The Duke and I
Author: Julia Quinn
Published: January 5, 2000
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description from Amazon:
Can there be any greater challenge to London’s Ambitious Mamas than an unmarried duke?—Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, April 1813. By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend’s sister—the lovely and almost-on-the-shelf—Daphne Bridgerton. But the two of them know the truth—it’s all an elaborate ruse to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers. And as for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable. But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, it’s hard to remember that their courtship is a sham. Maybe it’s his devilish smile, certainly it’s the way his eyes seem to burn every time he looks at her . . . but somehow Daphne is falling for the dashing duke . . . for real! And now she must do the impossible and convince the handsome rogue that their clever little scheme deserves a slight alteration, and that nothing makes quite as much sense as falling in love.
Kim’s Review:
This was just a fun read! Yes, it is a romance novel, but it’s not trashy at all. The sex scenes are few and far between and honestly not very graphic. What I love about this story are the characters. Daphne Bridgerton is awesome! She cracked me up the whole time! The banter that she shares with Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, made me laugh out loud several times! The reason I gave this book 4 stars was because of Simon’s rather annoying plans of revenge on his dead father. After a while, I just felt, “oh get over it dude!!!!” And Daphne’s brothers, with their over dramatic protectiveness of their sister, were a little tiring. I get that the culture of the time was much different than now, so I gave them a pass. Overall, this was a fun, light read that didn’t take much brain power, but was enjoyable!
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The Memory Watcher
Author: Minka Kent
Published: January 9, 2017
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: November 10-16, 2017
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description from Amazon:
Press, tap, refresh…
When Autumn Carpenter stumbles upon the social media account of the family who adopted her infant daughter years ago, she finds herself instantly drawn into their picture-perfect existence.
From behind a computer screen, Autumn watches Grace’s every memory, from birthdays to holidays to bedtime snuggles. But what starts as an innocent fascination soon spirals into an addictive obsession that comes to a screeching halt the day the McMullen family closes their Instaface account without so much as a warning.
Frantic and desperate to reconnect with her daughter, Autumn applies for a nanny position with the McMullens, manipulating herself into Grace’s life under false pretenses. And it’s only then that Autumn discovers pictures lie, the perfect family doesn’t exist, and beautiful people? They have the ugliest secrets.
Jessica’s Review:
The premise of The Memory Watcher caught my attention and I really wanted to read this one. You can see this kind of thing happening in reality since we are becoming a society heavily relying on social media. Is social media a good thing or bad thing? That’s up to you to decide.
This is the Minka Kent’s debut and it’s a good one! I look forward to her future novels. There are constant twists in The Memory Watcher and then there is that ending…
You don’t really need to know much about this book other than the premise. There are two points of view: Autumn and Daphne (Mrs. McMullen). I listened to the audiobook and we have two different narrators, one for Autumn and one for Daphne. Both narrators did a great job performing. Both POV’s are well written and I was interested in both sides. Nothing is as it seems! What seems to be a perfect life as shown on social media is anything but that. I will admit that the book picked up for me about 70% in. Before then it was good, but that last 30% is what made me award it five stars. I did not want to finish listening to it! If you are a Suspense/Thriller fan then go read this book!
The twist ending tends to be one that I don’t usually prefer, but Kent blew me away with the ending. Great job!
The Memory Watcher is recommended.
Purchase Links:
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