated the friendship-first relationship between Maureen and Bodok. Their bond develops with a nice emotional foundation before turning romantic, which makes them believable as partners. I also found the action scenes engaging and well-paced—Kira Quinn does a great job with movement and tension in those moments.
Where the story falls short, again, is in the romantic and sexual writing. The sex scenes are short and lack emotional or verbal connection; there’s little dialogue, which tends to be the most compelling part for me. The repeated use of the same descriptions and the constant, almost comedic number of orgasms for the FMCs pull me out of the moment. It’s not sensual so much as redundant.
Overall, The Prisoner’s Gambit continues an imaginative series with solid action and likable leads, but the repetition—both in reused content and sexual phrasing—keeps it from standing out. I’m still curious enough to continue to book three and hope the storytelling balances out a bit more there.
Contains graphic sex scenes.
Occasional foul language.
3rd person past tense, omnipresent voice.
Errors: 5 – 2 misspelled words, an extra word, a repeated word, and a missing ending quotation mark. Totally readable.
A Promising Start with Unique World-Building, but an Unbalanced Finish
Blurb:
As if alien abduction wasn’t bad enough, it seemed Darla’s captors didn’t want her for something as simple as breeding or even experimentation. The Raxxians were nasty pieces of work, and they had other plans in mind. Namely, they wanted to eat her, and not in the fun way. But the universe, it seemed, had other plans.
Spared a gruesome fate when the Raxxian ship crashed on a distant world, Darla found herself suddenly free. Free but on an alien planet with only the company of another former prisoner.
An alien.
A tall, muscular, impossibly alluring alien.
One who didn’t seem thrilled about taking the little human woman under his protection, at least not at first. Little did either of them know just how hot their time together on this new world would become, and in a way that had nothing to do with the planet’s blazing sun.
I really enjoyed the beginning of this story and the slow evolution of Darla and Heydar’s relationship—from irritation, to respect, to love. The emotional pacing early on worked beautifully. Unfortunately, the ending felt rushed and overly focused on the sexual aspects rather than the story itself. Too many questions were left unanswered, and since the following books center on different couples, I’m not sure if we’ll ever get closure.
Character development, particularly for Heydar, felt thin. We learn very little about him beyond what serves the romance, which left me wanting more depth.
That said, the world-building is fascinating. Instead of the usual tech-heavy alien sci-fi, Quinn introduces a culture that relies on living pigment and rune-like tattoos to grant abilities—translation, strength, healing, and more. It’s an original, organic twist that I haven’t seen before and one of the novel’s strongest elements.
The story is told in omniscient narration, which I usually dislike, but it’s handled fairly well here. The perspective mostly stays close to Darla, so it doesn’t suffer from that jarring “head-hopping” effect some romances fall into.
Where it stumbled most for me was in the repetitive language of the intimate scenes. “Again and again” appears three times in the first encounter, and “bliss” shows up five times on one page. Darla’s nearly nonstop orgasms strain believability a bit and undercut the otherwise emotional tone of those moments.
Overall, Infala: The Alien’s Bond is a solid beginning to a series with imaginative ideas and sincere emotion. I just wish the ending had been given more narrative attention instead of sexual repetition. Still, I’m curious enough to pick up Book 2 and see where the Infala universe goes next.
Contains graphic sex scenes.
Occasional foul language.
3rd person past tense, omnipresent voice.
Errors: 1 – an extra quotation mark on page 27. So a fantastic job editing!
Great lore-building werewolf romance marred by errors, repetition, and slow pacing
Blurb:
OUTCAST. REJECTED. UNWANTED.
Pack life wasn’t for Lita. A fated mate would only mean heartbreak. Until she met HIM. The alpha who fought for her when no one else would. But her secret? It’s powerful, and a demon wishes to covet her for himself. Their love could save everything, including the world. Their destiny is for their line to bring balance but, in order to do that, they’ll have to win the war.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and they are much loved. So the fans are going to hate me!
I wanted to love this book! I’m a huge fan of werewolf romances and paranormal romance in general. But I just couldn’t even like it very much. 😦
The Pros:
Great lore-building! There were some very creative additions to the usual werewolf lore, including fairies, centaurs, kelpies, selkies, and more, with twists on the usual lore as well. I did love that!
A Great Start! At its heart, this is a great story. It’s interesting, with some spicy romance, good action, and some laugh-out-loud humor.
Both main characters are virgins! I love this! While there is irritating Other Woman Drama, neither main character has been sexually active with anyone before. It’s a very nice diversion from the all-too-often used manwhore cliché.
The Cons:
Omniscient Narrator I can’t remember the last time I read a romance novel in omniscient narrator, and it really bothered me. We dip into everyone’s head! Secondary characters, tertiary characters, villains, and characters that only appear for a paragraph or two. And all within the same chapters. It’s so confusing and feels so very wrong.
It’s an author’s choice. But I personally can’t stand it. Most modern romance novels are written in 1st or 3rd person close narrative from one or duel POVs, and I vastly prefer it that way. I think the book should come with a warning in the blurb saying it is in omniscient narrator because I would have avoided the book and therefore not left a negative review.
Conflictingly Sometimes Weak FMC Lita, the FMC, can be strong at times, very strong. So when Lita is weak, it conflicts with the character I want her to be. She passes out three times! Fainting is ridiculously weak unless someone has been choking you for a while or knocks you out with a hit to the head. Lita faints for poor reasons.
Lita is naïve and clueless. It’s kind of funny at times but often irritating. Her self-esteem is very poor. She is at times Too Stupid To Live.
Other Woman Drama Asher had a fiancé until he found Lita. And then this Other Woman is a villain in the story. I hate Other People Drama, especially in a fated-mate world. If werewolves have fated mates, they have no business starting romantic relationships with Other People. The jilted woman villain is a very tired cliché that bores and irritates me.
Repetition, Length, and Pacing There is far too much repetition, adding to the length, and slowing the pace. The book is 679 pages long! I got very bored at around 400 pages but kept at it because I wanted to discover what happened with the overall story arc, with the bad guys, but then— I never got it! The romance part gets a Happy Ever After ending, but we never get a final resolution. This will come in Book 2 of the series I presume. But I don’t think I can stand to read the omniscient narrator any more to find out what happens, which makes me very sad.
As I said before, this is a great start to a novel. But it is in severe need of an editor and a re-write. I would prefer the omniscient narrator and Other Woman Drama be removed. But at a minimum, the repetition needs to be taken out and the length cut massively. If I were editing this, I would slash paragraphs left and right, whole scenes, and entire chapters. There is one chapter where they go to a water park, and it feels like a teen romance.
Hate me if you must, but I can only give this three stars. I hope my criticism is constructive. If it ever did get that re-write, I would be thrilled to change my review!
Contains graphic sex scenes. They start off with somewhat flowery language but get a little more “graphic” later. There really aren’t many of these scenes. Some intimate moments are fade-to-black.
Occasional foul language.
Omniscient narrator past tense.
Errors: Far too many to count! It’s readable but sloppy, with commas instead of periods at the end of sentences and other, easily avoidable, errors. These are things even Word should find if spell check is run! All CAPS and double punctuation marks, ?!, are used for shouting or emphasis. SPLAT, SPLASH, and the like are used like this is a comic book. And there are some inconsistencies and contradictions in the story.
679 Pages
$4.99 at Amazon.
I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens, and I am leaving this honest review voluntarily.
Connor Ward is Greywood’s resident psychopath. And now, he’s my boyfriend…
One impulsive decision is all it took. I needed a ‘boyfriend’ for the year; Connor needed a redemption arc with his legion. So I announced to the world we were dating… before he even agreed.
Connor nearly strangled me for my gall. Then, he named his price: my body, my choices, my complete surrender.
Who am I to refuse such a delicious deal?
Everyone sees him as a monster. Cold, calculating, untouchable. But as our twisted game begins, I start spotting cracks in his armor. He’s undoubtedly brutal, but he’s also beautifully broken.
The longer we fake a relationship, the more real it becomes… and then our pasts catch up with us. My ex wants me back, and he’s getting violent. Connor’s enemies are circling, and I’m caught in the crossfire. The legion’s fed up with Connor, leaving him without backup.
In the face of our conflicts, Connor reminds me that I don’t matter to him and never will. That he only knows how to destroy, not love.
Realizing he can never give me what I’m starting to crave, I try to walk away from Connor… only he changes his mind and doesn’t let me go.
Now, I have to choose my destruction—my ex’s fury, Connor’s ruthless enemies, or Connor himself… who’s breaking me apart piece by piece.
Maidens and Mercenaries is a dual-POV spicy dark college romance featuring a morally grey MMC and a strong, cunning FMC. If you enjoy Rina Kent’s Legacy of Gods or Shantel Tessier’s LORDS, you’ll turn feral for the men of the Greywood Legionaries!
I knew going into this that Connor, the MMC, is the darkest of the legionaries. And true to form, he got too dark for me. This contains unsafe BDSM with a lot of pain and choking. It was a turn off for me. So I can only recommend this if you like this content. If you do, go for it!
It didn’t stop me from finishing the book, but it did curtail my enjoyment. I’m glad I got a resolution to the overall story arc that began in Book 1. This is well written with fleshed out characters, a nice sprinkling of humor, and some good action.
But for me, it just wasn’t right. Kresley Cole is one of my absolute favorite authors, but I wasn’t into her Gamer Maker series.
Contains graphic sex scenes.
Frequent foul language.
1st person past tense from Cara and Connor.
Errors: Very frequent issues with dialogue formatting – not capitalizing and separating action sequences, 1 wrong word, 1 missing word, and 1 missing space between words. So not awful.
There’s a threat to the Trillume Universe and the “cure” may just be the beginning of the end.
Commander Yueril of the Galactic Authority was on a mission that he never expected to return from, all in the name of protecting the universe against the Solungors, an invasive species destroying every planet they touch. Though, when he arrives at the outlaw planet Delta-Fal, he comes across someone he least expected to meet, a mate that makes his instincts scream to protect her, but she may just be the one protecting him.
Hazel is snatched from her home planet Estreldez by the krelis horde that seeks to invade her planet, but when she arrives to be sold off to slavers, one takes pity on her and sneaks her off ship, only to find herself trapped on an outlaw planet with no one willing to help her now that she holds the mark of the Birds of Zorn.
For those of you monster fudgers that love something different and like your aliens more alien than human, this spicy romance is for you. The trill are a reptilian species with sharp teeth, scales, fancy equipment, and exceptionally playful tails. There’s a bit of a breeding kink, but there is no “oops I’m preggers”, none of that in these pages. Fated mates, mating marks, biting, tail play, knotting, and even a bit of exhibitionism. All the fun stuff.
This is a standalone alien romance spice that will have you curling your toes, and a fascinating universe that unravels the more books you read in the Trillume Universe. No, you do not have to read any other book before reading this one, in fact, this book takes place before every other book I’ve written in the universe so far!
I love aliens that are truly alien, not just humans with a different skin tone or any other equally subtle change. But I do now know that I prefer one of the main characters to be human so I can more easily relate to the narrative. I was so confused by this that I didn’t know the sex of the narrator until near the end of the first chapter. I was intrigued enough to continue reading, but my confusion remained high throughout. Frequent errors in the text didn’t help matters.
I didn’t feel like I really got to know the characters because I had no human filter to view them through. The graphic scenes were interesting but not overly stimulating for the same reason.
Contains graphic sex scenes.
1st person past tense from Hazel and Yueril.
Errors: Too many to count. Misspelled, wrong, extra, and missing words. Sudden changes in tense. It wasn’t unreadable.
204 Pages
$3.99 at Amazon.
Free copy provided by BookSirens for honest review.
Sweet contemporary military romance, currently free on Amazon
Blurb:
In the postcard-perfect seaside town of Annapolis, Maryland, the bestselling romance series begins…
Lieutenant Commander Mick Riley, a member of the fabled SEAL Team Six, can’t pull his eyes from Lacey Owens . Yet she is the type of woman he wants to avoid – the kind that gets him thinking about settling down, spawning kids, and finding lower-mortality employment.
Lacey has her own reasons for avoiding Mick. Tired of living in the shadow of her financial mogul sister, this real estate agent has tossed ethics aside to succeed, putting the tempting SEAL well out of her reach.
But when their circles of friends collide, Lacey can’t avoid Mick’s rock-hard abs and a smile that melts her into a pool of hot wax. Friendship blossoms and passion simmers… even as she struggles to conceal the unethical business plan that brought him into her life.
SEAL the Deal is a full-length novel about the fine line that divides friendship and love, and the unexpected joy of crossing it.
This was sweet. A nice, quick-paced read. There isn’t anything heavy here, no action, suspense, or mystery, no other overarching plot, just the romance. I liked the characters, though Lacey seemed a little down on herself, which I didn’t like. Mick was hot and honorable. But there just wasn’t anything very special or memorable about them. The sex scenes were kinda hot but not smoking. So just 3 stars from me, average. At least it is well edited. Only 3 errors found!
I have way more to say when I love or hate something.
3rd person past tense from Lacey and Mick.
Contains some graphic sex scenes, but not until halfway through.
352 pages.
Currently free on Amazon. Book 5 and Book 7 (a novella) are free. The others in the series are about $2.99 each.
Paranormal shifter romance with some unique lore but also some problems. 99 cents on Amazon.
Blurb:
What would it be like to live in a world where you were considered abnormal even to those who were above the norm?
Jenna O’Conner is not human, nor is she considered the norm for the supernatural Other community. It’s important she hide her true nature from both humans and Others.
Right after moving to a new city, Jenna runs into trouble in the form of a deadly, mouthwatering man named Adam McPhee. He’s an alpha werewolf determined to do two things: figure out exactly what Jenna is and have her all to himself.
As if that weren’t enough for Jenna to deal with, a group of extremist Shifters who consider humans to be cattle and who think that factions of Others should stay within their own species—never to intermingle—come to town. Jenna has to find a way to shut them down, but in the process of trying to do that, she discovers things about herself that even she had never thought were possible.
Who said the wolf was what you had to worry about?
Welcome to the real world—the Other world.
Jenna’s family hid her away for most of her life, telling her she would be in grave danger if anyone else in the “Other” community found out about her. When she finished college, she wanted to be a cop like her uncle. They let her go to the police academy and be a cop in a small town. Then they let her become a SWAT team member in the larger city of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Now it really doesn’t make any sense to me that this “overprotective” family would allow this. But I suspended my disbelief because without this insanity, there wouldn’t be a story. Week one at her new job, Jenna was discovered by Adam, a wolf shifter.
Jenna was a superhero type character, overly perfect, until she met the “Other” world. She’s strong, beautiful, independent, and snarky. Some of the snarky struck me as stupid. She herself realizes that she put her foot in her mouth a few times. Some things just didn’t make sense. For example, she backs down to a tiger shifter because she realizes he could hurt her, but then later shows she probably could have gotten out of that situation when she faces off against two tiger shifters at the same time, and they have to back down. It’s confusing.
Jenna is a virgin. But this makes sense for her character. She was kept hidden at home most of her life. Then she worried she would harm a human if they had sex. Humans were the only option since her family stressed the importance of staying hidden from shifters or any kind of “Other”.
I liked Adam. He’s a possessive, growly, alpha, but he’s also sweet and romantic. But I was not a fan of the setup where Jenna basically has to accept Adam or he’s going to die. I won’t get into the specifics of that. If you read it, you’ll know what I mean. It puts Jenna in a tough spot. The romance was very fast and didn’t feel developed. There are no “fated mates” in this world, so I felt they should have had to get to know each other more before they believe they are in love. It also seemed like the romance was dropped for a large section of the book while other things are going on.
There is a lot of shifter lore in this book. Some of it is unique, which I like. But there are many long infodumps. Some of it comes out in thoughts, some in long dialogue passages. There is way too much for me to get into here. Here is a bit:
Wolf, big cat, and bear shifters. Also witches, demons, and vampires.
All these are relatively immortal, some living for a couple thousand years.
Wolf shifters live in packs with an Alpha and Beta. Their females are basically confined to the pack lands where they can be protected. A “Pack Master” rules over all the alphas in a country or region.
Wolves were “sensual creatures with an over-active sex drive”. They often had orgies in the “pack’s lodge”. But Adam hadn’t had sex in over 6 months at the start of the novel. I was not happy with the number of man-whores in this novel.
These shifters can shift to their full animal or half shift. When fully shifting, their clothes are destroyed if wearing any.
Jenna the human and her wolf are alter egos, Jenna doesn’t think of herself as the wolf. So it’s like two entities in the same body. I’m not a fan of the split personality. I prefer it to be described as her instincts telling her one thing while her reasoning told her another.
Bullets can wound, but silver bullets can kill a shifter.
Male shifter bite female shifters leaving a mate “Mark”.
There is a lot of unique lore about where each of the different types of “Other” came from. I found it interesting. But it was too much to get all at once. I hope that the following books in the series don’t suffer from this problem because it all came out in the first one.
339 pages. $0.99 on Amazon.
This is a standalone only in that the romance is resolved. The overarching mystery/action plot is not resolved. Jenna and Adam’s story continues in an 82-page novella, Big Bad Bite Returned, $0.99 on Amazon. There are two other full-length novels in the series, each $3.99 on Amazon.
Graphic sex scenes – but not until 70% of the way through the book.
Occasional foul language.
3rd person past tense from Jenna and Adam. Some chapters have head-hopping issues.
There were many individual lines and some entire chapters where the first line of each paragraph was not indented to match the rest of the book. This was driving me batty.
Some descriptions were very confusing. I swear one basically said, “A bar featuring a bar”.
Other errors: 24 – wrong words, missing words, missing or extra commas, and quotation mark problems. Many phrases were missing “that”. All I had to say about [that] is it’s annoying.
Favorite Quotes:
After getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top, she repacked her bag to get ready to leave; once her room was straight again, of course. It was seriously sad a grown woman could be afraid of her mama’s temper tantrums. However, most mothers couldn’t pick up a house and drop it on you without breaking a sweat. Not that Jenna’s mama would ever hurt her, but one predator knew how to act when a bigger predator was in the room.
Pulling out her shoulder harness from her closet, she slung it on and then pulled out two Sig Sauer .45 pistols from the shelf. These had also been graduation presents from her Uncle Owen. See, who said a girl couldn’t be sentimental without candy and flowers?
The absolute horror of her little brother—who she hadn’t even known existed until this morning—seeing her bras or panties was enough to terrify and humiliate her beyond words. Because she was quickly discovering that the possibility of a little brother, even if they appeared to be over the age of eighteen, seeing your undergarments equaled two words—total mortification.
“You’re a hopeless pervert, Kent.” “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, pretty girl. I’m a hopeful pervert.”
Apparently, it didn’t matter if you were human or Other, all men were dogs. Hell, at this point, if aliens landed in front of the house, she’d bet it would only be because they still thought ‘earth girls were easy’ and that would only prove they were dogs, too.
She had that scolding, parental face on. The one she had used over the years, telling her to clean her room or no she couldn’t have a flamethrower for Christmas.
Unique paranormal romance nearly ruined with grammatical errors. Currently free on Amazon.
Blurb:
Fate sucks. Even demon hunters deserve a little normal.
Born to fight the monsters that haunt our dreams, Quinn Fischer loves her job… until a prophecy from long ago points to her plucky demon-hunting team as those destined to take down one of the most notorious monsters of all time. Despite her hesitation, she goes all in with her fearsome team. After a devastating defeat, she’s blasted from the battlefield and splashes down off the northwest coast of Alaska, without a memory to her name.
Different from his fellow demon-hunters, Ryan Hunt wanted no part in their blood-thirsty ways. Creating a covert taskforce from his loyal Coast Guard buddies, they’ve set out to protect the Pacific from the monsters that threaten humanity. He’s got a good routine, until smartass, gorgeous demon hunter lands off his bow.
Bound to their birthright, they must learn to trust each other in order to get to the source of the increased activity around the Bearing Sea… and to find out where Quinn came from.
This is a great story. I loved the characters, even the secondary ones. It’s a great romance. I might even want to read it again if there weren’t so many errors. So I would give it 5 stars but can only give it 3 as is.
Errors knock me out of the story, like roadblocks when I’m trying to fly down a highway. 99% of the errors were the same thing – action sequences attached to dialogue as if they were dialogue tags. Smiling, laughing, sighing, and doing anything else but talking are not dialogue tags! Oh my freaking gawd! There was hardly a dialogue sequence in this novel where this error did not occur! It was driving me absolutely bonkers.
It’s difficult to take a step back and think about the story without remembering the constant aggravation and frustration. And then there were a few errors where actual dialogue tags like he asked were not attached as a dialogue tag. *pulls her hair out* I would like to read the next book in the series, but I can’t. I took a peek, and it has the same action sequence as dialogue tag errors. I can’t put myself through this again. If the author ever fixes these errors, I will happily change my review to 5 stars and read the next in the series.
This series has a unique mythology behind it. Demon hunters are the descendants of a “demon” who had a child with a human. “Demons” aren’t what we normally think of with that word. They are very humanlike in appearance, and most are not evil. Demon hunters have, “Rapid healing, strong immunity, physical prowess, [and] three times the average human’s lifespan”. When a demon hunter marries a human, a ritual extends the healing power and long life of the demon hunter to the human. Demon hunters were created to protect humans from the creatures that sometimes cross the “veil” between the two worlds.
I normally hate amnesia as a plot device and almost skipped this novel because of that. I’m glad I went ahead and read this. Usually, amnesia is used to reset a story. The author loved the characters so much that she wanted to reuse them to tell a different story, so they are reset to zero with amnesia. I hate that. But here, amnesia is the start of the story. So don’t let any bad associations you may have with amnesia put you off.
I loved Quinn and Ryan. Quinn is strong, funny, and sexually assertive even when she can’t remember who she is. Ryan is strong, sexy, level-headed, and sweet. They are both bad-asses.
The story is interesting with plenty of action to go along with the emotion. The pacing would be great if not for the constant errors slowing me down.
Semi-graphic sex scenes. They are generally short and not detailed.
3rd person past tense from Ryan and Quinn with a few chapters from secondary characters.
126 instances of using an action sequence as a dialogue tag.
Alright is not a word. It’s all right, two words.
Other errors: 13 (missing words, incorrect use of semicolons, wrong words, words not capitalized that should be, and missing commas and quotation marks)
344 pages.
Currently free on Amazon.
Favorite Quote:
Infuriating man. Nice backside, though. That was the kind of ass they wrote sonnets about. None specifically that she could come up with, but worth considering. If she never found out who she was, perhaps she could make her fortune with nice ass poetry.
Sweet, sensual, second-chance contemporary western romance. Currently free on Amazon.
Blurb:
A fun, sexy second chance romance. Bree Conley is back at the Blackstone ranch and Reece Blackstone is at the end of his rope. Maybe he loved her once but that’s in the past, and now she’s a total distraction. How can he get any work done when Bree’s so beautiful, so sassy and so tempting?
Bree has no intention of rekindling their romance even though he’s a perfect specimen of drool-worthy male. She has new dreams to fulfill, which includes turning the neighboring ranch into a wildlife sanctuary. Maybe, if he’s lucky, she’ll take Reece for a walk on the wild side…
This is sweet, sensual, and emotional rather than erotic. There is only one real sex scene. It’s about two people’s insecurities and not communicating the truth until it’s almost too late. I liked it and would give it four stars if the grammar and formatting weren’t so terrible. The same issues that were in the first book from the 80’s are still here.
Sort of camera obscura descriptions in the sex scenes. Language isn’t “flowery” but along those lines without being over the top. It is much more subtle.
3rd person past tense from both Bree and Reece. Head-hopping within the same chapter or sections.
There are many extra spaces at the start of paragraphs, extra spaces or tabs between words, and weird unintended carriage return (starts a new paragraph) in the middle of sentences. Beyond that, I found 23 errors.
Note: this would be 4 stars if it were ever properly edited!
Contemporary western romance that has aged well since 1987 but needs an editor
Blurb:
Raquel was never sure why she surrendered to a total stranger. Naive impulse, primal instinct or feminine intuition? By morning she was no longer a truck stop waitress but a woman on the way to an isolated Wyoming ranch with Holt Tyler — and he wanted to know all the secrets she’d guarded so carefully these past months.
Was he kidnapping her for his own selfish reasons or trying to rescue her from a deplorable situation? Did he really want to protect her or just take advantage of her? Had she fled a wealthy, powerful father only to fall into the arms of a passionate, possessive stranger? Time would tell how much of her heart had been captured by a cowboy. This is a very sensual romance set on an isolated Wyoming ranch.
Captured By A Cowboy was originally published in 1987. It has aged very well! The story is still relevant. It’s sweet, emotional, hot, and entertaining. It is fast paced and would be more so if it weren’t for all the errors. I loved the characters, Raquel’s growth, and Holt’s decision to let her go find her independence, trusting that she would return.
Unfortunately, this has clearly been digitized using text recognition, and it has not been proofread since. If you’ve been reading my reviews, you know that my brain edits what I read even when I’m only trying to read for pleasure. There was hardly a page that I did not make a correction on, and many needed several corrections. I love that we can get old books as ebooks now. But if you are going to charge for it, you must engage the services of a proofreader. And it clearly needed a better editor to begin with as all the errors cannot be blamed on a computer!
3rd person past tense. It has a head-hopping problem, jumping from Raquel to Holt and even to some secondary characters occasionally.
There were too many errors to count or even detail their types. It was hugely distracting from the story! It’s a testament to how good the story is that I made it to the end without giving up. I’d like to read more of Becky Barker’s novels, but I don’t think I can take it right away. She is still writing, so I hope her recent novels don’t have so many errors! – Update: The latest novel Barker has written does have loads of errors.
V. B. Law 