Mint Juleps and Justice // Nancy Naigle

Mint Juleps and Justice (★★★★☆)
By: Nancy Naigle
Series: Adams Grove (5)
Genres: Romance ~ Contemporary
Pages: 335
Format: eBook
Features: Suspense

Mike and Brooke have enough baggage between them to fill a fleet of jetliners. Between Brooke's nasty divorce and the murder of Mike's wife eight years ago, the odds are seemingly stacked against them from the start.

One thing I love about Mint Juleps and Justice is this - the characters are REAL. Brooke Justice has a real job where she interacts with real people, and has a real fun quirk of believing in good luck signs almost religiously. Mike is a former Marine who is trying to balance himself back into civilian life by running a small-town investigative firm, and giving a military pup its first year of training.

Brooke's job throws them together from day one, and in a small town, chance encounters are bound to happen on a frequent basis once you've met someone face to face. The "chance" encounters turn purposeful when Brooke's baggage forces her to seek the aid of Mike's investigative services.

However, just when things were finally getting settled for Brooke and she begins to gain confidence in her ability to have a relationship with Mike, Mike's world gets turned up-side-down when he finds out, two months after the fact, that the baggage he thought himself finally ready to let go of and move forward from has once again reared its ugly head.

Without going into too many details, the progression of the story - both the main story between Brooke and Mike, and the plots surrounding each of their individual baggage - is fluid and keeps the reader engaged. The only thing keeping me from giving this book a full 5-star review is this - I simply do not like being clued into certain things before the characters are, which is the case with Mike's baggage.

Overall, it's a nice, easy read. It's real people engaging in a real relationship with real problems that can only be overcome together. It's a story I can relate to, and that just makes it all the more engaging.

Her Highness, My Wife // Victoria Alexander

Her Highness, My Wife (☆☆☆☆☆)
By: Victoria Alexander
Series: Effingtons (5)
Genres: Romance ~ Historical
Pages: 384
Format: eBook

Um... okay. So far, everything of Victoria Alexander's that I've read, I've been able to finish. However, as I read more and more, they all start to read the same.

Her Highness, My Wife - it doesn't just read "the same"... it reads as dull. I'm a quarter of the way through the book, and nothing of substance has happened, except the revelation of some family heirloom she's searching for. No suspense, no realistic tension between the couple, no... nothing to keep me interested.

I imagine the story about the family jewels (literally) could be enticing to some. However, when you've read a quarter of the book and there's really been nothing except banter between Sir Matthew and Princess Tatiana. The banter even is half-hearted at best, on both sides. In truth, if two people went back and forth like these two did, it would be IMPOSSIBLE for them to not notice how the other person truly feels. Yet, Matthew still has himself completely convinced Tatiana means nothing (and she believes him) and Tatiana still believes... well, I haven't figured that out yet. Regardless, she obviously wants Matthew, and yet he's completely and delusionally ignorant of this fact.

There's been very little of the subplot to move the story along, and the main plot between Tatiana and Matthew simply isn't enough. At this point, I'd rather turn my attention to a book I may actually finish, than try to dredge my way through the rest of this one.

Yes, I emphasize the fact that I'm a quarter of the way through the book a lot - but that's because in a book that's less than 400 pages, SOMETHING significant needs to have happened by this point. Or at least hinted at being significant. If the rest of the book is like the first part, I'd die of boredom.