Alice Coldbreath

A lot of this book was amazing. This is a historical wolf-shifter romance, which was really fun. The world and plot kept me interested the whole book and I liked most of the characters.

Isolde is sometimes assertive and sometimes a pushover. She has been told her whole life that she isn't worth much, so she has some issues that she deals with. Her sister was the "beauty of the family" and didn't want Jorah to notice her when he comes looking for a wife, so the sister pressured Isolde to wear a "love potion" perfume to get his attention. Isolde feels guilty about the love potion and thinks that Jorah is only attracted to her because of it.

Jorah is hit or miss with me. He decided at a very young age that he doesn't want a real relationship (to have a mate), so he wants a wife that will do everything he wants and nothing more. He is drawn to Isolde right away, despite the "love potion", and he's constantly trying to rein in his feelings for her. He was sometimes sweet and sometimes a jerk, but does eventually realize the error of his ways and makes things right.

The e-book has a lot of typos and grammar mistakes, which was pretty distracting at times, but I was able to overlook it and enjoy the story.… (mere)

All for Lorne is an early novella by one of my favorite authors, Alice Coldbreath. The story was pretty rushed, and it was much rougher than what the author writes now, but it did have that unique feel that I love about her books.

Cass, and her best friend Jen, accidentally travel back in time while visiting a Scottish castle. They are immediately kidnapped by a group of highland warriors. The warriors think that Jen is betrothed to one of their enemies and that Cass is a small man because of her clothes and short hair. Lorne, one of the warriors, is ordered to keep an eye on Cass while the clan's leader tries to woo Jen.

There were some problematic things in this novella. There was dubious consent when Cass began intimate relations with Lorne while he was asleep, and Lorne was pretty rough with Cass in the beginning when he thought she was a man. I also wasn't a fan of how much Lorne told Cass about his past sexual history, although, to be fair, from the moment Lorne saw Cass, he only had eyes for her.… (mere)

Theo wants to be an actress. She and her siblings were raised by their uncle, who owned a theater. When their uncle died, he gave Theo and her siblings each partial ownership of the theater, but since Theo is an unmarried woman, her brother controls all of it. Now her brother wants her to give up acting to work as an unpaid housekeeper in their family home.

Clem is a former prize fighter who now runs a music hall. He wants to expand his business and he has his eye on Theo's family theater.

Theo propositions Clem with a convenient marriage so they can both get what they want. He will have partial ownership of the theater, and she can work as an actress at the music hall.

I really like Theo and I love that she figured out a way to follow her dreams. She's a unique character and has many qualities that seem almost contradictory, but somehow it works and makes sense. She's confident and perceptive, but insecure and naive.

Clem has always thought of himself as ruthless. He was alone from a young age, became a prizefighter, then, when his fighting career slowed, he opened a music hall. He is enamored with Theo pretty much from the get-go, but tries to keep her at arm's length. It takes a while for him to figure out his feelings.

This book has some cameos from the first two Victorian prizefighter books.… (mere)