One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny

Pages: 384 

Publisher: Mills and Boon 

Released: 19th of January 2023 

A love story worth fighting for…

Oxfordshire 1360

When Penn and Raff meet in Hartswood Forest the only truth they know of each other is a brief moonlit kiss they had shared previously. But Penn is escaping a life of cruelty, and an arranged marriage to a woman he has never seen. Raff is tracking the elusive missing groom of his sister to restore his family’s honour. Neither are looking for a travelling companion. Yet both men find themselves drawn to each other in ways neither imagined.

Unaware of their true identities they venture north together through Hartswood Forest. And, as their bond deepens, their fates become irrevocably entwined. But, with one escaping a life of duty and one tracking a fugitive, continued concealment threatens everything they know and trust in each other. So when secrets are finally revealed, and the consequences of their relationship become clear, both must decide what they will risk for the man they love.

(Contains: Huddling for warmth, Identity porn, Training montages, “Run away with me” (and actually doing it), Violence against partridges and other wildfowl) 

What I Have to Say 

This book was in a word boring. It was slow, there was a lot of travel and apart from a couple of sex scenes towards the middle, there was not much to break the tedium until the last hundred pages. Maybe if I'd been more invested in the relationship, it would have been better, but I just wasn't interested in the occasional lingering touch or longing stare. I wanted them to get on with it and get together already. 

Half of the plot was the characters worrying about their false identities being found out and the other half was them worrying that the other didn't feel the same way. It was frustrating because both of them were thinking exactly the same thing and if they'd just talked to one another then they would have managed to get together a lot sooner. 

It wasn't until the last hundred pages or so that the plot picked up and they finally had some real conflict to deal with. And I will admit that from that point it was a lot more interesting! It really highlighted Penn's cleverness and skill with words and showed off the character a lot better than the rest of the book. 

Honestly, I think this would have been better if I'd read the first couple of chapters and then skipped a couple of pages until the end, 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Mills and Boon for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 384

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 

Released: 10th of October 2017 

Find your magic

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy. 

What I Have to Say 

This book was slow. I think if I'd relaxed, I would have been able to enjoy it a lot more. Other than the pacing, I loved it. The magic system was really interesting, I liked how each of the children had a gift that was just theirs and that they exhibited it without even trying, so that there was literally no way of escaping their magic. 

I think I also would have enjoyed it more if I had read Practical Magic first. There were probably references and stuff that I didn't notice because I hadn't read it. It had enough to stand on it's own, but I do think that reading Practical Magic first would probably be better. 

I liked the relationships between the siblings. I liked how they were close and always had each others backs. I think that and the magic were the main draws of the book. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for providing me with this copy for review 

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 464

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Released: 9th of February 2017

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

What I Have to Say

As a long time fan of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, obviously I was interested in seeing her take on Alice in Wonderland. At the start it was hard to see how anything would connect up with the screeching, angry Queen of Hearts as pictured in the original story. But as I trusted Marissa Meyer as an  author and quite liked Cath as a character, I continued to read and watched as poor Cath's life was torn apart. 

It was a sad story, but it also had a lot of humour, merriment and obviously acts of the impossible. There were many of the original characters from Alice in Wonderland and we saw the origins of a lot of the other characters as well, including the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat, obviously. It was beautifully woven with the insanity and humour that Wonderland is known for in Meyer's unique style. 

Meyer has a very distinct style and as I have liked her other books, I enjoyed reading this style, but I feel like she lacked a lot of the humour that Wonderland is known for. It had bits of whimsy involved in it, but mostly it was quite a serious story based within this world. I respect that this is a choice that Meyer had to make, whether to go with her quite serious style or change to add more humour, so I wouldn't say it's a problem as such, but I think I would have liked more humour really. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Macmillan to providing me with this copy for review.