Kay's Blog

March 14, 2018
DNF vs Return to TBR
If you are wondering why I haven't done too many reviews lately, I'll tell you. It's not that I haven't read any books. Far from it. It's just that I have been setting aside the ones I've started for a variety of reasons. So, are these DNF books or are they return to TBR books? I don't know, yet. Only time will tell if I return to the following books. 
From Duke to Dawn by Eva Leigh. The story of lost love started out promising. Then it turned into a pickpocket-secret-identity story which takes place inside of a gambling establishment. Too much angst for me to think about. Got to page 59.

Bedchamber Games by Tracy Warren. Woman disguised as a man story, made it to page 19.

The Trouble with True Love by Laura Lee Guhrke. You know, I love Ms. Guhrke. She's one of my auto-buys. However when I stumbled across the words "no-win" I was totally thrown out of this story. This takes place sometime in the Victorian era; there are telegrams and trains, etc. So we are getting close to modern time and I know slang was used in all time periods. But there was just something about the term "no-win" that stopped me and made me turn to ye' olde' dictionary. The term "no-win" first showed up in American English language in the 1960s. At least according to my dictionary. But, I continued reading until I arrived at page 61. On this page our hero has a fading black eye injury which he is looking at in a mirror. He comments to his valet that it makes him look like an Apache. Once again I was stopped by a plethora of questions running through my head. First of all, how would he know what an Apache looks like? Was he out west or did he see them in a movie? Wait a minute, movies weren't around yet. Maybe he saw a photograph taken by Edward Curtis, but since I don't know the date of this story I don't know if that is possible. While Edward Curtis took a couple of photographs in 1895, it wasn't until 1906 that he started his giant photographic project of taking photographs of Native Americans. So, I doubt he would have seen any photographs. In what way is the black/purple eye like an Apache? I was flummoxed; thrown out of the story and had to check that a veteran author was indeed the writer. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't Apache be capitalized? It wasn't. I made it to page 61.

The Rogue is Back in Town by Anna Bennett.I became annoyed with the heroine who is trying to save her family allllll on her own. Stopped at page 30.

My Once and Future Duke by Caroline Linden. Aakkk! Another gambling den! Made it to page 44, which made me sad because I was looking forward to this book.

Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas. It pains me to say this, but I was so underwhelmed by the latest by Lisa Kleypas I could not go on. This made me sad because Ms. Kleypas is one of my favorites. But I could just not connect with the hero and heroine. Page 75.

Devil in Tartan by Julia London. A supposedly smart hero whose brain dissolves at the sight of a female chest. Stopped at page 17.

A Devil in Scotland by Suzanne Enoch. I was very distracted by the heroine marrying her dead husband’s brother. Granted I know nothing about Scottish marriage laws. I know that Scotland was a lot different from England when it came to marriages, and maybe in Scotland one could marry a brother's wife. But there wasn't anything in the book that let me know that, and I spent way tooooo much time trying to find the answer. I wish Ms. Enoch had stated the laws in the beginning of the book or made the brothers cousins. I still don't know what this marriage would have been called in Scotland. I also ended up trying to read Canon law - it wasn't pretty. Besides that, the hero was a real bonehead. Made it to page 71.

So as you can see, I'm really trying. If only others would cooperate.