Book Reviews 2017 - Intro

I need to post more book reviews. (Pretty much everyone needs to post more book reviews, but I'll leave that in your hands.)

I took December off from... well, everything. This gave me time to read some books. I had plenty, thanks to the beauty of an ebook reader (I'm a Kobo girl. More on this later), and did my best to get through as many as I could.

Thanks to BookBub and the Fussy Librarian, I receive daily notifications of any book deals going down. Also, I thought I'd take a punt and trawl through Kobo's bookstore, picking up any freebies I came across. If (IF) I can remember how I found the book, I may mention it.

Now my TBR pile is rather large, but I'm going to do my best to get through as many books as I can. I'll post my reviews here, and possibly to GoodReads and/or Amazon, depending. I intend to be honest in my book reviews, and sometimes that means I will lay it out as I see it. If I find a book hard to read or full of problems, I will mention that here. Also, I am under no obligation to finish a book if it can't catch and hold my attention. Other readers may feel differently.  Feel free to share your reasons in the comments, observing good manners and etiquette. You're free to disagree with me, but not to act like a jerk.

So, what has My Grace read recently?  I tend to enjoy Historical, Romance (all kinds except contemporary) and SFF.  Occasionally I'll pick up a book outside these genres, because it's healthy to read books outside one's preferred stomping grounds.

Let's have a look at what I've been reading lately.


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Her Grace is looking for patterns.

Reviewing book in 2017

As you know, I took December off from pretty much everything (except getting better). This gave me a little extra time for doing some of those thing I never get to do...

...like indulge in books.

Not Wanting To Go Out meant I couldn't raid a library or bookstore, so I stayed at home and downloaded a whole lotta freebie novels.

I'm into Fantasy and Romance, so I got a whole bunch of those and started reading.

Since I am an advocate of posting book reviews, I am going to review those books I start.

Be warned: I plan on being honest.

Having started at least twenty books,  I have this one thing to say about indie freebies: a lot of them were not ready for publication. Some of them were, and they held my attention to the end. A couple of them even enticed me to buy more in the series, and one of them is seriously pushing my "Kobo-preferred" policy by being good enough to get me to buy the rets of the series on Amazon, though I dislike reading on a laptop.

Of the ones that weren't ready, if I couldn't see any value in my reading on, I didn't finish the book. There's far too many books out there for me to waste time finishing a bad book. If I didn't finish, I will explain why.  Also, I reserve the right to refuse a book purely because of taste. I might not like a book other readers love. If so, this doesn't necessarily reflect on the quality of the book.

I plan on posting reviews here, and, depending on reasons, will do the author a solid and post reviews to Amazon. While it can hurt hearing not-so-good things about a book, every author needs to hear that sort of thing. It's just best if said author can hear it before the book is published and not after.

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Her Grace has a few beta mss she needs to read as a favour to a couple of fellow authors.

Indie Books

Yes, I will read Indie Books.  Why not?

What works for me:

• Price point. Indies are often cheaper than commercial books. Some of the more clever indie authors also lead with a permafree, giving me a chance to get hooked on their series with no financial outlay.
• Daring-ness. I've found indie books who have taken chances with their characters or plots in ways that would make a commercial publisher cringe. I'll read whack-a-doodle, if it's constructed with skill.
• Release schedule. Back in the Old Days, I had to wait a year for the next book to come out. (I'm looking at you, Wheel of Time!)  But indies release on a quicker schedule. I can get two books a year, or even four books a year in a series. This quicker release schedule means I can get my fix faster. Also, if you're one of those annoying people who will only read a series if the whole thing is out, indies will release the whole series, regardless of how bad sales are. Commercial publishers have a reputation about not releasing the whole series because sales were poor for the first two books.
  If you are interested in a series put out by a commercial publisher, please buy the first book, even if you don't read it at the moment. If sales aren't good, the rest of the series might not ever be released, and you and the rest of the world will miss out.

What doesn't work for me:

• Quality control. This is left entirely up to the author. Some treat the indie publishing process with a level of professionalism. Others don't, and it shows.
• bad editing
• bad layout
• bad cover art
• bad plot/characters
• Availability. I read .epub on a Kobo. Sometimes I come across an author who is only on Amazon and their books are on Kindle DRMmed. (secret: without DRM, I can convert a book I purchased on Amazon to .epub and read it on my Kobo. I have a hard time reading Kindles on my laptop, and have bypassed exclusive Amazon books with DRM.)
  I guess 'availability' could extend to ebook vs hardcopy. I know some of my (potential) fans have asked if my TWRP books are also available in hardcopy. Alas, they're not, but that's a decision of the publisher, and one I understand from the back end. Fret not, Her Endearing Young Charms (out 20 May 2016) will also be out in paperback as well as ebook.

Question: What do you love/hate about indie books?

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Her Grace is going hybrid, but still enjoys the teamwork of commercial publishing. Some day she'll make an agent very happy.

New short story collection - A Lady of Many Charms and Other Stories

A Lady of Many Charms and Other Stories

Three tales--one past, one present, one future--explore what it is to love and just how far someone would go for the love of another.

The Past: Lady Daphne Collister is unimpressed with her fellow magic-wielding debutantes. She finds their methods overbearing. Surely there was a better way of finding a noble husband in Regency England?

The Present: Ellie loves Josh. Josh barely knows Ellie exists. For her, it is not enough to sit behind him at school every day. What must Ellie do to get Josh to notice her? How about a love spell? After all, what could go wrong?

The Future: Leo and his co-worker Katerina have fallen in love. Secretly, of course, for office romance is illegal and all marriages are strictly regulated. There’s only one exception: the Valentine Raffle. But to win at love, Leo and Katerina may need to cheat the system...

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I've put together a collection of three Romance stories for your enjoyment. Also, I've included a preview of my upcoming book "Her Endearing Young Charms".

A Lady of Many Charms - Historical Fantasy, originally published in Hero & Heroine #1.

Ellie Loves Josh - Paranormal (contemporary) Fantasy, originally published in Planet Relish.

The Valentine Raffle - Science Fiction, originally published in Hero & Heroine #2.

Your price?  Free. (Will be free on Amazon as soon as price matching catches up. Meanwhile, two bucks.)

Can download for free directly from Smashwords, Draft2Digital and should be available for free at your favourite ebook retailer soon.

If you do download and read it, please do me a great favour and review it on a reputable review site of your choice (Amazon or Goodreads, etc). Leaving an honest review is one of the best things you can do for an author (other than buying their books, of course).  Plus, you can tell your friends, family and other readers about it. This is how most people discover great books.

Thanks to the fabulous Tara Maya for this gorgeous cover. Go buy her stuff, especially The Unfinished Song series, which is really, really good.

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Her Grace wants you to enjoy some good stories.

A to Z Challenge: My Novel: My New Novel!

Last week when I wasn't excepting it I was struck with the idea for a new novel.

Now, I've been mulling for a few months over what my next project should be. I have very specific plans for this novel. Originally, I was considering a Turn-of-the-Century steampunkish Romance novel involving an enchanted pocketwatch, but it just didn't hook me. Or rather, the characters weren't hooking me.

Oh well. Toss that idea aside. Maybe it'll develop itself later. Still am in need of a novel.

I'd been reading other A to Z Challenge blogs, and one of them spoke about how we needed to bare ourselves on our page. Only then can our novels come alive.

Normally I'm a bit nervous about baring myself on a page because I fear that someone will use my weaknesses against me.

Then I thought, my fear is the Real Me. How honest would it be to explore that on the page?

What if Our Heroine had the same fear and It Came True? The fear of someone deliberately using your weakness against you is a very real fear. I know this because it has happened to me. It's terrifying.

Thus, Our Heroine was born. I realise that she'd been lurking in me for decades. I'd even attempted to draft her into an earlier novel. I trunked that novel because it Hadn't Worked. Now I see why, because I was too busy bolstering up my heroine with hubris so she didn't get hurt. Not an attractive character trait.

I speak from experience; that does not work in real life. Yet that's exactly what too many people do.

(Now that I think about it, elements of her also appeared in my very first novel, when I originally attempted to put my personal experiences down on paper.)

Once I made the decision not to be afraid of Our Heroine's vulnerability, that's when she was truly freed.

Unlike most of my other newly-drafted characters, she even came with a name: Victoria Arden. Now, I'm terrible with names. I've completed final drafts of novels with characters sporting placeholders such as "His Badness" and "Lord MMMM", preferably with terms that are easy enough for search'n'replace without compromising any other text.

Our Story so far:

Miss Victoria Arden is no stranger to loss. She lost both of her brothers during military campaigns against Napoleon. When her father died, she and her genteel mother discovered that he was not as well-off as they thought. There simply wasn't enough money to keep poverty from their door for long.  The only solution: Victoria must marry.

When a cousin offers to host Victoria in London for a Season, naturally she jumps at the chance. He even provided a chaperone in the form of another poor relation.

Alas, the chaperone proves herself inadequate to the task. At a society do, Victoria is lured away by a less-than-savoury character with intentions of compromising her. Thanks to being raised by two brothers, Victoria is capable of surprising her attacker and escaping with her skirts down.

However, she never counted on her attacker's final weapon--gossip. To punish her for getting the best of him, he spreads the rumour that she was compromised. Based on this lie alone, Victoria finds her reputation completely and utterly ruined. The invitations stop coming. In public she receives the cut direct. Society quietly puts Victoria Arden away.

There go her chances of an honourable marriage.

One day when she's moping away, an invitation arrives for an "intimate supper", hosted by the Duke of Whatever. In her experience, "intimate suppers" often feature only a hundred guests or so. Plus, it's hosted by the Duke of Whatever, and he's considered good ton. Naturally, she accepts the invitation.

However, when she and her chaperone (who desires an atonement for her earlier lack of duty) arrive at the Duke's town residence, she discovers it's truly an intimate supper--only Victoria and the Duke.

There, he offers what many a fallen woman would consider a lifeline--carte blanche. A truly compromised young lady might consider such an offer.

But Victoria is furious. She lashes out at him for the insult. It's her lashing out at the unfair stricture that demands a young lady must remain virtuous or she is ruined forever, that a lie was stronger than the truth, and that Society is so shallow that they would seize any opportunity to squish a little ladybird like her purely for entertainment. But deep down, she lashes out at him because he would never have considered her wifely material; she's only good to tumble for a season, then abandoned at whim when he grew bored with her.

Nobody else might believe her, but Victoria is convinced she has some sort of value. If only someone else would recognise it.

So that's the premise. It's like this story is writing itself. I love it when they do that.

However, I need your help.

1. I'm terrible at names. Victoria's name came to me the same day the plot did. Also, the Duke's first name is John:

          "I insist you call me by my Christian name." Amusement tweaked at the corners of his lips.
          Victoria frowned at him. "I will not call you 'John' in front of others. It wouldn't be proper." It'd be too intimate. If she were to embrace such familiarity openly, then the ton would naturally assume she'd accepted his offer. "I won't do it."
          "And I will refuse to answer to any other name. My mother gave it to me. It means 'beloved'."
          Her temper flared. "I most certainly will not call you that in public!"

That's the sort of fun I'm looking for.

I welcome suggestions for names for the following characters:

• John needs a last (family) name and the Duke of ______________.  I was considering claiming an existing title that was currently not in use at the time of the novel. I am open to something made up.
• Victoria's Cousin. His father was Mrs Arden's brother. He's minorly-titled nobility, late 20's, unmarried, and extremely fond of Victoria in a protective brother sort of way. Isn't above supporting her in some harebrained scheme, but only if it makes sense. Will often act as a voice of reason.
• The Chaperone. A poor relation. On the far side of middle-age, slightly foolish in many things. Easily distracted. Untitled gentlewoman.
• The Compromiser. Serial ruiner of poor young debutantes for sport. Victoria spurned his advances and he's the one who spread the initial rumour. Son of gentry, maybe minor nobility, with an overblown sense of entitlement.
• Society Matron. Moves in the highest circles and insists on proprietry. She's the sort of lady of which the Patronesses of Almack's approve.

2. The Duel. Compromiser is called out in a duel over Victoria's honour. He is shot. Should it be:

• a minor wound--his pride is dented more than his skin.
• a major wound that will affect him for the rest of his life.
• his death. (slow or quick?)

3. Subplotty fun. Cousin needs a subplot. Could be romance, but it doesn't have to be. He needs something to centre his life on other than meddling in the affairs of Victoria.



I'm open to your ideas and suggestions in the comments. If I am influenced by a comment of yours, I'll put your name in the acknowledgements.

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Her Grace acknowledges that writing is a lonely profession. However, novels are rarely spawned in a vacuum.