ARC Review: Take Me Home for Christmas by Brenda Novak

Take Me Home for Christmas by Brenda Novak
Series: Whiskey Creek #5
Release Date: October 29th, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Mira
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

Christmas is a time for remembering….

Too bad all memories aren't pleasant. Everyone in Whiskey Creek remembers Sophia DeBussi as the town's Mean Girl. Especially Ted Dixon, whose love she once scorned.

But Sophia has paid the price for her youthful transgressions. The man she did marry was rich and powerful but abusive. So when he goes missing, she secretly hopes he'll never come back—until she learns that he died running from an FBI probe of his investment firm. Not only has he left Sophia penniless, he's left her to face all the townspeople he cheated….

Sophia is reduced to looking for any kind of work to pay the bills and support her daughter. With no other options, she becomes housekeeper for none other than Ted, now a successful suspense writer. He can't bring himself to turn his back on her, not at Christmas, but he refuses to get emotionally involved. He learned his lesson the last time.

Or will the season of love and forgiveness give them both another chance at happiness?

NOTE: I have not read the first 4 books in this series. Also, some of the things I say may offend some people. Read at own risk and keep in mind that I am not trying to victim blame.

Good morning, evening or whatever time of the day it is in the part of the world you live in.

I’d like to welcome you to the second episode for my talk show where I interview people who don’t exist in our idea of reality.

Before we get started, it would be a good idea to summarize what happened so you aren’t completely lost. Take Me Home for Christmas is about a young mother, who has been in an abusive marriage for the past 14 years. When her husband dies, it comes to light that he was running a scam and basically talked almost everyone in the town out of their money never mind the fact that he left his own family in a state of bankruptcy. People are being awful and basically storm through her house and take everything they can find (with her consent). Her ex-boyfriend, who she cheated on, comes in as a knight in shining armor offers her as a job as his housekeeper/cook/assistant because he pitied her. Things become awkward and he starts a relationship with one of his friends which we all know is set to be doomed.  

*walks onto the set*

*sits down*

*takes down yarn and needle*

Rashika: Oh this? I thought crocheting would help me get a grip. It helped me get past the parts where I wanted to bang my head on a wall and seeing that we’re going to be inviting the whole gang, I thought I’d need it. At least I am sober this time. Isn’t that a good thing?

Rashika: Why don’t we welcome the gang onto the set.

*A bunch of people walk in.. some are holding hands.. some are looking at someone who is in a relationship with longing*

Rashika: Ted and Sophia were the stars of this book right?

Everyone: Yup.

Rashika: Why don’t you all take a seat. This could take a while.

Rashika: Now that all of you are seated, I have to ask, if some of you thought that Sophia was being abused by her husband why the fuck didn’t you try to help her? If you didn’t believe her excuses why didn’t you bother to find out more, to see if there was something you could have done? Why?

*they all look around awkwardly*

Rashika: And Ted, this is the woman you’ve supposedly been in love with for the past 14 years of your life, why didn’t you do anything? Why did you believe the excuses she gave when you should have at least tried to find out more. You of all people. *shakes head*

Ted: I didn’t know okay? I was too angry. I didn’t want to see her or talk her lest I decide to forgive her. It would make my life miserable.

Rashika: Well you sure didn’t have a problem making someone else’s life miserable.

*turns around to see Eve staring at Ted with a look full of longing*

Ted: I am sorry. I didn’t want to. I was trying to move on. I am 34, I couldn’t spend the rest of my life lusting/loving a woman who was no good for me.

Rashika: Of course you couldn’t. I appreciate you tried to move on but dude, you could have spared your friend. She deserved better.

Ted: She does. I agree. And hopefully she’ll find someone better.

Rashika: Yup. So, why do you love Sophia so much?

(quote taken from book)

Ted: “But, oddly enough, it wasn’t her beauty that drew him to her. Not entirely. It was the vulnerability in those big blue eyes- and the way she was trying to show her love for Alexa, despite her difficulties”

Rashika: Ah I see, so you like being her savior?

Ted: Yes.

*starts crocheting*

Ted: Umm are you going to ask us more questions?

Rashika: Give me a minute.

.....

You do realize you didn’t really complement her personality as much as you did her beauty.

Ted: And?

Rashika: You tots blew it, she wanted you to complement her personality. Her husband was a douchebag and she was basically his trophy wife, how dense ARE you?

*Ted looks around guiltily*

Rashika: I’ll ask Sophia stuff now. So, Sophia, what century do we live in?

Sophia: That’s an odd question. The 21^st of course.

Rashika: Then why was it so hard for you to do anything about your situation? Why, for the past 14 years, have you been stuck in a marriage that is a nightmare? You hated your spouse and he had physically abused you, bad enough that you feared for your life. Before you talk about how he was a good father, anyone with a pair of eyes could see that he was NOT setting a good example for Alexa. Why could you not do something about your situation?

Sophia: I was afraid I wouldn’t survive if I tried to get away. And even if I did get away, he would never let me see Alexa again. He would win. Plus, I was getting what I deserved.

*gets up and walks around*

Rashika: So you thought you could turn to the bottle. That would help Alexa right?

Sophia: Stop it. Stop being so judgemental. I was the biggest victim.

Rashika: I am not saying that you weren’t, you definitely were but your lack of a backbone was really annoying.

Sophia: I try okay. I do the best I can. I am so grateful to Ted for helping me out. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t know what I would have done. And the same goes for Eve.

Rashika: Oh I know what you would have done; you would have let yourself and your daughter starve to death because you’re so incapable of helping yourself out.

Sophia: Excuse me?

Rashika: Why do you need a Prince Charming to come along and save you?

Sophia: I got myself on my feet for your kind information. I worked as a housekeeper and did all these things for him. I even took typing classes.

Rashika: But you did all that so you could impress him didn’t you? Like a kicked puppy who only wanted to be loved.

Sophia: Is there something wrong with that, after the kind of life I lived for the past 14 years?

Rashika: Yeah, the fact that you are incapable of doing anything on your own. You will always need someone to help you out.

Ted: Back off okay? I helped her because I couldn’t stand what she was going through.

Rashika: So, charity right?

*awkward silence*

*crochets during the silence*

Rashika: So you guys, great friends. Really. 

Oh Ted, I got a question.

Why did you like not move on for 14 years?

Ted: Because I was still in love with Sophia.

Rashika: But 14 years… that's kind of long. And you were just a kid, how could you not have been in a proper relationship since then? Is that even healthy?

Ted: I CANNOT COMMIT OKAY?

Rashika: Okay. Calm down man. Hey Alexa.

Alexa: Hey lady

Rashika: So like how did you not know your dad was an asshole who abused her mother?

Alexa: HE ABUSED MOM?

Sophia: YOU HORRIBLE WOMAN!!! HOW COULD YOU TELL HER THAT? SHE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO KNOW.

*crochets while waiting for everyone to settle down*

Rashika: Can we continue?

Sophia: I am not letting you interview my child.

Rashika: Now you don’t get to make that choice do you? So shut up.

How could you not see the signs Lex? You’re 13. You know your dad basically controls your mom’s life. How do you not see it?

*Alexa runs away crying*

Sophia: Look what you’ve done.

Rashika: What had to be done?

Sophia: Did you invite us on this show to insult us?

Rashika: Maybe?

Ted: You horrible woman.

*everyone leaves*

Oh. Cool. I was just going to talk about how I liked that she actually did decide to stop being the victim and stood up to the asshole sheriff but whatever floats her boat.

So what did we learn guys?

We learned that women will probably always need a dude to fall back on because, Prince Charming and that crocheting can be very therapeutic and can prevent a self inflicted head injury.

Thank you for joining me today. I hope you had a great time.

Before I wrap this up though, I just wanted to say a couple of things. While it may seem like I didn't enjoy the book at all, it did have it's moments. I did laugh and it was a fairly quick read. My main problem lay with the fact that Sophia was completely incapable of helping herself. She always needed someone to give her a push and could not stand on her own feet. Her daughter was more responsible than her and that is just embarrassing. The fact remains that in spite of all my problems with this book, it was relatively enjoyable and I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, light read. 

ARC Review: Through the Smoke by Brenda Novak

Title: Through the Smoke
Author: Brenda Novak
Release Date: October 15th 2013
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Buy: Amazon | BookDepository

Goodreads Summary

A shocking betrayal…

Riches. Power. An ancient heritage of pride. The Earl of Druridge wanted only for an heir. So when he learned that his wife was carrying another man’s child, he was filled with a thirst for vengeance.

But he wasn’t the one who caused Katherine’s death. Or was he? To his horror, he remembers nothing of that dreadful night, when their last confrontation ended in scorching flame and cold blood.

A forbidden love…

Rachel McTavish, the beautiful daughter of a coal miner, knows something about the fire that took Lady Katherine’s life. In secret, the strong-willed girl strikes a bargain with the desperate earl: he must send his physician to help her dying mother or he may go to the devil—and the scaffold. He agrees, but she is still unsure that her revelation will be enough to save him when so many wish him dead.

Passionately drawn to the nobleman, despite all the doubt and mystery that shrouds him, Rachel wonders if he can really be a murderer. Or if he is the only man who will ever own her heart…

It took me a long time to decide on a rating for this book. I wanted to give it a 5 and a 4 and a 3, which made choosing the closest ‘half’ star a whole lot harder.

My friends who read this book absolutely loved it and while I had a great time reading it, it just didn’t enchant me. I think that was one of the reasons I ended up giving it a 3.5, I expected so much from this book and while I got it, the book didn’t captivate me.

The strongest points of this book for me were the characters and the romance. Novak did a wonderful job developing both.

Lord Druridge lost his wife in a fire. He wasn’t particularly heartbroken about that because there was no lost love between them, she had lived to make his life hell even going as far as to go get pregnant with someone else’s child and calling it his. Because of this the majority of people believe that he was the one who started the fire that killed his wife. Even though he doesn’t remember what happened that night, he is pretty sure that that isn’t true but if he doesn’t prove it, he will be punished for a crime he didn’t commit.

I loved how the author didn’t try to pretty up his character. He owned a mining company and he didn’t really go out of his way to be nice to them. In fact for the most part they barely registered on his radar, because yes he was above them in status so he didn’t really have to care about them. That doesn’t mean he is dense and perceives himself to be the center of the universe. He just realizes that he is from a completely different world from them. He was raised to value honor and duty and he remains true to that for most part of the book. He isn’t a perfect character and he isn’t meant to be. He is human, he feels pain, anger and betrayal just like everyone else but he is also strong. He despairs but never lets it bring him to his knees and he fights because if he doesn’t have faith the real criminal will get away.

Rachel has lost most of her family over the course of the last couple of years until all she has left is her brother. It’s up to her to take care of her brother now as well as manage the bookstore her family has been running for the past couple of years. She despises the Earl because of what he stands for, her brother died while working for the mines and her father lost his job because of him. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with him but because he owns the lease to both the bookstore and the house she cannot just ignore him. It isn’t until her mother is at her deathbed that she gives in and offers up the information she had but her mother ends up dying anyway.

Rachel has tons of pride and doesn’t want help from anyone, especially the Earl. She is willing to starve and work in the mines to feed her little brother but the thing about her is that while this may sound like a bad quality, it works for her, life has made her how she is. Her life wasn’t a fairy tale, it was pretty tough. But even with all her pride, Rachel is not stupid. She knows when it’s time to let go of her pride and accept help. The only thing that bothered me about her character was how in the beginning she was set aside from all the other women because she liked to read and didn’t want to get married. She was speshul flower because she liked to read. Half the female leads in historical romance say the same thing but it bothered me so much more in this case because Rachel was already set aside from the rest of the women in this genre by a factor of things. The fact that the author chose to emphasize the fact that she read and wasn’t really going out of her way to get married disappointed me. Aside from that ‘minor’ issue I enjoyed Rachel’s character as well. She was a strong female lead who’s life did not revolve around the guy she was in love with.

The secondary characters are pretty well developed too. My favorite, Penelope, makes an appearance right in the end. I thought her addition was pretty interesting although I am confused as to why that was necessary.

The romance though was my favorite thing about this book. It was just so realistic. What I loved most about it was that the forbiddeness of their relationship wasn’t romanticized. It was an obstacle. They are worlds apart, they won’t be accepted as a couple. They are likely to be shunned, in fact Rachel was already shunned. At first there was some insta-attraction which bothered the hell out of me but I tried to be rational and realized that it’s alright for people to be attracted to each other right off the bat even if it pisses me off. Aside from that Novak spends such a great deal of time developing the romance. It slowly buds into something beautiful. Truman and Rachel are always supportive of one another but even with all that they realize that they realize that because of their different upbringings their priorities will always be different.

Speaking of relationships, I was pretty disappointed that Novak didn’t really develop Rachel’s relationship with her brother; I was kind of looking forward to it but as it is her brother was barely there, even when she was the earl’s ‘mistress’ her brother was out sleeping in the stables.

The plot seems to take a backseat to everything else going on in the book. Before I say anything else I’d like to say that Brenda does a wonderful job developing suspense, she does it so well that I found myself questioning even Truman but in the end when you find out who the actual criminal was, it was all very anti-climactic. The criminal’s identity seemed pretty obvious but the reasoning behind the whole incident seemed so weak. The actual mystery fell pretty flat too, there didn’t seem to be a lot going on until the very end. I feel like Novak could have made the plot a whole lot stronger and more enjoyable.

In the end though, this book was extremely refreshing, it’s so different from the other historical romances out there. I’d definitely recommend this to fans of historical romances and I’d even go as far to say that those of you vary of HR’s, give this a shot.