Week-End's Minis XXX: Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks

Good morning everyone!

I'm so glad to have this mini-review up! Just in time, since I have to run to the curling club again LOL. Today is the new members in-house tournament, a chance for new members to meet everyone :) All details coming in tomorrow's post!

Before I run though, I want to say this... I've had a bit of difficulty writing my reviews lately, just that they don't come as easy lately and sometimes, I have difficulty formulating my thoughts. As a result, I'll sit in front of my computer and type away and as soon as the review is ready, I post it up. I just wanted to ask, am I making sense? Are my reviews jag-y lately? Please be honest with me, because it'll help me adjusting :) Thanks a bunch!!

Enjoy the mini-review!


Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks
published by Random House publishing (Ballantine Books) in September 2012

Eveline Armstrong is fiercely loved and protected by her powerful clan, but outsiders consider her “touched.” Beautiful, fey, with a level, intent gaze, she doesn’t speak. No one, not even her family, knows that she cannot hear. Content with her life of seclusion, Eveline has taught herself to read lips and allows the outside world to view her as daft. But when an arranged marriage into a rival clan makes Graeme Montgomery her husband, Eveline accepts her duty—unprepared for the delights to come. Graeme is a rugged warrior with a voice so deep and powerful that his new bride can hear it, and hands and kisses so tender and skilled that he stirs her deepest passions.

Graeme is intrigued by the mysterious Eveline, whose silent lips are ripe with temptation and whose bright, intelligent eyes can see into his soul. As intimacy deepens, he learns her secret. But when clan rivalries and dark deeds threaten the wife he has only begun to cherish, the Scottish warrior will move heaven and earth to save the woman who has awakened his heart to the beautiful song of a rare and magical love.

Genre: Historical romance, medieval
Series: The Montgomerys and Armstrongs, Book #1

What do you need to know? So our heroine was engaged at a young age to marry Ian McHugh for an alliance. In front of everyone, Ian treated her well, but behind the scenes, he scared her. When she shared her worries with her father, he brushed it aside thinking she was just nervous. As a result, Eveline decided to run away and ended up falling from her horse. That probably led to an infection and left her deaf and the shock of the accident, mute. Everyone thought she was "touched" and she never corrected them because the end result was that the McHugh broke the engagement; however, she was always afraid that if anyone found out she was simply deaf and not daft, that the McHugh would be knocking at the door again.

Enters Graeme Montgomery. His clan and Eveline's, the Armstrongs, have been at odds for decades... and to bring peace, the king has ordered a marriage between Graeme and Eveline. Graeme cannot disobey, but he's definitively not thrilled to have a daft woman as the wife of the chieftain! However, once he meets Eveline, he feels a kind of connection... Perhaps everything will turn out fine. As for Eveline, she also feels the connection, but more importantly, Graeme makes her feel safe.

Can these two overcome years of rivalry and hatred?

Why this book? I've never read Ms Banks' historical romance books, but have been meaning to. What made me pick up this book though is the fact that Eveline is deaf. I have a weakness for deaf characters :) I think they are interesting and am always interested to read how they cope with their handicap.

What did I like? Overall, Never Seduce a Scot was a very enjoyable book. It was quick and sweet read, with likable main and secondary characters and good premises. I liked the family dynamics of both clans, there was genuine affection and it was nice to read about it. I especially liked how Graeme's brothers were so supportive of him and quickly adjusted their opinion of Eveline - not only because Eveline was not as bad as they thought, but to back up Graeme and also, for his happiness. I thought Eveline was a great heroine too, not being passive, taking the steps to insure her happiness. I loved the scene where Graeme put her in a room at their arrival and she convinced Graeme's sister, Rorie, to show her which was Graeme's room and then to move all her trunks to it LOL. She wanted a marriage between Graeme, she wanted love and that's what she got. As for Graeme, I liked him also because he was fair, open-minded and a good leader... something you don't always expect in medieval settings. So you had two interesting characters and the best is that they had great chemistry together, making for a sweet romance :) All in all, Never Seduce a Scot was about two people getting to know each other and that's what Ms Banks delivered :)

What didn't work? As much as I liked Never Seduce a Scot, I thought everything in Graeme and Eveline's romance went a bit too smoothly. I was expecting more conflicts, more difficulties in their relationships. Oh there was some from external sources such as the other women of the Montgomery clan, not liking Eveline because she was an Armstrong and also for swooping in and marrying Graeme, which results in some bullying. By the way, regarding that part, Eveline did great for the most part, but at the end, her giving up and wanting to go home... I thought that was weak and not in character with Eveline's personality. Eveline is strong and I expected her to keep going until she got their respect, just like she did with Graeme's siblings. But, I digress. So there was some conflicts, but from the first moment Graeme and Eveline met, the connection between the two was there and their relationship was smooth-sailing and it wasn't about them anymore, but convincing everyone around them. Eveline wanted to please Graeme and Graeme would protect Eveline. I know that Graeme was fair and all, but still, for two persons from rivaling clans, I expected a bit more grudge. Also, it feels to me Graeme that as soon as he found out Eveline was simply deaf, nothing mattered anymore. Like Eveline being "touched" is the only thing going against her and as soon as he had an explanation, poof, everything was all right. But even beforehand, I thought Graeme didn't make too many efforts to get to know Eveline or to communicate with her, because the two had this connection, they just were good together.

My Grade? B. As I said, I thought the romance and Eveline's integration to the Montgomery clan went a bit too smoothly. A bit more conflict between the two would not have hurt and would have results in a higher grade from me :) Nevertheless, Never Seduce a Scot was still a good, solid book :)

Week-End's Minis: Whispers in the Dark by Maya Banks

It's finally the week-end!! Yay! Hope it'll be a good one for everyone! The week has gone by so quickly (although the days have not), but if there was a way to make the week-end stretched, it'd be awesome LOL. Especially when we're having nice weather. A girl can dream right? :P

So I'd like to introduce the newest feature on my blog: Week-End's Minis. Earlier this week, I mentioned in the Monthly Reads post that I was toying with the idea of having weekly recaps, simply because my Monthly Reads posts were becoming overwhelming to write. However, the idea just lost its appeal the more I thought about it. My reasoning is I have difficulty being on time with a monthly recap which is, technically, once a month. Now, I'm going to have 4 posts at fixed dates? Sure, they'll be shorter... but I think it'll be more pressure as well ^_^; Plus my reading week vary a lot from one another and a weekly recap is just not me LOL. Instead, I tried to come up with something in-between and I think I did: the Week-End's Minis :)

Basically, the Week-End's Minis will be a weekly post with one to two mini-reviews :) It won't be a weekly recap and it won't be necessarily books that I've read during the week. It'll just be mini-reviews of books I've read and wasn't planning to write a full review for. If I can stick to having a weekly mini-reviews post, then when it'll come to the Monthly Reads post, many of the books will already be reviewed and therefore, the post itself will be shorter and less daunting to write :) And to make things a bit more fun for everyone, I thought I'd let you decide what should be reviewed! :) The plan is that I'll put a poll up on the sidebar of books that I'm considering writing mini-reviews for and you let me know which mini-review you want to read :) The poll will run from Saturday to Wednesday and on the next Saturday, the post will go up. What do you think?

Oh by the way, mini-reviews. You've seen my Monthly Reads posts and you've seen that my "mini" reviews aren't that "mini" LOL. Well it's something I want to work on. The goal of these mini-reviews is really to let you know what worked and what didn't. I have a tendency in my full reviews to go through the characters, the settings, the romance, the storyline, etc. Hopefully, here, it'll all be more concise and focused... but I'm not sure yet how I'm going to do that LOL. So please be patient with me :) And if you have any suggestion, please feel free!!

This week, I didn't have time to make a poll and I really wanted to get started LOL, so I chose the mini-review. But you can start voting for next week! :) Hopefully, this new feature will be an enjoyable one for everyone :)


Whispers in the Dark by Maya Banks

published by Berkley in January 2012

She came to him when he needed her the most

She came to him at his lowest point. The voice of an angel, a whisper in the dark. She's the only thing that gets Nathan Kelly through his captivity, the endless days of torture and the fear that he'll never return to his family. With her help, he's able to escape. But he isn't truly free, because now she's disappeared and he's left with an all-consuming emptiness as he struggles to pick up the pieces of his life. Did he imagine his angel? Or is she out there, needing his help as he'd once needed hers?

Now he rushes to save her before it's too late

Shea has been on the run from people who will stop at nothing to exploit her unique abilities. She never wanted to drag Nathan, who'd already suffered so much, into danger, but she doesn't have a choice so she reaches out to him for help. Finally face-to-face after having already formed a soul-deep bond in hell, their emotional connection is even more powerful than their telepathic one. Nathan refuses to consider ever letting her go again, but she worries they can never have a life free of the dangers that dog her every step. He'll protect her with his every breath, but can he convince her that they are meant to face these threats together?

Genre: Romantic suspense, psychics
Series: KGI, Book #4

What do you need to know about the storyline? The blurb is pretty spot on, the only thing they didn't mention - and wow, they did a great job at writing an accurate blurb and leaving this big detail out - is that the heroine is psychic. From what I've heard, this is the first book in this series that has paranormal elements in it. All the previous books have been straight romantic suspense.

Why this book? This is the first book in the series I've read and it just called to me. It sounded like something I would enjoy :)

So, my thoughts? I'll start with the most obvious for me. I don't mind psychic characters. Actually, I love them when it's well-done... Unfortunately, it wasn't in Whispers in the Dark. Perhaps it's because I've been spoiled with the FBI SCU series by Kay Hooper, but the psychic aspect here just didn't work for me. First, I don't like the idea of manufacturing psychics for military purposes. There is so much we don't know about psychics, the abilities and where it comes from... How can you "breed" psychics? Then, the psychic element was just too unbelievable ^_^; Yes, I know ^_^; When it comes to psychics, I think readers always have to suspend their disbelief a little to enjoy the story and I've done it with no problems in the past. But the thing is, you still want the psychic element to be realistic and it simply wasn't in Whispers in the Dark. I mean, a trans-Atlantic connection? If Shea and Nathan's connection was established prior, then perhaps I've had bought it... but Shea just happened to grasp on Nathan's mind while she was in the US and Nathan, in Afghanistan? In that case, what stops her from hearing any voices in the whole big world? Also, healing someone without touching? That's already stretching it, but healing someone through someone's else connection without any physical anchor? Yeah, no. You just lost me there.

Aside from the psychic element, there was also the romance that went too fast for me. Okay, yes, Shea and Nathan have a connection, but they don't really know each other. Shea calls Nathan for help, he runs to save her and hours after they've met face-to-face for the first time, they're all over each other and having sex. I can buy having feelings for each other, I can buy being protective and possessive... but the sex was pushing it for me. We're not talking one-night stand here, but real, committed sex... and I just felt it was too fast.

So basically, Ms Banks lost me pretty early in the book because of the psychic element... and I ended up skimming through most of the book. Nothing in this book - the story, the romance, the characters or the suspense - was able to grab me and while reading, I just wanted Whispers in the Dark to be done and over. That's not usually a good feeling when you're reading a book. Someone on Goodreads mentioned that the book was boring and too corny and I have to agree wholeheartedly. The only scenes I really enjoyed were the Kelly brothers ribbing each other and even then, I thought it was sometime not with a good timing.

My Grade? E.


All right, it still winded up a bit long LOL. But hey, it's my first attempt! :) What do you think? Does this format work?