Lord Stillwell's Excellent Engaements-Book Review

With it still being Book Review Wednesday for me, I figured I would post this review now instead instead of waiting for next week.  Two book reviews in one day!

I was allowed to review Vitoria Alexander's Lord Stillwell's Excellent Engagements.  The book is short only about 60 or so pages on my Nook.  The book covers Lord Stillwell and his engagements to three different women and how it they work out for him.  Each section is short and it starts within a week or so of the wedding.  While I would not put this under romance since there is almost no romantic scenes in the book.  I did find it very funny.

The Good:

This book is funny, and I really start to feel for Viscount Winfield Elliott and his inability to find the perfect bride.  He tries three different types of women, the amazingly beautiful, fun and fancy free sort, the lovely, smart but completely reserved type and then someone in the middle.  The description lists them as thus
"Miss Felicia Whitingdon, for instance, has youth, beauty, style, grace—and a handsome fortune. Lady Lucille Eustice is a widow of impeccable social standing, and a balm to my soul. Then there is Miss Caroline Hibbitt, sweet and charming in every way." While there is a happy ending I won't tell you for whom. 

The indifferent:

The first part of the book left me confused.  It starts with a letter to Viscount Elliott’s cousin and you have no idea what is going on.  There is no slow introduction into the story it starts immediately. 
Also each story is very short and there is almost no background on the Viscount or the ladies who he plans to marry. 

The Bad:

If you are looking for a good romance than this is not your book, While it is listed as romance it is more humor and a set up book for a future book to come.  I see some of these characters being used in future books.  The book being short does not allow a reader to feel satisfied, it is more like a “to be continued” episode. 

I look forward to seeing what Author Victoria Alexander has for us in the future. 

The Scent of Rain- Book Review

The Scent of Rain By Kristin Billerbeck

This book is about a woman Daphne Sweeten who loses everything including her most prized sense, her sense of smell. This can be problematic for someone who makes perfumes.  After her disastrous wedding day that never happened, she moves to a small town to start over.  This time, she has a job making scents for household products such as laundry detergent and hand soap, an interesting job choice for someone who can’t smell.

The good:

This book has a good overall arc for a romance.  You can feel the tension build and it leaves off without any of the over used sex scenes.  There is good character development from the main caricature as she sets to rebuild her life and get back her most treasured gift.  There is a lot of possible development from the secondary and tertiary characters.

The indifferent: 

There may be a good overall story arc, but if you have any issue with the Christian church or faith than this book is not for you.  There are many places where the author makes unnecessary points to show the characters faith; it would have great if it had furthered the story.  Since most of it didn’t it was just wasted book space.  I have no issue with faith being used in a book; it can be used to make some amazing points.   However, The Scent of Rain seemed to hammer it home in an almost unconformable way.  It even shows what happens to sinners who do not act in a Christian way and how to save those people from themselves.  

The bad:

The end of the book seems rushed.  Daphne is working towards her goals she has gotten her life figured out and then the ending hits you like a freight train.  With so much build up and work done in the first part of the book the ending is a letdown.  In the end everything just falls into place without any real preamble.  Weeks went by with no note by the author.  The main characters decide that they are in love and that is the end.  I really feel that there should have been more to the ending.  Everything magically works out.  The evil ex fiancée has now gotten his just desserts and the amazing man she met loves her and is giving her everything.  Her life is back on track and she has everything she wants or needs.  the lack of realism hurt.

 Another downside to this book is that Daphne can’t figure out why she lost her sense of smell; the answer should have been available to her everywhere via internet or any professional.  She had a case of hysterical sensory loss or the loss of a sense following traumatic or life altering events.  It really took her too long to be able to figure something like this out.  Her best friend who works in the mental health field was unable to help her?

My last complaint is that the ending of the book is given to you less than half way through.  I can tell when the author decided how this was going to end.  The ending is handed to you in a dream sequence that was wholly unnecessary.  Leave me a little mystery.  If I wanted to know the end I would just skip ahead and read the last few pages of the book.  

I suggest this to read if you can’t find something else or you are looking for an easy read. 

For more information on this book check out

The Scent of Rain

Bumptabulous - Book Review

Bumptabulous: 20 Mom Expose Pregnancy:

 The back of the book says
 "20 laugh out loud funny moms describe their pregnancies, reviling the secretly-guarded details of the conceptions, the great and the gross about pregnancy, the truth about childbirth and how their life changed once their little womb-hijacker finally came out." 

I started reading this book knowing that I currently can't get pregnant.  After all of my failed attempts I wasn't sure how I would feel about the book and it's message.  I didn't want to read 20 stories about how these couples tried once and then found themselves pregnant.  While there was some stories like that there were also stories where the couple tried for longer periods of time and how some even ended up using fertility drugs to help them with conceiving. 

The book was funny.  Like laugh until you snort, and then share with the people around you, type funny.  These lines kept me entertained for hours lines like "your husband will do things for you that he would never do otherwise.  When you cry hysterically and become an inconsolable puddle of hormones because you can't find your shoe, your husband will find it.  Or he will go buy you a new pair of shoes.  Or he will carry you on his back.  Whatever makes you happy.  Whatever keeps you quiet.”  It also kept my family entertained, or wanting to kill me I am still not sure which. 

The greatest thing this book did for me as an infertile woman, was give me hope.  I decided to go back to those military fertility doctors and see how I react without injection medication.  I am going to see if they are willing to work with me on letrozole again.  The concept of hope is something that I lost after my ectopic pregnancy, which resulted in the loss of my right fallopian tube.  These 20 women shared their stories of the good and the bad associated with pregnancy, hopefully some day so can I. 

Anyone who is planning on getting pregnant, who is currently pregnant or who has been pregnant will enjoy this book, it has a realistic and humorous view on a normally taboo subject.  It will also be a great book for expected fathers in understanding what might happen to the women in their lives 
This book is available on Amazon or at Create space.  The price is $14.99 on Amazon.

In fact, if you are interested in reading this book I have been allowed to give out a discount code. 

Go to Create Space, during checkout use code 978BMZM8.   This will give you 

 33% off the retail price and reduce it to $9.99.

 For more information please visit Bumptabulous Facebook