Rating: 3 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Two days before his wedding, Duke Merrick Blackburn’s life was perfect. The day before his wedding, everything came crashing down as his fiancé left him for a man of greater wealth and rank. While Merrick does have a royal title, Duke of Camprodon, he is only a distant member of the royal family, and though he is given invitations to royal events and owns a historic vineyard, he also has no money. So Cassian said farewell and wandered off with his new fling, leaving Merrick heartbroken. The worst part is — other than the near crippling debt and the fact that most of his workers and staff abandoned him — Merrick, the “Rainmaker,” can no longer call the rain. It’s gotten so bad in the past two weeks that his neighbor is accusing him of deliberately causing a drought.
In an effort to save his winery and vineyard, Merrick begins looking for a steward. He needs someone who can take care of the multitude of details Merrick can’t seem to make sense of, who can help him put logic and order into the chaos of his life, and hopefully help him get everything back on track. Enter Ryan McGrail, who takes one look at the lovely lost noble and the reduced staff, and sees the potential in both.
This is the sixth book in the Royal Powers universe and works as a stand alone. While all of the books take place in the same world — one where the nobility of two small kingdoms have super powers and romantic troubles — the stories are all written by different authors and involve various pairings. This series is also self published, which made it a perfect pick for this week’s Self Published Book Week challenge, since I appreciate the shared world building the authors show in these stories.
Merrick is an easy going, laid back sort of man who lets life dictate where it will take him. He enjoys sex, loves love, and sees the best in people. He’s willing to work, if only someone would kindly tell him what work he ought to be doing. He has pride, and those moments where he could lean upon his royal kin and connections for help are airily brushed aside. He won’t take charity. But all that pride is gone when it comes to eating with the staff and working side by side. He wants to be thought of as a good person, wants to think of himself as a good person, even as he does his best not to think about it much at all.
Ryan is more of an enigma. He’s solid, rational, and calm. Where Merrick is all wind and rainbows, Ryan is the solid earth beneath his feet. Like Merrick, he has his standards, and won’t tolerate people taking advantage of or bullying others, which is why, when he realizes how soft hearted and good Merrick is, he can’t help but allow himself to fall for him more than he already had. The physical attraction between the two of them was instant; the kiss just took a little longer.
As with the other book in this series, the writing is almost instantly engaging. However, the pacing, the plot, and the author’s approach to the characters left me struggling with this book. Not because it’s terrible; it just let me feeling so … well, uninvited. Several times in the story, Merrick and Ryan will be having a conversation, but rather than actually read the conversation — rather than see what they say to each other, how they speak, what emotions might be present in a conversation, how they interact as a couple — we’re told that the conversation happened. This, particularly with the first great moment when Merrick unloaded his pain and confusion onto Ryan, left me miffed and bored. If the conversation wasn’t important enough to let me read, then why mention it?
From there, Merrick and Ryan were constantly in each other’s company and while there was, at first, an emphasis on the physical appreciation they had for one another (which makes perfect sense), many of the emotional conversations were left off the page. In exposition, we were told what the two characters talked about, but were weren’t actually to be able to see it to get a feel for their interaction.
Plot threads were left dangling, such as Merrick pondering how the paparazzi could get pictures of him on his balcony, only to have him standing, naked, with Ryan on that same balcony a few days later, or Ryan being approached by a tabloid to give dirt on Merrick … but nothing ever came of it. The confrontation with the evil ex was tepid and felt heavily staged. All in all, I felt like I was kept at arm’s length throughout the story, with so much happening where I wasn’t able to see it. I’m sorry to say that this book just didn’t work for me.
This review is part of our Reading Challenge Month for Self Published Book Week! Leave a relevant comment below and you will be entered to win one of ten HUGE prize bundles donated by some fabulous self published authors (you can see the full prize list here)! Commenters will also be entered to win our amazing grand prize sponsored by NineStar Press: a Kindle Paperwhite loaded with 50 NineStar Press books! You can get more information on our Challenge Month here (including all the contest rules) and more details on Self Published Book Week here.
Difficult to enjoy a book when the author fails to connect and draw the readers to the characters and plot of the story.
The author has a number of other books out there; it may well be that it was just this story and the way it was put together that didn’t work for me.
I’ve enjoyed a number of Jackie North’s Love Across Time books, so I read this review with interest. I’ll be curious to see whether my thoughts align with yours, Elizabeth, when I read a sample. Thanks for sharing your review.
I really think she has an easy and engaging writing style, and I’d be curious to know which of her books you really enjoyed. Maybe it was due to the brevity of this particular book? But it’s one of those pet peeves of mine, being told characters have conversations without actually being able to see the conversations happen.
I quite enjoyed Heroes for Ghosts, Hemingway’s Notebook, and Wild as the West Texas Wind. Honey From the Lion left me with a few questions. Bear in mind that I have a fondness for time travel stories, so it would be interesting for me to read something different by her.
I really don’t like books where there is more telling than showing. This might be one of them. I’m sorry this book didn’t work for you.
Not every book works for every person. Though it would be easier if we all shared the same taste, it would also be so very predictable. 😛 Still, there are other books out there waiting for me to fall in love with them, so I can’t complain that this one book wasn’t for me.
Maybe the world-building came more easily than characterization?
That might be. 🙂 Because it’s a shared world between a variety of authors, it’s a fun series to take a look at since each of them bring something new and different to the idea.
Thank you for the review. I liked how the story sounded, but I also don’t like it when to much happens off page.
thank you for the review, Elizabeth. I’ve read some of these stories, and I find them quite irregular. Some of them are really interesting, some of them are not so much. The premise is great, though and the first one I read was really interesting… I am not sure if I want to continue reading them, though
I’d pass on this one, but I thought the Posh Prince and the Pullet was pretty good. I haven’t read any of the others so I can’t say one way or the other about them.
I’ve read the other books in the series so far, so I’ll still be reading this one.
Glad to hear it! 🙂
If Jackie can write a book as good as ‘For the Love of a Ghost’ I’m definitely putting this on my list.
I haven’t started this series so this sounds like a real treat!
Keep in mind that each book in the series is written by a different author! Which means you may find more authors whose work you enjoy.
I appreciate your review.Its hard to cnnect with characters unless you can listen in on their conversations including the ones only in their heads.
I haven’t tried this author yet but it looks like I have their Heroes for Ghosts on my TBR. I’ll start with that one first
I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for the review. I am a reader that wants to read things not be told. If there is a conversation worth telling me about then let me read the conversation.
As you can see, I’m very much in agreement!
I’m on the fence about this one. I like this author but I don’t like having just the aftermath of important conversations
Personally … I’d give this one a pass. I have my own favorite authors and every now and then a book will come out that doesn’t do it for me, for whatever reason. Doesn’t mean the other books aren’t good, just means this one particular book isn’t as good.
I have been wanting to read this book and the others set in the world, but I may hold off on this one now. I’m not a fan of important conversations and things happening off page and just getting a condensed version. Some books do work for me when that happens, but not many and this review makes me think this will be a book where I get annoyed with it.
In some books it does work but — as I’ve mentioned before, and in the review — this was the first big emotional moment between the pair of MCs … and I just didn’t care for that. However, though I’ve only read one other book in this series, I really enjoy the ideas of the world and the fairy tale spirit the authors have created. Hopefully one of them will tickle your fancy.
Stories that leave the plot open-eneded/incomplete are a bit of a peeve. It leaves me a bit frustrated since I feel like I need the answers even if I could imagine what I want to help feel those gaps. Appreciate the review.
I’m very much the same. 🙂 If you’re going to wave something in front of me, plot wise, I kind of want to see it dealt with somewhere in the book, even if it’s in a sequel.
I’ve read and loved everything written by Jackie North so far. I absolutely will read this one, too.
Thank you for your review.
Have fun reading!
I like the idea of this series – with multiple authors writing in the same universe – and if I decide to check it out and enjoy it I might read this book too. But I don’t usually enjoy books that do a lot of telling instead of showing, and with so many books out there that I’m eager to get to, maybe I’ll just skip this one.
Just this morning I read the first volume in one sitting! If this volume features Merrick who I had pitied in his brief appearance in the first volume, then perhaps I should skip to this volume next. I’m sorry to hear that the story holds the reader away from it though.
It is an interesting world they’ve built but I think that some finer details might be missing in each since they have separate authors mind’s all trying to tune to the same world.