Re-published novel from the 1970s. Definitely a book of its time, there's blatant misogyny and racism. Stilted dialogues, poor plot and cardboard characters.

I adore this series and the third book didn't disappoint.

Ana and Din investigate a murder in the agricultural provinces, where the heir of one of the local gentry families is accused of having murdered the daughter of the other gentry family. The duo soon knows how the murder happened, now they need to find out who did it before anyone else is harmed.

I liked investigating this mystery with the two main characters. They have good chemistry going with each other, in a professional way, of course. This story also had lots of world-building about where the food for the empire comes from, but there was also personal history woven into this book; both fortunately not in an info-dump way.

I'm looking forward to the next instalment in the series.

A very cosy adventure story, maybe a bit too cosy for me?

The first half felt like nothing much happens and some of the plot felt very repetitive; I was close to bailing a few times. Normally I need a tiny bit of action to keep me going, but here it was the characters. Ainsworth's character development from self-important scholar to kind-hearted person felt very natural. Honey somehow was wreathed in mystery and I kept going because I wanted to know the whole story hiding behind the innkeeper.

I understand that this story was supposed to be empowering and eventually romantic, but I found it hard to get through. Tilly's inner monologue was so negative, telling herself that everyone was better off without her, I knew where it was heading. I also wish the story had started later, maybe with Tilly sitting on her friend's bed and the details of her break-up and how her husband had treated her being filled in a bit later?

For anyone who expects a cute story with an actually not that plus-sized FMC, please be aware that this book comes with a lot of darkness (abuse, gaslighting, anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia) before the sweetness of a new and strong relationship.

I requested this ALC without knowing anything about the controversy about the author. This review is solely based on the book without having gone down a rabbit hole (yet!)

One of the first things I noticed was that the author-MC, who's apparently writing a book about pirates, knew a few nautical terms, but ignored using the most obvious ones like "galley" for a ship's kitchen. Anyway, it's not a book about ship design, it's a time-travel romance and that fell flat for me. There was no palpable chemistry between the two main characters, but there was a lot of telling that they are attracted to each other.

The whole novel felt like someone watched a lot of TV shows with pirates and played mix and match with scenes and backdrops to create a novel.

The narrator did a good job, though I wish they had brushed up on some of the nautical terms before recording (they aren't all pronounced the way they are spelled).

Now I'm going down that rabbit hole.

This is the third book in the Miss Prentice's Protegees series. Portia has been a reformist all her adult life. She recently moved from London to Bath for her new role at a radical newspaper. Unfortunately, the position is unpaid and so she has to seek a paying position to finance her 'reformist' life. She finds a position as chaperone to the two sisters of the very handsome Leopold Sloane, the Duke of Debden.

I really enjoyed the banter between the two protagonists, as well as the secondary character of the dowager duchess. The third act break-up came at a very late point which made the grovelling before the happy ending feel a bit rushed.

Fitting end to the duology.

The crew of the Ambit have just finished their prisoner babysitting duty when the shit hits the fan, as it was bound to do. Their new mission is complex but waters down to finding the head of the snake that's messed up everything.

As in Cascade Failure, I loved the snark, I loved the found family vibes, but there was some repetition in all of it that made me like the whole book a little less than the first.