A Queen from the North by Erin McRae & Racheline Maltese

4 Stars

Royal Roses Book 1

I don't remember who recommended this book to me a couple of months ago, but am I ever glad they did.  It was delightful!

Set in an alternate universe... well, here's a blurb - In a United Kingdom where tensions between the houses of Lancaster and York did not end with the War of the Roses, Lady Amelia Kirkham, grad school reject and youngest daughter of a Northern earl agrees to enter into a marriage of convenience with Arthur, Prince of Wales, a 39-year-old widower with an ailing father. Together, they will either unite England’s North and South for the first time in centuries… or cause the kingdom’s fall.

So, in many ways, it felt like a positive rework of the Charles and Diana courtship (I have issues with the whole Chuck and Di thing.) and that might have bugged me more had I not fallen for the Prince of Wales myself within the first three chapters. *LOL* And in Amelia I actually found a young woman protagonist that I didn't want to throttle. And I liked the way their love story played out. I especially enjoyed the part about Canada, although it seemed to me that making Toronto appear the capital of my country was a bit much.

What intrigued me the most, I must admit, is the alternate history of the story as well as the faint bits of magical mythology that surround the tale. I went hunting around and found out that the writing duo has begun work on the second book of the series and it seems like the myth and magic might take on a more prominent role. YAY!

So yes, I really enjoyed my read and am eagerly looking forward to the next book.

Santuario by G. B. Gordon

3.5 STARS

Santuario - Book 1

3.5 Stars!! Well, I want another half star so I can give this 3.5 stars. 

Santuario was a good read. I enjoyed it. Well-written with clearly defined and different characters, a juicy mystery, some interesting world-building and a plot that kept me wondering all through the book. 

The relationship between the two main characters, Alex and Bengt unfolds very slowly until a ramp-up into intimacy near the end of the book. It was working for me and even the rush was okay, given the plot line that I don't want to give away. But for me, there was a problem with the cliff-hanger ending. I think maybe I didn't need the epilogue dangled in my face to make me go for Santuario #2. 

I think I would have liked a little more insight into the differences between the two cultures of this world because I'm still not sure about some of the more important differences and how they'll affect our heroes. There are also a few spots in the book where the author uses clippings from a newspaper to explain things/further the plot and on my ereader, I could not get the darned things big enough to read the printing of them. The font of the paragraph before and the paragraph following could be HUGE, but the clipping stayed really, really small. That was unfortunate. 

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to those that enjoy mysteries and alternate universe type science fiction. Maybe there'll be more heat in the following volumes, but you know what? I didn't really miss the heat in this one - I suspect it's coming. :)

EDT: I contacted Riptide Publishing and they've informed me that the problem with the 'clippings' has been resolved and updated versions have been uploaded to the site so I can download and replace the one on my Kobo. Have I mentioned that I love Riptide Publishing? They rock!