Katherine KingsleyCritiques

The only story I really liked in here was the one by Joan Wolf. The other authors were Mary Balogh (usually a favorite), Emma Lange, Katherine Kingsley, Patricia Rice,

Overall very good read with some plot twists that were a little far-fetched. Really enjoyed the interaction between hero and heroine.(Lots of scan errors in the kindle version.)

The Antagonists by Joan Wolf was the best story of the bunch, 5 stars.

OMG! STOP THE PRESSES! One of the best, BEST series I’ve ever read is being republished as eBooks! First publication was done by Onyx in 1992 and Amazon Digital Services, Inc. is republishing it. I’m not sure whose decision that was, but oh boy am I happy about it!

This is the first book in a Pascal Trilogy ['No Sweeter Heaven' is the 2nd & 'No Brighter Dream' is the 3rd] and to be honest, I loved all three equally. I just can’t pick my favorite…

I loved everything about Nicholas and Georgia. These two characters were very down to earth, but still managed to make me believe in fairy tale endings and that in the end love CAN conquer the obstacles in its path. All you have to do is believe that God has a plan for all of us…

And speaking of God, ...thanks for clicking on the link to finish my review....

http://bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/no-greater-love-by-katherine-k...

Melanie for b2b

*eBook provided by the publisher through NetGalley

*Book bought at a local used book store

Oh, three-star reviews. You are so hard to write. While I liked some elements of this book, the story and characters as a whole just did not work for me. The villains were really villainy. The good-guy mains were absolutely adorbs. The plot moppets were totally huggable.

One thing I was not expecting were the rape-centric plotlines. I think there were more main characters effected in some way by rape than there were those not. Rape not being a subject I like suddenly introduced into my romances, this greatly influenced my enjoyment of the story as a whole, so take that how you will.

You know how some books have walls of text? This book had walls of dialog. Repetitive dialog. This unfortunately made the book a chore to read after about the halfway point. A good hundred or so pages could have been chopped as being unnecessary and redundant. There were also several typos, which was surprising considering this is a re-release (originally published in 1992) but I guess that comes with translating it into e-book form.

I can see where some readers might like this book, but it just was not my cuppa.

ARC of new release version courtesy of Diversion Books, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I only read Virginia Henley historical romance which I liked although it was heavy with period oppression of women. Unjustly fired, Joy seeks job as governess for daughter of Lord Noel. My rating is 3.5* because his behavior near end was overboard for true love.

For a period romance this was good. It had a few twists that kept the reader's attention.

Lilies on the Lake had some things going for it. Christianity was not denigrated for one. The female protagonist's stepfather was nicely drawn and leads one to think he was the protagonist in a previous novel. Her mother had a small role but was also a sympathetic character.

On the other hand, I did not like the female lead, Pip (Portia) Merriem Lovell, who struck me as a spoiled, selfish brat. The hero, John Henry Lovell, was too good to be true. He'd carried a torch for Pip for ten years with no encouragement and half a world away. During their long separation he'd gained wealth, status, and had had no affairs. As a complete quibble, I found John Henry's name shared with the African-American strong man folk hero rather distracting. There may have been an unstated connection we were supposed to make between the folk hero John Henry Lovell but it wasn't apparent to me.½

A very good romance. Good characterization (it's so rare in romances!), neat setting, good reasons for most of the deception/misunderstanding. Honor's trick, and the way she regrets it when it fools everyone, is really quite rich - it would be a good story if the romantic line fell out of it. I'd like to read Kingsley's other books - there's at least one with characters that appear in this one.

Book 2 of 3 in this series. I like the romance and the time it takes the couple to fall in love. There's a bit of mystery thrown in [very obvious mystery, but since this is brain candy I'm sure no one's surprised]. Very "Taming of the Shrew" but with shorter and easier sentences.

Okay, I know this is a bodice ripper, but I really like this book. Embarrassing to admit, but true. I think what I like most about this book is that there is chemistry between the couple, but sex is taken out of the picture to a certain extent. Unlike most current romance novels, the couple doesn't take one look at each other and fall in love. They grow to love each other through their trials and, yes, it does happen faster than I think is possible for a couple to fall in love, but still, it's more realistic than say, a "Loveswept" romance.
The characters are also extremely engaging. The wicked stepmother, the unflapable butler, the peasant capable of speaking perfect English and reading French [alright, that's totally unrealistic, but you have to suspend belief a bit to even begin reading these kinds of novels, don't you think?].

If you want a bit of brain candy, a bit of romance, and a happy ending, I highly reccomend this book.

5 Valentine stories. Golden Rose by Mary Balogh and The Antagonists by Joan Wolf are my favorites in the book, while I was not as crazy about Fathers and Daughters by Patricia Rice.

CMB½