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 As a result of an unfortunate accident with another boy, young Prince Patroclus is exiled from his homeland and sent to grow up in a foreign land with a set of strangers. In Phithia, his new home, he is merely one of many boys growing up under the shadow of the king and his half-god son, Achilles. Almost immediately, Achilles takes Patroclus under his wing and draws him into a new, mythical world, where Achilles is destined to become the world’s greatest warrior and Patroclus his steadfast, fervent lover.
I can’t do justice to this book with my review. It is simply incredible – moving, emotional, mythical, and simultaneously epic and close in scope at the exact same time. If I had to say one thing to you about it, I would say, please read it, it is incredible.
Let’s start with the setting. The Trojan War is relatively familiar for people versed in mythology and literature; if not, I’m sure you’ve heard of the Trojan horse and the face that launched a thousand ships. This takes place around that war, primarily because it is there that Achilles will become a legend. This is The Iliad, but personal, close, and loving; for the first time I felt like I could understand Achilles and Patroclus’s relationship and just how they got to that final, brutal, excruciating point of both their lives.
This is truly a fantastic retelling, one that manages to be both timeless and relevant. Achilles and Patroclus have existed for thousands of years in readers’ minds, but in our society today, many people wish that a relationship like theirs would not exist – a travesty, if you ask me – but a book like this demonstrates just how beautiful that relationship can be, and moreover, how appropriate. It’s partly a romance, writ large on the world stage as these two players tangle with gods and the most powerful of men.
Speaking of gods, there are plenty here, and they walk the world right alongside the characters. Patroclus and Achilles encounter figures of their own legend, like those who trained Hercules, and Achilles’s mother Thetis is a goddess. Their power is appropriately terrifying, especially for Patroclus, who has the dubious role of keeping Achilles from fathering further children, and thus earns his mother’s wrath.
For anyone who may have the slightest interest in a literary, romantic take on The Iliad – The Song of Achilles is a book for you. Very highly recommended.
All external book links are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review.
 After Brenna was mentally abused and nearly killed at the hands of a notorious murderer, she has struggled to feel safe even amongst her fellow changelings. What’s worse, she’s lost the ability to change after her abuse, making her feel vulnerable and completely unlike herself. In this state of mind, she has been trying to heal with the help of Sascha, star of Psy-Changeling book 1, and Judd Lauren, one of the coldest Psys around. Judd makes Brenna feel safe, though, and as she begins to spend more time with him the attraction between them goes. But every touch and emotion is literal pain for former Arrow Judd, trained so well that his brain begins to combust at the seams, making the fulfilment of their feelings seem like an impossibility.
I have had an interesting relationship with Nalini Singh’s work so far. In the romance blogosphere, I’ve found that she is completely revered. So many people love her books that it’s impossible to resist picking one up. For me, though, the connection hasn’t been there. I’ve enjoyed her books but so far she hasn’t catapulted her way up my favorites list. With this book, though, I could sense something starting to change, as I got so much more invested in this book than in the earlier two.
In this one, I think the difference was in the characters. Judd Lauren in particular is just the kind of hero I seem to like best. He’s tough because he has to be, the classic dangerous man who just needs a little affection. What I really loved, though, is that he doesn’t really soften. He doesn’t become like a changeling. Instead he expresses his emotions towards Brenna as best he can; he can fall in love but she can’t completely change him. They’re very clearly different types of people who bond regardless. They need healing, but their past lives can’t be erased just because they’ve fallen in love. The entire romance was excellently done, in my opinion, and had me really eager to read more, wishing I had already had the next Psy-Changeling book!
Caressed by Ice is a solid, very enjoyable paranormal romance, further enhancing the Psy-Changeling world and drawing me deeper into Singh’s snare. Recommended!
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I purchased this book.
 The world has been more or less overtaken by zombies, groaning swaying creatures who exist mainly to feast on the remaining humans’ flesh. ”R” is one such, but he occasionally has dreams about what it’s like to be human, and he thinks about who he was even though he can’t quite figure it out. On a raid one day, R sees a girl, Julie, and instead of eating her, decides to save her. He masks her with zombie blood and brings her back to the airport where the zombies live, somehow changed because of her brightness, vivacity, and humanness. Despite the fact that R is a zombie and Julie is a human, things begin to change between them, and R begins to wonder if there might be more to life than his zombie self realised.
I doubt my summary above conveyed this book properly, and I hope you haven’t clicked away, because I loved this book. I mean well and truly loved it, was completely drawn in by it, found passages in it that I liked and actually marked to remember. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ll probably know by the lack of quotes around here that I simply don’t take note of it very often. I’m rarely struck by a particular passage to such an extent that I’ll specifically mark it out – I see them, but I generally just keep on reading. Not here.
What most struck me about the book was the fact that Marion used death in order to define life. It was somehow funny and profound at the exact same time – I knew that this guy was an arm-waving, moaning zombie, Marion cracks jokes regularly about how they try to recapture certain elements of their humanness – but at the same time he’s reminding his readers, reminding me, how actually amazing it is to be alive. And now I’ll shut up and just quote the book:
Sex, once a law as undisputed as gravity, has been disproved. The equation erased, the backboard broken.
Sometimes it’s a relief. I remember the need, the insatiable hunger that ruled my life and the lives of everyone around me. Sometimes I’m glad to be free of it. There’s less trouble now. But our loss of this, the most basic of all human passions, might sum up our loss of everything else. It’s made things quieter. Simpler. And it’s one of the surest signs that we’re dead. (p 25)
It just struck me as so poignant – life, messy as it is, is something that is precious, and now that R has lost it, he realises this.
Of course, this is also something of a love story, if one of the most unusual ones that I’ve ever read. I was doubtful at first, I’ll be honest, because who can imagine a zombie as a hero? I’m already not the world’s biggest fan of paranormal romances. But, rather astonishingly, it works, and it’s not because we forget R is a zombie, either, as we’re reminded of this very often. Instead, it’s because we can see inside his head, and we see how he changes as Julie enters his life. It’s quite a remarkable book. And despite the author’s intro amusingly citing his lack of qualifications, it’s beautifully written, and I was pulled into this post-apocalyptic world without any effort on my part.
Warm Bodies is an astonishingly beautiful book – a reminder of what it is to be human and a touching romance wrapped up in a zombie novel, of all things. It’s also wildly funny at times and even disgusting at others, which also makes it one of the most peculiar books I’ve ever read, but it’s oh so worth it. You truly won’t be sorry you picked this gem up.
One last quote, on this post-apocalyptic world:
What is left of us? the ghosts moan, drifting back into the shadows of my subconscious. No countries, no cultures, no wars but still no peace. What’s at our core, then? What’s still squirming in our bones when everything else is stripped? (p 148)
I am an Amazon Associate. I won this book from the publisher on Twitter.
 Known worldwide as “Bridezilla”, Chloe Turner just wants to get away from it all. Her former fiance faked his death to get away from her – meaning that she not only grieved for him but was forced to face the extremes to which he’d go to cancel their wedding. So her friend Jenn takes her to Virginia for a much needed beach holiday, where they meet the Sullivan brothers. Max Sullivan is afraid of almost everything and has a need to keep everyone safe; he’s drawn to Chloe and finds himself sharing his secrets with her almost immediately. Will he be pleased when he learns that the infamous Bridezilla is keeping secrets from him?
This was a fun, fast read that would be perfect for the beach or a lazy afternoon. Though the characters are somewhat tortured in various ways, their dialogue is snappy and it’s very easy to care for them. There are simultaneous love stories running in the book, but it’s really much more about Chloe and Max; the secondary love story provides a foil and another angle to the main romance.
I liked especially that Chloe and Max were both a little crazy, which I felt meant that they’d suit each other quite well. Max is a control freak, convinced that someone is going to die under his watch. He’s been responsible since his father left when he was very young and he just can’t turn off that responsibility. He stresses about diving, driving, fires, and even night time swimming, which is apparently very dangerous. I think he would have driven me mad, but his extra attention is perfect for Chloe, who seems mostly normal. It’s the paparazzi that have driven her mad and made her paranoid, and Max provides an oasis of calm in the middle of the storm her life becomes.
If there was anything I didn’t like about the book, it would have to be the in detail love scenes; Dahl’s books seem to be on the racier side, so it’s worth warning potential readers. You may like that, but I am not the biggest fan, especially when the hero and heroine hop into bed without much preamble. I did feel that their relationship grew over the course of the book, and would have done so anyway without these particular scenes.
Overall, I enjoyed this more than I did Victoria Dahl’s last effort, and I went forth and purchased a historical by her on my Kindle almost immediately after finishing this. So Crazy for Love was a success for me, and if you like contemporary romance, it may be with you as well.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review through Netgalley.
Because otherwise these books are never going to get reviewed!
 Ten Things I Love About You, Julia Quinn
Annabel Winslow is looking for a rich husband to rescue her family from the poorhouse. And she’s found a potential suitor, an aged, lecherous earl, of whom she isn’t at all fond, but she figures she has to resign herself to her fate – even if he does nearly assault her. Then she meets the earl’s nephew, Sebastian, and everything changes. They may be falling in love, but will Sebastian have the funds to save her siblings?
Much the same as the last book in this series, What Happens in London, this book is very sweet and very funny. It’s easy to become fond of both characters and believe in their romance, even if everything is far too rosy for real life. The series lacks the real fantastic romantic potential of the Bridgerton series, but still all of them provide a nice, quick diversion from every day life.
 Lead Me On, Victoria Dahl
Jane Morgan has worked very hard to get her position as an administrative assistant to an architect. She rescued herself from years of bad behavior as a teenager in order to turn herself into a real adult – even if that means she’s neglected her family. But she can’t seem to kick her attraction to big, tattooed, rough men, no matter how many businessmen she dates. When Billy Chase steps into her office, she simply can’t resist him – but can she fit him into her new life?
I think I may be the only romance reader in the world who had some issues with this book – I just found that it wasn’t really to my taste. Dahl’s writing is funny and smooth, so no problems there, but I couldn’t connect with her characters and the book was a little too raunchy for my tastes. Jane spends most of the novel as a complete snob, and it bothered me that she judged people so heavily on their appearances when she knew perfectly well that people could be more than that. I should have been delighted that her prejudices got absolutely torn apart and she had to face reality, but I was already too annoyed with her to bother!
My negative reaction to this book won’t really stop me from reading more Victoria Dahl, though – the concept of the book was very good and I liked the writing a lot. I think I’ll try another one of her books and see if the characters annoy me less!
 Stealing Water, Tim Ecott
Tim’s parents give up their home in Ireland to move to South Africa, a land where Tim’s father believes he has a respectable job waiting, and where Tim’s mother believes she will finally be free of the boggy Irish weather. But things don’t turn out as they expect and the family become virtual vagabonds, struggling to get by.
This was okay, but I think is one instance where I enjoyed the idea of the book more than the book itself. The family’s South African life is so full of crazy, illegal antics that, even though they were often necessary to survive, it made me uncomfortable. There were aspects I enjoyed, though; my favorite bit was when Tim worked in a Johannesburg hotel, at a total contrast to his home life, and became acquainted with guests solely based on their voices. It was clever and funny. I also enjoyed glimpses of period department stores and cities.
I also struggled because I couldn’t really understand the way his parents worked; I would basically never do what they all did, much less not return immediately, or as soon as I could, once I realized things were going haywire. I felt for Tim quite often but it was hard to relate to everything that happened.
 Visions of Heat, Nalini Singh
Faith is an F-Psy, meaning she can predict the future. She’s one of the best, which also means that she is bound to go mad eventually, but she’s making her family rich in the meantime. Outside her home lurks Vaughn, a changeling jaguar who longs to know more about the girl he senses behind the walls of the compound. When Faith comes out, she and Vaughn collide, opening her to emotions and physical sensations she’d never dreamed of. When the Psy world no longer begins to make sense, Faith wonders if she and Vaughn can make a life for themselves without it.
I definitely enjoyed this, and the world-building that went on, but I didn’t really find it to be anything particularly out of the ordinary. As usual I find Nalini Singh’s love scenes a little too racy and a little too frequent for my personal taste. I’ve read that she tones down the heat in the next volume, though, as well as lays on the plot, and I’m really interested to see what happens to Judd, so I think I’ll keep on reading.
I am an Amazon Associate. I did not receive any of these books for review.
 Andie Miller is finally over her ex-husband, North Archer. She’s getting married to someone else, and heads to his office to symbolically return ten years’ worth of alimony checks. As it turns out, though, North still needs her help; he has two young wards in a supposedly haunted house. Three nannies have fled from the kids, and North is pretty desperate. So he offers Andie a ridiculous amount of money to take care of them for just a month, convinced that she’s the one – not ready to let her go. She can’t turn that down, not just to take care of two kids, but it turns out that the house truly is haunted – and the ghosts don’t want to let the kids go.
Jennifer Crusie is the only contemporary romance author I like and she’s proved herself yet again here. This isn’t a romance, because the romance isn’t driving the plot, but it is one fantastic book no matter what genre you put it in. I picked this book up and I did not put it back down. I ignored basically everything else going on and absolutely inhaled this book because I just completely loved it. I loved it so much that I’m not sure I can even articulate why but I will completely agree with Crusie’s editor – your weekend might be shot because of this book, but you won’t be sorry.
First of all, the plot. Most of the book takes place in the haunted house with the kids and their skeezy housekeeper. I knew there were ghosts involved, but for a while there is some suspense around who they are, why the kids won’t leave the house, and what everyone’s so nervous about. Andie not only has to win the kids’ affection and, you know, educate them, but has to contend with ghosts who will not let the kids leave. The pace quickly ratchets up and is part of the reason I sped through the book. I had to know what happened and I couldn’t let the story go long enough to set the book down. And, to my surprise, it was genuinely creepy. There was a definite gothic feel to the book. I was afraid for Andie, Alice, and Carter, and I wasn’t sure how it would all end.
The relationships in this book are most definitely its strongest point. There’s so much growing and changing that it’s almost incredible, between Andie and the kids, Andie and the ghosts, Andie and North, even between all the eventual houseguests, who all have their own distinctive and wonderful personalities. They feel like real people and they react like real people and I was desperate for most of them to be okay and happy. I could believe in everything happening here, and at times their interactions just brought tears to my eyes. It was that good.
And, of course, the romance is just spectacular. Crusie’s words are magic. Andie and North have a history that’s slowly revealed and better yet, they’ve made mistakes. They’ve changed. They’re adults now in ways they weren’t really before, but they can still feel the romance of their youth and bring it back. I loved how their memories intertwined with what was happening now to create a completely new relationship based on the foundations of the old.
Honestly, Maybe This Time was just great. I think it could appeal to many people outside of Crusie’s normal audience, who are bored by a normal romance but would definitely enjoy the suspense and quirky characters of this one. It was absolutely perfect for me and I suspect I will go on recommending it to everyone I see for a long, long time.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from the Amazon Vine program.
 When she was a child, Grace was attacked and bitten by werewolves. She was only saved by the intervention of a yellow-eyed wolf, who has continued to watch her progress throughout her life. Now 17, Grace is making her way through high school but maintains a strange feeling of kinship with “her wolf”. When she meets a boy, Sam, with those same yellow eyes, Grace immediately feels drawn to him, especially when she realizes that he truly is a werewolf. As they fall in love, Grace and Sam struggle to find a way to be together before he turns into a wolf permanently.
I really, really wish I had liked this book more than I did! I’ve had a number of comments already from people who just loved this book and I was really looking forward to it. I think in this case, expectations really ruined the book for me. With the use of the word “chilling” on the cover and the fact that it was a book about werewolves, and that was more or less all I knew, I guess I expected it to be creepier. Or at least creepy somehow. Instead, “chilling” referred to the fact that winter’s cold turns the werewolves into their wolf selves. I felt a bit misled and perhaps if I’d paid more attention to reviews beforehand, I wouldn’t have been particularly annoyed.
As it was, this book is basically a teenage paranormal romance. As I was reading it, I could tell that my sixteen year old self would have been head over heels for it. But since I expected more, or at least something else, I wound up disappointed – I often do when I think I’m reading something and it turns into something else. The romance was sweet enough but it was clearly predetermined from the beginning and the story didn’t really have any twists that set it apart from a regular romance novel. I’m fine with all of these things when I know they’re happening, but for some reason this book and I didn’t click at all. Many of the scenes were slow-moving, focusing on just Sam and Grace and their developing relationship. There was a bit of drama focusing on Grace’s friends and a boy that goes after the wolves, but I was just reminded a little too much of what it was like to be a teenager.
I also really disliked how absent minded Grace’s parents were. It really brought home to me how much this is a flaw in YA books; I found it hard to believe a father could just forget his small daughter in a car days after she’d been violently attacked by werewolves! And what parents would miss the fact that their house was now inhabited by another person, sleeping in their daughter’s bed? It’s hard to believe parents could claim to love their child and then completely ignore everything she does. I’m sure they’re out there, but Grace’s parents just annoyed me every time they appeared in a scene.
Regardless of my disappointments, I still felt that the book was well-written, with Sam and Grace having distinct voices that made it easy for me to tell the difference between them. Stiefvater’s prose is lovely, with a number of gorgeous descriptions – that special part of the woods comes to mind immediately and I wish I had the book with me to quote it. I would certainly be interested in reading another book by her, but I think for once I’ll investigate a little more about the plot before I commit myself.
Would I recommend Shiver? I don’t know; probably not to someone who expected a creepier book! But I do think people who enjoy paranormal romance (or Twilight) would like it, as attested by its popularity.
I am an Amazon Associate. I borrowed this book from my local library.
 Art historian Campbell Stratford is very close to securing the top job at her museum, but first she needs to complete a biography of seventeenth century artist Anthony Van Dyck first. Unfortunately, her publisher wants her to add a little sex and drama to an otherwise rather staid story, and she has no idea where to start. Then she accidentally discovers a time portal, courtesy of amazon.com, and finds herself in seventeenth century England at the studio of Peter Lely with a host of naked models. At first naturally shocked, Campbell then seizes on the opportunity to observe Lely paint – but she doesn’t know that he’s been expecting her, and neither of them could have predicted the attraction that immediately springs up between them.
I haven’t read very many time travel romances, but I liked this idea of this one, and it was very well executed for the first part. We’re aware of the time travel from the very beginning, since the book starts from Peter Lely’s point of view. He’s sent back from an in-between place – between dying and being born again – to rescue Van Dyck’s reputation, but his personal goal is to declare his dead lover, Ursula, his wife by royal decree. When he meets Campbell, he’s astonished by his reaction to her.
The best part of this book for me was reading about each individual character’s reaction to finding themselves in the past or the future. Campbell is considerably less shocked by her presence in the sixteenth century than Peter is by his in the twenty-first, which only makes sense. She’s spent her life studying the period, so she at least knows what’s going on. Everything is foreign to Peter and his earnest determination to stick to calling things what he’s used to – tunic, carriage, and so on – is endearing. I really liked the way the whole time travel angle was handed, and I think that now I’d be open to reading more in the genre (Yes, I have read Outlander and no, I didn’t love it the way everyone else did).
The romance did let me down a bit, though. I often fail to relate to couples who meet and then two hours later find themselves in bed together; it’s just not something I’d ever do and it definitely has me questioning the believability factor. This is especially so when Peter and Campbell shortly afterwards develop animosity towards one another; there’s so much distrust that it’s hard to believe they could also be falling in love at the same time.
So, to sum up, I enjoyed Flirting with Forever but I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I’d been able to connect with the romance. Still, I definitely wouldn’t mind reading more by Gwyn Cready or in the genre of time travel romance.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from the publisher for review.
 Lucy Valentine’s family have been matchmakers for as long as anyone can remember. Each member of the family sees a colored aura around people, enabling them to match the perfect couples. Due to a strange accident in Lucy’s youth, she can no longer see these auras, but she can find people’s lost belongings. That’s no use in the family business, however, and so Lucy is at loose ends when her father leaves her in charge. She doesn’t stay that way for long with sexy private investigator Sean Donahue upstairs and a murder mystery to solve. Perhaps Lucy’s talent for finding lost things will come in handy after all.
This was a really cute, light read. Lucy is a charming character and I definitely wanted success for her. I could understand how terrified she was to match couples when she didn’t actually have the ability to tell if the romances were going to work, and I thought her efforts to get people to give one another a try were really sweet. Her own beginning romance was cute, too, but doesn’t wrap up as neatly as most novels would have done. I suspect it will continue to grow in later books of this series.
The mystery was fairly predictable, but I didn’t expect anything else to be honest! The groundwork for the solution is well-laid and for once I actually picked up on it, and as a result I was groaning when Lucy willingly threw herself into danger without putting the pieces together. While this would ordinarily have irritated me, for some reason it didn’t here as I knew the plot had to wrap up and this was the only way it could happen. Lucy’s talent was intriguing and I was glad she put it to good use.
Truly, Madly certainly isn’t going to make my favorites of the year, but it is definitely a perfect choice for anyone who wants a fun, romantic read.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
 Four women, who have been friends since childhood, together run a wedding company called Vows. Each woman has control over one aspect of the business. Mackenzie Elliott is the photographer and, despite capturing other people’s special moments every day, is determined to resist every special moment of her own due to a selfish, overdramatic mother who has effectively ruined any concept of romance she might have had. Until Carter Maguire enters her life again, at least. Carter had a huge crush on Mac in high school and it hasn’t gone away, but he needs to convince her that love isn’t always a battlefield.
I actually enjoyed this first book, Vision in White. I didn’t think any woman but Mac was particularly fleshed out, and if they hadn’t had one defining characteristic each, I’m sure I would have mixed them up easily. That one characteristic makes them incredibly shallow, but their relationships still manage to be sweet and makes me think about how nice friends can be. The romance between Mac and Carter was similarly sweet – actually the whole book is probably best described as that. They get together about halfway through and then the book becomes a struggle between Carter loving Mac and Mac determined not to stay with him, which is a little tiring. Overall, though, it wasn’t too bad, and it was perfect for my stress-fogged brain.
In Bed of Roses, Emmaline Grant is the total opposite. She adores romance and has held her parents’ love story as ideal for her entire life. She wants candles, dancing in the moonlight, expensive dinners, and weekends away in New York City. The girls’ close friend Jack Cooke has almost always been attracted to Emma, as most men seem to be, but only just gets the courage to act on it when she realizes she might be reciprocating his feelings. But Jack hesitates with women, and doesn’t want the permanency that is Emma’s goal. She’ll have to convince him that their love is worth it.
 I’m sure just by reading that summary it’s pretty obvious that this book is almost a carbon copy of the last one. Sure, some of the events are different, but it’s exactly the same pattern of someone wanting a marriage because their family is perfect and someone determined to avoid it because their parents screwed up. Does every child of divorce remain convinced that marriage isn’t for them? Obviously not, given my own marriage (and those of a number of my friends). This sort of stereotype irritates me because it casts all people as the same. The book was way too predictable on the heels of the last one. The characters are still much too shallow, with virtually one facet each. Parker plans, Emma is romantic, Mac is a tomboy. Laurel is the only one I can’t really pin down as anything but a little outrageous. Jack is defined by his desire to avoid marriage and long-lasting relationships.
I’m sure at least a little part of my dislike of these books is because I’m not really into the wedding thing. My wedding was tiny and involved a minimum of fuss. For these people the wedding practically is the marriage and that’s an attitude I don’t really understand. Their job is wedding planning, of course, so the books contain plenty of details about the days. I may have to reconsider Nora Roberts as one of the only two contemporary romance authors I read, though. I know all romances are predictable to an extent, because they have happy endings, but if I can predict what goes up to the ending as well, I just get bored. And it doesn’t help that she’s already established exactly who is going to match up in the next two books. I find I’m not really interested after all.
I am an Amazon Associate. I bought these books (at a charity shop, which I am now happy about, and where I suspect they will go back.)
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