Summer Reads 24: The Toplofty Lord Thorpe by Michelle Kasey

The Before: 

The Feels:

The Concerns:

This is basically a continuation of my last post... would also like to add f*ck starting with a letter.

Plot: 1/10
Writing Style: .5/10 (Because of the double whammy of plot dump argument and letter)
Meaningfullness: 1/10

Summer Reads 23: The Ruthless Lord Rule

 The Before:

The Feels:

One upside... The over looks like Miss Fisher.


The Concerns:

*sighs* NO SPIES!! And wayyy too much exposition at the beginning of the book; total word dump. 


Plot: 1/10
Writing Style: 1/10 
Meaningfullness: 1/10

Summer Reads 22: The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt

 The Before:

Another Victoria Holt novel; let's see if it holds up as well as the last one.

The Feels:
It did! Yay! Another good basic gothic novel. Love the countryside aspect of it. Feels a little like Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I think the perfect analogy is Jane Austen : Georgette Here :: Daphne Du Maurier : Victoria Holt.

The Concerns:



Plot: 7/10
Writing Style: 10/10 
Meaningfullness: 8/10

Summer Reads 21: The Shadow of the Lynx by Victoria Holt

The Before:

From reading the back, this sounds like The Count of Monte Christo meets The Castle of Otranto! 😍

The Feels:
I was not disappointed! I would also like to add in a little dash of The Witch of Blackbird Pond to that mix. This is a well written book and heavy with emotion. Holt has a knack for the sublime and I'm here for it!

The Concerns:



Plot: 8/10
Writing Style: 10/10 
Meaningfullness: 8/10

Summer Reads 20: A Proper Companion by Candice Hearn

The Before:

The Feels:
OOOOOO!! Love this conflict in the plot! The main characters are an elderly lady, her companion and the elderly lady's son. The son is engaged (pretty darn quickly) to a woman the elderly lady doesn't like. She so spends the rest of the book basically trying to set her son up.

The Concerns:
Normally, I don't like books that involve cheating of any sort. However, I don't feel like our two leads are really at fault here. The mom made them do it. Don't get me wrong, cheating is still bad. I just don't think this is exactly it. I've been cheated on and it sucks! I think I would feel differently if the he's mom set him up because she hated me. If she hated me that much, I would not want to be any part of that family!


Plot: /10
Writing Style: /10
Meaningfullness: /10

Summer Reads 19: The Dashing Miss Fairchild by Emily Henrickson

The Before:

The Feels:


The Concerns:
DULLLLLLLLLL

Says that 23 is an old maid. It isn't and wasn't at that time! Also refers to the main character as the Honorable Miss Clare Fairchild... You only use the title "Honorable" if the person is not from the UK...💩💩💩

Plot: /10
Writing Style: /10
Meaningfullness: /10

Summer Reads 18: The Vengeful Viscount by Leigh Haskell

The Before:

The Feels:
I love how observant Felicity, our main character, is. It shows us how self-aware she can be. We start the novel off at a funeral and just see with Felicity sees. She watches the reactions of her different friends and family members at the funeral. We not only see how/what she sees, but it allows for the reader to make snap judgments about the different characters. 

This method also draws us into the story, painting a picture of the world we are entering. Haskell starts the story by describing the town and townsfolk watching the funeral. We get a few random details about how the upper class is perceived before we even get to our main characters. 

The Concerns:



Plot: 4/10
Writing Style: 4/10
Meaningfullness: 4/10