Ruby Moone

I had already perceived sloppy wording from the first book in the series (and this considering that English is not my mother tongue), but this book ended up pissing me off:

* Name changes from the first book in the series (Lord Vincent or Lord Martin?)
* A huge number of typos,
* Anachronistic uses of words (malarkey is a word with origin in the 1920s).

In short, no editing work, to the point that I looked carefully at the credit of each of the three novels in the series up to this point, and indeed, this author seems unaware of what it means to submit his manuscripts to a professional editing job: that's clear in the worst way.

Added to that is frankly ridiculous time management; It would already seem rushed to me in a contemporary novel, let alone in a historical one. Another detriment of not working with editors and beta readers.

A pity because the three books have the bones of good stories, but this negligence is annoying and ruins any enjoyment for me.… (meer)

The Christmas Curse is the story of Jared Templeton, a spy for his country, and a dog, who really isn't just a dog. This is told in third person from Jared's pov.

In this historical romance, we meet Jared, who is a very lonely man. A lover married and broke Jared’s heart. The lover wanted Jared to be his dirty secret. Jared couldn't bear that, so now has no one until a dog befriends him.

This book is very short and abrupt in all its scenes. Many questions are brought up, but none of them are answered. The story is incomplete. The author had ideas, but it feels like she had no intention of filling out the details. I don't get the impression the author plans to write a follow up book, which is a shame because the story and characters are interesting.

I would've given The Christmas Curse more stars, but it's seriously lacking in detail, leaves way too many questions unanswered, besides having a very abrupt ending with another unanswered question. I enjoyed what story there was, but can only give 3 Stars.
… (meer)