Spring is well on its way – finally! March has been a journey of knight school and disgraced viscounts, a baking competition that reveals a dark secret, a voyage with infamous pirate Mary Read and first loves. I dived into historical fiction, romance and books with older protagonists, which I had various feelings about. March has been a month of exciting and fun reads, pebbled with books with more serious tones. Once again, I must say a thank you to Netgalley and the publishers who provided me with an eARC of upcoming releases in exchange for an honest review.
March Reads
*Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
First up, Love at First Knight by Megan Clawson. Main character Daisy loves anything to do with LARPing and role playing and when the opportunity to work at the Knight Academy in the Tower of London arises – how can she refuse? When the disgraced viscount Teddy Fairfax joins the academy to appease his family, his presence sends Daisy’s dream job into a head spin. Their clashing personalities cause spark to fly in this exciting romcom set in the historic Tower of London.
The concept is unique and the setting of the Tower of London is very exciting. Daisy’s hobby of LARPing is written in a way that is exciting, non-judgemental and adds to the quirky side of her personality. The author writes this with a lot of detail and I enjoyed the fake battle towards the end of the novel, this gives a lot of depth to Daisy that is more than just a shy and anxious girl. The way that Daisy’s anxiety is portrayed in detail allows the reader to fully empathise with her and relate to the anxieties of moving to a new city or starting a new job.
The writing style was clunky in places and it took a while to get through the internal monologue of stress to actually understand what was happening. This distracted me when reading and I think the book may have benefitted from a third-person narrative instead, but this is just a writing style. This is a comment I generally have with first person narratives, I find there is too much internal conflict that is very hard to get through at times.
The romance between Teddy and Daisy was quick and needed more build-up rather than just a quick kiss and several scenes dotted about here and there to show their growing attraction. Teddy was an interesting character as a disgraced viscount, who tries his best to become exiled. I would have liked this to have been explored deeper and show the real struggles of living a life controlled by the press. Daisy’s potential relationship with archivist Ellis doesn’t really go anywhere and acts as fodder for the main romance of the novel. Its a shame that Ellis and Daisy aren’t showed as remaining friends.
Overall, I enjoyed the plot, setting and the idea of a disgrace viscount having to join a knight training academy, but the romance wasn’t built up in a way that made me root for these characters to end up together in a happy ending. But still an enjoyable and light-hearted read.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
Saltblood is a historical fiction that recounts the life of notorious female pirate, Mary Read. I have mix feelings with this book and how Read is portrayed. By the end of the novel Mary Read, in my opinion, is a reduced down to a pathetic individual who is still unsure of their identity and place in the world. Even her companion Anne Bonny escapes execution and leaves a so-called friend to rot. Of course, this is just the author’s interpretation of what could have happened based on little evidence and historical documentations. But even so, this book doesn’t paint the infamous sailor in a heroic light. Read’s story is one of tragedy, who floats between gender and identity, without a true purpose. The first person narrative creates a level of intimacy with Mary’s thoughts that I don’t know how comfortable I feel with the idea. These are real historical figures, where words are being placed in their mouth without real evidence.
The author sets out to recount the life of notorious pirate Mary Read and the author does just that, but whether the story is particularly gripping is another matter. I enjoyed aspects of this book, for example Mary’s time at sea from her early days as sailor and how she builds friends within a cut-throat period of war. However, the first person narrative is written matter-of-fact without any emotion or attention to world building and scene setting. Considering this is a historical fiction, I would have liked more immersive writing that encapsulated the golden age of piracy. But due to the first person narrative, I understand there are limitations to describing what Mary can’t see or feel. The writing and plot structure follows Mary’s life from birth to death reminds me of Orlando by Virginia Woolf that explored similar ideas of the main character undergoing life as a different gender – from male to female in a way to highlight the gender gap in society.
The plot tackles Mary’s life as a sailor, soldier and pirate as well as discussing gender, but the plot is too quick for readers to truly understand how this impacts the character or whether this was typical of the period. This book is fast-paced and crams a lot into the book, but bypasses important character development and plot points. I think this would benefit from focusing on a specific period in Mary Read’s life such as her piracy with Anne Bonny and dive deeper into their relationship and piracy in general at the time. That being said, this accounts Mary’s life as one of loss, love and isolation that does shed light on Mary’s rocky life and her attempt to find where she fits into a male dominated world. The narrative continues to question who Mary is as her identity is ever-changing. Her identity becomes more solidified when Anne Bonny is introduced. Unlike her companion Anne Bonny, Mary doesn’t leave a legacy of any living relatives and any friends she does make, are either dead or desert her.
Overall, a disappointing read considering the potential of exploring a time in history that was very dark, fascinating and home to notorious female pirates. I think the author has tried to do too much and missed the mark slightly. This will appeal to readers who enjoy cradle to death storylines and not bothered with intricate plot lines and story arcs. Saltblood does what it says it is, a recount of Mary Read. The author is constrained to following Read’s life, so this makes it very difficult to leave that path as the reader knows that she becomes a pirate and eventually dies in prison. The surprise element is lost.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
An email sent to the wrong address spirals into a thread of deep conversations and blooming friendship. The Typo follows Amy Cameron, a theatre manager in Edinburgh and Cameron Armstrong, a budding photographer battling seasickness on an expedition in Antarctica. The unlikely pair engage in a long distant friendship that leads to both characters rediscovering their passions for the arts.
This was ok, but very little romance actually happens. This is more about two people rediscovering their passions through an email thread and developing a friendship rather than romantic attachment. Amy doesn’t actually meet Cameron until 90% so what he looks like is really left up to the reader’s imagination, that being said when these two characters did meet, I couldn’t really picture them. Both these characters embellish their life and jobs to appear better than they are and ultimately realise they lied.
I enjoyed the concept of a typo leading to a thread of email exchanges, but these emails were long and drawn out. The whole story took a while to get going. The first person narrative through Amy’s eyes was repetitive and I skim read these internal monologues. The storyline of Amy trying to save the theatre was good but felt a little disjointed from her wanting to be a musician and then the email saga. The overarching theme was important of taking risks for things you love and never letting self-doubt get in the way of achieving your dreams. I liked the concept, but the execution needs work. I think this would benefit from streamlining each character’s arc and providing a dual pov that encourages the reader to think that Cameron is embellishing his life too to add drama. The epilogue was too neat, suddenly these characters are madly in love and willing to drop their lives for each other. I think the epilogue needed to portray the early stages of these two characters becoming a couple.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
Jenny Quinn is a long-devoted baker with a passion for cooking up harmony of sweet treats in the kitchen. But when she has the opportunity to compete on Britain’s Bakes, how can she refuse? Her supportive family are kept in the dark throughout her audition process until she’s cannot keep the secret any longer. But that’s not the only secret she’s harbouring. Mrs Quinn’s Rise to Fame is a story of starting life over and healing from past scars.
I adore baking and anything to do with Bake off and I hoped this book would bring some of that magic to something I enjoy so much, but this book was bland. The main character wasn’t particularly captivating and her flashbacks were interesting but I couldn’t really understand its relevance to the story aside from adding drama. If the son had been a contestant on Britain’s Bakes and somehow revealed the recipes that Jenny had written years ago, this may have created a twist that created some relevance, or even the son becoming a famous baker. The plot appears as if the author wanted to emulate the famous baking competition but then decided to write a different story half way through with Jenny’s past. The chapters were drawn out and didn’t hook me from the start. Unfortunately this wasn’t what I was expecting when I decided to read this book. The book at its core is written with good-intentions to create redemption and to convey that if those around you love you, they won’t care what your past is. Overall, this was slow and lost its way a bit.
Make Me is the third in the Broke and Beautiful series that follows three broke and beautiful best friends. Construction worker, Russell Hart has been madly in love with Abby Sullivan. But their backgrounds and upbringing is enough to create divide in whether Russell thinks he’s good enough for Abby and her life of luxury. Abby becomes fuelled with a desire to live her life without her father and step-mother dominating her every move and its with Russell’s help that Abby finally breaks free. I have many thoughts about this book to the point that this was almost unreadable. I was unsure whether I should even include this in my March reading review.
I think I’m done with romance books where the overprotective male controls the female’s actions and thoughts even when they’re not in a relationship. I’ve read a fair few novels by Tessa Bailey and truly believe that the Bellinger Sisters series was a fluke – that series is well written and thought out. In all the Bailey books I’ve read, the characters have potential and usually have in-depth back stories. But in this book, I felt like I’d skipped half a book. Abby and Russell’s relationship made no sense and had no development. I know this is the third in the Broke and Beautiful series and most books can be read as a stand-alone. So I didn’t read the other books in the series before embarking on this one. I didn’t understand Abby and Russell’s friendship nor relationship. This was also only 20 chapters, so a short novel for Bailey.
I dislike the trend that romance books have suddenly fallen into where the female is independent and strong, yet is portrayed as weak and delicate by the male love interest. These books aren’t bolstering women, but reducing them to the male gaze. Many will say its fictional, it doesn’t really matter. But the idea that many young adults and adults will read these books and think this is the right way to behave or desire in a relationship is sending the wrong message. Unfortunately this wasn’t for me, which is a shame because I have enjoyed some of Tessa’s books in the past. I don’t think I’ll be jumping back to a Tessa Bailey book anytime soon
Final thoughts
March was an interesting mix of genres, themes and characters from sailing the high seas, the blinding lights of a tv baking contest and the world of LARPing in the Tower of London. As always I am honest with my reviews only because I am frustrated when a book has such potential and lacks on the execution. I hope April brings some much needed sun and another compelling set of reads.
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