Review: Unlocked

Unlocked by Courtney Milan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Yeah I was always the crazy one; broke into the stadium
And I wrote your number on the fifty yard line
You were always the perfect one and a valedictorian
So under your number I wrote call for a good time
Now only wanted is to get your attention
But you overlooked me somehow

--Toby Keith, "How Do You Like Me Now?"

Self-published novella, a tie-in to her series starting with Unveiled.

This book is an early Victorian version of the story about a boy who falls for a girl in when they are both young and just has no idea what to do about these feelings so he mocks her and makes her life a misery. When he finally grows up and starts thinking with the head that is actually on his shoulders, he realizes he is a douchebag and runs off to climb a bunch of mountains and become a better person. Now he's back. Is there a chance he can ever earn her trust? And can she ever overcome her insecurities--the ones fed by his earlier mockery--to publicly act like the woman she really is?

Milan is good novelist but she is a great novella writer. Every word in this story counts, and it all goes into creating something really, really enjoyable: a timeless plot, likable characters working out real dilemmas, and various other literary clevernesses. And bonus! This excellent novella is only 99 cents in ebook format. I've paid ten times that much for a book ten times as bad.


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Review: Captured by the Highlander

Captured by the Highlander by Julianne MacLean

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First things first: I really don't get into highlander romances. But I really enjoyed MacLean's Victorian romances, so I thought I'd give this one a try. It's set after the Jacobite revolt of 1715. An Englishwoman engaged to a brutal English soldier is kidnapped by the titular Highlander, and in the end they both have to deal with conflicting loyalties and carving out a path for future happiness. I realized while reading this book that I don't like kidnap victim romances either. First of all, it's hard to separate romance in this situation from Stockholm Syndrome. And another is that you have this constant attempt to escape/external danger/protect-recapture cycle going on, which puts the captor in an unfairly better light than he otherwise would be, and usually makes the heroine look annoyingly naive (which this heroine, incidentally, is, at least at the beginning of the book).

None of the Scottish people in this book speak in any kind of accent/dialect whatsoever, and I don't know if that's wisdom on the author's part--I mean, I'm sure most authors can't get it right, so is discretion here the better part of valor? Or is it just that dialogue like "dinna fash yersel', lassie" is part of the cheesy fun of highlander books?

I think this book would appeal to people who like highlander romances or captive type romances, but it wasn't quite capable of drawing in someone like me who doesn't.


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