In The Heir (The Duke’s Obsession) Anna is a housekeeper for Westhaven (Gail Wyndam) and she is very good at her job. Westhaven is a Duke in need of a wife to beget an heir. His father has become so obsessed with getting him married, it is common knowledge around town.

While Westhaven is coming more attracted to his housekeeper, who is supposedly a widow, it is becoming more and more apparent all is not what it seems. The more that Westhaven presses for Anna to trust him, the more resolute she becomes in her plans to leave his house.

It becomes evident to the reader that Westhaven indeed loves Anna, but he bungles his words so that she is confused to his intentions. Either he is too ambiguous or sounding quite arrogant. Hence he proposes to her several times. I found this quite funny because I knew what he was trying to say, but he just made a mess of it. There were times that he should have just stayed quiet. Most romance novels, there is not enough communication. In this story, there was communication, but it was not done very well on his part. Anna was hiding a secret and could not really be sure if she could open up to Westhaven for support. I think that character Anna acted the way she did mainly because she was confused.

As the book progresses, Anna’s past catches up with her and gets resolved. Westhaven’s father finally gets what he wants only after leaving well enough alone. Westhaven finally finds a woman that he feels is worthy of his title and to be the mother of his children. Read the book to understand how it all comes together.

This is the author’s first novel. Good job! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although it is a Victorian historical romance, the social activities did not play a major role. Considering the fact that Westhaven was courting his housekeeper, it made sense. I would recommend this novel to anyone that likes historical romances. It was a nice story and it had funny parts too.

Buy The Heir (The Duke’s Obsession) on Amazon

The 7 things that made me Genuinely and Irreversibly Happy: And how they can do the same for you! by Rohan Healy

Jan17

I recently read The 7 Things That Made Me Genuinely & Irreversibly Happy: And How They Can Do The Same For You by Rohan Healy. The title seems to make an audacious claim. After reading it, I feel Rohan make good to his claim.

The happiness that Rohan was searching for was not a feeling of extreme giddiness, but contentment in every area of his life. Learning about his struggle as he explains in the beginning of the book helped me to understand the reason for his quest to find happiness. Although I cannot say we have had similar experiences, I can empathize because so much of his story is relatable.

It is my opinion that there are two types of people who need to read this book:

(1) Unhappy People

(2) Happy People

What can unhappy people gain from reading this book?

The 7 things are explained, tried, and provided good results. Rohan uses a very logical matter-of-fact approach to expound how each of the 7 things has helped him. If you are unhappy and want to change that, it is definitely worth investigating Rohan’s path to happiness. In addition to the research and reasoning that he provides, Rohan has included exercises (so have your pen and paper ready). He encourages you as the reader on a journey of truthful self-examination. This is extremely necessary. Asking questions which open your mind will facilitate the process of understanding the root causes of your unhappiness. Once you know the root cause, you can work to eliminate that negative element or reduce its overall effect. Why live with frustration, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness

How can a happy person benefit?

When I first picked up this book, I admit the title intrigued me. I was curious to know if I am doing some of the same 7 things that made him happy. What brings contentment to a person’s life often depends on their upbringing, morals, and experiences. But there are many things that are innately human. No matter who we are, where we live, or educational or socio-economical level we have, we yearn for the same basic needs. How we go about fulfilling those needs will determine our level of contentment and happiness. In line with this thinking, the 7 things explained by Rohan enabled me, as a self-proclaimed happy person; put to the test what I thought I already knew. Using his exercises, I performed a candid assessment of myself. Rohan’s thought process reinforced to me to keep what I was doing. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that I was on the right track.

I am sure once you read this book; you will no doubt have a favorite of the 7 things. As for me, my favorite was #2. In fact I liked it so much that I bought Rohan’s other book Greeks To Geeks: Practical Stoicism in the 21st Century .

Rating Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥♥♥♥

***In the spirit of full disclosure, I received an advance copy of this book to read in order to review. But that in NO way affected my opinion of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I hope you do too!

To purchase your copy of The 7 Things, visit either Amazon or Smashwords.

Available at Amazon.com for $8.61: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AVKZYGY

Available at Smashwords.com for $8.70:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/266109.

To stay connected to Rohan via social media, click on the social media links below:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/rohanmusic

Blog: http://rohan7things.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rohan-music-page/198079576926823

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rohanforsale

Ask for it (Georgian #1)- Sylvia Day romance novel

Jan13

Ask For It

Marcus is a spy assigned to investigate the murder of Elizabeth’s husband because of reasons having to do with espionage. Elizabeth and Marcus were engaged four years ago. She saw him in a compromising situation with a woman, and she ran off and married another man. Now a widow, Marcus has set his sights on engaging Elizabeth in a discreet affair.

I was super annoyed with both characters in Ask For It for these reasons

I believe that no means no. The first love encounter, Elizabeth was really playing hard to get by telling Marcus is no. But he insists. I get that she was giving mixed signals. But she is tied up at one point. Not cool! If I as the reader have confusion about it being consensual, I am uncomfortable. I continued reading to make sure it all turned out okay. Marcus showed some concern after the fact, as if he wanted to make sure she really wanted it. But he should have stopped when she said no the first time.
Elizabeth wants/loves(?) Marcus. She learns that she misunderstood the events that fateful night that changed their lives, leading her to wed another man. That being said, why does she give him grief about his love life while she was married? She did not even seem apologetic that she jumped to conclusions. Somehow it was still his fault.
Once they were married (and this was no way near the end of the story), I would have thought Marcus would have been happy. But then he started acting like more of an emotional jerk. Hot. Cold. It gave me a headache.

Overall, Ask For It was not for me. Maybe some will like the back-and-forth between the main characters. And others might like the steamy love scenes . But as for me, I found it too tiresome. And a note of caution if you decide to read this book: it contains a lot of F-bombs . Is that how they talked back then? I would not know since I am not a historical linguistics expert.

Unfinished Business – Nora Roberts

Jan12

Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments) – Nora Roberts

Vanessa is a world renown piano player who returns to the town of her youth. Brady was her high school sweetheart, but he broke her heart when he stood her up on prom night. After her father dies, she returns to her home town for some time for reflection and to decide what she wants out of life.

As usual, for romance novels like these, Brady still loves Vanessa. She has feelings for him too, but she is upset with him for what he did to her all those years ago.

I think that there was not enough communication in this story. Brady should have told Vanessa earlier in the story the REAL reason why did not take her to the prom. And maybe I am so used to external forces causing havoc in young romances, but I could tell straight away that her father has something to do with it. He was too controlling and demanding.

And that seemed to be the elephant in the room. No one wanted to tell Vanessa that her father ruined her relationships in order to isolate her. They just made comments like “That’s odd” and dismissed it. Her father made sure that she thought he was all she had. I am sure he did it to make sure she stayed focused on her career, but it was in the attainment of goals he wanted, not necessarily the life that she would have chosen for herself.

The bright point of this story for me was that Vanessa finally got her mother’s side of what happened. She was able to deal with the bitterness she felt towards her mother and repair that damaged relationship. This also helps her to make decisions about what she wants out of life in order to be happy. The grudges she held for so long were based on distortions of the truth.

Even though Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments) was a romance novel, I think that it was more a story about learning to forgive past transgressions and love family. It is a good, predictable book for a Saturday afternoon.

Click Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments) to buy on Amazon

Return of the runaway bride

Jan12

Return of the Runaway Bride
by Donna Fasano

It was their wedding day in Savanna had cold feet. She told her mom she cannot go through with it. Her mom dismissed her concerns and told her not to worry because Danny would be a good provider. Even though Savanna knew this to be true, in that moment, she was feeling so smothered, that she ran away.

Fast forward six years~~~~

Savanna returns to the small town of Fulton Virginia and she is looking for resolution and forgiveness. She is hoping that her hometown can embrace her once more.

A lot has changed since she’s left. Danny now goes by Daniel and he has not even begun to deal with the emotions he felt when she left. Savanna thought he would have been okay and is ready to bury the hatchet. She wanted him to understand why she had to leave, but he was still very bitter and angry. I was thinking “Ummm could be the fact that you DITCHED HIM at the altar!”

Soon enough there is a community project that has them working together, giving Savanna a chance to prove herself (there is always something to tie the main guy/girl together). No longer immature, she is an independent woman and who is still in love with the sweetheart from her teenage years.

I agree that Daniel should not have made it easy for Savanna considering all the pain and anguish she caused him when she left. Saying “Sorry, can we be friends?” Was not going to cut it. When he alluded to the fact that she might run off, abandoning the town once more, she tried not to be hurt that he lacked confidence in her. I was on his side the whole way. She had to pay and prove herself to be trustworthy. Most of all, she had to show Daniel that she was worthy of a second chance if he is understanding enough to accept.

In the book Return of the Runaway Bride , it goes to show that sometimes two people can be in love but their timing to be together could be wrong. When Savanna left Danny/Daniel the timing might have been right for him but it was not right for her. Fortunately for her, when she was mature enough to accept the love that he was willing to give he was still available.