Too repitious

As with the other books in this series, there is way too much summing up previous storylines, and not much plot or details in this one. It would feel like a filler book, except the last one was just as bad.

Awful. Couldn’t get beyond the awful grammar/lack of editing.

I received this book for free from the library in exchange for the possibility of my honest opinions/ review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I didn’t realize this was a YA book. I do enjoy YA books, but YA historical fiction is too simple for me. I didn’t particularly think the authors did a good job at creating a balanced narrative. Each one seemed focus on just one aspect of their life, what each wife is most famous for. Each wife’s story is so briefly told, yet felt repetitious and boring. And Henry comes across as selfish and obsessed. No one is just one thing, and this book only showcases the worse in each individual. I read100 or so pages and skimmed the rest.

This review was originally posted on Rambling Reviews

Old favorite

I've read this book a few times - once fairly recently, I feel like (within a few years) but strangely, never reviewed.



This book is the first one in a three book series written by fantasy power-house author, Anne McCaffee. This is the only series I've read by her, though one of these days I'll read more. 



The series stars Killashandra, and this book sets up the series. McCaffee does a terrific job of letting you get to know Killa, her original home planet, her new home planet, the job of a Crystal Singer, and the multitude of other characters. She does a great job with world building - my favorite - and I could really see this as a movie or tv series. Not a lot happens in this book other than character and world building, but there's just so much to learn about Ballybran & Killa that you never feel like the story isn't moving right along.



My copy of the book did have rather a few grammatical errors - or perhaps the English language has just changed that much in 40 years, but I was surprised at some of the wonky sentence structures. 



Quick read, looking forward to rereading the rest of the series.

I've been reading a few Westerns/ historical fiction books set in the late 19th/early 20th century, so I was eager to read this book. I read a lot of history, but don't read a ton of American history/historical fiction in general, so I was doubly excited - especially to read a "clean" romance. I'm not a big fan of romance novels but do enjoy the occasional, well written historical romance.

Unfortunately I was disappointed. The storyline / plot / characters were all well developed, but the research in this book was lacking. The average, casual reader probably wouldn't even have picked up on things, but I did. The first few chapters were fine - or perhaps I didn't notice anything - but once I started picking up on little historical errors, I couldn't stop, and it really took away from the plot to the point where I just didn't really enjoy the book. I also really had a hard time liking any of the characters - none of them seemed very real to me, none of them felt very fleshed out characters.

So let me explain in more detail, some of the historical issues I spotted, and this is by no means a conclusive / exhaustive list:

* multiple instances of grown women being referred to as "girls" - both by other women & men.
*referring to Texas as civilization, and being more civilized than Idaho territory, where Kat was currently living, and referring to Texas as being equally settled as Boston was where Kat received her medical degree
* speaking of which, her father was a poor country farmer, where he would have been paid in chicken, eggs, and other produce IF at all... how did he afford to send her to college back East?
* Everyone seems VERY rich - at least three different people refer to their books, when books were incredibly expensive and relatively rare out west. I can see Kat & her father owning a few medical books but the average person would only own a few books in their entire life, and it would be a big deal to make the time to read - a real treat. Not mentioned casually as this is normal, every day business
* Kat not knowing how to sew or cook. She certainly would have known how to sew and she definitely would have known how to cook. She might not have been skilled at either one, but she certainly would have been capable of doing basic cooking and sewing.
* My biggest issue in the entire book - there's a scene where Kat & her father are doing target practice, shooting at tin cans with a gun that was invented two years prior. OK... sure, they could've owned that gun ... but they were shooting at soup & bean cans. In Idaho territory in 1888. Sure, tin cans were around then & they were easily available & even relatively affordable in the East... but tinned soup wasn't around for another 20 years & tinned food would have been incredible expensive out West, especially when dried beans were so cheap. And again, how would her father have afforded such an expensive food when he would have gotten paid by the barter system? Sure, maybe a patient paid him with a tin can of food... but it wouldn't have been beans.

And then I had other issues with the plot that had nothing to do with historical inaccuracies - such as her father's friend giving her stitches when she was a young girl -- WHAT? Her FATHER is a doctor, yet HE doesn't give her stitches? A simple additional one sentence could explain why this occurred - perhaps he was helping someone hurting worse than Kat? But there's no explanation, just a quick mention of her father's friend giving her stitches as a child. That just doesn't make sense, and there's little details like that that happens repeatedly.

Again, most of my issues with the book most people wouldn't even pick up on. If you read more romance than me, you'd probably really enjoy the story because it is a sweet romance (hence the three stars, which for me means it's a fair-to-good book).

My parents read - most - of this series when they were being published regularly, and I read a ton of them back in the day, too. I'm rereading the series, as far as I feel the urge to anyway.

It's cornily written, extremely sexist - but of course, the west was sexist! the plot on the light side, but I can't help but read it all the same. Looking forward to reading more.

An oldie but a goodie.

I used to read this series years ago & lately I've been thinking about picking up the series again, so I borrowed this as an e-book from the library. I knew it was romance & mystery in a future setting, and when I read the series years ago, I really liked the blend of genres.

Now, I was just so bored with the romance story line - I just can't get into romance in books anymore.

That being said, I still enjoyed the book - I love Eve, I love Eve meeting Roarke, and I love the whole universe that's created in these books, the little futuristic devices that seem so funny now, but when this world was first created, it was so cool to have little gadgets that fit in the palm of your hand.

After rereading the book, I'm not sure if I'll reread the rest & continue reading the newer books in the series.

I have pretty much the exact same thoughts about this book as I did the first....

I'm rereading the series, and enjoying it, even though it's largely lacking not only in historical accuracy, but in a historical "feel" as well. The plot is light, but I can't put down the series.