Nicole Murphy

Winning the King by Nicole Murphy is the second book in the Jorda Trilogy, following on from Loving the Prince, which I reviewed last year. Although it follows on from the events of the first book, it features a different couple as the main characters and I think it could be read as a standalone. That said, I'm enjoying this series, so I would recommend going back to the start to get the full effect.

Blue eyes, golden curls, a body songs are composed about, and part of one of the most show more powerful families in the colonies, Diana Wiltmore is not used to ever hearing the word ‘no’. So when she sets her sights on a fling with the gorgeous, potent and single King of Angonia, Gareth, she is shocked when he turns her down flat. In an effort to put the rejection behind her, she agrees to her sister’s plan to gain some political leverage by cosying up to a rival planetary ruler.
Gareth has responsibilities and no time for a woman like Diana. She is all temptation and distraction, but Gareth wants more from a woman than decoration. But it is Diana standing by his side as his beloved home of Angonia is attacked and he starts to see that underneath the surface is a strong woman even more beautiful than her picture-perfect exterior.
Gareth’s people need him and to be there for them, he needs Diana. But has he ruined every chance he has of winning her heart?

I quite enjoyed Winning the King. Long-time readers of this blog will know I'm not a huge fan of Romance, but after Loving the Prince had a satisfactory amount of plot, I thought I'd see if Winning the King continued the trend. And it did. For a romance book it's actually not that heavy on the romance, although it is a primary plot-driver for the two main characters.

On the other hand, the external driver of the plot is quite an exciting with terrorists and explosions and other things which are spoilers. Gareth, as King of Angonia, obviously has to deal with the threat (and actuality) of danger to his people and Diana gets caught up in it partly because she witnesses some of it. In between the ups and downs of their romance there's another man — another leader — who wants Diana for himself, much to her disgust.

I quite liked both Diana and Gareth as characters and enjoyed reading their story. If you enjoyed Loving the Prince, then I definitely recommend Winning the King. While I enjoyed both, I found this book to be a bit stronger. If you haven't read the earlier book, it doesn't really matter which one you start with. If you like your science fiction romance with a goodly amount of sensible plot in it, then I highly recommend the Jorda Trilogy by Nicole Murphy.

4 / 5 stars

Read more reviews on my blog. show less

Loving the Prince by Nicole Murphy is the first in a new series of science fiction romance books by the author. I've previously read her paranormal romance series, which began with Secret Ones. This is more different and more science fictiony than I expected.

A scientific error on the very first page did not bode well for this book. But happily it turned out to be the only egregious error and I was able to enjoy the rest of the book without getting annoyed at science. Admittedly, that was show more largely because most of the book dealt with logistics and corporate sabotage and not with anything technical, but that worked quite well. And the relationship between the two main characters, of course. That was also central.

I've made no secret in the past that romance isn't my favourite genre and one that I only dip into occasionally and then only if it's speculative. Loving the Prince was not too heavy on the romance — I'd say medium romance maybe — which worked for me. The story was very much driven by the plot — Cassandra trying to work out who's undermining her and get to the bottom of the conspiracy — and the romance was something that happened because the two characters were brought together. Plot driven romance is the kind I prefer.

I read through this book fairly quickly in about two sittings, which is a sign of how much it kept me entertained. The only part that almost made me put it down was (spoiler free) the bit in the middle where circumstances conspire to keep the two leads apart. But I suspect frustration was the intended reaction for that part. For those interested in the "steaminess" of Loving the Prince, I'd say it's low-ish (being medium romance, honestly I'm not sure what the standard scales are) with only one on-page sex scene.

Generally I found Loving the Prince to be an enjoyable read and I would absolutely recommend it to any speculative fiction romance fans. It kept me entertained throughout and I am interested in reading the sequel (although I'm also a bit sad it will probably star other characters).

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. show less

Rogue Gadda is definitely the best of the trilogy. Murphy’s writing has steadily improved over the three books, culminating in the the final instalment with the resolution of the over-arching plot. I found Rogue Gadda to have a more complex plot with more layers than the previous books including an unexpected twist in the middle.

As with the first two books, Rogue Gadda follows the stories of two characters, one of which is a Guardian of the gadda (the magic race based in Ireland) and the show more other a somewhat outside gadda. Being paranormal romance, of course they end up together after some plot-based ups and downs. This time, the male lead was Hampton who made some appearances in the earlier books and who is heavily involved with working with the other guardians to retrieve the forbidden texts that the villain stole in book 1. The female lead is Charlotte, one of the lost gadda who broke off from the main group centuries ago. She lives in Boston running an aromatherapy oil (sort of) shop and doesn’t know very much about the gadda until hers and Hampton’s paths cross. Because the main characters change from book to book, each of the trilogy could be read as stand-alone. Even though the over-arching climax takes place in Rogue Gadda, Charlotte is relatively new to the world of gadda and needs things explained, not in a repetitive boring way, but in a way that would probably help a reader who just picked up this book.

I have to say, I wasn’t a big fan of Charlotte. She wasn’t a poorly written character, nor did she behave stupidly or annoyingly, I just got the feeling that in real life we definitely wouldn’t be friends. Obviously, this is a completely subjective opinion that I wouldn’t particularly expect others to share, but I did get a bit sick of her towards the end.

Overall, I enjoyed Rogue Gadda the most out of the trilogy and I highly recommend it to lovers of paranormal romance, even if they aren’t able to get a hold of the earlier books.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog, Tsana's Reads. show less

Secret Ones is Nichole Murphy’s debut novel, published by Harper Voyager (Aus) in 2010. It’s a paranormal romance novel set in Ireland and rural New South Wales. Being a paranormal romance, rather than straight urban fantasy, the romantic plot line was significantly more prominent than what I usually read, which was an interesting change of pace.

The main character, Maggie, is one of the gadda, a race of magic-wielding people who look human, but aren’t (and can’t interbreed). show more Generally, the gadda start their magic training at the age of thirteen, then progress through levels of examinations as they gain more control of their powers. Maggie, however, didn’t want to start when she was thirteen. She stubbornly chose to finish her ordinary human schooling before entering the gadda world at eighteen. Even after joining the ranks of magic users, she continued to pursue human studies, slowing down her magical studies. The result is that, refreshingly, she isn’t a teenager (it’s possible I’ve been reading too many YA urban fantasy novels with be-all and end-all romantic plotlines) and nothing that happens is particularly unrealistic in terms of her reactions and how she deals with it etc. (And of course, there are more sex scenes than in YA.)

The male lead is a physicist (entirely biased yay!) who crosses the heroine’s path when he takes a research position in Australia at her grandfather’s university. Smart, smoking hot and with a dark past, he makes an excellent foil for Maggie and, to an extent, offers an outsider’s perspective on the gadda.

I found the structure of Secret Ones different to other urban fantasy books I’ve read (admittedly, I can only think of one other paranormal romance book I’ve read recently, so it could just be me). The romantic plot line seemed to be more or less tied up before the climax of the fantasy storyline happens a bit suddenly and then there are more ramifications than I expected. Which isn’t to say the novel was badly paced; quite the contrary, in fact. I didn’t feel bored at any point and there weren’t any paragraphs I wanted to skip. It was just different to what I’m used to.

Secret Ones is book one in a trilogy, but the other two books, Power Unbound and Rogue Gadda focus on other characters. That means that, while the overarching plot isn’t resolved, there was no cliff hanger at the end. Sometimes it’s nice not to feel like the world will end if you don’t pick up the next book straight away. …That said, I think I will pick up Power Unbound next.

I found Secret Ones to be an enjoyable, light read. I recommend it to anyone who feels like a bit of paranormal romance or urban fantasy.

3.5 / 5 stars show less