Roberta Reads

Uncle and Ants by Marc Jedel My rating: 4 of 5 stars A fun and entertaining mystery, I enjoyed this more than I expected. View all my reviews

A Nefarious Engagement: A Regency Cozy by Lynn Messina My rating: 5 of 5 stars AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I cannot tell you how much I loved this audiobook. The story is excellent, somehow exceeding the brilliance of the previous three books. I absolutely loved Kesgrave in this one, and it was a joy to see the relationship between him and Bea deepening. I feel that theirs will be a happy marriage. The mystery element of the story was closer to home this time, and thus seemed a little more serious, but it was handled well and didn’t detract from the humour of the writing. The narration was also excellent, and seemed (to me) to have improved since book 3. The only bits that sounded odd to me were the pronunciation of iron and one other word. The expression, as always, was spot on. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a light hearted mystery/regency romance, though to fully appreciate it, you need to have read the previous three books. I was given a fre...

Christmas at Frozen Falls: A cosy, heart-warming romcom to curl up with by Kiley Dunbar My rating: 4 of 5 stars I loved the cover of this book immediately. It conjures up a cozy Christmas snuggling up in the warmth, looking at the cold beauty outside. And the book totally delivers. This story was so easy to read, and so much fun. Two romances in a magical place at Christmas. Snow, aurora, dogs, reindeer, friendship, romance. What more could we ask for. I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a light hearted, Christmassy escape. I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

The Tanglewood Flower Shop by Lilac Mills My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is really easy to read and well written. I got absorbed in the story straight away and not once was I jerked out of the plot by an odd bit of language, spelling or grammar. I very much enjoyed the gentle romance of the story, and the florist competition was a fun subplot. Really the whole book was just enjoyable, exactly what I was looking for. The one thing I didn’t like was when Leanne broke up with Rex when he’d just said he more than liked her. It seemed to make no sense to me, but I suppose people are irrational where emotions are involved. I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, gentle romance, without too much drama. I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

The Other Bennet Sister: A Novel by Janice Hadlow My rating: 2 of 5 stars This book is extremely long - it took me 10 hours to read, compared to the 3 or 4 a normal length novel takes me. Parts one and two are largely composed of the melancholy reflections of Mary, (both before and after the marriages of Lydia, Jane and Elizabeth) who seems utterly miserable. It was interesting to see the Bennet family from a different perspective, and I did enjoy seeing Mary growing up and working out how she wanted to live. There are many typos and other errors, for example part two has both large and small sections randomly in italics. I won’t list all the other errors, as I’m assuming there will be a further proof read/edit before publication and these will be removed. I disliked or disagreed with a couple of plot lines - that between Mary and Mr Collins, and the author’s interpretation of Darcy and Elizabeth’s marriage certainly doesn’t agree with mine. This boo...

Coming Home to Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters My rating: 4 of 5 stars I enjoyed this book. It is well written, and the characters are well developed. It’s quite long, but there are multiple threads of plot, so it doesn’t feel excessively lengthy. It’s nice to see characters behaving in a relatively sensible manner, actually communicating rather than just trying to hide things from each other. And not just flying off in a temper at not having been told sooner. It felt more realistic in a lot of ways than many of the romances I have read. I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a lovely Christmas tale of a family coming back together, and rebuilding the local community. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Christmas on Lily Pond Lane by Emily Harvale My rating: 2 of 5 stars I felt this book had a good plot, but to me, talking about spending the rest of your lives together after just a few days is not believable. If they were talking about spending more time together to get to know each other, that would be believable. Just a little too insta-love for my taste. View all my reviews

The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell My rating: 4 of 5 stars A fun and unusual magical adventure. The illustrations are what make this book for me. The story is entertaining and well written (as I’d expect from this author), but the illustrations are just lovely. Definitely recommended. View all my reviews

The Toast of the Town by Alice Chetwynd Ley My rating: 3 of 5 stars A relatively short and light hearted regency romance, this was a nice way to fill a few hours. I enjoyed most of the relationships between the characters, but I didn’t really feel the love between Georgy and the doctor. They seemed to fall in love without knowing one another at all, and without really liking each other. I couldn’t really understand it. I probably won’t read this again. View all my reviews

An Infamous Betrayal: A Regency Cozy by Lynn Messina My rating: 5 of 5 stars AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy crime set in the regency era. There were many laughs, the mystery was interesting, and the ending extremely satisfying. The only negative points were small. Too much time was spent summing up previous books - but this was more entertaining than in the previous book, and more of it is saying what has happened between the previous book and this one. The accent of the narration has improved, and as always the expression used is excellent, but little bits of American accent do sneak in here and there. However, once the story got going I forgot all about this. Apart from those two minor niggles, this audiobook was great fun. I found Aunt Vera very funny in conversation with Mr Skeffington, and greatly enjoyed the way Bea bamboozled her relatives. It was also very satisfying to see some development in the relationship between Bea and Kesgrave. ...