Review: Sinders and Ash by Tara Lain, Narrated by Kale Williams

Housekeeper Mark Sintorella (Sinders) works diligently at a resort hotel while designing clothes anonymously, hoping to get into fashion school. Then his carefully planned life is upended with the arrival of Ashton Armitage, son of the fifth richest man in America - and the most beautiful guy Mark has ever seen. Ash must find a wife or he'll lose his grandfather's inheritance, and he settles on Bitsy Fanderel. But secretly Ash is gay, and the guy who cleans the fireplaces sets his heart ablaze.

Further stirring the pot is the little elf of a man, Carstairs Pennymaker, who has Mark wearing his own designs and masquerading as a girl to impress the fashion investors in the hotel. When the clock strikes 12, two beautiful princesses line up for the wedding - but one isn't a woman. Will the slipper fit? Only Mr. Pennymaker knows for sure.

Suspend belief all ye who enter here!

Not saying that’s a bad thing. But, you do need to know that this is very much a Hallmark type fairy tale so you can appreciate it for what it’s giving you. Everyone is exceptionally beautiful, the drama is dramatic as are the reactions to the drama and the ending is perfectly perfect.

Sinders, or Mark, is a beautifully sad and quirky character that cleans the fireplaces at a luxury resort along with a bunch of menial bullshit things that no one else wants to do. He lives in an attic room, saving all his money to one day go to design school. Ash is a delicious rich boy who, in order to claim his inheritance of eleventeen trillion dollars, must marry by his birthday. Needless to say he doesn’t have that handled and he’s at the resort to try and find himself a bride.

Mark is taken under the wing or a strange little man with the ultimate connections in the fashion industry named Carstairs Pennymaker. Mr. Pennymaker is the mastermind behind the meet cutes in the story and his plans to put Mark on the fashion map come with pearls of wisdom and self-confidence building bits of enlightenment. He’s very charming and quirky and I liked him a lot.

The bad guys were especially ugly and the part of the Evil Stepmother and sisters was played out well in a modern way. One of the sisters ends up being a good friend to Ash and the side story with Bitsy and Ronnie (Ash’s assistant) was really my favorite part of the story. I liked both of their characters and they were the most “real” of the lot.

I listened to the audio version of this story and I did like the narrator’s voice, my only problem was that his Mark and his Ash sounded the same as the story progressed. I never got confused about who was talking, but the sameness of it made it too easy for my brain to wander. When I read the book many moons ago I never realized how much the characters talked to themselves, the narration really emphasizes that and it got old after a bit. I started thinking, “who the hell are you even talking to?” It made the story sound more narrated than organic.

Go into Sinders and Ash knowing you are getting a contemporary fairy tale with a plethora of voice inducing situational boners and beautiful people getting happy endings with very little realism. Sometimes that flavor of brain candy is exactly what a person needs and if you’re in that moment, this is the story for you.

Check out Sinders and Ash for yourself over at Dreamspinner Press.

**a copy of this audiobook was provided for an honest review**

Review: Love Me Harder by Remmy Duchene

Life hasn’t been perfect for Mathew Chance. Between not knowing who his parents are, and being bounced from foster home to foster home, he’s had to work for everything in his life. But lately, he seems to be overdoing it. With two jobs that barely give him time to breath, love is the last thing on his mind. He doesn’t know whether to bless fate or curse it for shoving Asher Mulgrew right into his path.

Wealthy divorce lawyer Asher Mulgrew has it all worked out. From a successful practice to a supportive sister and a fantastic niece, life is good. But he’s lonely. Though he’s not actively searching for a man, he isn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth when he meets bartender, Mathew Chance. Mathew has a wall built around his heart and Asher isn’t sure he can break through even if he wants to. 

This is one of those stories I'm finding very difficult to review. It fell into that three heart band for me, of books that I can't say I actively dislike, but that I can't quite find myself enthused about either.

The story as a premise was great. The execution didn't quite carry through for me though. What I felt this book needed more than anything was another edit. One that would correct some simple grammatical issues, but that would also tighten the story. Some moments were great, but then the story would fall a bit flat with the next sentence. Sometimes I had to re-read the sentences to get the meaning.

For example: "The sad part was that she hadn't even ask for the house..." Shouldn't this be asked?

Another moment that had me pondering was this interaction between him and his law clerk: "I'm retiring, Dahlia. This is your two weeks notice." ... okaaaay.....two weeks?? He's a divorce lawyer, he can seriously shut down his practice in a fortnight? I'm no expert, I could be completely and utterly wrong. Maybe it's a case of things working different stateside, but it felt off to me. Enough for me to spend too much time thinking about it, when I should have been reading. I mean, I have to give a months notice (and be given a months notice), and I work part time as a TA in a primary school.... It was little bits like this that threw me from the story long enough that it became a disjointed read for me.

All in all, I liked the characters created, I liked the storyline, I just wanted it more polished. The love between the characters was there, the story arc was there... it just didn't quite come together for me. Really I feel as though the publishers/editors could have done a more thorough job and the finished article would have been a completely different read. Of course, as ever, this is only my opinion. There is a sweet story there, and it's not - by far - the worst editing I've read... but it was all a bit meh in the end and meh is too easily forgotten. I will certainly be looking for more from this author, I've not given up on him yet. I wanted to like this more than I did and that gives me hope I'll enjoy the next read more. 

For more information check out Goodreads

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.