Lynn Kurland

3.5 stars rounded up.

All for You by Lynn Kurland is the 12th book in the de Piaget series and the 18th in the de Piaget/MacLeod crossovers. While Lynn Kurland is one of my favorite authors, I have to say that I did not feel this book was as good as some of her others.

The book was not horrible, but it seemed much more stilted than some of her other books. There were times when it felt as though the story itself did not know where it was headed.

Peaches is also one of those heroines that I tend to despise - she doesn't have a spine. She constantly allows people to just walk all over her. Stephen, on the other hand, I've found charming since the first time he showed up (in 'One Enchanted Evening').

While it's certainly never going to be among my favorites and while it's not as well-written as some Ms. Kurland's other offerings, it was not horrible. I will also admit that it's possible I could be more biased because I have read so many of her books and I expect a certain level of quality which I felt was missing here. Give it a try, but if you're disappointed in it, please consider trying at least one of her other titles before you decide you don't like her as an author!… (mais)

I picked this up for the time travel aspect, as it was a recommended read - thought I'd give it a whirl. The writing is engaging and for the first third-ish of the book the plot moves nicely. The world and characters are fairly well built and plausible. There are a few oddities in the beginning sections - one is the bit where the main male protagonist decides to leave suddenly and careens into a vehicle. These scenes, given the characters actions beforehand are jarring and don't fit - it reads like an editor said "we need a romcom moment here put this in".

Moving on, the plot unwinds after this and the storyline just peters away. It isn't that there isn't anything that could have been done or etc - there is a lot to work with in this - but it feels like the author lost their way or maybe lost interest in the work altogether. There isn't a lot of romance ..let me put that differently... what romance there is, is in context to the storyline, which is good. It isn't romance for the sake of romance. Ex. Ok we've had scene "x" time for romance type 4 insert x# of paragraphs of steamy whatever then return to stock storyline. Some people like that..heck Harlequin has built a publishing empire on it. (Format = just change the names, locale, and minor plot dilemmas and voila you have 300 novels in no time!) apologies to those who love them, they just aren't my thing.

Getting back to my review - it is a shame because we don't get to see much of what Nathaniel is doing (or why) in the previous era of Scotland, and Emma's one real trip (dungeon free) isn't really detailed either. I'm trying to avoid spoilers so yes that's vague. We get modern day stuff, but the linking isn't done well, even when we get some linking. It could have been so much more meatier and ...

Ok I'm just going to say it..this really had some fracking potential to be a great novel and the author missed it. Hopefully in a future one they will grab hold and just do it. There is a good writing voice and excellent potential here.… (mais)