Month: March 2021

Deadly Editions by Paige Shelton

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Contemporary, Mystery, Scottish/Highlander, Yearly Favorites1 Comment

Deadly Editions (Scottish Bookshop Mystery)Deadly Editions by Paige Shelton
Barbara’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Scottish Bookshop Mystery #6
Publication Date: 4/6/21
Number of Pages: 304
** 3.3 Stars **

Delaney Nichols moved to Edinburg from Kansas just a bit over a year ago – and what an exciting year it has been. She’s made many new friends, including a police inspector, and she’s gotten married to a handsome-as-sin pub owner named Tom. Life just couldn’t get much better – until she’s invited to a meeting concerning a treasure hunt. The prize? The entire library owned by the very eccentric Shelagh O’Connor goes to the person who manages to find the final treasure in the hunt.

The exceedingly wealthy Shelagh has quite a colorful background and an obsession with Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The four treasure hunters must follow the obscure clues to find an original copy of the Stevenson book. Delaney’s three competitors are Birk Blackburn (a recurring character), Jacques Underwood a distant relative of Shelagh’s, and Tricia Lawson who is a librarian at a local school.

As the hunt ensues, the city is plagued by sightings of the monster (Hyde) who is committing robberies – and murder. Then Shelagh disappears from her home leaving behind a disordered library and a bloody handprint on the door. Is the monster responsible for all of it? Did the monster appear because of the treasure hunt or is it a coincidence? Will they be able to find Shelagh before she is harmed? Or, did Shelagh stage her own disappearance? Can Delaney figure it all out and solve the case? You’ll just have to read the book to find the answers.

I have enjoyed each book in this series, but I just couldn’t get into this one. There were too many people running in too many directions and no coherent plan at all. Delaney doesn’t seem to do any real investigating – she just seems to fall into things. Then there are her normal ‘bookish voices’ but she doesn’t understand what they are trying to tell her or she doesn’t have time to think about them. Those voices just seem superfluous if they serve no purpose. I just couldn’t come to care about any of the characters (those non-recurring ones), and the recurring characters just didn’t even seem to reach out and grab me. I really wanted to love it and given the book blurb, I should have loved it. At any rate, this is my least favorite of the books in this series, but I am totally looking forward to the next one.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Most Eligible Viscount In London by Ella Quinn

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The Most Eligible Viscount in London (The Lords of London, #2)The Most Eligible Viscount in London by Ella Quinn

Tracy rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Lords of London, #2

Release Date: March 30, 2021

After months of courting Miss Georgiana “Georgie” Featherton is thrilled when Gavin, Viscount Turley, the man she loves, drops to one knee and proposes – but the proposal is lacking emotion, so instead of answering his question, she asks if he loves her and when he doesn’t reply, she rejects his proposal and leaves the room without another word. Heartbroken, she reveals all to her grandmother and agrees to leave town for a bit. While visiting with her dear friend Adeline Littleton – whose husband Frits just happens to be Gavin’s best friend, she is invited to a house party and figures if Gavin doesn’t love her, she must get over her broken heart and hopefully find someone who will.

Gavin is stunned, he believed that Georgie was receptive to his suit and didn’t expect her to want a love match. Gavin likes Georgie and knows she would be the perfect wife – and if he could love anyone, he would love her. But after watching his father fall apart after losing his love, Gavin is not willing to risk his heart. So while he would happily give her the world, love is not something Gavin can give to her – or any woman. He wonders if there is any way, he can convince her to change her mind and when he learns she has gone to a house party with eligible young men, he takes the advice of his friends and goes after her. He ends up staying with Frits grandmother and her friends – who agree to “help” him win Georgie.

This was a very well-written book with a lot of potential to be an amazing story – but for me – it was boring. There are a lot of characters and the author set up many plot points that could have made this an exciting read, but each point was shot down before it could take flight – leading to a book with almost no conflict, drama, or passion. Overall, I found this to be a very vanilla read – pleasant but bland with nothing to get excited about and it is definitely not a book I would read again. This is the second book in the series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own. *